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AlphaTop/ECS Green Laptop documentation thread.

I tore apart my Green753 tonight in order to get a look at fixing the hinges and also what type of speaker they use so I can order replacements. It appears they use 1 inch speakers which are 8 ohms at 0.3 watts.
There is room to fill epoxy in around the hinge mounts, which is good. I’m also going to have to pool at the outside as well though which is gonna be ugly, but ah well.
The disassembly process didn’t leave the laptop unscathed but it could have been way worse. I only lost a couple clips on the display assembly, but both screw wells on the front bezel broke. I also lost a clip on the palm rest and both front clips on the center clutch of course.
It should still go back together without too much trouble I think, with a bit of glue and epoxy in the mix. It probably would have gone a lot worse without Don’s guide!
I’m also going to relubricate and loosen the hinge.

This also means that I’ll be taking some photos of the internals and adding them to my website.
 
7320.PNG
Here is finally a decent quality image of the 16" Green732. This came from HyperData, they sold this one as the Model 7320.
 
I was doing some wayback machine digging on Chicony and found a page that linked to "Assurance Service", the company they turned support over to after their shut down their notebook division in 2000. Imagine my surprise when I check their website out and find they were also Alpha-Top's exclusive US Service Center - and had information on a model that I had literally zero info on - the Green400.
Sweeeeet.

The site also mentioned an "alphatopusa.com" which I thought for a moment might finally get me more DIRECT info, but nope. Site has been captured by wayback but nothing actually alpha-top related is actually there...
 
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I am now the proud owner of an Alpha-Top Green735, which fits best as a successor system to the Green753 and 753+ (753 is the unit on the left, 735 on the right). They look similar at a first glance, but they're completely different inside and out in most ways.
Mine has the following basic specs:
- AMD K6-2 @400MHz (the fastest CPU these support, woohoo!)
- 128MB RAM (not sure yet if it's EDO or SDRAM, it supports both so it could be either)
- 4GB HDD
- 12.1" TFT LCD @800x600
- NeoMagic NM2160
- ESS 1879

Right out the gates, the keyboard and trackpad are definitely nicer on the 735. The screen also has better color reproduction.
Unfortunately, the hinges on these can't be loosened like the 751 and 753 hinges can. That means the plastic will likely fail at some point in the not too distant future.
It seems to be fully functional, with the worst issue being the broken display latch (and the right hinge cover being broken off because I was an idiot and didn't realize there was a screw holding it in). Not too bad at all. These aren't common.

Mine was sold by some company called "Computer Warehouse" based out of Auburn, MA. I know that because the only branding they did was to tack a sticker on right over the slot for a logo badge. It's such a low effort job that it's caving in where a proper badge should be, if they had cared enough. Must have been a very small order from Alpha-Top.

With this I'll be able to get some high-quality photos for the website.
 
I'll look through my Green 735 parts for the lid latch. I hope the spring is still there or you'll need to find something that works. I also believe the screw in the bezel has broken out the plastic so I'll also look for a new 12.1" bezel and rubber plug. I don't believe I have any new hinge covers. To get to the memory (and hard drive) you need to turn the laptop upside down and remove the 4 screws along the front edge of the case bottom. Then flip right side up, open the lid and lift the front edge of the palm rest. It pivots at the front of the keyboard. Take care of the touch pad cable. RAM is under the hard drive. IIRC, SD RAM does work and if you get "fully compatible" modules, which I think always have 8 ram chips, then 2x 256K should work. It's been a long time since I worked on one of these. I have the Neomagic driver if you have a hard time finding it. I believe Windows ME loads it correctly. ESS sound driver may also be a problem.
 
DeltaDon said:
I believe the screw in the bezel has broken out the plastic so I'll also look for a new 12.1" bezel
Click to expand...
I think it's intact, the bezel doesn't seem to be separating at all. I'll bet it would instantly break if I took it apart though, that happened on the Green751 and the 753. If you have all the right parts to 13.3" upgrade it, I'll just do that. The original drivers were on the Maxtech site so I've got those, they'll be up on MacDat in the next update.
It's neat that it has that "12.1" TFT" sticker intact. What's interesting is that I've seen the exact same stickers on Nan Tan/Kapok laptops from the same time. They're two unrelated companies so some 3rd party must have made the stickers.

If you happen to have a NOS rear LCD panel for the Green753, I could use one of those - that crack is getting worse. If I had only loosened the hinges before it cracked, it would still be fine right now...

The hinge cover should be an easy repair, I just need to get more plastruct plastic weld.
 
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Intact thankfully. I can see why they break so often though, there’s a lot of visible flex when I use the hinge. I really wish there was a way to loosen these like you can on the 753, this is totally gonna break. They’re too stiff.
 
I don't remember what the hinge looks like, but if you can't loosen, perhaps a very small drop of light oil will work. Use a pin to dab small amount on the pivot area. NOS Green 753 plastics are not available. I might have some used lids, but there's several different ones depending upon the LCD. Motherboards I've got a lot of, plastics not so much.
 
To get at possibly oiling the hinges I’d have to take the screen apart, which is always risky. I’ll have to think about it…
You do have NOS Green753s still available right? Perhaps if I get desperate enough I’ll just buy another, maybe. Would be a low priority over other stuff.
 
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