Acer Aspire Timeline Owner's Lounge

Windows 7 drivers for the Timeline 3810T is now officially available at the ACER website.

Now if only the ePower management app is available, I'll be installing Win7 on my 3810T.....

 

Hmm, I'll double check later... as far as I have observed I don't hear a thing, even when plugged in. Anyway I might make a video of it if indeed it's so.

EDIT: Ok I just checked it just now, and I do hear the fan when plugged in.... BUT only if I stick my ear beside the side vents. Since I don't think I'll be using the laptop that way, hehe. I guess the fan noise is not an issue at all. Cheers.

 

hmmm, im not quite sure which ap ure referring to....i searched each and every vista x64 section (3810, 4810 and 5810 model) but i couldnt find two entries to a powersaving app! maybe u could provide me with a link? could be that im just too tired right now ;-)

good question@batt time on wifi&light duties. havent tried that yet, just on video playback...

greetz

 

Big big thank yous for posting that.

Just installed ubuntu 9.04 on a Acer Timeline 3410 which refused to boot, even though it would boot from the live cd, was generating bonkers error message about "sat ...doesn't support DPO or FUA" that was way out of my league.

Found your comment above after 2 hours of googling. Did it, booted first time in seconds. All good and much appreciated.

 

I am using the Windows 7 RTM version downloaded from BitTorrent. You can install it and use it for 30 days without activation. Then you can 'rearm' the OS and get another 30 days a couple times. I will get the activation code from Acer way before the rearms run out. I think I will just enter the activation code into Windows when it arrives.
If you have the RC installed, you will have to do a clean install.

 

Thx marstein! Is it possible to use both the already installed vista and new windows 7 at the same time? I mean, when I will install windows 7, can I still use vista, even when they are installed on the same partition?

 

sure thing, no biggie. ull just get a boot-screen where u can select which OS u wanna work with. make sure to install the oldest OS first and the newest one last, this way the boot-screen will be automatically updated

 

No. You will just overwrite the first OS if you install it to the same partition. You need to install to different partition if you want to multi-boot.

 

Right click on the desktop, go to graphic properties and display settings and set the tv display to 1280x720.

 

hello ppl....i own a 4810t with vista home basic.....d problem is my computer freezes randomly without any reasons at all.....sumtmes it works for hours together without any problem n sumtimes it crashes leaving no option 4 me other than to restart it holding the power button....ive installed d latest 1.28 bios (prev 1.12) , latest graphics driver from intel site(acers site drivers seems to be old) , lan driver as mentioned in d earlier posts.... .i bought it sum 10days back....n it seems ive mangd 2 solve cpu 100% usage problem...but d freezing problem is still killing me....can anybody pls help....

 

I agree - you'd have to partition your harddrive with an additional partition for Windows 7 that you can also boot from.

But what for? Just upgrade or do a fresh install of windows 7 and if you don't like it go back to vista with the BIOS recover option.

Actually I saved my Vista setup and the subsequent Win 7 partition as a drive image using Macrium Reflect - this software copies the whole partition to another external drive or to a network share. Theoretically you can get the old vista image back with that if windows 7 somehow doesn't make it. Needless to say I didn't try that yet.

 

I'm currently unsure which Timeline to buy.

I was already at some shops today, and everyone told me something different.

I rarely will use this Notebook for playing midrange Games, most likely World of Warcraft or Point & Clicks on Medium Settings (High shouldn't be possible afaik?)

That's why the SU3500 and the onboard Intel GPU devices drops out.

Makes my choices to the SU7300 and the SU9400 devices with HD 4330.

As far as I can see, all 14" and/or 13" are avaible in both specs. (7300/4330 & 9400/4330). Which one should I take for over 90% office use and WLAN/Surfing/Chatting (on the go) and 10% Gaming (ALWAYS with power supply).

Does the 13" performs better overall because of the smaller display and resolution?

Is it a good decicison to spend nearly 100€ more just for the Upgrade from 7300 to 9400?

Everything else seems identically at both specs & both sizes - and nope, I don't really considering 3G, DVD Burner and such stuff as a critically point which one to chose.

It's all up to the performance differences compared to money on 13" 7300/4330 or 9400/4330 TO 14" 7300/4330 or 9400/4330.

Or SU3500 with 4330 ? Damn .. see ... I simply can't make up any choice as everyone else told me something different today .. you are my last hope here!!

