Comments on: Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830T Review

By: bryce Nickell

bryce Nickell — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:05:00 +0000

i have a 1830 with the i3. would i be able to switch out motherboards with this one with the i7, if anyone could let me know how to find this information, i would greatly appreciate it

By: BMan

BMan — Thu, 26 May 2011 18:59:00 +0000

Thanks! I wish Acer could have told me that.

By: Abc

Abc — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:46:00 +0000

upgradeing your graphics driver is easy. first download the latest intel hd graphics driver for win7x64 from intel website. then go to control panel -> programs and features -> and uninstall the stock intel graphics accelerator driver. your screen will go low-res and you will be asked to reboot after uninstalling. go ahead and reboot and after the reboot just run the downloaded intel’s driver package. you will need one more reboot after this but after that everything will be fine. i have a i3 1830t and it works for me. i can now install sp1 and my gaming graphics wei actually went up from the default numbers (from 3.X to 4.6)

By: BMan

BMan — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:03:00 +0000

This computer will not run Windows 7 SP1. The Intel HD Graphics requires an updated driver before SP1 will install. (See MS KB2498452.) While Intel has released generic drivers, Acer will not allow them to be installed (neither the zip nor exe nor manual installation will complete). Acer insists that only their OEM graphics driver can be installed, which is an obsolete version of the Intel driver — one that is incompatible with SP1. I’m still in warranty, and went through several levels of Acer tech support to no avail. They have no solution, and no intention of providing one. All they do is offer to charge me money to “walk me through” pointless repetitive exercises. Their position is that SP1 is a new operating system and they have no obligation to support it. Then why block the solutions that others provide? Goodbye Acer.

By: DespiseTheSun

DespiseTheSun — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 19:37:05 +0000

I have the previous Timeline model (1810T with an SU7300 C2D) and echo xSauronx’s comment. Build quality is ok but not great and I preferred the touchpad on my 1000HA by a longshot as well. I’m also saddled with Acer’s awful bilingual Canadian keyboard, which I’ve gotten used to, but I still find it disappointing that Acer refuses to sell a model in English Canada with the American keyboard. Otherwise, the review sums up my experience with the previous model as well. Performance for day-to-day tasks is good, and I’ve even done some audio recording with the laptop using Ardour and it did the job. The Intel integrated GPU is easily the worst part of the whole package, though. It’s absolute garbage for any kind of gaming, and I’m not talking Crysis here. And it’s not so great for 1080p video, though it handles 720p fairly well. That I can get an Ion GPU in a sub-$400 netbook but nothing comparable comes in this package is a letdown.

That’s more of a complaint with the market, though, as even comparable machines with proper discrete GPUs are still more expensive than what I paid for this, so of all the compromises to be made, I can do without 3D gaming to save a couple hundred bucks. It’s still a good machine for its price range and, in my opinion, a better workhorse than a netbook. But at the price for this i7 model, I would rather have an i5 with an Nvidia GPU, and I wish Acer offered such a machine. Odds are, for what most people would use this for, they won’t notice the jump from the i5 to the i7, but they’d really notice the bump in GPU performance.

By: xSauronx

xSauronx — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:29:24 +0000

Ive got an i3 model of this laptop…I’ve never read such a good review of the thing, however.

Maybe they cut some corners on the i3 model? Mine was priced @ $600, and while it’s not perfect, given the size, good performance and great battery life I cant complain.

Id say on mine the build quality is ok, but not great (the EEE 1000ha i had felt more solid) and this has an ALPS touchpad, which isnt anywhere near as good as the synaptics on the EEE pc I had.

Other than those comments (which are minor issues at best) I love the 1830T. Good performance (even for a low-speed i3) and great battery life (6 hours is easy)

By: Ewdison Then

Ewdison Then — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:38:20 +0000

Definitely. Cost vs Performance ratio is amazing if you really think about it. Especially for this kind of portability.

By: etwashoo

etwashoo — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:34:52 +0000

These small Acers are the best-kept secret in computing…IMHO. (1410 owner)