Customer Reviews

Acer Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-3721 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Just received one of the very first AS1830T notebooks available in the US from Amazon.
Its for my wife who had been running off with my similar year-old 11.6" Acer AS1810tz.

I've been setting up and using her new 1830t i5-430 for a few days.
Took some learning time because she needs the multi-language features
now available with Win7 Ultimate, that previously required a hard drive
partition and the installation of more than one operating system.

Just wanted to say that I've been using both the new 1830t and my old
Acer 1810tz (SU4100) side-by-side and have rarely noticed the 1830t being faster.
The new 1830t measures faster in benchmark tests, but most users won't notice.

BTW... happy to report that Acer has dumped the Synaptics touch pad in the older series
in favor of the Alps Electric touch pad. Acer also replaced the small hardware
switches for wireless (& bluetooth) with function-F3 key control.

Overall, its a very nice machine. Display is bright and sharp.
Build quality seems decent. Keyboard is ok... seems the same as my AS1810tz.
Mouse buttons are stiff and clicky towards the center. Mushy and quiet towards the outside.
I suspect they will wear-in... but still acceptable as-is.
Battery is 5800 mAh verses 5600 mAh in the AS1810, but typical usage endurance
seems to have decreased from 7.5 hours in the AS1810 to around 6 hours in
the new AS1830t. I guess because of the increased power requirement of Intel's i5 chip.
I'm sure you could squeak out another hour using minimalistic settings.
It runs noticeably hotter than my AS1810tz, but not hot enough to be offensive.

So.. we will keep it.
She loves it already... really!
She carries it around the house like a new puppy.
(her 14" Lenovo T400 was always tabletop to briefcase, etc.)

Me... I'm now much more content with my little AS1810tz.
Probably won't bother to upgrade.
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July 9th, 2010 - Changed from 4 stars to 5 stars. Great little machine!
August 11th, 2010 - Ordered a second 1830T. Can't explain... I just want one for myself!

I'm pretty impressed that this computer comes with Windows 7-64 bit Operating System. Performance of the computer is excellent. It shuts down and starts up fast-just be sure to have the operating system and programs properly updated.

This computer is a bit bigger than most netbooks at 11.6 inches but in fact it is an ultra-portable. It is thin and light and just a great travel tool. The nearly full size smooth keyboard is a plus. Quality of build is solid. The fan is very quiet and the machine only gets slightly warm when used for prolonged periods. The speakers are not great but these are not used on plane flights out of courtesy to other passengers anyway. For home use, the device should be connected to external speakers. Movies and TV are streamlined very well.

The computer is compact and does not have a cd/dvd. This can be expected from notebook of this size. Storage is 500 gb. It can carry lots of music, pictures, and videos. With a drive this size, I decided to partition the drive into C/D.

I have not sat in a plane for 8 hours yet but I know for a fact, that the battery can deliver more than 5 hours on long trips. Therefore, for a frequent air traveler like myself, you should not have to be looking for a wall socket at each airport to recharge or use this computer. That does not mean that you should not carry the around the power cord- just in case.

For someone that travels a lot, I believe that this is a winner hands down. I have been researching this for a while and the alternatives are made by Sony (Sony X $1299.99) and Apple (MacBook Air $1499) which are very good but more expensive.

My writing is for someone that needs a travel tool that is light enough and capable enough. This is in my opinion an ultra-portable with much more computing power than a netbook. I have not loaded games and will not use it for this purpose either. Please also note that I am not affiliated to ACER either.

Before I even turned it on I put in the 160GB Intel G2 ssd that was previously in my Acer 3810t. Then once I turned on and after a few driver downloads and restarts, I had my original desktop and programs all ready to go. This machine is fast. I am coming from a 13.3" Acer 3810t that had a 1.4GHz SU9400. This 1830t is much faster. Programs open fast. I remember when I first got the ssd and put it in my 3810t and was amazed at the speed increase over the hard drive. Well now I am experiencing that feeling all over again, and I love it. Editing images is a much more pleasant experience. Where as Adobe Lightroom 3 and Corel Paintshop Pro X2 would be a little slow on the 3810t, they are both rockets on the 1830t. Overall I am glad I upgraded, as the new Core i5-430UM is a big speed boost over the Core 2 Duo SU9400. The computer is lightweight and easy to carry, and shall hold me over until 2013 when Intel launches Haswell processors and I upgrade again.

Pros for the 1830t:
Weighs only 3.1lbs.
Core i5 processor is very fast.
Fans are quieter than on my 3810t, but at full speed seem to be louder.
Fun to watch Turbo Boost do its thing.
Runs very cool, except for the left side which gets a little warm but never hot.


