Acer Timeline Ultra m5?

[vacaloca]

Thanks for the pics! Can you post idle temps together with your ambient temps?
80% of the time, I wont be gaming and would like to know if it gets hot browsing or watching youtube.

82.5 F indoors as per a crappy LaCrosse weather station, idle temp CoreTemp instance screenshot after being woken up from sleep is below (just light browsing and uploading the picture):


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Dislaimer: Top panel is not screwed in place at the moment, which might explain the variation -- Idle temps jump between 39 and 43 C. The fan at those temps is nearly silent.

I haven't had too much time to play with it, as I've been out with family, so I will get to a more thorough review when I get a chance. As for my recommendation so far, I like how it's built... the keyboard is very similar to 4830TG. Display viewing angles are not the greatest, might be worse than 4830TG, but I will have to compare side by side later on. It recognized an 8GB DDR3 DIMM for a total of 10 GB RAM. That's about as much new info as I have for the moment

I do not this this is an engineering sample, despite what CoreTemp says about being ES, this chip is just pretty new.

Also, other caveats to be aware of -- apparently the machine will not power itself on when the lid is closed. The lid must be open to be able to power on. Also, it might be that the computer detects the battery, but it "forgets" it is there, so it does not charge nor provides power. I forget what exactly made it work again, as I tinkered with the battery reset hole and unplugging/replugging the battery connections, but I think what did it was to hold power button for 10 seconds while AC adapter is connected and all screws are in and reset BIOS defaults -- for that trick I had a bit of help from the M3 laptop service guide -- downloadable here: http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/Ma...X_Book2_29.pdf. Also, Acer's support site details how to enable battery to charge/provide power again in case this happens to someone else:

http://acer--uk.custhelp.com/app/ans...%2C2813%2C6251

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Just so others can see I'm not entirely biased towards Acer, I also saw Sony has a 13.3" VAIO S Custom Laptop with a free PS3 or Vita, or 8% discount for college students. Probably a better idea to get the PS3 or Vita and sell on eBay or craigslist. VAIO S also has a regular voltage CPU -- starts with an i5-3210M. It also has a VGA port along with HDMI, is docking station or sheet battery capable, and has slot loading optical drive as compared with the Acer models.

[nicksti]

Besides screen size, is there any difference between the M3 and the M5?

[moonhorse]

The two 15" i5 models (500gb hdd or 128gb ssd) of the M5 are actually available to purchase now in the UK, for anybody who has been waiting. The i7 variation will be available from tomorrow (09/07/2012).

Amazon are a bit slow with their stock, but you'll find that some of the M3 models have gone to back order, and they now list the M5 as available to order but not yet in stock.

Regardless, all three models, i5 - 500GB HDD, i5 - 128GB SSD, and the i7 - 128GB SSD should be available from pretty much everywhere by the end of next week (in the UK).

It's about time too, but Acer still haven't even listed the models on their website. What's wrong with those people?

Can anybody explain why America only got the GT 640M LE in their M5 and not the full GT 640M like us Brits? Is it the economy or simply a demographic thing?

Edit: vacaloca, there was an issue with the M3 where sound would cut out with headphones in. I'm not sure if this problem was specific to the i7 model or not, but it definitely occured in all i7 specifications of the M3.

Can you test if that problem still persists in the M5? Just open WMP and play some music for a few minutes (with headphones in), while the music is playing run Windows Experience Index. If the sound cuts out and doesn't return but is active in the volume mixer then the problem remains. :/

Thanks.

[vacaloca]

Edit: vacaloca, there was an issue with the M3 where sound would cut out with headphones in. I'm not sure if this problem was specific to the i7 model or not, but it definitely occured in all i7 specifications of the M3.

Can you test if that problem still persists in the M5? Just open WMP and play some music for a few minutes (with headphones in), while the music is playing run Windows Experience Index. If the sound cuts out and doesn't return but is active in the volume mixer then the problem remains. :/

Thanks.

Tested right now. Played unencrypted m4a files on WMP with no issues as WEI ran. That sounds more of a driver issue than anything else.

FWIW, onboard audio is Realtek High Definition Audio, driver date 4/10/2012, version 6.0.1.6612, VEN_10EC DEV_0269 SUBSYS_10250713
A quick Google finds this is a ALC269 High Definition Audio (82801G) chipset.

