Acer TimelineU M5-481T-6670 14-Inch Ultrabook (Silver)

Wow. Where to begin? First, this computer is the perfect size for mobility. It's thin, fairly light (not super light, but lighter than most laptops) and sleek. The screen is really really bright. The backlit keyboard is perfect for me since I work night shifts from home on the computer, and the keys are perfectly spaced. The battery is as good as advertised. Fully charged, I get a full 8 hours of constant use out of it. That's having several different web pages open, doing downloads, and listening to music. The processor is plenty good if you're not playing high-end games, and the 6GB of Ram enables me to keep lots of things open but not have anything glitchy happen. The computer has been on my lap with a blanket covering my legs for the last 8 hours while I was working and when I reach under to touch the bottom, I can barely feel any heat.

Other things that make this stand out: 3.0 USB ports. No matter WHAT you buy, get at least one of those. There's no comparison to how fast they upload media, images, etc. The touchpad isn't annoying like I thought it was going to be. It instant on works amazingly well. It's fast to load anything, and even runs the internet more quickly than my old laptop. Plus, it's ACER so you know the parts are high quality. The price is outstanding for an Ultrabook as well. I did a week's worth of comparing and built a spreadsheet with what I wanted. This had it all. I was very pleased.

I've only had this laptop for a day now so I will update if any problems do come up. For the price (with the current $100 gift card) it was a good deal even though this is the base model. I don't play games and just wanted something for music and internet.

It is heavier than it looks to be but you do get the DVD drive so it was worth that weight added. It feels sturdy and I don't notice any flexing when I pick it up on one side. The finish is not my favorite and around the screen is kind of rubberized which I guess is better than a glare from the screen (or keys). The keys do have a light underneath which is nice and it's easy to turn off.

Not a huge fan of the trackpad. It has no buttons for the right/left click and usually when I am trying to left click.. it ends up as a right click. It's a huge trackpad though which is nice. I am coming from a ThinkPad so any trackpad without the trackpoint will take a while to get use to.

The computer itself is very fast and capable of having multiple programs going at once. I did spend about a half hour uninstalling random trials and programs from the computer. I was downloading some programs and doing updates with the laptop on my bed and the bottom did get warm but it wasn't hot by any means. The keyboard stayed cool.

--------------------10/17/2012

Very happy with the laptop. Love that it really does turn on pretty much instantly if you just have the laptop closed. Boots up incredibly fast. Haven't had any issues with the wireless at all. The only thing that is slightly annoying at this point is the power button. It's not a switch but a button at the right edge of the laptop and it is easily pushed. Sitting on a couch with the laptop on your lap will eventually lead to you randomly turning the laptop off if you aren't careful.

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I purchased the Acer TimelineU because I needed a laptop for medical school. This by and large meets and exceeds my expectations. I was a little hesitant because I am not completely familiar with ultrabooks, but I do know enough about PC's to know what I needed it for. The battery life is exceptional and I can go through 7 8 hours worth of lecture (including connection to WiFi at my university) taking notes on PowerPoint and utilizing the internet to find associated information for lectures. The disk space is more than is really needed, and I have yet to get close to using the full 500GB that it has between content that was provided to me from last years class and previous years.

I have only noticed a couple downfalls. If the venting does not have adequate circulation the underside of the base can get pretty hot. Further, when it gets hot if I am running internet based software that streams lectures and I open a new window occasionally it can get choppy momentarily.

Overall, for the price and the function I would rate this a great buy and I am very satisfied with this purchase.

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I was worried about getting something other than one of the "big brands" but now I am so glad that I did. I have never owned acer, but had heard good things about them so I decided that at this price it was worth a try. It may not be as light as other ultrabooks, but it is much lighter than my old laptop. I love how the entire ultrabook is metal because it doesn't leave many fingerprints behind. The backlit keyboard works and looks great! The battery life great. The sound is very loud. As others have mentioned the USB 3.0 is amazing to have and is a must on your next ultrabook or laptop. It uploads things very quickly. My only complaint is that the screen will automatically change the brightness to save battery life and I called acer and they told me that there was no way to turn that off, but at least it's helping the overall battery life.

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I was considering a true ultrabook from Acer for the same price. That one, the Acer Aspire S3-391-6899 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Champagne), would have satisfied what I needed: inexpensive, basic functionality, compact, with an SSD drive for faster boot-up times. I instead got this one which is not as compact but packs a slightly larger screen with the same resolution, a DVD drive, and the same SSD drive. With a protective sleeve it fits nicely in my carry-on luggage. Also, there was no scrimping on either memory (6G) or the hard drive (500G). The i3 processor running at 1.5MHz is on the low end of performance but is sufficient for what I need. Battery time looks to be at least 5 hours but I have not formally timed it yet. The screen has a smaller viewing angle compared to my desktop but it gets better at full brightness. It's been less than two weeks so unless something happens to it later I'll give it 4 stars now.

Update 1:

The right button on the touchpad was a little balky. It does not respond well when pressed in the corner of the pad. You either have to press hard or move your finger closer to the center of the pad. The left button was more consistent across its operating width. It's not a huge deal since I usually attach a wireless mouse. One more USB port would have been nice.

There was the usual Windows 7 and Intel stickers below the keyboard but the Intel sticker advertises a CORE i5 while the true processor is an i3. I wonder if BMW ever got this wrong with their 3XXi and 5XXi cars.