Acer TimelineX 3830/4830/5830 T/G

The i3 version is on sale for 599$ at the moment (Canada):

Decisions ....hmm

AS3830TG
# 2.1GHz Intel Core i3-2310M processor
# 4GB system memory
# 750GB hard disk drive SATA
# 13.3" HD Acer CineCrystal LED-backlit TFT LCD
# Windows 7 Home Premium
# NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M with 1GB dedicated memory
# HD audio support with two built-in Acer 3DSonic stereo speakers
# HD webcam with built-in microphone
# Connectivity options include Gigabit Ethernet LAN and Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n
# Ports include 1 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0 and HDMI
# Bilingual Keyboard with Multi-gesture touchpad pointing device
# Blue finish
# Up to 9 hours battery life
# Dimensions: 0.87" /1.15"(H) x 12.63"(W) x 8.97"(D)
# Weight: 4.12 lb.
# 1-Year limited warranty

Source:
STAPLES | BUREAU EN GROS

 

Tiger Direct still has the 3830TG for $699. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=631869&SRCCODE=WEBAMZP1 What's with the $900 price on Amazon? The official Acer website has the list price at $779. http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/LX.RFQ02.067

Bronsky

 

The easiest and safest way to disable thottling is using ThrottleStop 3.0. It works wonderfully and if you have a laptop cooler, that'd be even better Just make sure your cpu isn't going above 95C and 100C for gpu.

 

I'm guessing they sold out again, I was a little taken back by that price too, but that model isn't sold by amazon, I'm sure they'll restock in the next week or two. On newegg I think it's down to $699 too.

 

just bought that lol, thanks for the link. should have it in the next 3 days.

ncix.com sells the 2410m version for 699.99 but im mainly going to use this for websurfing/very rare game of sc2 on lowest settings so didnt go for that one

 

Maybe you could find the same model module on EBAY, it is not very expensive.

 

It's not the module itself issue, it is connector of small cable to mb. I've already fixed this up with microscope & needle

 

A difference from my TG model which I returned, this T model with i5 doesn't throttle. Even when stressing the cpu for a long time the temperature doesn't exceed 80c.

So the lack of nvidia makes a big difference!

EDIT: The temps were measured with AIDA64. I'm going to test again with another temp reader.

 

We don't get the 3830T here in the states. We have the 4830T instead. The 4830T is competing directly with the equally inexpensive Lenovo E420. Because of that, the T model's are less competitive than the higher end "TG" models. Most buyers would opt for the E Series Thinkpad.

 

I just wanted to repost this since it looks like no one saw it among all the battery chatter. I did this on my 3830tg and it works, no temp change, if any it is a couple degrees. I put BC2 settings all on high with 4x AA and I still got really good frame rates, 40+.

Is there any way someone can write an update on gaming in the original post so people don't have to search through all of these posts to get info on it? I think people on the fence about buying the 3830/4830tg would benefit from knowing theres a solid makeshift solution to throttling.

 

Atheros module ?
I guess I'm just unlucky
Well, I'll switch to intel and get WiDi in the same time..

I've been experiancing problems (regular gaps, inconsistency) with sound/music also lately, now trying the "uninstall driver hack", but I'm sure there might be better options.... Don't you guys also have problems with movies or games ?
I use A2DP all the time, maybe my problem is with bluetooth, but I doubt it in this case, as I've seen similar issues like on this website: http://3830redone.de.vu/

 

On a somewhat related note: For those of you who have uninstalled the dolby software only to find it doesn't reinstall with conexant audio drivers- you can find it (and all other acer system software) in an invisible folder on your C: drive at C:\OEM\Preload

I bring this up because the sound quality is MUCH better with the dolby software, and I found it was worth the occasional pops.

 

good to know, i will try ocing mine 3830tg when it arrives. is there a specific throttlestop guide somewhere here?

 

Is there any way to install the Dolby enhancer only?

