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

Aye I have an LG display in my asus X77JA and it's good, so it's strange that an 13" LG wouldn't be of same quality.

 

@Banker golfer, re Anti glare screen protector.

I agree with some of your points. But I don't believe it is as bad as you say. Maybe we have a different screen.

My use was this. I used the laptop out doors and it was very reflective and I could not see the screen very well. I used the notebook outside, but not in direct sunlight (Im not mad). With the cover on it was suddenly readable and it works great I think. For me anyway its a good $10 well spent and It is better than I expected.

I would like to see any matte screen or protector that could hold up to direct sunlight. Pretty much impossible...

 

I agree that it's almost impossible for an anti-glare screen protector to hold up to direct sunlight.

My personal evaluation was predicated on how it performed outdoors in sunny conditions (but not against direct sunlight). I was hoping that the anti-glare screen protector would perform better than the bare LCD screen. For me, it didn't. But for only $10, it was worth trying the anti-glare screen protector to see if it would improve my viewing outdoors (it didn't).

Given the variability of the 3820TG's LCD screens, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at all the different experiences that we owners have reported.

 

Hello all!

Has anyone found a case that fits the 9-cell battery? I was thinking about the Zeroshock III. Has anyone tested that case with the 9-cell?

 

Hey there

After reading all 436 pages of this thread, I finally ordered this little monster. Hopefully I will not be disappointed

 

I spent way too much time figuring out battery and driver problems. For me, the best is to stay with stock Acer 10.6 drivers.

Today I was projecting photos on a wall for a project, and after 4 hours with LCD medium setting, ATI card, wireless off, power saver settings, but without switching off or dimming the display, I was at 50%. Battery meter showed an average of 8000 mW discharge rate, which is proving the 8 hour battery life too.

For web browsing I could get about 6-7 hours with Intel card but with wireless on. For only reading and writing on forums, with no flash, I could get 8. Obviously I didn't wait for 8 hours; it's from taking averages for about 1-2 hours.

 

Exactly the same experience as me, 10.8 doesn't switch off the cards, and runs them at full frequency. Even on ATI card, with Acer drivers, you could get as low as 8000 mW.

 

My Acer screen, which is just a little bit better than my first one is still miles better then any Thinkpad display I have used. That excludes T4xP Flexview, T60P Flexview, W510 and W710 with calibrator and X Tablets, all what I haven't used. But normal Thinkpads have such a grey looking tiring screen that its impossible to describe.

 

What's the best application for monitoring battery life?

 

I would say it would just fit it. A bit of a stretch.

Batterycare seems good enough I think.

 

I do not see how you could be dissapointed, after reading 436 pages!

Congratulations on your new purchase!

 

Size of battery again? 6 or 9 cell?

 

BatteryBar (free)

 

Thanks!

I've asked because I don't seem to get more than 4.5-5 hours with browsing or 6 hours office work w/o WLAN - not that I'd use the notebook on battery for more than 3 hours, still, just wanted to know what I am doing wrong, the majority of the users report 6-7 hours of battery life.

 

I just noticed this today when my 3820TG got really hot for the first time. I was getting an enormous amount of heat from the left and right vents and it got really hot. I think that both GPUs were on and the intel was burning hot. I am rolling back my ATI 5870 in my desktop and the 3820TG's driver to 10.7 and waiting for 10.9. 10.8 is messed up.

BTW, motherboard is listed for direct shipment from Hong Kong to Philadelphia and it is comming DHL/post. What is the problem with the EU? It looks like i might have all of my parts except my speaker by the weekend. Hopefully. Then I can have my unit complete and mostly reassembled, just waiting for the speaker to do the rest of the assembly.

I think I feel another S.S. Rotterdam story comming on.

Bronsky

 

Hi guys ! happy to join you!

Today i ordered from Germany ( computeruniverse ) this great notebook cause in Italy there's 5470 ati video card only in 3820tg.

I'd like to ask you how is display : does it have a good brightness and a good contrast ? i'm just worried about that .. i'm loooking forward to receive it !!

thank you for reply

 

Can't wait til you drop that 540M and post some feedback on it. I just got my switches for the backlit mod and waiting for the keyboard to arrive from HK. Since i'll have to take it apart, i'm thinking of swapping out the cpu for a 540 or I might just hold off till the 580 is rolled out.

 

6 At least, the sticker on the laptop is not some stupid claim, it is actually possible. But for general usage I would better say 6 hours.

