Acer Aspire Timeline AS4810TZ4508 14Inch Aluminum Laptop Over

xleo on Sat, 12th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



mixed feelings
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I wanted (and expected) to love my new acer timeline. After much research (and good reviews) I went for it. It was about time I get a new machine after a few years with a reliable no frills but good IBM T42. Ive been using my new toy for a week now, here my mains pros and cons:

My likes:

1.- Battery, battery, battery: like everybody says, it runs for about 6 1/2 hours mostly surfing the web, no more runs and rush to plugin

2.- Good performace & speed: I knew this was not the fastest on the mmarket, definitely an improvement from my old machine, everything much faster (windows 7 loading still needs speed improvement)

Cons:

1.- 1366×768 over this 14 inches wide screen: everything is too small, I dont wear or need glasses but my vision is not happy here…very annoying, I may change this machine soon if I dont get used to…

2.- speakers: Im not talking about music or movies, havent even tried them, but even with skype volume I have to put volume to 100% just to get an ok sound. bad, bad…

For the rest, I waited for windows 7 and skipped vista, Im not thrilled with 7, its ok, will see (looks like vista though).

Not much else to mention , sure machine is thin and lighter than 14 inches, decently quiet, nice and quiet keyboar, ok touchpad (responsive but have seen better ones). Ultimately, I have moments of love&hate with my new machine, I would probably get aa different one if I had to choose again, if cons that I mentioned are too important to you go get another machine…

David W. MacDougall on Mon, 14th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



Powerful little computer
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I was looking for a laptop that could double as a desktop replacement, yet be light and portable enough to carry around. I was impressed with the Acer netbooks, but I wanted a built-in CD/DVD player and writer. So far, I’ve been very happy with my purchase. VERY pleased with the battery life also.

I find Windows 7 to be much less annoying than Vista and an improvement over XP. I have not installed Ubuntu yet, that will be my next step.

Jason R. Pawlak on Tue, 15th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



Great laptop, even better battery.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased this laptop so that my wife would be able to study abroad and have a laptop that she didn’t have to worry about having to plug in all the time. What we got was a solid performing laptop with an as advertised battery life. This is my second Acer product and I am very happy with the quality of this product.

Things I like:

-Aluminum lid so no fingerprints all over

-great battery life

-quick to startup and after hibernation

-touchpad is very responsive

-keyboard keys are smooth but surprisingly easy to type on

-wireless N lan connection

M. Niewahner on Tue, 15th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



Great Battery Life
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
So far this laptop seems great for the money, battery life has been consistently about 8hours to date so far, and the Wi-Fi has great reception compared to other laptops friends have had here. Everyone always complains about battery life on laptops, hope the long battery life lasts. Screen is not as sharp as others I have seen.

Tristan G. Summers on Thu, 17th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



Light, efficient laptop
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The AS4810TZ-4508 is a fantastic laptop. I don’t have time for a full review, but have been using this laptop for several weeks and am very pleased. The design is very nice, especially for business users who want a professional-looking notebook. Battery life is surprisingly good (as advertised), and the OEM power management software actually works well (turns of the optical drive when no disc is in use). The thin design aids portability (will slip easily into a bookbag/briefcase). I have the latest versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. as well as Chrome, Thunderbird, iTunes, Skype, Picasa, and a number of other programs installed. It runs all of these very fast and well without a glitch.

I never write reviews on Amazon, but thought that I should after being so pleased with this notebook. Certainly worth the money, and the design is, in my opinion, as good as any Windows machine out there and not far from the quality of a Mac (for much less money).

Very, very satisfied.

Lopez on Thu, 17th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



Acer Aspire 4810TZ-4508
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I own this laptop for just a week, but I already fell in love for it. Before it, I owned a 6 years-old Satellite. I read all reviews here at Amazon and several from other sites. If you’re also reading them, here is my own experience of some of the most commented topics about this computer.

The pros

Looks and feel: The laptop is absolutely light and thin, the aluminum body gives it a great look.

It doesn’t get hot: This is the first real LAPtop I have – the first one I can actually put over my lap without being bothered by its temperature. My wife’s HP is IMPOSSIBLE to use over the lap, my Toshiba was annoying. And the vent of this Acer is really silent, I can barely hear it.

The multi-gesture touchpad: It was easy for me to get used to it, and I don’t miss a mouse. Scrolling up/down, flipping pictures and pages is really easy.

Keyboard: Great size, VERY nice to type. I’m not usually bothered by fingerprint marks, BUT the keys really look greasy after one week.

Shiny screen: great quality. I read somebody saying that they had to lower the brightness of the screen, and discovered now that this is really true: I did it at night. Even under the sunlight you can easily read your screen.

Battery life: I used it unplugged just one time so far. Text processing, browsing, listening to music and running a couple of qualitative research softwares, in High Performance settings (NOT in Economic), and the battery lasted more than 5 hours. Under the advertised 8 hours, but remember, in high performance, so it still sounds good to me.

Speed: it really doesn’t feel fast enough to run games or heavy stuff, but since I use for text processing, browsing and minor home “photoshopping”, so far it’s been really fast.

The “not so good”

DVD tray: I enjoyed its design, different from the regular trays, but it does feel fragile. Plus its position is right where I put my hand to lift the laptop. I’m learning to hold it in another way, but I do take a lot of care when inserting a disk.

Speakers: when I read the reviews, lots of people criticizing the speakers, I thought: “It CAN’T be worst than my already bad Satellite speakers”. Believe me, the speakers are ridiculous. Although I won’t take a star because of that, since it’s not so important to me; if you care about the sound, it may me a major problem for you.

Setup disk: I wonder if it would be really that difficult or expensive to stuff a couple of setup disks in the box. Acer didn’t bother to do it. So, you just have to burn them. No big deal, but annoying.

The crapware is the regular stuff you get with new laptops. It was even less than I pictured because of all complains from other reviewers, and it was really easy to remove, no big deal.


Mohamed I. Talaat on Fri, 18th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



At least my Acer was flawed
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
It’s is a beautiful looking laptop and I was very excited about it. Bought it for my sister who was visiting for a week. Though, I doubt that this product line has a lot of flawed machines, it simply freezes a lot at least 5 – 10 times daily since I bought it until I returned it. Same issues happened to 2 of my friends, I updated the BIOS as well as all drivers ans still it simply freezes sporadically. It’s a shame I had to return it, have to admit Buy.com where I bought it were very professional and they sent me a free return service via UPS since it was a product issue. I ended up buying an overpriced Dell 14z from best buy as there was no time to buy via mail before my sister leaves town, it didn’t look as nice as the acer and was a bit heavier, but had no issues with it.

polo on Sat, 19th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



good student computer
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
first, i am not pro spending a lot of $$ on laptops w/ technology changing so quickly. laptops need to do their job w/out breaking.

i purchased this 14″ acer 4810-4508 in november for my college student son. he is thrilled w/ this computer because, he says: the keyboard is identical to apple’s (i read somewhere they do use the same manufactuer’s keyboards but don’t know if it’s true); looks are important to him and this comp is fine; hdmi interface so he can use a tv as a larger monitor; he does not need a mouse; lightweight/portability; sound is good tho he bought some external speakers; has internal dvd drive. it’s fast enough to watch movies/utube/hulu,etc– has no problems to date.

i chose it for him because it is 64bit, 3ddr, expandable, has mic/webcam for skype and includes internal dvd. also, i got a killer price at microsoftstore for $520 during black friday. for myself i bought the toshiba t135-1310 from amazon.com /$599 because it has comparable features but is a bit more portable since it fits in my purse as it is 13″.

both computers have comparable features & speed but the toshiba has hard drive stablity sleep/charge mode. i can’t say one is better than the other but both meet our different needs.

