Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830T Thread

I have found that problem with wifi described, its actually pretty common and not exactly Acer 1830 related, but more of win7. Here is a discussion:

Wireless network not working after Sleep

 

Hi everyone
I have been reading this thread for over a month and I finally bought and Acer 1830T-3721. Thanks to all of you for the valuable information regarding this laptop.

I am a little confused about the wireless networking on the 1830T. I purchased a wireless router (DIR 655) and found that my throughput( from a pc on the lan connected with ethernet cable to the router to the 1830T connected via wireless N) to be quite low. The best I could achieve was 30mbps. I tried the usual things (change SSID channel, location of router, 20/40 MHz option etc) but I could not consistently do any better. I even tried another router (WNDR3700) but no luck.

I would like to replace the Broadcom wireless adaptor with the Intel Centrino 6200 as Jayayess1190 did. However I have some questions regarding this. I apologize if this is a stupid question but are the antennas in the 1830T dual band? The Intel Centrino can operate at both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz but I'm not sure I can take advantage of the 5GHz band with this laptop. Does anyone know for sure?

Thanks

 

Yes! I was just about to post this as well. I took mine with me for a 2 week trip which included playing blu-rays and dvds through an HDMI connection. I was surprised by how low the sound was. Also, while listening on with headphones on the airplane I found the sound to be too low for my tastes. I had to artificially boost the sound with Total Media Theatre settings.

 

Yes as long as your router supports N speeds the notebook and the Intel 6200 are capable of operating at 5Ghz.

 

glad i'm not the only one who feels this way...i was watching the same youtube clip next to my friend's macbook and his sound was so much louder...my wife's asus ul20a-a1 was also louder...

i've also had to artificially boast the sound using the loudness equalization

i went ahead and purchased a small amp
Amazon.com: FiiO E5 Headphone Amplifier: Electronics

hopefully that helps when i use headphones

although that doesn't help when using the laptop speakers

can updated drivers help or is it just a hardware limitation?

 

Thanks for the quick reply thundernet.
Has anyone on this thread installed the intel 6200 or 6300 in the acer 1830t and got it operating? If so, how does the performance compare with the Broadcom 943225hm which originally came with the 1830T?

Thanks for the help

 

Fair enough!

Probably similar to folks who have upgraded their 1410/1810's to a 6200 or 6300. It's *much* better. It's not a must-have upgrade, but it's definitely a nice, relatively inexpensive, upgrade if you're often in "troublesome" WiFi areas plus the addition of having access to 5 GHz 802.11a and 11n networks if you have it available.

Cheers,
Kermee

 

Ah! I just realized that there are three models out... I thought the i3 and the 1830tz were the same, but the 1830tz has a U5400 processor in it.

The stronger the processor, the shorter battery life, right? Does that mean that the U5400 will have a better battery endurance than the i3 and the i5?

Comparison chart: Compare Intel® Products,

Does a SSD give better battery life than a HHD on the same machine?
Notebook.de offers upgrade to SSD from 128 GB (+399 euros) to 512 GB (+1499 euros!)

 

In theory, the battery life of all CULV units is the same, since Intel rates them all at the same TDP. It is impossible to say if any unit would perform better or worse in any condition. Their idle states will all pretty much be alike in terms of clocks and voltages (today, even a desktop quad core isn't much above a dual core when idle). I would guess that the lower end processors might have a few minutes more in them, but not enough to make a big difference. And when facing computing intensive tasks, the i5 might even be better, since it can wrap it up faster, due to a higher clock speed, and return to idle states quicker. Without anyone testing various units under the same circumstances, your guess is as good as anyones .
As for the HDD - SSD thing: DO NOT BUY SUCH UPGRADES! It is very easy to change the HDD on your own. Buying an SSD separately will be much cheaper as well and you will also have an extra HDD (either to sell off or for storing additional data, maybe via an external case). Depending on the SSD, you can save one to two watts, I would say. Most 2.5" HDDs have idle consumption of 0.8 to 1.2W and load consumption of avrg. 2W (data from the German magazine c't, issue 09/2010). An SSD can have 0.65W in idle and 1.22W in load ( http://www.anandtech.com/show/3812/the-ssd-diaries-crucials-realssd-c300/7). Considering that this laptop already has a very low power consumption (if done right, under 10W in idle), you will definitely notice such an upgrade. But more importantly, you will notice the increased speed and ease of use. If you don't need the bigger space and can afford it, an SSD should be the preferred upgrade for any PC you have .

