Acer Aspire 7552G-6061 - SSD Compatibility/Installation

First time here, reading the forums has been extremely helpful.

Need to replace a doorstop of a laptop with something that can achieve the following:

1) Good multimedia laptop for streaming Netflix, watching DVDs, etc
2) Good multitasking for home office/internet use
3) Secondary gaming laptop that can play WoW, SC2, CIV5 at moderate settings

Am on the verge of purchasing the Acer Aspire 7552G-6061 for the following reasons:

1) Quad-Core Phenom II CPU
2) Dedicated GPU (as limited as the HD5650 may be)
3) 4GB DDR3 RAM
4) Widescreen 17" Display
5) Price $700

Amazon.com: Acer AS7552G-6061 17.3-Inch Laptop (Mesh Black): Computer & Accessories

I have to purchase through Amazon and am limited to $900, so amongst the available laptops it stands out as the most cost-effective solution for my needs. I welcome alternative suggestions available on Amazon in my price range.

Should I purchase it I would want to either replace the original HD entirely with an SSD or use the original as an installed storage drive and run the OS off the SSD at some point in the near future.

My question is does anyone see any issue with using one of the OCZ Vertex 2 (Sandforce) SSDs in this laptop?

Amazon.com: OCZ Technology 120 GB Vertex 2 Series SATA II 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive (SSD) OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G: Computer & Accessories

Or is this there a particular brand or series that work better on Acer laptops?
120G would be plenty of space for my uses so I am not worried about the loss of the storage space.

Further, would I just create ERecovery DVDs and replace the HD with the SSD and image them back to the disk? Or is the fact that the newer drive is smaller than the old one a problem?

Now that I think about it, I have a full retail version of Windows 7 64bit Premium. Aren't I allowed to install it on a desktop and a laptop? Could I just use it to do a clean install on the SSD?

Your expertise and insight is appreciated. Thanks for any information you can provide. Sorry for the long post.

 

Bump, since I am concerned with the exact same laptop, and the exact same question haha.

 

I recently purchased this exact model of Acer with the same intention of replacing the stock 500g drive with a smaller 60g OCZ Vertex 2 SSD. You'll be happy to know that it works flawlessly and makes this already impressive laptop (for it's current $700-750 price) even speedier and more attractive of a "desktop replacement." My Windows 7 WEI score for the drive was 7.7, with an overall (due to the graphics) of 6.7 and everything else being in the low 7's...definitely not bad and should handle your games and applications without a hitch!

The second bay is great to throw the stock 500g drive into (or a larger/faster one if you're into that) but unfortunately you'll need to purchase a drive caddy for it separately. (Model: 42.PZS01.005 ~ approx. $20)

What I did: Completely removed the stock 500g drive before even booting the laptop and stored it away for safekeeping, then installed the aforementioned OCZ Vertex 2 SSD. I burned a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit ISO, OEM version, and used the key from the laptop to reinstall everything - worked without any problems at all out of the box, no BIOS flash upgrades needed or anything! Then I just transferred all of the drivers/applications from Acer's website onto a flash drive and installed whatever was needed. This way I didn't have to deal with all of the "bloatware" that most folks complain about and I still have a "backup" with the original factory drive (at least until I get another drive caddy!) Finally, I turned off indexing for the drive and disabled defragging it, of course. The only other thing I did was put the laptop into the "high performance" power scheme, so that the drive doesn't power down and TRIM can do it's thing...but I'll let you Google about SSD optimizations and the various opinions. All around, I'm pretty satisified despite the 2-3 hour battery life. Hope this helps!

Edit: Just don't forget to get the 2.5" version of the SSD, since OCZ offers them in both 2.5" & 3.5" sizes above 90g!

 

Thanks so much for your response. That answered my question. Now to talk the better half into it. Or maybe I should just buy it first, then talk her into it.

 

I just did this upgrade on this same exact model. Removed the 5400rpm stock 500GB WD HDD and replaced it with a 120GB OCZ Agility 2 SSD drive. IMO 60GB is too small.

On your Acer Aspire 7552-6061
- flash the firmware to version 1.04. I bet your has bios version 1.03. Do Not do version 1.12. I had some major issues with "OS not found" on the SSD.

- Now OCZ Vertex 2 make sure you have the latest firmware 1.24. (I'm guessing). You might run into some issues when your laptop wakes up.

Then reinstall your OS on the new SSD. My Win7 Ultimate (upgraded) boots in 20secs. MS Office 2010 (word/Excel) open instant. A good maintence tools for any SSD is "Paragon Aligment Tool".

Hope this helps.

PS:
The OCZ Vertex 2 SSD 2.5" 120GB is on sale til Jan 12 for $198 w/ free shipping.
http://dealzon.com/deals/cheap-ocz-vertex-ssd

And that laptop is now selling for $999 @ amazon... That nuts!