Thoughts on Acer TimelineX? (In market for light, college laptop with dedicated graphics)

[wikizilla]

Hey guys!

I'm looking for a college laptop, and my priorities are:

1. Performance
2. Portability (14" preferred, but I could go into the 15" zone)
3. Dedicated Graphics Card (ideally would run games like Skyrim and BF2 well on medium settings)
4. Solid, reliable build


I don't want to spend anymore than a 1000 dollars, and laptops under 850 are preferable. There aren't too many considerations beyond that. I'm not picky about brand.

Right now, I've been looking at Acer's TimelineX. Here are the specifications:

CPU Type
Intel Core i5-2450M 2.5GHz

Screen
14"

Memory Size
4GB DDR3

Hard Disk
500GB

Optical Drive
DVD Super Multi

Graphics Card
NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M Switchable Graphics

Video Memory
1GB

Weight
4.88 lbs.

Right now, it's selling at a nearby store for 600 dollars (on sale). Do you guys think that its performance will be sufficient to get me through four years of school? And are there alternative laptops that might be a better option (such as the Lenovo y480)?

Finally, is now the time to buy? Or should I wait until sales in August?

[Karamazovmm]

terrible, it overheats.

check this thread

Thin and Light 11-14 notebooks gaming worth compendium

[Stormyy]

You're lucky Newegg is nice enough to keep this in stock, still.

Newegg.com - ASUS A53SV-NH51 Notebook Intel Core i5 2430M(2.40GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory DDR3 640GB HDD 5400rpm DL DVD±RW/CD-RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M