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

The I5/5650 would be $900. You can get an I5-430/HD5470 at Staples for $800. STAPLES | BUREAU EN GROS But, if your girlfriend will only be playing video, the 3820T will probably be fine. But, for only $150 more she gets the dedicated GPU.

Bronsky

 

Has anyone popped open a 4820TG yet to see if there's 2 fans?

 

High Over The North Altantic:

Jake sipped his coffee as he snaped the yolk of his 767 Cargo jet to the left and let the autopilot take over the flight. He could hear the jets settle down to cruise speed. "Only 5 hours and we'll be in Newark," he thought. It had been a long day. "Most of them were," he thought. That was his life, working for UPS, constantly moving airfrieght across the Atlantic, delivering goods back and forth in a day or so to happy customers who did not have to wait too long for their products. He smiled at that thought.

Just then, he caught a glimpse of a tramp freighter steaming its way across the Atlantic. He laughed to himself. "I can't believe anybody still ships like that" he thought, "it just takes to dam long to get anything anywhere". He watched as the ship tossed its bow up and down though the growing swells as the freighter was being engulfed by a surface squal. "I sure feel sorry for that captain and crew on that bucket" he though? What a way to travel. Jake's attention left the frieghter as it faded to a small spec being tossed about on the ocean and he once again started to gaze out at the stars. "It's a beautiful night up here," he thought. He settled back once again and glanced at his watch, "only 4 hours and 35 minutes to go."

Down below, on the SS Rotterdam, the Captain watched the jetstream overhead. "I should have been a pilot," he said to himself. "We're getting the crap beat out of us tonight." Deep inside the cargo hold of the Rotterdam, a small 4 lb notebook sat silently, feeling queasy with the constant rising and falling of the swells. Larger boxes and packages shifted and pressed against it constantly making the difficult passage all the more unpleasant. From time to time, some piece of cargo would break loose and go flying overhead, just missing it. "How many more days of this do I have to endure" the notebook thought. Too many it answered. Too many.

Far above, there was no sign of the cargo jet that had passed over only minutes before. Left only were its vapor trails. "I wish I had been in that plane" thought the notebook. Don't we all.

Bronsky

 

Aah Bronsky, your stories are always enjoyable. But, you're discouraging me from ordering my notebook from computeruniverse .

 

Haha, I don't think Bron's story was meant to do that. If you're in the US though, you should wait and see if the 3820TG i5/i7 versions will even be released here.

WT(F) happened to Wal-Mart carrying the Timelines?!?!

 

So, I just joined so that I could post here and ask people what they think. Before I mislead anyone, I'm focused on the TimelineX 4820, but since there's no thread for it, I came here. I'm buying a new laptop, and I'm a PC gamer who's been stuck on console's for a while because my PC has been out of commission. I'm a senior in high school, so I'm buying a laptop now that's going to be for college. I'm between the 4820 and the MSI GX460; I like the GX460 for the stronger components, but I like the 4820 for having almost double the battery life, especially in college when I might need it for lectures. I'm told that the GX460 might make it through classes, but it would be a bit of a gamble, which leans me towards the 4820. The only thing that's stopping me is being nervous about performance in games; so, tell me guys:
1) What's your experience performance-wise? Would the 4820 be able to run most new stuff in higher settings?
2) Also, is the build quality strong enough to last for a few years?

Thanks for all the help (sorry about wall of text).

 

Mods: This be a Double-post. I answered his post in the MSI forum..

 

Yeah, I am from the US. I was going to wait till Bronsky gets his laptop safely first. If by then, the 3820TG is not released in the US, I would order from computeruniverse. But the fact is that it would take them like 3-4 weeks to ship to where I am. I might be a bit tight on time because I do need a new laptop by third week of August. I'm actually debating over should I be ordering it now or wait and see how it is for Bronsky.

 

The idea was that MSI people would know their stuff really well and Acer people would know their stuff really well, and both would argue for their stuff. I thought I'd ask both groups, y'know, get both opinions

 

i5/5650 for 900 canadian dollars? isn't it $1200 in europe? would it really drop by that much?

 

Have you tried playing Battlefield Bad Company 2? Cause I seem to experience the 'glue effect' on this game, especially while running or when driving a vehicle. With fraps, it records an average of 30-40 fps but still shows that glue effect while gaming. Doesn't matter whether the gpu is overclocked or not, the same thing happens.

 

Where do you see the i3 3820t with intel hd for $650 available in Canada ?

 

people please help me!!
who can upload the to email ([email protected]) pll setting from creator (export), to 3820tg?
Then i can import pll in to not shareware version of setfsb(2.2.129.95).

Premeditatly thanks

 

Here are a few stores :

3820t - Price comparison - Canada's Cheapest Prices

 

Thanks hardcor . I can`t help but notice that with as few as 5 posts you`ve got a Rep Power of 8 ! You must be the source of some really good information.Wonder what it is.Would you care to enlighten me ?

