Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3830TG-6431 review: Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3830TG-6431

A few years ago, the Acer TimelineX was one of the first of what we then called "thin and light" laptops, 13-inchers with sleeker, lighter frames, long battery life, and a more easily portable design than a standard notebook.

8.0

Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3830TG-6431

The Good

At under $800, the <b>Acer Aspire TimelineX 3830TG-6431</b> is one of the most affordable thin laptops we've seen. It makes few compromises and packs impressive Nvidia graphics into a very compact, portable design.

The Bad

The lack of an optical drive is frustrating, since other laptops of similar size such as the Sony Vaio S and Toshiba Portege R835 do include one.

The Bottom Line

The aggressively priced Acer Aspire TimelineX 3830TG-6431's combination of gaming-ready graphics and a fast processor in a 13-inch body offers a great punch for a good price, provided you can live without a DVD drive.

The TimelineX series still exists, and Acer's latest version features newer Intel second-gen Core i-series processors and impressive Nvidia graphics. Still, the landscape has expanded to include many thin laptops: the Sony Vaio S and Toshiba Portege, and the extremely thin Apple MacBook Air and Samsung Series 9. The $779 TimelineX 3830TG-6431 is thin, but not as thin as a MacBook Air. It's not that light for its size, either--the Sony Vaio S and Toshiba Portege are lighter, and they include optical DVD drives. The TimelineX doesn't, although it looks large enough to accommodate one.

Battery life is good, but we've seen even better from the Toshiba Portege R835 and MacBook Air. What the TimelineX 3830TG-6431 does have is a competitive price that's on the lower end for thin 13-inchers, and a set of features that, optical drive aside, is superior to those of many of its competitors.

Does design matter more to you, or the features you can get for the price? If it's the latter, the $779 TimelineX 3830TG-6431 is worth your consideration. It's not the sexiest thin laptop around, but it's certainly one of the fastest, and it is one of the cheapest small laptops with this level of graphics power that we've ever seen.