The Official Arrandale Timeline Thread

I went to staples and bought it today.

just to test out and see if it's good for my needs if not i order from germany..

are these ati graphics automatic switching?

anyway here are some pics

 

Brilliant photos, thanks!

Too bad these aren't available in US yet. They keep f*king us over for being Yanks. I'm not even related to the British!!

 

I'm super jealous. $800 CAD is ~$750 US right? I can't seem to get it to pull up on Staples web site without entering a valid Canadian Postal Code.

 

Hey guys, like I promised, here is a short review of the laptop, and my general feelings after a day of use. On a side note, I very rarely write reviews, but this notebook was so good I just had to go write one! Sorry if the review isn't the best out there, but I just wanted to share my feelings and hopefully help others in choosing the right notebook!

The notebook closed


Angled shot


Straight shot


Close-up


Sorry about the picture quality, I'm at my girlfriend's house and the lighting isn't too good here. I'm also not used to the camera, so I just used the point and shoot feature. Anyways, the notebook is very thin, and with the battery still doesn't feel heavy. Anyways, here goes my short review:

Design:
Simple, functional, and classy. The area where the palms rest is a silverish titanium color, and has a brushed feel to it. Looks sleek. The glossy black material, however, on most of the LCD screen and the cover, is prone to fingerprints, etc..., but still *looks* nice. If, however, you're looking for that Sony VAIO feel, you might be a tad bit disappointed.
Out of 100, I give this notebook 92 points.

Ergonomics:
Considering it's a sub notebook, I think the ergonomic design really helps this notebook out. I was able to play FPS games and Guild Wars without too much hassle, but I would still recommend a separate keyboard/mouse combo for games. At the same time, if I was on the road or in a plane and had to work on some documents, this would be the type of keyboard I would choose to work on a sub notebook.
Out of 100, I give this notebook 95 points.

Functions:
Depending on the application, the notebook will switch between the all powerful, DX11 ready HD 5650 and on-board graphics for the less challenging tasks. There are many expansion ports, and the function key adds many useful functions, such as being able to switch between monitors should you have an external one linked up as well. The multi gesture synaptics touchpad is not as smooth as the Mac counterparts, but still do help the user become more friendly with scrolling. Although I've yet to try the 1.3MP video conferencing camera, I'm sure the same high standard will be achieved. Also, 6 small led lights display important information to the user. The only thing that "disgruntles" me is the fact that most or all of these functions can be found in most other notebooks. Nothing really stands out, but at the price these babies go for, who can complain?
Out of 100, I'd give it a 93

Hardware:
Graphics card obviously lives up to the hype. I played a couple of games at max details / resolution, albeit slightly outdated games. I will be installing Mass Effect 2 when I get it this week in the mail. The heat factor, that most people seem to worry about, does not seem to be a matter. This notebook was considerably cool considering the long hours of use (approximately 12 hours doing this and that), and was also *extremely quiet*. I cannot tell if the notebook is on or not. The hard drive, although noteably large in size (500GB), remained the weak link in the system, often times returning some kind of a windows error message, when rotating and saving pictures in Windows Picture Viewer. Once and SSD is installed, I'm sure this issue will go away. The display, I cannot complain about. I have a 23" LCD on my desktop, and I really can't tell the difference in brightness or color.
92 out of 100 (95 if you don't count the hard drive)

Performance:
What can I say. i5 + HD5650 + 4GB of ram. This notebook is a powerhouse, and for some reason seems to boot windows 7 faster than my e7200 dual core CPU PC, overclocked to 3.8GHz with 6 GB of ram. I was very pleased with the initial performance, and will have to verify the performance under heavy load. I have seen Youtube videos of people playing Modern Warfare 2 on high detailed settings, so I'll be sure to try Mass Effect 2 when it arrives.
97 out of 100

Overall:
For the money spent, you get a very well rounded, powerful sub gaming or gaming notebook, with a very classy design. Although the notebook lacks an ODD, you can always pick up cheap alternatives these days. If I were to choose again, I would pick this notebook again, and would definitely recommend it to friends and family. Money well spent!

