Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820TG Owners Lounge

I'd still LOOOOVEEE to see some cpu overclocking results. Has anyone had success?

 

Help!!!!

I just got a 4820tg, all very nice.

I did a fresh install of windows (ofcourse forgetting to back up drivers)
so I found Bronsky's collection of drivers and downloaded.

I installed the ATI drivers, and then had a fiddle with switchable graphics. I either turned them on or off. Nothing happened for minute, and I went on with something else. Then suddenly screen goes off, flickers.

What has happened is that its now right at minimum minimum brightness. I can hardly see anything. I managed to do a system restore, to no avail.

Please someone tell me this isn't serious and there is something I can do about it !

I can't even see the screen when I reboot and hold f2 or f12

 

I read back through the FAQ but still have a question on the i3 throttling issue.

The FAQ says it only happens during torture/benchmarking tests. So for the general user, this throttling should not be an issue when deciding to purchase, correct? I might occasionally fire up a game in my boredom.

 

Update

UPDATE:

now the screen is black most of the time, flickers on and off intermittently

btw.

I've uninstalled the ATI driver, but it is still happening


and downloading the one specifically for the 4820...


helllllllllllllllllp

 

What is the best cooler for this laptop? I'm looking at Amazon.com: Cooler Master Notepal X2 Notebook Cooler R9-NBC-4WAK-GP: Electronics and Amazon.com: Cooler Master Notepal Infinite Notebook Cooler Black with Silver…

 

My i3 throttles during gameplay. Check out my post history if you'd like to see some charts and discussions. As far as I know, nobody with an i3 has tried to duplicate my results. One chap with an i5 didn't see throttling when duplicating my tests with alien swarm (but the i5's do throttle under benchmarking as reported elsewhere)

I would be cautious about relying on the original reviewer, he has recently removed all mentions about his machine throttling during benchmarks from his original post, and presents sets of "max temps" that he knows he has exceeded. It would seem to me that he's as interested in promoting the machine as he is in reviewing it.

 

Hey can anyone answer this. Since the i5 has a thermal threshold of 105C and we know that the 4820TG can easily get up to 85-90C after heavy use, is that bad for the laptop's overall lifetime? Is 85C-105C too much heat for the surrounding circuits and does this translate into the laptop being hot to the touch?

I use an old AMD hp laptop and this thing gets scalding hot to the touch, im sure I can cook an egg on it. Heat is one of my greatest turn offs about a laptop.

 

As much as I want to buy a 4820TG if the 3820TG doesn't arrive to the US in the next month or so, I am very skeptical of the heat issues reported by German reviewers and the youtube video of it shutting down during a stress test.

I agree that the first page FAQ/review is a little defensive (i.e. "myths" section. Maybe the user just really likes the unit?

 

By system restore do you mean that you tried wiping the HD and doing a fresh install of Windows?

 

I have tried a full reinstall of windows. NO joy.

Only possibility is the lack of a power saving driver perhaps causing the problem.

Probably its the backlight though

 

Has anyone done the odd to hd swap yet? I am very curious about battery life and heat. Do you guys think the xpad would be a good cooler for it?

 

Could the backlight problem be anything to do with the Turbo Boost drivers ?

 

When did I ever say such a thing? I clearly mentioned in this forum that I did not have DIRT or Left4Dead2 to throttle my Core i3 at those temperatures. I said that when I get a chance to test those games. I will post up new results.

Also, I haven't promoted the Core i3 in this entire forum. You need to stop blaming other people for your own problems.

Did I mention that the Core i3 throttles at 86 Celcius? Yesss.....

Did I mention that my Core i3 throttles on torture tests & benchmarks? Yesss...

Were these mentioned in my original post? Yess..... Look at the last edited date on the bottom of my review. It is before your post. I didn't change any of the Core i3 sentences. I just added the Core i5 section.

Please, troll somewhere else. You lost credibility with me and probably a few other people with your wrongful accusations.

 

wait so you guys are saying that the i3 would make you lag during gaming because of the heat? That means if you were to game, you should get the i5 version.

Btw is Mc still the only place to get it? Any new updates that other retailers will have them with discounts somehow?

