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Engadget's back to school guide 2011: laptops
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today we're getting down to the very important business of helping you sift through laptops, and you can always head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the month we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here! Ah, laptops. Some of us received our first notebooks the summer before college if not later. But times have changed and we're sure for many of the kids reading this freshman year is just an excuse to upgrade from the clunkers that carried them through high school. Either way, this one's pretty much mandatory -- unless you're a serious gamer who insists on a desktop GPU for marathon sessions of CoD: Black Ops, you're going to need a laptop for pounding out last-minute term papers in the library, taking notes in class and posting incriminating photos on Facebook. The problem is, the market's overrun with laptops that purport to be just perfect for the back to school set. They can't all be worth your money, though, so we whittled the list down to a handful of choices for each budget -- and if you're lucky you'll get your very own HP Pavilion dm1z for the pretty price of, well, nothing. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and check out our giveaway page for more details. So wipe off the glasses, grab your clicker, and get ready to jump past the break for a top-level overview of this year's picks for back to school.
Acer TimelineX AS5830TG-6402 review
When Acer unveiled its first Timeline laptops in 2009, these slim numbers felt like a revelation. Imagine: thin notebooks rated to last hours and hours on a charge and priced well under a grand! Fast-forward two years and that proposition seems a bit quaint, doesn't it? Pretty much every PC maker has been working on slimming down their wares and extending battery life with -- shall we say? -- mixed results. Still, Acer has kept on keeping, and its latest TimelineX laptops carry the torch as thin, long-lasting and inexpensive. As always, the company released Timelines in assorted screen sizes, ranging from 13.3 to 15.6 inches. We took a look at the 15-incher, the $800 AS5830, which promises to last up to nine hours unplugged and also packs a discrete graphics card – a feature many of its competitors have been skipping. But are impressive battery life and a relatively trim physique enough to make this notebook stand out in a crowded field of inexpensive, good-enough laptops? Let's see. %Gallery-131151%
Acer announces redesigned Aspire TimelineX Series laptops, prices start at $599
If Acer's current Aspire TimelineX notebooks look a little too dull for your tastes, have a peek at that industrial-looking number in the picture above. The company just redesigned its line of skinny laptops, and refreshed them with Sandy Bridge processors while it was at it. The 13.1-inch 3830T, 14-inch 4830T, and 15.6-inch 5830T all have that two-tone aluminum design (also available in black), along with USB 3.0, a choice of Core i3 and Core i5 CPUs, and Acer's clear.fi software for sharing media among DLNA devices. The 14- and 15.6-inch versions have onboard optical drives and number pads, and, on select models, you can choose a discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT520M or GT540M card. However, the screen resolution is going to be 1366 x 768 regardless of which you pick. The 3830T, 4830T, and 5830T are available now, starting at $799, $699, and $599, respectively, and you can find specs for a handful of models after the break. %Gallery-125362% %Gallery-125345%
Acer Aspire TimelineX series updated with new processor options
It really does feel like it was just yesterday that Acer released its new TimelineX series, but believe it or not, it's processor upgrade time for the thin and light lappie line. The 11.6-inch Aspire TimelineX 1830T will now be available with ultra-low voltage Core i3, i5 and i7 CPU options, though Acer's pushing the $900 Core i7 680UM-powered version (the 1830T-68U118) rather hard. If you're looking for that sort of power in a 3.1-pound chassis, it's not all that bad of a deal, especially considering the similarly spec'd Lenovo IdeaPad U160 costs north of $1,000. We are a bit skeptical of Acer's eight hour battery life claim on that one, however. The other TimelineX machines -- the 13.3-inch 3820T, 14-inch 4820T and the 15.6-inch 5820T -- are also being injected with more standard voltage Core i3 and i5 processor options, and those will start around the $700 mark. All the new models should be available at retailers soon, and those dying for some more configuration details should hit the break for the full press release. %Gallery-103346%
Acer TimelineX 4820T review
Pulling the 14-inch Acer TimelineX 4820T from its box, one thing went through our mind: this could be the perfect thin and light laptop. The $717 system is about an inch thick, weighs only 4.7 pounds, and still has an onboard DVD drive. And unlike the past Acer Timelines and their sissy ULV processors, it has a standard voltage Core i3-350M CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive. Oh, and it promises over seven hours of battery life. Sound like the perfect no-compromise ultrathin laptop to you too, right? Well, even after our unboxing, the TimelineX 4820T did live up to many of our expectations, but disappointed in some unfortunate others. We'll explain it all in our full review after the break. %Gallery-97183%
Acer Aspire Timeline X laptops arrive stateside sans ULV processors
Acer's Timeline X laptops have been popping up around the world for over three months now, but the thin and light machines are finally making their way to this side of the globe, and we can only hope they're as excited as we are. The machines all shun ULV processors for standard voltage Core i3 or i5 CPUs, yet each of the models still ring up at under a grand. They also span the entire size spectrum -- there's an 11.6-inch 1830T, 13.3-inch 3820T, 14-inch 4820T and lastly the 15.6-inch 5820T. However, despite their full-power CPUs and ATI Mobiltiy Radeon HD 5650 graphics options, all the models continue to measure less than an inch thick -- yep, even the Aspire 5820T and the Aspire 4820T with onboard optical drives maintain rather trim measurements. While there are plenty of deals to be had, the $800 Aspire 4820TG with its Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 320GB hard drive sounds mighty tempting. Yet, there's also the $600 1830T with a Core i3 processor, 3GB of memory and 320GB of storage. We told you we were excited. These should be hitting retailers soon, but if you're dying for some more details hit the break for the full press release or the gallery below for some hands-on shots we stole at Computex a few weeks back. %Gallery-95975%