 

Anyone know how to get it to stop beeping when you plug in or plug out the power cord?

Thanks

 

Maybe there is a misconseption here.The Intel5100 on 1810s and the Broadcom cards on 1830t both support N speeds and 5MGh..If there are any gains to be found from the Intel6200 are in supposedly better reception.That we can learn from people who have done the switch.

 

i would like to know this as well...

if the sound is muted, it doesn't beep
but i didn't see any sound settings to turn it off

 

Press start then in search type "sounds" then go to "change system sounds" and there you can do all sorts of changes such as discontinue sounds or set your own sounds....

Edit:Gugu009 for every individual sound underneath you can select "none"or about 50 other choices....

 

Whoops. You're right.

1810's came with 5100's. The 1410's came with 1000's.

Cheers,
Kermee

 

Ok, several things. First, not all CULV are rated the same TDP. Look at the link that was posted for an example. Second, I think you're confusing max TDP with actual power consumption. TDP is a max amount heat the system must dissipate. The higher the TDP the more heat a chip will create under peak load. Yes to a certain degree heat = wasted power which has some correlation to the battery life. However, systems with the same TDP can often have a different battery life depending on how the system is configured by the manufacturer (e.g. consider which battery they pair with a system). Third, it is not impossible to say if a unit would perform better or worse in any condition. If it were, how could we ever make an informed buying decision? The trick is to control the conditions and identify the conditions under which performance was measured. Lastly, power consumption at idle is important but it is only part of the equation. Unless you don't actually do anything with your computer, most people will care about power consumption under load. Otherwise we'd have quadcore in our laptops and achieve 8+ hours of battery life.

Agreed! Until then, we rely on tests with comparable circumstances which is why it is so important for folks to report the conditions under which they test.

Your advice is confusing. Don't buy it ... no wait buy it for everything.

 

It appears the sound is from an internal speaker and not the windows sound system. I don't think you can change this through the windows settings. Also, there is no sound event for "disconnect power" or "reconnect power" that I could find.

 

Hey,

Looking for some advice; I want to get my hands on the 1830T (i5 spec) for returning to University. However I live in the UK and have been looking for release info for ages now but found nothing so I don't even know if it will be released here. Wish it had been release in the USA before May as I was over there. However my American girlfriend is coming to visit me for 2 weeks on the 3rd September so she could purchase it and bring it with her.

I have been checking out the online shops over there but none have stock in right now and most say either unavailable or like Amazon: 3 - 5 weeks.

What I want to know is; what shop I should order from so it arrives before she leaves so she can bring it with her? Any suggestions on what I should do?

Cheers!

 

@mr.foo: I was referring to all Arrandale CULVs, since this is a thread about an Arrandale powered notebook. And all those that have launched thus far are rated at 18W for the whole package. The old SU4100 is from the older Penryn line without the graphics on core, so it's a moot comparison to make.
I did not confuse TDP with actual power consumption, but I used it nonetheless because that is the only thing Intel publishes and it should allow a certain amount of comparibility. But yes, it is more complicated than what I may have painted it as.
You misunderstood my comment about the impossibility of determining which unit would be better or worse in any condition, because I made it with regards to not having them at hand. It is impossible to determine their behaviour by just going by the numbers we have available over the internet at this point. Of course, if people do tests with those varying units, then we can make assumptions based on those real life tests, preferably done in the same manner over all different notebooks.

I agree with your statement that battery life under load is also important, but I never said anything to the contrary.
Your quad core argument makes no sense, because:
a) hardly anyone wanting to buy 11.6" notebook needs this kind of computing power (and would spend 100$, 150$, 200$ more on the CPU alone, not talking about beefier cooling solutions etc.)
b) while the idle consumption will be very much alike, the load consumption will be significantly different and all engineering (case, cooling, fans etc.) must be adjusted for the higher load, making it much more costly and bulky
Most of the stuff users generally do with their computers, especially notebooks, leaves them at near idle states. I doubt anyone in their right mind would do video editing with a CULV notebook. Of course, load battery life is important, but idle the most important one.
So, you put a lot of stuff in my mouth that I never said (when did I say that all notebook with the same TDP rated CPU have identical battery life?).... Please do not make such leaps.

