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

seriously.... i have seen you asking alot of times on this question...

does it really matter? if it matters to you so badly, don't buy it to be on the safe side.

is that really so difficult?

99.9% outsourced/3rd party, made compatible with Acer products. that's all. general knowledge.

 

1st question: you've already answered.

2. Seven? backup DVD? what's that?

if you are referring to the recovery cd provided, NO.

you need to get your own copy of windows 7 to perform a " fresh" installation which is " clean" from bloatware.

 

Look, if you don't want to answer it's fine. No need to get aggressive.

 

uhhh i was talking about software that acer has put on my 3820tg meaning stuff i completely dont need. I was btw asking an opinion from bronsky and hendrikson. I dont need some pointess moaning on forums that is used to exchange info. I'd be more than happy not to read your replies. thanks

 

Wonder what Bronsky's doing...

 

I bet you he's having fun with his laptop.

 

Yes ... after I make the backup and recovery disks, I'm doing clean install. I'll probably be getting on that stuff today. I'm trying to document the steps that someone in the US or Canada will need to do with a unit purcahsed in Germany, so, I'll probably be adressing that. My 2 daughters have my laptop. They wanted to do the unboxing video.

@MarineX - having trouble getting along in the sandbox?

Bronsky

 

Please no brutality of the box!!!!!

 

hahahah so random thanks, made me laugh xD

woa dont u have a cd provided by acer(with OSbackup etc) ? Im not sure if ive got one, as im testing the battery downstairs looks like around 6hrs on wifi browsing, with brightness almost all way down. not bad... overall im getting used to the keyboard and starting to love it siiick laptop pplz!

 

I saw the 5470 one at Staples too, it looks great, so light too.

But what am I reading, is it possible that the 5650 will not get a Canadian release at all? That would suck so bad. Stupid backwater country.

 

How do you make recovery discs without an optical drive?

 

download some software that can image the entire harddrive as an iso file. setup a usb thumbdrive as a bootable device and load the iso onto it

i believe there is software included on the timelines called eRecovery that allows you to back your your existing system, i'm not quite sure, since i haven't received my 3820tg yet. you can do a thread search for specific terms like "iso" "erecovery" "phantomdrive" etc and find some info from users who have already done it. Or just wait for bronsky to post his review/instructions on how to setup everything

Phantom Drive

 

You can either make them with an external CD, an external HD or a large (over 4GB USB drive). I'll be using my external CD and HD but I'll put it all together with the links to the different methods and sources for the software needed so they are all referenced in one place.

Bronsky

 

It would also be nice if you can link to a tutorial that tells us how to install OS with USB.

 

It would be even nicer if everyone started using the search function more .

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

 

I already know the method. It's just that Bronsky was going to compile stuff. I decided just to suggest this so people who don't know this and does not have a external drive can be spoon fed.

 

ah gotcha lol

 

@Bron,

Have you received the 620M yet?

 

No - I found a supplier near my house. He has a half-dozen in stock, so I can go pick one up whenever I need it. I have a lot to do on this thing first. I'm backing everything up so I can swap the HD and the keyboard. But I'm not going to power the KB up yet.

Bronsky

 

Has anyone experienced an Audio stutter at times? This is under heavy load and/or multi tasking.

I think it could be either an audio driver issue or a SSD stutter?

 

what are your scores in
3DMark 05: - Standard 1024x768 ?

is it more than 13500 points?
(I mean without OC)

 

It is hysterical to watch me trying to figure this stuff out in German. I have my desktop with google translate on and my 1410T next to me to try to compare the english version of the software with the German. I spent about 20 minutes before I figured out that it was telling me you need a DVD, not a burnable CD (like the 1410T permits) to burn a driver disk. I'm being very careful here, so the early stages are slow going.

I'm running into some unexpected problems. For some reason, the German 3820TG does not want to recognize my external HD. Is that because of the different OS languages? I think so.

I don't want to spend a lot of time reviewing this thing yet, but, I must say, this 3820TG is a beautiful notebook. My first impressions of it are all positive. The keyboard is much better and firmer than my 1410T. I love the extra room to type. The display looks far better than I expected considering the reviews. Plus, I'm sure it will look even better with bios and settings upgrades. My only complaint (a minor one) so far is the action bar on the touchpad. I prefer the split keys like on my 1410T and I prefer having them at the edge of the rest. To me, it feels like an odd position to activate the left or right side of the action bar.

The notebook is really well built IMO.

Anyway, once I get the driver backups done, I will be able to swap out the SDD for the Toshiba HD and install English Windows. Things should go easier from there.

Bronsky

 

Why do you need to do a driver backup? Can't you just pull out the original HD and just shove the SSD in. Then installing the OS would be fine?

