If you thought adding a Bluetooth module to the Acer Aspire One was cool, how about practically squaring the amount of storage available? Tnkgirl is back with part two in her Aspire One hacking series, and this time she’s replaced the solid state disk with a 60GB hard drive.

But wait, you might be asking, aren’t SSDs sturdier and faster than HDDs? Yes and no. On the one hand, there are no moving parts in SSDs, which makes them more durable and drop-resistant than hard drives. On the other hand, the particule SSD module included in the Acer Aspire One is kind of pokey, which means that most commercially available 1.8″ hard disks (like the type used in iPods) will give you better performance. And it turns out that there’s just enough room inside the Acer Aspire One case to cram a 1.8″ disc in there.

Acer does sell a hard drive version of the Aspire One. But Tnkgrl points out that the hard drive used in that model is a 2.5″ standard laptop drive, which adds weight to the notebook and requires a slightly larger case. By modifying the SSD version instead of paying for the HDD version, you get a lighter weight laptop with similar specs.

You can check out the video after the jump.

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Eee PC hacker extraordinaire jkkmobile has posted a video showing how to add a hard drive or a CF card adapter to an Eee PC 901. The whole process is made extraordinarily easy by the fact that Asus included a little shelf in the computer that’s almost exactly the right size for resting a 1.8 inch hard drive.

Because the Eee PC 901 includes two SSD modules, you can actually add a hard drive or extra flash drive without removing the module that holds your operating system. It’s almost like Asus wanted people to hack this device.

The one problem jkkmobile ran into was that it was a bit hard to connect the hard drive without cutting away at some of the plastic. So if you’re willing to void your warranty, you might want to use some wire cutters or a sharp knife.

Want an eBook reader, but don’t want to pick up a commercially available unit from Amazon, Sony, or another company? One Australian hacker decided he didn’t want to pay the shipping charges to get an eBook reader from the US, so he picked up a cheap Eee PC and started down the long path to turning it into a dream eBook reader.

Of course, along the way he’s probably spending more money on parts. And there’s no way the time he’s spending on the project is worth the few hundred bucks he’s saving. But that’s hardly the point, now is it?

Here’s what an Eee PC-based eBook reader has that most dedicated devices lack: a color screen, and a fully functional computer that’s capable of browsing the web or performing other duties. He’s even throwing in a touchscreen for good measure. Here’s the down side: The battery life on an Eee PC stinks compared with commercial eBook readers.

The project is far from complete, but you can follow its progress at the Overclocker forums. In case you couldn’t tell, the image above is a concept drawing of the finished product.

[via Engadget]

Sure, the Asus Eee PC comes with 2/4/8/12/20GB of onboard storage space and and SD/SDHC card reader for expansion. But that’s just not enough for some people. So the folks at Popular Science decided to hack away at the case and add another card reader.

Not happy with the 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 12GB, or 20GB of solid state memory that came with your Eee PC? It turns out that you can upgrade it — if you have a really steady hand, a lot of patience, and a soldering iron. Hoschi at Eee PC.de managed to upgrade his 4GB unit to 16GB.

Wish your Eee PC was easier to type on in the dark? With its tiny size and light weight, it’s tempting to take your Eee PC into bed and read the “paper” before going to sleep instead of reading a book. But shut off the lights and it can be a bit hard to find the right keys.

Eee hacker extraordinaire jkkmobile, the guy who brought us the first touchscreen Eee PC mod, has answered the age-old question: will an Eee PC 900 screen work on an Eee PC 701. The answer? Kind of.

One of the coolest things about the tiny Eee PC is that it’s extraordinarily hackable. You wouldn’t think you could fit so much junk inside of its lilliputian case, but hundreds of people have added touchscrens, Bluetooth, additional memory, and other components to their Eee PC units. If you’re not an expert with a soldering iron, or if you’ve got better things to do with your time than mod your own Eee PC to perfection, one hacker has a proposition: Buy his modded Eee PC on eBay — for $3000, give or take $2000.

The starting bid is set at $2800, and the auction has a Buy it Now price of $3200. So what do you get for your money?

• 40GB solid state memory (8GB solid state drive that shipped with the unit and 32GB of additional storage)
• 2GB of RAM (the unit originally shipped with 1GB)
• 802.11 a/b/g/draft n (originally had b/g)
• GPS
• 7 inch touchscreen
• Air Play for transmitting audio to an FM radio
• Custom heatsink to deal with additional heat from overclocking
• Bluetooth adapter
• 2 internal USB hubs for connecting all the internal goodies
• Windows XP SP3 plus a hacked video driver to display 1024 x 768 screen resolution (although I wouldn’t recommend using this on a day to day basis, as it makes the fonts look horrible)

Apparently the laptop now weighs “less than 3.5 pounds,” which is nearly double the unit’s original weight. You can find more pictures at the seller’s blog.

So far this little auction has gotten a lot of attention, but hasn’t attracted a single bit yet. Because to be perfectly honest, if you’re willing to spend that kind of money on a light weight ultraportable, you might as well pick up a Macbook Air which has a far more powerful processor. The Eee PC is still stuck with a 900MHz Celeron processor. And no matter how much you overclock it, it’s not going to perform like a dual core CPU.

[via Gizmodo]