Acer TimelineX 3830/4830/5830 T/G

it's like "why are people buying Big Macs or smoking cigarettes even if they know it could kill them?" the same question

 

I don't need another 3820TG. But RWUK might.

There are still a few floating around in parts of Canada I bet. Canada Computers has a couple left. But none with the option to purchase from/ship to the States that I am aware of. The few places that do ship to the States only seem to have 5470 models left.

mavo82 mentioned there are "plenty" in Germany.

Computeruniverse seems to still have a few models of varying hardware. Most of the 5650/6550 models are returns being resold and that sort of thing, and the cheapest one looks like 600 euros.

I think Bronsky ordered from Computeruniverse at one time or another so at least it's a reputable reseller.

 

I just wanted to say that Acer support never answered my question on the battery issue (no answer over e-mail or phone), what a lousy service... I waited 2 weeks for an answer, and when I called them to know if there was any progress, they promised to email me or call me as soon as possible (within 1 week they said).

That being I said, I'd still consider the 3830T (without nvidia, maybe that will make the machine cooler overall) sometime in August, after I've spent money on my vacation in July, and see how much there's left
I realized that I don't need the gaming capabilities, so the throttle issue is not a deal breaker for me. Remember I used the 3830TG before returning it? Loved the keyboard, the design, the speakers...

But ONE thing is holding me back: Yes, the battery wear issue... I have to wait and see what happens before buying it again

 

Throttling should be a problem of the 3830 as well, as it uses a Core i3. If I read the forums correctly, the i5 shuts down at 100°C, the i3 already at 85°C. I also tested some games, having the Nvidia GPU disabled. It's just a small difference in temp and the CPU cannot run at full speed as well. It allowed me to raise the multiplier to 19.

The problem is just the second fan missing (the 3820 has two of them). Don't know, why such an obvious problem hasn't been noticed by the QA of Acer before the release. Perhaps they just do not have a QA.

My 3830TG has some minor problems on top of that. The sound sometimes crackles even with the latest driver and I can hear the harddisk over the speaker. Another problem is the non-robustness of the case: the keyboard frame doesn't stay in place, but can easily be pressed down. Above the camera there's a little plastic, aiding in opening the laptop. Cool idea, but if you use it to quickly close the laptop it may damage the display frame. Same problem on the back: one screw is holding the maintenance cover in place, four of them would have been better.

And thanks to Optimus, Linux doesn't perform well on the system. This is not Acers fault, but I don't like it.

The minor problems would not make me return the device, the throttling does. They didn't reply my support question for three days now. I just called Acer to send it back, they want to repair it. I'm really wondering how they'll fix that

 

Err most 3830s come with i5...

 

I know only 3 models in Germany, one has the i3, one the i5, one the i7. The only one without a NVidia Card is the i3. Acer Homepage doesn't show more than those three:
NEW Aspire TimelineX | Product Series

Oh.. and my posting was the answer to the one just above it:

 

I wanted to buy Acer 3830 but changed my decision after throttling issue.

Acer reveals the TravelMate 8481 - Acer reveals the TravelMate 8481 powerful notebook - Notebookcheck.net News

- matte display
- thinner than 3830
- lighter than 3830

Going to buy TravelMate 8481

 

Sounds amazing! Reports say, that Acer used a 13-inch case, but a 14-inch display. I'm going to get my money back, watch the reviews about throttling in the new model and perhaps buy this one then.

 

I don't think most people who buy the laptop are even aware of the issue, and I am not even sure if the seller knows about it either. Most sales-people in Taiwan are like Best Buy employees. They only know what they are told and they may not necessary be computer-literate. Even if they are, they probably won't tell you, since they are pressured into making the sales.

 

The #1 sticky at NBR is:

"Sticky: The Definitive Guide to Acer Aspire Gemstone Blue Throttling Issues"

This problem was never properly fixed by Acer so no surprise that they have decided to release some more throttling models. Most users are not educated enough about throttling to complain so why bother fixing it. If you're smart, don't buy any of their new products until users have a chance to thoroughly test them because obviously, Acer is OK with shipping laptops with known throttling issues and never bother to fix them.

