Acer TimelineX 3830/4830/5830 T/G

My first message

I'm looking for a new 13-inch or 14-inch notebook with a Sandy Bridge CPU, decent NVIDIA 5xx GPU, USB 3.0 and so on... the TimelineX 4830 looked like a good one, however I see that it has throttling issues.

However... are you sure that it has USB 3.0 ports? The Taiwanese site specs AS 4830TG-2412G64Mnbb01 | Product Model don't mention USB 3.0 ports

 

Yes, the 4830TG can come with a single USB 3.0 port and 2 USB 2.0 ports. I'm not sure if all models of the 4830TG get the USB 3.0 port. It might be an added option.

Bronsky

 

According to other websites the 4830TG 2412G64Mnbb01 has USB 3.0

http://shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item&func=exhibit&IT_NO=DHAE06-A55251020&c=A05


One USB 3.0 port featuring power-off USB charging
Two USB 2.0 ports

 

All of the x830tg got one USB3 and some other USB2 ports.

I guess the system died for me when i saw about the heat problems.

Might look out for a Lenovo y470 which is bigger, also does'nt got a great screen but atleast got a 550M gpu but gets my jobs done.
Saddly i might have to import it as Lenovo has no plans to offer it in Switzerland.

Too bad Acer produces a system that could have been awesome with a $100-150 higher price tag...
I really don't understand why there is no company building a powerfull 13'' model right now..

 

The Sony SA and SB look like nice, 13" powerhouses. I5/I7 and HD 6630 GPU.

Bronsky

 

What a shame

Yeah but specs say only 4h of battery life. Also, I live in Italy, they didn't import the Y460 model so I think they won't even import the Y470.

 

I found some info about new TimelineX in Czech. Acer Newsletter

i am little bit disapointet with GPU all models have 540M with 1 GB only one version of 5830 have 540M with 2 GB

 

You will not see night & day performance with that extra 1GB of ram. It's still a mid-range performance video card and probably couldn't even use all 2GB to its max potential. There are still many high-end desktop video cards with 1GB of ram or less and are much more powerful than the GT 540M. I wouldn't lose any sleep over this.

I would worry more about the CPU throttling, build quality, and screen on the laptop.

 

I will do some benchies and update ... Was thinking of using ThrottleStop but not gonna risk burning the CPU

 

The V1.01 BIOS is rudimentary ... nothing to play with Updated to the latest V1.02 ... No changes.

 

OT: are those 6630 GPUs undervolted, like Sony did a lot of times before?

 

One of the videos I saw showed a lot of flex on the chassis andf on the screen. Screen flex is understandable since it's really thin, but the flex of the chassis itself, that'd bother me.

 

I asked the same question over on the Sony SB thread but I can't get any of the new owners to run benchmarks yet.

Bronsky

 

6630 will have a lower core voltage with such low default clocks, that's a given.

 

The 6630HD < GT 540M unless you need Linux Support and the ability to disable the GPU.

 

The good half-news is that it appears the ability to turn off the GPU is becoming pretty common for Nvidia Optimus machines, the bad half-news is that there's still no support for running the Nvidia GPU (or running it well. There's a hideous / beautiful hack that involves setting up two X sessions, one on each GPU, and copying data from the Nvidia over to the IGP. Not gonna win any awards for performance and throughput but it does sorta kinda work. I'm betting we're at least 6 months from a workable optimus switching setup in Linux.

The switching in the 4820TG is pretty well sussed out and works well enough.

 

I was really happy to find a good candidate for my new main laptop when I found out about the 3830TG/4830TG and I've been following this thread for about a month. In the end I got quite bummed out about this throttling "issue" and started to look for new candidates.

Do you folks have any opinions on Asus N43SN ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Notebooks- ASUS N43SN ? It has similar specs compared to 4830TG but lacks the stylish look.
I have read some reviews for the new N53 systems and they seemed to have ok cooling and no throttling issues so it seems to pass that hurdle.

 

I would go for this one.
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Notebooks- ASUS U41SV
It has exactly same specs as 4830TG, also 14" screen.
Its ultraportable, hopefully there will be no problems with throttling.
Also nice stylish look. No info about release date:/
The N series,are more bulky and heavier, but you get GT 550 in the N43.

I was thinking about dell vostro 3450, but for the price is bad manufactured.
Also Thinkpad edge E420s, its too expensive for the specs and quality you get for your money.
Vaio SB is nice, but you could buy 3 acers for 1 vaio...

