This time we will review a notebook that sets new standards in area of quality and applied solutions. Lot of water under the bridge has passed since we encountered a notebook that left such positive impressions on us. To be honest, there were laptops that offered much better performance levels but this laptop has, until now, unprecedented combination of mobility and autonomy with quality to match and price tag below 700€.
Acer’s decision to place this line of laptops under Aspire series is odd one, because it looks like separate Acer Timeline brand would be much better choice. Nevertheless, new series full name is: Acer Aspire Timeline. Confusion will be even bigger since Aspire brand is intended for home users, while Aspire Timeline is, more than anything, intended for business users. Regardless all that, Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T is one quality built 14-inch 2.1kg laptop. Compared to other models with same diagonal it belongs to lighter models (
Toshiba Tecra R10 is 1.95kg while
HP EliteBook 6930p is 2.4kg). Cover is made out of brushed aluminum that contributes to elegant appearance of this laptop. Although cover is made out of aluminum and it does look good, is it relatively thin so its rigidity is not too great. Nevertheless, despite its slimness and relative flexibility, it is still better solution than most plastic covers that we saw so far. Construction of whole laptop is very good and does not produce any squeaking noises during cover opening or even serious chassis bending. Since Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T belongs to thin laptop models, this is important feature. Gray chassis and black keyboard are neutral combination that most users will find appealing. Thin laptop and huge autonomy in most cases don’t go hand in hand, but Acer engineers managed to integrate 6-cell battery so it doesn’t stick out of chassis.
Keyboard is good and quiet with slight bending at left side. It belong to “new wave” keyboards designed similar to Apple keyboards already seen on
HP ProBook 4510s and
ASUS 1004DN . Acer named these keyboards: FineTip, and ads attribute “floating” as one of their main advantages. Large and roomy keys are trend that we do like. Our sample had large Enter key, which is another feature that we like. Nicely separated cursor keys will also get useful. Aspire Timeline 4810T has multi-gesture touchpad that supports two-finger zoom (move fingers apart) and vertical scroll actions (circular finger movement). In addition, next/previous song in Windows Media Player action is possible by moving both singers to the left or right side (in WinAmp left/right touchpad button), while in WinAmp this action results in Fast-forward/backward. Touchpad buttons are made in form of one big button with small “dead zone” in the middle (rocker). Buttons are precise and with shallow keypress which is one of the best combinations. Beside the touchpad is button that disables it, so you don’t accidently move pointer during typing.
Above keyboard are located additional buttons. To the left is Power button, and to the right is Eject button for DVD combo. This is much better position than one on the DVD tray itself. Between those two buttons are located wireless, Acer Backup Manager and Acer Smart Power touch sensitive buttons. Last one can be used to “unlock” the doors toward huge autonomy, but about this a little bit later.
Along edge of upper surface are pictograms that represent appropriate connectors located on the sides. Three of those can be easily located even without pictograms but for the rest those will get handy. One of the rare problems that we encountered with Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T is maximal opening angle of cover. It should be bigger, and this can present a problem if you use laptop from your lap when sitting.