 

I've fixed my sound issues (had some crackling, or sometimes strange noises when playing games etc..) that started happening after my first "too hot shutdown" by uninstalling the Acer sound driver and let windows7 automatically install one (default windows driver). Since that day i haven't had any sound problem - no harddisk sound, no crackling, no problems in games etc..

It's not *that* bad - throttling only occurs on some (very heavy) games - and even throttled some of these games are still (very) playable. So MANY people will not even notice the issue.

ps. i read "mac's" instead of "big mac"

 

WoW at medium settings is no very heavy game - slowdown triggers after 2 minutes. Even with quake2 - a quite old and not-so-heavy game - I reached temps of around 82°C.

 

If my 4820TG Throttled at those temps I'd have a pretty crappy gaming experience. My machine doesn't start throttling til the CPU hits 95C, and it rarely gets that hot unless the room is hot and / or no cooling pad / elevation etc. Even Crysis 2 is completely playable on this machine, albeit at the lowest gfx settings at 1366x768 res.

Acer just seems to have lost touch with gamers lately. The 8951G is a big disappointment for an 18" gaming machine, having a pretty weak GPU for a $1500 machine. There are $1200 to $1300 Sagers that will eat it for lunch.

So, more like Apple I guess...

 

Hey, you're right! I was under the impression that Quicksync was an aiding process for the CPU but it offloads transcoding almost entirely to the IGP. Pretty cool.

Still though, the thermals of the chip as a whole remain and if it's not properly cooled, it will affect performance. I assume the Quicksync quality will still be there in the output, even at the reduced framerate.

I don't think anyone has tried this on here so far. So any 3830TG owners want to grab a copy of DVDFab's trial or Handbrake (both free) and encode a 640x480 movie for your iwhatever?

It'd be very interesting to see how much things will heat up running mainly the IGP as opposed to pure CPU testing that's been done up to now. If Optimus tries to take over the transcoding, disable the GPU. Quicksync will only work on IGP.

Thanks in advance to anyone who gives it a shot!

 

It'd be nice to compare the speed of encode with the quicksync on the new gen chips to my old core i5 under handbrake, which gets something insane like 180fps while encoding DVDs to mkv/m4v files.

 

Looking good, especially with a carbon fiber chassis! But is the screen what measures a 14" diagonal, or is it actually full 14" display area?



pic from
Acer TravelMate 8481 series laptop shown off with super thin bezel, or so you think -- Engadget

 

I converted some files to my iphone when I had the 3830TG, some that took 20-30 minutes to convert, and the cpu never got warm (20-30% cpu usage)... so no throttling there

I used Cyberlink MediaEspresso.

Remember only a few programs support quick sync!

Also that new Travelmate has a ULV processor and no chichet keyboard, so beware of that if you consider buying it

 

It's a 13" chassis using a 14" display. The diagonal of the display has 14 inch. A normal laptop with 14 inch would have a larger frame around the display.

Or in other words: my 3830TG has a 13,3" display. The new Travelmate uses the same chassis size, but a larger display.

 

@mavo So it is a full 14" picture. That's great.

I could surely manage with the i7 ULV. If it is indeed the 2637m, it still turbos to 2.6Ghz. Hopefully the Travelmate shows a bit more foresight in its construction than the Timelines.

@n0elia Impressive that the 2410 does such a good job with encoding and managing the heat. My lowly Core 2 Do encodes at about 38 frames per second at 100% on both cores. It takes a while. Add to your software list, DVDfab
DVDFab adopted the Intel Quick Sync to make Blu-ray Copy, DVD Copy much faster.

and we're due for a new release of Handbrake any time soon. Some reviews of quick sync hint that it already is supported, but the current version of HB was released in Jan 2011 so I'm thinking not likely.

