Acer TimelineX 3830/4830/5830 T/G

I'm pretty sure the 4830 has only 1 fan.

 

Whether throttled or not, the CPU will continue to show 100% because whether it's running at 800MHz or 2.5GHz, it's running at 100%. you need to dl a utility that shows you the CPU frequency while the machine is running to see if it's throttling.

 

Yes i have been looking at this i don't really know i think i am still getting the 5830TG
can you point out the 4830TG Qualitys that make it better then the others? thanks bro.

 

The only difference is the optical drive. You just have to choose the screen size. The TG models are almost the same, some T models have SSD.

I'm getting a 3830TG. I'm also considering the SSD model, but it's only 120GB, it's not enough for me.

 

Oh ok thanks i was thinking they are all the same, is their a US release Date for the 5830TG and the rest?

 

I haven't heard of a US release date. The US Acer site only shows the older models...

EDIT: the reason for the positive review of 4830 is, as someone mentioned, the different reviewer. The reviewer mentions throttling after 36 minutes of stress testing, but doesn't talk about it as much as the other reviewers from 3830/5830. So yes, the same problem exist for the 4830, don't be fooled by the nice reviewer

EDIT 2: I just don't understand how the 4830 gets 7.5 hours in the battery test, where as the 5830 gets 12 hours

 

36 minutes throttling? Then I have to test it again and play longer. I have only played more than 36 minutes in Fable 3, which I think is not demanding at all. I hope my 4830tg survives its encounter with Crysis 2 later.

 

LOL Thats what i was thinking about so hard was like Same Cpu same Gpu

 

It's a typo, wishful thinking or a plain error. Netbooks will reach about 10 hours of use but a 15" screen, dedicated GPU and i core CPU? No way, not even if you disable the Nvidia card and run on Intel graphics the whole time.

 

New 3830TG review from notebookcheck.net published today!

Review Acer Aspire 3830TG Subnotebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

Hey, Can anyone please tell me what kinda SSD drive fits in 4830tg? My laptop boots to Windows log in screen in 50 seconds and then another 20-25 seconds before I'm able to use the machine. I'm eying a 60gb Crosair which is around 160$. It is too much? What should I look for when buying SSD? Which Brand is the best? I don't even know the maximum speed of SSD in the market! Someone plz enlighten me. Thanks

 

i.e. it seems to have a brighter screen, better temps... but as I've already said the reviewer of the 4830TG model is different

@ n0elia

News about the bundled SSD model?

 

The bigger the chassis gets the more space there is for the air flow, so the 15" modell tends to be bit cooler. Otherwise they have the same built quality and specs. I checked out all three versions at the shop.

 

The salesperson I talked to over the phone told me he'd send me an email with information on the SSD model. So far no email received Lazy customer service

I've ordered the 3830TG model. Hope I'll receive it tomorrow or thursday, and then make up my mind and decide if I'll keep it or not. The 3830T is really interesting as well, as it has the SSD but only i3 and no nvidia gpu, at the same price. Don't know why it's so hard to make a decision. I mean:
i3 vs i5 = Will I feel the difference?
IGP vs 540m GT = Am going to play games? Ofc the nvidia can used for other things as well (flash, HD etc.)
120ssd vs 750gb = Fast ssd but only 120 gb, right now I'm using 100gb

Do you think the i3 version will throttle as well?

 

i just played crysis 2 for more than 30 mins and everything was surprisingly smooth. i am not sure if there was throttling. since i didn't notice any slowdowns, i'm pretty much satisfied with the performance. i could cook something on the heat sink at the left side though.

 

I'm glad to hear that your cpu didn't throttle. So the throttling issue is not permament, I mean not every program or game is going to make the cpu throttle, only in extreme stress testing, which I won't be doing.

What about temperature? Is the notebook hot? Hope it won't burn my lap

 

Quote from the review you've linked to yourself:

Hardly a case of extreme stress testing, isn't it?

 

I know, but he says Crysis 2 does not make the cpu throttle?

Anyway I just hope Acer will bring a updated BIOS. Ofc it's not a good guarantee if you're just "hoping", but I couldn't wait and ordered the 3830tg. Maybe because I'm so tired of the 1810tz and it's su4100 cpu.

Do you think the i3-2310 will have the same throttling problem?

 

I didn't say it did not throttle. What i'm saying is i didn't notice it. What's important to me is the gameplay, not the fps count. If the fps drops by half, as long as everything's smooth, i wouldn't mind.