 

On the 3820T thread, some owners were having problems installing the drivers from the website after a clean install, and had to use the ones from their own back up. http://forum.notebookreview.com/6414994-post19.html I'm just being careful.

Bronsky

 

Wow, didn't think something like this would be possible, especially with Windows 7. I guess you can also upload those files for those people who are too lazy to back things up. I might actually be one of those.

 

but you just did. yawnz

make up your mind then.

stuffs that you don't need.. but you sounded that you have a million or even MORE of them!!

on top of that, i would be more than happy for you NOT to comment anything on this thread. LOL? Will you do it then?

think, comment, edit.

the above is the most fundamental structure. Is that so difficult?

 

methods that i've used to swap to a 7200RPM HDD instead.

clone 640GB 5400RPM HDD (given by Acer) to my 7200RPM hDD.

works flawlessly.

since you have an extra external hdd, my advice would be to mirror across. do whatever you need on the existing hdd to test it...

worst come to worst, reclone it back...

sorry i don't quite get what you guys are referring to: "backup" - what kind of backup? copy and paste type or?

mirror or clone seems to be a better alternative IMO.

but the issue of ext hdd not able to read due to language... hmm.. i can slot my hdd into a full dutch running computer.. so i dont see why language is a factor here...

besides, there are full proof methods to extract all of the drivers out and migrate it across.

 

The i7-720QM is not possible without a suitable bios?

 

I think that's right.

 

Bronsky,, your external should not have a problem because the OS is in a different language.. thats unheard of.

I had no issues with my external dvd writer when i went to greece and plugged into greek computers with greek o/s

 

Hey Bronsky, try reformatting the external drive. This works when my phone can't recognize my memory card.

 

You're right ... it was something else and is fixed. I'm blaming everything on the language difference .

Bronsky

 

have u upped for unboxing video yet?

 

Are those 620M's retail, OEM, or engineering samples?

 

We did video the unboxing. My daughter wanted to put it together. We'll have it up tomorrow. I'm finished the backing up and all. I'm swapping the SSD and keyboard tomorrow morning and doing the clean install. I'm trying to figure out how to avoid the need to call to activate. The OEM offline activation section of the Acer Clean Install thread has been removed to prevent Vista users from improperly upgrading to W7. Anybody done this would can PM me a checklist. I have the W7 ISO already DL. I'm using an external HD and ODD. I would like to figure out the OEM offline activation if I can. I've read the entire thread twice but I think I need the OEM info.

Bronsky

 

OEM - price is down to $299. Intel® Core? i7-620M Processor 2.66ghz OEM SLBPD - eBay (item 180530440435 end time Aug-06-10 21:44:15 PDT) Vineland is not far from my home.

Bronsky

 

Izzat a good deal for 620M? What's the next step above 620M that's dual core?

Also, check your PM box.

 

I just got my 3820TG today, and under BatteryBar, it shows the battery has 1.7% battery wear. (63,700 out of 64,800mWh total capacity) Can anyone else post their BatteryBar stats ?

 

620M is the top of the heap now. The new 580M will be the same speed as the 620M and the new 640M will be faster. You can get the I7-620M for a few bucks less, but I can go pick one fo these up in person and I know where it came from if it doesn't work.

Thanks for the PM ... I still have a question.

Bronsky

 

How much cheaper can one get a better-than-540M cpu for? What's the price range I should be keeping an eye out for?

 

The range is 275-350 for decent CPU's. You can probably find an engineering sample for a bit less but I would stay with OEM or retail ($$$ $$$)

Bronsky

I think I'm getting this install figured out but I'm done for tonight.

 

Check your PM box plz.

 

I did - thanks. My brain is fried for the night.

 

There is absolutley no way to know until Acer makes it official.Anyone that claims to know what Acer`s intentions are is either speculating or making it up.

 

You know, if Acer actually releases this thing in the US, I might make the jump from E14 to this, because of the competitive price + confirmed cooling system. Too bad they're being dumb as usual.

 

I would like to know,if you can be specific please,why you specify 4GB + USB.Every source I have recently consulted on this issue states 4GB to be sufficient right up to Win 7.

Is there a technical consideration you are aware of or are you merely stating an opinion?

 

Well, my iso for W7 ultimate is 2.32gb, so up a 4gb drive makes sense. Cuz they don't make 3gb flash drives, do they?

 

There`s no doubt Acer have the price/performance equation nailed with the 38` .When they arrive in North America they`ll sell a boat load of them before you can say "petabyte".

For the record that`s my opinion.

 

Ya, but when's that actually gonna happen?

 

But not more than 4GB for any reason?

I already bought the 4GB,I don`t want to have to buy more unless there is a sound technical reason.