 

Thanks for the great review. Two questions. Would you be so kind as to check on the display you have? There are diffrent ones. I see you have the 430M. What is your complete model number?

Once you get started, we would love to see a 3DMark06 score. Congrats.

Bronksy

 

Where the heck do you buy those in korea? I have relatives in korea and such.

 

Yay! I'm in his review!

Anyhoo, the machine looks/feels good. Though not as sturdy as a ENVY14, if the 3820TG ever came to California, I'd buy it and completely disregard the ENVy14. Only thing holding me back from a 3820TG is the availability. Cuz it sure is a hero when it comes to sub 14" notebooks. Hell, it's a hero to all notebook purchasers. Have fun, and be sure to test out PCSX2 for us

 

@3BarJohn - Thanks for the review. I would buy this 3820TG from Staples in a second if it only came with the ATI 5650 card instead of the ATI 5470. I'm going over to Staples to take a look at this this machine in person.

@Bronsky - Thanks for the tip, photos not quoted now .

 

If Staples in Canada had these in the HD5650, there would be a caravan heading north of the border this weekend.

Oh, no need to quote the pics, you can delete them from the quote.

 

Well bought one at staples with the lower ati gpu. I'll know if it can run ddo in about 2 hours... Hope it's better than a nvidia 310! Meanwhile at 96% charged I suddenly see "plugged in, not charging"... I had disconnected the power cord for a couple minutes but it's replugged in and I can't see what is causing it not to charge
also any opinion on whether I should pay them to replace the hard drive with a 64gig ssd that I have? They said $50 bucks to do it

 

It should be a better than the 310M and a little better than the 320M in the MBP.

Bronsky

 

I'm back after some gaming on the 5470.

I've only tested Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2, they both run good, I'm not too picky about the frame rate 20+ fps is alright with me. I just turned off the dynamic shadows in ME2 and "distortion", real time reflection in Bioshock, everything else is on High

I overclocked my 5470 a little bit to 800/950, I think the base clock are 750/900. Got arround 56-60C after playing an hour of ME2 and my living room is at 28C today

I have 2 small issues but I will post that in the owners lounge since it's more apropriate

 

ok done some more overclockin to 900/950 and got 4865 in 3dmark06! temp stayed around 56c

I don't I'll go further than that, but still it's not bad from 4242 to 4865!

sorry I don't have the time for screenshot

 

@Ryes

uh dude it takes like 5 minutes to replace the hdd with an sdd

no way in hell should you pay someone $50 to do it

 

@bronsky
In your opinion would the staples spec. 3820tg have the horsepower to handle AUTOCAD ?

 

I think it should MoBe

 

lastdon
Do you mind if I ask,is this an informed opinion ,or do you or someone you know have experience with AUTOCAD on laptop computers ? Thanks for your answer.

 

1. I'm not sure what display it is, the only thing I know is it's 13.3" and not a very high resolution (1366 by 768), and the exact model number is:
Acer Aspire Timeline X AS3820TG-434G50n

2. I will install Mass Effect 2 and 3D Mark Vantage Scores, since I have a license for that, unless you can point me in the direction of where I can download 3D Mark 06

There is a price comparison site / online portal called naver. It's kinda like google, where if you put in the model number it will return the lowest possible value of that item currently sold online. I bought mine from 11st.co.kr, although I think the last time I checked the prices went up about $20 or so.

 

Bronsky, u had recommended the acer with the 5650 over the m11x to me. Would u still recommend the acer over the m11x if I can only get the 5470... Primary useis playing dungeons and dragons online (dual boxing 2 accounts) watching downloaded videos and word/web.

 

I do not have a lot of experience with autocad. My work is more realated to modeling and simulation analysis, compiling and editing large GIS files and preparing the results for presentation. Ideally, CAD is done on a mobile workstation with I7QM processors and NVIDIA FX or ATI Fire Pro GPUs. This would result in the best performance. I am buying the Acer with the HD 5650 to ensure as seamless performance as I can get in a small portable package.

