The slim and nice-looking Timeline series from Acer has now been given an X at the end. This means a re-design and some pretty significant hardware updates. Instead of the familiar gray appearance, it is now a brushed black aluminum, and this sits well with the rest of the design. It is not a big [...]
The slim and nice-looking Timeline series from Acer has now been given an X at the end. This means a re-design and some pretty significant hardware updates. Instead of the familiar gray appearance, it is now a brushed black aluminum, and this sits well with the rest of the design. It is not a big update of the design–rather a refinement, but why do more and potentially spoil a popular concept? The TimelineX laptops could easily pass for elegant business machines even if their more likely target audience is home users.
timelinexInstead of the aging dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs, the new Timelines have been given the significantly faster Core i5 and Core i3 processors, which are also dual-core, but effectively four thanks to Intel’s re-introduced Hyperthreading technology. The difference between the Core i3 and i5 is that the latter also supports the Turbo Boost feature, which increases the clocks dynamically when the laptop is under heavy load in applications that only utilize one thread (virtual or physical processor core).
What sets the TimelineX (as well as Timeline) series apart from the rest of Acer’s notebook lineup is that all of them are very thin and light compared to conventional laptops. They are available in sizes ranging from the 11.6-inch AS1830T and AS1810T, via the 13-inch AS3820T/AS3810T, 14-inch AS4820T, up to the larger (but also relatively thin and light) 15-inch AS5820T (view the full lineup here). All come with LED-backlit panels with 1366×768 resolution with the 16:9 aspect ratio. Acer also stresses that these laptops are environmentally friendly–manufactured with mercury-free components.
Thin ‘Gaming Laptops’ with Long Battery Life
Another surprise – considering these laptops’ svelte figure – is that some of them are equipped with a relatively powerful graphics card: the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 with 1GB of dedicated GDDR3 memory. This graphics card handily runs games like World of Warcraft, but if WoW feels too old it also runs all of the latest titles – the 5650 GPU is actually faster than the Nvidia GT330M in the MacBook Pro lineup.
TimelineX ScreenA further boost to the media cabability of the TimelineX series is the addition of HDMI output, which are very practical for hooking up your computer to an HDTV or other screen. There is also support for Dolby Home Theater–something that you’ll notice only when the computer is attached to a similarly capable home theater setup.
The screen on all of the Acer TimelineX laptops have the same HD resolution, 1366 x 768 pixels. They are LED backlit and incredibly sharp, rich color display and high contrast. However, the fact that the same screen resolution is used across the entire series means that the smallest, 11.6-inch model has a much higher effective resolution than its 15-inch counterpart. On the largest model, this is barely ebough while it is more than sufficient for the smaller notebooks. Speaking of the screen, the lid is very nice and thin, and all of the models are equipped with a webcam on the inside as usual.
Summary
Acer is one of the major manufacturers today, and often we see quality drop as manufacturers grow too large. This is fortunately not the case here. Acer has created an excellent product in its TimelineX lineup. It has all the benefits–they have updated the design and made it somewhat darker and more elegant, which will no doubt appeal to the business segment as much as to consumers. The laptops are thin (the 14-inch model is less than an inch thich at the palm rest area) and the weight is attractive, so there is no doubt that Acer has focused on mobility here.
At the same time, the notebooks come packed with the latest hardware–Acer has thrown in Intel Core i5 processors, and for those who are familiar with CPU model names, this means that there is a lot more power under the hood now than in the previous Core 2 Duo variants. These machines are capable of a lot more than word processing and web surfing, and the icing on the cake is that battery life is still excellent. We will hopefully have time to go into the details soon, on each of the specific models in the Acer TimelineX series.
The slim and nice-looking Timeline series from Acer has now been given an X at the end. This means a re-design and some pretty significant hardware updates. Instead of the familiar gray appearance, it is now a brushed black aluminum, and this sits well with the rest of the design. It is not a big update of the design–rather a refinement, but why do more and potentially spoil a popular concept? The TimelineX laptops could easily pass for elegant business machines even if their more likely target audience is home users.
timelinexInstead of the aging dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs, the new Timelines have been given the significantly faster Core i5 and Core i3 processors, which are also dual-core, but effectively four thanks to Intel’s re-introduced Hyperthreading technology. The difference between the Core i3 and i5 is that the latter also supports the Turbo Boost feature, which increases the clocks dynamically when the laptop is under heavy load in applications that only utilize one thread (virtual or physical processor core).
What sets the TimelineX (as well as Timeline) series apart from the rest of Acer’s notebook lineup is that all of them are very thin and light compared to conventional laptops. They are available in sizes ranging from the 11.6-inch AS1830T and AS1810T, via the 13-inch AS3820T/AS3810T, 14-inch AS4820T, up to the larger (but also relatively thin and light) 15-inch AS5820T (view the full lineup here). All come with LED-backlit panels with 1366×768 resolution with the 16:9 aspect ratio. Acer also stresses that these laptops are environmentally friendly–manufactured with mercury-free components.
Thin ‘Gaming Laptops’ with Long Battery Life
Another surprise – considering these laptops’ svelte figure – is that some of them are equipped with a relatively powerful graphics card: the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 with 1GB of dedicated GDDR3 memory. This graphics card handily runs games like World of Warcraft, but if WoW feels too old it also runs all of the latest titles – the 5650 GPU is actually faster than the Nvidia GT330M in the MacBook Pro lineup.
TimelineX ScreenA further boost to the media cabability of the TimelineX series is the addition of HDMI output, which are very practical for hooking up your computer to an HDTV or other screen. There is also support for Dolby Home Theater–something that you’ll notice only when the computer is attached to a similarly capable home theater setup.
The screen on all of the Acer TimelineX laptops have the same HD resolution, 1366 x 768 pixels. They are LED backlit and incredibly sharp, rich color display and high contrast. However, the fact that the same screen resolution is used across the entire series means that the smallest, 11.6-inch model has a much higher effective resolution than its 15-inch counterpart. On the largest model, this is barely ebough while it is more than sufficient for the smaller notebooks. Speaking of the screen, the lid is very nice and thin, and all of the models are equipped with a webcam on the inside as usual.
Summary
Acer is one of the major manufacturers today, and often we see quality drop as manufacturers grow too large. This is fortunately not the case here. Acer has created an excellent product in its TimelineX lineup. It has all the benefits–they have updated the design and made it somewhat darker and more elegant, which will no doubt appeal to the business segment as much as to consumers. The laptops are thin (the 14-inch model is less than an inch thich at the palm rest area) and the weight is attractive, so there is no doubt that Acer has focused on mobility here.
At the same time, the notebooks come packed with the latest hardware–Acer has thrown in Intel Core i5 processors, and for those who are familiar with CPU model names, this means that there is a lot more power under the hood now than in the previous Core 2 Duo variants. These machines are capable of a lot more than word processing and web surfing, and the icing on the cake is that battery life is still excellent. We will hopefully have time to go into the details soon, on each of the specific models in the Acer TimelineX series.
