Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830T Thread

I just opened the box on my 1830t-3721 today. I was just loving it until about 4 hours ago when I tried to set up a bluetooth mouse. 4 hours later I learned that I had to reinstall the driver/software. Also found out that I have the Alps touchpad. I'm not feeling the love now. Hopefully this will save someone else 4 hours - if your having problems with bluetooth, reinstall everything. I got the link from their tech chat, but you can probably download it directly from the site, saving yourself the tedious process of dealing with tech support.

Anyone have any tips on drivers to update / bloatware to uninstall / tweeks to apply?

 

I just got mine today. Here's my driver info:

Date: 6/21/2006
Version: 6.1.7600.16385

I did not try updating them.

Hope it helps

 

I don't think you have any problem with your bluetooth. Just hit fn+f3 to turn your bluetooth on. It's off by default during bootup.

 

Yes, good advice! But that wasn't the problem. The problem was the software wasn't working properly. Bluetooth showed up in the device manager as working properly, but there was no icon in the tray or sign of bluetooth anywhere. It's solved now and working fine. This is just an fyi for anyone having a similar problem.

 

A few Ubuntu questions

First and most importantly - How do I get my headphone jack to work? No sound will come through my earphones but sound does come out of speakers.

Second - How do I get my mic to work? I want to use skype on this.

I dig ubuntu a lot because its fast and doesn't bug out on me ever but I can't watch movies on it yet unless I use speakers.

 

You might want to look hear for clues on how to get the mic working. It's for the 1810, but it might help. Start with the first 2 posts.

 

Hmmmm....mine is the same date but 6.1.7600.20589. Thanks.

 

About updating drivers...
Few driver updates improve performance.
Most updates fix small things that
most machines don't have problems with.

About Intel's graphics drivers updates...
They add new features and controls, but nothing typical users would care about.

And many driver updates can reduce performance because they
were not created especially for your notebook.

So mostly be careful, and mostly don't bother...

 

I tend to agree. But I'm having a weird problem with a USB flash drive. This drive is recognized by every computer/OS I have tried EXCEPT the Acer. The Acer recognizes other flash drives, but not this one. Very strange...

 

As promised, I'm preparing some pics of SSD and wireless upgrade
But fist, I made a short video
width='640' height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EtRkG_5IqhI?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EtRkG_5IqhI?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='640' height="385"></embed></object>

Soon I'll give you a set of benchmarks:

1. ATTO (that are quite high, but not so "real world"), and others.
2. From a FRESH OS install.
3. I want also to check the same benchmarks with the former SuperTalent and with the original HD.

It is clear to me that the A-DATA is considerably faster compared to SuperTalent. About the original HD, no way... another planet!!!
Thanks

 

Hay Mouse good vid. Gives me hope that my SSD install will go smoothly. I am tempted to do the Wifi card change eventhough I have had no problem with the Boradcom card. What is holding me back is "If it ain't broke don't fix it".

 

OK, I lied. I just ordered the Intel Wifi card. Went to Amazon and read all the good reviews and made the leap.

 

Yes, I know...
when something appealing shows up for our new toy, the compulsion pops up!
The card works well to me.
I downloaded the latest driver from Intel before installing the card (I never use any "included" CD when possible).
I still have to assess actual improvement, though. The Broadcom will go to the next netbook for my wife, along with the SuperTalent SSD.

 

Wonder what the price on this one will be?

Acer Aspire 1430

AS1430-4857
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium , 64-bit version; Intel® Core™ i5-520UM Mobile Processor (3MB Intel® Smart Cache, 1.066 GHz); 4GB (2/2) DDR3 SDRAM; 320GB hard drive; 5-in-1 card reader; Acer® CineCrystal 11.6" (1366 x 768) TFT display; Intel® HD Graphics; 802.11b/g/n WLAN, gigabit LAN, webcam; one-year limited warranty

 

4400 mAh battery though...

 

I just ordered the i7 1830T 11.6" and a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB drive to slap in it.

Do you think I'll just be able to clone the drive in my 11.6" Acer 1430 over, or do a complete reinstall?

 

Do have a 1430 or a 1410? I didn't think the 1430s hit the market yet.