I dont why is too difficult to make good quality,simple,stylish 13"/14" laptop, with i5 and middle gaming graphics.
Everybody puts glossy parts on it, for example E420s whole laptop is made from magnesium matte material, BUT the keyboard is surrounded by glossy surface, why?!Ugly.Also the lining is chrome...why chrome. They should've made it from stainless matte steel, it would be nicer.

Or new elitebooks from HP, nice but they've put Radeon 6470 in it, which is almost the same level like Intel 3000 HD.Stupid.I would pay a few extra bucks for 6630.
I dont get it.A lot of people and gamers want 13/14 incher, powerful but portable, you just connect bigger screen at home.But everybody makes just 15 inchers.Stupid

 

It beats me why people keep speculating, looking into alternatives, worrying... when the model is not even released in North America yet. This throttling issue should be hackable with a BIOS mod and I have a feeling that it will be fixed by Acer before you know it.

Lets just wait until it is here and see.

Also, did anyone think of reporting this problem to Acer? Maybe they can release a new BIOS update that fixes the issue.

 

I agree. It looks like something simple to fix.

Bronsky

 

In principle you're both probably right but then again if you want to talk about throttling issues that haven't been fixed why not talk to Gemstone Blue users (i.e. Aspire 6920G etc)
So I wouldn't assume it can be done untill it actually is, and untill then these notebooks are not worth a dime.

 

News - notebookjournal.de Intern - Acer reagiert auf TimelineX CPU-Drosselung auf notebookjournal.de
(here is translated version http://translate.google.com/translate?langpair=auto|en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.notebookjournal.de%2Fnews%2Facer-reagiert-auf-timelinex-cpu-drosselung-nkst-3019)
Seems like Acer already knows, lets hope they will fix it soon

 

They are all available in Sweden since last week (at our "nice" prices of course). But it's great to see that Acer has acknowledged the problem. And considering that the other options I was thinking about isn't still available here some more waiting for the 3830TG is no problem for me. Well, within a reasonable time frame.

The question is if I should order one and pray for the best (a quick fix).

 

Acer has been failrly good at dealing with problems on new models. They did the same thing last year when the 3820TG had problems with its PCIe multiplier.

Bronsky

 

Hi I know that this is common question but in my case I am really not sure if I should wait for the new 3830 with i5-2410 or just buy 3820TG with i5-480M, the thing that I want to play Microsoft Flight Simulator X. I loved the 3820TG but now I am not sure if the performance in new 3830 worth the extra 100 bucks and non dual cooling... what do you think people?

 

Good to see that Acer is planning a fix. But..users in this thread are already reporting high 80's to low 90's with Prime95. While I realize that the CPU isn't always at 100%, changing the fan threshold to kick on when temps 10 deg off of critical (105C/221F) just seems like pushing luck..

I'm hoping this all smooths out to be a real quality x820 replacement but faster, hotter processors in slimmer body are shaping up to be real ballroasters. From what I'm seeing so far, the cooling ability itself is the innate flaw.

 

I meant throttling threshold, not fan...and thought I hit 'edit' instead of 'quote'. Though, if temps are regularly hitting those numbers for users who do heavy work, they'll still experience throttling.

 

It seems like the Italian model comes with a 120 GB SSD by default instead of the 750 GB HDD.

AS4830TG-2414G12Mnbb | Modello di prodotto

But what SSD? I was planning to buy an Intel 510 series while using the 750 GB HDD as an external drive. Now I fear it comes with a stupid, cheap, low-end SSD.

However... the new LG P430 looks very nice, GT 520M (instead of 540) but nice screen and 13,3-inch class case for a 14-inch screen... unfortunately it should lack USB 3.0 ports

 

In Switzerland there are two options for each model (HDD or SSD)

But i might order a Asus X4GSN today. I will have to import it from some other country as ASUS Switzerland does'nt offer any smart 14'' Notebook since a few years. But it cost me less and it even got 550M GPU and Blu-ray drive.
The only downgrade is the loss of a Swiss Germans specific keyboard. But i can live with that, might be possible to get a replacement keyboard for cheap.. will see..

 

Yeah, this is the problem for self-imported notebooks.

However... there's also a 15-inch model with a quad-core CPU and GT 555M GPU: AS5830TG-2626G12Mnbb | Modello di prodotto

 

FSX is very cpu intensive! So get the best processor you can... even the faster i7 dekstop processors struggle when flying over dense areas with lots of traffic

 

I know that it is, thats why I liked 3820 for its high clock speed and possible oc, unfortunately,there is not any quad core processor in 13" laptops for any reasonable price :/ so thats why i5... and the FSX I want it mostly for procedures and in cockpit view, so that should lower the desired performance.