Other things I did (and always do on every computer)
- Theme services disabled (I know I might be strange, but I cannot bare looking at anything newer than Windows 2000 looks)
- Page file disabled (I know it's not for everyone)
- System \ Performance \ Everything disabled, except shadow on desktop icons and cleartype
- System restore disabled (Acronis is better)
- All windows components removed, except IE8 and .NET (most important for battery life is Indexing and Search, use instead "Everything")

Only app I installed from Acer is Launch Manager.

 

Smart. Windows 7 Aero is pretty but a resource hog. I should disable it as well on my laptop to help save battery power.

 

I'm also getting about 6 hrs 15 mins of battery life on average usage.

See Zsero's tips above on how to lengthen your battery life.

 

Oh, I can't believe! Four days after buying my 450M model, a local shop started selling the 460M model (local return policy is 3 days)! It's here, in the local shops, and costs only about 20 USD more than mine! GRRRRR

It's called 5464G32MN or LX.PV102.293 and has 5650/320G/6cell. Ohhh....

OK, good news, finally we can get info about 640M and 580M support soon.

 

Look at the bright side - you get multiple 3820TG units, the US gets none!

 

You guys could just as well use BatteryCare, a nifty lightweight program that monitors your battery, can switch power plans automatically and has options to auto switch Aero and some power-hog Windows services when on battery.

I find especially the auto-switches very handy . Oh, and it's 100% free as well.

BatteryCare

 

THX! 10 words

 

Im thinking about buying slim power adaptor for my 3820tg but im wondering if it will handle o/c ed GPU and i7 cpu ? Im asking cause my idea of a slimmer version is that it delivers less power..

hendrikson if i upgrade to 1333mhz ram how high could i O/C i7-620m ?

 

For the TG models (with ATI graphic card) you have to take a 90W power adapter and not a 60W.

 

The slim power adapters are 90w. However, they do not weigh much less than the original adapter and are only 30% smaller in volume.

Not enough of a savings in volume and weight to justify my buying one.

 

Although you don't want to operate on a 60 watt charger, if you have one, it could be used to recharge the battery. I have one for my 1410T that is a lot smaller than my 3820TG's charger. I have used it while traveling to recharge the battery on the 3820TG. It worked fine. I would not buy a 60 watt though. I would buy a 90 if you can find something you like.

Bronsky

 

The game Mafia 2 has had nio graphic glitches withe the 10.8 oon my Acer 3820TG today. It works very well.

The problem with the dark desktops happens to me too. Just switch to the Intel GPU and back to the AMD will fix the problem.

 

ctrl alt canc and fix quickly

 

woo I think I haven't posted in here much since I got my 3820TG! Other than advice about backing up and etc. I must be too busy enjoying using it! I would also like to say big thanks to everyone who has helped me in any way!

I'm loving my laptop so far, keyboard is pretty good although yes I agree the space between keys can be a dust & dirt collector. But I guess thats a reason to not eat on the laptop plus I try to remember to put the original cloth that was on the keyboard whenever I'm not using it, to minimize trapped dirt.

My screen is pretty solid as well, the max brightness is too bright for me so I turn it down at least 4-5 notches (using FN + left arrow as a guide). Quality is good, hdmi output to my 24" monitor is decent, played starcraft 2 using this and gameplay during single and multiplayer has so far been smooth.

Haven't tried overclocking yet, don't see a need for it yet as I'm happy with the stock performance. Might do so in future when my curiosity gets the better of me

Well done Acer, you have answered my critics and have improved on your reputation. Heres hoping the good vibes continues!

 

What is "Canc"? Do you mean the Esc key?

Kids and their abbreviations nowadays LOL!

 

Or could he mean Del? :S

 

Depends on the CPU gods, really its all random. But so far it seems the i7 620m's are very poor overclockers. Only 7-10 Mhz more on the base clock.


@ Just a nick what settings are you using in Mafia II?

 

LOL! That would be a quick fix to many PC problems!

 

Quick questions for a new setup:

Heard a bunch of news regarding the ATI Drivers. Which ones are the most efficient? I'm using the latest Mobility ones from here: ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver

Running GPU-Z, I can see info for both Intel and ATI graphics, while I'm on the discrete mode (Set on discrete in switchable, but not set to only discrete in the bios). Is this normal? Or does that mean both are running, and draining my battery life.

Looking at around -10mW power drain while on power saver mode, lowest brightness, Wifi, No BT, Integrated graphics, 7200rpm Seagate, i5-540, stock RAM, Aero Off, PageFile Default, Hibernate Off. Randomly fluxuates between -7 and -11 most of the time while in use, but looking to get it lower if possible.

