Acer Timeline Ultra m5?

I believe it is pre-configured yes. You also have the recovery partition, so your windows partition is probably about 16-20GB smaller. If there is a major price difference between SSD and HDD version, I'd go for the HDD version and then just either remove the HDD and put in a 2.5" 7mm SSD or get rid of the mechanical hard disk altogether and put in a 256GB or one of the upcoming 480 GB MSATA drives.

Another plus to get the HDD version is that others have mentioned that the SSD-only version could be missing the ribbon cable to add a HDD (or additional 2.5" 7mm SSD) after the fact... so take that into consideration.

 

Ok thank you very much.

1) So if i buy the Acer M5 with a 128GB SSD it is a msataSDD and the 2,5" slot is empty and hasn't a ribbon to connect, isn't it?

2) So the configuration is about something like this: 100GB Windowspartion + 20GB Recevery + 8GB IRST
(128GB SSD)
is this right? anyone can confirm this?

3) Acer m5 with a HDD+20GB SSD (msata), the configuration is 320GB Windowspartition(HDD) +16GB Expresscache(diskeeper,SSD)+ 4gb(IRST,SSD) --> can you vacaloca confirm this?

sorry for my bad english

 

Nobody knows anything about the partitions? I need help because i want to buy the pretty laptop (

 

It is possible to upgrade a I5 Sandybrige to Ivybridge? Both have the Same socket

 

I have the Acer TimelineU M5-481TG-6814 14" Ultrabook from Newegg. It comes with 4 Gigs of Ram. On Newegg it lists maximum memory as 6 Gigs. Can I only upgrade to 6 GB then, or did all of you who posted that you put another 8 GB of Ram (for a total of 10) in also have this same "limitation"?

 

Hi,
I bought the Acer Timeline M5 with 500GB HDD and 20GB SSD few days ago and decided to upgrade SSD to a Crucial M4 128GB.
The SSD is recognize and is working well but I can't in any way install windows 8 on it, I tried a lot of differents things, boot from USB, DVD,
differents ISO of windows, I tried with Seven as well but I've never been able to install windows on the SSD, the best i've manage to do is to make a clean install on the HDD and install Linux on the SSD, nothing more.
So if someone know a way I could use to get to it, I'm completely lost, I tried the all week end without success and need my laptop for my work as soon as possible.
I've read most of the thread but I have probably missed few things so sorry if this has been already said, and excuse me for my (probably very bad) english.
Thank you !

 

1) Yes. As others have said, if the 2.5" slot is empty, changes are no ribbon cable is included... so for expandability, I'd go with HDD+MSATA
2) Again, yes... this is why some earlier reviews of the SSD models mention that there was not much space left over on the MSATA... there might or not be another partition... at any rate, you can reformat as you please, so it shouldn't matter.
3) Yes, but you forgot the recovery partition again, which is part of the 320GB hard drive, again something like 20GB.

You will not be able to upgrade the CPU (unless you have someone that can professorially do it for you). It is soldered to the mainboard.

To answer the rest of the questions on this page... Yes, 8GB DDR3 DIMM works fine for a total of 10GB onboard. You might have to adjust the Rapid Start partition to account for that change... look for my earlier posts on this thread... they are very informative, and I'm not about to repeat myself more

You don't mention any specifics... what happens during the Windows installation? Any particular error messages? You need a lot more detail if you want a real answer.

Are you just not booting from a bootable media? That might just be your problem... make sure your Windows 7/8 DVD or thumb drive is marked bootable... and test it on another computer to make sure it it boots fine... and then (obviously) make sure you go into the BIOS boot menu (F12?) and select the media you want to boot from.

Edit: I have also seen errors in a Win7 install something akin to 'cannot find drivers for (so-and-so) once the GUI pops up before it lets you select what HDD to install to. One of these errors was due to a bad burned DVD image. I agree with / squee, install a version that has SP1 integrated.

The other thing is, I'm not sure if you will be able to install Win7 to the MSATA SSD without removing the HDD, but I might be wrong. At the very least you cannot *boot* from MSATA when a 2.5" drive is present.

