Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820TG Owners Lounge

Hey guys, wondering if you can help me out with something.

Just got a new Samsung TV and I was really excited to hook it up to my 4820TG via HDMI. It seems though, i can only use the HDMI on the radeon graphics but will not work with the integrated graphics. Anyone know if there's a way or fix around this?

 

Same on the 3820TG, I don't think you can change this :/

but it's still better than only intel on hdmi

 

The HDMI on the 4820TG is tied down to the Radeon graphics. There is no workaround for this.

 

Ah thanks for the info, that greatly depresses me. Nevertheless, I am still happy with this laptop.

Also, does anyone have issues with sticky keys? like it feels like there's crap under my keys and when i push down on them, it feels like something is preventing them from being pushed down so I end up having to push harder than I normally do.

 

I'm approaching a year of use of this laptop quickly and I have little to complain about.

But I will about this one thing...

So I just installed an SSD I got from a friend, and boy is it fast! Windows installed great, and I was going to reinstall the HDD and take out the DVD drive. But first I wanted to install drivers and get everything up and running.

So since this was a new install I figured I would download the latest drivers from acers site.

Everything installed fine except the wireless drivers and THIS IS A BIG... BAD... PROBLEM!!!!!!
*insert rage comic!!!!*

First of all there are 3 different wireless drivers on the site. I downloaded all three figuring one would work. I later found out that my wireless card model was printed on the bottom of the laptop. I used the Atheros drivers off the site, those didn't work. I tried a number of different things, none of them worked. I tried the other drivers out of desperation, those didn't work. I tried re installing windows to make sure all these drivers were not causing problems. I was getting frustrated because my Mac using friend was smugly sitting next to me talking about how they don't have to deal with drivers. HE IS RIGHT, THIS IS BS!

The reason it is total horse dung is because the drivers on the site don't work with my wireless card... none of them. I had to go back and find the recovery CD that I made back when I got the laptop and pull the drivers off there. If I hadn't had that then what could I possibly do? Beg someone on here that they might have the same model and everything?

The point is... Acer you suck big time for not having working wireless drivers for my laptop on your site. That is inexcusable. Your lucky that I love this laptop so much or I would more seriously contemplate never buying from your company again.

Now that that is out of the way...
Woah, SSD's are awesome.


P.S. I guess another alternative would be to open up the laptop again and get the S/N of the WLAN card and then get the drivers from the source or elsewhere. I did not do this, and despite it being a way I could have done this that doesn't change the fact that Acer is doing a bad job with support. My laptop is registered on the Acer site and I was hoping for immediate access to drivers.

 

I'd say it's not acer's fault that you were trying to install broadcom and intel drivers onto a laptop with atheros device.


acer's got drivers for all three wifi cards on the web and they're working.


not sure if you did a recovery, but I'd say the problem was you trying to install wrong drivers, then not deleting them correctly, so obviously, even the right one would not work.

we can blame acer for not updating the hybrid VGA driver, but not for this.


also mac OS is for simpletons, if you feel like one, ditch windows, ditch acer.


(btw i like macbook pro's unibody design and thinness of MB air, I was even thinking of buying MBP, just because of the design and making Win 7 my primary OS on it)


you sound like someone who put diesel in a petrol car, then was surprised that it's kinda screwed up, then pumped out the diesel, put in good ol' petrol and was even more surprised it actually started working again.

 

No your so wrong... you did not read my post.

I did install the atheros drivers off the site first and correctly. I only did the other drivers out of desperation. I then DELETED THE PARTITIONS, eliminating the possibility of one driver affecting the other and tried again.

The only wireless driver that worked was the old one that I had to dig out of a closet that was on the recovery CD I made.


And I've been tweaking and building computers for almost a decade now. I'm not some scrub. This is the first time I have encountered a major company such as Acer simply not having the right drivers. I am a little offended with your post.

And I disagree with your opinion on Mac's. My friend's no simpleton, he probably could school you on any number of things, he has his Mac for making iOS Apps and some server work. Also, the track pads seem to be very nice in addition to the rest of the hardware.

