I own a 2008 non unibody 15" Macbook Pro and I wanted a second laptop for Windows support. This laptop fits my needs.
First of all, I'll list some of the things I didn't like about the laptop -
The screen lid is heavy, so if you tried to lift/open the screen with just one hand the whole laptop lifts up. Thus, to turn on the laptop or wake up from sleep, I have to use two hands.
Lame branding. On the lid, there's the acer logo in the middle which is great, but on the top right there's some logo for SignalUp (acer technology branding) that could have been omitted. It's not a sticker you can remove. Also the speakers have the words Dolby Theater and Professionally Tuned. Good to know a professional tuned the speakers, but it distracts from the overall aesthetics of the laptop.
Not a backlit keyboard. Not a deal breaker but nice to have, considering it's just a $20 add-on on Dell laptops.
Glossy screen. Not a big fan, and the viewing angles aren't as a good as a current Macbook Pro.
Bloatware, yeah it's there and it's annoying. Took a while to uninstall.
No light to indicate camera is on. It's trivial, but how would I know someone isn't secretly taping me?
Positives +
+ The trackpad on Macs are superior but I was surprised to find the trackpad on this Acer to work pretty well. Two finger scroll is mainly what I love and used to. It also supports Chrome two finger scroll horizontally to go back/forward. The downside is that trackpad area is fairly tiny and at times I would accidentally make a pinching gesture and it would increase/decrease the font on the website I'm on.
+ USB 3.0 and HDMI input. Currently, no Apple laptop supports USB 3.0 and to get HDMI out you have to buy and carry around a dongle.
+ Looks fairly good, seems solidly built 4lbs, not too thick blue color, not black or the same old aluminum color.
+ Screen is generally good, producing vivid colors despite the glossiness. As long as you view it at the right angle, the screen looks sharp.
+ Battery life...very good. I played 2 720p MKV movies at full brightness and it lasted nearly 4 and a half hours. So I can see it going 8 hours for light web/document editing use. Battery is built-in, so it's not easily swappable.
Lastly, price...fantastic price for a second generation i5 processor, 4GB RAM and 500gb hard drive. I don't play any PC games so I can't comment on it's graphics power. I use Picassa to edit photos and it's pretty snappy with other apps opened (Chrome, Outlook 2010, Visual Studio). I also do not need an optical drive.
So to sum it up the laptop looks good (not a thick heavy ugly piece of plastic), good performance and good price (half the price of a 13" macbook pro). I do love OS X Lion but I feel Windows 7 has bridged the gap. There are +/to the various operating systems, but for the most part it comes down to preferences and software that you need to get a job done. In this case, I need Outlook 2010 (Outlook 2011 for Mac is still not up to par, and Visual Studio for coding). Highly recommended!
Brilliant buy for my needs. Long battery life in Windows, sometimes saying 10hrs left when was typing in lyx. Slick design, fingers find keys easily for typing.
Dual-Booted: Installed Kubuntu 11.10 and runs flawlessly (just need small edit to get screen brightness adjustable and power managment improved-search in ubuntu 11.10 forums) but with about 90% of the battery life it gets in windows (Win7 power management little better) but still getting >7hrs battery life depending on usage.
Running python image analysis scripts as quick, if not quicker that on my Core 2 Quad on my desktop.
Screen looks great and the 1366x768 (I think) is brilliant as still can show a lot on the screen if using for coding and image displays.
The sound is good and makes watching series etc. great, especially helps having the 16:9 aspect ratio on the screen for most movies. Means picture not actually smaller than a 15inch screen.
Had this for 2 months now and no complaints.
Buy Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3830T-6870 13.3-Inch Aluminum Laptop (Cobalt Blue) Now
This is my 2nd Acer laptop purchase in a few months from the TimelineX Series. This thing is light, powerful, and the battery lasts 6-10 hours depending on use. Just a note: doesn't have a CD drive. This is fine because I don't need it and it makes it lighter. When compared to a similar Macbook pro (exact same specs and $500+ more), this thing is awesome. Other than the pre-installed bloatware (took about 2 hours to remove), I have no complaints.
Read Best Reviews of Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3830T-6870 13.3-Inch Aluminum Laptop (Cobalt Blue) Here
Did a lot of research and found this to be the best combination of price, performance, reliability and size for our high schooler.