 

also Make sure if your using a windows 7 SP1 dvd as it has msata drivers integrated so it shows in hard disk options.

 

Well, I hah differents errors depending on the way I was trying to install windows, one was saying "windows cannot find the images..." (I got french messages so the translation may not be exact) when I tried to install from a classic ISO including all versions of win 8, I also tried the ei.cfg file method which didn't work either.
My thumb drive is ok, It's my usual bootable drive for installing OS on other PC, and I did install linux with it.

I also changed the boot order (I had anyway to desactivate the UEFI bios to Legacy mode to be able to boot from a media) .

@squee666 I didn't thought that windows 7 wouldn't have the mSata drivers required, I'll look at it tonight !


thanks !

edit : I tried few installations with win 7 SP1 and non-SP1 I've been able to install on the SSD even if, the windows 7 installation goes until the drive choice and there tell me the SSD cannot be used for installation.

I also tried with ei.cfg :

[EditionID] Core
[Channel] Retail
[VL] 0

witch Core/Pro and OEM/Retail it never worked and show me the error "windows could not display the images available for installation".

I don't know what else to try right now, I've downloaded few different windows ISOs from differents sources to be sure but nothing...
I may try to install win 7 on my HDD and if it works, try to install on the SSD from windows but I would loose the GPT mode that win 8 uses and i'm affraid that would compromise all chances to go back to win 8 for a restore in case of problem later(?)

 

Has anyone been having problems lately with the touchpad on/off key (Fn+F7).

After one of those windows updates it doesn't work with the keyboard shortcut. I have to disable it manually. Any tips?

 

Windows 7 wont use gpt unless you make a bootusb that's modified Google *make windows 7 uefi USB*

Don't worry you can restore windows 8 if you switch btw just remember to switch your partition type.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

I actually noticed that myself lately... booted up in Linux again and saw the Fn+F7 shortcut worked fine from there.

I did some quick troubleshooting and the culprit is the older Synaptics Windows 7 x64 driver (16.0.2) that presumably conflicts with some recent update. I uninstalled it and installed the latest released version (currently v16.2.21) direct from Synaptics here:

http://www.synaptics.com/resources/drivers

The problem was solved when there was no driver loaded or when I loaded that latest version. The Synaptics Release.txt on the latest driver version also lists various bugfixes... presumably it is listed by name somewhere, but I didn't go through the extensive file line by line since the 16.0.2 version release.

 

That explains why he was having issues... I tried a GPT Windows 7 install a while back and had to slipstream SP1 + updates onto the RTM DVD because all the integrated WIn7 SP1 images from M$ and (thus) a bunch of the torrent images do not have the UEFI boot code on them... silly M$... *shakes head*

At that time I couldn't figure out how to make a UEFI boot USB, so I used the route above...

 

Hey,

would you reccomend me buy a Acer M5 or Acer M3 ? A lot of people complain the fan noiise of the Acer M5... but the Acer M3 hasn't that good case/unibody than Acer M5

 

I'm using the m3 and its amazing with its 640m and i5.

Both are good just a difference in screen size and casing really.

The m3 is easier to access the hdd and ram though.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

Living in Denmark, the choice of good laptops is somewhat limited. But i was able to find this configuration of the m5 on sale:
581TG-7376g12, 15,6in:
i7-2637
6 gb ram
640M (apperently not LE?)
128 gb SSD


Do you have any experience gaming with the m5? Which configurations? Where can I read more about it?
My 3 year old 4820tg ran battlefield 3 on low with no problems. How will the m5 do?

 

m5/m3 gpu is reallly powerful and yes its not the LE version you could probably play B3 on high settings with that setup. the cpu is a bottleneck but what do you expect for an ultrbook woth over 6 hours battery.





Guys with M5's can any of you take pictures of your keyboard and connectors.


Im thinking of splicing a backlit m5 keyboard into the M3 may be able to get it to draw power from the usb ports at back

 

Thanks. is the cpu really not that good? I have been paying attention to hardware news for the last three years, and got a lot of catching up to do.




I found an almost identical m3. Only difference is the i5-2467M istead of i7-2637m. They both score quite low in benchmarks, I see.

