Acer TimelineX 3830/4830/5830 T/G

Is it just me or do the temperatures of the 3830 in the notebookcheck review seem very high for a laptop thats throttling. If these are throttling with the GPU only at 75C and they can get up to 90 with proper throttling, this laptop would get majerly hot.

 

I've checked the forum and I fail to see those positive feedbacks. :/
Anyways, it should be fixable by a bios update, either hp already did it or not.
Since I set up throttlestop my 4830 runs quite fine until 90°C. If it can be done from an app it should be doable from the bios.

 

Hey guys, where can the 4830 currently be purchased for US customers, and what is the expected price? I think I saw someone post $820USD, is that right? I thought it was going to be a little pricier than that.

 

How's the heat in general? Is it uncomfortable to use?

I've read on other forums people discussing high temps with sandy bridge notebooks

 

It isn't available in the US yet... but it is available in some countries.

The $820 USD is just an estimated price in one country. I've seen it around $1100+ USD in other countries.

I'm going to assume that the price will be around $799-$899 USD for the 4830TG in the US. That was how much the 4820TG cost when it was launched in the US.

 

40C in the center of the keyboard is hot. 45C on the bottom would fry your huevos. These were the measured temps from the 3820TG review. All of this from a throttling device.

@aylafan - correct you are, introductory price of the 4820TG was $849.

Bronsky

 

I don't understand how Acer can't make a cool running laptop? Especially when the new tech from intel should run cooler than the previous generation.

Did the SSD in your 3820 lower the temps? Would you say your 3820 gets uncomfortable during full load?

EDIT: I'm sitting here with my 1810tz with the lowly su4100 cpu and it heats up to 72c under load, and that's uncomfortable, so I wonder how my 3830 experience is going to be when it arrives, especially when you think about the temps (80-85c if I remember correctly)

 

Here’s the hungarian lineup, not the cheapest retailer though.


4830TG (i5 2410 - GT 540M 2 GB DDR3 – 4 GB DDR3 – 750 GB HDD - + 3 YRS WARRANTY) – 214.000 HUF (1150 USD)

4830TG (i5 2410 - GT 540M 1 GB DDR3 – 4 GB DDR3 - 120 GB SSD - + 3 YRS WARRANTY) – 256.000 HUF (1377 USD)

It’d definately cost less int he US.

 

EDIT:

Nevermind. Just noticed that's the 15".

 

The 3820TG is the coolest running laptop (with a dedicated GPU) that I have ever seen. I don't understand why Acer abandoned such a great design.

The reason I love my 3820TG so much is that it never gets hot to the touch. I have never noticed any heat transmitted through the palm rest, the keyboard or the touchpad. To be sure, the fans pump out some serious heat under load. But, I use my Acer at the upper end of its performance envelope and I have never been anything but pleased and impressed with the dual fan cooling system. It is the thing that most keeps me from considering anything else at the moment.

As far as the SSD is concerned, I don't know. I have never really used my unit with the stock 5400 rpm conventional drive. I replaced it as soon as I got the laptop. It is way too slow for my lack of patience and my A.D.D.

Bronsky

 

Well nothing is perfect, guess I'll have to live it.... but if it's too damn hot I may return it. I'm not a heavy gamer though, so I don't know how much it will heat up. Maybe during video conversion and stuff like that...

Is the 128GB enough for you? The capacity is the reason I went with a HDD

 

The 128 is fine for me. But, I use a 500GB external HD. I normally load large files onto the SSD and then back to external storage when I'm not working on them. The biggest drawback is the lack of eSata or USB 3.0 ports. It would be perfect if I could transfer at a faster rate. I do quite a lot of video editing (actually splicing or assembly of shorter aerial images into a larger file for presentation to show changes in an area over time).

And, surely nothing is perfect.

Bronsky

 

I purchased mine 3 days ago and I would say the heat and noise is almost the same as my previous 4820TG. The only time CPU temp went passed 70C when I fired up demo version of Crysis 2, which I forced to run on Nvidia. 4830TG is about 5mm thicker then 4820. On specs page 4830 is little lighter, but 4820 felt lighter to me because I used it without battery mostly It's definitely sleeker as the dimensions confirmed.

Couple of things.

Boot time: I feel it's even slower then my previous 4820, about 40 seconds to reach Win logo and another 30 seconds before everything else loads, and all that after removing the Acer bloatware . Once Windows is fully loaded, it's a breeze. So far laptop hasn't frozen on me. It works like a charm.

Build quality: It's not the same as 4820, I noticed that the top left corner of the screen on the edge had a very tiny gap at the store on display unit and the gap was present for my laptop also, but a quick super glue fixed it.