 

The Acer support doesn't know what the bundled SSD model is. If you see an Acer TimelineX 3830/4830/etc. notebook in your country with a 120 GB SSD, please check the brand/model

 

W_T_F??? I want that in the 4830TG!!!!

I guess you can bake eggs on it, since the 5830TG cooling will be the same as the 4830TG. When i5 and GT 540M pass 90°C in like 10min, what will happen with the i7 and GT555M

 

Just logged back into see what's happing with the new 3830TG refresh and I'm sorry to say that I'm disappointed Acer. I don't think this upgrade is worth selling my 3820TG I've modded and upgraded just for USB3 and the new sandybridge chipset.

They went cheap on their design Acer and used only one fan to cool the system. Cooling is rubbish and the 3820TG The GPU really isn't much of a step up.

 

What a joke, what are they thinking???

 

Hey Bronsky been a while! Thanks for taken over and revising the old 3820 thread. Anyway I'm not so sure looking into its one fan design that a bios update would be the end all solution. I think Acer need to add another fan or review the heat sinks etc. Using the same shell somehow reduce the motherboard size to allow another fan. Bios update will help of course but fix it 100%. I highly I doubt it.

I've with you, I hope it does get fixed. These high temps are just too much at the moment for me to consider it. I would love USB3. We also can't over-clock this new model can we? Its a fixed base mutlipler.

 

I've seen there are many x820T users here. My roommate has a 4820T notebook and when he opens a page with Flash content (Adobe Flash 10.2) while using the dedicated ATI GPU, the system crashes. I've tried to update ATI drivers, Intel drivers, Flash version etc. etc. nothing. The only solution: disable GPU acceleration for Flash 10.2. This is one of the reasons why I'm looking for an NVIDIA powered notebook. I don't trust AMD/ATI at all.

 

sooo if this thing doesnt come out soon im about to go to best buy and buy a sony..

any eta for usa?? meh

 

Nice to see the experienced 3820TG guys poking their heads in here. I agree, I'm also disappointed in the 3830 but will be keeping track of how it comes along.

Sandy Bridge i3 can't be overclocked and it seems you can't get much out of the i5 or i7 it unless you've got the K models.

Intel Sandy Bridge Overclocking Potential Explored - Softpedia

Bronsky seems very knowledgeable with the OC stuff so maybe he would have more input.

 

Thanks for the info RWUK. There is some hope then with the Sandybridge i5's and i7's.

I too will keep track of how Acer fixes this issue.

 

Also, note that 4830T/G uses a Core i5-2410M CPU, the only Sandy Bridge Core i5 that lacks CPU instructions like AES-NI and VT-d. So no hardware accelerated encryption goodies on 4830 and no advanced virtualization features.

The 5830 quad-core version also uses a Core i7-2630QM CPU, one of the two Core i7 that lacks AES-NI and VT-d.

Yeah, they chose the worst Sandy Bridge CPUs for their TimelineX series

 

There are 3820TG models with I7's and SSD's. The problem is that we probably won't see them in the States. Then Acer wonders why they're not getting better penetration in North American business markets where HP, Dell and Lenovo are kicking its a**. AES is crucial to most business users these days and mandatory for uses involving medical records which are required to be encrypted under HIPAA.

Bronsky

@Hendrickson - nice too see you around again.

 

A gt555 in the 15"?! Damn, I want this now! Lower processor speed than the m14x, but much lower weight, bigger screen, and $1000 less base price in Au and this is sounding very good.

 

I touched a Acer Aspire 3830TG and my opinion is that the 3820TG seems to be better, not only does the Dual Fan makes it cooler, the plastic on 3830TG seems to be softer than 3820TG it actually does feel like it can break.
The new TimelineX looks good on pictures but the real systems discounts that.

 

Makes me even happier with my 3820TG (looks lovingly at notebook).

Bronsky

 

It looks pretty, but idk its just a little too.... BLUE
the 20s look much more professional imo

 

Hendrickson taught me everything I know.

Bronsky

 

I'm getting nostalgia of coming to the forums many times last year around June/July to read about Hendrickson and Bronsky modding their 3820TGs. Sigh...those were the days.

 

My thoughts exactly.

They made a terrific 13.3" that has near zero compeition only to have it NOT officially released in the U.S, and now they are taking away features in the refresh that made the 3820TG so appealing in the first place.

It's so disappointing to see them getting so close the laptop holy grail and then falling short from it with IMO stupid business decisions.