| Brand: | Acer | ||
| Average Rating |
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AcerAspire Timeline AS3810TZ-4880 Notebook comes with these high level specs: Intel Pentium Processor SU2700, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1, 13.3-inch HD Acer CineCrystal LED-backlit Display, Mobile Intel GS45 Express Chipset, 4096MB DDR3 1066MHz Memory, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD, 320GB SATA Hard Drive, Acer Crystal Eye Webcam, Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader, 2nd Generation Dolby Sound Room Audio Enhancement, Acer 802.11b/g/Draft-N Wi-Fi CERTIFIED, 3 – USB 2.0 Ports, 1 – HDMI Port, Convenience Buttons: Multi-Gesture Touchpad, Acer PowerSmart Technology, Acer Backup Manager, Touchpad-lock, 6-cell Li-ion Battery (5600 mAh), 8+ hours battery life, 3.5 lbs. | 1.6 kg (system unit only), AC Power Adapter, AC Power Cord, Wireless Setup Card, Registration/ Limited Warranty Card, McAfee Internet Security Suite (60-day insert) more info
Popularity: 4% [?]
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Espire Timeline
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This laptop is what I was looking for. It is light for travel, 8 hour battery life, very good viewing screen and has a sizable harddrive. The only disadvatages are that the built in sound is very week, (but works well with earphones), and it does need an external drive if you want to play DVD’s.
Off center touch pad makes scrolling awkward with right thumb
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The Acer Timeline has a lot of great features at a great price, but using my right thumb on the touch pad to scroll up or down feels awkward so I won’t be keeping it. The problem is that the mouse touch pad is positioned too much to the right. This causes my right thumb to constantly go off the left edge of the touch pad when scrolling, which is annoying. To prevent this I find myself trying to position my hands over the keyboard in an unnatural way. While it’s not uncommon for a mouse touch pad to be positioned to the right, this laptop takes it to the extreme. Yes, this problem can be remedied by using an external mouse, but I find that inconvenient. If you use your right thumb to scroll I strongly encourage you to go to a local computer retailer that has an Acer Timeline on display and try scrolling with the touch pad to see if you are bothered by the issue I mentioned. Other than the touch pad issue and the overly firm mouse button this is an excellent laptop for the price.
-Helpful Harry
Amazing battery life
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The laptop is good. I just had a conflict when i installed a program, maybe the problem was with the compatibility with windows vista 64bits. Other than that the computer runs ok, with a speed comparable with a dual core. I really like the time this machine last.
Awesome Laptop!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I purchased it after doing some research all over the place. Looked at the mac books and the other laptops out there, but wanted something that wasn’t going to break the bank. I like the laptop, it’s fast and has a great price tag. I didn’t think I would though. Comes in different sizes and everything. I got the 13.3 inch screen since it’s replacing one that is that size. So much nicer them my old laptop. Doesn’t have a dvd-rom drive but I never really used that anyway so I didn’t really mind about that. Has great sound when you plug head phones in and I do that all the time. Not so great sound without headphones unless you plug speakers in. The speakers that come with it are too small I think. It runs programs well, but this is comparing it to my old laptop that bit the dust. It’s got a great battery life and has different operation settings depending on what you’re going to put the laptop through during your use.
BEWARE – Description has errors
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
NOTE: the Intel Pentium SU2700 processor is NOT a “Dual Core” processor as described. Only the SU9300, SU9400 and SU9600 proc’s are Dual Core. I sure it’s a very nice ultraportable laptop, but it will “keep you waiting” much more than a core duo. AMAZON needs to fix the description. The dual core version is: Acer Computer Aspire Timeline AS3810T-6415,
Better Business Bureau Ratings POOR
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Before you buy Any Acer omputer, I would urge you to look up their complaints & overall ratings from the Better Business Bureau in different States. Example Calif. gives them an F. Texas a D minus. BEWARE!!!!!!!
If it wasn’t for the mouse key….
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
If it wasn’t for the mouse I would’ve given this computer 5 stars. Though it only just arrived today I find it very appealing. It is super light and fits into all of my bags so I can carry it to school any time and it would not be a burden like my apple used to be. Now, though I’ve only used this for about 3 hours thus far, I’m very upset with the mouse click. It takes some strength to actually make the key click and requires constant pressure to keep it down because it feels as if it’s trying to push against the thumb to come back up; and it hurts the thumb severely. I’m guessing after a long period of time this may become a dangerous problem for the thumb. Other than that so far so good. I bought this for its mobile factor and I’m very happy with that thus far…but that stupid mouse key…
Perfect for my needs
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve only had the 13.3″ model for 2 days, but from what I’ve seen, it is just perfect for my needs. I’m flying to Europe and I wanted something that will last throughout the flight. The screen was downright gorgeous and it is so light that I’m sure I won’t strain carrying it around with all the other stuff in my backpack. Whoever said it struggles with streaming HD must have a bad device as I was streaming several YouTube HD videos over the wireless connection in my office. I’ll rip DVD’s to the hard drive using an external drive so I don’t really care that it doesn’t have a DVD drive. The battery design must have been thought out well because when you hold the closed laptop, it fits perfectly in my hand. I noticed that the power brick never got hot (like my 12″ HP laptop) so it obviously wasn’t using much power.