Ross Williams on Sun, 20th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



Love it
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect balance between power and portability. The net books don’t do it for me. I was looking at the Toshiba Satelite T135 (3.8 lbs with no dvd) and the ASUS UL30A (3.7 lbs with no dvd)as well as the comparable Sony, Fujitsu and others. After much back and forth I found this little gem which is only .3 pounds more has a dvd hit it just right for me and the user reviews are decidedly more positive than the other laptops.

I have used it for 2 weeks now and love it. The shinny keys work just fine for me no slipping at all and the touch pad is as good as any I have ever used.

It’s thin, light weight, a real computer and sexy.

Aimless Aviator on Tue, 22nd Dec 2009 12:00 am 



Better than Best
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
There is a maxim in marketing, “Always give the customer more than they expect.” Acer and Amazon hit that one right. The computer came days earlier than expected – and was immediately spirited away by my wife after allowing me only to look at the seal on the box to insure it was not broken. OK, so Delivery gets an A-Star-Wow.

So on to the laptop. With computer, charger cord, and all packaging it still weighs less than my old laptop. I won’t embarrass myself by telling you how old THAT was but suffice it to say when they stopped delivering coal to my house I had to find a replacement. This Acer is light, sleek, and fast. I feel like I stepped out of a ten-wheel dumptruck into a Corvette.

Wireless connected the first time, and stayed connected all over the house. Windows 7 takes a little getting used to but I missed the whole Vista (The New Millenium?) experience so there is a little learning curve from XP (and 98SE on the old laptop) but I’m getting there. Keyboard is easy to use, the display is so bright I actually had to turn it down a few notches but I’ll bet it could be read in direct sunlight.

Most of what I do with this is office stuff – MS Word, Quickbooks, that sort of thing. No Problem. But I am also a retired pilot and I am somewhat addicted to Flight Simulation, so I wanted something with a fast enough graphics card to run that. WOW. Does it ever. Beautiful, crystal clear display, no frame rate “stutter” – incredible. In fact I am going downstairs now to hook it up to the 52″ plasma and Bose sound and fly a bombing mission in a B-17.

I couldn’t be happier with Acer or Amazon. After three months of research I feel I got the best bang for the buck with this one. If they had six stars I’d give it all six.

Jeannine Flick on Tue, 22nd Dec 2009 12:00 am 



Great laptop!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This laptop is so easy to set up and use! It is super light and the screen is a good size. We love this laptop and are so happy we bought it! We’ve had it about a month and so far it is great!

Elias C. Kehayas on Thu, 24th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



MY ACER TIMELINE LAPTOP
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is the lightest laptop I have owned.

It is versatile and the most important thing about it is it worked like a charm from the moment I opened the package.

It is very fast and somehow its performance is so reassuring that you always feel that it will perform as expected any time you start it.

It keeps impressing me that this computer can do so much for such a little cost.

The service I received from AMAZON is unquestionably the best I have ever received from all my experiences with any on line order service.

This season I purchsed ALL my Christmas presents from AMAZON. They offered the best prices; they delivered on time as promised and; the orders were complete as expected.

MEATHEAD on Sat, 26th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



Acer got it mostly right with this one
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
A few months ago my Dell Inspiron 8500 with windows XPdied, so I was in the market for a new machine. I was interested in getting one with a screen size of 12″ to 13″, which would make it easier to get around with. Due to reading what people had to say about vista, I decided to wait on windows 7. At first I was attracted to the hp probook 4310s, but a reviewer said that it was bulky. I came across the acer brand because I saw an extensa at a friend’s house, and I really like the keyboard.

Looks:

It has a very beautiful understated look, almost businesslike. Flat! Very thin, easy to carry around. Is not glossy, so no ugly fingerprints all over the new laptop.

Sound:

Some reviewers are not impressed with the sound, I think it’s ok, and besides, I use headphones.

Screen:

Nice, bright screen, dark colours do look washed out, but really, a beautiful screen. If you are not a graphic artist, this should not bother you.

As it turns out, I am really liking the 14″ size screen, even after I wanted a smaller one, it seems ideal to me. The inspiron had a 15″ screen, definitely too big to travel around with. When I look at 12″ screens now, they seem too small, 13″ still seem ok to me, but….. The 14″ screen machine comes with dvd drive attached.

DVD drive:

Works well, feels really fragile! Care is definitely needed when handling this. I like the eject button position. Very sensible

Keyboard:

Really nice touch to it, glossy though, fingerprints do show up, but really, it’s no where near as bad as I have seen on computers with glossy cases. If Acer had thrown in a wipe cloth with the computer, that would have been a nice touch, but really, a computer this sweet for $650.00? I’ll get my own cloth!

Noticed that the left shift key is slightly skewed. Will check it out with Acer and see what can be done.

Battery:

Just about as advertised. I get about seven hours, I really wanted eight!!! (Side note: the Dell gave about 1 ½ hours).

Windows 7:

Wow!

I was actually mulling getting a mac, but I am glad I waited for windows 7. In fact, it’s so good, that I find myself using Microsoft products as a default instead of using a comparable third party application (and that’s really different for me).

Multi Touch:

Even though the dell had a trackpad and a point stick, I would still use a mouse.. Now, no more!

Running Temperature:

So cool to the touch that if I were to put the machine in hibernation right now, you could hardly tell that I was using it for hours.

Conclusion:

I really like this machine. It has a very sensible look to it, and a very sensible feel. Even the keyboard (which is glossy) is really nice, and if someone types a lot, the keys that get the most use get glossy anyhow. This probably means that the keyboard might look the same after a long time, instead of giving that “worn out” look. Acer has definitely got a winner here in my book.


J. Boyd on Sun, 27th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



5 Stars for power, portability, features, and esthetics
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
As C. Voegtli wrote, this is a great laptop. Surprisingly powerful but extremely cool-running and quiet. Good battery life, but nowhere near 8 hrs. Practically, count on 4.5 hrs, and that’s with the screen dimmed at the default setting. Good keyboard, but the home keys need a more tactile bar (taller). Plus the dummies didn’t include a caps lock indicator LED. Other indicators for On, Disk, and Wireless data transfer are subdued and esthetically well done.