Cons:
Keyboad has more flex than the 3810t's.
I got an Alps touchpad, wish I had gotten one with Synaptics.
Touchpad is not recessed, looks pretty but I do not like this and is hard to use in low lighting.
No multimedia keys like on the 3810t.
Wish I had an Intel Wireless card, might change out the Broadcom.

Now that I've had a while to play with my Acer 1830T, I thought I'd give you guys the poop on this laptop.

First off, the form factor is excellent. It's small, light, and feels pretty solidly constructed. The textured lid is nice since it doesn't collect fingerprints and looks pretty slick too. In fact, the rest of the plastic body isn't glossy either except the bezel around the screen. The thermal design is pretty good with the exhaust vent on the left side and intake vents on the bottom. Under load it doesn't get super hot as long as you don't block the vents. The fan is very quiet even when running at full speed, and the keyboard never gets above "slightly warm." The LED backlit screen is very bright and crisp with no noticeably defective pixels. It's fantastic for watching 720p videos!

Input-wise, the keyboard is one of the best I've used on a netbook/ultraportable form factor. The important keys are all the correct (full) size, and while it's no Model M, the feedback is above average. The trackpad is not so great though. First of all, it's really small, which is completely understandable on a machine of this size, but it takes some getting-used-to. Second, the scrolling edge is not very precise, and won't work if you put too much pressure on it. Finally, the "multi-gesture" features are all but worthless. It seems like they're emulated in software, and the trackpad isn't sensitive enough to properly detect multiple fingers touching it.

The wireless card is Broadcom-based (not Intel like it says in the specs) and performs fairly well speed- and range-wise, but doesn't handle interference very well. My benchmark is my 3-year-old MacBook with an Atheros-based Airport Express card. That sucker could maintain a connection under all but the worst interference (microwave oven), but the card in the 1830T will drop the connection if a 2.4GHz cordless phone is near it. I swapped in an Intel 6200 card a week or so after I received the notebook, and it does seem to perform better in noisy environments. As a bonus, the Intel card is dual-band and works great with my 5GHz 802.11n base station.

Bluetooth works and successfully pairs with my mouse and phone. The Windows 7 BT stack is pretty nice and can do things like dial your phone, use the built-in mic and speakers as a speakerphone, and automatically configure dial-up networking for tethering. There is a quirk with how it's toggled on/off though. I initially thought that the laptop came without Bluetooth at all because of this, so pay attention if you're going to get one of these: the same keyboard combo used to toggle WiFi (Fn-F3) is ALSO used to toggle Bluetooth. Starting with both WiFi and BT disabled (wireless indicator light off), hitting Fn-F3 once will enable BT (indicator light still off), twice will disable BT and enable WiFi (indicator light turns on), three times will enable both (indicator light still on), and four times will disable both (indicator light off again). This is not documented ANYWHERE and I figured it out by trial and error.

Other than those few, admittedly small, issues, I'm very satisfied with the machine. Under "normal" usage - screen dimmed 50%, WiFi enabled, surfing in Firefox with the occasional Youtube video - I get a bit more than 6 hours of battery life, and this thing is wicked fast. It can handle Torchlight without stuttering and at a very playable framerate with all details on low and netbook mode enabled, so I can't complain about the integrated graphics. I couldn't seem to get VLC's new hardware acceleration capability working properly, but it doesn't really matter that much because the processor is beefy enough to handle all the high-def videos I've thrown at it.

I've been using this now for 2 weeks. I love this little machine - build quality is very good considering the price and considering that this isn't a netbook, using it you definitely feel you're using a "real" notebook.

Seriously way too much Acer bloatware - took some time to delete it. No included antivirus subscription and you can't uninstall the McAfee firewall - merely disable the notifications. I've installed Comodo and will install NAV when the 30 day trial on McAfee runs out and I can finally get rid of it.

The keyboard feel is good - the keys don't wobble when you rest your fingers on them, pet peeve. They despress with a satisfying yet silent click. My only thing with the keyboard is I keep missing the Backspace (hitting "=" instead) and the Left CTRL (hitting "Fn"). It's weird, I've measured the distance between the bumps on the F and J keys and Backspace and Left CTRL and compared it with a Dell XPS 16 and they are almost identical but I still keep missing them. It's because it isn't a full size keyboard - the letters and numbers are full size but the F keys on the top and all the other (CTRL, ALT, BACKSPACE, ESC, Arrows) are narrow and skinny so it takes a little getting used to. Also HOME and END have to be used with FN key which is a real pain.

Visually the keyboard looks like it's concave, rising up in the middle but it's totally flat - weird optical illusion. Some reviews report flexing - only if you're pounding on it and deliberately putting force on them like they're buttons. No flex in regular typing for me.

No problems with the touchpad unlike other reviews. I like that it's seemless with the wrist rest. Gesturing response is a little sluggish. The touchpad is a little small but haven't felt that it's a limitation.