The screen does dim a little when you pull out the power. That must be to save the battery, but it isn’t anywhere near as dim as my HP when running purely on battery power. I plan to use a portable mouse so I don’t care about the mouse button or touch pad. What little I did use seemed OK to me. I hate all laptop mouse pads so this ACER seemed just as bad as any (and I’ve gone through about 5 different laptops over the past decade).
Edit: I downloaded some 1080p videos from the Microsoft WMV HD site and they play beautifully on this laptop. Sometimes hit 100% usage, but I never saw any studdering of the video. As I said before, the screen is beautiful and that HD video was gorgeous. I don’t usually write very many reviews, but when I like something, I have to let everyone know.
Edit: I just came back from Europe and I can say for sure I am extremely happy with this machine. I brought both my 12″ HP and this 13.3″ Acer and I much prefer the Acer. My wife and I were in a PUB with free wireless and the HP battery died a little over 2 hours while I was still going strong with the Acer. I literally can’t tell the performance of this single core vs the dual core HP which runs a lot faster (and hotter) than the Acer. The lite weight made carrying the Acer practically a non-issue. Even getting it it/out of my bag for the airport security was a breeze vs the HP.
Fantastic!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My only complaint is the lack of an optical drive. I downgraded from the 14″ model to this one and didn’t realize this was sacrificed. However, in this day and age, it really isn’t missed once you load the software and I like the size and weight of the 13″ model infinitely more. It also includes built-in flash readers, so this makes up for this deficit somewhat. This model was also slightly faster than the one I switched from. 8+ hour battery life is no joke, although you would have to keep the screen fairly dim to really hit that limit, but it has never been a concern. I am using this in college and it’s perfect! I see all the yuppie kids with MacBook Airs, who’s parents did not know any better and were probably grifted into spending too much by some Best Buy salesman. On the flip side, you have netbooks, which are equivalent to about a 300MHz Core 2 Duo ULV processor (this is 1300MHz) and have trouble even running flash on the internet! For just a few dollars more, you get a larger screen, a more comfortable keyboard and equal or better battery life – there is no contest! Ultra-lightweight and perfect for college or business – buy it.
Also, don’t forget the free upgrade to Windows 7 – just go to Acer’s website and apply for your disc.
Good for the price, but disappointing CPU performance.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
For me, the main factors are:
PROS
1) Weight 3.5 lbs – nice and light. Typical 14″ machine is 6 lbs.
2) Outstanding battery life, low noise, cool. Helped by super-low power consumption of Intel SU2700 CPU.
3) Cheap.
CONS
1) The Intel SU2700 CPU is slow. Even after uninstalling bloatware, it does not take much to max out the processor, and get choppy performance in basic tasks. I was surprised that my eight year old Compaq Evo N600 with a 1.2 GhZ Intel processor running XP is noticeably faster, though admittedly noisier and hotter. For example, the aspire struggles to play online ABC TV episodes (using flash video player), whereas my old Evo runs smooth. (It could also be the graphics chipset, but the CPU does max out).
2) The speakers are too quiet.
3) The widescreen is ideal for watching movies, but there is no built in DVD player, and it’s too choppy to watch ABC tv episodes online.
For me, the CPU performance kills what would otherwise be a brilliant machine for the price. However, for most basic tasks it only has occasional choppy performance, and overall I can live with it. I suspect that the Intel dual core version AS3810T-6415 would be ideal, though it is currently way more expensive.
I really wanted to like this one
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I was looking for a laptop for traveling to replace my Thinkpad X41 as I wanted a brighter screen and faster machine. After trying out an HP DV2 and rejecting it because of the keyboard, I bought the Acer 3810TZ. It had the weight and size I wanted and looked like it could do the trick. However, I got trapped in the problem of CPU utilization frequently being at 100% under a very light load (Internet Explorer and AntiVirus program). After spending a lot of time on various forums I discovered that this is a well known problem with this series of computers. I updated drivers, tried updating the BIOS and generally did everything I knew how to do to resolve the problem. It got better, but I still got the 100% CPU utilization indication. I’ve been using computers for over 25 years and know my way around them, but this one had me stumped. I decided to return it rather than continue to work on the issue. Acer tech support was not very helpful in trying to resolve the issue. I really wanted to like this machine, but I’ll keep looking.
Timeline 13.3
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is my fourth portable computer purchase. The other three, were all really too heavy to be truly portable – more like desktop replacements, so this is the first one that I take with me when I am out-and-about.
I almost bought the 11.6 inch Gateway netbook with the AMD processor, but when i saw the specs on this, the hdmi port, and the free windows 7 upgrade, that sealed the deal.
Just wanted to add to the other comments about this machine.
Video performance: Standard xvid/divx files and 720P mkv files played from the hard drive in full screen mode without a hitch.