What are the main differences between the m5-series and the m3-series?

 

From what I have seen is there are really no major differences. The m5 has 2 USB 3 ports while m3 has 1. The M3 also has an i7 version that's the same as M5.

The both have optional touch displays like my M3. The M5 requires removal of casing to access the HDD and ram.

Only real difference is M5 has a backlit keyboard while M3 doesn't though if the dimensions and inputs are same I'm going to splice it into my M3.

The M3 and M5 both have low voltage cpus which are soldered onboard hence why performance isn't the best but the hyperthreading helps quite a bit and gt 640m is really powerful in this size of a ultrabook.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

What about the FAN of the M5? a lot of people says that is very loud, noisy and never turn off

 

Hi,

Not sure this is the right place to write this question, but I hope you guys can help me?

I am thinking about buying an Ace Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 with an Ivybridge and Gt640m, I am wondering about a couple of things;

Firstly does anyone know if this Gt640m is a MXM 3 B connected discrete graphics card, or is it embedded in the mother board?
Second, if it is not embedded, can it be swapped out for a more powerful card and if so, is there any physical limitations that would impact what can replace it?
Thirdly, If it cannot be upgraded, what is the best way to overclock this card and what would the results be? Will it overclock to the equivalent of a GT660m for example?
Fourthly, Is the HDD connector sata 3? and likewise is the Msata port sata 3?

I think that is all I need to know, please add your comments and let me know what you think as I think I would like one of these laptops or else I would have to save up extra cash and wait for the launch of the updated Samsung Chronos 7, for which there is no launch date as yet that I can find.

Many thanks

 

Its embedded 640m and you would have to use nvidia inspector to overclock there's a guide. Though it wont go as powerful as a 660m most likely.

I'm.assuming the msata is sata 6 at least though I would like someone to confirm for me as I haven't tested it with a new ssd that or the sata port.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

Thanks. It worked. Fn + F7 is back!

 

hi, i have this acer m5-481t, 14" screen and yesterday i realize that it makes , when is suspended, hibernated or shouted down, a very high pitched noise. it is almost inaudible, but it makes me worry a little. i cant hear it from a distance of 0,50m, only when i approach my ear to the back of the computer, where the ventilation holes are located. Does this happen to anyone else?

Pd: sorry if i posted this in the wrong thread, im new at the forum.

 

Hi,
I'm considering purchasing the M5 ultra 481tg and everything looks pretty good.
I would like to know if there are any drawbacks that resellers obviously don't publish.
Some high noise from the fans? only 7mm drives? overheating? throttling? Something that you have to deal with daily?
Doesn't have to be a big issue I'm just rounding up cons before making the purchase.

currently I'm on the fence between the acer and the Series 5 Ultra by samsung.
Samsung comes with AMD drivers which is a major turnoff but I know nothing about the M5 so I'm kinda hesitant.

Thank you!

 

no high noise from fans the heatng is only when you use the GT640m which TBF in an ultrabook when im running borderlands 2 is acceptable.

You could try a 9.5mm hard drive and 7mm are not hard to get and are roughly the same price and do come in 1TB. SSDS wil shrink to 7mm especially the M4

 

I think I just lost my sound card. I have a red x on the volume icon on the lower right, but the trouble shooter can't identify the problem. Realtek doesn't appear anymore under my drivers, only the intel. I've tried updating, re-installing, etc. but no luck. I went to an earlier restore point too. The sound card worked for about 10 minutes, then cut out again. I also can't use the microphone. Thoughts?
-C

 

Has any of the Windows 7 users realized that, lately, when you press the right directional arrow (triangle, really) on the keyboard, sometimes it acts as if you pressed Fn + Right Arrow?

It's happening to me maybe once or twice each hour.

 

Hi,
has any of you M5 owners had trouble with USB ports? I'm having regular issues with several USB devices not being recognized when the computer is running on batteries or has been put to sleep and then awakened (everything works fine when on working on mains and has not being put to sleep). Also my external mouse, which is also on USB, is working fine 100% of the time. USB driver is the latest that Acer has on their website. It's the main grudge I have with the machine...