That being said, the requirements for CAD are rather modest. Autodesk - AutoCAD - System Requirements As you can see, the HD 5470 GPU meets the minimum requirements and surpasses them in some catagories. ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 - ProductWiki unbiased product reviews The HD 5470 supports open GL 3.2. It looks like you can run Autocad, but I would not expect workstation efficiency and speed.

You might think about the Envy 14 or N82 if you can't wait for the 3820TG/HD 5650 or maybe the 4820TG/HD 5650.

Bronsky

 

Whoa... Just found this at synnex Canada distributor. I'm sure it's different from the one previously posted Many pages back because this one says i5 450, not 430!

4569934 AS3820TG-3022 W7HP ENG/FR I5-450M 4G LX.PTB02.190



Bah ignore this... Old model we quoted was the same LX.PTB02.190 AS3820TG-3022-CA W7HP64/I5450M/4G/500/BT

 

That's a hard question. I think the uniqueness of the 3820TG vs other computers like the Envy 14 is the combination of Core I processors and the HD 5605 GPU. I would use a less powerful GPU only if I was sure that it would satisfy my requirements. I would ask someone actually playing the game if a NVIDIA 310 provides adequate performance. The 5470 is significantly more powerful than that. I am not as enamored with the weaker GPU as it takes away one of the principal reasons for accepting some of the Acer's other weaknesses like display and keyboard issues.

Bronsky

 

There's a video that exists on YT, showing one of the ULV Asus lappies that has a 310 playing SC2 on high/ultra settings. Pretty sure it's a 310M GPU. If that at all is beneficial for your comparisons, then there ya have it Gl hf gg dd ka

 

@Bronsky

Thanks kindly for your considered and well informed reply to my Autocad question.Based on this I will be giving serious consideration to the 5470 Ati equiped 3820TG.The best way to find out is to try it and see how it works.

 

Here try mine: M8W 4B1

 

Okay, so I ran 3D Mark 06, and I got 7911 points:


When I compare the score against a similar score on a Korean overclocking site (Parkoz), it seems like I get very similar marks as a desktop PC running the following:

E6600 dual core + 7800GT (sli) with 2GB's of RAM. This system got 7917 marks.

On a sidenote, while playing Mass Effect 2 with all options set to high and the shader turned off, I didn't experience *any* lag, whatsoever!!

Time to go see if I can overclock the CPU and GPU now.. w00t!

 

you could use any canadian shop's postal code instead of someone's. That's what I do for the US when asked for a Zip code.

 

Thx Bronsky and Dookie

 

What are you thanking us for? Well, what are you thanking me for? We all know Bron deserves his...but this is gettin sketchy when you're thanking me, lol.

 

bronsky where is your TG?

 

Acer is anti-American, no 3820TG's with i5-520M and ATI 5650 for 4th of July.

 

Well, we did turn them into a territory at one time or another, didn't we? They probably resent us for that. Cuz after all, we only have foreign interests when there's interest involved, and that usually involves interest in interested parties investments. Interest=investments. Only in America lol.

 

I don't know, guys, Envy reviews so far seem mostly positive with regard to build quality, thermal management, performance, and especially the screen. If HP offers a 25% BCB, I might go for it.

The only thing that pulls me away is the Envy screen. I have a feeling that by January or so we'll see better resolutions more commonly on 13-14" screens, and 1366x768 will really feel outdated.

I'm still holding out for the 3820TG, but if there's no arrival in sight I might buckle. It's really too bad Acer doesn't want my money.

 

I hate to say it but I think the chances of seeing a 3820TG in the near term are slim. The way that the Envy is selling, however, probably makes the prospect of a 25% BCB sale remote as well. The Envy looks like a winner. If I did not need true portability, I would get an Envy. The only thing that troubles me about the design is the vent out the back under the display, but that is a minor detail.

Somebody has to see the underserved market for a powerful, light and reasonably priced laptop. I wonder who will make the next great 13" unit?