The keyboard was a bit hot or warm. The heat sink was constantly expelling hot air throughout the two missions i did. The air is really hot, but i think the sink does a great job sending it out of the system.

 

Hard to say as it's not really the case of overheating with SB CPUs.
Arrandale Core i3 was more likely to throttle as it would throttle @ 95*C while Core i5 would throttle @105*C but SandyBridge it's not throttling because of overheating- it's throttling for no good reason.

I sure hope Acer will fix this but at the same time I hope this has affected their sales- that should teach them a lesson not to make us unpaid beta-testers.

 

I got an email from the salesperson I talked to about the ssd. He said, according to the technician, it's either an intel 320 or x-25m, but he wasn't sure it didn't sound too convincing, but he said that the bundled ssd are usually from intel.

 

Please let me know the SSD model when you'll receive your notebook (hoping that it's the same for every country).

 

I ordered the 3830TG with the normal HDD, I'm sorry The SSD model is without nvidia and i3 cpu. But like I said, I may change my mind and return it and get the 3830T with the ssd instead.

EDIT: I think I'll do a clean install once I get the machine, but can I do that without deleting the hidden partition (recovery)? I still want to keep it, in case I lose my w7 usb, or need a specific driver

 

Hi, I can't decide which notebook, I will buy. There are only 2 options.
1: ACER Aspire 4830TG
Notebook Intel Core i5 2410M Sandy Bridge, 14" LED CrystalBrite 1366x768, RAM 4GB, NVIDIA GeForce GT540M 1GB, HDD 640GB 5400,DVD SuperMulti.
OR
2:ACER Aspire 3830TG
Notebook Intel Core i5 2410M Sandy Bridge, 13.3" LED CrystalBrite 1366x768, 4GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT540M 2GB, HDD 750GB 5400, Without DVD drive.

Is there a big difference between 1GB or 2GB nVidia? and what about temperatures with or without optical drive. I need some test, to know which is better. What do you suggest, which one I should buy, and why???
Thanks for your answers.

 

I'd choose the 3830, but that's because I don't need an optical drive. You can get a 32GB usb and forget about the optical drive. Also, you can get everything from the internet nowadays, optical drives are so yesterday... well almost But I don't know if it's important to you?
Plus the 13.3 is smaller, and I suspect that the optical drive will consume more energy, although there is some new thing in sandy bridge which reduces optical drive energy usage.

 

Optical drives consume almost no energy at all when not in use but have one distinct advantage- can be removed
You could use SSD in HDD bay and a spinning drive placed in DVD bay for storage. On top of that you always have a DVD drive in case you needs one.
Until 500GB SSDs are affordable (as in cost less than a car ) this mixed solution seems to give you what's best from both worlds.

As for 1GB vs 2GB VRAM- there will be no difference. It's 128bit DDR3 memory interface that's slowing things down not the amount of VRAM.

 

If nothing else, the HD resolution looks better on the 13.3" display. I also like the size and weight of the 3820(30)TG. It is very portable.

Bronsky

 

That's true, I don't need optical drive, and cooling could be better beacause of more space. So I'm waiting for any other opinions. I think, probably I will buy 3830TG.

 

stop it Bronsky, we know you are addicted to yur 3820tg, but it's yesterday. haha.

 

This may be a stupid question, but here goes:
Do you think the i3 + IGP combo will run cooler than the i5 + nvidia? Ofc under full load the i5+nvidia will run hotter! But in everyday general use? The i3+IGP combo also uses an SSD, which should be much cooler than regular HDD.

I'm asking because, I'm getting the 3830TG in a few days, but I'm still in doubt. I hate when I can't make a decision between two machines

@ Bronsky
Was it easy to install the SSD in your 3820?

 

The SSD took 10 minutes to install. It was a breeze.

I've had both the I3 & I5 in my 3820TG and the I3 runs a bit cooler. Still the I5 is the far better CPU.

Bronsky

 

I just saw the adverstising video on Amazon Germany, where the inside of a x830 was shown.

It's an Intel x-25 with 120 GB

 

(Sorry if this has been answered before)

How would you replace the battery for the 4830tg once the battery begins degrading?

Also are there any other laptops similar to the 4830tg in the US with respect to performance and battery life? In the beginning, I was interested at the 4820tg but it appears to be out of stock everywhere I look.
Thank you for all any help!

 

Eww, what's up with the right shift key?? You can land a frickin Learjet on that thing. Why not make it a little smaller so that the directional arrow keys could also be normally sized? That is also a truly massive enter key, I am thoroughly intimidated.

Very strange keyboard layout.