I would really love to see someone replying me quick because I planing buying it in a few hours (now it's 3 o'clock , shopping time: 13-14 o'clock) and gives me help which one to chose from the 4 named Timelines here.

//edit: I'm sorry for my terrible english, it's late, I'm tired AND I'm German, english is'nt my mother language.

 

Good luck finding the 14" with su9400... at least in the U.S. it's non existent.. that was going to be my initial choice as the difference between the su2700 (1.3ghz, 2MB L2) vs. the su3500 (1.4ghz, 3MB L2) is negligible. However, with very capable intel DXVA gpu, it doesn't matter so much to me.... didn't buy it to play much of any games, but I can attest that Plants vs. Zombies is superb on this one

 

@escence

Moin!
Get the 13.3" 7300/4330.

 

So this one is the price/performance ratio avaible? How much better is the Dual Core SU7300 compared to the Single Core SU3500? Price difference in Germany 799€ (7300) to 599€ (3500). It is worth 200€ ?

You tried running any games on it?
I'm just as asking because I'm fliped (that's right in english, or? xD) through the 138 pages and I couldn't find anything about midrange Games experiences made on this notebook.

Again, I'm esspecially interested in World of Warcraft, P&C Adventures like Monkey Island (Steam), Black Mirror, Whispered World and such stuff - and it is capable of playing Pro Evolution Soccer 09/10 on medium settings it would be superb.

 

okay, first things first, the correct way to say it would be "I flipped through..." but that is not an easy English phrase to grasp all things considered, so i applaud your use.

for running games, the timeline is not your laptop, the dual core model is for sure what you want if the timeline is what you are going to get, as it will run these games decently.

 

I finally buyed this one.

Seem's a good deal on the 3810TG or?

 

Jaybee,
Since you might be the only guy having TG with 9400 (as we don't have it in US), can I ask you that do you know anything about how the graphic card works in Vista if I choose to switch it off? I happened to read some posts saying that the GPU is actually still working and running out power even it is switched off. And that makes about 1-1.5 hour usage time less for 3810TG under power saving mode than 3810T. I tried google how to completely shut the GPU but didn't obtain any information. I'm asking my friend in HK to ship me a 3810TG-94 but before that I want to make sure the GPU doesn't waste so much power

Thanks a lot.

 

Never heared of anything like this before, and I'm pretty sure I'm not much of a help because I will install Win7 right from the start as I already orded 2 Full Keys from amazon.co.uk a while ago for my future Notebook and my Desk PC while there were pretty cheap (£64.68 each).

But here something else comes to my mind:

Does the Timeline works well with Windows 7? Switching Graphics? Fan? Energy Management?

How does it perform on Linux? I already found someone reporting Ubuntu is running perfectly?

I'm asking because I want to run Windows 7 // Ubuntu Dual Boot - hope both OS runs as good as Vista does or - and that's what I hope because of the crap Vista OS - a lot better than that.

 

Hi, I own the 4810TG with ATI graphic card with SU9400 CPU. I think playing WOW with medium settings shouldnt be any problem. I've been playing Need For Speed Underground with this lappy without any problem at max resolution with nearly everything turned on

 

Hi bro, I can confirm with you that in Vista you can switch it on and off via the menu. Just right click on your desktop and you'll see the option to turn ur ATI on or off. By default (assuming your TG comes with preloaded vista or all the drivers properly installed on ur Vista), it'll automatically switched to Intel GPU once u r on battery mode & automatically switched to ATI GPU once you are plugged in. U can change the mode manually.

On Vista, running on batt with Intel GPU with normal firefox surfing, outlook, wifi, brightness on 2nd level and document typing, I achieved around 7 hours of battery life.

Hope this helps.

 

@Zeroblaze Thanks a lot!!

Anyone any thoughts on this ?