 

I assume you mean to clone the drive of your new 1830T/i7 onto your new/faster momentus drive. I wouldn't recommend cloning a drive into a different model computer (if you really meant 1430). While cloning is easy, i'd go for a clean reinstall for a couple of reasons

there is a BOATLOAD of crapware on the 1830T, and a few things that are difficult to remove (MyWinLocker...pos...). I gained over 20GB doing a vanilla install from a Microsoft DVD (upgraded to Ultimate). if you opt to make the the acer DVD, it restores to the out of the box state-and there is NO OTHER OPTION (w-t-f?!).

if you have a disc to restore the OS from, then by all means dump the restore partition while you are at it for another 10GB of usable space.

I guess 30gb isn't to much to complain about when you have 500, but I'd rather it be occupied with MY stuff, not someone else's junk I won't be using.

 

Apologies if this was answered earlier in the thread, I've read almost the whole thing but it was two months back, and I have just been reading the new stuff. I will putting an SSD into my laptop, and I was curious how people went about reinstalling the OS since the laptop uses a recovery partition on the original HDD instead of a recovery disc. A clone of the drive transferred to an external drive then transferred back to the SSD could work, but I know it's not optimal. What have other people done for reinstalling the OS on their new SSD's? Did everyone just have a plain Windows 7 or other OS disc they installed from, or is there something that I'm missing?

 

We can't find any I5 3820TGs and the 3820TG is not yet officially released in the US, the 4820TG is out of stock everywhere and Acer is introducing redundant models like this? Do they have a screw loose?

Bronsky

 

I bought a 330UM model today and amazingly enough my unit has a 380UM.. Has this happened to anybody else?

 

I Greenchunks, I just did a SSD switch using Acronis. It was smooth, but I'm seriously thinking to do a fresh OS install.
Performances of the SSD are a little lower than indicated by manufacturer.
I placed a video of this install one page behind.
The passage to a SSD will make fly the 1830t anyway.
I used a new Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit installation disk. I didn't care about the Home Premium, but it was a personal choose.
I think it is possible to download the Win Home Premium 64 bit from Microsoft, and then call them for activation. I read that somewhere but I don't remember where exactly.
Good luck!

 

I'm trying to do a fresh Win7 Ultimate 64bit install on my 1830t.. but I keep getting an error after loading the disc.. saying "Windows has encountered a problem communicating with a device connected to your computer." Status code is 0xc00000e9 and Info: An Unexpected I/O error has occured.

What's going on? This is a legit copy of Windows.. it works fine on all my other machines.

 

Yes, read back a few pages.

 

I got similar error until I realized that the external DVD reader was broken.
Check the DVD reader with another PC.
It can be also a cable problem or the USB port on the laptop is defective
Good luck.

 

Better make a USB key:
Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

It's quicker than installing from DVD.

 

Weird... this is a brand new external USB dvd rom.. i'll see if I get the same error on another PC.

 

Better to do a fresh install because of bloatware and alignment issues.

 

What SSD and what benchmark?

Acronis v14 takes care of alignement so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

It is a A-DATA S599 64GB
ATTO:


CrystalDiskMarks:


AS SSD:






Everest:








Image disk with Acronis Home 2010

New fresh install soon!!!

 

Yeah try a clean install. Make sure you install Intel RST driver.

Are you aware of the PM55 problems? You can disable intelppm temporarily for the benchmarks.

Ps. benchmarks like AS-SSD write a lot of data to your SSD. Not so good. I suggest running CDM at 3x 50MB to keep writing to a minimum.

 

Thanks for the hints.
Hope to install OS this weekend!
Enjoy!

 

Have 2 question for the group. Wife purchased an Agility 2 240GB for my Christmas present when I found it here on the deal forum. She got it the 15 of this month and by the time aI get to see it about 40 days will have passed. Newegg will exchange it for 60 days if defective. Two questions; 1) What are the chances it will be defective? 2) How do I put it through its paces to make sure it won't go 15 days and crap out on me? I was thinking of leaving my laptop on for two weeks and plugged in, is this a good idea? Oops, now I asked 3 questions. Yes, I know QCZ gives a 3 year warranty but it seems it would be easier to deal with Newegg.