Here's a link to download latest Realtek HDA drivers:
http://www.realtek.com/downloads/dow...&GetDown=false

Your question prompted me to check the equalizer... pretty sweet graphic equalizer! (which can also be turned off) I should also mention... the speakers are pretty loud on max volume.

[kDrum]

The regional "developers" for each country/area decide what to put in the particular models they sell. That said, I have no idea why they would choose to not include a 640M, I would have liked the option. Maybe they think thermals are more important, who knows? :P

[downloads]

(...)
Can anybody explain why America only got the GT 640M LE in their M5 and not the full GT 640M like us Brits? Is it the economy or simply a demographic thing?

That's weird indeed. I don't think it was decided on a regional level as this is a non-mxm board that had to be re-designed and equipped with a different GPU.

[Bronsky]

That's weird indeed. I don't think it was decided on a regional level as this is a non-mxm board that had to be re-designed and equipped with a different GPU.

I agree that Acer would never do something like that. It would take too much coordination. Sometimes it's what is available during a particular production run. It would be interesting to track model numbers and manufacturing dates. We have the NX.M27AA.001 14" M5 in the US. What is the model # of the 14" M5 in the UK?

Shame to see throttling still occurring in the Timeline series. I seriously think that the AMD GPU's were easier to cool than the NVIDIA, even the Kepler.

[vacaloca]

Other tidbits to add to the system information.

WiFi/Bluetooth board is a Qualcomm Atheros AR5BWB222, driver version 10.0.0.42, dated 2/23/2012. Latest drivers are available here:
Drivers for Atheros AR5BWB222 and Windows 7. I'm also convinced that there is some sort of incompatibility with even the latest Atheros drivers and Intel RSTe RAID0, as I got freezes on my desktop until I took the PCI-Express wireless card out, but that's a separate issue... just thought I'd throw that out there.

The 20GB SSD has a 4GB hibernation partition (which will have to be changed if RAM is upgraded) and a 14.64 GB partition used for caching via installed ExpressCache software from Diskeeper. As for me, I'll be changing to e 256GB SSD eventually. I might just set up the 20GB SSD as 10GB hibernation partition and 10GB paging file without bothering with that software.

--- The below experiments are all at the panel's native 1366x768 resolution ---

Played a bit of Heroes of Might and Magic at high settings, didn't notice any lag compared to desktop. then again, this is a turn-based game. Temps measured w/ infrared thermometer at hottest point above F11/F12 keys kept steady at about 113-114 deg F, similar ambient temps as earlier post of idle temps.

Also just played the first few minutes of Metro 2033 at DX10, high/very high settings, AAA, didn't see any issues, however I had tried DX11 and I saw some banding in the main game screen (continue/new game/etc), so didn't try it that way. Surface temps on same F11/F12 spot did not go above 92 F. High settings of course are more smooth, very high are not as smooth, but still very decently playable. (I lack FPS here, but I have suggestiveness)

--- The above experiments are all at the panel's native 1366x768 resolution ---

For the tests above, I used the NVIDIA 296.32 drivers that came stock.

Edit: NVIDIA has beta Verde 304.79 drivers on their website: NVIDIA DRIVERS 304.79BETA. These install on the M5-481TG without any INF modifications. I still get that weird black vertical bar banding on Metro 2033 main menu screen with these drivers. I tried DX11 MSAA 4X, and the mouse cursor definitely lags a fair amount. Switched again to DX10 w/ AAA settings under new driver and the game runs really smooth in high, and still decently responsive on very high. Hope this helps someone. This again, is at 1366x768.

[willmgordon]

Clarification query, is it 2GB soldered to the mainboard with one open slot?

Thanks, I am def interested in this model but want to figure what the max Ram it can handle is.

Acer tech support is useless in answering as always.

[vacaloca]

Clarification query, is it 2GB soldered to the mainboard with one open slot?

Thanks, I am def interested in this model but want to figure what the max Ram it can handle is.

Acer tech support is useless in answering as always.

It can definitely take an 8GB DDR3 DIMM, I tried one of mine and it works for a total of 10GB. I have not seen the bottom side of the motherboard to confirm that it is soldered, but on the top side there is definitely just 1 slot. I will probably NOT be taking the motherboard out to confirm for that matter... I'm horrible with keeping track of screws Judging that the Sony 13.3" I mentioned a few posts back has 4GB soldered according to their specs, it seems very likely that this one is also soldered.