Acer TimelineX 3830/4830/5830 T/G

Yeah, the GT540M is also overclockable. Apparently it's almost as good an overclocker as the 6550/5650 in the x820TG. Sadly, Acer seems asleep at the wheel. I'm gonna be keeping my eye out for the Asus U41SV / SN series machines to see how they do. USB 3.0, GT540M (maybe even a step up from that) and 2nd gen core i5 CPU. If there's no throttling problem with the Asus that's what i'd recommend right now.

 

The Lenovo Ideapad Y470 looks interesting as well. GT 550M GPU. A bit heavy and battery durability leaves a bit to be desired.

Bronsky

 

Somehow 540M didn't seem to be able to OC very well, according to a few owners. That's including Asus N53SV @ max 3dMark Vantage P4403. Most are only getting like 10-15%... I tend to think it make sense since GT 540M is basically an OC'ed GT 420M:

GeForce GT 550M 96@740MHz
GeForce GT 540M 96@672MHz
GeForce GT 435M 96@650MHz
GeForce GT 420M 96@500MHz

 

While the specs are nice I just think it's too thick and heavy.
Do you know other 13.3 inch SB notebooks?

 

Does 3830/4830 throttle even on Cooling pad ?

 

agree, the ideapad y470 does look thick. Look at the bezel.

 

The few reports I'd seen had been into the 20% range. It's supposed to run quite a bit hotter than a 5650/6550 tho. I just wish Acer had put a 6650 and SB into the 4830TG along with a 1600x900 option.

 

Lenovo IdeaPad Y470 085524U Core i5-2410M , 4GB RAM, 750GB 5400RPM HDD, 1GB GeForce GT 550M, Blu-ray
$812.34 Shipped...

Dont want BluRay?

Lenovo IdeaPad Y470 085523U Core i5-2410M , 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200RPM HDD, 1GB GeForce GT 550M
$726.74 Shipped..

At these prices they include tax and free shipping. Its almost pointless to wait for this acer which as no ETA or price mark.

Lenovo is also a good brand am i right? I think ive made my decision sorry acer, even tho im trying this with an acer laptop.

Get $569 off Lenovo IdeaPad Y470 Laptop, Coupon Code, Best Deal, & Cheapest Price

 

It looks like NCIX may still have a few 3820TGs if anyone is interested.

Bronsky

 

The Y series always has looked thicker than it really is in real life.

Y470 - 20 to 32.8mm thick. 2.2kg
AS4820 - 25.4mm thick. 2.2kg

some sites list the 4820 being as thick as 30mm at its thickest. It is thin, but I do not think by a whole lot.

 

IF Acer don't refresh this looks like I might opt for the bigger and heavier (0.7 kilos heavier Dell 15z). It caught my eye somewhat in terms of power and a 1080p screen. All it needs is a Blu Ray burner swap mod...

 

Did someone have tested the news 1.04 bios?

 

I think so, but no solution to the throttling problem...

 

GT 525M GPU? Nothing out there tempts me (Sony SA comes the closest) Keeping my 3820TG till next year and Ivy Bridge. The HP DV6 with its 1080p display and better GPU looks more interesting than the Dell.

Bronsky

 

Asus U41SV seems nice, but it probably won't be imported to Europe

 

There's really no point in recommending other SB notebooks, becase this problem affects all manufacturers. HP, Msi, Acer, Asus etc.

That's why I think the problem will be fixed in the near future. This isn't just an Acer problem, it's clear that intel did something wrong with these SB chipsets. You guys mention problems with older acer models that didn't get fixed, but here we're talking almost every manufacturer with the same problem, and intel can't just ignore this.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/580363-hp-envy-17-sandy-bridge-awaiting-hps-fix-read.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/581570-doomed-sandy-bridge-launch-what-now.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/576364-thinkpad-sandy-bridge-cpu-throttling-problem.html

EDIT: At least Lenovo admits there's a problem:
http://www.downloadatoz.com/driver/articles/lenovo-thinkpad-x220-gets-cpu-throttling-problem.html

 

There could be SB notebooks with cooling systems which are better than average (or with less hot GPUs) that don't show the issue.

 

i asked someone who owns an aspire 4750g (i5 2410m with GF 540m) whether there are throttling issues, he said so far none.

 

No 4750 here in Italy (what about other European countries?), only 15.6'' and 17''... and half of the battery life.

 

Did he post recordings of the CPU not throttling while running some torture tests? Asking some random person doesn't really prove that his laptop didn't throttle at some point.

It could be throttling in games and he doesn't notice it. I'm just saying.

 

Oh my oh my oh my I was just reading the Envy 17 SB thread and tried some settings for throttlestop they mentioned and I might have hit the pot, furmark is running for 17 minutes now and no throttling!!!

Cooling is really bad, temps go up to the sky, but at least now I'm able control when and how does that happen.