I do have a M5-481TG (14''/i5/GT640M LE/500GB HDD/Win7) since last October. I'm pretty happy with the machine, there are no issues with Wifi or excessive noise, as has been mentioned here several times. The fan is running audibly, but it's just a silent hum. I bought it with 4BG of RAM and was told by Acer support that the machine only supports up to 6GB of RAM, so I installed a 1333MHz 4GB module without reconfiguring anything in cache settings and it works fine. Startup and shutdown are also fast, being sometimes quicker than putting the machine to sleep/waking it up...

 

The right arrow intermitently acting as if I had pressed "Fn + Right arrow" bug continues to bother my computer. Maybe it's the nvidia drivers? I don't remember this happening before. Also, the brightness indicator graphic does not appear in the lower center of the screen when I adjust brightness anymore.

I tried reinstalling the ePowerManagement and the Launch Manager, but it did not fix the problem. I'll keep trying.

It has been happening when I use the integrated graphics ONLY. Don't know if it happens when I use "auto-select" on Nvidia settings.

EDIT #2 - Yes, I'm almost sure it's selecting "integrated graphics" on the Nvidia settings. I've tried to press right arrow many times while on "auto-select", and I did not see any change on brightness. However, I went to the Nvidia settings, changed them to integrated graphics, clicked apply, and after the settings were applied, I pressed the right arrow and it instantly acted as if I had pressed Fn + Right Arrow.

EDIT #3 - Tried installing the original Nvdia Control Center, PhysX, and Intel HD4000 files from Acer. The bug manifested when I selected integrated graphics only. Which is a shame because on integrated graphics this laptop has great battery life.

 

Have you opened tha laptop at all? Sounds like the mobo cable to the daughterboard (has mic/headphone jack and sound card hardware) is loose/damaged and/or not making contact. I sort of damaged mine a while ago but left it intact and when it finally decided to not work again I was able to reposition it without changing it yet. I'm only familiar with the 14" version, so 15" might be a bit different, but it might be as simple as repositioning the FFC cable into the ZIF connector.

What type of devices are these? It sounds like the M5 is having trouble with the power draw of the devices when it's on battery... thus it makes sense that your USB mouse works consistently. Try a powered USB hub and see if the issue goes away? (of course that means that you would need a power outlet nearby xD)

 

No issues here with that. Either the keyboard ribbon cable might be a bit loose or the keyboard might be malfunctioning. Sometimes randomly my mouse will not work when booting up into windows, but it will work when I boot intu ubuntu and subsequently boot back into Windows... must be a BIOS gremlin, I don't think I had that issue when I was on 1.02, (updated to 1.12) but it doesnt happen often enough to be a bother.

Yes, both are. I run a Crucial MSATA and Samsung 830 and both negotiate SATA3 speeds.

 

Yips, you were right Vacaloca. I took it to a service center and they replaced the cable. All is now well.

Any tips/software to extend the battery life (besides the power saver option and turning off bluetooth/wifi)? I get about 6hrs.

 

I've found a way to replicate the behaviour. Press Fn + Down Key, then wait, then press Right Key. I've made a YouTube video showing it.

It happens with both the integrated video and the nvidia dedicated gpu.

I find it very strange that, if I replicate the behaviour while on the brightness adjust screen on windows, the brightness slider is automatically selected and locked, and I can both press right key or left key and adjust the brightness.

Sadly, I've just checked to see if I can replicate the behaviour on BIOS... and I can. However...

I went back to BIOS 1.05 and it doesn't happen anymore!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAA3OYBc_-0

 

I would suggest going to the Nvidia Control Panel > Global Settings > Preferred Graphics Processor > Integrated Graphics
Also, turn the brightness as low as it's comfortable for you.

 

I have an M3 and i know this is an M5 thread, but as they are similar im looking for some advice.