 

That is something I haven't experimented with; feel free to poke around but I only found the conexant folder. You might look inside and see if there's a separate installer for it.

Profile 1: Set multiplier is checked, set it to Turbo. All others don't change.
Profile 2: Set multiplier to 17, check "disable turbo".

Go to "options", say "AC - on, battery - off"
Check "Alarm", set DTS to 15, and use profile 2. If you want it to also check your GPU (I don't think this is necessary) then check "nvidia GPU", restart throttlestop, and set the GPU alarm to 85 degrees and profile 2 as well. Done.

 

This should be on the page one

I found some "Dolby"s in the C:\OEM\Preload\Autorun\DRV\Conexant Audio Codec Conexant CX-20584\CDShortCut\CDShortCut.ini

EDIT: What the ... battery wear is 3,7% now.. big jump from 0% in only half a week. Sanyo battery.

 

is this the settings for both 2310m and 2410m?

 

Keep us updated. If I call Acer and let them change my battery, they'll probably put in a Sanyo battery, so it would be nice to know if Sanyo wear increase quickly as well.

But don't think so. Everyone with a Sanyo battery report positive results.

My wear is at 12% now after 4 days!

 

that is pretty ridiculous.


i must have gotten some crazy panasonic battery. this morning, i used my battery down to 60%, and now my wear is 0.0% out of 65,729 mwh.

my max battery capacity is increasing!!

 

Hey guys, I'm a little bit of a noob here just trying to figure a couple things out:

Just wondering how you would do this and what this exactly entails (as in what this performance boost means).

Also, I have a couple other questions for the helpful people in this thread:

-My panasonic battery is pretty bad, just wondering how long it takes for acer to repair your laptop, do you have to pay for shipping or anything like that and do I have to clean up my whole hard drive or can I just send it as is?

-I have been hearing 2 suggestions for throttlestop so far:

-Keeping it set at x18 with no turbo all the time
-Using the alarm feature to set it from regular (turbo) and switch to x17 when you hit 85 degrees

Which solution is better?

Thank you very much for all your help

 

Just download Nvidia Control Panel. When it's all set up go to the performance app then device settings. Set graphics clock to 765, and memory clock to 965 and save the profile. As you can see, it is a a somewhat big leap from factory settings. Since throttling takes away some graphical power using throttlestop, this gets it back. Games will run smoother and with better settings. You don't really need to do it but it helps if you game a good amount.

I just set my throttlestop to the 18x no turbo and turn it on whenever I am about to play something. I have a notebook cooler and I haven't seen temps go over 86c since I got it.

 

By bad do you mean high wear level? Or something else...?

If you have high wear level, they'll change the battery for you, but it could take weeks. I'm not sure... Call support and ask them

 

Hi everyone, I'm on the fence between the 13 inch model of this Acer and the Toshiba Portege R835. Both laptops have their own strengths and weaknesses and features that makes it hard for me to decide on which one to go for.

Toshiba, while $100 more expensive, probably has better battery life, a dvd drive, and is lighter in weight.
While the Acer has a better graphics card, better speakers and webcam.

Anyone who owns either of these laptop have any insight or recommendations? thanks!

 

ACER 3830TG ON SALE!!!! 699!!! should i wait for the MSI x460 or WHAT DAMNIT!!!!
(IMPLUSES BUY) o yea 3830tg community HEY!!!

 

Billy Mays here! It depends on your preference. If you just want to leave it to go automatically then use auto-profiles. If you play any game it's probably going to end up on profile 2 anyway, the difference is that it will heat up slightly faster. The peak temperatures will be no different really, (well x18 will ultimately still run hotter). I keep it on variable profiles so when I'm doing non-gaming tasks, it still has a higher max speed.

 

does anyone here own the 3830tg with a 2310m cpu? because it doesnt have turbo does it still require throttlestop to function without throttling kicking in?

 

Okay, three things:

First, I had my laptop repasted with arctic silver 5. I will test this later and report what difference it makes.