I tested an HD version of Brothers and Sisters
at [...] It played well at full screen when the unit was running off A/C current. Running off the battery with the powersmart mode enabled, the video deteriorated, but then I pressed the green leaf button to disable that mode and the HD stream looked fine.
This paragraph is in the pdf user manual on the machine and explains why you probably don’t want to be in powersmart mode with HD video:
“The Acer PowerSmart key uses the power-saving features of your computer’s
graphics sub-system to reduce overall power consumption. When you press the
Acer PowerSmart key, the Windows graphics scheme will be changed to
Windows Vista Basic, screen brightness reduced and the graphics chip will be
switched to a lower speed.
Press the Acer PowerSmart key again to return to your previous settings.”
High quality streams from Netflix seemed to play well at full screen, even in power saving mode, so go figure.
DVD drive: I don’t really mind it not having a DVD drive. I’m using the 2 GB SD cards I have laying around and I’ll buy some large SDHC cards (16 GIG or better) later on.
Battery life: Using the power saver mode I can get more than 8 hours of moderate and intermittent web surfing with the wi-fi enabled. If you are going to watch video, that’s going to eat up more battery life.
Touchpad: The mouse clicker on the touchpad is a little stiff. I usually have a wireless mouse for my notebooks, but since this is my mobile machine, I’m getting acclimated to the touchpad. I find that I’m more comfortable using the ‘heavy tap’ method on the touchpad for mouse selection than the clicker.
Heat: Bottom only gets slightly warm sometimes and I have had it resting on exposed skin for extended periods with no discomfort.
This computer is ideal for those who may want something small, but having a little more power and screen size than a netbook, and extended battery life.
Overall, I’m very pleased with it.
Battery good, Speed worse, international travel worst: Do not buy
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Got this laptop a few weeks ago. Took it with me to Switzerland (i.e. 220v) and discovered that the power cord has a labeled sticker that says “125v”. The power bar is dual voltage but the power cord is not! How does that make any sense? People use laptop and they take it wherever they go. So, I can’t use the laptop unless I buy a converter or a 220v designed cord. I was told this by the Acer customer service which is difficult to look for in their super bad website design. Apparently, Acer wants you to stay in the USA only and not travel outside of the country! Boo Acer!
I have been using the laptop for basic things only like websurfing, e-mails, etc. but it’s really, really slow.
acer Timeline 13,3″
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this machine before one week so I dont know absolutely everything about it,but the batery is realy amazing,when you are writing some documents without conection to net,batery life is bigger then 8!! hours, normaly with wi-fi conection is not problem be 7 hours on-line and when you need max power,this laptop give you more than 5.30 hours of comfort using,thats realy wonderful for 3,5 lb heavy toy. In normal using is realy quick,so quick how is it possible,Im realy happy from that and enjoying him. I tried play some games like NeedForSpeed underground and no problem,same like experience with Halflife. Perfect
Acer Aspire Timeline AS3810TZ-4880 13.3-Inch Laptop – 8+ Hour Battery Life
Very Satisfied
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased the Acer AS3810TZ-4880 through Amazon after careful research and review of other product reviews. I can say that I am very pleased with the product after approximately four weeks of use. My use of the Acer is for work (MS office applications) and internet browsing. I don’t do gaming or other video-intensive applications, so my review is strictly pertinent to the type of needs I have. I bought this computer for its small footprint, light weight and long battery life. I have another larger Dell laptop running Windows XP that serves as my main work computer.
First and foremost, I had a major concern about Vista, since I’m used to XP, and have heard the horror stories about Vista. I had to overcome this trepidation before deciding to get the Acer. I’m glad I did. I have had absolutely no issues with the Vista 64 bit operating system, and am rapidly becoming a fan. This is a lesson learned for me. For those who are hesitating due only to negative buzz about Vista, I encourage you to jump in – the criticism is overblown. In any event – you get a free upgrade to Windows 7, so this shouldn’r be an issue.
The fit and finish of the unit is very good. It has a “professional” appearance, as opposed to most netbooks, and that was an important factor for me. It does not have an optical drive, which caused me some concern initially, but I soon discovered that if you have a wireless network, you can easily share the optical drive in another computer, and install software to the Acer using the drive in that other networked computer. This is easier than it sounds, so the lack of an optical drive is really no problem for me.
The display is beautiful. It has a fair amount of glare, but that doesn’t bother me since I don’t use it outdoors much. This might be an issue for those that need to use it in sunlight.
The battery life is great. I’ve yet to run out of battery when doing typical work with MS Office applications. You can count on several hours unplugged.
There have been some complaints about the stiffness of the single rocker-style mouse key below the touchpad. It is definitely stiff, but I must say that this is not really an issue for me. It may be for others. I can easily live with it.
My bottom line is this – it is a very powerful,competent and good-looking computer for everyday use in a small, light package. It is head and shoulders above a netbook without being much more expensive. It suits my needs very well – you will have to decide whether it suits yours as well. For me, the price point of $599 was well worth it.