When it comes to audio, The Ultra M3 features stereo speakers with Dolby Home Theater branding located on the bottom front edge of the chassis. Acer 5735 battery The speakers are large enough to produce high volume with good clarity but the location means you can muffle the sound if you use the M3 on your lap and you're wearing thick clothing. On the other hand, the metal chassis is so thin that sound passes up through the palmrests even if you block the speakers on the bottom.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The full-size chiclet-style keyboard is a simple layout with a dedicated number pad and no LED backlighting. Acer 5542G charger The individual keys are matte black with silver trim around the keyboard tray. The matte black keys are surrounded by the aluminum frame of the notebook. There are also dedicated home, page up, page down and end keys located above the number pad. The keyboard tray is quite firm with more than adequate support structure. There is no flex or keyboard bounce when typing with firm pressure. The individual keys have a short throw (the distance between pressed and unpressed) and the key action itself is very quiet; you won't disturb others while typing in a quiet office or classroom. Acer 5542 battery
The ELAN touchpad is actually a massive "clickpad" (a touchpad surface which lets you press down anywhere to produce a click). There are no dedicated left and right mouse buttons but the clickpad has shallow feedback when pressed. The only complaint we have about this touchpad is that it sometimes has trouble understanding the difference between a left click and a right click unless you press down on the extreme left or extreme right bottom corner of the clickpad. Acer 5340G battery
If you want a netbook because of the convenient size and amazing battery life but need better multitasking and video performance than what a cheap netbook offers then the Acer 1830T might be the perfect notebook for you. Keep reading to see what this $900 ultraportable offers. Acer 5340 battery
The Acer Timeline X series is the latest generation of thin and light notebooks from Acer designed to offer solid performance and long battery life in a surprisingly lightweight package. At first glance it's easy to mistake the 1830T for one of the dozens of Acer netbooks that have shown up over the last few years. Looks, however, can be deceiving. Acer 5335Z battery
Build quality is quite good despite the diminutive size of this laptop. Acer 5335G charger The combination of relatively thick matte plastics and black brushed aluminum palmrests leave the notebook feeling solid and showing almost no signs of flex. The screen stays firmly shut with a good amount of tension from the screen hinges when closed. Protection from the screen cover is only adequate; the cover flexes quite easily and distortions appeared on the display when we applied pressure to the back of the cover. Opening up the screen you can tell the hinges should hold up for a long time with strong tension that prevents the screen from flopping around once opened. The body of the notebook seems to be well designed with minimal chassis flex and no obvious creaks from the plastics. Acer 5335 battery
One area of the design that impressed me was the bottom of the notebook. Acer 4750 charger The expansion bay provides access to the hard drive, the WLAN and optional WWAN card slots as well as two RAM sockets. The single cover panel is held in place by five screws (my only complaint), so you'll have a spend a minute or two loosing all of those screws before you can swap out the hard drive or add more RAM. That said, I'm always happy to see when manufacturers make it easy for owners to upgrade their notebooks. Acer 4740Z battery
Ports and Features
Port selection on the 1830T is fairly standard for a modern netbook or 11-inch ultraportable notebook. Acer 4740G battery Acer gives you three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI-out, VGA, LAN, and audio jacks. It also features a SDHC-card slot for expanding internal storage or just loading images off your camera while traveling. Since we're starting to see USB 3.0 on more consumer notebooks and there are many USB 3.0 external hard drives on the market we really wish Acer had found a way to put at least one USB 3.0 port on this $900 notebook. Here is a quick tour around the 1830T: buy Acer 4740-7787 charger
The Acer 7740 is a 17.3-inch multimedia notebook designed for people who want a lot of features for not a lot of money. This notebook costs $749 while still offering an Intel Core i3-330M processor, Intel GMA HD graphics, Blu-ray drive, and a HD+ LED-backlight display. In this review, we take an in-depth look at its performance and see how well it stacks up against the competition. Acer 4740-7552 battery