 

i was wondering, if this problem is only for the i5 2410 models? seems like the other SB are doing fine or maybe not? my question is, will replacing the cpu change the throttling issue???? im probably missing something, gpu etc just wondering

 

Any battery wear updates from 3830tg owners?

 

still waiting for prktr ( or the similar nickname ) that have 32% of the battery level.

he just bought his laptop to the ACSP and still waiting for the answer ini 5 working days.

in 20 days of minimum usage my battery wear level already reach 13,45% with 6 cycling charge

 

How many complete / nearly complete discharges in there? I'd throw a few of those in there to see if it starts to figure out the real wear level or not.

 

Guys, I just changed the wifi card in my 3830TG to Intel 6200. At first the card was not recognized by Windows (I tried to install driver downloaded directly from Intel's website) and I was very confused. Then I downloaded the driver from Acer's website and the card was recognized OK.

 

Download the second latest Driver Version from Intel for some weird reason Intel did not include 6200 WiFi Driver in the latest one but it is available for the second latest release version: 14.0.2.2.

Acer Driver does not include Intel MyWiFi software.

 

Hi weinter, thanks heaps!

 

Not sure if someone already reported...but I just tested the new BIOS 1.05 update from 27.06.2011 but the throttling is still there. God bless the ThrottleStop

 

Today, I tried the Cooler Master Notepal U2, a cooling pad with 2 80mm-fans, which can be placed on any position below the notebook. The temperature rose much slower, but with max turbo in Duke Nukem Forever it reached 99°C (where I immediately stopped it!).

I'm sending it in today, overheating even with a (quite good) cooling pad cannot be tolerated ^^

 

They just called me this morning, telling that I can get my 3830TG back. Then, I came in the afternoon, but, the 3830TG still has 40% battery wear, and the BIOS is still v1.02 (I requested them to update the BIOS together with battery wear complain when I brought the 3830TG to the ACSC last week). Then I asked what they did with the 3830TG, and they said: nothing. They don't have the replacement battery yet, and they don't have the BIOS update file yet. Even worse, they didn't know that the 3830TG exist before I came.
They said to leave the 3830TG in the ACSC even longer until the replacement battery arrive.

(ACSC Mangga Dua Square, Jakarta, Indonesia)

 

So, they said that they want to fix the throttling issue? I hope they can..;-)

 

Meh, I'm willing to bet that all they'll do is re-apply thermal paste and say it's good. Any actual fix without a BIOS update is unlikely at this point.

 

Of course the cannot. Even two external 80mm-fans could do the trick. Fixing the problem would need a new case and at least a second internal fan - I would call it a 3830TG+. But I don't think, they are willing to do this.

The Indonesian Acer center didn't have a bios file?? Don't they have access to the Inet?

 

The problem is obvious. You can not run the CPU at its Intel rated speed without it reaching the thermal throttling point during any demanding games. That shows that the cooling solution is inadequate and the only possible fix is a complete redesign which isn't going to happen anytime soon. Acer can update the bios and they can play around and adjust the throttling points but the fact remains. The CPU runs too hot when gaming if it is allowed to run at its rated speed.

 

Anyone tried repasting?

 

Repasting can break the warranty, so I decided to send it in first.

 

Amateurs... they didn't know that the 3830TG existed?

So you send it in and got basically nothing? Now that's bad service from Acer

 

No no no, repasting doesn't break warranty, noob repasting and being honest about it breaks warranty.

 

it's horible, to see that they take laptop for around 5 days and do nothing about it, to update bios simply download the bios driver on the acer website. and just run in windows mode, but i suggest that u turn off your antivirus and other program that running in the background. especialy your wifi connection. it just take arround nearly 3 minutes i thingk to update bios. the file is arround 5,6MB

 

Thanks for the info! The U2 is one of the cooling choices i m considering. Wanna ask where u place the 2 fans and how much time does it take for the temperature to reach 99C? (anw what's ur room temp at that time?)