 

hey there!

seriously, the only guy? oh boy, i already feel so special :-D
alrighty, i just used my wattmeter to check the energy consumption of my laptop. CPU was in powersaving mode, laptop was plugged in, i had winamp running, srware iron browser with three tabs and trillian with one chat windows open. with the ATI GPU switched on i had a consumption of around 46 watts as compared to 43 watts with the intel GPU switched on. 3 watts really seems to be a preeetty small difference actually! but then again, im charging the battery right now. ill recheck the consumption once its fully charged and then come back to you again. shouldnt take more than 1 hour or so. oh by the way: im running win7 ultimate RTM, not vista!

edit: i just remembered, the battery time seriously jumps up when i switch to intel graphics while running on battery mode. its around 5-6 hours on ATI as compared to 8-9 hours on intel. but still, ill check with my wattmeter later on just to have some exact figures.

i can say from personal experience that win 7 runs without a flaw on the timeline series, switchable graphics finally works as well, although im still checking the actual battery runtime benefit from that (more results coming up in a bit, as promised above). fan is not a problem, at least not for me. often, im leaving my laptop online overnight in order to download stuff and it happens to sit on my nightstand, directly right next to my head and i can barely hear the fan just to give u a real life example here, hehe
as to ubuntu, ive already seen some posts here where people have successfully installed linux distributions on their timeline series laptops, just make sure u switch the sata mode to non-DHCI in the bios, otherwise it wont boot!

cheers and be back in a bit!

 

i think he meant that even tho u switch off the ati gpu via the built-in menu, its still running in the background and consuming power. ill give u some exact consumption figures in a bit tho, i just hope the ati running in "ghost-mode" is not to be confirmed

 

alrighty boys, results are in!

i tested the power consumption with a fully charged battery under two extremely different conditions:

1. cpu in powersaving mode and idle --> Intel vs. Ati consumption
2. cpu in high performance mode under full load from Prime95 and GPU full load with Furmark 1.7 --> Intel vs. Ati consumption

I tested the power conumption of the whole system right at the powersocket with my wattage meter.

Results as follows (all figures are averaged data):

Case 1 (powersaving & idle): Intel 17W vs. Ati 20W (+ 17.6%)

Case 2 (high performance and full load): Intel 31-32W vs. Ati 42-43W (+35%)

As you can see, there IS a concernable difference in consumption, strongly depending on the current workload. My theory is, that the ati gpu is not powered down 100% but downclocked and slowed to a very advanced degree (which makes sense, if u think about how fast the switch has to go through and no time being spent for the gpu to power up, boot its bios and take over the whole workload from the IGP). In terms of battery time it compares to around 5-6 hours of battery time on the ATI gpu vs. 8-9 hours on the Intel IGP (from my experience. in this case talking light workload with Word).

Hope this could help guys! if u got any other questions, just fire away

Cheers

 

Can you tell me how long your Acer usually works with supply if used with WLAN on, BlueTooth off, chatting and surfing, some youtube vids and some office works and so on? (No ATI usage! and with ATI usage!).

 

sure thing: on intel it lasts around 5-6 hours compared to 4-5 hours on ati graphics. with video playback (non-youtube), that is!

 

6 hours with normal avi/wmv and such stuff playback?
That are great news. .

Thank you very much. Hope my 3810 will come tomorrow or until the weekend :|

 

hi everyone,

i m reading this thread for about a weak now, thanks for all the information. i m thinking about buying the german 3810tg timeline, su9400 and ati4330.

even if there are many questions concerning the performance i would like to ask again. i am currently using a hp-dtr with t5550 c2d 1,83ghz and 8600gs m 512mb. i am sometimes running some games like strategy (empire total war) and football managers (fm09). they do not run very well, but it works.

the benchmarks pcmark and 3dmark 05 look pretty much the same. i wanted to know if i can compare both systems? do you think i m getting the same power just in a smaller and better looking device? does the new architecture of the processor balance the slower clockspeed?

also i would like to know if wou think there will be models commin straight with win7 or do you think there will be new - and stronger - models of the timeline series if i keep waiting for another month.

thanks for your advice. i hope i will write in this forum as an owner in one or two weeks.

regards

@escense. seems like you had to make the same decission. would really like to know what you think about the gaming stuff.

 

Kopfschmerz sounds German. If it is, ja, genau das selbe Problem hatte ich auch. (=excact the same problem I had aswell).

I'll buy mine tomorrow in a shop, as I can't find any online store that have it.

You should buy it now, if you are really interested, as the 13" seems to become very rare. You might get Win7 for arround 70€ from amazon.co.uk if you don't plan to upgrade it.

I can't compare both systems, but the t5500 should be the better CPU, on GPU the 8600 should be a bit better click.

All in one, for power-supply-gaming the HP should be definitly the better system.

I'll do some real tests at the weekend, f.e. with:

The Whispered World
Call of Duty 4
Resident Evil 5
World of Warcraft
Black Mirror

I'll let ypu know how the run (Settings and such stuff) in if they are still playable.

