Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3830T-6870 Laptop Mini Review

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 12:10 pm

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 34-215-180

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=4938

Pros:
* 8+ hours battery life (and I've confirmed that)
* USB 3.0 port
* Sandy Bridge CPU integrated Intel HD 3000 video so it plays run of the mill 3D games decently (so far it runs Orcs Must Die and Minecraft just fine. People have reported it will play Portal 2 okay)
* Sexy looking with an aluminum finish around the keyboard. VERY thin & light
* Nice bright sharp LCD display
* Awesome audio quality and volume.
* Integrated bluetooth

Cons:
* No internal optical drive (bought a mini-DVD-RW USB external)
* PSU is not compatible with last gen Acer Timeline series, despite being the exact same voltage and amperage (if you plug in an older PSU it just doesn't do anything - pity since I have a couple lying around)
* Only one USB 3.0 port (the other two are 2.0). Not surprising. Intel still doesn't make a chipset with USB 3.0 integrated, so the OEM has to add a seperate chip for it. Intel needs to wake up and smell the coffee.
* Only 3 USB ports. Would have been nice to have four, but since I'm using a Bluetooth mouse, that saves one port.

I picked this up to replace my 2 1/2 year old Acer Timeline which has been a very good laptop, just under powered. However it got (still gets!) a decent 6+ hours of battery like.

This new Timeline gives me 8+ hours under normal usage like browsing (ads claim 10 hours but that's BS).

Laptop is a VERY snappy performer in a very small light-weight package. I moved the OCZ Vertez 2 SSD from my old lappy and that made it an even better performer. The old lappy was a bit too slow to really make good use of the SSD's performance but this thing is a rocket.

Nice lappy, well engineered, very stylish.

I have to say it has the best speakers on ANY laptop I have ever owned. Despite it's size, the audio is just awesome. Very loud and crystal clear.

Very easy to access the HDD BTW. The TigerDirect page linked above actually shows the bottom cover removed and the HDD location.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:00 pm

Followup:

Loving this laptop. Despite my initial skepticism, I am actually getting nearly 10 hours of battery life with just normal browsing.

The internal Wifi card has tremendous range (so did my previous 3 year old Acer Timeline). Whatever they're using for an antenna works great.

I can play Minecraft on this lappy just fine with 32 fps with the on-CPU video (and before you laugh, Minecraft, despite it's blocky graphics, puts a hurting on a 3D GPU - most laptops choke on it). Playing a 3D game is the only time I feel any real heat coming out of the vents.

I like how easily accessible the drive and all other internals are. Basically there's one access big panel on the bottom of the lappy that gives you full access to everything.

It only has 3 USB jack (one of which is USB 3.0) so instead of using a normal wireless mouse, I'm using a Bluetooth mouse (since the laptop has built in Bluetooth). Never used to like BT mice because I found most laptops had laggy BT, but not this one.

Unlike my old laptop I can play 720p and 1080p content with no problem - either on the laptop screen on on an external display. I haven't tried the HDMI jack, but it works fine with VGA.

darcy · Post by **darcy** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:03 pm

enjoy!

i have a small question : ), ~ are USB 3.0 ports backward compatible { don't know if that's the right word,, } with USB 2 devices?

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:14 pm

Yes. You can plug a USB 2.0 device into a 3.0 port. Also you can plug a 3.0 USB device into a USB 2.0 port (but it will run at USB 2.0 speeds).

The only reason we're limited on the number of USB 3.0 ports is that Intel has stupidly decided not to support USB 3.0 on their chipsets. So anyone building a laptop or desktop mobo is stuck with only native USB 2.0, and USB 3.0 has to be added by using an additional chip (a USB 3.0 controller) from a 3rd party.

Hopefully Intel will wise up eventually. If USB 3.0 is integrated into the motherboard chipset, then ALL the USB sockets can be 3.0

darcy · Post by **darcy** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:19 pm

aaah, ok, ~ thank you for the info, FP : )

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:24 pm

The USB 3.0 port will be colored blue to make it stand out. This is a standard designation for ALL USB 3.0 ports.

I have a couple of external USB hard drives that are USB 3.0 (nice deal BTW - Sams Club sells a Toshiba 500Gb USB 3.0 drive for $59). I can tell ya that USB 3.0 is ripping fast.

I've got no burning need for USB 3.0 on the desktop (all my external enclosures are 2.0 and they're mainly for archiving or backups, so speed is not an issue), but eventually I'll probably install a USB 3.0 card on the desktop.

When USB 3.0 becomes more common, I will almost certainly upgrade my workbench external enclosure to USB 3.0 because it will speed up imaging client's hard drives.

darcy · Post by **darcy** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:10 pm

thanks again, FP, ~ appreciate it : )

DaMaN · Post by **DaMaN** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 7:18 pm

How you liking this lappy FP, any new developments?

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 7:49 pm

Still loving it. This exact model seems to be unavailable now except (of all places) Barnes and Noble online, but I found some others that are essentially the same (TimelineX, Core i5, 9+ hours battery life, ultra thin). I was pricing one for a client.

DaMaN · Post by **DaMaN** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 7:59 pm

Thanks, do you mind sharing the link to the best priced one? I am looking for a new lappy but the ones I googled were either not new (refurb) or not from a reputable retailer.