Laptop-Review.eu

Today we start out with a fresh review of the Acer T1810 to go with your morning coffee. Acer is focusing a lot on the market for smaller mobile laptops these days, and this model is no exception. The Timeline series may not be categorized as netbooks, but in light of their size, maybe that would be appropriate. However, this little device actually packs quite a punch, and for some £440 or so, you could be the brand new owner of a powerful, mobile laptop. Let us see what the product has to offer.

The product was kindly lent to us by Acer.com

Specifications

Category
Business, Students

Processor
Intel Pentium SU4100

Chipset
Mobile Intel GS45 Express

RAM
3 GB DDR2 SDRAM

Hard drive
320GB One S-ATA hard disc drive

Display
11.6 inches / 1366 x 768 / 24-bit (16.7 million colours) / TFT active matrix

Sound card & speakers
Dolby®-optimized surround sound system with two built-in stereo speakers
Optimized 2nd Generation Dolby Sound Room® audio enhancement, featuring Dolby® Headphone, Dolby® Natural Bass and Dolby® Sound Space Expander
High-definition audio support
S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) support for digital speakers
MS-Sound compatible

GPU
Intel GMA 4500MHD

Battery
6-celled lithium-ion-battery (Li-Ion)

Optical drive
N/A

I/Os
3x USB 2.0 ports
1x HDMI™ (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) support
1x External display (VGA) port
1x Headphones/speaker/line-out jack with S/PDIF support
1x Microphone-in jack
1x Ethernet (RJ-45) port
1x DC-in jack for AC adapter
1x Webcam Crystal Eye
1x Microphone

Wireless Connectivity
Wireless WiFi Link 802.11b/g/Draft-N
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

Dimensions
3 cm x 28.5 cm x 20.4 cm
ca. 1.35 kg including battery

Support
Support is available via Acer

Warranty
1 year

Operating system
Windows 7 Home

Software included
Acer Crystal Eye
Acer GridVista™
Acer eRecovery Management
Acer GameZone
Acer Game Console
Acer 3G Connection Manager
(only on 3G models)
McAfee Internet Security Suite 60-day trial version
Adobe® Reader®
Adobe® Flash® Player 10
Google™ Toolbar
Google™ Desktop
Google™ Setup
eSobi™
CyberLink® PowerDirector® trial version
My WinLocker
Microsoft® Works 9.0 with Office Home and Student 2007 Trial
Microsoft® Windows Live™ Essentials
Orion™

Price
The reviewed model costs about £440 including VAT.

Package contents

The package contains the warranty certificate and the standard manuals. Otherwise that is it.

Included
- AC adapter
- Manuals and warranty certificate

Physical aspects

First impression



Acer time and again manage to deliver reliable products which are praised as good, if not the best, by most reviewers. The 1810TZ does not appear to an exception. The line between netbooks and “proper” notebooks is fuzzy and sometimes paper-thin, and this product lands right in that grey area.
You can find it under notebooks on Acer’s website, but with a weight of 1.35kg, 11.6” display and no optical drive it possesses many netbook characteristics. Make no mistake though; this product is a black-belt. Filled with good hardware, this little bugger offers great performance and – according to Acer – an 8 hour battery life. That means you should be able to run more than just word processors on it. Sounds good.




It is almost identical to the Acer Aspire One 751h in terms of looks, but that is not a bad thing at all. It is grey and black and will probably appeal a bit more to businessmen than students. The lid is black and mixed with many gray nuances on the inside. The grey surfaces have some kind of texture, which adds a little luxury. Acer calls the colour palette Diamond Black, and there are two other colours to choose between on this laptop. The lid also has the mandatory, metallic Acer logo which can be found on most of their laptops.

The keyboard appears large and is comfortable to use, and you will be able to type swiftly in no time at all. The touchpad also seems to live up to the Acer standard and works at it should. More on that later.




You know those annoying stickers that tell you all the things about the product you already knew before buying it? Yep, these are here as well. Disappointing Acer does not have the courage to remove them.




The diodes are orange and blue respectively, and seem their old selves. The sound actually comes out towards the front of the bottom. A rather unfortunate move as it can easily get muffled it you sit with it in your lap. However, it works well on harder surfaces the sound can bounce off of.



In addition to the above, something that really ought to be mentioned is the sheer mobility of this notebook. The display is very thin, which is really an overall theme of the 1810TZ. It weighs only 1.35kg and so is very easy to bring around, and of course it has all the possibilities of the internet with WiFi, Bluetooth, webcam and integrated microphone. Perfect.

The comfortable rubber duds at the bottom ensure the computer is not damaged if you are a bit rough when you put it on a table or so – they also help it stand firmly on the surfaces you put it on.

The lid



The lid is thin and mostly glossy black. That sadly means fingerprints are easily spotted. The hinges on the other hand hold up the display firmly but are yet comfortably soft, but not so soft so as to raise suspicions about their ability to keep it up in a train or so. All in all it seems to be of high quality; it is not aluminium perhaps, but you still have faith in it.