Sound quality is good through the built-in speakers, but not very loud except on canned Microsoft theme sounds. Touchpad works well, but I don’t use the Gestures feature much. Good placement of jacks, including two USB 2.0 on the left side, one on the right. Built-in multicard reader has good performance – up to 15 MB/sec with a fast card.

I think the reader should be MS Pro Duo compatible, since the MemoryStick Pro has been obsolete for about three years now. And it should have been SDHC compatible. Max SD capacity is limited to 2 GB, I think. Plus they ship the laptop with a filler tab installed in the multicard reader, apparently expecting most people to use the thinner MMC cards or whatever. The filler tab suckered me into thinking the reader would accept a MS Pro Duo card – wrong. Well, unfortunately it does allow you to stick it in. After 30 minutes employing various instruments I finally managed to extract the card buried deep in the reader.

With compatible memory cards, however, the push-to-insert, push-to-remove feature worked very well. Remove the filler tab to use the reader with SD or MS Pro cards, something not mentioned in the sparse user’s guide. Little is mentioned in the sparse user’s guide.

As others have said, it has a sharp and readable screen with good rendition of colors. Contrast is good, but it’s quite vertical-angle sensitive. Fine for one, not so good if you’re showing it off to someone whose eyes are at a different height than yours. Not a serious limitation, though.

Performance is outstanding, 514 composite PassMark (TM) rating. My three-year-old ThinkPad T60 with 1.9 GHz processor only managed 640, and that increased rating was largely due to faster 2D and 3D graphics. Memory, disk, and processor ratings all were higher on the Acer 4810TZ.

One area greatly in need of re-engineering is the power brick. Can’t anyone adopt Apple’s less-is-more philosophy to power-brick design? The processor dissipates 10 watts, but looking at the heft, size, and thickness of the power cables and transformer, a person would assume the laptop pulls about 300 watts. This is the number 1 flaw of this unit. For all the strengths, it’s not a deal killer. But it’s dumb, given the super-sophistication of the laptop itself.

Buy with confidence. As of this writing, this is the 21st 5-Star review.

Sunny Day on Sun, 27th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



Great PC
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this pc for my old Sony vaio is dying. Well, I feel I should buy it earlier cause it is slim, light, long battery and cheap! I am totally happy with this new companion!

jca5150 on Tue, 29th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



baller on a budget no brainer
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
recieved this laptop from amazon a few weeks back. I have been using it for work mostly with office excel, web browsing watching videos burning DVDs etc. and this machine is very fast especially with windows 7. IMO it is the best deal out there for the money right now. The screen is the perfect size and it is fairly light and thin. The build quality is really good but not as good as a MB pro of course. I was going to pull the trigger on a MB pro instead of this but got this instead for half the price.

Overall very happy with quality/performance.

It did not come with windows 7 cd’s but acer has a built in restore image function in case anything happens to the OS.

I would still have liked to have the Windows 7 CDs…..

Ryan Atkins on Wed, 30th Dec 2009 12:00 am 



Pretty Much Perfect
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve had this laptop about a week now, and I’m extremely happy …

Just like many of the fellow shoppers who have written reviews here, I did a LARGE amount of research before finally choosing this model, and so far I have very little to complain about.

THE GOOD:

- The weight is as advertised at 4.4 lbs, and I honestly feel sorry for others who have to lug around heavier laptops. I am so happy to have such a portable computer, there is no strain on the wrist when picking it up with one hand to move from one spot to another. I can not over state how pleased I am to finally have a laptop that is so light.

- The battery life is the best I’ve ever seen. For me, it’s been great to not even have to think about the battery while playing poker, surfing the web and listening to music. While you aren’t likely to get the full 8 hours (unless in power saver mode while doing minimal tasking), you will easily get 4-6 hours while on the computer. Also, the battery charges extremely quickly which is another nice perk.

- The performance has been everything I had hoped for. I have experienced no lag while watching non-hd videos online, and I’ve been able to play poker, write emails, and listen to music with no impact on the system.

- The display is better than I expected. It is very bright and the videos I have watched have looked great.

- The metallic casing looks sharp! This is one of the best looking laptops I have seen out there.

- Windows 7 is very user friendly. I have had no issues with the operating system, and so far I’m a fan. It’s my first experience with the platform but I would reccommend it to anyone. I also found that the bloatware was minimal (I was expecting much worse). I deleted the basic junk and added my own security software and overall their was very little hassle in getting the computer set up to my liking.

- Plenty of USB ports and the HDMI port is a must. Many machines do not offer this which doesn’t work for me. The optical drive also works great, and having the eject key on the keyboard area is a really unique and awesome feature!

COULD USE IMPROVEMENT

- The speakers are fairly weak. I didn’t buy this as an entertainment machine though, so I wasn’t expecting anything fancy. I was willing to sacrifice a little in the sound department to save on costs. Just be ready to buy some portable speakers to plug in if you really want to blare any music.

- The one button mouse click is a small annoyance, as I’ve always preferred two individual buttons that function as a left click and right click. That being said, this is the best one button version that I have seen and overall and I’m still fine with it.

THE BAD

- I have no major complaints about the machine.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

- This computer offers an amazing combination of portability and long battery life without sacrificing any performance.

Bruce on Thu, 31st Dec 2009 12:00 am 



Good price, great functionality.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I decided to buy this laptop based on several characteristics: Battery life, portability, style, noise pollution, and Windows 7. The laptop I owned previously was an ASUS with much more processor and graphic power than this one. However, that laptop could not last more than two hours on battery and produced a lot of heat and noise. It is important for many buyers to recognize that if you want a gaming laptop, those are the common symptoms.

I’ve had this laptop for a month now and I can say that the battery power varies depending on how you use it. With power saving mode on, this laptop can last 8 hours if you’re just surfing the net or typing up a word document. I also tested the battery life by playing a game that the computer could handle: ROME TW. I played for four hours and the battery life had gone down to 10 percent.

This laptop is very portable. At 4.4 lbs, it offers all the functionality of a heavier laptop. It has a DVD player/burner, 3 USB ports, etc. I would also like to note that the DVD drive eject button is on the keybord face rather than being on the drive. This is a very good design because you won’t find yourself fumbling around to get the drive to open or accidentally push the button just as you close the drive. A small detail that has proved annoying on many other laptops.

The metallic casing is a definite plus. Unlike plastic cases, it’s easier to clean and doesn’t produce smudges just by resting your hands to type. You can barely hear this laptop running and it adds to the comfort of use when you are concentrating on more important business on your laptop. As advertised, this laptop is at or near room temperature when you touch it. Even after hours of gaming, it remains a constant temperature on the outside.

Like I said before, this isn’t the best gaming laptop but the Intel GMA 4500M can perform very well. I’ve tested a few games and noticed that this graphics card can handle a decently high polygon count and med-high texture rendering. However, like most weaker video cards, it can’t handle complex lighting and shadows. I played FEAR without any problems and with a good frame rate. (31 avg) I turned off volumetric lighting, reduced lighting to minimum, turned off Anti-alaising, and turned off shadows. You can play games with this laptop but be sure to choose games that gives you a in-depth graphics control on what you can turn on and off.

