 "Acer Aspire TimelineX 5830TG")
Acer laptops more often than not provide great value for money, as far as comparisons with similar priced laptops are concerned. This is particularly true for notebooks priced around and under the Rs. 40,000 price range. Acer has just launched the Aspire TimelineX 5830TG as a part of their Aspire series. But, is this notebook worth your money? Read on to find out.
The TimelineX 5830TG
Design and Build Quality
Upon opening the box, we were extremely impressed by the Aspire 5830TG’s sleek looks and minimalistic design. It comes off as an extremely slim notebook and has a matte navy blue exterior and silver interior design. It weighs 2.49kg with the 6-cell lithium-ion battery. The screen has a glossy surface and hence reflections do become a bit prominent. Connectivity on the left side includes the Kensington lock, RJ-45 port, VGA port, HDMI port, USB 3.0 and the audio and microphone jack. The right-side consists of three USB 2.0 slots, the optical drive, and the power supply slot. The laptop has a chiclet-styled keyboard with good tactile feedback that facilitates long hours of typing.
Poor build quality
While the design is great, the build did have a few flaws. The lid of the laptop, as well as the area above the optical drive didn’t seem to be reinforced too well and could have had a much stronger panel. Besides that, the chassis build seemed okay. This laptop receives full marks, as far as its design is concerned, but Acer definitely could have done better with the build quality.
Features
The 5830 comes with an Intel Core i5 processor running at 2.3GHz, which can be turbo-boosted upto 2.9GHz, according to Acer. It runs an NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M graphics card, with up to 2229 MB of TurboCache and comes bundled with Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit). It comes with a 15.6-inch LCD screen, 3GB DDR3 memory and 640GB hard disk. Acer claims that its Nplify Wi-Fi technology allows users more bandwidth while transferring files via Wi-Fi. It also comes with NVIDIA’s Optimus technology that saves battery life by switching off the power of the GPU when not needed.
Consists of one USB 3.0 port
The laptop comes bundled with Microsoft’s Office Starter Edition. It also comes with Acer’s USB power off charging mode that allows users to charge external peripherals, inspite of the laptop being powered OFF.
Performance
Ergonomics, as well as aesthetics of the 5830 are top-notch. Track pad quality and key feedback is good, as well. The heatsink is located on the side and hence the laptop doesn’t get too hot. Charging doesn’t heat up the laptop, too. There’s equal heat distribution on the surface and the circular hinges on the side look sturdy as well. Audio and video quality is good and the laptop seamlessly plays HD media and the high-resolution screen is good enough to watch videos. The sound, too, fares well and the laptop has a fairly high volume.
Three USB 2.0 ports
The laptop did pretty well in the tests we pitted it up against and compared to the Dell Inspiron 15R, it had much better results. Acer’s Nplify also worked fairly well as data transfer speeds via Wi-Fi were much better than the other laptops we’ve tested. We benchmarked Far Cry 2 and we got a max frame rate of 24.99 and an average fram rate of 16.9 with performance settings cranked up to the max. Here are the results of the tests we’ve conducted.
Performance Chart: Dell Inspiron 15R vs Acer Aspire TimelineX 5830TG
Battery Life
The laptop cranked out a battery life of 1 hour and 50 minutes with high performance in Battery Eater Pro, which is good especially with a dedicated graphics card running on the six-cell Li-ion battery. As mentioned earlier, the extended battery life is due to NVIDIA’s Optimus technology.
Acer 5830TG - A worthy buy
Verdict
Acer’s Aspire TimelineX 5830TG is priced at Rs. 42,229. The only drawback of worthy mention was the build quality. It comes with all the features you’d require in your notebook – good looks, performance and more so, at an interesting price. As compared to the Inspiron 15R, this one definitely packs more of a punch.
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