 

ok, thanks a lot. so i cant rely on comparing the pc and 3d mark results, right?

oh thats really great, its not enough that its a hard decission for a poor student which notebook to buy, no, now i am gettin also under pressure because my favorite model seems to be sold out ...but i am looking for the one with umts, they seem to be available.

i think im gonna take it anyway. the testing sounds great escense. you really would do me a favor if you could test some sort of strategy, because as far as i know the processor gets really import for that kind of games.

anyone else got an opinion on comparing the su9400 to an t5550@1,83?

 

I heard that the su9400 gets 934 points in PASSMARK and the t5550 gets 994 , so not a lot in it.

The su9400 only uses 10watts compared to the 35watts of the t5550 , and is better on fsb and has visualization.

The su9400 and the t5500 compared below.

http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=36697,32427,

 

basing on http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5379030
SU9400 1.4GHz gets 2002
I just tried on my brother's notebook, t5450 1.6GHz, managed to get 2339.
I'm guessing t5550 > su9400 around 25%?

 

Hi, im a happy new 3810tg owner, but i have a few questions i hope you clever guys can answer.

1. when are we suppose to receive our win7-disc with the mail? 22th or can we risk to have to wait several weeks? (I live in Denmark, Northen Europe if it has anything to say).

2. Im really tired of Vista allready, and i have only used it one day. I have a Win7 RC disc i consider installing. But will there be any problems with drivers? And what about installing my Win7 from Acer, will there be any complications there if i have deleted the Vista installation that followed with the machine? (I dont mean Upgrade, i format and install after a formation)

Thanks in advance and sorry for my bad English.

 

I ordered a Aspire 5810T today.

I wonder is the Win7 we get is an upgade only, or can we do a full clean install?

 

Hmm i have never considered that. I assumed you would be able to do a clean install.

Do anyone have an answer for this?

 

guys, check this out
http://customercare.acer-euro.com/customercare/AcerUpdate.aspx?CID=MY&LID=ENG&IType=JM31

 

omg, this sucks big time!

im gonna check mine right away....

edit: danm, mine is out of the bad batch! bummer! :-(

 

sorry for bringing the bad news

 

Arrgh damnit! Mine is one of the damaged models. Do anyone on the board have experience with this? How long will it take? From you send it in 'til you get it back?

 

Arrgh damnit! Mine is one of the damaged models. Do anyone on the board have experience with this? How long will it take? From you send it in 'til you get it back?

edit: Lee_waht2004 thx for noticing, much appreciated. Why do they sell damaged models? Why not contact the retailers and tell them to hold them back? Arrgh, i have to use this noteback now!

 

Mine is effected too! Sucks that I am in college and have no other computer so this would force me to use the computer labs if I send it in. I've had the computer for almost 3 months now, so maybe I don't need to?

 

Hi guys, I'm proud owner of 3810t (which is great) and new to this great forum (I bought it after reading the whole thread )

I've got only one problem - I can't find the post with the bios update intruction.
Could you post a link to it, it'll help me a lot

 

I ordered the 5810T , can you set it to charge only to 80-90% instead of 100% to make the battery live longer? , a setting in the bios maybe.

Thanks.

 

im EXACTLY in the same position as u are. i cant afford to send my laptop in, i really need it for my studies at university. ive decided no to pursue this thing. since this is a voluntary callback by acer, it wouldnt affect the warranty if the laptop actually broke down from this malfunction! and since ive worked on it for around one and a half months now without any heat problems, ill just take my chances i guess

 

Can you post the contents. It seems the link is down at the moment.

 

Well I signed up for Acer to contact me within the next 2 days. Depending on what they say in regards to how long it will take to fix, I might or might not send it in.

 

I can't truly speak for Acer on these kinds of things, but if they're anything like Asus, I would go ahead and send in my laptop if at all possible. If they're willing to take blame right now, I would take advantage. Asus left me with another defective unit even after I sent in my broken one. Now its just a ticking time bomb.

 

thanks for your answers! i think that will meet my reqirements, if not i just give it back and get the 1810tz as secondary device.

but im wondering about the benchmarks in general: can anybody tell me how much to count on them? and what difference does it make if i compare e.g. pc mark 05 or 06?

 

keep us updated dude, be interesting to see how it goes!