 

No I haven't, I'll see if I can find a demo and try it out and see if it's the same there for me.

Edit: Seems there's only Xbox 360 and PS3 demo available.

Mac

 

I’m thinking of upgrading the HDD to a Kingston or Apacer 64GB SSD (their prices are pretty raesonable), though the Hybrid’s 500 GB space makes me hesitate.

Could You please share Your experiences on Momentus XT?

Also anyone experiences on Apacer or/and Kingston SSDs?

 

I have not recieved my Momentus XT yet, waiting on them to turn up in stock here in my country. It will come available in about 1-2 weeks so then I will be getting it.

The thing about SSD is that they are really fast, but rather small and very expensive.

The thing about Momentus XT is that it gives a decent speed (definitely comparable with many SSDs), great storage (up to 500GB), to an affordable price. It also gives a 5 year warranty which is very nice.

If you are only concerned about the speed, SSD would be a good option for you. For me, who is concerned about storage, speed, price, warranty, chooses the XT. Because I know that all my installed applications & games will swallow a smaller SSD instantly, and doesn't give room for videos, music and other stuff.

When I first heard about the XT I was pretty sceptic of how it would preform. It turnout to be a great solution for me. Test results shows that it faster than every other mechanical hard drive, and is comparable with some SSDs. We know that SSDs will soon take over the market with lower prices and higher storage capacity, but I felt that I don't really need to be first with everything new, even if the XT is new in it's ways

 

Hello.
I have a question about the price, its price is 799 CAD or 799 USD ?

 

No 2 fans. CD in there instead.

@Violent - it's a Canadian store. I would assume you can pay with Canadian currency.

@Karma Police - Yep. That seems to be the price. You have to understand that the Euro versions of these notebooks include VATs as high as 14%. I bought an I5-450M/HD5650 from Germany for about $850, so it was actually less than the price set by Acer for the I5/5650 here in the US. I didn't pay VAT because I was exporting the notebook.

@MNX1024 - I don't know if this will work or not but it is worth a try. If you know someone with a UPS account or FedEx account, you might be able to have them pick up the laptop at Computeruniverse, if they will hold it at the store, packaged for shipping. Either UPS or FedEx can have the unit here in a few days. There are a lot of logistics there, but I would call computer universe and speak to someone in charge and tell them that there are a lot of people here in the US that would buy their computer if we could get it in a reasonable amount of time. That might motivate them to hold it. In hindsight, I wish I had of thought of that before.

Bronsky

 

This is an owners thread. Right idea ... wrong place. This would have been better placed in the "what laptop should I buy thread". Most of us look there and help out when we can.

Bronsky

 

I didn't call, but I did email them concerning a pick up. Surprisingly I just got the response, which was several minutes after my email. And, looks like a pick up is no go..... There goes my dream of getting my laptop in a week or two.

 

Bastages!

Bronsky

 

I think we should just start pestering Acer USA to release the 3820TG with the 5650 sooner. I think that's our best bet, lol. We should send mass emails to them, call them like crazy, and then finally a huge petition!!!!

 

yeah but then if they think the demand is so great they may raise the starting prices

 

Somewhere in the Official Arrandale Timeline Thread I think there was an online petition available to sign to get these 3820TGs moving faster. At least I thought there was. I know I signed something...

 

Recieving my 3820TG in a few days. : D

A quick question, can you overclock with the preinstalled OS? (win7 64 bit). There's no need to do a clean install to be able to overclock?

 

With that signature?

 

I was looking at the 3820TG for a long time and Acer never came through. Figured I might as well try to help out all the others who are waiting, even if I jumped ship.

Though now that I'm thinking about it, I can't remember if I tried to sign but had to pay, or something like that. I know I didn't pay...

Either way though, there is a petition out there I believe.

 

i saw you asking for it in HWZ... you seems desperate

 

I have actually emailed the marketing director and the USA marketing director for Acer and have not even been given the courtesy of a reply acknowledging the email. Don't expect much. If the product was not exactly what I needed, I would have gone with the Envy 14 or the Sony Z12. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet, hold your nose and do what you can to get what you need.

IMHO Acer is a giant company. No matter how much you may want the 3820TG, I think the company is unable to respond to an individual market need. I'm sure it will be here eventually. Some designer will see the need for a high powered 13" and design one. Then you can buy it. Till now, it looks like Singapore and Germany are the only options.

Okay, back to patiently waiting. Thank god I have a sailboat to work on or i would be bored.

Bronsky

 

I hadn't actually noticed, but it could have something to do with a complete Windows XP drivers pack I put together for a Asus M50-VM which initially shipped with Vista..... just a guess.

 

Do you know if the 3820tg you ordered from Computer Universe has the Bios language in English or German?