 

I'm putting my 1830T for sale:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...0t-11-6-core-i3-4gb-250gb-like-brand-new.html

Probably only interesting Europeans and Asians. Not for Americans or Canadians, due to the higher price levels in Europe.

Here you can see before and after results for a 60GB Sandforce drive. Pretty shocking.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-chipsets-stamatisx-tweak-10.html#post6901315

Just run ATTO and see if both reads and writes top at above 250 MB/sec.

I wouldn't recommend stressing or overusing it because it isn't good for longevity.

 

Ya I think you're right. I bought it about a year ago.

Ya I def don't want to crapware or the windows install from the original drive. We have microsoft licences at the office so I use win7 ultimate 64bit. The trick is that I'm traveling and reinstalling apps is a bit of a PITA. If the hardware was similar enough I thought it might work OK, and I also wasn't sure how Windows 7 dealt with something like that vs xp (which I've avoided in the past).

I may just have to get a usb with out win7 iso sent as well and then transfer with an external casing. Just trying to cut a couple corners and *hopefully* save some time and work. Oh well!

 

OK! I read the post (very interesting indeed).
I understood that these changes affect turbo boost, isn't it?
Instead, you talk about "disable intelppm temporarily for the benchmarks", right?
Sorry if I misunderstood.
In the meantime, I just reinstalled the OS (a fresh win 7 Ultimate 64 bit) from USB drive... boys, this was fast!!!
Doing SSD tweeks from Guide * Windows 7 Ultimate Tweaks & Utilities *, then try to improve PM55 problems as suggested...

 

UUUUH!
I just found this http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/512634-ssd-performance-tips-underperforming-ssds-3.html from Phil...
Man, you are great, really!
WAAAAY better than from OCZ forum!
Thanks again.

 

Well the bug only affects installation performance. So if you need to install Office for example I recommend changing the Intelppm temporarily to 4 and rebooting.

There's also a tweak that doesn't affect turbo boost. It's a lot more complicated though.

Thanks for the compliments by the way.

 

Had not seen the i3 discounted before. Usually $599.
The AS1830T-3505 11.6" Notebook, i3-330UM, 3GB, 250GB
$487 + Shipping (USA)

at Provantage.com

Price lowered maybe in preparation for the new 1430T i5?

 

The 1430T should be cheaper than a flagship 1830T model.

 

The 1430T is on New Egg with the 520UM at $599. Newegg.com - Acer Aspire AS1430-4857 Notebook Intel Core i5 520UM(1.06GHz) 11.6" 4GB Memory 320GB HDD 5400rpm Intel HD

Bronsky

 

Finally got my i7 1830t delivered yesterday! Had a bit of a play with it and thought I would give my impressions on it. Will mostly touch on the 'problems' other people have had with it.

Laptop details:
- Ordered the i7 version in hope of extending the 'future-proofing' of the laptop.
- Ordered 5th November 2010, from newegg.
- Pointing device, Alps.
- Wireless, Broadcom.
- Windows EI Scores


Thoughts:
- Some people have said that it looks cheap (especially the lid), and expected more from the near $1000 price tag. Personally I like the look on the lid. While still being plastic; and not brushed aluminium like the larger models, I think that the look is effective and practical to keeping it clean and lightweight.

- With the battery in, the laptop feels sufficiently heavy/solid enough to say it is 'quality built'. I found minimal flex in the screen (not enough to distort the picture) with a small amount of pressure either end of it. Applying a similar amount of pressure to the body no flex was observed.

- The keyboard is solid, responsive and generally good to type on; albeit I am not a key pounder and some people have said they felt it was too 'spongy' while typing. I did type with more force and still found it to hold up fine.

- The size of the pad is sufficient to scroll across the screen in just a couple of strokes as long as you use the entire pad area. Saying that there is a few faults with it.
Firstly, on mine, about 3/4 the way up the trackpad the brushed aluminium has a small ridge in it. When not looking at the trackpad I 'feel' like I have reached the edge and stop scrolling.
Secondly, the vertical scrolling section of the trackpad is small and it is hard to scroll down pages quickly (you have to spend a second to find the area and make sure you slide your finger straight down). My fingers are fairly girly & narrow for a guy and I still find it frustrating to hit the correct area. It is more hit and miss and unfortunately most of the time I miss.
Thirdly, the mouse buttons are a little spongy and not as sharp as I would prefer.