Lastly, Windows 7 has been great. There are so many new features that I haven’t explored them all. I haven’t run into any real problems just yet and all my old programs work for the home-premium edition. I don’t see a point in upgrading because you can still turn on older OS compatibility by right clicking on the program shortcut. I don’t plan on upgrading and I don’t really need to. If you are looking for a quiet laptop for work, school, and the occational gaming, you can’t beat the price or the satisfaction of this laptop.

F. J. McClure on Fri, 1st Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Great Value and Performance
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My Toshiba bit the dust and I needed to get another laptop. I studied the market and found this Acer with a 14 inch screen and the Windows 7 operating system. I have had the computer for a month now and I am very happy with my purchase. It is light and powerful. The over 8 hour battery life might be a stretch,the battery seems to last for over 6 hours.

I would recommend this without any hesitation. I use this computer at least 6 hours every day and have not found anything it will not do.

Wally Blackburn on Sat, 2nd Jan 2010 12:00 am 



great notebook
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The only thing wrong with this machine is trying to get answers about it from ACER but guess that is the age we live in now.

Really like the finish as it does not show finger prints but it is not aluminum as described but possibly an aluminum type

paint, never the less it is a very nice finish.The audio is really good considering the size of the speakers.

I’m very happy with with this purchase and with AMAZONS service…

PS: Acer finally answered all my questions to my satisfaction so now all I can find wrong with this machine is it doesn’t

have a cap lock light, no big deal!!


Nancy on Mon, 4th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



VERY HAPPY WITH THIS MODEL
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
After much research and trekking around town looking at laptops I finally got this one and I am sooooo happy with it. It took about 2 hours to create the backup disks. The instructions were not good. Be prepared: you need 3 blank DVDs. When I first turned on the machine a prompt came up to make the back-ups but by the time I got the CDs it had disappeared. I was unsuccessful at using the back-up manager, so shut the unit down, and after re-booting the prompt came up and I was able to do it with no trouble.

I removed some of the bloatware, which was also not too difficult. I am not very technical w/computers. I love the windows 7 platform too. I bought this primarily to have a lightweight travel laptop and needed a DVD player. It is perfect. I do a lot of photo editing in Photoshop and it runs very smoothly. I haven’t timed the battery, but have so far been able to do a few hours of photoshopping on the battery with no trouble. It is so much faster than my old Toshiba Satelite it feels like a dream.

I like the touchpad and keyboard very much. We also make a lot of powerpoint presentations but have not done any on this yet.

Be forwarned about MovieMaker in Windows 7 – it is not great. I tried to make a 13 min. video in MM and it crashed the computer while saving it. The MovieMaker in Windows XP is much better but won’t run on 7.

My only slightest complaint is the screen size is a bit small for photographs, but this is not the fault of the laptop. I need this size for traveling. The resolution is excellent – also better than my old toshiba.

I appreciated all the other detailed reviews that I found here on previous versions of the Acer Timeline, as they helped me make the decision. This model is so far EXCELLENT.

Enjoy,

ND

Pat Rowe on Tue, 5th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Why get a netbook when you can have it ALL?!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve had this baby over a month now. And I am impressed!

The dual-core ultra-low voltage processor in this machine is powerful, yet it sips juice like it was liqueur!

I’ve been able to watch videos with no jitter or lag, do spreadsheet work, just about everything my gigantic desktop machine will do, all UNPLUGGED!

The only cons I’ve found are minor:

1. The wireless internet adapter built into the machine was very difficult to network into my home network. It took about 45 minutes of help from a computer genius that I know, to find some obscure Tech Support bulletin and go into the registry and change a “0″ to a “1″. (Yes, that’s all it took, but finding the RIGHT zero was the trick…)

2. As you’ve heard from others, the simple lack of a CAPS LOCK light is very frustrating. Can’t believe that Acer left that out! Hopefully, I’ll find some utility online that at least makes a flag on the SCREEN when CAPS LOCK is on.

The light weight, relatively big screen, full-sized chicklet-style keyboard, fast boot time, fast processing and DVD-ROM do it for me. Along with, of course, pretty amazing battery life (I’m getting about 6 hours actual USAGE – not idle time – but I’m not doing any real careful energy-management either).

Dennis L. Lundy on Tue, 5th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Excellent value laptop
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is an excellent value laptop. The last two laptops I purchased were ACERs (an Extensa for my wife) after having previously purchased a Sony, a Toshiba and a HP. I am very satisfied with the AS4810TZ. I wanted a lightweight (~4lbs), thin (~1″), =<14" display, DVD drive. I carefully considered the ASUS, Toshiba and HP similar machines and settled on the ACER.

+’s: battery life is fantastic, speed of startup/shutdown, ease of setup and backup, excellent LED display, keyboard; HDMI connection, case style, low case temperature rise

-’s: OEM software, keyboard fingerprint magnet, no decent manual in package or online.

I am very happy with this purchase.

Ezra Lagberg on Tue, 5th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Just returned (crackling speakers, slow, etc.)
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I rarely write reviews, but wanted to warn others who are considering buying this laptop based on, for example, the recommendation that appeared in the New York Times. I just returned the laptop (and may have to pay a 15% restocking fee? so keep that in mind) because it’s defective in at least three ways:

1) The speakers make a loud crackling noise.

2) The speakers sometimes stop working until you restart the computer.

3) There is something wrong with the computer generally that causes it to play online video and DVDs as though you are watching a slide-show, with a new frame arriving every half-second or so.

It’s possible that if I kept this computer, I might find some way to fix all of these problems. But I doubt it — especially the crackling speakers. And apparently Acer laptop speakers are a recurring problem: start typing “Acer speakers” on Google, and “Acer speakers crackling” is one of the first results.

Also, as you’ll find other critics saying online, the laptop does come cluttered with a bunch of unwanted software (a program for eBay on the desktop? why?).

This is sad, but I may end up buying a Mac. I dislike the idea of being locked into whatever constraints Apple chooses to impose on its customers. But at least the software and the hardware will work together, and work well.

Nathan E. Nordine on Tue, 5th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Most Laptop for your Money Period!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m not going to leave a technical, exhaustive review, I will leave that for the others who get into doing that.

Let me just list the pro’s and con’s.

Pro’s:

…battery life is for real

…never gets hot

…keyboard is awesome after you get used to it, and I type 50-plus words a minute

…light

…closest to a macbook without paying $1200

…most laptop for the money period!

Con’s:

…the crapware

P.S. This one star guy who got a laptop with a broken seal from Amazon supposedly? That’s an Amazon shipping issue, not a Acer Laptop issue!

If you want an awesome laptop. Buy it!

If you want a crappy one, there are plenty to choose from that will save you 1-200 dollars.