 

is this on the 4830tg? i don't get it. what can you control? the throttling?

yeah, you're probably right. i just saw a video in youtube of crysis and hot pursuit running well. but yeah, it was not 10 mins long so maybe there was still no throttling in the vid. By the way guys, in our country, 4830 is priced at about $1000

 

out of curiosity are there any well known bugs with optimus on these laptops?
I've just got a 3830TG (the 750GB, i5-2410m, gt 540m one) and I Just can't believe that a bunch of stuff runs so much worse on it than on my old and sadly dead MSI gx630.

Considering that I think the 540 is stronger than a 9600 GT M.

Which leads me to think that optimus is just not turning on the dedicated card.

Actually BF;BC2 seems to run just fine, but stuff like crysis 2 not. Which is just weirding me out. Unless of course it's the CPU throtling. Which still feels odd.

 

What settings?

 

Thanks Bronsky, you reminded me of the HP DV6t? The refreshed one. But i'm really not sure. Now I'm really after a USB3 machine maybe with Sata III. But I think its still not time yet. I still love my Modded 3820TG

Edit: Apart from the weight I think the Dv6t it is. I mean 1080p anti glare screen, 6770 2gb GPU and the quad core CPU. Fit a vertex 3 drive and your away..What a beast. Looking good...

 

Hi everyone, so after about 2 months of contemplating. Ive decided to buy the y470 by lenovo.


2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2410M Processor ( 2.30GHz 1333MHz 3MB )
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64
NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M 1GB
4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz
14.0" HD Glare with integrated camera 1366x768
Industry Standard Touchpad
500GB 7200
DVD Recordable (Dual Layer)
6 Cell Lithium-Ion
Intel 1000 BGN Wireless
Bluetooth Version 2.1 + EDR
One year warranty

For 712$ TOTAL...

I couldnt resist the price for the quality. I hope all those who are waiting really enjoy the 4830 but for me I just couldnt wait any longer. Thanks for all the inputs/advice!

If u wanna know how i got the y470 for that price just check this link.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/577494-lenovo-y470-official-owners-thread-10.html

 

Congratulations on your new machine.

I was also thinking of the y470, but the battery life is what's holding me back. 4 hrs vs 8 hrs on the timelinex (ofc these aren't exact numbers), and it also seems the y470 is bigger and heavier.

Please report back when you've tested your new machine, and tell us if there are any throttling problems

 

Guys, is there a video card inside the 3830t? So far, the 3830ts i saw in stores don't have dedicated gpus.

 

No there isn't "T" has integrated card while "TG" or "G" have dedicated cards.

 

okay, it seems we don't have 3830tgs. so i'd probably buy the 4830tg instead. i'm planning to use it to play fable 3 and portal 2. do you think it can manage it even with the throttling?

 

Ok good news, I've been reading on the HP forums, and a new bios (f.15) has been released for the ENVY series. The throttling problem has been solved according to the posts!

So I hope Acer will soon release a BIOS update too!

So to all the paranoid members on this forum: This IS fixable

 

Finger crossed

 

Ohh, I hope Acer will release something similar in the future. Until now here are my setting what increases the throttling temp to 90°C for both the cpu and the gpu.
What we are going to achieve here is to force the cpu to a higher thermal profile if
- the comp is on AC power
- the cpu and the gpu temp is under 90°C
This will enable throttling free furmark runs (and hopefully throttling free gaming sessions), but furmark + prime95 will still force the system to throttle since the cooler cannot handle the heat generated by the components.

DL and install throttlestop, if you dont have it yet: Downloads | Tech|Inferno

First on the main page use these settings:
1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Turning on the logging is optional, if you are testing it can be useful to look at the data after the test.
Switch to profile two (in my pictures it's three but it does not matter, you can use the second or the fourth as well) and set these:
2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
(logging is the same button as on the first page, it's still optional)
Now hit the options button on the right and use these settings:
3 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Down at the alarm section use the number of the user profile where you set the second picture's limits.
If thats done hit ok, on the main page switch to profile one, hit the turn on button on the bottom right and then hit the save button on the bottom left.
Create a shortcut in your startup menu to throttlestop and restart the system to check if it's loaded correctly on the next boot.

 

Anyone found out what SSD they use in the 3830T? I know it's only 120GB but it would still be nice to have a fast SSD, but of course if it's some unknown brand, I'll skip it and take the i5 + 540m GT combination.

 

It will be the first thing I'm going to check when I'll see a x830TG notebook.

It could be an Intel drive as Acer used them in the past. I don't think that it could be a 510 Series SATA III drive maybe a 320 Series... or an old X25-M "G2" (good but not last-gen).

 

Hello all on this thread,

Not sure if someone mentioned it here. I wanted to ask here but today I just flashed my 3830TG to the latest BIOS v1.04 and there is one significant improvement (related to the issue I wanted to ask):

-The PgUp, PgDn, Home and End keys are working properly now.

Before v1.04 the keys above didn't auto-repeat and also they acted only on 'key-up' events which was very annoying for me. So I reccomend this BIOS version to every 3830TG owner.
I thought it is caused by some silly resident software but the new BIOS solved that! Thanks Acer to fix that so quickly

So now we just need new BIOS release for the throttling issue

 

Great news. I hope Acer have this bios fix out soon and once users here confirm the trottling issue is done for good I will jump on board the Timeline bandwagon once more and ditch my HP dv6tse machine I'm eying up.