The front



The diodes light up your day at the front, and the mouse buttons bend over the edge a little. At the bottom of the front are the speakers, spewing out audio onto the table or whatever surface you are keeping the notebook on. Otherwise, not much of interest here.

The rear



This is where you find the battery, and the lid partially slides down here when you open it. In other words, there is nothing of interest.

The bottom




At the bottom we have the serial number and a bit of ventilation. This is also where you access various hardware components, but we will not be messing with those.

The right side



The left side



Overview



VGA and Ethernet LAN ports are at the very end of each side, ensuring that annoying wires are out of the way – smart choice. Some thanks to Acer for giving us the amazing possibilities of an HDMI port are also in order. HDMI is the future and you can only be happy for the chance to use it.

Diodes





The diodes are located at the front, glowing blue and orange. They indicate the status of things like battery and wireless networks. In the far corners you will find the power button and diodes for capslock, numlock and system status. No new diodes and the same old – and slightly boring – colours. Obviously not what Acer prioritized here.
Keyboard and touchpad





The keyboard takes up 92% of the space, so it is pretty big. The keys are suitably large and easy to find. They are made of plastic and have just a hint of texture when you type with them. Additionally the right Shift button has actually been placed where it is supposed to, something that is often experimented with on laptops.

The touchpad is very much standard. The size is decent so you do not accidentally venture out of the area. There is not much of a frame for it though. It is slightly resistant when you run your finger over it, but that is actually comfortable.
There are two silvery buttons just in front of the touchpad area, both of which are soft and comfortable to click. They are suitably big and divided into two rather than one integrated button which Acer has experimented a bit with. Progress.

Display




The display has a nice resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. That makes it great to surf on and things on screen are decently sized. In other words, it gives you a good overview. It is fairly crisp with fine contrasts and handles all the colours of the rainbow well. It is both pleasant to look at and you get the feeling it shows all the right colours.
There is a fair bit of glare, so even if you view it at an almost 180 degree angle, you will in most cases be met with a reflection or light from the surroundings, which reduces visibility. This is something to keep in mind.

You can easily adjust the brightness according to what time of day it is and what your eyes can handle. Keep in mind that the lower you keep it, the longer the battery life will be.

As a new part of our reviews we now test displays for pixel errors and faults in the backlighting, using a program called MonitorTest. It works by, for example, blackening the entire display which will expose pixel errors, i.e. areas that do not change colour. This will also allow you to see if the backlighting is uneven.




Pixel errors are luckily a rarity, at least I have yet to find a product with such faults. The 1810TZ is no exception; Acer has made a good display and the feeling of “quality” persists throughout.

Sound and speakers

The sound – while not amazing – is actually quite acceptable. As is the case with most notebooks, it is poor at handling the lower notes. There is almost no bass and that seems to be the norm. Still, it is okay and you can stand listening to a song or two without getting annoyed. It is more than enough for Skype and the like.

Noise, heat and power consumption

The computer makes a little noise, though hardly enough to be annoying. It is just a little fan noise. It does get a little hot though, particularly at the left side. That is also where you find the main part of the cooling system. It is nice that you do not get the hot air blow onto your lap if you sit with it, but it is not exactly a comfortable left side.

The power consumption seems to be optimized for the sake of the environment and the battery life. I have great expectations of the later, in part because of the lower-power processor chosen for this model.

Benchmark

All benchmarks were run at high performance settings on the laptop. No other settings were tampered with.

Windows Vista Experience Index



The computer lies well above average, indicating the Acer Aspire Timeline 1810TZ packs some decent hardware, which is good.

I have decided to compare it with the Acer Aspire One 751, a netbook that costs some £100 less. Hopefully the benchmarks will show the extra cash is worth it in terms of performance.

You can read the review of it here www.laptop-review.eu

The Acer Aspire One 751 had the following specifications:

Category
Netbook

Processor
Intel Atom Z520 / 1.33 GHz

Chipset
Mobile Intel US15W Express Chipset

RAM
1 GB DDR2 SODIMM

HDD
160 GB

Display
11.6" HD 1366 x 768 (WXGA) high-brightness, Acer CrystalBrite LED-backlit TFT LCD, 16:9 aspect ratio
Sound card and speakers
High-definition audio support
Two built-in stereo speakers
MS-Sound compatible

GPU
Intel GMA 500  

Battery
48.8 W 4400 mAh 6-celled lithium-ion-battery (Li-Ion)   

Wireless Connectivity
Built-in 10/100 LAN
Built-in 802.11 Wireless b/g

Dimensions
28.4 cm x 19.8 cm x 2.5 cm
ca. 1.35 kg incl. battery

Operating system
Windows XP Home

Price
About £330 including VAT.

Boot times and out of standby:





Boot and out of standby times are measured from when the power button is pressed and the Windows desktop appears.

Whether it is Windows 7 or the hardware that improves the boot time so dramatically is hard to say. It is probably a combination of the two, but whatever the proportions, it is nice to see boot time slashed in half.

Battery life:



Idle times are measured at the lowest power profile on the tested models while Classic times are tested at the highest performance profile. Both are tested with BatteryEater 2005 to find the maximum battery life at the given settings.