 

ngaw - is the only one facing these CPU throttling problems. I mentioned that I only play Counter-Strike: Source and Dragon Age: Origins. I will be installing Starcraft 2 today to see how the 4820TG handles it.

So, how can I lie in my review if I don't even play the same games as him?

 

I would simply recommend the I5, period. Unless you know your application will not create excessive heat in the CPU and the extra $100 was a critical issue in the decision process.

Amazon has the I3 posted on its site. I would guess that the I5 will not be far behind.

Bronsky

 

Ahh thanks for the tips guys. Yeah I just got sc2 too but my desktop won't have a prob. aylafan , tell me how that goes for the laptop.

 

Whoops my mistake - I reread your original post three times before I posted looking for where you had said that and was sure it had gone missing. I'm sorry.

As for me being a troll or "I need to stop blaming other people for my problems" because my laptop overheats while gaming and I tell people about it - well, c'est la vie. That kind of reaction is exactly why your recommendations should be treated with some skepticism. From the first day I reported my problems you've tried to discount or downplay them. You act like you're cheering a sports team, not discussing a ~$1000 consumer purchase.

 

I'm mostly defending the build quality. You can verify with 6 other members who own the 3820TG or 4820TG. There is already a thread based on the 4820TG build quality.

The lid and keyboard argument are simply neutral. I never chose sides in either of those. I mentioned that the lid is fragile and will break if you try to. I said the keyboard is a hit-and-miss.

The last two myths & facts are just commonly asked questions about Windows 7.

 

Really? When did I discount or downplay your results? I simply asked you questions on why your Core i3 was throttling because I didn't face the same throttling problems as you. Then I asked you to run the heaven benchmark test to see if it still throttled. Why didn't you return the 4820TG during the return period if you weren't happy with it?

I already mentioned many flaws about the 4820TG in my review. The lid is very thin, flexes, and can break. The webcam has poor quality and is unusable in low-light conditions. The left palm rest gets hot while gaming. The microphone makes a humming noise while recording a video. The screen has very bad viewing angles and the quality depends on the manufacturer. The Core i3 throttles at 86 Celsius. The keyboard has some flex, etc. How is this bias?

Then out of nowhere, you accused me of writing a misleading review. Really? I am pretty sure that many 3820TG and 4820TG owners agree with most of the things I wrote in my review.

 

Hi all,

I've never posted in this thread before, but I've been all over the 3820tg/Arrandale ones. Thought I'd explore the 14in Timeline model. I'm still in the market for a lappy, and noticed that MicroCenter in Tustin might carry this brand/model. Any thoughts for someone who wants to play SC2 on high/ultra, PCSX2, Dolphin, and attend grad school? Also, can someone confirm how many fans 4820TG has?

Thanks for the help!

 

The 4820TG only has 1 vent on the left side. The 3820TG has 2 vents: one vent on the left side and one vent on the right side. I will be installing Starcraft 2 today and will post temperature results after a few hours of playing.

 

Guys, not taking sides, but Aylafan is on the money with his view-points. I'm coming from a XPS m1330, and the screen lid is way sturdier on my 4820TG than the Dell(led model). You're not going to be banging it shut like they do on TV & If you do, buy a Tough book or Vaio NW20.
Although, I have to say my machine has never been hot on the left palm rest, under pressure or otherwise. Although, the exhaust air from the left vent has been know to blow fairly hot while playing Borderlands. I have an advantage with the 9-cell battery and the air intake at the front underside is a huge bonus as opposed to being underneath the machine, as was the state of the colling system in the XPS. Jaysus, that yoke got so hot I had to take it of my lap, & I was only using Corel. never gamed on the XPS.

 

So it's got a cooling unit like GX640? One fan, two heatsinkpipecopperthingys attached to the CPU and one to the GPU?

 

Does the 4820TG still has temperature and therefore CPU throttle problems?

 

Here is the bottom of the 4820TG. I think the CPU/GPU shares the same heatsink. The other parts weren't accessible to me.

 

Ohhhhhhh... Man, that pic immediately made me lose interest. Thank you for your help though

 

aylafan u don't like the webcam?

i was actually impressed with it haha. i was blown away by the clarity.

it's too bad it can't do video recording at max resolution though. (or can u?)

when i set it to max resolution, the video button became grayed out.