Bronsky

 

LALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU

At least in Canada we are seeing 3820TGs with discrete graphics - even if they are 5470s. In the worst case scenario, I'll buy the U30JC (or the Envy if it's available)... I'll wait till the end of the month... if it's not out by then they are not caring for the back to school crowd, and my money goes elsewhere.

 

Lol. I was about to seriously consider buying the Envy 14, but there's too many issues with it. It's heavy, it's more expensive, blocked vent, heating issues, etc, etc.

 

Wow, just got home and this was the first post I saw.

Don't mean to be blunt or anything, but are you kidding me? The weight is nothing. 5lbs? 6lbs? Unless it's 10lbs, quit being such a pansy, and man up, my good sir. And if you're a madam, then (wo)man up. Cuz my gf, who is only 5'3 could carry 4 cases of 12-pack cans of pepsi. That's AT THE SAME TIME.

For the other problems you listed, I just got home, so I'll look 'em up and will await your response

Gl with your choice, and sorry if I offended you. I only mean well, and don't want people to hate on a laptop cuz of its weight.

 

lol. Not offended, anyway this is the internetz

Await what response from me? lol. I still stand by my previous post.

 

Could you offer some evidence of E14's sucky-ness? From what I've read, it's been regarded as superdy-duper. Dual fans, dual exhausts, great screen, non-flexible kb, familiar ENVY exterior quality, so-so price. What's wrong with all that? Sounds good to me. If it's really the weight, then I give up on you

 

Toshiba makes a 13" one that's sold at BestBuy. It's kinda expensive though, for what it is.

Also, did you get your toy yet Bron?

 

I think we should have an official "Celebrate Bronsky getting his 3820TG" thread.

 

Yah, maybe we should all sign a digital e-card or something

 

I think the appropriate way to recognize someone`s contribution is to give a positive rep and a thank you.........

Only then do we need sing

"for he`s a jolly good fellow" :laugh:

 

Trust me, no one will celebrate the arrival of my 3820TG more than me. It has been two weeks since I ordered it and I have no idea how far away it is or when it will get here.

You are all great. Thanks for your kind words.

Regards.

Bronsky

 

I purchased a 4820TG over the weekend at Micro Center and so far from my short experience, it seems like a great little machine.

There is one thing I'm taking issue with though: heat. I noticed that the processor idles a little on the high side. With an ambient temp of about 76F, I was seeing low to mid 40's C on one core and high 30's on the other (which is fine).

I'm thinking of replacing the thermal paste with MX-3 but I was wondering if anyone had already taken their notebook apart already so that I may follow suit and use photos as a general guide .

 

where is the heat radiating from? ie. left palm rest?

 

Generally left palm rest and the area around the touchpad is where I feel the heat. The keyboard area in the center also tends to get warm.

The fan seems to be doing a great job blowing all the heat out but I'd rest easier knowing that better application technique of better thermal paste would help the process along more efficiently. I personally hate factory applied thermal paste (too much).

 

Maybe try to order a spare belly plate and then drill some holes in it for ventilation?

 

Did somebody know where I could buy a french canadian keyboard?
Or if somebody buy one from staple and whant to switch to a US keyboard and dont know what to do with the canadian one, I am a buyer.

I am very close to send another mule acros the atlantic, I may event go for a US keyboard if no other option are possible.

Who know mine are maybe to only thing needed to finish filling bronsky conteiner so they can finaly put it in a plane.

Ps. Sorry for my bad spelling as you may deduce for my post English not my first language.

 

Don`t worry Werewolf73 your spelling is not so bad that people won`t be able to understand what you are saying.

If I may ask ,what is you first language ?

Acer part #KB 1140A.087 US/Canadian French glossy for 3810/4810 models

I understand this part will also fit 3820/4820 models

Did a quick google but wasn`t exactly sure where to look,however there are a few people on this thread that I`m sure would know.If not try the Acer TimelineX 3820TG Owners Lounge thread.