As to the HDD/SSD thing: you misread my comment. I was telling him to not buy the SSD upgrades a shop offers, as they are always overpriced and usually use not optimal SSDs. I was instead advising him to go about buying an SSD and installing it on his own, if he can afford it and the space is not that important to him.

I hope this cleans up all the issues you had with my post.

 

The i5-430UM AS1830T-3721 is back in stock at Newegg. $679.99 plus $12.65 for 3-day Shipping.

-- EDIT: As of 11:50 AM PDT, looks like there's 3 in stock.
-- EDIT: As of 12:00 PM PDT, looks like there's 1 in stock.
-- EDIT: As of 12:20 PM PDT... OOS.

Cheers,
Kermee

 

aye....I saw there was some....let gf know but she was at work...she is home now....and out of stock....dam dam

 

I think I am getting more confused. Can you tell from the specifications alone for the 1830T that it will operate at 5 GHz? For the notebook to function at both 2.4GHz and 5GHz, I thought it required an adaptor that works at both frequencies and dual-band antennas. I couldn't find any information that clearly indicated that the broadcom card(BCM943225HM) in the 1830T did work at both frequencies. I also couldn't find anything regarding the antennas in the 1830T.

Thundernet, do you know that the 1830T and Broadcom cards work at 5 GHz from other information besides the specifications? Am I missing something in the specs that show that 5 GHz operation is possible?

I appreciate all the help.

 

I am not sure what you are asking so I will try to make it simple.The Intel5100 and the Broadcom card(these are the adaptors that you mention above)are both capable of supporting N speeds(up to 300mbps).And both work at 2.4 or 5.2GHz(All N devices do)...And yes their antennas(with two leads)support 5.2Ghz...

1.Maybe you get confused by adaptors that have leads for 3 antennas e.g Intel6300...The third antenna has nothing to do with 5.2Ghz.it is for speeds up to 450kbps.

2.You always need an N router for n speeds and 5.2Ghz.

3.N speed doesn't mean your internet will be 300mbps.It means when you tranfer files wirelesly you can achieve those speeds.

 

Broadcom card doesn't work at 5GHz. I have the 8172 and it's the same BCM943225HM card installed and no where in the options is there any mention of 5GHz support. Broadcom link, BCM943225HMB - Single-Band 802.11n and Bluetooth 3.0 Half MiniCard Reference Design. Someone with an HP TM2 also had this idea and set about to get another wifi card with 5GHz support, but had trouble with the internal antenna: antenna trouble with TM2. Apart from those troubles, you also lose the bluetooth support if you went with the Intel solution.

Edit: Thundernet, that's just false, sorry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11n "This setup assumes that all the 802.11n clients are 5 GHz capable, which isn't a requirement of the standard."

 

You are absolutely right.I just saw that the broadcom card is a single band.I don't have the 1830t.I have the 1810t with Intel 5100 and I automatically assumed that they had used a dual band card in the 1830T...My mistake...

Edit:Very very cheap on Acer's part to use such a card in a $700 notebook....

 

Yeah, a discrete new Intel and a discrete BT3.0 card would have been superb. For me personally, it's not a big loss as I have no 802.11n enabled hardware anyway, and HD streaming is not something I work towards. It is a bit of a hassle though and as always, much too difficult to find definitive information :/.

 

@ DeathAngel and mr.foo
Thanks for info (and critique of info). I guess I just have to wait for proper tests and comparable reviews and make a call based on that.
Seeing that I my prime argument for myself buying a new computer is because I need a portable device to bring with me everywhere, cause then I am certain I will get more work done . I initially opted for a little asus netbook with alleged 14 hours endurance, but the lack of power just put me off too much. Finding the 1830t version with the longest battery somewhat justifies me spending money I don't have on something I don't really need (just really really want! ).
And as I need storage and don't have hundreds of bucks to waste, a good old hard disk will do for now
Thanks for your help, though!

 

The I5 1830 does have a separate card for blutooth. I've replaced the Broadcomm card which did not have 5GHz capabilites with an intel 5100 that I already had and the blutooth still works. The signal strenght is much better that the Boardcomm and about the same for either the 2.4 or 5GHz band so I believe the antennas are compatible with both. Using a Netgear WNDR3700 dual band router and the speeds are very good at over 12MB/s on 5GHz and 8MB/s on 2.4.