 

It's traditional for Germany (the review must have been translated)- they use QWERTZ and old style Enter.

Elsewhere the layout looks like this

 

What I'm referring to is what that picture perfectly illustrates ( I did see the ß by the way ). If the shift key was smaller in length, there would be enough room to have normal sized arrow keys which are easier and more comfortable to use than the half size keys shown. Seems like a careless waste of space.

I also don't see what they were going for with the sort of 2 keys in 1 look as shown by the Enter and \ keys in your picture. In the notebookcheck review, there is more of this. Yeah, this is more nitpickity, but still dumb looking when its only a few keys.

 

Found Amazon.de : Acer Aspire TimelineX 3830 4830 5830

Intel X25-M "G2"



Intel X25-M is not bad... but it's previous-gen... if not a 510 Series, they could at least use a 320 Series Well... at least it should use 34nm NAND (320 Series uses 25nm NAND which could have a shorter life span).

 

I just noticed that sometimes the nvidia GPU does not kick in even if it is configured to run for a specific app. I played crysis 2 a while ago and i was devastated by the huge drop in speed. when i alt tabbed, i saw that the nvidia gpu was not running for it stated "None." Usually it would say "1 program" when I play crysis 2. I also tried running fable 3, it still wouldn't kick in. So i restarted and everything was fine again. For me, it would've been better if optimus was just a switch, instead of an automized program

 

So you're going for the SSD model then? The 3830T?

Nvidia just released a new driver update today. See if it fixes your optimus problems, or just general optimizations

 

In Italy all models have the SSD, there's no HDD option.

There are 4 models:

13.3'' - Core i3 2310M - GT540 1GB - Ram 4GB - SSD 120GB - DVD - €899
14.0'' - Core i5 2410M - GT540 2GB - Ram 4GB - SSD 120GB - DVD - €999
15.6'' - Core i5 2410M - GT540 2GB - Ram 4GB - SSD 120GB - DVD - €999
15.6'' - Core i7 2630QM - GT555 2GB - Ram 6GB - SSD 120GB - DVD - €1299

I think that I'll go for the 14'' model at €999 (about 1440 US Dollars) with SSD (obviously), although I'd have preferred an HDD model (at €799?) so I could use an Intel 510 Series SSD.

 

The same model Acers I posted before are now on Provantage with the same specs and prices.

The Acer Aspire 5830TG

They do not list the GFX Card but I am still seeing GT 520M on my side. Is this some cruel joke? Why would everyone else get the 540M and the US get the 520M?

 

But you get 6GB RAM we only get 4

 

If you search that model number, it certainly does list the GT 520M GPU. Acer has always produced the Timelines with two GPU options, one more introductory and the other a more robust GPU. Last generation, for the longest time Canada had only a 3820TG with the HD 6470 GPU. A 540M model will probably follow. For now though, this looks correct.

@ekerazha - the I7-620QM and GT 555M in the 5830TG looks interesting. If they would put this in the 4830TG, it could be a game changer. If they put it in the 3830TG and it did not fry eggs, it would be really tempting.

Bronsky

 

Yeah but the price is high and if there are throttling issues with an i5 and GT540, you can imagine the result of a quad-core i7 2630QM and GT555

 

The throttling of SB CPU's is being discussed in almost every thread. The Lenovo X220s are the most recent victims. Intel has to do something about this. It's probably just a matter of time. It is probably worth a check in threads where notebooks have the new SB quads to see what problems people are having.

If you consider VAT, the price is not that bad. I would guess this configuration would cost about $1,300 USD. If you could get a 3830TG with a quad core I7-2630QM and GT 555 GPU, it would be amazing.

That is almost $700 less than the Sony SA with a basic I5/HD6630/HD+/120GB SSD drive. With the 2630QM and GT 555 GPU, the Acer would kick the crap out of any other 13" unit on the market. I seriously doubt that the company will put these specs into a 3830TG, but it would be cool. Anybody see these specs anywhere?

Bronsky

 

Yeah but Alienware and HP seem to have fixed the issue with a BIOS update

 

Is there a way to do a clean install without deleting the hidden recovery partition?

 

You mean the Envy SB users are? Because that's not fixed.
It was like one guy, who shouted around on the forum that his machine does not throttle anymore and everybody took it granted. Others are still experiencing throttling after the F.15 bios update, so it's definitely not a fix for the problem.

 

Ahahahah ok

 

Actually if you read the posts now you'll see several members reporting positive feedback on the new bios But I do remember that guy "who shouted around on the forum"