Well it is an M3, I7, 256 ssd model and my problem seems to be the headphones, whenever im watching a movie they only last a few minuets then cut off !! i can resolve this by unplugging them and the plugging them back in but they only last a few more minutes.
It appears to have something to do with the processor. I.e. when listening to music the headphones can last up to an hour, playing movies = maybe 10 mins, HD movies = 2 mins , high end games = 20 seconds.
I have already contacted Acer who apparently had no idea what the problem is and advised that i send it in for repair which i did .
After 10 days it arrived back to me and the first thing i did was try it out and surprise surprise the problem still exists !!. But i will take my hat off to them coz they must have opened up my laptop at least as they managed to screw up the WiFi, now i got to be within 5 feet of a wireless router to get a single bar of signal. ( I've factory restored, updated drivers etc to no avail )
anyways another call to the supplier who as expected try and wash their hands of the matter and refer me back to Acer.
So a call to Acer and after an hour of someone talking me thru how to turn the laptop off and back on decided that i need to return it again for repair ! Unfortunately i work away from home for a month at a time and was not prepared to be away without a laptop of some kind so have decided to wait till im home again to send it back.

So i have been looking online and seen a few times that people have had this exact same problem with the headphones, but i have been unable to find any comments about a solution.
I even came across a thread somewhere that someone had spoken to an Acer tech guy on the phone who advised him that this is a known problem for this particular model and was told unfortunately there is no fix for it !!!!!!!!!!!.
If anyone can point me towards a solution that would be great but surely if there is no fix then i shouldn't have to keep sending it back for a pretend repair. It obviously isn't fit for propose and hopefully i am due a refund or at the very least an exchange.

 

Troubled devices have been a smart card reader and a GPS tracker - neither of those should have a significant power draw (the tracker has a small battery to charge, but not the card reader). I was suspecting a power issue as well initially. Then there's the issue of the machine not being able to use the devices after resuming from sleep - usually it is able to recognize the devices, but not able to use them (for example, it says the smart card is not inserted when it is). On some occasions I've also had trouble trying to connect devices through a (non-powered) USB hub, even though the machine has been running on mains. The external devices shouldn't be at fault, they work flawlessly with other PCs.
I've yet to contact Acer on this and I'm not nursing much hope, since the issue is not 100% repeatable and works with some devices...

 

I have the M3-581TG.
Did the 1.13 bios got modded yet ? I'm interested in the RAID capability and mSATA boot (no Linux).
Also, is there a way to install the 2.X versions on a 1.X board ? If not, why ? Also if not, what's the way (vacaloca) to force EFI code on a USB/DVD ?
Can I install a backlit keyboard from a M5 ?

Also, I had a problem yesterday, the laptop wouldn't boot. Fans on, with no image on the screen. After resetting the BIOS - the same. In the end I took the 8GB RAM out (I had the 2GB soldered + 8 GB upgrade for the last 3 months without issues) and it now boots. The moment I put it back in it doesn't boot. Can the RAM be screwed ? Or it's something about the BIOS.

 

Quick question about Ram upgrade on Acer TimelineU M5-481T-6694 (14inch)

Is there a soldered ram on the computer? The computer says it came with 4GB of ram. Is it 1x 4GB in the slot or 2x 2GB? I'm wondering what the ram configuration of this machine is.

Thank you for answering my question.

 

2gb soldered. Upgradeable to 10gb by adding an 8gb 204 pin SO-DIMM.

I think you should read all the pages of this thread. There is very good information about the laptop, upgrading, pictures, insights into some problems.

 

I tried reading the pages but i couldnt find if you can upgrade the graphics card, is it possible?

 

No it's not possible to upgrade the GPU.

 

installed 1x8gb DDR3 1600mhz sodimm im on 10gb windows 8 caches 1.8gb and 185mb is hardware reserved for intel.
memory score is 7.1 now cpu is 6.9 still so its not linked like other models/

Managed to make firefox use 7.8gb of ram via image caching before it started purgng itself was aiming for 9gb so it is fully capable of utilizing it.

 

This sounds like it could be software bug. Download the latest High Definition Audio Codecs (Software) from here: Realtek
Make sure you have a backup of your original drivers just in case this is not the issue.. it's possible that new drivers could trigger some new bug sometimes.