It's an easy swap out and I did mainly for use with the Connectify software which allows the computer to function as both a client and an access point at the same time. This works well with the Eye-Fi wireless SD cards as opposed to using Adhoc mode which is slower and limited.

 

"I saw there was some....let gf know but she was at work...she is home now....and out of stock....dam"
__________________________________________________
B&H allow me to add the as1830t i5 into my cart.
I did not try to check out.
Be sure to call first... 800.952.1815 or 212.444.6708

Oh... I think there is 2% bing cash back (until Friday)
LINK to B&H
___________________
Also.. check Frys.com.
Out of stock online.
But some stores have the i5 in-stock, including 3 San Jose area stores.

 

Ok so do I have this correct:
1) BCM943225HM card only works at 2.4 GHz
2) Antennas inside acer 1830t-3721 are dual band
3) The 1830T-3721 has a separate bluetooth(FoxConnBCM92046) card
4) If I replace the BCM943225HM card with an Intel 6200 card I should be able to operate at either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz

You guys are very knowledgeable. Thanks

 

1) Yes. I didn't play with mine too much but it only saw the 2.4GHz radio on my WDNR3700.
2) It seems so as my 5GHz signal is about as strong as the 2.4 and it works well. Can't guarantee that it's optimal though but the download speeds are much faster than the 2.4 band.
3) The device manager show it as a Broadcom Bluetooth 3.0 USB. It's connected to one of the USB ports internally.
4) Yes

 

Thanks for the post on the small amp. I just ordered one. It looks perfect for the Acer 1830T. My daughter and I were watching a movie at McDonalds and we could hardly hear it. We had to go to the library to finish it up so we could hear through our dual headphones. This should solve the problem nicely. Love the great portable movie machine the Acer is turning out to be!

 

Hopefully this will clear up some of the confusion.

1) The number of antennas is not the number of bands. It's just the number of antennas. The Intel 6200 is a dual antenna design, while the Intel 6300 is a three antenna design. This is why the 6300 allows for the higher 450mbps max theoretical speed. Both can operate on the 2.4GHz band and the 5GHz band.

2) Just because you have N doesn't mean you can operate on the 5GHz band. Wireless N operates on 2.4GHz and 5GHz. You can own a N router that does not support the three antennas and does not support 5GHz but still supports N.


hope this helps

 

notebook check now has a review of 1830t w/ the core i5 processor.

It hasn't been mentioned in this thread for a while now, but I still think the 1551 is a contender.
Their review of the 1551 w/ k 325 cpu shows it surprisingly close to the core i5 in performance benchmarks.
Additionally, in their "max" battery life test, the core i5 only performed a little better than the K325. (5:45 hours vs 4:45)

but when you consider the price of a K 625 ($550) vs a core i5 ($700)...it becomes a very difficult decision...and then there's the core i3 wedged in the middle at $600.

The performance increase of spending more on a core cpu is not as I had hoped, despite the passmark benchmarks identifying them as being much better than the AMDs...I guess the HD4225 is just that much more powerful.

Links to reviews:
1830t w/ core i5:
Notebookcheck: Review Acer Aspire 1830T Subnotebook

1551 w/ K325:
Notebookcheck: Review Acer Aspire 1551 Subnotebook

 

Would be great if my bluetooth is also an internal USB one (I just checked, device manager says it is ), as I'm would like to get an Intel card as well, as my connection at the university seemed a bit more sketchy, compared to the Intel 5100 my other notebook has. Although it is a strange decision by Acer to use a dual controller and then not utilize one half of it... Kinda sucks.

As for the 1551 vs. 1830, I think 5:45 vs. 4:45 is a huge difference, as is the 80 minutes the 1830 gets more while surfing with WLAN. The actual power usage is pretty much in the same league. I find it strange, that the 3D Mark 06 score is better with the 1830, but I will write that down to CPU advantage. Pity they didn't test any games with the HD4225.
Personally, the 4GB RAM, the bigger battery and the better PSU of the 1830 make it the winner in most cases. Only if you are very much money bound or _very_ interested in light-medium gaming should you go for the 4225.

I wish there would be an i3 review, finally. Also, most reviewers complain about glossy displays but when there is a good alternative (8172) with nearly identical specs and similar price point, they don't review it (or mention it for that matter).

