Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830T Review
TimelineX Aspire Notebook 1830T is bundled with an Intel Core i5-520UM speed 1.06GHz, HM55 chipset, 2GB of RAM memory and 160GB hard drive capacity. 1366 x 768 resolution laptop has connectivity on the Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, Bluetooth and 3G.
Build and Design
The Acer Aspire Timeline X series is the latest generation of thin and light notebooks from Acer designed to offer solid performance and long battery life in a surprisingly lightweight package.
The combination of relatively thick matte plastics and black brushed aluminum palmrests leave the notebook feeling solid and showing almost no signs of flex. The screen stays firmly shut with a good amount of tension from the screen hinges when closed. Protection from the screen cover is only adequate; the cover flexes quite easily and distortions appeared on the display when we applied pressure to the back of the cover. The body of the notebook seems to be well designed with minimal chassis flex and no obvious creaks from the plastics.
The expansion bay provides access to the hard drive, the WLAN and optional WWAN card slots as well as two RAM sockets. The single cover panel is held in place by five screws.
Ports and Features
Port selection on the Aspire 1830T is fairly standard for a modern netbook or 11-inch ultraportable notebook. Acer gives three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI-out, VGA, LAN, and audio jacks. also features a SDHC-card slot for expanding internal storage or just loading images off camera while traveling. Since we’re starting to see USB 3.0 on more consumer notebooks and there are many USB 3.0 external hard drives on the market we really wish Acer had found a way to put at least one USB 3.0 port on this notebook.
Screen and Speakers
The 11.6-inch LED-backlit screen on the Aspire 1830T is like many of the other glossy screens we’ve seen on 11-inch notebooks. The 1366×768 resolution is great for browsing the web, editing photos, or even watching 720p HD movies. Color and contrast are average thanks to the glossy surface and LED backlighting.
The onboard speakers were lap-firing and sounded very tinny. The speakers had no low frequency response to speak of and just a small hint of midrange. This is fine for listening to Windows alert sounds or watching a YouTube clip, but not for sharing music or a movie in a small room. The speaker orientation causes problems if you have the laptop laying on a bed or pressed against thick clothing on your lap. In short, audiophiles would be better off using a nice pair of headphones or connecting the notebook to a stereo through its HDMI-out port.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The nearly full-size keyboard on the Aspire 1830T is comfortable for typing but received mixed feedback from editors. Aspire 1830T used a Chiclet keyboard with slightly larger keys than what we’ve seen on many netbooks with island-style keyboards. The result is less space between each key which may ultimately lead to more typos. Another potential problem with this style of keyboard is that people with long fingernails might get their nails caught under the edge of the keys. In any case, the keyboard looks quite nice and only suffered from a little flex or “bounce” under heavy typing pressure. The keys themselves have a rough matte finish on top which helps increase fingertip traction. Individual key action was smooth, giving off a muffled click when pressed.
The touchpad on the 1830T is an ALPS model with okay sensitivity and some annoying lag when making quick movements. The larger problem is the flush touchpad surface which isn’t separated by a clear dividing line at the palmrests. As a result, it’s easy to accidentally move your finger off the touchpad surface while moving the cursor and then have the cursor pop up in a completely different spot when your finger returns to the touchpad surface. On a happier note, the touchpad is a gesture-capable model so you can use multi-finger gestures like “pinch” or “pivot” to control on-screen zoom or image rotation. The two touchpad buttons have an extremely shallow depth when pressed and our review sample had uneven buttons which resulted in a caught thumb on more than one occasion.
Performance and Benchmarks
The Acer Aspire 1830T boasts an Intel Core i7-680 1.46GHz ultra low voltage processor with Intel Turbo Boost Technology running at speeds of up to 2.53GHz.
the Acer Aspire 1830T-68U118 offers the fastest processor of any 11-inch notebook. the Aspire 1830T was roughly twice as fast as from the new 11.6-inch Apple MacBook Air while running synthetic performance. General system performance is likewise significantly faster than a single-core or dual-core Atom netbook with no noticeable lag in a Windows environment.
The 500GB 5400rpm hard drive is fast enough to quickly load most basic applications like Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop but if you’re regularly opening massive files like high-resolution images or HD video files then you may want to upgrade to a 7200rpm hard drive or a high-performance SSD. Still, the 500GB storage capacity should be more than enough for most consumers looking to store their family photos and music library.
The only obvious weak point in the Aspire’s armor is the low-performance Intel HD integrated graphics. Yes, the Intel GPU delivers smooth HD video playback (much better than what you get from a cheap netbook). Yes, support for Microsoft DirectX 10 games means you get better-than-netbook gaming performance. Nevertheless, the Acer Aspire 1830T delivers only a fraction of the gaming capabilities of notebooks like the Alienware M11x or the previously mentioned 11-inch Apple MacBook Air.
Battery Life
The Timeline series of notebooks has always set the bar high in terms of battery life. Acer claimed the original 13-inch Aspire Timeline notebook could deliver “up to 10 hours” of battery life (a claim that never quite panned out) and Acer claims the 1830T can deliver “up to 8 hours” on a single charge. This time, Acer’s statements about battery life might be fairly accurate.
the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active while refreshing a website on regular intervals, and Windows 7 set to the Balanced profile, the Aspire 1830T continued running for 7 hours and 48 minutes. By comparison, the ASUS Eee PC 1215N netbook with dual-core Atom processor and Nvidia ION graphics stayed on for 5 hours and 34 minutes and Apple’s new 11.6-inch MacBook Air delivered 6 hours and 15 minutes.
Pros:
* Good performance
* Excellent battery life
* Thin and light design
Cons:
* Uncomfortable touchpad and touchpad buttons
* Lacks gaming capability
Our Acer Aspire 1830T-68U118 feastures the following specifications:
* Intel Core i7 680UM processor (1.46GHz, 4MB L3 cache)
* 11.6-inch 1366×768 HD display with LED backlighting
* Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
* 4GB DDR3 memory
* 500GB 5400rpm HDD
* Intel HD integrated graphics
* Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n wireless
* Bluetooth 3.0 (Foxconn BCM92046)
* 6-cell Li-ion battery
* Dimensions: 11.22 (w) x 8.03 (d) x1.01-1.10 (h) inches
* Weight: 3.09 pounds
Price is $900
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