Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830T Thread

It might be good to ask the Ebay seller if the battery fits on 1830/1430.

 

Thanks I will, they appear to have separate listings for 1810/1410 and 1830/1430 (with no 9 cell listed for the 1830/1430) and the descriptions make it appear that they only fit in separate model numbers, i.e. the 1810/1410 battery lists it only fitting in the 1810/1410. Just was wondering if someone that has owned both the tell me if they can fit the battery from one in another. I assume a 9cell variant for the 1830/1430 will become available soon anyway.

 

I've owned both, but not at the same time. I think they fit.

 

I don't know about the 9 cell batteries.
But the battery in my older 1810tz was NOT interchangeable with my 1830t.
They look very simillar, but the rails on each side are vertically offset about 1/8 inch
and the connector is horizontally offset about 1/4 inch.
I checked this about 3 months ago soon after I took delivery of my 1830T.

My 1810tz was sold to a friend, so I can still double check sometime next week if needed.

 

Where's the 8-cell battery link (that fits 1830T) in ebay?
Got to be so big it protrudes way from the back even if it fits laptop...

but should surely last longer than original factory one.

 

I have the charger with the euro plug. Does anyone know if I can buy a UK plug separate? If so, where?

OK that pretty much confirms the 1810 batteries won't fit. Good to know.

 

I believe the 1430/1830 only have two batteries available, the 4400mAh (standard on 1430 - rated 6 hours) and the 5800mAh (standard on the 1830 - rated 8 hours). Yes the 9 cell battery does protrude out and down (like all high capacity batteries on 12" or less notebooks). It kinda looks like this from a cross section.

Code:

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Hi guys,
Have you seen that there is a new BIOS update for the 1830T?
It is the 1.20 version, indicating 'releases for support WiMax'.
I downloaded it but I cannot find how to update...
Any idea?
Sorry, it must look silly, but I've never had a problem updating BIOS in my other machines, but here I don't realize...
Thanks

 

Click the batch file that is called "Flash" and that will start the process.

 

Hi Jayayess1190,
Than you, I imagined that there was an autoexecutable on falsh file, but stupidly I opened it without extracting.
Update went fine, like you said.
Thanks again!

 

I recently ran a PerformanceTest7.0 comparison among my actual 1830T baby, bearing the SSD A-DATA S599 64GB, and two other configurations all having the same CPU (i5 U 470).
The contenders are:

1. Lenovo IdeaPad U160 Intel Core i5 U 470
2. Acer 1830T Corsair F Intel Core i5 U470
3. This Compuer: Acer Aspire TimelineX 1839T-3721 (my boy)

The Lenovo U160 can be considered the biggest competitor of the Acer 1830T, with very similar hardware and sold at similar price.

The test value is based on these results:
Disk: 21%
CD / DVD: 5%
Memory: 19%
3D Graphics: 12%
2D Graphics: 14%
CPU: 29%
Total: 100%

Here there are some screenshots.
SUMMARY:
[/URL] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]
As you can see, the Acer with A-DATA SSD (scoring 759) won slightly over the Corsair F (747) and more over the Lenovo U160 (664).
See also at the 3D performance, were the Corsair F is the worst, and the huge disparity in performance between rotating HD and SF1222 SSD.

Looking deeper, see that my BIOS was still the V1.11, while V1.20 the Carsair F solution.
[/URL] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]

Instead, my video driver was more recent:
[/URL] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]

In other words, comparing the two Acer, differences between video drivers were more determinant than BIOS update (V1.11 vs 1.20) and SSD brand (either SF1222).

Looking more at the HD performances:
[/URL] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]
Other than for Sequential Writes, the rotating Lenovo HD cannot compete against either SSD.
Interestingly, my A-DATA was the worst in Sequential Writes among the three.
About the other parameters, A-DATA was just a little lower than the Corsair F (probably not appreciable difference during daily computing).
The Corsair F60 is sold $135.99 (free shipping) on Newegg.com, while the A-DATA S599 64GB is $114.99 (free shipping), $21.00 less (15% less than Corsair price). Does the difference in price worth the difference in performance?

In conclusion, I can deduce that:

1. SSD is the best improvement
2. The latest Video Driver is the second determinant one
3. BIOS V1.20 doesn't give significant increase in performance, but probably important in bug fixing

Thank you for your attention!

 

Mouse: I assume you got the 2226 video driver, off the Intel site. The site tells me that the 1830T original driver is an OEM custom driver and to go to Acer for an up dated driver rather than the Intel site. Did you get the video driver from Intel? Can you tell the diference from the original driver?