 

for anyone who might be having problems when right clicking on jump task items in the taskbar where the windows system 32 folder is always opening...this might fix it (although i haven't tried it yet)

might be helpful for acer owners as one person blamed it on acer bloatware

Taskbar icons' right click links error

"download: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.zip

follow the instructions linda explains (note she says restart after you are done disabling something, this is not necessary it works without restarting) Windows 7 Jump list problems

you should re-enable them one by one so you ensure you have all the features of programs you need. only disable the one that causes this problem.

the culprit for me was :
shredcontextmeny class - program by egistec technology.

everything is working great now. all credits goes to linda from the link above"

 

they've got a few game benchmarks in the gpu stats:

4225:
Notebookcheck: ATI Radeon HD 4225

core intel HD:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Graphics-Media-Accelerator-HD.23065.0.html



The 1551 w/ the K 625 comes w/ 4gb of ram, but the 1830t w/ the core i3 only has 3gb.
I am torn between the 1551 w/ the K625 @ $550 vs the 1830t w/ the core i3 @ $600.
I'm not sure that $700 for for a core i5 & 4gb of ram is worth it.

....the 4400 mAh battery vs the 5800 mAh battery might be the deal maker.

 

I compared the PSU pictures. The 1830 has the one which is integrated into the plug, but 1551 is shown to have a separate one, which means more clatter in my experience.
The battery of the 1551 is 49Whr, as mentioned in the text and the 1830 has 63Whr as shown in a picture.
Thanks for the game benchmark links, but I haven't seen an Intel HD test with a CULV processor there.....?
And sorry about the confusing statement regarding RAM and such, as all i3 330UM Acer 1830 I have researched (meaning Germany based) had 4GB. Only Pentium U5400 units have 2GB. And only some 8172 units (which all only have the i3, no i5 here) have 3GB.
That plethora of choices is nice to have, but kinda hard to get an overview of .

 

good observation about the PSU (you meant the DC converter, not the battery!).

I do have another question that maybe one of the North American posters w/ the 1830t can answer:

What is the input voltage range of the DC converter (or PSU; the thing that plugs into the wall)?
I'd love it to be 110v-240v, so that I can use a simple plug adapter, and not have to also pack a power inverter with me outside of the US.

 

DC converter then, sorry. I'm from Germany, trying to talk adequate technical jargon is quite difficult, much more so than just conversing about general topics .
For what it's worth, I took a picture of my unit from the 8172 which does have the 100~240V /50-60Hz requirements.

And since it also has a removable plug, it just makes sense that it is universal for all markets, right?

 

apologies: I was criticizing myself for misinterpreting PSU as a battery!

I do appreciate the picture though; it gives me hope....

 

The bloatware from egistic technology was a big pain in the butt to remove! That shredder program and the other utilities from egistec did NOT want to go away. I finally managed to get rid of it all but it took a while to clean house. You have to use task manager to kill all the running processes before you can delete the dll's.

 

INPUT VOLTAGE: 100 to 240 V at 1.2 amps, 50-60 Hz

OUTPUT VOLTAGE: 19 V at 2.15 amps

This from the very fine print on the bottom of the power supply module.

 

yeah um...nevermind.

 

great, thanks!

 

EDIT: Carrier pickup.

 

right you are....time for me to get some sleep.

 

A bluetooth/wifi combined card from Intel is coming for the Huron River platform next year...

 

well, I took the plunge on the core i3 version from TigerDirect, and took advantage of the 15.2% bing cashback.

And they just got a shipment in today, so they should be shipping right away.
Total after 2 day shipping & BCB will be $525.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=6361956&sku=A180-11668&

Keeping this thread handy for bloatware removal and other suggestions; seriously considering a momentus xt...

 

I've read fragments about an integrated BT/Wireless N card. Is that what is in the 1830T? Is that a BT 3.0? I wanted to replace my BCM wifi card in my 3820TG with an Intel 6200. I am now concerned that we might have the same thing as you 1830T owners. How can you tell? What is the model # on the wifi card? My BT is listed as BCM92046 and Wireless is BCM943225HM on the stickers on the back. These are not the same as the 1830T right? (or at least I hope not).

Bronsky

 

My 1830t-3721 has the following:
BT:BCM92046
Wlan:BCM943225HM
Looks like the same as what you have Bronsky.
I've ordered an Intel 6200 card to replace my broadcom card but it hasn't arrived yet.

newlaptopguy