For a 17.3-inch notebook, the Acer 7740 does a good job of hiding its size with a slim profile. Acer 4740-5462G50Mnss02 charger From the side, it appears shorter than expected with the lower chassis standing not much higher than the VGA-port's height. The design tapers off at the front giving the palmrest a nice sharp edge. The color scheme is well thought-out with a glossy, dark-blue screen-cover, metallic blue palmrest and keyboard trim, and black keyboard. The only visible branding is a moderately sized Acer logo displayed front and center. One aspect that concerned us was the amount of space left open around the keyboard that could have been used for multimedia keys or other functions. Acer 4740-5452G50Mnssb battery
Build quality of the 7740 is above average with a solid body that doesn't have much flex. Acer 4740-5261 battery The screen cover provides decent impact protection for the LCD and doesn't allow the screen to be distorted unless firmly pressed from the back side. The glossy paint on the screen lid resists light scratches and seems to hold up under normal daily abuse from carrying it around. The palmrest and keyboard trim resist smudging and managed to stay clean throughout most of the review period. Acer 4740-432G50Mna battery
Inside, the palmrest and keyboard show little or no flex under pressure. The palmrest doesn't compress one millimeter when squeezed with extreme force. The rigid chassis does a good job of holding up the body panels attached to it and doesn't squeak or creak under normal use. The screen hinges feel strong and hold the screen tightly closed. Overall, the body feels solid enough to survive a typical notebook's lifespan. Acer 4740-352G32Mn charger
Users looking to upgrade the Acer 7740 will find it easy to get to components through a single cover on the back of the notebook. Taking off the panel gives you access to the wireless card, hard drive, and system memory. buy Acer 4740 battery
Screen and Speakers
The Acer 7740 comes with a HD+ screen with a 1600 x 900 resolution. Acer 4370 battery This resolution supports 720P content as well as 1080P content when scaled. For watching movies, viewing images, or just surfing the Web, the resolution is more than adequate for most users. Color saturation and contrast are average compared to other screens of this size. buy Acer AS5741-N54E/KF battery
Backlight levels are fine for viewing in bright office conditions, but not bright enough for outdoor viewing with the glossy screen surface. Acer AS5741-N54E/K battery Peak brightness levels measured 248cd/m2 at the center of the screen and decreased to as little as 199cd/m2 at the corners. Colors displayed on the screen stay consistent to about 15 degrees when tilted forward or back. The screen stays visible until about 60 degrees when viewing from the side since the backlight is overpowered by reflections on it. Acer AS5741-N32D/K battery
The speakers on the 7740 sound above average and are pretty good for a system that doesn't have a subwoofer. Acer AS5741-N32C/KF charger In our testing, we found peak volume levels to be more than adequate to watch a movie in the immediate area around the screen. The speakers also support simulated Dolby surround sound that worked quite well if you were centered over the notebook. Sound output is warm with a hint of bass and midrange when the Dolby Audio Enhancer was toggled on and off. For a system priced under a $1,000 and not including a low-frequency driver, we were impressed. Acer AS5741-H54D/SF battery
Keyboard and Touchpad
The 7740 uses a floating island-style keyboard that is comfortable to type on but causes a few hang-ups when trying to type quickly. Acer AS5741-H54D/S battery Since this keyboard doesn't have an internal bezel structure or solid key design, it is easy to hit the top of another key when you finger is fully pressing a neighboring key and trying to slide over at the same time. I got used to it after a few hours and learned to lift my finger fully off the key before sliding to the next key in my typing motion. The keyboard layout takes advantage of the chassis and offers a four-key wide number pad with room to spare on each side. Acer AS5741-H54D/LS charger
One thing missing from the keyboard layout is quick-access media keys. It was surprising that a notebook designed entirely around multimedia use with a Blu-ray drive didn't offer touch-sensitive buttons for volume control or media playback. Instead this notebook has quick-access buttons for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, backup software, and a customizable program launch. buy Acer AS5741-H32C/SF battery
The touchpad on this notebook is an ALPS design model with a spacious layout and multitouch gesture support. Acer AS5741-H32C/S battery The touchpad is quick to respond, but we did notice just a hair of lag in fast gestures. Refresh times are great which helps prevent a choppy mouse movement when moving around. Sensitivity out of the box was good but not perfect, and no adjustment for sensitivity was found in the ALPS control menu. For users who don't want to accidentally move the cursor while typing, there's a button located to the right of the touchpad to disable the touch surface. buy Acer AS5741 battery