 

Yes, Freal1, the driver is 8.15.10.2226 dated 10/15/2010, downloaded from Intel site. It's still the latest release for Win 7 64bit.
I can't see any appreciable difference in video quality. The only thing that changed was WEI that passed from 3.3 to 3.4. The video driver on the Corsair F system was the 8.15.10.2202 dated 8/15/2010.
I saw that in the Acer download center the latest VGA driver is 8.15.10.2119 dated 11/24/2010.
I don't understand how come the driver number is lower but the release date is more recent!
Maybe the "OEM" release is independently enumerated than the Intel one.
Anyway, I ever try to use the drivers from the official site (in this case Intel) when possible, unless differently indicated.
Do you know why this "customized" Acer VGA driver release? I imagine that the 2119 was never published on the Intel site, right?

 

You don't need to install acer's oem driver. I always use the intel's latest one. Just change the hardware id in its inf file and that's it! Installs without notifications

 

My first post on this board - I've been reviewing this thread for awhile and just settling down with my week-old 1830T-3721. I ***love*** this laptop. I've always been a fan of subnotebooks/ultralights/whatever you want to call them, and as they are normally priced much higher, this one is a treat.

Immediately upon opening the box I completed the OOBE, used the advice earlier here using that virtual DVD program to create recovery ISOs and burned two copies of the recovery disks.

Then I swapped the 500GB drive for the 30GB Vertex that was in my Acer Aspire One D250, which I partitioned and formatted with a standard Win7 install disk to ensure alignment. The recovery process with the 4 Acer DVDs took about 20 minutes and *just* fits on a 30GB SSD. Getting the back door off is kind of nerve-wracking at first because there are little clips all the way around in addition to the screws. Not something you want to do often on this machine.

After removing all the bloatware, installing my copy of Office, Outlook, various utilities I use for work, and setting the pagefile off (4GB RAM is plenty for my usage), I have about 7GB of space remaining on the drive. The entire SSD is encrypted with Truecrypt and performance is still great (4-5x that of the Aspire One).

Turning down the palmcheck on the Synaptics pad makes a huge difference in usability for me. Otherwise the trackpad would be unresponsive for a short while all the time when I was typing and it was extremely annoying. I don't know why they don't set these things better out of the box; I think it would resolve a lot of people's issues.

The only gripes I have so far:

1. loud beep from BIOS when unplugging/plugging in the power adapter. The only way to prevent it is to have the sound muted (not just down to zero).

2. LEDs on the front left are brighter than the sun in a dark room (or on a plane). They make the screen difficult to see. On my wife's Dell it was a flat surface in the back so a small strip of electrical tape took care of it; on this machine the LEDs curve around the top and front, so I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with that.

Edit: I'm trying a very small strip of electrical tape over the front of the machine, which helps a little. The tops of the lights are still visible (and quite bright).

Here's a pic with the tape on:



3. Mentioned in a review somewhere - the horizontally-textured palm rest area makes up/down mouse movement a little challenging at first (like "going against the grain"), but either I'm slowly getting used to it or I'm starting to wear it down ever so slightly that it doesn't actually bother me anymore.

4. My unit had a little bit of sharp tape or plastic sticking up under the right arrow key at the lower right of the keyboard. Every time I went for that key it would my finger and it hurt (just an assembly/QC issue, as it is probably a component insulator under the keyboard). I took an exacto-knife and carefully sliced away about 1/16" of it, and now it is fine.

That's all I can think of for now. The keyboard is wonderful, I love the screen, it is zippy fast and I don't know how many hours I'm getting so far as I'm rarely sitting in one place long enough to find out, but I'd say when I first got it I spend a good 4-5 hours off AC (it slept a few times here and there) and it wasn't clamoring for power yet.

 

Welcome haus, and I share your ****love**** for the1830T. Mine is a bit of a compliner, it wanted more RAM so tonight I installed 8GB that I had ordered from Newegg last week. The Broadcom wireless seemed to be working fine but it wanted an Intel wireless so I changed that. I managed to talk my wife into giving me a Agility 2 SSD 240GB for Christmas. I am hoping that will satisfy this lappy and make it a real beast. I am planning for this to keep me for several years when all the new technology just now coming on line will require a new toy.

 

I read a few threads and a few pages of thsi thread. There are suggestions and talk of doing a clean install, but are there any guides? Seems lke there are a couple of driver issues, but I only did a quick skim. Sorry for the noob question if it's been addressed. I just know I want to do a clean install and stay free from the bloatware.

 

I just received my 1830T i5 and read on the internet that the performance will increase by doing a clean install. Is there somewhere an overview of which drivers are best to use (heard that the acer drivers or somewhat outdated). Thanks!