Also I should note that if the M3 has the Dolby Home Theater Add-on it will probably stop working when you upgrade to the new driver -- you'd get a dialog box on bootup saying something about a version mismatch -- this is expected, Dolby just doesn't want to license the software to everyone, so they employ a version check to match the OEM Realtek HDA audio version, If the version is off, it doesn't provide any enhancement functionality.

With that out of the way, once you install the new drivers, try to see if the problem is gone. If it is, problem solved, except perhaps you might need a new version of the Dolby enhancing software if your laptop came with it... you could then try making a specific request to Acer to see if they have any updated Realtek HDA/Dolby drivers for you to try and see if the problem is still gone.

If that does not fix it, my guess would be a damaged ribbon cable connecting to the audio daughterboard (assuming the M3 is like the M5). Have you opened the laptop to change components and had to disconnect/reconnect ribbon cables? They are very fragile and that could be the problem also.

My next advice is to download the latest Intel USB 3.0 driver -- you can find that here. There is an option in the Windows advanced power settings (under USB settings) that is called "USB selective suspend setting" -- try disabling that after you have the new drivers installed if those don't fix the issue by themselves.

If none of those fix the issue, I'd still try a powered USB hub just as a troubleshooting device just to see if that makes the problem go away, of course if that works, I don't think I have any more solutions, heh.

 

Hey guys,

I just got my M5 with win7 and without even thinking i upgraded it to win8 pro. I got some issues and would very much appreciate it, if someone could help me. First of all the touchpad doesnt work with multiple gestures. I already installed the latest driver for synaptics touchpad´s but if I open the software i cant even see the multiple gestures settings. Second thing is how can i be sure that the 20GB SSD Cache works?


Sorry for my english but I´m German

I really hope u can help me out!

Edit: I was able to get the touchpad working by installing the ELAN driver.

 

What network drivers are you guys using? The ones I download (usually from acer support website) keep randomly disconnecting me. It's really annoying.

 

uninstall the driver completely, (select delete driver) in device manager.

Install the latest one v3

reboot.

Fixes it for most of time but also depends on router, the wireless card is sub-par gonna replace mine with an intel 1

 

Just ordered new on clearance a M5 with the following specs, as listed by the seller. Appears that mine will come out of the box with Windows 8 as default, well at least I am expecting it to.

I have read though all 35 pages. Cool that it can take 10GB of RAM, but I am thinking the 6GB should be fine on its own, unless you would recommend it?

Also got a spare DDR3L-1600 1.35v module that is 4GB, but after reading it appears that using this will have no power saving benefits as the 2GB maybe rated at 1.5v, thus all RAM will run at 1.5v regardless? Would it be worthless to change out the 4GB 1.5v module for the same sized 1.35v module?

Can someone please post a link to the service manual or kindly PM me the manual, I would appreciate that very much. Thanks.


•1.7GHz 3rd Gen Intel i5-3317UM Processor
•6GB RAM
•500GB + 20GB SSD for fast start up
•NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M LE with 1GB dedicated DDR5 VRAM
•Windows 8
•Integrated Bluetooth 4.0
•Acer CrystalEye webcam
•2-in-1 card reader (SD, MMC)
•14.0" 1366x768 WXGA Widescreen LED

 

GT-640M LE is not as powerful as GT but its DDR5 while my 640gt is ddr3 but the CPU should stop some bottlenecking also

The 2gb Soldered on Board is 1333mhz nullfiying my 1600mhz 8gb sticks full speed.

Keep the original stick in it wont save any power.

 

The M5 arrived yesterday, this thing is amazing if anyone does not already have it and can pick it up on clearance.

Main reason for buying it, Kelper with 384 shaders and GDDR5, say no more

Even at stock this will play Tomb Raider 2013 and Bioshock 2013 both on high.

Applied an overclock (maxing the software sliders) to the GPU and it becomes a performance ultra monster! :thumbsup:

GPU core boost to 705MHz which is 205MHz above base clock of 500MHz

GPU memory overclock 50% above stock, blazing 1500MHz (6000MHz effective), massive 96 GB/s

While playing on plugged in power, experienced no slow downs or throttling, and uses almost all of the video memory in bioshock.