Overall:
- The only thing I would change about this laptop from a factory stand point is the vertical scrolling area on the trackpad, as I use it alot; especially at times when I cannot use an external mouse.

I'm happy with the laptop and personally found most of the 'problems' other people had with this series to be non existent. It is best to keep in mind that the 1830t is not made to be a graphics power house, a desktop replacement, or something you use 24/7 for all your tasks. If you want something portable and powerful to do tasks on I think the money is worth it.


# NB: The battery came near fully charged from the factory. After writing this, windows reports the battery to have 5h 10m left with 61% charge.

 

Congrats PinkPawn on your new supreme i7 !

 

I agree with you, the vertical scrolling is almost impossible to use. By the contrary, I find the two fingers scrolling excellent when set to two lines at the time. I use it a lot too.
Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

Can you give us a reading from your "Performance Information" Control Panel Device?
Be sure to have it plugged in when running the eval.

 

I am hoping for little feedback from the 1830T owners. I currently have a 1201N and I am looking to replace it since the battery life (4 hours at best) and CPU power just arent up to my tasks. I have also discovered I dont need the ION GPU since I rarely game on it and it appears the new intel HD can handle my HD content. I am torn between 3 laptops: the older 1810T, the UL30A and 1830T (tho I did just see the 1430T and wondering what the diff is). The battery life of the UL30A is appealing but the increased screen size/weight and SU7300 detract from that, 1810T will the SU7300 really offer much of a step up from the dual core atom? And how does the 1830T(i5) compare to the 1810(SU7300) performance wise? I see the 1830T is touted with 8 hours of battery life, how close is that to real world usage? I dont want to end up with 5-6 hours, when I could have had 9-10 with the UL30A. Also what is the difference between the 1430 and 1830 (seems the battery life is less, smaller battery? and maybe a smaller HDD) but the price diff is appealing and HDD is nominal point, I will probably upgrade to a SSD, especially if I am buying it for under the $600 price point. Oh and lastly could I swap out the CPU on the 1830T, was thinking of buying the i3 version and upgrading to i5-560/540um if the i3 didnt offer the performance I needed. Anyway I would love to hear from some people that have owned both the 1810 and 1830 and see if it is worth the upgrade. TIA

 

1. The 1810T and UL30 are both a HUGE step up from the dual core Atom in the 1215N. The Atom and Core 2 are two different architectures, with the Atom being way more crippled in the name of power saving.

2. i5 in the 1830T is much faster than the SU7300:

I went from SU9400 to i5-430UM and notice the more responsive machine. For example when recording in Media Center, I can also browse the web more smoothly than I could when on my 3810T with SU9400.

3. You will not get 8 hours with the 1830T, I have gotten in a test 6.5 hours.

3. 1430T only difference is the smaller battery.

4. CPU on the UL30, 1810, 1430, and 1830 are all soldiered on, no swapping is possible without a huge amount of work.

 

Thank you for the fast replies. So it appears to be down to three:
1. UL30A - Better battery life but lesser CPU/GPU (tho the GPU is probably marginal)
2. 1430(i5) + 2nd battery
3. 1830(i5)
All options should be within about $50 of each other just depends where I want to make my compromise. Has anyone heard of any extended life batteries for the 1830/1430, something like 6400mAH would be great.

 

5-6 hours is about accurate.

Yes.

As far as I know the 9 cell batteries for 1810 on Ebay fit on the 1830 too.

 

OK so I assume the 1430 and 1830 take the same, so if I got a 9 cell battery from ebay 7800mAh for the 1810 it should fit in the 1430 and give me about 8 hours of battery life (since the 5800mAh gives about 6). Thank you for all your help, I think a 1430(i5) with a 9 cell ebay battery will give me the battery life I want and with an SSD upgrade I can still be around the $800 budget and with a great CPU.