Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820T Review: Subtlety defined with style and performance

Ra From Gemstone to Aspire, Acer’s roster of competent yet slender netbooks has unceasingly epitomized elegance, distinctiveness and performance in every possible way. The company’s tradition of labeling its attractive devices with nouns yoking sophistication and selfdom hasn’t recently trumped up. In past, we enthusiastically flashed on Acer’s 5740G which popped up being a successor to the 5738G. Our paling around with Acer’s Timeline series has surely been quite interesting so far. Being ‘on the beam’ about our reactions, we bluntly went ahead and said ‘yes’ when yet another notebook from Acer’s Aspire portfolio hopped onto our desks for getting a comprehensive analysis.

Hauling the sheer 14-inch Acer Timeline X4820T from its box, one thing literally pierced through our mind, this could be more than a customary sleek and light laptop. All ‘in the saddle’ to be hashed over, the system’s professional look is still very much intact, but Acer seems to have added a bit of flamboyance here and there. There’s now a silver trim around the touchpad and the black brushed aluminum cover for a classic appearance. Even better, the 4820T has very little luster as the palm rest is covered in a silvery metal as well. Regrettably, the screen bezel and trim around the keyboard still get the unfortunate black glossy-plastic treatment.

Well, our drilling assessment sallied forth with the design wielding which gave us a chaste look, though not the most voguish one. With manufacturers crowding in with slimmer portable computing solutions, Acer sings pretty harmoniously to similar tunes by tagging it with a weigh of mere 2.2kgs. The lid of the notebook is commendably thin but fails to stand erect when moved from one spot to another. If you are thinking to work on it while traveling, all that crosses our mind is – a bad idea. As we believe, gaining on one thing shouldn’t lose on the other. Having a sturdy hold on its outer flip would have been appreciated since we aren’t interested in playing with keys after losing its panel.

The 4870T’s 0.9- to 1.1-inch thick body is quite a lot placed in proximity to the biggest design coup, nevertheless. It’s just an incredibly thin and light 14-inch laptop, and the battery doesn’t bulge at all like some other ultra portables out there. Despite the thin dimensions, the machine still has room for a DVD player and three USB ports on its right edge. We genuinely have no idea why Acer had to line up all the USB ports so close to each other. It emerged to be quite uneasy to simultaneously plug in multiple devices. An extra USB jack, an HDMI port, an Ethernet RJ-45 port, a VGA port, a Kensington lock slot, air cooling vents, and mic and headphones sockets dwell on the left side, while its 5-in-1 card reader lives on the front lip. There’s also an Acer Crystal Eye webcam and two microphones integrated into the bezel.

The exquisite device’s bass flaunts a battery bay, an HDD bay, a battery release latch, a memory compartment and ventilation slots endured by the cooling fan. The ODD access indicator and DC-in jack are also smoked out on the right edge. While under the laptop’s lid are a number of indicators scattered composedly around the keyboard which include the battery, power, Num Lock, HDD, communication and Caps Lock indicators. A user-programmable key and PowerSmart button for cajoling the device into energy-efficient mode are placed on the top right hand corner above the keyboard.

The high-definition Acer Cine Crystal LED-backlit TFT LCD impressed us with clear visuals, thanks to its 1366 x 768 pixel resolution. We could also easily execute our tasks faster with simultaneous multi-window viewing, a praiseworthy innovation for those who’d like to close and open windows at regular intervals for a flake of fun (just a guess). The image clarity is good enough to keep you grooving over your favorite artists’ videos or favorite comedy flicks for long hours. The screen is definitely bright, like what we’ve seen earlier from Acer, and didn’t disappoint us with any dim horizontal angle viewing.

The device’s standard voltage core i3 processor towers above all of the ULV laptops we have reviewed in the past. The 2.26GHz core i3-350M processor along with 4GB of RAM was certainly fast enough for everyday routine too – we concurrently ran Chrome, Microsoft Word 2007, TweetDeck and Trillian with no lag, and even adding DVD playback to the mix didn’t slow things down.

Coming to the point that half-way makes it or breaks it, the keys lying luxuriously sure enough satisfied our senses. We appreciate the execution of 86 roomy keys posted on the device. Typing in was purely a fluid experience. Just below the space hopped up by keys, the touchpad navigates quite smoothly and is very responsive. Almost like a genie, it listens to your command and works quite impulsively. Quite bouncy and generous in size, it supports multitouch gestures, though we turned off the pinch-to-zoom function since it would mistakenly zoom in on web pages when that’s the last thing we wanted to do. The scroll strip on the right edge was also quick to react. The single mouse button was a bit of uneasy, tempting us to take a knife and chop it into two dedicated buttons.

Since we like everything around us to be more organized, the addition of lots of interesting chunk was pretty cool. Clicking on Start gave us more than just getting on a clove. With its media center, we could personalize the visuals and sound on our computer, making it look even more mesmeric. The option to personalize stood by what it says we could easily toggle between ‘my themes’ ‘aero themes’, and six basic and high contrast themes. Features like transfering of files, share with a home group, change UC settings, back up your files, add new users, and change text size under the category ‘Getting Started’ remain the same.

On clicking ‘start’, documents, pictures, music, games, computer, control penal, devices and printers, and default programs were spotted. One thing that literally made our eyes open wide was the ability to attach sticky notes on your computer. We could remind ourselves with other important tasks by leaving notes on the screen. Though miniature, the experience was truly nice, making us feel more like maintaining a personal to-do notepad.

Playing Farm Frenzy, where catching a bear who tosses animals around, feeding chickens and collecting coins, was pure fun with great graphics and vibrant colors. We also enjoyed playing Dream Day First Home where checking the to-do list and looking for those items hidden in the scene was absolutely pleasant. The entertaining device was strong enough to keep us engaged with 21 pre-installed games. Our aural senses were looked after well with its in-built virtual surround sound left and right speakers supported by Dolby Home Theater. Though decent for personal listening, making others peep into those videos being played wouldn’t have been odd at the same time. Though the TimelineX is gracing the market with discrete ATI Radeon GPU, our unit had Intel’s integrated high-definition graphics, great enough to watch YouTube HD videos.

Embedded with powerful attributes like Acer Nplify 802.11b/g/, Intel Core i3-330M processor and Intel HD graphics, the notebook let us go through it smoothly with a 6-cell Li-ion battery. After nearly six hours of powerful computing, the device looked still afresh with minimal energy torn out. For storing ample amount of content, the HDD options of 320GB and 500GB topple as good add-ons. Not to forget, the DVD Super Multi ODD has also been planked in to add a sense of distinctiveness. Well, just like the Aspire One 521 and 721, the company has loaded this one as well with powerful software. The desktop comes strewed with NetFlix, Acer games, Norton Online Backup Security, McAfee Internet Security Suite 2009 trial, Microsoft Office Personal 2007, Microsoft Office Trail, Adobe Flash Player 10, Acer Video Conference Manager and Windows Live Essentials.

To put it in a nutshell, the Acer Aspire TimelineX X4820T is sure in for those looking for powerful performance in a slim chassis. The fusion of elegance, style and extreme portability takes the notebook certainly up on the ladder. Just certain tweaks in its substandard build quality would’ve made it nail down even more admiration. However, there’s no doubt that it’s in a class much on its own. The sleek unit successfully scores a good 9 out of 10 from us. A price tag of Rs. 36,624 (exclusive taxes) comes stitched to it.

9Rating

Pros

• Sleek body
• Powerful performance
• Lightweight
• Great display

Cons

• Lacks style
• Weak battery life