And like I said in my post, I have had little to complain about but that SINGLE driver issue is a big deal.

 

I've never had any problems with wireless drivers and I have atheros... strange problem you got there!

 

to be honest, you're not overwhelmingly specific in some parts.

you say "First of all there are 3 different wireless drivers on the site."

yes there are - each for different wifi card manufacturer - broadcom, atheros and intel. you have to identify what you got, prior to installation.

installing all of them, one by one, obviously would not work. oh, by the way, would you also try to install AMD drivers on a system with Nvidia card? you know, out of desperation...


you deleted partitions, hmm, so isn't that, what I said, performing a recovery ? that would apart from anything else delete all the drivers wrongly installed and their remains, so that when appropriate driver is installed, it worked. no surprise.


your decade of building computers for x years doesn't tell how much you know about SW and OSs, but tbh don't really care. the fact you tried to install wrong drivers in hope they'll work says it all.

HW in apple is moreless the same as anywhere else, the difference is the chasis construction, cooling, trackpad and usually the screen. Trackpad could be better, no argument there. I still prefer mouse to any trackpad though, so it's not a deciding factor for me anyway.

Don't want to get into Win vs Mac flame, so I'd leave the rest.

Acer, 4820TGs and Windows do have faults, but as you seem to be the only one with it, I would not blame any of them for this. There are known issues that affect many owners, but not this one.


Oh, did I ever mention, that I too installed SSD on my 4820TG, got atheros wifi, downloaded the driver from their site and never had a single issue with it?

 

There's no point in playing verbal ping-pong here is it?

Regardless of everything else Acer does not update their drivers and users do have issues identifying their hardware (even though there is a tool that helps you do that available on Acer Support website).

The most recent drivers for Atheros wireless can be found here.
Scroll down and choose an appropriate system version.
The most recent Win 7 driver is 9.2.0.419

 

{EDITED}

I provided a link to the most recent Atheros drivers I was able to find- that website is a good source of drivers along laptopvideo2go.com forums.

That's it- issue solved, no reason to blame anyone anymore.

EDIT: I guess the message wasn't clear enough- issue is solved no more blaming each other- the only thing that this will cause is more bickering and will require mod intervention which it already did.

 

off topic from this point but im looking into the 4820tg from amazon, missed out on the 3830tg =(, but how is this laptop for gaming say sc2 on medium? does the temperature reach over 70C? jw since i want it to last long TY. hopefully this will be my next laptop if it meets the temp requirements.

 

It is great for SC2. And yea it should play it on at least medium. I played often on the 4820tg when I first got it.

 

Starcraft 2 (medium settings) on a resolution of 1366x768 starts out with around 50-60FPS, but can go down as low as 6-10FPS when there are too many units on screen. That's kind of expected for a mid-range graphics card, but it's still great for SC2.

In games, the temperature on my Core i3 usually hovers around 80C. The Core i5 usually hovers around 90C, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. As long it is under 100C and isn't throttling like the 3830TG then I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

if you get an i5 4820tg you'll be good. I also secure it with cooling pad when gaming, which can drop the temps up to 10 degrees C.

 

thx! ill probably just stick with the low settings like the pro's then =p

 

Really? I went with medium settings and start with 60 FPS but in intense battles with a lot of fire and special effects going on, I only go as far down as 30-40 FPS. Then again, I have the i5. I think SC2 is as much of a CPU game as it is a GPU game.

 

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I mostly play custom games which have unlimited units on screen. Usually, 200+ units on screen at once in Marine Arena, etc.

You'll be fine in normal games.

 

Hi everybody!

I recently purchased that little "beast"

Im' very happy with performance and battery duration, but I'm a little concerned about temperatures.

I understand that in "real world" situation temperatures will probably be in a safe range (around 80°) but the fact that testing with prime95 + furmark cpu hits 101° (maybe throttling at that temperature) and GPU 93° scares me a lot.

