Acer's TimelineX Replacement Almost Here

Digitimes 13.3"/14" ultra thin's with Sandy Bridge.

 

Would love to see Acer take a shot at a unibody like the Air. If Acer gets a product to market by the end of Q1, we won't see it here in North America for another 3 months or the end of Q2. Hopefully, the 13" TimelineX replacement will have a minimum 6570 dedicated GPU.

Bronsky

 

I differ.
Having a Unibody doesn't aid the laptop in structural aspects, it is purely aesthetics and is sure to increase manufacturing cost. Increase cost for aesthetics that doesn't improve the laptop value is not advisable.
Cost is should still be the main priority, how to improve practical value without increase in cost.

 

So it'll just be a much more expensive line of TimelineX's. With no improvements in cooling etc. The typical "apple-ization".

 

A unibody of aluminum or some other light metal would make for a stiff and sturdy laptop, it also allows for better cooling as well as the ability to make a sleeker and slimmer laptop.

For example, pick up a timelineX and a Macbook pro, the pro is thin and stiff.

Basically its an exoskeleton of metal.

Sure any manufacturer could make an expensive unibody that is huge and ugly, but if your going to the trouble of making and designing one, then your prolly going to think twice about making a bloody mess of it.

btw, metal makes for better heat transfer, plastic = bad for heat transfer.

 

1. Aluminium is weak, prone to denting
2. Composite metal/plastics is strong and less prone to denting.
Study the basics material engineering before assuming anything.
Making a casing of Pure something is stupidity.
Going for a composite solutions gives the best properties of both material.
Aluminium has low heat capacity compared to metal used in heatsinks such as copper.
Meaning it will heat up and burn you very quickly.
Please study the elements individually in detail rather than generalising.
In fact I hate the aluminium cover of the timeline series. Dents easily with a bump.

 

Wait is the current TimelineX series cover true aluminum? or is it just aluminum-accent plastic (I recall reading that somewhere but not too sure)?

But yeah true, AFAIK, HP dv6 line is all-aluminum chassis, and they are easily the worst user-friendly laptops in terms of thermal safety (e.g. palmrests reach over 50 C).

 

Except for fingerprints, I love the aluminum cover. It gives the notebook a truly professional look.

My biggest concern about a Sandybridge refresh is if manufacturers like Acer abandon the dedicated GPU in the 13" models and for maximum thinness and lightness. Will they duplicate the unique cooling system in the 3820TG as well? It will be an interesting CES this year. Wish I had a few days to fly out to Vegas.

Bronsky

 

Only quad core SB laptops will be at CES though.

 

LOL. With Acer's track record, if they say February to release the dual core designs, we will probably not see the dual core redesigns until late Q1 at the earliest. I would think more like Q2 and we will probably not see the units in full distribution in North America until late Q2 or Q3.

Bronsky

 

I can't see Acer fitting a discrete GPU + cooling into these slim systems. If they are emulating the Macbook Air, they are going after its demographic and Sandy Bridge's integrated GPU should be good enough for nearly everyone.

What I haven't quite understood is that we have the TimelineX series, but Acer has many other models that look like TimelineX and have similar specs (Arrandale + discrete GPU). So, it seems safe that units such as the 4741G will carry the torch.

 

I think you may be right. Our 3820TGs may be quite unique in the near future.

 

Do you think that the 4820tgs will suffer the same fate? There's a little more room in there to squeeze in a nice dedicated gpu.

 

That is the question I'm wondering while debating whether to just say, "To hell with it," and open my 4820TG, or hold out just a little longer.

It's not imperative I have a laptop right now, but it'd be damn nice. I've not had one for 10 months since my HP died, and in a way because of the long wait I can't seem to bite the bullet!

 

I actually have a multimedia laptop right now that I bought for a pretty cheap price about a year and a half ago, but the problem is that I'm in college, and the battery life on this laptop is absolutely horrendous. I looked into buying a netbook in addition to this laptop, but I noticed that the new CPU+GPU chips coming in the new year might change the entire picture.

For all my purposes, the current generation 4820TG meets absolutely all my needs in one laptop, which means that I could give the current laptop I have to my brother who's been wanting a laptop for a little while now and ditch the prospect of having to move my school data around two laptops, but it's the enticing feeling of what could be that's messing with my head. Compounding that problem is the fact that the microcenter store near me has only 1 left in stock...and I'm absolutely balls-to-the-wall scared that they aren't going to restock it in the future.