Andrew J. Chiuppi III on Wed, 6th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Finally a computer made for the 21st century
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Well first off I couldn’t have bought this without the very extensive reviews that had already been written here on Amazon. This computer does exactly what you need it to at a perfect price. I was looking for a good battery over 4 hours, hdmi port to hook up tv to watch movies in hd from youtube or hulu, good processor that could tackle all those papers and reports, lots of ram to help multitask, a quiet computer that doesn’t burn my lap when using it as a laptop, and a great price tag. Well the timeline has it all. Finally a pc that has the future written all over it. Only 4.4 lbs, quiet, barley warm, very long battery(I get 7 hours the first 3 times through) without a bulky 12 cell found on Hp’s, and very clean streamline design with a great feeling keyboard. Also has a beautiful 720p resolution led screen and wireless N, not to mention Windows 7.

Cons

No light for cap locks for some reason, no installed bluetooth but easily fixed with an adapter, some bloatware, and I can’t think of anything else.

Summary

If you have never heard of Acer, it is the 2nd biggest computer company in the world. They build a solid product and so far are the leaders in the PC revolution of finally delivering a product comparable to the MAC as far as size, functionality, and design at half the price. All I can say is that it is about time they finally started building a more efficient computer that maximizes battery life and still has the power to tackle an everyday pc user’s demands. (They had been selling us 2 hour battery lives on laptops for ten years which really made me mad)

Final Thoughts

Windows 7 seems to be great. Loads in under a minute, shuts down in less than ten seconds, and hasn’t crashed yet. The computer straight out of the box only needed to be plugged in first and once it started you enter the router password for your internet and “whah lah.” Already ready to browse and register product online.

You don’t need a black friday special to buy this product, it is priced to sell and please. Now go get yourself one!!

mr z on Thu, 7th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



An excellent buy for an excellent price
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
If you need to read a full review, read it elsewhere. All I can say that this is a great computer for a great price and good luck finding similar for less. Apple MacBook Air and Lenovo X-series laptops are nice but they cost far more and Apple won’t let you change the battery. Other products in the sub-$1000 price category either look cheap or are bulky. Also, if you’re interested in non-Windows operating systems you will be surprised by this product — Linux Ubuntu 9.10 works without any issues!

Those of you who complain about pre-installed junk: You should probably never use a pre-installed operating system anyway. Clean the disk and then install the OS from scratch after getting any computer.

T. Aitken on Sat, 9th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Great Buy!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love the computer! I don’t play computer games on it or anything, but it has all the power for what I use it for. The size and weight are perfect. The battery life is great; of course it drops if you play video or music on it all the time but it’s still better than any other laptop I’ve seen. I generally get about 6+ hours out of it and I don’t run it on super power-save mode. Windows 7 is excellent. Card reader and DVD optical drive is nice. I also really like the touchpad controls. They’re super easy.

UPDATE 1/7/2010:

I’ve now owned this computer for about 3 months and I still think it’s the best laptop I’ve seen for the price…period! I’ve even had Mac users at school ask me about the computer’s specs while I’ve been in class and they’ve been impressed with everything it comes with; especially the price. The Mac user I spoke with paid double what I did for a similar Mac with only 2 Gb RAM.

The computer still performs wonderfully. I was having a battery life issue for a bit but figured out that the problem was due to my anti-virus software running scans every time I turned the computer on, not due to a faulty battery. Now that I’ve fixed that the battery life is still 6+ hours; not the 8 advertised but still much better that other laptops on the market.

The one improvement I would make is in the speakers. They are weak so the volume won’t increase past a certain volume, making them hard to hear if there’s any background noise at all. Having two headphone jacks would have been nice to get around this problem also. My wife and I sometimes watch movies or Hulu before going to bed and sharing a pair of headphones is kind of a pain. This isn’t a deal breaker for me by any means though.

I love the touchpad! Right after we bought the laptop we bought a nice wireless laptop mouse to go with it; however, the touchpad is so perfect I hardly ever use the mouse! I also really like that the computer never gets hot (as long as you don’t block the vent). I’ve used other laptops that felt like I was holding a stove after a short while because they were so hot.

Over all we are EXTREMELY happy with this computer and feel it’s been one of the best purchases we’ve made. We now own an Acer desktop and laptop and are really happy with both of them. I had never heard of the Acer brand before purchasing our desktop over a year ago but it would be really hard to convince me of another brand that offers the same features for the money.

If your on the fence about this computer, BUY IT! You won’t be disappointed.

A. FUENTES on Sat, 9th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



GOOD LAPTOP
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
THIS LAPTOP NOT ONLY WAS CHEAPER THAN MY PREVIOUS ONES BUT IS THE BEST ONE I EVER HAVE SO FAR BATTERY LAST LONGER AND IT’S A LOT FASTER THAN MY HP 17″ PIECE OF JUNK, SHIPPING WAS FAST AS ALWAYS THANK YOU AMAZON KEEP UP THE GOOD JOB

Oscar Andres Morales Guevara on Sat, 9th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Definitely what I was looking for
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is my second experience with ACER, and both have been good. I travel a lot in planes, so my priority for a laptop is the weight, even over the features. One year ago I bought an ACER ASPIRE ONE, and it has been a great tool. However, the small screen and the lack of DVD sometimes were a problem, especially when I was installing software since I had to transfer from DVD tu USB memory on another computer. So I needed a new laptop that had a DVD unit, and a larger screen, without sacrificing the weight priority. ACER ASPIRE TIMELINE was the perfect solution. First of all, I wanted to try the new Windows 7. For me it was clear that Windows Vista has been so far the worst OS after Windows Millenium, and despite Windows XP still does a good job, I decided I should give a try to Windows 7 and test all its new features. I was not disappointed. When opening the box I was greatly surprised to see how beautiful it was. The aluminum cover is really appealing and elegant. The laptop is indeed quite thin, and its low weight really satisfied me. It has the thinnest DVD unit I have ever seen on a Windows-based laptop, and you can even compare the ACER with a Mac Book Pro. Turning it on for the first time was straightforward, no problems here. You can feel its 4 GB of memory immediately, OS and applications run very smooth and fast. I opened 4 to 5 programs simultaneously, played a DivX video, and it never froze. The video quality is amazing, crystal clear, and colourful. So far so good. Then I dedicated some minutes browsing the internet and learning how to use the multi-gesture touch pad. It was literally amusing. The multi-gesture touch pad worked just as promised. It is definitely the feauture that I love the most. I am a “mouse” user, and I hated touchpads in any laptop. Not anymore. I am quitting my mouse to become an addict of this new touchpad. The wifi connection is very stable. I installed the enteprise version of Microsoft Office 2007, and it was a quite fast installation, and have been using the latest versions of several other programs with no problems at all. And the battery life, wow! I didn’t need to charge it 24 hours before first use as other laptops, I could enjoy the 8 hours battery time after a 2 hour charging wait. I would recommend that you buy a neoprene bag, because the laptop is so beautiful that you don’t want any scratch on the aluminum lid cover ever. And the 320 GB hard disk is really handy. I still don’t understand why other brands like HP offer you only 16 GB of storage in a time like now when you also use your laptop as an entertaining system and you NEED space for movies and videos. Watching movies, videos or listening to music in the ACER TIMELINE is a “must” experience. The audio quality is unbeatable, better if you own bass headphones. And then another feature that surprised me: When I connected the laptop to my LCD flat screen TV, I didn’t need to activate the screen or press any function key, since it transfered the video signal to my TV immediately withouth my intervention, and automatically adjusted the screen resolution. So, I am a very satisfied customer. All the feaures that I wanted on a laptop are condensed in the ACER TIMELINE.