Battery life is always the focus with Acer, which is amazing. When the computers are so small and mobile, they are designed to be brought along with you every day. You might not always have a power source handy and it is in this area Acer’s expertise shines through. Their notebooks consistently sport battery lives in the upper end of the spectrum, which is true for both models here.

In this case they promise 8 hours, and after some searches on the web I can see a bunch of other reviewers were able to get that. I do not know if Acer sent me a bad battery or something else went wrong, but the results are as they are.
However, I would say both devices live up to what they promise, and I would expect to get a longer battery life off a brand new machine.

The processor:

SuperPi



Super Pi calculates the number Pi with 1 million decimals. The result is a time in seconds, meaning that the lower the number, the better. This can be used for direct comparison with other laptops that have run the same test.

The Aspire Timeline 1810TZ shows here why it does not fit in the netbook category. It has power for more than light day-to-day tasks, which is reflected in the test results. An impressive improvement in light of the price difference between the two models, it firmly establishes the 1810TZ as a notebook while the other remains a netbook.

SiSoft Sandra CPU Arithmetic





SiSoft Sandra’s Whetstone and Drystone benchmark tests the processor’s ability to do pure number crunching, which occurs during gaming or different forms of picture editing. The measure is in Mflops (Millions Floating Point Operations Per Second) – the higher, the better.

Like the test above, the processor simply takes off, beating the reference with ease. The numbers do not lie – you get quite a lot of power here.

RAM - SiSoft Sandra Memory Bandwidth:





Sisoft Sandra’s Memory Bandwidth benchmark is used to measure the speed of the RAM – the higher the value, the better.

The overall tendency in the benchmarks is that you can really see a difference in performance. This is also the case when it comes to RAM, which the AT 1810TZ simply uses more efficiently. The computer is made to perform better than average yet still be mobile. A grand combination.

HDD performance - SiSoft Sandra HDD Read:



Sisoft Sandra’s hard drive test module is used to measure the performance of the hard drive. Sisoft Sandra runs a number of tests on the surface of the hard drive and calculates the average reading speed. .

The hard drive score is higher as well. It is not by much, but everything counts. In fact it sports the same standard 5400RPM hard drive, so it just goes to shows the overall system is more efficient.

GPU performance - 3Dmark







The 3Dmark tests show the performance in DirectX 9, and paint a picture of the performance in newer games and applications. No tests have been run in DirectX 10.1 (which both cards support).

Here you can really see how much you get when you opt for a notebook rather than netbook. GPU performance is more than twice as high, which is a lot even if netbooks were never meant to have particularly good graphics. This makes this particular model a good alternative to a netbook for those who are prepared to pay a little more for the extra performance. Having said that, the graphics are not advanced and hardly suited for hardcore gaming, but we are moving in the right direction.

Overall performance



The PCMark 05 results can be compared directly with other laptops that have run the same PCMark version. The program produces a score from a test that includes the performance of the processor, RAM, hard drive, GPU, etc.

That the Acer 1810TZ scores higher in this test should come as no surprise to anyone. It lies well above the Aspire One 751h and is simply a better device when it comes to hardware as it should be, given the higher price. Nice when the two are related.

Conclusion

Acer almost always makes sleek products. With the Aspire Timeline 1810TZ, they have made a mobile device for the travelling businessman or student. The price suggests it is mostly for businessmen, but it still falls below £450 and considering what you actually get, this is completely fair. It is not a netbook and performs much better than such, so it lies in exactly the price range it should.

Its durability seems reliable, being made of decent materials and hinges that last. All in all a good feeling throughout (be it the keyboard, touchpad buttons or the quality of the display)...you just know it will last.

Acer has not stood by idly while progress has continued; they have included HDMI which is amazing in my opinion. The future is here and it is nice to be along for the ride, a chance that many forgo. As such, the device is strong when it comes to I/Os.

There are few bad things to say about this computer. While they have improved the cooling system, there are still some heat issues at the left side. It is only a minor point, but every little thing counts. Other than that, there is little to say. I would have liked a more interesting design to top it all off; it is quite traditional and nice enough, but it does not take a lot of chances.
That is perfect the best way to describe this product. It is very safe. The price is absolutely fair compared to what you actually get, and it does outperform most competitors. In addition to that the design is reliable and sturdy, complemented well by the hardware. This is a super product most will likely appreciate, and definitely worth the premium over the Aspire One 751h netbook.
Acer continues to be a good brand we can rely on in the future, and the T1810 is a fantastic product – thumbs up, Acer!

Pros
- Keyboard
- Touchpad
- Display
- Hinges
- Performance
- Battery
- HDMI

Cons
- Hot at left side
- Unoriginal design

























Battery:	3,5 / 5
Graphics:	4 / 5
Construction:	4 / 5
Mobility:	5 / 5
Software:	4 / 5
CPU Performance:	4 / 5
Innovation:	3 / 5
Price:	4 / 5
Design:	4 / 5
Weight:	4,5 / 5
Performance:	4 / 5
Overall:	4.5 / 5