After successfully adding the WIFI PCI module to the laptop I have been wanting to add internal bluetooth for pretty much the same reason: I am prone to ripping off USB dongles sticking out the rear of the laptop.

There is a proper Acer BT/modem combo module which is supposed to replace the existing plain Jane modem board. But I couldn't find one and fitting one of them would have been too easy :)

So with inspiration from similar projects featured on HACK-A-DAY and other sites I set about modifying mine.

I picked up a very small USB bluetooth dongle from Tesco for £8.00, stripped off the plastic case and USB connector. The PCB is really sweet at about an inch long.

For wire, I stripped out an old USB device lead. This has the benefit of giving the standard USB colour code.

I had to totally stripped the entire laptop down to gain access to the base of the PCB and the USB mounts. I piggy backed the wires off one of the 4 USB ports (I only ever seem to use one anyway).

I used a glue gun to blob some adhesive onto the PCB to hold the wire terminations secure as the solder joints are tiny and fragile. I used spiral wrap on the four USB wires and routed them to the top of the PCB.

With the laptop partial reassembled it was plain to see that there is ample room for the device in the dummy floppy drive blank. If doing this mod again I would leave the dongle intact with its USB connector and I would attached a female socket to the end of the wires. There is plenty of room to house it all and would allow me to swap out the dongle for other devices (hidden memory stick?)

With no help from my cat scattering all the screws everywhere and getting some stuck to the tip of the hot glue gun, I got the laptop together and booted (was going to boot the cat too but he ran off).

Thankfully, no hassles, XP seen the device and automatically installed all the required device drivers.

Bluetooth works! Not sure of the range yet. Tested it working with my phone 5 foot away so that will do.

I never use my laptop on the battery so not being able to turn off the bluetooth to save power is not a worry, I could do that via software if needed (I think).