Thanks

Hox

 

German I guess. I'm sure I can figure out the bios. I'm swapping out the HD immediately and putting an SSD so I'll be doing an clean install of Windows (in english ). Never thought about the bios being in german.

Bronsky

 

I don't remember, if I've ever seen a german BIOS

3820TG's is in English

 

the acer website lists 4820T and 4820TG models, and only 3820T models but no 3820TG.

I hope this isn't an indication that acer has no intention to release the 3820TG in the US anytime soon

 

You're very astute.

Bronsky

@Ponjornoh - that would make life easier for me.

 

As far as I can remember, the BIOS came in English, as there's no option to change language in the BIOS. I've flashed it already, though, so it might've come in German and I don't remember .

Anyway, even if it comes originally in German ( I doubt ), it'd probably be trivial to change it to English

 

I think English is the standard, universal BIOS lingo. Never seen a BIOS in any other language. I mean, why would they even bother? 99 % of all computer users never see the insides of the BIOS anyway

Mac

 

So is there any new word about when this is coming out in the US? I'm losing it here!!!
Also, what's the deal with the international warranty? I want to order before August, should I pull a Bronsky?

 

@Bronsky

I am about to pull the trigger from notebooksbilliger as well. I suppose you got this one?

What chances do you think it has to be cpu overclockable? I mean, did you find out if it has Bluetooth 3.0 or 2.0?
has anyone received that model in particular yet?
What lcd do you expect?
Sorry, I was a bit lost during the last days so I might have lost track of this: do you think it is possible to install a UMTS module later on?
Does you manual says anything about it (or about another source of power for the backlit keyboard)?

Do you suggest me to wait till you get yours and then order mine?
When are you expecting yours again?

 

I agree, I just do not know how country specific the systems are. There is one Bios update at Acer so I may be able to make it english with an update if it already is not English.

BTW, I bit the bullet and ordered one from Comp Universe, with shipping cost was 765.21 Euros. Too bad shipping may really be on the high seas!. Maybe my order will finish off a container and get things moving. Ordered an SSD and Win7 64 ultimate from Newegg. I checked the Acer support site and they do have the drivers for the TG on the US site including a June update for the ati graphics. Not brave enough to do the backlit keyboard. So I will probably just get a US English 3810T keyboard.

 

I did not get that model!! My product number is LX.PV102.172. Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820TG-5454G64nks - Notebooks - computeruniverse.net The difference is the I5-450M vs the I5-430M and BT 3.0 vs BT 2.0 and maybe others. I paid 707 Euros (no VAT). I think that is Hendrickson's model, which seems not to OC.

I'm not sure about the UMT upgrade. I don't see why it would not be a module, but I take nothing for granted with Acer. I still think the BT Cable is a viable source of power for the KB. I will know more when I open my 3820TG up. Since the manual does not address the BT 3.0 nor the UMT, I'll have to look at them before I know for sure. Now that I see the size of the ribbon on the KB, I have even more respect for Hendrickson's "bolas del acero".

My unit left the departure hub on the 23rd. I look at the mailman coming up the steps every day in my office. He thinks I'm crazy getting all this stuff from around the world. I'm begining to agree with him. It really should be here soon. It has been 14 days so far. I would guess I will be waiting a few more, probably next week (I think I said that last week ).

Again ... the model you are getting is not the one I got. I orginally ordered that one on the 21st but it was out of stock. They gave me the I5-450M version for a few bucks less.

Bronsky

 

Welcome to the club! Wouldn't it be nice if your order tipped things into motion. Re: the keyboard, I just ordered a regular 3810T keyboard from eBay....like Bronsky, I expect it will show up before the actual laptop does!

 

You read my story "Over the North Atlantic?" http://forum.notebookreview.com/6437735-post1204.html Congratulations BTW. At least I've been getting work done on my boat.

@OMGHI2U did you get your unit yet? Please tell me you did .

 

Here`s a question which is a perfect fit for this thread.Can discrete video components be upgraded in the same way as say CPU or small circuit boards?

 

Here are some stats running wmprice 32 and 1024 on my 3820TG

I was at work when i did this plugged in of course high performance mode

the temp inside the room i was .. was a high of 30C the air condition broke so i was Crap out of luck!

BTW: I HAVE the canadian version of the 3820tg with the icore 430M

32MB


1024MB

 

What does "Premeditatly" mean?

Also, @Bron, I didn't understand your response. Does the 4820TG have 1 or 2 fans?

 

I think all these models have bluetooth 3.0 cause even the canadian version on the website at staples stated 2.0 but on the box it says 3.0.

 

You mean can you replace the GPU and upgrade it? Only if the GPU is mounted in some kind of socket instead of soldered onto the mother board. http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/396320-acer-mxm-models-cards.html

Bronsky