The performance of the Acer Aspire Timeline X is more than ideal for any tasks or media on the move. Throw whatever internet browsing and video watching you want at it simultaneously, and it will merrily chomp through the lot with ease. But is raw power alone enough to oust your home PC? Read on to find out if you can scrap that beige box for one in this part of our Acer Aspire Timeline X review.
Read the rest of our Acer Aspire Timeline X review:
Acer Aspire Timeline X review
Acer Aspire Timeline X review: Battery stamina
Acer Aspire Timeline X review: Intel Core speed and graphics
We’d love to use the Acer Aspire Timeline X as a one size fits all solution desktop replacement, but unless you use the net for only the most casual reference look up, we can’t say it’s quite suited. There’s no one killer problem that stops that from happening, but a range of minor ones will niggle if you try to use it as your primary machine.
First, the screen: 14 inches is just a shade too small to comfortably be your main way of watching telly and films from the internet. While the screen is bright enough for comfortably working and watching the odd programme, the size is unavoidably too small to make the machine a desktop killer. The 15.6- inch Acer Timeline X model has no such problem, but sacrifices portability for screen real estate.
The answer lies in the Acer Aspire Timeline X’s HDMI and VGA ports, letting you make the most of the machine’s graphical grunt on a larger monitor or television, but this chains it to the table in doing so.
Even opting for a larger screen won’t help the deeply disappointing sound that the Acer Aspire Timeline X suffers from though. The bass is weak, and the machine doesn’t carry the impressive tone that other Acers achieve, especially for a machine that proudly carries a Dolby Home Theater badge.
This wouldn’t be such a baffling problem if it wasn’t for the impressive graphics performance, which suggests the machine can cater for high def video and gaming use. But you would be reliant on purchasing a separate decent pair of speakers to make up for the weedy sound on show here, and that’s a hassle if you plan on taking the laptop with you ever.
The screen size and sound might be a dealbreaker for the Acer Aspire Timeline X as replacement PC, but that certainly doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a clear role. The powerful processor means you can tackle as much work and play – say, a few work documents, the internet and some telly on the side – while the battery life can keep you away from sockets for ages. For the student market and sofa bound, not to mention the Starbucks-dwellers out there, this is a very tempting combination.
There are some quibbles to making this your primary work computer too. The keyboard – as with other Acer models – requires a heavy touch. People who aren’t used to hammering in their words will find this very frustrating to get used to, plus it makes the bounce in the middle of the keyboard all the more noticeable. It’s also worth noting that the keyboard is only just the right side of comfortable with the 14-inch model we tested.
The touchpad on the Acer Aspire Timeline X is broad enough to cover all hand sizes, but like the keyboard, it also requires a heavy touch to register movement. Also, the three bunched USB ports on the front right of the machine (with one more on the left side) can make it tricky to get multiple memory sticks and dongles next to each other.
Lastly there’s the size and weight: at 2.2kg this isn’t such a manbag-friendly machine. Also rather surprising is the strength of build, considering the weight – the Acer Aspire Timeline X chassis bends very easily, so you’ll want to be careful how you carry it about.
But the compromise on weight for power will still be worth it for many. You may not be able to truly replace your desktop, but you can almost certainly chuck out any netbook or small laptop you have in favour of even the cheapest Acer Aspire Timeline X.
Read the rest of our Acer Aspire Timeline X review:
Acer Aspire Timeline X review
Acer Aspire Timeline X review: Battery stamina
Acer Aspire Timeline X review: Intel Core speed and graphics
