Acer TimelineX 3820TG Owners Lounge. Info, benchmarks, tweaks, mods and upgrades

It has a few quirks like the light control keys. I don't think it's as stable as the Acer driver but I like it overall. Yes, install it on discrete.

Bronsky

 

I found this information :

LED LCD AUO 13.3" WXGA GLARE B133XW01 V2 LF LK.13305.002
LED LCD AUO 13.3" WXGA GLARE B133XW03 V2 LK.13305.004
LED LCD SAMSUNG 13.3" WXGA GLARE LTN133AT18-A01 LK.13306.001
LED LCD LPL 13.3" WXGA GLARE LP133WH2-TLA4 LK.13308.005
LED LCD LPL 13.3" WXGA GLARE LP133WH2-TLL1 LK.13308.006

It seems there is two sorts of LG screens (LPL = LG Phillips ?)

Which could explain, that some people are satisfied with their LG screen, and other peoples are not.
The last part of text "LK.XXX.XXX" is the model of the screen.
So if someone want a special screen, it can be found on Internet with this reference.
(expensive part, but for those wanting a perfect machine ... That could be a solution)
Now we have to know wich is the best one ? AUO 322C or Samsung ?
Or could it vary ?

 

After a bit of lurking and reading many positive things here, I went and purcased one for myself.

i5-480M, 4BG, 6550, 500GB, 6-cell for 800€.

It should be here monday and I can start uninstalling all the bloatware. Or is it just easier to clean install? Btw, how can you tell which screen you have?

 

I would, and so would many others, recommend a clean install, you will never get rid of all the crapware without it.
Device Manager --> Monitors --> Generic PnP Monitor --> Details --> Hardware Ids

 

Nice specs! Can't wait to hear some benchmarks from you. I wonder how 6550 outperform 5650. Congrats on your notebook! BTW, clean install would be my recommendation as well.

 

Who and where are these selling?

 

was there any solutions to the screen brightness keys not working? mine stopped after attempting to install 10.10

 

The solution is - don't install 10.10.

 

I had it with the embedded controller (KBC.bat) from 1.17 and 1.19. Installing KBC.bat from 1.13 solved me the issue.

 

The design might be similar, but I think in China there are enough cheap plants to source different suppliers. But I think personally that even the design is quite different. And that 425M is much much slower than an overclocked 5650. And that nVidia cards have drivers which you can just install.

I am stuck in finding the BIOS enabling/disabling bit. Just_a_Nick promised he will have a look at it when he will have some time.

I have saved my whole decompiled DSDT table, but I don't know how to understand it. If there is anyone with understanding for assembly, I would be happy to share it.

Here is an excerpt just for the thermal zone (_TZ):
Private Paste - Pastie

I get about 6.3 W when eBook reading with wifi off, and 8.3 W when doing internet in a not too flash heavy website but only with two conditions:
- System is running from a cold start, _not_ from hybernation (else 10+ W).
- I'm using the official Acer/AMD driver on a clean Windows installation (else 11+ W). No driver cleaning could provide me the same environment for AMD driver as a pure, clean windows. Of course I have a system image saved just before any video driver has been installed.

I have been experimenting a lot since I have the notebook and any other combination would give me at least 10W+ discharge rates!

 

Very true, if one wants the most out of gaming power in this price range, always get the one with ATI 5650; overclocks much better and faster than Nv comparable cards, and uses 40% less power.

Also, Nv Optimus is buggy as hell AFAIK. Might as well go with an AMD+ATI or i3/5+ATI combo that allows manual switching between onboard and discrete.

 

About how much increase in FPS will you see in the average game with this increase of almost 2k points.

 

How to replace the i3-370m with an i5-540m? Is there a video? That would be very helpful.

I heard Bronsky say that the i3-370m was in a different socket or mount or something like that.

Will the i5-540m go in the exact same place were the i3-370m goes? If not, where?

What else should I know when upgrading the CPU?

 

Both have the same socket and mount the same way..
Most likely you mean i3 370M has different throttling limit..