Second, as I mentioned earlier, my Atheros wlan card broke on my earlier attempt to repaste. I had it replaced with an Intel Wifi 5100 AG card. The problem is now that installing the drivers for this card cause an IRQ_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL BSOD. This is intensely retarded and I haven't been able to work through a solution yet other than putting my old card back in.

Third, my battery lasts a little over 4 hours with the power saver profile. Not so great. This (today) was only the second discharge, however.

 

Check your battery wear level. You may have unusual high percentage. That could be the cause of bad battery life

 

2.6%, that's all.

 

Okay well let's make this clear:

According to my testing, there is nothing at all wrong with the thermal paste that is stock in the laptop

Having replaced it with Arctic Silver 5, there is only a 1, 2C difference in peak heat. This is equal to being able to increase the multiplier by one, so to x18.

 

Yes, atheros.
I didn't use A2DP, but OBEX (with Nokia 5800) and mouse work great at the same time..

 

I just got the 3830tg-6412 with the 2310m and can verify that it does throttle down to 1.3Ghz with just CPU load (P95). After about 1min or less, it spends about 2/3rds of the time at the lower speed and jumps back and forth between that and the nominal 2.1. Temps hit an acceptable 84C max on the CPU and while gaming, about 80C on the GPU.


One unrelated issue I have with mine: I get red horizontal lines and random red pixels corrupting the image output over HDMI on a known-good TV. The corruption doesn't show up in the BIOS, just past the point where it hands it off to the OS (which makes me think it's a driver problem). Does anyone else have this issue or do I just have a bad unit?

 

Im also stuck choosing between these two laptops. Anyone have any opinions?

 

depends if you need the extra performance or not vs portability. Are you a casual gamer? then get the acer. If you only surf the net, videos etc get the toshiba

 

I tested the hdmi port with my panasonic hdtv and it plays games flawlessly, what bios version are you using (my came with 1.04)? the stock drivers should work fine too, give throttlestop a try if you haven't it will be handy in games.

 

Thanks for verifying that it does work on other units. Mine shipped with 1.02 but I updated to 1.05 with no improvement. I'll exchange it tomorrow, and ya, it looks like throttlestop is a necessity for these things! Still, hard to beat the hardware in these things for the money...

 

Hi everyone,

I was the happy owner of a 3820TG which unfortunately got stolen

I was about to buy a new one (assuming I can still find it :/) but noticed that the 3830TG is out. Now I'm trying to decide on what model to buy. I hope someone here can help me make the right choice:

1) I read in the topic about the heating problems of the 3830TG, but also read that there were some workarounds. With this in mind, can I really expect better performance from the 3830 than what I had with the 3820 ?
2) Is the heating issue less important on the 4830 ? Given the choice I'd rather super-size than deal with heating issues.
3) I will probably have a hard time getting a 3820 now, but the 4820 is still available. Between the 4820, 4830 and 3830, which would you say is the less likely to have heating issues ? Are the battery times comparable on those models ?
4) Apart from the heating issue, are there significant flaws that the *330 series have compared to the *320 series ?

Finally, If any of you know of comparable notebooks (ie. in the 13-14" range, good GPU and battery life) I'm happy to hear about them. I've considered the HP Envy 14 which seems comparable to the 4820, but i'm afraid the battery life isn't as good. I've heard (from Bronsky I think ) of the Lenovo e420, but this one doesn't seem to exist here (in switzerland).

Thanks in advance to anyone who answers to some of my questions. I will continue reading this (looong) topic and maybe find some answers myself

 

Some problems users have experienced with the 3830 seems to be the battery wear.

Depending on the battery model you get(panasonic vs sanyo) the wear seems to flucuate alot and the reading is not very accurate.

But Acer seems very open to taking it in an even switching the battery for you as long as its under warranty period.


