The Acer Aspire One is a powerful netbook with great battery life and portability. Unfortunately, the standard model comes with only 1GB of RAM, even though it can support up to 2GB. The good news is that upgrading an Acer Aspire One is both easy and inexpensive. Adding more RAM allows you to have more programs open at once without slowdowns, and increases the overall performance of any computer.

The netbook has only one RAM slot, so you will be replacing the existing memory stick. You will need a 2GB DDR2 SODIMM chip for the replacement. These are widely available from many retailers and are very inexpensive. You will also need a mini Phillips head screwdriver and it is recommended that you use an anti-static wrist band to avoid damaging sensitive components.

Here are the steps for replacing the RAM module:

1. Shut down the machine, unplug the AC Adapter and remove the battery to avoid the risk of electric shock.

2. Flip the unit over and look for a small rectangular hatch near the bottom right, it will have a symbol representing a memory module. Remove the screw and the hatch.

3. Gently pull the retaining clips holding the memory stick in place until it pops upright. Gently remove it by sliding the edge of the module away from the slot.

4. Align the notch at the bottom of the new memory stick with the notch in the memory slot and gently insert it at a 45-degree angle. Then push the other edge down, you should feel it snap into place and the retaining clips should lock into place as well.

5. Put the upgrade hatch back in place and replace the original screw.

6. Replace the battery, plug the machine in and boot up the operating system.

7. In Windows, right-click on My Computer and click Properties. Under the General tab, it will list the amount of RAM recognized by Windows. It should list slightly less than 2GB since the Aspire One utilizes some of the system memory for Video memory.