As for guide

 

Thanks lee. Wow that is a lot of work and very intimidating You basically have to tear the whole laptop apart lol.

Guess I'll just buy a notebook cooler if the i3-370m gets too hot while gaming
Btw, how can you tell when the CPU is throttling?

 

Thanks for the link to the cpu upgrade, very nice! A tiny oscillating fan would work just as good too that's what Iv been doing with my older alienware.

@anycolour have you thought about Y460 by lenovo? It's tiny laptop too with a better processor in it already and its nearly the size of the acer. I cant make up my mind which one I want. It also has bluetooth,expresscard54,esata,simcardslot and a switch for wireless and another switch for switchable graphics with the ati 5650/intragrated.

Ill probably just end up getting both.

 

Finland A shop called Verkkokauppa.com

 

I guess it's personal preference but I do not see any point in putting XP on this laptop.

 

OK, just look at 3dmark06 Firefly benchmark and you will understand it instantly. All Win 7 skipping/lagging under games is super-smooth under XP. But of course only in a dual-boot setup.

 

My firefly runs as smooth as a baby's butt in W7 Pro 64.

 

It does but definitely runs smoother on xp

 

No ... all of the dual core arrandales can be mounted in the Acer's PGA988 socket. What you might have read was when we were discussing the I3's thermal properties, we were discussing how the Max temp goes up to 105C if it is mounted in a BGA mount like the CULV processors are mounted. All of the dual core processors are interchanagble in the Acer (if you're willing to strip the unit down to the shell and flip the motherboard over).

Acer's marketing and product release is still an enigma to me.

Bronsky

 

Then maybe we have different motherboards or rams or something. No matter what driver I used under Win 7, there were always big jumps on scene change in the firefly benchmark. I tried disabling every possible device, but it was always jumping on scene change. Under XP it doesn't happen.

 

3dmark06 is an outdated benchmark that runs in compatibility mode in win7.
What about an actual game? Have you experienced a difference?

And I have not noticed any skipping or lagging with win7 at all, even in 3dmark06.


I don't think I could ever suffer xp after using win7. I'd send the laptop back if I actually had a problem.

 

I'm using my 3820TG with ATI 10.10e installed over Acer's driver. My Windows is Acer's stock installation... cleaned up & cloned to a Momentus XT.

My wattage is +0.2 W compared to your values, perhaps this is caused my Momentus XT or Security solution. While writing this post I'm at 6.7 W.

I've had several driver versions installed... without cleaning them.

 

My Acer 3820TG says "Say Hello To My Little Friend."



Bronsky

 

nice1 mate xD hows that slate working for ya so far ?

 

This is my first tablet so I have a severe learning curve but I am impressed with the Tablet so far. It is built more like an elitebook than a consumer product. The display is very nice and the atom is faster than I expected. I'll have time to set it up properly this weekend. Looking forward to being able to take handwritten notes directly on my computer. Only 1.5lbs in my briefcase and I keep the Acer on my desk most of the time (no more disasters).

Bronsky

 

Same with W7 Ultimate 32bit.

 

Nice tablet!! Expensive? One of those would be dead handy for college! Perfect excuse for a college loan!

 

I've tried multiple tablets for notetaking, and so far nothing for me can beat the classic pen & paper. Also, I don't have to worry about battery life

 

Nice, now all you have to do is just overclock that little Atom up to 2.1+ Ghz Post a link to your review of it if you do one.

No slate for tablet / ipad etc for me. I really don't like them that much. Its something I would use for a few days and thats it. I had a play with a Galaxy Tab and while its nice and android a tablet is not my thing, even if its running Win7.

 

Nice Nice Nice!

 

I think I finally found a compatible bluetooth module.

For those (few) of you who are also looking for one:
2.1 Bluetooth Module + cable Acer Aspire 3820 timelineX on eBay.ca (item 130457276816 end time 20-Dec-10 22:46:30 EST)

 

I got a few questions now. whats gaming on the battery like? How long can it go? Also how do you switch discrete and intels graphics and can you use discrete on battery power?