 

It's not horrible, it just don't seem that spectacle to me. Since, I am always using my Logitech webcam on my desktop.

You can probably record at a higher resolution with another video recording program. You could probably even live webcam at a higher resolution. However, I weren't able to do that with the Acer default webcam software.

 

and to everyone with cooling questions..

the best cooler for this notebook will be whichever hits the vents / hot spots DEAD ON with the fans.

personally i have the cooler master U2.

 

Ya, that's a nice one. How much?

 

Hello fellow 4820 owners!
I own a 4820TG for about 5 days now and am pretty content with it, especially its great battery performance. But I got a question concerning the graphic switching: is it possible to set the Intel HD graphics as the sandard graphics used, that means: in both, battery AND plugged-in mode? Because everytime my acer is being plugged in or starts from plugged-in it activates the ATI card.

I currently don't need that much performance, and my Acer heats up quite quickly with it and the fan kicks into running. Would be cool if I wouldnt have to switch manuelly everytime.

 

i got it for $21 from amazon.com a week ago

 

Nobody wants to see some kind of back and forth forum war here I'm sure. If you really want to continue in this vein go ahead and send me a pm. I'm just trying to make sure people know whats up if they're making a purchase decision.

As for why I didn't return it - microcenter has a 7 day return period for laptops (with a 15% restocking fee) - I didn't start running the detailed logs I needed to spot what the problem was until two weeks after my purchase so I missed the window.

 

OOOooohh!

Can you tell me what its dimensions are, in yankee inches?

 

Aw sheesh restocking fee? I hate that crap. BB does that too, unless you BUY their silver membership crap.

Thanks for the help ya'll, I'm unsubscribing from this thread. See ya around.

 

I don't like a forum war either. I just don't know why you had to write something negative about me, when I am also here trying to help people.

 

double post.

 

Wait, who's saying smoething negative about you? Are you guys talkinga bout me?

 

Hi I just purchased the i5 version from Microcenter, and so far it's been an awesome machine, apart from one issue I'm having.

Currently the laptop is plugged in, set to high performance mode and running prime 95. The problem is that the i5 450m is running at 133x9 (1.2ghz), instead of the full speed. Right now the max temps are ~55C, so it shouldnt be throttling right? is there anything I'm missing?

 

Nope you shouldn't be having any kind of problems due to heat.

Does it ever run at full speed? When you're not running prime95? Or is it always showing a 9 multiplier no matter what?

 

Ngaw and I just had a misunderstanding. It's no big deal.

 

ngaw, what program did you use to make those graphs? Does it export to excel or something?

 

I think the i5 model is being ruled out too quickly. Need more info. More gaming and burn tests.

 

Well turns out rebooting the laptop fixed it now, cpu runs at 133x19/20 during prime 95

But when it was at 9x during prime95, it would usually hover around 10-11x with normal usage. This is why I believed it was throttling, though I've never seen it run at full speed apart from prime95 after I rebooted

 

The Core i5 + 500GB hard drive is worth the extra $100 in my opinion. I just went with the Core i3 because I needed a laptop for summer school and I had a low budget.

I think someone already did some benchmarks with the Core i5. You just need to search the forum.

 

What are the temps like at full speed?

There have been some successful tests, but there are also 2 outside accounts that make this whole thing confusing. A youtube video of a burn test shutdown, and notebookcheck saying that the cpu(i5) downclocks when it's above 90 degrees to let the cpu cool down.

More information is needed to make a smart decision on this.

 

Everest can make logs in csv format (file->preferences->logging) - and then yeah I imported those into excel. I posted a few of the excel files I used as examples.

 

Ok, here's prime95 after 6-7 minutes, with 5650 turned ON:



this was done with minimum processor state set to 100% in high performance mode, which is why idle temps are dropping so slowly (cpu usually idles at low 40s). The left side of the keyboard and the left palm rest did get warm, but the laptop was still very usable during stress tests.

I can run more tests next week as I'm on vacation right now (NYC ) and typing this post in the hotel as we speak

 

You are most probably right, the symptoms you have described sounds like backlight problem. You probably have to return it to the seller for a replacement.