Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810T-8638 11.6-Inch HD Display Black Laptop – Over 8 Hours of Battery Life

4 Comments

1. Anthony C. Nichols says:

   November 20, 2009 at 6:24 pm

   I’ve researched and compared this notebook exhaustively to other netbooks and notebooks. Currently I’m not seeing anything rivals this beauty. There just isn’t another machine out there in the new ‘Ultra Portable’/'Thin & Light’ categories that compares. There are some smaller notebooks that come close in the 13′ category but they’re heavier and more expensive.

   For the price, you wont find another machine with all the top end tech specs this baby has (1.3Ghz-Core2Duo, 800Mhz FSB with 3MB L2, 4GB RAM @ 667Mhz, and too many more to mention here) with the same size/weight dimensions (11.6 display & 11.2W x 8.03D x 0.87/1.18H) all at only 3.1 lbs.

   The only problem is I can’t get one. It’s been back ordered for some time and Amazon can’t say when the order will be filled. Guess I can’t blame them though. It seems there isn’t one to be found at any other retailer either. It may be possible to find the random black model but good luck trying to get it in blue.

   I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait.

   Rating: 5 / 5
2. Daniel R. Dreifort says:

   November 20, 2009 at 8:22 pm

   The processor is just a little too underpowered for my taste. I.e. some common tasks take longer than on my >3 yr old AMD 64 X2 3600+ But otherwise, the hardware on this thing is great. It’s a dainty power sipper. Only 10 watts to the CPU. Nutty. Even the large-ish HD sips the juice. Windows 7 booted up and shut down considerably faster than XP. But man oh man, what a pain in the dark side otherwise. (win7)

   A key app for my business (Webposition) wouldn’t run correctly on Win7, so I had to downgrade to XP. However, Acer will not provide ANY support with XP downgrades on this model. The first person just hung up on me. The second was rude and wouldn’t even tell me which of the three webcam drivers listed on their site for the 1810T/XP was the correct one. Lame.

   Had some trouble installing XP b/c 1810T wouldn’t recognize my new external CD/DVD as a boot disk (Samsung SE-S084) unless I turned off AHCI mode in the BIOS. Problem is… when you do that, you can’t easily switch back to SATA/AHCI from IDE once the OS is installed… so your HD might not perform up to its potential.

   If I both liked and could use Win7 for key apps, I’d give this Acer a full five stars… but well, I don’t and I can’t so I didn’t. So many contractions.

   Before I managed to get XP to load I called Tiger Direct for a RMA. They sent the pre-paid UPS sticker via email in seconds. So kudos to them. (I’ve heard so many bad things about Tiger Direct over the years, perhaps partially unfounded.)

   Rating: 4 / 5
3. Mrs. Night Owl says:

   November 20, 2009 at 10:56 pm

   Let me preface this review by stating I am not a computer/tech person. I am a 35 yo housewife and nursing student who needs something that is powerful (fast), small, light and handy that I can take with me everywhere I go. My first stab at reaching that goal was a 10.1″ Acer Aspire One over a year ago. I got some good use out of it but grew tired of the limitations and slow speed compared to an awesome desktop at home (my husband IS a computer/tech guy). So I’d been waiting for an 11.6″ model to hit the market that actually had true notebook features – not the lame atom processors, etc. It’s finally here.

   What I like:
   
   -quiet
   
   it is super quiet, fan noise barely audible

   -screen is really sharp
   
   the definition and clarity of the screen/graphics are great; color is vivid as well

   -keyboard
   
   full size, and also quiet with low profile keys

   -handy buttons
   
   there are a lot of handy one-touch type features like one that will black out the screen (could be used to thwart that nosy neighbor in the seat next to you, as well as being a great power saver during downtime)

   -setup was easy
   
   it is pretty self explanatory: put battery in, plug in, turn on, follow instructions, uninstall pre-installed garbage.

   -speed
   
   it boots up quickly and switching windows or webpages is almost instantaneous

   -touch pad
   
   it is matte, slightly textured, and makes for easy use with average sensitivity. It also has some neat extra features where using different strokes across or in a circular motion will switch between windows and zoom in or zoom out… there are several of these and I don’t know them all yet. Also, it is not so sensitive that if your thumb pad rubs over it while typing the cursor will jump around – I’ve had that problem before and I’m glad I don’t have it now!

   -surfaces
   
   the inside surface hand rest, aside from the touch pad, appears to be a brushed metal type that does not show fingerprints (nice). The outside is typical onyx – it’s black with a little bit of barely noticeable sparkly-ness if you look closely.

   I have not used the Bluetooth feature yet… need to set that up for my Blackberry Storm. Also am ordering a BT mouse but have seen so many mixed reviews about the available models so will need to do more research.

   The computer comes well packaged and had no signs of damage. However, I think the cold made all the sticky plastic protectors leave a gummy residue on the case. It was easy to peel it off though -but initially alarming just the same.

   No case or cover – it came with a fabric cover that is similar to the stuff that’s used on the bottom of box springs. So if you get this computer, you might as well order a bag/sleeve at the same time.

   Windows 7 – works like a charm.

   Weight – it’s light and easy to handle.

   The bottom line: I love it and would highly recommend it. Thanks for reading my review!

   Addendum: I wanted to mention how long the battery lasts. I am notorious for rapid battery consumption on all devices (have to take cords with me always) —this computer is changing that. I take it to school and it is on from 1:30-8:00 intermittently running MS office apps like Word, Excel and Powerpoint, plus an internet browser (I use Firefox). The use is not constant, but it’s still on and ready the whole time. I don’t even bother taking the cord with me, becuase on average after this usage I still have between 70-75% battery remaining when I get home! Amazing!
   
   Rating: 5 / 5
4. K. Hutchison says:

   November 21, 2009 at 1:19 am

   I wanted something small, light, powerful with long battery life.

   I had to send it back because the keyboard had some keys that did not work. So now I am waiting on a replacement, had to wait a while to get it so so kind of a bummer.

   pros:
   
   - battery life was as promised, 5-7 hours depending on what you do.
   
   - way faster than my old N280 netbook (others report passmark of 891).
   
   - variable speed fan runs a lot but is quiet even at some of the midrange speeds. The targus (10″) netbook chill mat fits it nicely. Has vents on the bottom so a netbook cooler helps.
   
   - Memory and HD doors on the bottom, this is a big plus for me. HD easy to change, be sure to undo the ribbon cable connector before lifting the HD out.
   
   - Win7 reports 3999 Mb of total RAM (pretty good).
   
   - BIOS can boot from USB devices (needed for emergency recovery).

   cons:
   
   - build quality seems a bit low, guess I am used to business model Dell’s.
   
   - screen flickers slightly, as if the brightness setting is unstable, but is otherwise crisp and bright.
   
   - keyboard didn’t work on my unit, feels cheap like my netbook did.

   fyi:
   
   - Comes with a 12Gb recovery partition, it prompts you to burn recovery DVD’s, have to buy a USB dvd. You can order recovery Dvd’s from Acer’s support website. They appear to be bootable DVD’s but I did not try them. Documentation says restoring from the DVD’s does not remake the recovery partition, but preserves it if it is there.
   
   - comes with a cloth sleeve, buy a better case if you want protection.

   The price is right so no complaints if it works.
   
   Rating: 4 / 5