 

New games, probably less then an hour or two with discrete.
Old games... well I was playing Empire Earth in class after already using the laptop for 2 hours in another class. And I still had a lot of battery life left. This was on the intel graphics though.

Yes you can use discrete on battery. You can switch by right clicking on the desktop and going to configure switchable graphics. You can also set it up so that it automatically switches between integrated and discrete when you unplug and plug in. And there is an onboard power saving button right above the insert key on mine that can be used to switch between the 2.

The 2 seconds of time it takes for the screen to go black and then come back on when switching between the two cards is NOTHING! I don't even know why people brought it up when I was reading about this laptop before purchase... It's all pretty flawless switching between the two.

 

The slate is a perfect field notebook for me. It also makes a much better travel unit than the 1410T. Only 1.5 lbs and it does everything the 1410T can do plus has a digital pen for notes. It's nearly perfect for my uses. Notes are savable and searchable.

THe Z540 Atom has been OC'd to 2.5ghz . All in due time. I'll have the fastest HP tablet around.

Bronsky

 

I took all my notes for law school on a small notebook. At the end of the semester I didn't have to rewrite them into an outline but just compiled and edited them. Saved hours that were better spent studying.

Notes are also searchable. There are some serious advantages. Especially for science or math undergraduate majors like me.

Bronsky

Sry download I did it agn.

 

how do you take math notes on a notebook?

 

I think iv decided on getting this laptop(3820tg). Fairly certain, It suits my needs more then any other with portability and battery life.

we can extend warranty with acer before the first year is up still cant we?

 

pay with visa its auto extended.

 

hmm? Ill be going through NCIX and the only form of payment they accept is paypal. I ment through acer.

 

Indeed. One reason might be that here Acer is one of the most sold manufacturers, which I don't think it is for example in NA.

Maybe we're just cheap At least here Acer has long had a very bad reputation because of build quality. I've understood that the 3820TG is a lot better in that regard.

 

At least in Europe it's possible. You just buy a warranty pack, which contains a mouse and a 15 inch laptop bag, and a password, which you just enter on aceradvantage.com.

I've just extended mine to 3 years accident covering, for about 75 EUR.

I think Asus and Acer split up USA and Europe such that Asus has a targets USA with an aggressive pricing, while Acer targets Europe. Heck Asus G73JW is 2800 USD here.

 

I received my replacement but it now has an LG screen :S

Are they THAT bad?

MONITOR\LGD023F

 

I have now had this laptop from late August, what i have done so far is a clean install on a IntelX25 80gb SDD and changed the memory in it to ones that has a higher clockspeed. I have also changed the network card to one from Intel.
It works great now with a score in the Windows Experience index of 6.7, not bad for a laptop would I say.

The specs of my Acer Aspire TimeLineX 3820TG:
Intel i5 450M @ 2.40
Intel X-25 80gb SSD
Intel Centrino Wifi 6200
8gb of Memory from Corsair. 1333MHz DDR3 (recomended)
13.3 inch screen
Ati 5650 videocard with 1024mb of memory

Type of display in it: Samsung SEC3030

 

The LG Screen has good horizontal view angles, it's a decent overall screen. It could be MUCH worse, believe me.

 

Hi Guys!
I was wondering if it is possible to run Snow Leopard on our 3820TG.
I tried iDeneb 1.5.1 but it stop after apple with grey background and reboot.

If anyone do this, please help me.

 

AFAIK you cant.

 

Hi everybody,

In order to replace my LG P300 (same kind of family) I am just about to purchase the new release of this laptop with its new incredible HD 6550M that is much more powerful than HD 5650M (number is bigger!).
I would liked to wait to have a look at Sandy, but unfortunately I can't.
Anyway, my target is i5 460M and I will also install a Sandforce SSD.

I just would like to know if you would have any advices or recommendations, as I have to order urgently (maybe monday).


And really impressed by the keyboard mod and OC with setFSB!