I do have a serious problem with the WiFi. My home wireless router is Linksys E3000 and I have no problems with any other wireless device in the house (2 laptops, DVD player, PS3, printer, VOIP phone, several cell phones and a wired PC). The Acer just can't maintain a connection unless I am 10 feet away from the router. My bedroom is about 40 feet away and I get 4 to 5 bars but unless I'm next to it, it keeps dropping the connection and windows won't reconnect. It drops the moment it connects like it's getting booted out and I have to uninstall the network adapter and reinstall it in device manager - disabling and enabling doesn't work. I even updated the firmware on the router. I have never had a problem with this router ever.

Also tried updating the drivers, Acer website lists a new driver but when uncompressed it is exactly the same driver as is installed - installed it anyway.

I Called Acer support and they said that they weren't able to handle all the complexities themselves (weird!) and they got a third party to call me to provide support. When they called they said it was a software issue and that Acer only provides support for hardware but I can purchase support time for software support. So both Acer and the third party (ironically called Pay) won't deal with it without extra $$.

I seriously considered returning the unit but use it almost exclusively outside the house (so light!!) where there are no wifi issues. I'm putting it down to weird interference in the bedroom. I have no problems at cafes and the library BUT my other devices don't have issues in the exact same locations so I don't know what's going on. Still a great machine, very fast.

Knocked off a star for the brush off from Customer Support and unresolved Wifi. Would take another half for some of the skinny keys but then it is expected in such a small notebook.

I received the notebook on Friday (Aug 14, 2010). Everything works great, except the WebCam is not functioning. I called Acer support for help. Firstly they had me restored the system back to factory condition, which I know it was not going to fix the problem because I tested the WebCam when I turned on the computer for the first time, and I found WebCam was not working.

The tech support gave up immediately, by saying that this issue needs Acer "advanced software support", and he would connect me to Acer's Advanced software support where my problem would be get ressolved. First I was very happy, and I expected my issue would be resolved by Adavnced support team. I was really shocked with what happened next. I was told that I need to buy a minimum of one year software support for $125 (two years for $199), in order for me to get support. After I emphasized the fact that I have had the computer for less than two days, I was then "kindly" given an explanation that the factory warrenty only covers the hardware (and software is not covbered), and to ressolve the WebCam related issues he must first look into software setup which is not covered by Factory Hardware watrrenty. Withiout buying an additional software coverage, Acre support would not look into the issue...

I now decided to return the computer. I called TigerDirect, and amazingly I was issued a Return Authorization Number in less than 2 min.

I will never buy Acer computer again, although their computer and price looks good. Their support is so poor and unreasonable that is far beyond anyone's imagination.

Got this about a month ago and have been using it mostly for school. The key attributes i was looking for in a laptop when i decided on this was:
weight
battery life
screen size
power
So far this laptop has delivered up to my expectations. it and its charger are very light, i purchased a neoprene laptop sleeve and only take the machine into classes everyday. The charger is a little goofy - the cable plugs into the left side of the laptop and it is a horizontal plug (not long and ez to break, like some HP/Dell models i have seen), the wall side of the charger contains both the plug and the electric(ac/dc) converter (i assume thats what the block is - though im not really sure). the charger is also rotatable (this is going to be hard to explain) in that it can sit in the wall vertically, horizontally or even diagonally, this is to help with fitting it in odd locations and is a great feature!

Battery life is slightly less than i had anticipated - but is GREAT still. i was hoping (maybe falsely) for 8 hours... though with wifi on its really about 6 or 7. This has not hindered me once. in my whole month of using it i have NOT had a problem with charge - and i take it everywhere and use it a lot. This CPU can chug hard though so keep that in mind when using it on battery power.

11.6" is perfect for a lap or a desk. great for traveling - not so great for accessories but i was able to find a sleeve i liked without much of a problem.

power:
WOW can this thing deliver. For people who dont understand processors much: DO NOT BE FOOLED by the "1.2 GHz" listing this i5 processor reports. IT IS FAST!(dual core with dual threads per core, woop woop 'i' series) Can run lots of programs simultaneously without any hic-cup in performance. the other day i decided to really test it out - installed bioshock thinking there was not a chance it could run it. SURPRISINGLY it did run the game fairly well on low settings. it didnt really look that great but the framerate was at least playable. I also test world of warcraft and that ran seemlessly. However i dont play games much so i cant really test in depth.

the one thing i would add to this machine if i could. backlit keys. this is not a listed feature so i cannot complain, but that is something id love to see on a later generation.

if you want to know anything else - leave a comment and ill try to respond.