Space bar and left ctrl keys creak a bit, but other then that I did not really find any issues. I paid 833USD for 4820TG about 9 months ago, but paid 810$ for 4830TG for almost double the specs. Overall, I'm satisfied with the laptop, it does everything I need, although I've not stopped dreaming about Samsung Series 9, it's a beauty.

Let me know if anyone has any questions. Cheers

 

Remember when I kept saying on the "What Notebook Should I Buy" forum that people should wait when a new CPU / Model etc comes out to see if it's stable / works right and everyone kept poo pooing me? I'm not gonna say I'm gloating, but dangit I have nearly posted a few "I told ya sos" to some folks.

 

Thanks for the comments on the 4830, appreciated I guess the 5400rpm HDD is really slow then. Did you defrag boot files? It should speed it up.

you sound really satisfied with the notebook, I can't wait to get my 3830 on friday.

What about battery life? Better than 4820?

 

I was lucky enough to get to play with the 3830TG today. I must say I'm in love with it even more now and have pretty much made my mind up to purchase it

 

With Wifi/Bluetooth turned off, no externals connected, brightness 20% and power smart enabled, it shows 7hr, 35 min which is about the same as 4820TG, but I expected more since it's Sandy Bridge. Yes, the utter nonsense 5400 HD is the main culprit for boot time. I totally forgot about defragmentation, I'll see if it helps. The laptop is quiet, fan only kicks in second gear if I fire up a game, haven't tested any other game except Crysis2 which requires fast GPU. Don't worry about no optical drive on 3830tg, like most laptops, 4830tg has noisy optical drive. I think I'm over satisfied with 4830 after what I experienced with expensive Vaio SB16 and Toshiba R830. I don't think there is any other laptop currently in the market with price, specs and battery life of current Acer Timeline series, it's really good value for money.

 

I love the look of the new TimelineX but the specs are a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong, the specs are good enough for my purposes, but seeing the Lenovo Y series with a GT 555M will give me pc envy.

 

Have you made any attempts to record how long the battery actually lasts in your 4830? What Windows says and what the laptop actually gets can often be 2 different things.

The Acer U series has consistently been the Timeline's parallel competitor. The U30SD has recently come out in Europe and North America with the same CPU and a 520M, 7-9 hr batter life area but no usb3.

 

Well, I didn't test the battery life intentionally. but when I brought home my 4830tg the first time, I ran it on battery for about three to four hours, while continuously installing programs, after which I plugged it in just to be safe. I remember it said 1 hour 43 mins left when I plugged it in. I already ran it for about an hour in the computer store, so that makes about five to six hours of continuous use.

 

Nice to see you're still around. The 3830TG'll be a nice step up from the 6930. Are the new models arriving in north america yet? Are we getting the 3830TG/GT 540M here in the states?

Bronsky

 

Ya, windows battery notification is not accurate. After 3 charge cycles, removing all the bloatware and running stop watch, I get 6+ hr easily with Wifi turned on and light surfing. I know there are still some battery hungry processes running in the background, mostly Acer services which is why the boot time in insanely slow. You meant Asus U30SD , it's almost the same specs as 4830. Other day with every possible thing turned off, machine idle, Windows was showing 10+ hours. One thing I noticed that when Power smart button was pressed on 4820tg, the optical drive was always completely shut off and notification used to say, to turn it back on, press the Eject button, I don't know why it's missing in 4830.

 

Speaking of bloatware I may do a clean install once I get the machine. Is there anything in the hidden recovery partition that I can't find on the Acer website?

 

Yours is 750gb, 2gb 540m, 3gb Ram. How much did you pay? Mine came with 640gb, 1gb 540m , but 6gb Ram. I paid around 820 US$ with Acer Carry case, Cleaning kit and 1 Year Anti Virus.

Nope, but I suggest making a HDD Image, I did mine via trusty Norton Ghost, it will come handy when I upgrade to SSD drive. Also, make a copy of hidden OEM folder in C: drive, that's all your drivers right there. What's the best way to use Acer Windows License Key after clean install? I'm thinking of installing Windows 7 Ultimate. It sucks that my genuine Win7 Ultimate is 32 bit version which I got it free through University Program.Those were the days, 4 years of college, all windows and MS office versions were free for students and faculty.

 

Is the powersmart button the "P" button at the side? My 4830tg has that. The computer store said it supposed to lengthen battery life so I think we're describing the same thing.

 

Has anyone figured out the cooling issues with the 3830? What about throttling?

 

I have one question. Is there a throttling problem with every model 5830,4830,3830? Which model has the best cooling system?