Do you think that repasting will give a good improvement? I'm not going to disassamble the whole thing for 2-3° !


I recently bought that optical drive-> hdd caddy (I hope it will be compatible!), and a pair of kingston 4gb ram, maybe I will take some pictures for a little installation guide.

Have a nice day with your little but powerfull 4820tg's
(and sorry for my funny english, Italy here )

 

1, those are stress tests, of course the temps will be close to max, I would not worry too much, just check the temps with real life performance, eg. when gaming.
2, repasting with some quality paste would always help (provided it's done correctly), but noone can tell you for sure what the temps drop would be
3, ebay link is not working

 

Playing Oblivion for a couple of hours took the temperature around 80° both for cpu and gpu...

Ok, maybe I will do it and post a before/after temperature screenshot.

Fixed!

 

80s after hours of playing are ok I'd say, on stock paste without cooling pad.

I'd say repasting -5C, cooling pad another -5C, -6C on average.

yes, that caddy will be ok.

 

My SSD has been installed, I finally took out the ODD and am trying to put in the HDD.

I unscrewed the main back part of the laptop.
Underneath there is another single screw holding the ODD in.
I then just used my finger to pull out the ODD.
I unscrewed a small metal bracket being held on by 2 screws on the ODD.
I took that small metal bracket and 2 screws and put it on the Caddy (that already had my HDD installed).
Then I slid the Caddy with the HDD in, and then secured it with a single screw on that small metal bracket.

Anyone else who installed the second HDD have a picture? It doesn't look too bad (I'll upload pictures) but It is a bit far back for my taste. I don't quite understand what people in this thread meant by face plate looking perfectly OEM, or doing any work.

But it does work 100%.


EDIT:
http://i53.tinypic.com/1z5kl0j.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/25t8h2g.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/dy6an7.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/10yidxu.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/2ebzxvo.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/16kygpf.jpg

 

you can take out the face plate from ODD and replace the generic one on the caddy and it would look as perfect fit.

 

From looking at it I don't see how this would be possible. No real screws on the caddy to remove the face plate. And I can't quite see how to get the face plate off of the ODD.

 

that's what i thought first too. there should be 2 plastic clips holding each face plate, locate them and you will figure out way to release them.

it will require some skill and wise use of force as you might break it.

 

After some force...

Yes, the DVD drive face plate came off cleanly. It uses tabs.
The caddy on the other hand has its face plate secured with tiny screws.

I can not mix and match these face plates. Maybe I just got unlucky on my caddy purchase.

 

Yesterday i repasted with the right amount of artic silver 5 on the cpu (gpu has a thermal pad on it, I didn't touched it) but I can't see any improvement in temperatures, maybe in the next days it will get better, once the paste is "set". I'm starting to think that the heatsink is just to little to support the cooling of CPU+GPU at maximum load, especially if the CPU is a i7.

Again, this is probably NOT A "REAL WORLD" situation: prime95+furmark.
With only prime95 (not a real world too, but more realistic) the cpu stays below 90° wich should be relatively safe.

(as always, sorry if my english is bad)

 

The i7s have a reputation for running very hot in the 4820TG. The i5 540M or higher i5 series run cooler with similar performance, and have all the fancy virtualization features of the i7 as well.

 

What temperature reaches an i5 with prime95 + furmark ?

 

furmark is only for GPU.

burn i5 480M for 20 mins

maxT

Core 0 = 69 C
Core 1 = 76 C

stock paste, without cooling pad

 

After 30 min. of Prime 95 my i7 reaches 92°/95° for the two cores.

Room temperature is 31° and i have no laptop cooler

Looks like there is a great difference between i5 and i7

 

Yes, that is correct. The Core i7 runs hotter than the Core i5 in the 4820TG. The Core i5 seems to be the ideal processor for the 4820TG.