J. Aurelius on Sun, 10th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Be Careful
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I ordered what I expected was a new laptop. I received the package on time and opened it hoping to play with my new laptop. I was less than pleased when I noticed three “seal” stickers indicating the packaging had been opened at least three times before me. I decided to keep going. The computer looked good but the stickers on the wrist and touchpads and were obviously pulled off and re-applied several times. I turned it on and everything worked well for a few minutes. And then I tried the DVD player. It was very loose and seemed poorly crafted. The DVD went in and it spun so loudly that it was immediately a concern. There was tapping and what could only be called grinding. A few more minutes of trying to get over it ensured that I could not. I now know why this had been returned in the past.

I wrote why I was returning the defective machine in the return instructions. I must warn prospective buyers that quality control may be lacking and this device may be mailed out again hoping for the “sucker” that will not return it.

I am a big Amazon fan and I have had good luck with ACER in the past but this unacceptable.

Buyers; ensure you have a new device with pristine packaging otherwise just send it back immediately.

Snowdance on Mon, 11th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Very stylish ultra-thin, highly recommned!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have had several laptops in the past including HP, Toshiba, Compaq, IBM and Dell. I needed to buy a new one when my most recent laptop (HP w/ Intel dual core (Centrino, 1.75 GHz)), had its screw that holds the screen fell off and became un-portable. (Now I use it to hook it up to my TV using HDMI cable so that I surf internet and watch TV shows, Youtube, etc. at home.) FYI, I’m not a tech person, but I’m more of a heavy computer user, due to the nature of my work; I usually spend 9 to 10 hours a day writing on Word, crunching numbers on Excel, video conferencing over Skype, sending and receiving reports, and surfing internet for data and other stuffs. Also, I spend my spare time listening to music on Imeem, Pandora, Youtube, etc. I might play some games here and there, but I’m not a hardcore gamer. So, I need a machine that:

- is capable of handling typical business applications,

- has good enough processing power,

- comes with a 6-cell+ battery so that I can carry it around without worrying about running out of power all the time,

- sports a 13 inch screen or larger,

- weighs less than 5 pounds, and

- doesn’t cost a fortune.

The last category eliminates Apple machines. Steve Jobs said recently that he has never seen a computer that costs less than $800 and is not a “CRAP”. And, that is the reason, he said, why Apple would never build a netbook. But you know what? My wife has an Acer Aspire One since last year and loves it. It’s uber-ultra portable with long lasting batteries so that she carries it everywhere; it’s very reliable, too. Also, those Apple fanatics always love to claim that MacBooks are so superior than Windows laptops, but, at my work place, we have 24 MacBooks along with 40+ Windows machines and, the fact of matter is, those Apple machines caused far more troubles due to both hardware- and software-failures during last two years. So, I don’t give a hoot when someone tells me, “MacBooks are so much better (and, what they are really saying is: I’m better than you because I spent tons more money than you did for a basically same machine).” I’m also quite offended by those Apple ads which depict and ridicule 90%+ PC users as dumb and ignorant. I personally think it is quite the opposite: If you look at those people who love anything with Apple logo, many (not all) of them don’t know much about the product that they are using, but they just say they are better because they are Macs.

Like most of you who are reading this, I enjoy researching and buying a new computer; it’s a fun process for me. I have also been using Amazon for other product purchases and have had good experience over 4 years. So, naturally, I started my search on Amazon. I looked at pretty much everything out there and narrowed my choice down to four:

- HP Pavilion DM3-1030US

- ASUS UL30A-X5

- Toshiba Satellite T135-S1307

- Acer Aspire Timeline AS4810TZ-4508

I’m somewhat obsessed with the right feel for the computer, and that is the reason why I like to physically test them before I make a final decision. All four of them met my criteria and had generally positive reviews. So, I went to Best Buy, Office Depot and other electronic stores to test them out. I couldn’t test the exact same model for Acer, but I was able to test a similar Timeline model that was released earlier with Windows Vista. Personally, I wanted to avoid single-core machines. I tested those machines with basic preloaded programs such as Windows Media Player, WordPad, Paint, and a same Youtube video clip on Internet Explorer. So, my opinion is not based on scientific testing methods such as clock speed. Rather, it’s more of my personal observation.

First of all, I would like to say all four of them are acceptable. All of them have good screen; their keyboards are good/great for typing; they come with reasonable prices. However, first one that got cut was ASUS, because, when I tested basic softwares on the machine, it somehow felt slower than others (not scientific, just based on what I observed). The second one that got eliminated was HP DM3; I just felt that the build quality was OK, not good. Also DM3 didn’t have Home, Pg UP, Pg Dn, and End buttons on the side; it is not a deal breaker, but it is more of a convenience factor for me, since I do lots of document editing and spreadsheet work.

Toshiba Satellite was my top choice until I tested the sound quality. I liked its display and didn’t mind the sort-of-snake-skin like pattern (my wife, on the other hand, didn’t like the pattern at all, so it might turn some people off). I also liked its keyboard layout. However, I must say the speaker system on the Toshiba is atrocious at best. So, if you use earphones/headphones all the time or don’t need sound at all, I think you might like Toshiba. Those two tiny built-in speakers are basically useless; my cellphone has ten times better sound coming out of its single speaker than Toshiba’s. For me, I like to listen to music/watch video clips on my laptop, so it was a deal-breaker for me on Toshiba.

So, I decided on Acer Timeline; it met all the criteria and has a surprisingly good enough sound system for a laptop, although it is not as good as so-called “entertainment” laptops. I bought it through Amazon and have been using it for three weeks now. Some points that you might be interested in knowing:

- The LED screen is very bright and clear. It’s noticeably brighter than older laptops with LCD screen and marginally better than my HP, but it consumes less power, so it’s a big plus. The viewing angle is quite good, as well.

- The machine is thin, but doesn’t feel like it’s fragile. Overall, the build quality is solid.

- The lily-pad keyboard might take some getting used to for some people, but I like it and have no problems so far. I was a little bit concerned about the position of the touch pad – it’s located right in the middle, as opposed to between keys “F” and “J” – but it doesn’t cause trouble moving the cursor around when I type. Some other laptops I tested had hyper-sensitive touch pad in the middle of the resting pad and they drove me nuts when I tried to type something.