Heat's pretty noticeable coming from the left side; any way to control the fan while in power saver mode?

This Yadi keyboard protector I've seen a couple of postings about; where can I get it?

The Battery Wear, ~4%. Had a Lenovo before, with a power manager that limited my charges to 95% to prevent wear. Does the built-in wear in these Acer batteries do the same thing? If not, what's the best program to use?

Acer's ePower manager...not really clear on what it does. When I'm off A/C and run it with that P button on the top left of the keyboard, it actually starts to drain around ~15mW.

 

If you watch die hard 4, you know you never use Ctrl, Alt, Del Because someone may put a pack of C4 next to you. Lol

 

No screen probs? What kind of screen do you have? No key flex over 345ERT keys?

 

That was a great movie.

It's safer just to ask the roommate to reboot your machine while you wait down the block!

 

Catalyst 10.8 works. at least for me no problems with energy consumption and the ATI shuts down properly. I've tested it several times without a fail

I did the update the old way without uninstalling the old driver. Did you clean it?

My upgrade path was: stock driver -> latest from Acer's support section -> 10.5 -> 10.6 -> 10.7 -> 10.8

 

When I was still a student, I once interviewed for a job with a Federal Judge to be his law clerk until he told me that a part of the job was to drive to his house in the morning and start his car so we could carpool to work. I think not!

Bronsky

 

LOL!

If the job were in Ohio, you could have taken it without worry. Seeing as you live in the Tri-state area, very wise move on your part.

Everyone repeat after me: Maaahh-feeeeee-uuuuhhhhh! LOL!

 

Also, which are the optimum drivers to be using for the trackpad?
I'm using the Synaptics ones from the Acer website, but the touchpad movements feel very...sticky. And no two-finger side scrolling?!

 

Yes it's " Del " in italian layout it's "canc"=cancel

then press esc and brightness is ok after exit mafia II without switch 2 times video card

 

no reboot needed mate ! LOL

 

For the touchpad, I'm using the latest Synaptics driver downloaded from here (15.0.24). It seems to unlock the most features in the Synaptics control panel and works well for my use after some fiddling with the settings.

 

Hi, I'm planning to buy Acer TimelineX 3820TG in Taiwan, and couldn't decide which type to buy...
Either this:

Code:

Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820TG 5462G64

Core i5-460M (2.53GHz / Turbo 2.8GHz)
1 x 2 GB (DDR3 1066)
13.3 in. W Mirror (LED) (1366 x 768)
ATI HD 5650 1 GB
640 GB SATA 5400 rpm
NTD 31,400 (about US$980)

or this:

Code:

Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820TG 372G50

Core i3-370M (2.4GHz)
1 x 2 GB (DDR3 1066)
13.3 in. W Mirror (LED) (1366 x 768)
ATI HD 5650 1 GB
500 GB SATA 5400 rpm
NTD 27,000 (about US$843)

or maybe this?

Code:

Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820TG 5452G50

Core i5-450M (2.4GHz / Turbo 2.66GHz)
1 x 2 GB (DDR3 1066)
14.0 in. W Mirror (LED) (1366 x 768)
ATI HD 5650 1 GB
500 GB SATA 5400 rpm
DVD Super Multi DL (SATA) DVD burner
NTD 29,900 (about US$933)

Could you please give me comments on which one to buy? or suggest another laptop?
Is that difference in price worth it (i3 v i5)? or significant in game/desktop performance?
I want to give this laptop to my brother as a gift... He will be using this for University mainly, and also for gaming...
Also, what should I be careful when I buy this laptop? e.g. VGA core clock (550MHz?)...or BIOS version? or... I don't know...

Thanks in advance...

Sorry if posted in wrong section... My first post

 

Go with a 3820TG with i5 cpu. It has a better thermal design than the 4820TG, where cpu throttling may occur... because of too high temps. If I remember correctly, throttling may occur as well for the i3 in the 3820TG. Here's the point that the i3 is designed for lower temps (the mark is somewhere between 80 and 90°C). With the i5 we've seen values between 90 and 100°C without any performance decrease.

But you should get additional 2GB RAM to have a total of 4GB

 

Hi, I downloaded all drivers from station drivers, except for the wlan, to be sure that the Fn + F3 switch works correctly. So the newest Synaptics, which is v15 is really good for me. Loads of configurability, albeit I never used things like three finger something.

Very smooth and quick too.

BTW, LX2 always in my pocket

 

Get the 3820TG with the 460M. They are the newest newest builds, you would be the first one on the forum to report what kind of display they use and you could upload some drivers from the backup DVD for the community.