 

I'll call the store tomorrow and ask them

 

Hey Guys, Here's my story:

5/22/11 Purchased Portege R830, paid 1340USD, i7,3g,500gb,4gb returned. It has a fan of a jet taking off and temperatures reached whopping 110C by just burning a DVD. I fell in love with it's sleekness, design and weight, though keyboard was flimsy and cramped.

5/25/11 Purchased Vaio SB 16, paid 1100USD, i5,320gb,4gb returned. It has almost same fan noise as R830 and really bad build quality, I could hear creaks around the lid. Heating also not controlled. After using for 5 hours, the touchpad became unresponsive and entire system became really slow and guess what? The laptop died on me, no power. Ridiculous.

So after returning two expensive and aggressively advertised so called "Business" laptops, Yesterday I end up purchasing economical 4830TG for 820USD and thank god so far I have not found any issues to return it. Still trying to get hang of Nvidia Optimus.

I stumbled upon this forum, so how do I test this throttling issue? It's really tough to purchase a laptop with out any issue I've downloaded Prime95, so what's next? Appreciate your response. Cheers

 

I also bought a 4830tg. So far so good. I do recognize the throttling when playing games. But as long as it plays well with good fps, I can live with it. I've tested about two hours of play with Fable 3 in normal to high and everything's fine. Speakers are loud enough. I noticed that the vent expels heat quite well. The battery life is really good. The keys look nice, but they don't feel nice. USB ports are very tight. Sometimes the gpu won't kick in even if a game is already running. I have to set it manually through optimus. The integrated chip could also handle games at lower settings (it was completely lag-free at low settings in fable 3.) I did no benchmarking. I'll test more games soon.

All-in-all, i think the laptop was a good buy for me. I'm not a hardcore gamer so I'm satisfied with the medium-high settings. But i still want the bios update so i can maximize the potential of the notebook. I'm happy with the battery life, the USB 3.0 and the sleek design.

 

You might get disappointed for no good reason if you test it. It really depends on the value you are looking for. If the value is solely for playing games, then you should sell it, or wait for the bios update. If the value lies somewhere else, then i think you bought a great notebook. You said you were attracted by these 'business laptops.' Then you probably wouldn't mind about the throttling. Test it without the benchmark and see if it plays well enough for your gaming needs. I fear that if you test it and see the throttling, you would end up writing:
"5/30/11 had 4830tg replaced because of throttling."

 

Let me know...

I'd say "playing games" and use GPGPU features. Maybe you don't play games but you transcode videos using the GPU etc. I hope that this notebook series won't wait forever for a BIOS update.

 

To the XX30 owners: Can you tell us how much bloatware Acer included? It would be nice to know in case I have to prepare a W7 USB, to make a clean install?

 

Thanks guys for speedy response. I'm still figuring out how to test throttling, it could be few faulty machines out there, so I'm curious to test mine and report back. I ran Prime95 and cpu in task manager showed 100% cpu, but system noise/temperature did not increase that much. I ran it for 15 minutes.

Same here, I've PS3 for games and I seldom play games on a laptop! I like how the machine is very quite. Couple of questions.

1- I know I can set GPU manually by right-clicking and selecting "Run with graphics processor" but it does not work when I tried with IE, Mozilla, WMP. The Nvidia GPU only kicks in if I set it ''High performance'' mode and go to hulu.com, So far GPU has not kicked in on "Auto Select" mode.

2-My Nvidia notification tray icon is in non English language which I don't understand, it is suppose to show if Nvidia gpu is running or not, everything else in control panel is in English though. How do I fix this?

3-What does Bios 1.04 fixes?

Cheers

 

Try FurMark

 

I can report there was not much bloatware on my 3830TG.
IIRC I had to uninstall only the antivirus (don't remember if it was Norton or McAffee or some other crap), MS Office, Clear.Fi and maybe few other small utils. It took definitely less than hour to cleanup the instalation.

So I wouldn't say you need to do complete reinstall of Win7.

It fixed PgUp/Dn, Home and End keyboard handling for me. Before 1.04 the keys didn't auto-repeat and also reacted only on 'key-up' events.

 

for bloatware, my 4830tg has a bunch of games, acer's gamezone, norton online backup, clearfi, egistec, esobi, mcafee and skype???

 

imho not worth a full reinstall, you can uninstall those craps under a decent movie.

 

Hello, I'd like to buy a notebook x830TG. But I cant decide between 3830TG and 4830TG, because of cooling. I read that 3830TG has only 1 fan, but it doesn't have optical drive(there could be more space), so I suppose, there will be beter cooling against 4830TG with 2 fans but with optical drive. Can you help me with my decision? Thank you very much!

 

Reading the notebookcheck reviews, the 4830TG model seems overall better than the 3830TG and 5830TG models (although the 4830TG reviewer is different). Moreover, the 3830TG model - at least in Italy - *does* have the optical drive (while the 3820 model didn't have it).