Acer 1830T Review
List Price: $699.00
Deal Price: $647.99 (You Save: $51.01)
Acer Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-6651
Acer 1830T Customer Review
Great Ultra Portable Laptop!, February 21, 2011
I never dreamed that I would ever purchase an Acer computer. I always thought of them as being low end budget computers. Boy was I wrong! The Acer Aspire Timelinex AS1830T-6651 is the perfect little powerhouse. I wasn’t satisfied with the idea of purchasing a Netbook of any flavor. I wanted a full computer. I wanted decent battery life, large hard drive, lots of RAM and a decent speed processor.
I did my research (I’ve been a computer tech for 28 years)–lots of research. This was not an impulse buy. I looked at every ultra portable on the market. Every other laptop with similar specs was twice the price. None had the battery life. It doesn’t have a gamer’s graphics card, but I’m not a heavy gamer and knew that going into it, but playing back a movie was perfect. I read one review that said the speakers weren’t very loud and didn’t work very well on an airplane. Excuse me? Who would listen to music or watch a movie on a plane with the speaker? That is what headphones are for. I found the volume was on the low side, but adequate for my uses. If I know I will need more, I’ll pick up some little speakers.
I have had the laptop for over a month now and my opinion has not lessened at all. The battery life is almost unbelievable. I typically get about 6 to 7 hours and I don’t use a lot of the battery saving features either. If I did I would get even more. Even though the case is plastic, I find that it has a good solid feel. It doesn’t feel cheap at all, unless you are comparing it to the more expensive Sony or a MacBook Air. I am certainly satisfied.
Pros: Size, price, keyboard size, expandability, RAM and hard drive size, upgradeable RAM and hard drive, light weight, great battery life, features.
Cons: Slow hard drive (5400rpm – adequate, but faster would have been nice)
I highly recommend this laptop for anyone wanting the portability of a netbook but with the power of an upper mid-range laptop.
See also Acer TimelineX 1830T
A great laptop, February 8, 2011
It has a good feel to it – light but still very study. The only objection I have is that the product description here says “Housed in premium, black brushed aluminum”, which I really wanted. However, it’s really just plastic with a black-brushed aluminum-like finish. Disappointing, but not a deal breaker.
Overall it performs exactly as the specs say – the battery life is outstanding. I’ll be carrying around this baby for quite a while.
Outstanding, May 23, 2011
I had to turn my work Dell Mini 10 in when I changed positions. I really liked the Mini’s size, but the hardware on the Dell left a lot to be desired. Since size was a factor, I looked at many netbooks as well as the Mac Air Book. The Air Book was waaaay over priced especially given its’ specs, so that was out the window. Almost all of the netbooks come with a 1ghz processor and on 1gb of ram (the same as my Mini).
The AS1830T falls somewhere between a netbook and a laptop in size, but it is really a laptop in its’ specs. I was not at all hesitant buying an Acer. My wife has had a 17″ Acer Aspire for over 4 years that she uses (and abuses) on a daily basis.
The screen is very clear and this baby sure does hum along!!! Windows 7 is such a huge leap forward compared to XP or Vista that it’s not even funny. I’d like to see a slightly better keyboard–it does flex a little too much for me, but it is really no big deal. And the speakers could be a little louder.
All in all, this really is a small, light weight mini laptop that is really fast.
Oh I am jealous, May 19, 2011
Ok, so I have the model that came just before this one. You are getting a really good deal here. First you essentially have the size and weight of a “netbook” while having the insides and usability of a real laptop.
This is no toy; I use mine, with only 2 GB of ram, to run the full version of the Adobe CS5 Suite, with Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc. I also have the Microsoft 2010 full suite and I use all these programs at once. Yes if I have a huge file things will get a bit slow, but otherwise I am running very fast, and considering the size of this machine I would say very fast.
The 12inch screen size might be small for some, especially older people with vision difficulties but the screen itself is very bright and clear, the LED really does help. It’s a full resolution screen and you can also hook up to a second screen. My computer also can hook up to any flat screen TV with the HDMI input. This really helps for business presentations.
All in all this is the best computer I have ever owned. It’s SO EASY and LIGHT to carry around town. The battery life is superb. I would highly recommend it.
Your only loss is the lack of an internal cd, but almost all software is downloadable so it has not been a big deal for me.
Pretty Impressed, May 16, 2011
I got the machine from amazon after weeks of research, reading reviews, and wondering if this would be a big mistake. Most of the reviews i read were pretty positive with similar gripes. The Acer was at least half the price of anything i saw that could compare in weight and processor, and i pulled the trigger. I’ve had it two weeks and i have to say i’m pretty impressed. Taking into account that it’s plastic, it is, and it’s #650, it seems solid in feel and look. The 3 pound weight is terrific, and it gets a little warm, but not hot. The screen is bright and everything works as advertised.
The i5 processor is fast enough for my guitar software (Guitar Rig 3) and anything else i’ve thrown at it. The trackpad is not the best quality but it’s very tweakable and absolutely usable. Acer 1830T does all the two finger multi gestures my macbook does, just not as elegantly. When it’s at home i use an apple wireless Bluetooth keyboard and that works fine as well. In fact the only problems i’ve had have been tweaking Windows 7, and not the Acer. While i’m sure that if i drop it it’s dead, that may be the same with any of the more expensive small machines. So far i’m really happy with the decision to get the Acer – thanks to all who reviewed it before me.
