Acer Aspire Timeline Review

Author: admin, April 4th, 2010

While the days of laptops having only a 2 to 4 hour battery lifespan are far from being numbered, Acer has come out with a laptop that suits the needs of most people who use their laptops as their primary computer instead of their desktop.

The Good

The battery on the Acer Aspire Timeline lasts up to 8 hours, making the standard scramble to find a power outlet before the battery dies a thing of the past.  Well, maybe not a thing of the past, but with double the normal amount of battery life, you’ll be doing that scrambling only half the amount you would otherwise.  Keep in mind, though, the more processor intensive tasks you do (like watching movies) can cause the battery life to vary.

The 15.6 inch LED backlight widescreen display with 1366×768 pixel resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio is just the right size for the traveler.  17 inches is too big for most, but anything smaller than 15.6 inches can potentially hamper productivity.

More good news comes with the fact that the hard drive is 320GB.  You probably won’t need this much space, unless you’re planning on storing a large amount of music, movies, and more on it.  Even if you are a movie buff, you will end up being better off in the long run by putting all of those files on an external hard drive like the Western Digital Passport to supplement your existing internal hard drive space.  Critical files that you don’t want to lose should be stored on an external drive, anyway, in case of a system crash.

3GB of RAM is more than good enough for the average computer user.  While handling graphics intensive programs like Adobe Photoshop or high end computer games might be a bit of an issue, for those who work on the internet, do spreadsheets, word documents, listen to music, and check e-mail more than anything else, this amount of memory will prove more than sufficient.

The built-in webcam is convenient for anyone who doesn’t want to have to lug around an external USB webcam; but keep in mind that there have been viruses capable of allowing someone else to view you remotely or even listen to you with the laptop’s built-in microphone.  This applies to all laptops that have built-in webcams and microphones.  If you like your privacy, put a piece of tape over the camera when you’re not using it.

Something else a lot of other laptops lack is the ability to keep themselves cool to the touch, despite having run for several hours non-stop.  The Acer Timeline fixes this issue with their ComfyTouch technology.

The Bad

This laptop comes with Windows Home Vista Operating system, one of the most criticized operating systems in recent history.  Fortunately, an upgrade to Windows 7 isn’t too expensive if you just can’t stand Vista.

The processor is only a 1.3Ghz, which suits the needs of the average computer user, but those wanting to push the memory and hard drive capacities of this laptop to the limits might be disappointed.

The Verdict

All in all, if you’re looking for a laptop that’s going to see you through the workday no matter where you choose to have it, be it at the local coffee shop, the park, or a relative’s house, the extra long battery life is the most appealing thing about this model.  At 15.6 inches of screen size and weighing in at only 5.3 pounds, the Acer Aspire Timeline is the laptop for the traveling worker.