I fired up my new TimelineX for the first time this morning with i5 Core technology and have been smiling ever since. Here are my contemporaneous notes as I got acquainted with this new laptop today;

1. Packaging and Shipping = 5
2. Start-up Process = 5
3. Wireless Setup = 5
4. Windows 7 Activation = 5
5. Touch Pad = 4, Acer should have made the pad a different color or shade, size is Okay but may take a little to get use to the pad and the surrounding areas all being the same color and feel.
6. Touch Pad Buttons = 3, the buttons are very stiff, you will have to learn to utilize the double tap and scrawl features to survive.
7. Key Board = 4, size is Okay but the smooth flat keys will take a little to get used to. No noticeable flex, seems high quality.
8. Build Quality = 5+
9. Weight = 5, I travel a lot with my personal laptop and think this is a perfect balance between small and powerful.
10. Re-Boot Speed = 5+
11. Task Speed = 5+
12. Available ports and locations = 5
13. On-Board Sample Software = 5, some call it bloat-ware, but all manufactures include it, the programs provided on this laptop are a good selection of high-end products, and they take very little of the 500GB hard drive.
14. Battery Life = 5, No I didn't get 8 hours that is advertised, but that is probably because I like my power saving settings a little faster and brighter than their test machine was setup for, I got a solid 6 hours from my first full charge of solid non-stop use. It will get me entirely through a more normal day at the laptop.

Over all this has been a true 5 experience with a new machine, utilizing Windows 7 and Office 2010 for the first time. This was a great purchase.

Pros:
+Roughly 3 lbs.
+Vivid LED Screen
+Great, almost full sized key board
+HDMI Output
+Flawless 720P playback
+Spacious Hard Drive
+Superb battery life
+Does not run hot
+TurboBoost!

Neutral:
=No DVD player/burner

Cons:
-Trackpad needs tweaking to be halfway decent
-Lacks dedicated Home and End keys
-Speakers are weak
-5400 RPM Hard drive (slow!)
-Can't output 1080P without stutter
-Does not handle 3D applications, such as games, well.
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I've owned this Acer for approximately 3 weeks. I bought it primarily for portability purposes, however, I wanted it to be able to act as a pseudo-media player if needed. Netbooks are great in terms of price, but for outputting video they are inept. This CULV notebook does almost everything I could wish and the pros greatly outweigh the cons.

It is highly portable, extremely responsive, and has excellent battery life. I just migrated from a Dell Inspiron E1505 with a 15" screen, and admittedly, the 11.6" screen of the Acer seemed a little small at first and typing was a bit awkward, however, with a little tweaking (such as enabling auto-hide Taskbar, customizing Firefox to maximize screen real estate, and brushing up on keyboard hotkeys) this little machine has come to be my primary means for interacting with the web and outputting videos to my HDTV.

With power saver settings I can get around 9 hours or battery life pending no video or music is being played. With either music or video, the battery drops to about 5 or 6 hours. HD full screen video non-outputted will be about 3-4 hours or so.

The cons are fairly superficial. This laptop does have a slow start up time (60-75 seconds before a web browser is open), but 90% of the time I keep the computer in sleep mode, which takes about 15 seconds to fully awaken from. The computer would greatly benefit from a solid state drive.

My one big complaint has been the track pad. It is a little small and unresponsive. Scrolling or using multitouch is painful. I've had to tweak it in the control panel to make it even semi-useful, however, my solution has been to master keyboard hotkeys as a means for interacting with the laptop. Pg Up and Pg Dn will become your greatest friends. Side Note: the speakers are pitifully weak without headphones.

These are relatively minor complaints though. Investing in keyboard hotkeys is one of the best decisions I've ever made. If you are interested in purchasing this notebook, recognize it for what it is. It will not play Crysis. Starcraft II is barely playable on lowest settings. It is not meant for gaming. It is meant for web surfing, word processing, and HD playback. If these are the qualities you are looking for in a notebook, look no further. I could not have asked for a more capable computer.

(It is also worth noting that there is no DVD drive in this system. It cuts down significantly on the weight and size of the machine, however, it does make installing items from DVD's interesting. The reason I did not list this as a pro or con is simply because I almost never use the DVD player on my laptop. Most applications can be downloaded from the internet or booted via USB flash drive. I figure the increased portability and the lack of access to DVD's negate one another)

Powerful and light travel computer. Battery life is ok (getting about 4.5 hours), but this thing can come everywhere with me. I use it for photo downloading in the field. Processor is fast enough for grapbics work, but screen is difficult to use, very sensitive to viewing angles and the color profiles are not the best with my Gretag i1. This will really only be an issue for serious photo processing on this laptop screen, which is really never recommended anyway. Has an HDMI port, so it could drive an external monitor if photo editing is a big concern (I use my desktop anyway).

The keyboard is excellent, nearly full size. The speaker volume is low. The touchpad is not the greatest and has some response issues; I use an external mouse or trackball anyway. Best laptop I've owned. No reason to be particularly impressed with MacAir for the money.