 

To do a clean install you need a clean Win 7 ISO file. Do your homework Google Win 7 ISO and then Google how to setup a 4GB or larger USB drive to do a clean install. The ISO file is free and legal and the programs to set up the USB drive are free and legal. What you have to do to stay legal is to install the version of Win 7 that came installed on your machine, if it was Home Premium then you must install Home Premium to stay within the law. I believe you will have to register the software by phone as I am not sure the product key on the bottem of the computer will work. Have the number at hand and explain to the MS tech what you are doing and you should have no trouble.

 

To create the USK drive you can use "Microsoft Windows 7 USB tool". Much easier.

 

Yeah, installing or creating the ISO install drive is no problem. But like the previous poster mentioned, there seems to be a huge discrepancy on what drivers to install. I know Win 7 auto installs most drivers that you need. Is that what you guys just did...just let Win 7 handle it?

 

Just let Windows handle it and then install the latest graphics driver from Intel manually.

 

How can I create the *.ISO file if I did an anytime upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate? I went to the Microsoft online store but there is no record of my upgrade purchase. I am SOL?

Thanks in Advance.

 

How did you do the anytime upgrade? If you were sent a code then it should work for your new install. Do it to what was on our computer at the time of purchase then when that is installed enter the code, should work.

 

Got the second mini pci-e slot soldered into my 1830t

 

True, but how do I create the Windows 7 iso. file prior to the new install?

 

I have the same problem.. my plug is flat and in my country we use the round one... Is there any place that i can but it?

One more info: I have the i5 version, and I tested Left4dead 2 in it.. it sucks, impossible to play. Not a surprise...

 

You download it from the internet. Google Win 7 ISO, there are lots of hits. You must have the ISO then install it to a 4GB or larger USB drive which you should also Google or do a search in the forums here for how to do. This is not hard, read and study, you can do it. If you have a 1830T it can boot from a USB drive, then it is pretty simple.

 

You can find the win 7 iso with only one version of windows (win7 home premium 64bit, in my case when I owned my 1830T) from mydigitallife.com. This will help you cram the entire thing in a 4GB flash drive.

My Toshiba 4GB flash drive only had 3.72GB free after formatting, and the iso of windows 7 with all versions of windows may be slightly bigger than that. The iso with one version is around 3.00GB.

 

So you only use another driver for the graphics. No drivers for the alps touchpad, etc?

 

On a fresh install I needed:

Acer Launch Manager
Atheros Ethernet
Touchpad driver from Alps or Synaptics
Realtek HD Audio driver
Intel Rapid Storage Technology

None of this came via Windows Update.

 

Hey guys. New member here, registered because I just got acer 1830T-3505 from overstock at $450, and while I'm excited about this laptop and the price I got it for, I do have a couple of questions.

One, my space bar key action out of the box was crappy, like really really crappy, missing almost half the keystrokes depending on how and where I hit it. The space bar almost completely lacked any tactile feedback, and it felt like it would only go 2/3rds way down. I partially fixed it by taking space bar key off, slightly bending support wires that reenforce space bar key giving it rigidity and then putting key back together. It's much better now, but I've been using it since yesterday and it looks like my fixes are slowly failing. Can anyone comment on their experience with space bar key on their 1830t's?

Two, anybody with i3-330UM CPUs, can you comment on what's the regular idle temperature of your CPU? I've read somewhere in this thread one person said they normally get 37-39 degrees in idle, well, I'm getting 41 lowest, and that's under most favorable conditions, meaning with ambient temperature of 21 degrees and laptop standing on the screen so that bottom of the laptop is completely 100% unrestricted. In normal use with ambient of 24 degrees, laptop sitting in my lap and doing light web browsing I typically get 50 degrees.

Basically what I'm wondering is if I've gotten a lemon and if I would be better off to try and exchange my laptop from overstock? Any thoughts on both of these issues? I would really appreciate your feedback guys.

 

My 1830T-3721 came with no issues at all. If I were you I would send it back for an exchange if I could. In my experience things don't usually repair themselves, only get worse.

 

Can someone point to a post that shows how to open the back panel up to replace the hard drive. Do I need to pull off the keyboard first? thanks

PS - I did try searching..

 

Try a search on YouTube to see the back panel open. Just 5 screws and slowly lift and it will pop off. It has been a while since I was in the back of my achine but as I recall it is a screw near the top of the drive on the right hand side and a screw or two at the back then lift it out.

 

Will do. thanks

 

Fellow 1830T owners: I always found the pointer not sensitive enough for me (set to max). I've noticed a bit of a speed increase with the latest drivers

v15.1.18 08Oct10
Synaptics drivers

 

Really easy actually.
Just unscrew the screws.
And slowly pry the panel off using two thin screwdrivers.