Pros:
more than adequate speed for non-gaming use, no visible lag on anything
nice trackpad, good sensitivity not quite MacBook Pro level, but best I've seen on a PC
price is great, esp. given how comparable it is to a MacBook.
sturdy build, the aluminum body feels like it'll withstand a decent amount of real-world abuse toting back and forth to class
8-hr battery life means it'll last a full schoolday without needing to plug in
USB 3 and HDMI interfaces mean it'll still be relevant 5 years from now
not overloaded with bloatware (unlike I'd read in some other reviews) 20 mins and you're free of any junk you don't want
Cons:
fan could be quieter (not bad, but not silent)
at 4.0 pounds it's light but not super-light, esp. considering there's no DVD drive (bought a $35 external DVD drive for the rare occasions that's needed)
glossy screen sigh, wish the industry would go back to matte finishes
no backlit keyboard seems only Dells (mediocre reliability record) and Macs (too expensive) get it
Overall, we're super-happy with it so far! Highly recommended.
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Update: 2 weeks later:
I've had more time to work with it, and am still super-happy. In particular I set up an external USB DVD drive (Amazon's Buffalo DVSM-PC58U2VB, just $35 or something) and plugged the laptop's HDMI into our 50" plasma TV to see how it'd work totally perfect, super-smooth video (my previous laptops had problems there), sound coming through the HDMI just like it's supposed to, and even impressive DVD player software bundled in from Acer (clear.fi? or something).
Far as I can tell the only serious competition for this would be the Toshiba Portege R830, which is lighter by a significant .9 pounds (3.2 vs 4.1) AND includes a DVD drive, but is $150 more and doesn't have USB 3.0. I'm sticking with the Acer.
Want Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3830T-6870 13.3-Inch Aluminum Laptop (Cobalt Blue) Discount?
Intro
I prefer around a 13-14" laptop, I find that a netbook is too small for my big hands, but I find that a 15-17" laptop isn't as portable for what I want. You can find the standard 15.6" laptops for dirt cheap, but the 13-14" laptop range is harder to find a reasonably priced computer. When I found this computer, I realized I'd found something special. It had all the specs I wanted, a sleek chassis, slender design, a great processor, a great battery life, good memory and hdd size and at a decent price.
Overall Performance
This computer has an Intel Core i5 processor which is a quad-core processor which is sufficient for everything from everyday tasks to even some computer gaming. I'm not sure this is the machine you want for gaming on the go without the optical drive unless you're into that video game streaming service, which much lower grade laptops can handle just as well. Overall, the laptop is snappy and performs everything quickly and easily.
Display/Graphics:
The 13.3 display is quite beautiful. It's big enough to use yet small enough to remain portable. The colors and bright and crisp and the resolution is good even for movies. I'm not going to say that it is HD but that's not important to me anyhow. The screen is sturdily attached to the chassis of the computer via a cylinder like design. I believe that the graphics card has dedicated memory for which is a rarity in laptops.
Sound/Speakers:
The sound on this computer blows me away. It is amazing. Most laptop speakers are known for sucking even on Macbooks. But the speakers on this laptop are superb and there is rarely a reason you need external speakers. The sound is crisp and clear and it's just amazing how good the speakers are on this laptop.
Features & Accessories:
The keyboard is good, the keys are spaced more than your standard PC laptop though they take a little getting used to depending on what style of a laptop/keyboard you're switching from. The mouse-pad is ok, but a little smaller than I would like, though the pinch and double finger swipes are nice features but again take getting used to. Connection-wise, you've got 3 USB ports 1 of which is a USB 3.0 which is a nice feature. There's an HDMI port, VGA, mic, headphones and a card reader. It should be noted that like Netbooks most 13.3" laptops don't feature a DVD/CD drive and neither does this one. However, this shouldn't be a problem as you can pick up an external DVD drive relatively cheap online these days for those times you need a DVD/CD and a thumb stick, flash card or an external hard drive won't do.
Battery:
The battery life is outstanding for this little computer and provides anywhere from 6-8 hours depending on your usage. Which is great for a nice portable laptop. The plug also has a quick release feature so that if you trip on the cord the plug will disconnect from your laptop easily without causing damage to either the cord or the laptop. Also, the computer runs amazingly cool. It doesn't feel hot or even really warm to the touch even after hours of use and you can feel cool air blowing out the side which is quite nice.
Conclusion:
Everything in this laptop looks nice and is well designed. Simplicity, portability, great sound and sleekness of design are this products key features. If this sounds like the kind of laptop that will suit your needs I don't think you'll be disappointed at all.
I've had this computer for a little over a month now, and it's doing everything that I need from it. I use it to create slideshows, work on training videos, music, and video games, and it does everything without ever slowing down. The areas that light up are cool for some people, I personally don't use them. The AlienFX allows for you to switch their color between fifteen or so colors, of if you're like me, it allows you to turn them off. It's got enough memory to allow one to have a music player, a movie maker, microsoft powerpoint, and Google Chrome with about twenty tabs open, and the computer never slows down. It's a rather large, and heavy computer, but well worth the pricetag.