For intensive games:
Core i3 - TJunction 90 C - usually runs in the early 80s C, but starts to throttle at 85-86 C
Core i5 - TJunction 105 C - usually runs in the mid 90s C, but from what I heard; it does not throttle
Core i7 - TJunction 105 C - usually runs in the mid-high 90s C, but starts to throttle around high 90s C and 100s C; in some cases, the 4820TG automatically shuts down

 

The I5-540/580M is the best balanced (power v. heat & efficiency) CPU in any of the Timelines IMO.

 

@Bronsky, which one did you buy, QS or OEM?

 

Bronsky, I guess, bought 3820TG with i5 540M originally, but even if not I doubt he would use ES or QS.

 

OEM.

@Kefan77 - my current 3820TG was an I3 Canadian model. At the time, there were no I5's available from Canada. I bought the I5-540M to replace the I5-450M from my original 3820TG and swapped it into this unit along with a US Keyboard, some IC Diamond 7 thermal paste and the BT module from my original unit.

 

Anyone tried under clocking the i7 to see if it helps reduce the temp while gaming?

Btw I previously mentioned some time ago that I used the zalman cooler, it really works quite well for me, at room temperature of 28 degrees celsius the laptop feels warm on the left palm rest but its not something you will notice much. And I don't use the thermal paste either...

 

So I just installed my Crucial M4 256GB in my 4820tg.... amazing and virtually flawless install.

My only question thus far is my scroller on my touchpad doesn't seem to be functioning. I installed the Synaptics drivers, what am I missing here?

Thanks!

 

uhm, not using the thermal paste is "very wise"...

 

Hi, I own the 4820T and am experiencing audio problems. For example, if I am using foobar (or any audio application) and then to decide to watch a youtube video (switch to another audio app). The youtube video has no video. It seems the system can only play sound from one audio source at once. This is normally fixed by going into the sound control panel and setting the realtek digital output as default, then doing the same for the speakers.

Audio programs I use include foobar, youtube/ other internet music sites and guitar pro 5.

Any fix for this?

Thanks

 

Windows 7 does not support more than 1 audio source at a time.

Here are some solutions I found on Google that might help you.
1. Assigning an application to different sound outputs
2. Virtual Audio Cable

 

hey anyone know if the Bigfoot killer 1102 will work for the acer 4820tg?

 

why do you want to put in that ?

Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300 is just a better option.

don't tell me you fell for this marketing talk:

Intelligence - Killer™ Wireless-N uses exclusive Advanced Stream Detect™ to automatically classify and prioritize latency-sensitive network traffic for online games, HD video and high quality audio for better quality and fewer interruptions in your online experience.

Maximum Control - See which applications are hogging your wireless bandwidth. Set limits using Visual Bandwidth Control™ or shut them down completely with Application Blocking, so they don’t interfere with your online games or other multimedia applications.

 

So you saying windows 7 cant play for example, a youtube video and music from WMP at the same time?

 

@kefan777 & Espada

While Bigfoot's marketing talk is clear nonsense 1102 seem to be very good based on this article.
Personally I'd go for 1103.

Mind you- Bigfoot had nothing to do with these cards being good- these are Atheros designs and Atheros chips with Bigfoot sticker on top.

 

yeah, but nothing really that better than intel. based on overall experience I'd still go intel.

 

it can. but pointless, as you can't possibly listen to 2 at the same time anyway. it' like watching 2 tvs at once - in the end you won't have anything from any of the shows.

I guess the issue here is:

you can't use 2 output devices at the same time - youtube on headphones and eg. music on speakers at the same time.

 

You can play as many audio programs at the same time as you want: Winamp, WMP, YouTube, etc. Speaker should be your "default device" and you shouldn't have to switch between Playback Devices until you want to output audio through a different interface like HDMI.

You probably have one of the programs set up to use a different audio device. If you leave it on default audio; it will default to Speaker and you shouldn't have to mess with anything.

 

honestly I like the idea of the software and application that i saw that you can control the bandwidth which might be nice to have. and i have the 6200N i was just wondering if anyone had tried it.

i c, atheros chip but with a nicer sticker I like that.