The little trick here is that the panel is quite flexible.
Not rigid like the panels on previous machines.
So its OK to bend it up near the center of the edges.

Same thing when replacing the panel.
Flex it a little to get the opposing edges plastic clips
under the computer's bottom surface.

Careful tightening the screws...
I've stripped out the upper right hand corner screw
on both of my 1830t i5 machines.

 

Thanks - I wasn't sure if I was going to break it and didn't want to force it. I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

 

What is the latest Intel Chipset driver for the 3721? Device manager shows Version 9.1.1.1022. When I download the latest driver from Acer it shows Version 9.1.1.1025. But after installation, my Device Manager still reports Version 9.1.1.1022.

 

This brings up the very interesting question: Is there any value in downloading and installing the latest chipset drivers if your computer is working just fine? What kinds of improvements are we talking about?

 

It's more of a troubleshooting exercise. I'm having a bizarre problem in which the Acer will not recognize one of my USB flash drives. The Acer does recognize other USB flash drives AND the flash drive in question IS recognized on other laptops.

 

Has anyone thought of attaching screen protector on top of the touch pad to make it smoother? I tested using it through some thick cardboard and it worked, so don't see why a screen protector won't work. Will try it tonight with one and report back results with pictures.

 

I got the core i3, unfortunately with Alps touch pad and i330 instead of i370 or i380 but so far I'm pretty happy as I only paid $450 from overstock.com - was initially considering i5 for $700 so for the $250 I can get 8GB of RAM and 64GB SSD.

As the current RAM - it comes with 3GB out of box, 1 x 1GB stick and 1 x 2GB stick; does that mean the momory is not running DDR? In CPUZ it says 400Mhz - it's supposed to be 800 if it's DDR, correct?

 

An SSD will boost your user experience.

But save your money... for almost everybody,
moving from 3 or 4GB to 8GB won't be noticeable.
Its because 4GB is already enough.
Adding 4GB more improves your experience very little.

 

I would have to agree and say 8GB of ram would be overkill. From the other specs of the laptop, the programs you would/could run that require such an amount of ram would be very very few and far between.

On another note, I have a 1830t i7 and an OCZ 120GB SSD sitting here wanting, but I am waiting for a new power adapter to be shipped to my local Acer supplier..

 

Thanks for the comments, you guys are right, 8GB is probably over kill. What about going from 3GB to 4? Since i3 only comes with 3, 1 x 1GB and 1 x 2GB, that's not running in DDR, correct? My CPUZ tells me the RAM us running at 400MHz. Can someone with matching memory sticks in slot 1 and 2 look at their CPUZ and tell me what the speed is? It's listed on Memory tab.

 

Asking if memory is running DDR makes zero sense. DDR is a type of memory, not a feature that can be randomly enabled or disabled. Your memory is DDR3, it says so in the upper left corner of your CPUZ screenshot, and it will always be DDR3. It, however, might not be running dual channel because of mismatching sticks, if that's what you're asking. Upgrading from 3 to 4 GB might or might not make sense depending on what you're doing. Remember, this is Windows 7, so it is more memory hungry as opposed to XP and you're also running integrated graphics, so certain portion of your RAM will be unavailable to you because it will be dedicated to GPU. I upgraded to 4GB because I could, because I'm anal about this stuff, and because I often run a lot of applications at once and occasionally run memory intensive ones so I actually do have a case for running 4GB. That said, for most users who just browse web, email, watch movies, occasionally work with photos, etc, 3GB should be plenty.

PS - on another note I got replacement laptop from Overstock because my first one had crappy space bar key, the new one was good out of the box. No space bar issues, the CPU temperatures are slightly lower and more consistent between two cores, the fan doesn't ramp up as often, and the case doesn't have as much flex to it. I'm thinking my first one was a bit of a lemon so I'm glad I exchanged it. To Overstock credit they did advanced RMA, meaning they sent me another laptop right away without waiting for me to ship one I already had to them, and they also emailed me prepaid shipping label, so I didn't have to pay for shipping. I'm very satisfied with the way Overstock handled the issue, and I'm a bit surprised they have ~5/10 satisfaction ratio at resellerratings.

 

Thanks for the response. That's what i mean, is it running in dual channel
Manufactures usually sell 2x2GB packages that promise proper operation in DDR, so I was wondering why might Acer go lengths to ensure it's not running dual channel by using mismatched sticks. I used to be expert on these things but ever since I moved to operations and VM management I've gotten bad on hardware

 

Here is a shot from my i5 with 4GB memory.

Looks the same as yours,
except I have a number 15 for CycTime that you don't have.