Acer timeline TG series with HD 4330 switchable graphics, no discussion?

Hey folks, just kinda noticed that there are very very few threads with regards to the enormous potentials of the Acer timeline series that have switchable graphics enabled. Doing Google search,as well as NBR's own review doesn't show up much information with regards to the switchability side of the Laptop.

For those concerned, any timeline series with a TG, have the HD4330 in it I think?

 

you right there is not a lot of info, what do you want to know maybe i can help.

 

well the HD4330 isn't much of a step up from the 4500MHD, to be honest, to really justify a kickoff into a heated discussion.... lol.

 

The HD 4330 has at least 3x the performance of the 4500MHD.

 

Yeah Acer does not mention that the Timeline TG models have DUAL SWITCHABLE graphics (Intel 4500MHD + ATI HD4330). One of the poorest marketing efforts I've seen - I mean, which company 'leaves out' mentioning a major feature on their product? It used to be that only the high end Sony Z series laptops had such a function.

At first I thought that they only had the discreet ATI HD4330 graphics. Only after playing around with a Timeline TG in the showroom and noticing that there was a "Switchable Graphics" function, did I find out about it.

But switchable graphics comes with its own problems though. The Acer/ATI drivers or BIOS have a bug in Windows 7 where after a resume from Standby, both ATI and Intel graphics chips are powered on which consumes a LOT of battery power. The workaround is to disable Standby, or switch back and forth between the ATI/Intel graphics to shut one of them down. Very irritating that they haven't fixed this bug yet.

And another rant: The Timeline TG BIOS allows you to configure either:
- Swithable Graphics (Intel + ATI)
- Discreet Only (ATI only)
But they missed out the option for:
- Integrated Only (Intel only)
So we cannot disable the ATI chip and use Intel graphics only to workaround that stupid Resume from Standby bug.

 

Does anyone have an idea how to disable the automatic switching to ati graphics when the power cord is plugged in?

 

I thought that these were not sold in the US. There was a great deal on these last Spring from Computeruniverse. It was a 4810TG with an SSD for not much more than the cost of the drive alone. I think the TG was an experiment for Acer that ultimately led to the TG's that are so popular in the TimelineX series.

Bronsky