- As other people have pointed out, its keyboard attracts smudges, but I don’t mind it. (I’m a guy, after all. But, if you’re obsessed with maintaining your keyboard/computer spotless, it could be annoying.)

- I also debated between 13-inch screen and 14-inch screen models. At the end, I like having more real estate on my screen, plus the 14 inch comes with a DVD/CD-Rom drive. Having the DVD/CD Rom drive is still useful for me since I have older programs in CD-Roms. I know I could use an external DVD drive, but both models come with similar overall size and weights and it just is more convenient to have it built-in for now.

- Battery life is good, but not 8+ hours. I don’t like minimizing screen brightness, so I reduce the brightness by three levels when it’s not plugged in; it’s still very bright for normal use. I also have several programs running including wireless connection enabled, and I’m getting about 4 and ½ hours of battery time.

- Yes, there are usual crapwares pre-installed, but you can delete them easily, so it’s not much of an issue.

- I say Windows 7, compared to Vista, is better, although I do have a couple of issues. First of all, I can’t make WinAmp to play MP4 and HD FLV video files; somehow I can’t get the usual codecs to work on WinAmp. I don’t like using Windows Media Player (WMP) 12 either; I think WMP 10 or 11 is actually better than WMP 12, but Microsoft doesn’t allow users to roll back to previous version of WMP. Key annoyance is that it doesn’t remember the previous video size setting; so I find myself resizing the video screen more often than I like to. So, I’m using Media Player Classic for the time being. Also, FireFox has no new tab button (next to existing tabs) on display. If any of you know how to get around these problems, please let me know; it will be much appreciated.

To sum it all up, I like this laptop and recommend it if you are not a hardcore gamer, don’t want to give away your hard-earned money to Steve Jobs to ridicule millions of rational computer users, need a laptop with good battery life, and like having an ultra-thin light-weight machine. Happy computing!

Update1, Dec. 4, 2009

- I found out how to fix WMP video size problem thanks to a posting by someone, somewhere on the web: (1) Open WMP and play any one of your .mp3 file. (2) While it’s playing, resize the video window to your liking. (3) Close WMP and open any video file and it will open it in previously resized video window.

- Another positive: I’m backing up some of my DVD collections and I find the process to be reasonably fast. Now, my kids are trying to get their hands on this machine all the time when I’m not using it for work, since they can watch movies anywhere, anytime, and the resolution is great. Plus long battery life helps, too; regular DVD movies look almost like BluRay/HD movies. I might have to buy another one. Oh, well.


C. Voegtli on Wed, 13th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Insanely happy so far after tons of laptop research
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
A week ago my home laptop died. Can’t concentrate worth beans once my computer environment is trashed so embarked on massive research to pick a replacement. I ended up with this machine after looking at a range of models from 11.6″ to 14″ displays, had trouble deciding on tradeoff between size/weight and screen size. I did not order from Amazon because I had to go look at machines first hand to test keyboards etc., and once I fell in love with this baby I couldn’t wait, so I bought it from Frys yesterday and have been on it for hours since.

How I intend to use this:

- Use it when I work from home, to both do stuff directly and to log into my desktop machine via Citrix GoToMyPC and remotely run stuff there. At home I have a huge secondary monitor on my desk.

- Use it when I travel on business – to be able to keep working including lots of document editing, powerpoint creation, web access, lots of multi-tasking, with no second monitor available, so had to be sure I could do my kind of work tasks on it with just the laptop screen available.

What I was looking for as backdrop:

- Battery life rated at least 8 hours (specs) because then I figured I’d get at least 6ish sitting around doing Word documents and light surfing, and at least 4 with more intense movie watching use.

- No more than around an inch thick. Weirdly, I have found that the thickness matters to me more than the length and width in terms of portability. The one that died was a 12″ HP that was small but thicker and it bugged me even though it too was reasonably portable.

- Keyboard with keys not stiff or cramped – I’m a fast typer plus I hate stuff/ high-travel keys.

- Preference for an included CD/DVD but not mandatory

- No more than 4.4 pounds. Nirvana would be 3 or 3.5 but not mandatory, other stuff matters too. I had a previous 15″ 4.4 lb laptop that I travelled with a lot and it was fine esp because it was 1.2 in. thin.

- Dual-core processor. I’m not an expert on such things, but read enough reviews here and on review site on the single core processor laptops — performance issues when multi-tasking programs — to rule out anything with single core processor. I am an abusive multi-tasker with 10 programs up at a time plus multiple windows in Word, IE, etc. so I just decided to take the reviewers’ word for it That meant I had to do a search each time i found a model to consider, look up the processor model listed, to see if it was single or dual core.

- At least 4 G of RAM and preferably expandable to 8 later.

- At least 250G drive.

I looked at a range of netbooks and notebooks up to the 14″ size. Had thought it would be cool to get a netbook for the portability, especially because I have this big monitor in my home office. But the more I looked, and started finding bigger machines that were light enough for me, AND battery life, I started gravitating to 13.3 in or 14″ machine.

I narrowed down to HP Dm3 (13″), Toshiba T135 (13″), Asus UL30 (13″), and this Acer Timeline (14″).

Why I chose the Acer timeline out of this set:

- HP looked fine but didn’t have a drive, so Acer had an edge there.

- The Asus got great reviews from people here, but I couldn’t find one to test and i just hate buying without trying out the keyboard for myself. And it didn’t have the DVD built in…

- Toshiba T135 was about to win with me until I found this Acer. Toshiba lost because its case was incredibly high-gloss plastic that just kept bothering me a little .. and when I saw the brushed aluminum on the Acer, well, the Toshiba was toast.

What i LOVE LOVE LOVE about this machine:

- Battery life appears as rated. Last night I was on track for 8 hours doing surfing using our wi-fi network plus some editing work, set to balanced mode and with screen brightness turned about half way down. During the surfing I also played some video off the ABC website and the system looked like it was projecting more like 4 to 4.5 hrs if I had kept going with that use mode.

- I really like Windows 7. I was on Vista and I liked the interface fine but the program itself was a pig. So far so good on Windows 7. I also like the control actions available through the keypad, including being able to quish or expand text size like on an iPhone. I am very picky about font size when I’m surfing around and love being about to adjust with a flick of the touchpad.

- The case is gorgeous. I didn’t think I cared about this until I compared this one to the Toshiba. That machine is a nice one, but this Acer alumnimum case makes the Toshiba look like a toy in comparison.

- The 1 inch thickness along with very flat brushed alumimum lid is wonderful. And the battery along the back edge is contured so i gives a grip when you carry the thing like a real notebook under your arm.

- The screen is brilliant and beautiful. Every time I look back it from my big HD 22″ monitor, I still gasp a little at the crispness and beauty of the screen. (and I am not usually this effusive about anything….)

In short, this one had the magic combo for me: 8 hr battery life spec, 4.2 lbs good enough portability for me, 1″ thick, DVD included, keyboard I liked, nice screen size, 4G of Ram expandable to 8, big enough disk drive, and beautiful professional sturdy-feeling brushed alumnimum case. Bonus points, discovered when I set it up, the speakers actually sound verygood to me compared to other laptops… and the way they’re spaced I do get decent stereo. Wahoo all around!