I'd like to find out how does the U2 performs compared to stocked cooling!

 

I think it will be 3831TG or 3835TG.
They have a WiFi network, but the access is limited to Acer official website & Google only.
What made me happy for 10 seconds is they agreed to use the BIOS file on the HDD, which is the modded BIOS :-D
They said that they need a USB Flash Drive (UFD) to update the BIOS, luckily I brought my UFD, but they copied only the .exe file (if I remember correctly it is InsydeFlash.exe) to the UFD, and reboot to the BIOS and find out that .exe file won't run from the BIOS.. LOL

 

It takes 10 minutes to reach 99C. I placed the fans right below the openings on the bottom. Room temp was around 20C. But I don't think the room temp has any influence on the core temp, even with 40C there is enough difference to the 90+C of the CPU.

 

The Acer website offers a downloadable 5.6meg-file, which flashes your Bios without any reboot. It's just an exe file to run in windows.

A question to the others: Could it be that the battery-problem is just a result of programs not be able to handle the new kind of battery correctly (as the 3830TG uses some kind of special battery)?

 

Possible, because after the 3830TG hibernates itself when battery is out, we are able to turn it on again, and use it for 1-2 hours, while the battery level is 0% until it shuts off suddenly. This does not happen on my 4740G, after it hibernates, I can't turn it on anymore until I plug it.

I just updated the BIOS on my 4740G. At first, the system can't detect the nVIDIA G310M graphics. Then, I flashed again, and it still can't detect the nVIDIA. Then, I downloaded the BIOS file again, flashed it, then the system can detect the nVIDIA .
No, no, I'm too afraid to update the BIOS on my two-weeks-old 3830TG.

 

same with you at first i'm very afraid to update my 2 weeks old 3830TG, but after i read acer website that bios 1.04 had an update for the nvidia grafik and other in this forum talked that lots of games begin to normal after bios update so i've decided to update my bios.

acer already relese 1.05 bios but the update only used for :

1. Updates all logo resolution to 1024 * 768
2. add support for touch pad for ALPS
3. Fixed show device eror in text mode

i,m consider that the risk is bigger than the performance, so i will pass the update and wait for others review

 

I personally would wait until someone tested a machine and conclusively showed the new BIOS stopping throttling before I'd bother updating BIOS on a x830TG right now.

 

I've had my 3830 a week. So far I'm very impressed. Idling and internet browsing temps running about 40C. Currently trying out throttlestop. Before using it most games like Portal 2 ran perfectly. Dirt 3 frame rates were adequate and CPU heated to about 65C.
I ran Prime95 and stressed it about 10min and with throttlestop was bouncing off the temp max of 85 frequently.
Using the recommended settings the laptop is running as best as I could ever want it. Software like Word 2010, Acrobat, etc quickly open about twice as fast as before. Games like Crysis run flawlessly.
For the money, I'm not about to return this or trade for anything at this point.

And my battery wear is holding at 3%

Quite pleased.

 

I just flashed the BIOS to v. 1.05 and I didn't see any changes other than the booting screen (Acer logo changed, and also the font). Haven't tested for the throttling though.

 

Nice to read that you're quite pleased with the 3830TG. Actually I'm also quite pleased with mine, except for the screen (maybe because I also have a Sony Z - but I think the screen in 3820TG is still better than the 3830TG).

 

Good news.

Bronsky

 

Help!
I recently purchased the notebook-3830tg 2314g12nbb, after a problem to the hdd, having sent to Acer, it came back with a different version of the partitions. Now the backup is no longer possible to do even on usb storage, and also trying to restore a hidden partition of the software requires at least 100gb partition for acer, but removing the space for the recovery, from disk 120GB SSD, still 97gb, and fails to finish the recovery. To avoid having to send back for repair, there is someone who has the same version and I can make the recovery discs? or upload them to a virtual disk?