How are those new Aspire TimelineX models?

The one I am looking at right now is Acer Aspire AS3830TG-6634.

@ NIX, Acer Aspire AS3830TG-6634 Core I5-2430M 6GB 750GB 13.3IN HD GT540M 1GB BT DVDRW W7HP64 Notebook - Acer - LX.RFQ02.144

It is currently @ 699 CAD. But I am having a trouble finding a decent review on this new model.

Any info or opinions?

 

On their launch they were famous for overheating & throttling ... no idea how they are faring now

 

Rats, I liked the design tho.

 

Exactly the same. Nothing has been fixed.

@alucasa

Avoid that series 3830/4830/5830. Also new notebooks with new series of Intel CPUs and new GPUs from both AMD and nVidia should be available in April/May 2012 so if you don't need a new unit urgently it might be worth to wait.

 

I am trying to decide before boxing day in Canada where I should be able to get a big chunk of discount on pretty much every Canadian internet shopping sites.

If I miss boxing day, I will probably need to wait a whole year.

And I don't tend to wait on future upgrades. There is no point. If I start waiting, I might as well wait for eternity. I change laptop once every 1 1/2 year or 2 years anyway.

 

I understand your policy. It works fine most of the time for me too.
My suggestion was more like "do anything (even wait for 4 months) but don't buy this one".

Although all in all it is a good idea to synchronize your purchases with development cycle- buy a new unit when new CPUs and GPUs are launched, then skip the next one (usually a minor upgrade) and go for the following one (again a big upgrade).

 

Well, I'd rather buy a matured SB build than a brand new tech with issues all around.

There are few models I have my eyes on which include Dell XPS 15, Discounted HP Envy, some Asus models. But nothing has been giving me the vibe.

I am avoiding Lenovo. My Y460 is physically falling apart.

 

Ok, I have a timeline 4810T olympic edition im typing on right now...its friggin awesome. I have replaced the HD with SSD and maxed the ram to 8gb. I get crazy battery life and it thing is just as fast any anything out there within milliseconds. take benchmarks with a grain of salt. I was sitting at 83 percent battery charge this morning and had 10h 51min left on charge. and the meter on my notebook is pretty well spot on within 5 min or so...it went up alot since putting in the ssd. i recommend the timeline to anyone looking for a great book and great battery life..

 

@kojack

You have a notebook from a previous series that no problems like the ones that are plaguing the current generation. That's completely different.

 

Oh, no problem....I just know what mine is, did not realise you were talking about a different series! get a normal timeline then ha ha!

 

You won't have problems with overheating/throttling unless you play games or other demanding software. Then again, for light use any old beater POS will do the job.

If you do play games, you MUST disassemble the notebook and re-paste at the very least, else the CPU will throttle, guaranteed.

If you are not comfortable with doing this, I would have to agree with downloads to avoid this machine.

If you can handle the disassembly, you will be very happy with this notebook. I have mine running very well now, never goes above 80C with a fully loaded CPU+GPU.

 

I have the 3830T model - 13.3" with the i3 and Intel gpu. I actually love this laptop. I basically got it because I needed a laptop that was cheap but still thin and light. I got it for less than $500 and am much happier with this laptop than I ever was with my Thinkpad T61. I really didn't know there were any overheating problems with this, because it never feels hot and the fan doesn't exhaust extremely hot air (like my T61 did). My laptop is always cool to the touch. My CPU temps are usually around 40*C according to SpeedFan. I just installed BF2:BC2 on it, just to see how it would run, and I've seen the CPU get up to 67*C, although, this needs more validation because I didn't run it for long. The battery life is amazing, and I can go days without charging it (easily lasts 7+ hours when I'm just surfing the web/using Word/Excel). So basically, I'm very satisfied with my TimelineX, especially considering the value, and it looks great.

 

3830T does not throttle- throttling is caused by colling system not being able to handle heat from both CPU and dedicated GPU.

 

Ah okay. I never even had a chance to research the laptop before I bought it, so I wasn't sure about the common problems/specs. So it seems they designed the cooling system without taking the input heat from the dedicated GPU into consideration (which seems ridiculously stupid from an engineer's point of view). I can't say for sure, because I haven't had a chance to mess with it personally.

But in this case, unless you need a dedicated GPU, why not go for the newer second gen i5 with built in intel graphics? It's probably the best value you'll find if you don't want something bulky.