Only con on the hardware I can come up with is this – I’ll echo another reviewer’s comments that the keys are a bit slippery. I didn’t notice this playing with it in the store, but did once I got home and started using it a lot. But it is nowhere close to a showstopper or even a moderate annoyance. I’ve adjusted already and I don’t find myself slipping so much that I hit wrong keys. I just feel the difference between these reall flat surfaced keys and the sculpted keys on my other keyboards. I do like the action on these keys and the separation (personal keyboard preferences).

SETUP experience notes:

Came up fine. Only issue I had was when I accepted Acer’s prompt to use their backup management program to create recovery disks. For reasons I couldn’t figure out, that program locked up the computer, couldn’t get response to other programs, so I finally did a hard power down. And when I came back up, I used Windows’ own backup and restore program to make my recovery disks, which it did incredibly quickly.

No issues hooking up peripherals like usb mouse and keyboards (which i DID have on my Vista machine at work. Cross your fingers, maybe Windows 7 really HAS fixed the driver issues of Vista.)

Other people have complained about lots of Acer loaded crapware on some machines. I didn’t find that much. Deleted the McAfee and Norton stuff that came preloaded (more piggy software) plus a few Acer odds and ends — that took all of 15 minutes. Within a couple of hours I had made recovery disks, loaded up all the software I needed (antivirus, MS Office, spam filtering, some work access programs, iTunes, etc.) and tested all the hardware components (made sure all the USB ports worked, etc.)

Sorry so long, I just spent so much time researching models and deciding this stuff in the last week, thought I’d try to spread the info and hopefully save someone else some time.

Overall I am WAY WAY happy with this notebook! If something bad happens later I’ll be sure to come back and post an update but I am very very happy with this purchase!

J. Coe on Thu, 14th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Such a steal and a great little computer.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I got it at such a steal at Costco for they ended up giving me a $90.00 credit. What I like is the keyboard (much more tactile), the weight, quick downloads, the size 14″ screen is perfect for me, it’s energy efficient, the battery life (though I have not really seen how long it will run but at least 6 hours, the camera (I checked out HP and their software and it was terrible for there is more control here. Oh yes and this model has a 500 giga bite hard drive which is quite nice. Still learning what Windows 7 can do for I am no computer geek.

The main drawback for me is the speakers they are small and tinny so if you really enjoy listening to music through the speakers or watch movies find another model or wear headphones. Otherwise, great laptop and loved the price.

Doug Lifer on Sat, 16th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Waited 3 months for this laptop and it was worth it
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Amazing laptop. Long battery life. I went from an older 14 inch Acer to this one. Twice the CPU speed, less than 1/3 the power usage. It’s quiet, cool, light and runs a great OS with 64bits. You can get a machine smaller, lighter, or faster but nobody has beaten this package. Also, it looks great. Sophisticated and clean no shiny plastic that shows every fingerprint and scratch. The keyboard seemed a bit strange at first but I’m up to full speed on it after about an hour.

This model has a dual core CPU. Don’t bother with the older Acer Timelines with the 2700 or 3500 single cores. That was just a warm up until the real stuff came out from Intel.

I like this machine so much, I’m thinking about spending another $300 on a solid state drive.

The only negative I found is the crapware that comes installed and having to waste an hour or more uninstalling software.

M. Wang on Sun, 17th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



Great value, and great balance of performance and portability!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I ordered the Acer Timeline 4810TZ-4508 to replace my two-year old Lenovo Thinkpad T61, and I love it!

Getting started was very easy. It only took me about two hours to register Windows 7 Home Premium, upgrade to Windows 7 Professional (through the Anytime Upgrade feature), create factory default backup discs, remove some bloatware, and install some of my favorite programs. After reading some of the reviews of the older models, I was worried about the prospect of flashing the BIOS or updating the VGA/LAN drivers, but my computer has worked fine without those updates. I suspect that Acer may have fixed those problems for this model, since it’s a new release with Windows 7.

Although the processor is ostensibly slower than the Intel Core 2 Duo processor in my T61, I had to underclock the T61 because it tended to overheat and shut down. With this Timeline, I’m able to run the processor at full speed without any heating or cooling problems. The computer is surprisingly zippy. I found that I was able to listen to music, convert tracks on iTunes, surf the web, and install programs all at the same time, without any noticeable lag in performance. Full screen streaming video on [...] and [...] also looked fantastic, without any jerkiness or skipping. (In fact, video playback was better than on my Thinkpad which, notwitstanding the faster processor, had less RAM and a slower video card.) The screen is very bright, and even at the dimmest setting, I was surprised with how much clearer it was than my old Thinkpad. It is a glossy screen, however, which means that it looks great indoors but is very difficult to use outdoors. I have found the glare a bit distracting, but not a deal-breaker. I don’t play computer games, so I can’t say anything about its performance in that regard.

Of course, one of the main reasons I purchased the Timeline was for portability, and it really doesn’t disappoint. The laptop is noticeably thinner and lighter than my T61 – I think the total weight is about 4 lbs. and it’s just over an inch thick. Acer wasn’t kidding about the battery life: I spent 4.5 hours today at Starbucks surfing the web, listening to music, and using Microsoft Word with the screen at medium brightness, and still had 45% battery by the end. I am sure that I could get about 8-9 hours of total battery life, if I minimized all the settings. After fighting for power outlets and worrying about tripping over power cords with my Thinkpad, this is a refreshing change.

Coming from using the T61′s fantastic keyboard, I was kind of nervous about this chiclet-style design, but I easily got used to it. The keys give a lot of tactile feedback, and they are well-enough spaced that you don’t hint the wrong keys. The touchpad, however, is a bit difficult to use, and I’m still getting used to the stiffness of the touchpad button.

Overall, this is a fantastic computer, and a great value at the price. I think if you are considering the different 14 inch models, the 4810TZ-4508 has some advantages over the cheaper/older models: more RAM, faster processor, 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium, and newer drivers.


Ben from SGV on Tue, 19th Jan 2010 12:00 am 



The best laptop I’ve owned, period.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve owned 7 laptops from Toshiba, Dell, HP, and a few others over the last 12 years and this one is the best I have owned by far. The battery life is outstanding however not the 8 hours Acer advertises. It averages closer to 5 hours which is still excellent. Performance wise, it is only average but its light weight and the advantage of not worrying about running out of power while working away from an outlet more than make up for it. I have only had this laptop for a week but I am very happy with my purchase. Being the best laptop I have owned to date, it makes me smile to know that it has also been the least expensive. I recommend it wholeheartedly. I bought my wife an Acer netbook last X-mas and she loved it so I gave Acer a try when it came time to replace my Dell. My only problem now is my wife now wants my Timeline laptop because it is as slim as her netbook but with a bigger screen.

Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!

You must be logged in to post a comment.