Buying 4820TG/3820TG - Some questions

Hey again!
Now I've just got my 4820TG, 'yay'
(That means, questions wrote with italic are from the orginal post)
Anyway - It says on two "to-get-going-guides", that the following steps should be followed:
1. Put in battery
2. Connect to AC-adapter
3. Run startup-guide

So, I was wondering, isn't it "good manner" to load a battery fully for the first time, or doesn't that matter anymore?
If it does matter (for ex battery lifetime), how long should the first load be?
Thanks for all help!
//M



Hello all!

I'm new here as you might notice, but I hope that this post won't brake any rules

Anyway, I'm about to buy a new laptop - for studies, but also so it can be future-proof, that means so that I can have it for 2-4 years before it goes ancient. (And, it will probably be use for some entertainment also )

Now, according to the knowledge I've got, I have some questions about the model(s) 4820TG & 3820TG:

Setups:
4820TG-5464G50Mnks
CPU: Intel Core i5 460M, 2.53GHz
RAM: 4GB
GPU: Mobility Radeon HD 5650

3820TG-5454G32n
CPU: Intel Core i5 450M, 2.4GHz
RAM: 4GB
GPU: Mobility Radeon HD 5650

1. Is any of them affected by this "unwanted" throttling that is in a sticky-thread on these forums?

2. Are they "noisy"? (Fans, keyboard etc.)

3. In the 3830TG/4830TG version, the new one, the battery isn't removeable. Does the same apply to the older ones? (3820tg/4820tg)

4. Differences are, except the screen size; 4820TG has a better CPU and a CD/DVD-drive. Is there any noticeable difference between these CPUs?

If i get more questions I'll add them here

Thanks for any answers!
//M


EDIT:
Another specific question..
5. The lack of CD/DVD on the 3820TG - can it be made up for with an external CD/DVD-drive? I mean, is the support for such a device good? And if I wanted to install another OS, is there an option to boot from USB?
Thanks again

 

x820TGs do not suffer from any serious throttling. My 4820TG, which is the hottest running one I know of, throttles down to 2.4GHz when gaming because the CPU gets up to 95C. My sons 4820TG never throttles, running at max turbo speed when gaming. The x830TGs ALL seem to suffer from throttling, some much worse than others, but none seem to get away with keeping their CPU speed anywhere near max rated or turbo speed, and most throttling down to 800MHz mid game. Some only throttle down to 1.8GHz or so. Battery in x820TG is easily removable.

The difference between an i5 450 and i5 460 is not likely to be noticecable. 3820TG specifically has a dual fan cooling solution that keeps it cooler than a 4820TG and allows its GPU to be overclocked to some pretty crazy extreme settings.

If I had to choose right now, I'd take a 3820TG first, then a 4820TG, then something other than either x830TG machines, as the throttling on them makes them a non-starter for me.

When at idle they're all pretty quiet, with the fan being about as loud as the hard drive, a nice quiet whisper. Under full load they all make a fair bit of fan noise, but that's always drowned out by the game I'm playing at the time.

 

(Sorry if there will be typos here, answering from my incredibly "smart" LG-phone )
Thanks for the great reply!
What i meant with noisy is that because of the fact that I'm going to use the computer for studies, i might use it to write down notes from our lectures (I hope that that's what they're called )
A loud fan or keyboard might annoy others around me

But it seems that this little beast is a great laptop. Now I've just got to choose 13 or 14 inch.. Thanks again for the reply

 

If you don't need a DVD drive, I'd pick the 3820TG. If you can still find them anywhere. The 4820TG apparently is coming back for one more round of sales on amazin, but the 3820TG seems to be close to being gone everywhere.

 

if I may add, the 3820tg has an amazing cooling (dual fan) and never gets over 90 degres, even under extreme stress (35 at idle ! ). It is very silent (2 fans = slow fans = no noise) But we cannot find them anymore, because Acer doesn't seem to understand that it is a good notebook

 

Both the setups mentioned in the main post are availabilie here in Sweden .. but the 3820TG is one single unit left for ordering.
I missed a great offer on an 3820TG with
Intel Core i5 480M, 2.66GHz & ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6550 .. it was on sale for a lowered price, and the last one was gone an hour after I've found out about this series.

Nevermind that, now these are the two to choose from
.. I think I'll go with the 13.3" as it's smaller and lighter (the optical drive adds 0.4kg )

Thanks for all these great answers!
Now I hope that this laptop will be as future-proof as I hope it will
(Not ordering yet, 3:40AM in Sweden right now, going to do some last reading tomorrow before I order it )

 

Hehe, well it's quite capable of beating its successor, the 3830TG. With careful use of throttlestop a 3830TG can probably hope to get 75 to 80% the performance of a carefully overclocked 3820TG, and the 3820TG will still be running cooler.

Acer dropped the ball BIG time on the 3830TG, throwing away a clearly superior design to save $10 on a fan and heat pipe assembly.

 

The older version of the 3820TG is pretty close to the revised version. They have identical physical CPUs and GPUs, just the latter are clocked higher by default. You aren't losing too much by buying the old one.

 

how do you know if it is the older version of 3820tg?

 

Earlier int he thread OP mentioned it had a 5650 in it, and later that he'd missed the 6550. the only diff between those two is that the stock clock on a 5650 and a 6550 is a 50MHz bump. I have yet to see a 5650 you can't OC at LEAST 50MHz. Most by 100 to 200MHz.

 

Was discussing on another forum, and the fact is that I've got no idea which one to choose. I'd like the smaller one, because it's more mobile. But the lack of CD/DVD makes me ask another question here:

5. The lack of CD/DVD on the 3820TG - can it be made up for with an external CD/DVD-drive? I mean, is the support for such a device good? And if I wanted to install another OS, is there an option to boot from USB?
Thanks again

 

5) yes you can boot from usb. I also use an IDE DVD burner on an external hard drive case and it works well, so I'm sure a "real" usb dvd drive would work.

 

yes and yes. I have three different laptops with no CD/DVD drive, and to be honest, I hardly ever use the one on my 4820TG, to the point I'm about ready to yank it and put a spare SSD I have in it and move the 500G to the ODD bay.

In fact, a lot of newer machines come with the option that when you're creating recovery media, you can do it on a USB key. Just buy a cheapie 8Gig thumb drive, set it up, and put it on a shelf somewhere the kids won't get it and format it.

 

(Bumping this up again instead of creating a new thread)
I've got the 4820TG, and in the startup-guides, it says to just plug it into power and start it, but that rings a bell in my backhead. Should't I fully load the battery before the first startup? If so, how long should it be connected for full load?

 

Nah, just plug it in and go. It'll charge as it needs to as you go along. It's usually 80% or more charged or better.