Some replacements i were also looking at when shopping for laptops included the Sony SA which has a better screen and not as document throttling problems but you pay about $600 more USD.

Another one that is at a great price point right now is the Lenovo Y470, you can get one with an i3/ gt 550m for about $650 right now, perhaps even less with coupons, an i7 model is only about $200 more.

Theres also some Asus/Gateway models mentioned from pgs 190-now that are also at an attractive price point

 

sorry to hear that i hope you get your issues fixed, i jumped on it because of the free xbox 360 4gb deal from amazon. I'll sell it along with my asus laptop and pretty much cover the acer costs, It's hard to find a frugal balanced point between good hardware and a light portable profile.

 

update on my wear

i used my battery for a few hours this morning, then for 1 hr earlier tonight.

my wear is now 0.0% out of 66,010 mwh.

so i'm up to the 66k mark... mmmm

 

picking up my 3830tg tmr hopefully it wont have battery issues, that would suck

 

hmmm, so if my battery dies, how do i replace it if it's non-removable?
i don't have this lappy yet but plan on getting it.
also, isn't battery wear mainly attributed to exposure to heat? as in even if the lappy is running of outlet, the battery cannot be removed and is being prematurely worn?

 

if u open up the laptop you can remove the battery. but i rather not having to do that.

the price/size/performance was why i decided to buy it. i wish amd put out more llanos in the 13-14 range.

 

Hi,

I just bought 3830TG I7 model..

is there any recommendations for the cooling pad? the laptop feels warm pretty fast at the bottom left side.

some users recommend that we remove the "net like grills", is it really necessary?

how do i check the "wear" of my battery, i see lots of user doing it..


sorry for bad english

 

Can use BatteryCare to check the wear level..

 

I have left my Panasonic Battery in my laptop so far so I could gather some more information on the battery wear. I found so far that using the laptop for low intensive tasks on battery (browsing etc) until it goes into hibernation (around 5% I think is the default) then a full charge (until the light is blue) decreased the wear about 2 to 4% each cycle. However it also seems that interrupting the charge, charging while using, or high drain levels throws off the battery's wear level, as I stated before it appears the battery still has the capacity and can run at 0% for some time, however this does not fix the issue. My guess would be the battery circuitry that manages the charge levels and wear is just garbage or there is a communication issue between these batteries and the motherboard / OS.

NOTE: this is for the Panasonic Batteries.

ASIDE: My battery wear was up to 12% and after three full cycles was back down to 6% (capacity did increase as well), however after one interrupted cycle it increased again back up to 8%. So at this point I would say wear level means almost nothing except that the laptop will turn off sooner for probably no reason (my guess is that it is just the circuitry that keeps this information and not the actual cells since cells normally do not gain capacity and lose it this like this). It almost seems that the circuitry does not "learn" the charge and just "resets" back to initial state (which could kinda explain the reason why an interrupted charge could increase wear level reported.
DISCLAIMER - I am not an expert so everything in this aside could be completely wrong although I have studied somethings related to this most of the above aside is based off of my opinions and conjectures.

EDIT: Leaving the battery "on tap after it has charged (blued) seems to help (perhaps it does a slow trickle / top off).

 

Hello, i just ordered the 3830TG despite the battery potential problem and the heat problem (i order the model with the 120GB SSD)
But i wanted to know how you manage to check the brand of your battery?
I've got a t500 Lenovo for work and the battery manager from Lenovo tells my my battery brand. Is there any freeware or something which can do this on any laptop?
Because i think batterybar in not able to tell you the brand of the battery is it?

 

Hehe so I installed a 2gb ram stick lying around to put me up to 6gb, then disabled my paging file. I got 10091 in 3dmark06, (this is with 800/1020 clocks). With 4gb and VM on I was getting ~9600.

 

I just downloaded battery care.. it shows the brand of ur battery.. mine is sanyo

 

It doesn't work for my lenovo latop (sanyo also) but thanks for the information, i hope it'll work for the 3830!