Acer TimelineX AS5830 review
Click to enlarge
Acer’s first generation Timeline notebooks appeared in 2009 heralded as inexpensive thin laptops with long battery lives. The latest Acer TimelineX notebooks continue the theme of slim, long-lasting, reasonably-priced laptops. Let us take a look at some Acer TimelineX AS5830 pictures:
Our test model is the 15-inch AS5830, which costs $800.
The elongated, flattened design of the Acer TimelineX AS5830TG-6402 is full of clinical lines and sharp edges,which give it a sober appearance.
The AS5830 tapers from 1 inch to 1.23 at its thickest, and weighs 5.6 pounds, which is average for a mid-range notebook. The TimelineX AS5830 is available in black or cobalt blue, and features an aluminum lid and keyboard deck. The palm rest and display are sturdy. A black chiclet keyboard sits on an expanse of matte gray aluminum.
The Acer TimelineX AS5830 sports a 2.3GHz Core i5-240M processor, 6GB RAM, a 640GB 5400rpm hard drive and, importantly, a discrete NVidia GeForce GT 520M 1GB Optimus graphics solution.
The TimelineX AS5830 is well-supplied with ports, including three USB 2.0 sockets, one USB 3 socket, HDMI- and VGA-out, Ethernet, headphone and mic jacks, and a 5-in-1 SD card reader. The one-inch thick chassis allows for a DVD rewriter.
Even against reflective displays,the Acer TimelineX AS5830′s 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 panel is very shiny, which means uneven viewing angles; side-viewing is good, but vertical viewing can be washed-out if the angle is wrong.
The 1.3mp webcam delivers well-lit images. The sharpness is not brilliant, but detail is acceptable.
The keyboard panel is sturdier than is usual for budget systems, with no sign of flex. The keys have a lightly textured surface which enhances the typing experience, although the click when typing is tinny. There is a full number pad, which 15-inch machines often don’t include, though on the main keyboard some of the important buttons – Ctrl, Tab, Caps Lock, Shift – have shrunk, which is unacceptable for a 15-inch notebook.
The trackpad and touch buttons are exquisite – the petite pad supports multi-touch gestures, and they work fabulously. Pinch and zoom is fluid, although two-fingered scrolling demands a little extra pressure. The trackpad is paired with some nice tactile buttons. These buttons are a bit narrow (the trackpad itself is small) but quite usable.
The Dolby speaker panel delivers a richer sound than you might expect from a mid-range notebook, but the tinniness is still present.
Budget machines tend to be used for email, browsing and social networking apps, and in tests the Acer TimelineX AS5830 passed with flying colours. Tab-surfing, GChat, loading pdf’s in the browser, surfing news sites and Googling simultaneously wasn’t a problem. Boot-time was 43 seconds, fast for Windows.
For battery life, performance benchmarks and more continue to Acer TimelineX AS5830 notebook review part 2.
No related posts.
Sign up to the Gadgetmix Newsletter (free) for news and reviews mailed directly to your mailbox CLICK HERE
