Acer Aspire 1830T TimelineX Pro Reviews

The 11.6in screen may be too small for some people, but otherwise the 1.4kg 1830T has good enough performance, excellent battery life and a massive hard disk.

The keyboard and trackpad on Acer's latest ultraportable laptop aren't perfect, but the sacrifices involved are acceptable when the result is such a sleek machine.

The Acer Aspire 1830T Timeline X is an attractive notebook that successfully delivers netbook convenience and notebook performance in a single package. The question then becomes, "Is that enough?" There's no denying that $900 buys you an ultraportable notebook with better performance than a netbook. The problem is that there are other notebooks (such as the Alienware M11x and the Apple MacBook Air) that do that same thing and provide better gaming performance as well.

The Acer Aspire AS1830T-68U118 is an 11-inch laptop that runs on an Intel Core i7 Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage (CULV) processor and delivered over 8 hours of battery life.

With its refresh of the TimelineX series, Acer has created another compelling ultraportable. The 1830T's fast performance and long battery life make the notebook an excellent companion for students and business users who are always on the go. If you can live with the smallish keyboard and the somewhat steep price, this Acer may have your name on it. Those looking to save money and are willing to skimp on performance might prefer the AMD-powered Dell Inspiron M101z ($549). And if you want good graphics performance and superior ergonomics in a thinner chassis, the $100 more expensive 11-inch MacBook Air is a better choice. But if you crave more processing speed and more storage space in a take-anywhere design, the TimelineX 1830T is the machine to get.

At the end of the day, I am very impressed with the Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830T-68U118 notebook. This is one of the few 11.6-inch ultraportable notebooks that have a keyboard larger than some notebooks with as much as three more inches of screen space. That means you can work all day comfortably without wishing you had an external keyboard.

It looks like a netbook, but the TimelineX packs the power of a full-size notebook. Road warriors who value light weight and a small size will bond with this tiny powerhouse.

Acer's high-end and extremely portable 11.6-inch TimelineX 1830T-68U118 offers a great combination of processor power and features that match what you'd find on a full-size laptop.

Our main complaint about the Acer comes down to its graphics; while the Intel HD is far more capable than previous integrated GPUs, we’d still prefer to see a dedicated GPU for extra performance. Something like NVIDIA’s intelligently-switching Optimus graphics would be ideal. Other than that, USB 3.0 seems an obvious omission, but the main pain-point is the sheer quantity of bloatware Acer preloads. Not only are there various Microsoft, Norton, McAfee, Google and Windows Live trials installed, but seven individual Acer apps covering power management, updates and security. They slow down the system, and give a poor first impression of what’s otherwise a speedy machine.