 

I don't need to backup the drivers and apps if they can be downloaded on the website. Is it possible to backup only the windows iso/setup? In case I need it sometime

 

If you back up the original OEM digital certificate using ABR Beta and have access to the W7 ISO, what else do you need? I guess you could always make a restore disk and backup of the notebook. Have you seen my clean install guide? http://forum.notebookreview.com/6465732-post1612.html

Seeing the GT 550 in the 5830TG really caught my attention. That would be incredible in a 3830TG.

Looks like Acer might be providing its distributers with price incentives to move out its current inventory. It's taking a $150 million dollar write off to do so. http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110601PR214.html Wonder if Timelines will benefit from the incentives or will just netbook prices drop even lower.

Bronsky

 

I already did a clean install on my 1810tz with the usb option, was pretty smooth. I just had a problem activating windows, had to call MS support, but then it worked. Guess I have to look at your post again. I already have ABR, so I should just backup my key, reinstall from usb, and activate again from ABR. That should do it right?

And I won't lose anything by not using the provided windows installation? From what I can see, all the drivers are on the Acer site

 

the GT550m is technically an overclocked GT540.

 

It's the same chip, they just have different clock speeds.
540m: 672MHz
550m: 740MHz

My OC-d 540m: 800MHz

 

Yeah... and the GT540 is technically an overclocked GT525

 

...and the GT525 is just an overclocked GT420

 

Guys, i played Fable 3 last night and I'm beginning to notice the throttling. After some time, the game somehow lags whenever I tilt the camera. Otherwise, it's all smooth without lag. I want to try throttle stop to see how it changes the experience. Is it safe to use throttlestop with the posted configuration a few pages back? Does it shorten the notebook's life?

 

Is the voltage higher on the GT 550M?

Bronsky

 

I don't know if it's just me, but I notice brown, goldenish patches on faces of characters when I watch movies. It's tough to describe, if you look closely on face, it appears goldenish. Before I thought that the movie was a bad rip, but I've tested it with 3 movies and also watched couple of youtube videos. You gotta really look closely and focus on face and sometimes arms. It's more in the center of the screen and can only be noticed on people. Is there any software to test the screen? I use VLC to watch media.

 

Other than the drivers (which I like to back up first so you get the right ones for your unit), all you need is launch manager. ABR should activate windows for you. If not, you can manually insert the OEM key and cert. PM me if you run into a problem. Just keep the thumb drive if you want restoration media.

Bronsky

 

I already have W7 HPx64 on a usb, so I guess I'll just backup the drivers and do a clean install once I get the machine, thank you
That's the part I hate most about Acer, the freaking bloatware!

Anyway, It seems that the new timelines here use Atheros wifi. Do you have any experience with Atheros? I've always used Intel, and I never had problems...

 

I don't know, but mine runs on the stock 0,83-0,98V at speeds above the 550M, so I think it's the same voltage for all three of them.

 

Does your 540m OC run hotter?

 

And how should I overclock it?

 

Yes, it does, but it's still under 90°C so what the hell, you know.
I use the Nvidia System Tools, it's super easy, integrates into the Nvidia Control Panel:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools_6.06.html

 

If the GT 5xx is the same chip and runs at the same voltage, do they all overclock to the same frequencies? So why not just get a GT 520M and keep it clocked.

90C? That's one hot GPU.

Bronsky

 

Just received my 3830TG

 

Congratulations. Look forward to your impressions.

Bronsky

 

Nice thread!
I got a question that I'm hoping someone could answer for me: How is it with throttling with the 3830T (without discrete gfx)? Does it also have any issues or does it run a lot cooler than the TG version?

I'm not particularly interested in gfx performance, its gonna be used for programming (Java, C) mostly and run Linux. Thanks in advance

 

Thanks I'll post again later with thoughts and results...

 

Hi guys,
i´ve been reading this thread for a while but I can't still decide whether to buy 3830tg (750gb hdd, 2gb GPU) or 4830tg (640gb, 1gb GPU) - price is basiclly the same, battery life similar, from what i saw in video the size is not so different, also weight is similar so in the end size is not a dealbreaker for me At the moment im leaning towards 4830tg (also bcs of DVDdrive) but i'd like to play some latest games so the question is: i s there a noticable difference between 1gb and 2gb GPU? (version of 4830tg with 2gb is unavailable here in czech rep)
I also presume that the thorttling issue is fixable otherwise i'd consider not to buy it at all..

 

I've been playing crysis 2 and Halo, and so far have not noticed any lag. I've downloaded CPU Z, can some1 tell me how do I use it? It looks confusing. All it shows is system information. How do I check if cpu is throttling?