Once I have done that, the laptop works very well for everyday uses – browsing the web, watching 720p encoded videos work without any issue with the KLite codec pack and Media Player Classic, Microsoft Office programs, Vista runs fine on this laptop. Acer also packages quite a number of simple games on this laptop; the games are quite fun for a short while, so they are good enough to knock off some time when you are bored and trying to find something to do. I have not tried out any graphic-intense games though and I don’t expect the laptop can handle such games well.

The battery life is excellent.

The keyboard is glossy, and the key-travel and feel are not as good as Lenovo’s laptops. You may not like the keyboard if you have to type on it for extended time. Then there is the position of the touchpad – I find my left hand accidentally touches the top left corner of the touchpad when resting, and when my right hand tries the use the touch pad, the on-screen cursor won’t move or some gesture actions get triggered.

All in all, the laptop is sleek and not heavy, and feels sturdy. It definitely excels in the everyday tasks. The keyboard and touchpad can be improved.

- Thin and light, 5.4 to 3.5 lb, < 1", nothing else I know of is like this.

- Cool, very thoughtfully designed to avoid heat buildup. Metal top, lots of spaces between keys. Bottom is never warm, palm rest area is absolutely cold, incredible.

- Quiet, as it is so cool, the fan never speeds up to make noticeable noise.

- LED backlight, should last forever and save battery.

- 8-hour battery life, never need to carry the AC adapter for the day. Never worry about empty battery, just concentrate on your work.

- Metal lid, looks VERY VERY good. This thing looks better and slimmer than MacAir, no kidding.

- Number keys included.

- Only $[...], even cheaper than other thick, heavy, hot and noisy craps.

My son, senior high, carries it in his backpack together with many thick books. This is not a demanding 3D gaming machine, exactly a good thing for a student. If you want to save $[...], then get the Dell i1545, just heavier, thicker and shorter battery life, but a real dual core CPU, unbelievable deal.

The only stupid thing: I’ve seen crap ware installed in new PCs before, but Acer did it to the extreme on this laptop, like 100 trial games etc.

It took me a whole day to uninstall them. Because no Vista CD included, so I could not just do a clean installation. Then I used Ghost to make a full back up for the partition 2, about 5 GB. No need to back up the partition 1, about 10 GB, it is the factory restore area and you can use Acer’s utility to burn them to DVD disks. Next time when a restoration is need, I can just restore the ghost and no need to uninstall the numerous crap ware again.

Stay away unless you can solve your own problems with the inadequate documentation they provide!!!Acer Aspire Timeline AS5810TZ-4274 15.6-Inch Laptop – 8+ Hours Battery Life

UPDATE: It is absolutely impossible to get any meaningful answer from ACER Tech (non) support.

Can’t find the status on the Windows 7 upgrade they promised. Just getting through to tech support is a herculean effort — but even if you do get through they NEVER have any answers.

http://www.acer.com/windows7upgrade/

Because the chassis is very thin, the optical disc eject button has been moved to a place just above the numeric keypad (yes, this wide screen notebook has a dedicated number keys area), so when you need to insert or eject a disc, you won’t have to hunt for that eject button with your finger. The disc tray, as other reviewers pointed out, does feel a kind of flimsy; you should support it with your left fingers when you are inserting a disc.

The keys on the keyboard are of the Chiclet style, like those on Apple MacBooks. The key surface is completely flat, as opposed to a regular keyboard that has a concave surface. I don’t know if this has any effect on typing. It just looks different. The key surface is not matt finish, so if your fingers are oily, the keyboard would look soiled.

Acer probably wanted to save as much power as possible, as there are no indicator lights for Caps Lock, Number Lock, or Scroll Lock. The hard disk access light is a very tiny blue LED; you’d have to look at it carefully to see its activity.

The left and right speakers are located right above the keyboard area. They are also small but can generate pretty loud sounds. When I was unpacking this new computer, at first I did not notice that there was a thin, transparent film protecting the area covering the speakers and the four indicator lights. This film significantly muffles the volume of sound if you do not remove it, so if you find the speakers not loud enough, that would most likely to be the cause.

The computer is shipped with Windows Vista, but you can order a free Windows 7 upgrade from Acer, as long as you do it before its January deadline. I upgraded this computer to Windows 7 Ultimate after first making restore and drivers discs, in case I want to revert back to Vista at some point in the future:) The restore discs require 2 DVDs and the drivers and apps disc requires one. The process is very time-consuming; making these three discs took almost two hours! The Windows 7 install went without any problem; it was able to detect all hardware and install all drivers! If you don’t have a lot of time, you may want to consider changing over to Windows 7 without first making a backup of Windows Vista. But if there is a possibility that you may return the computer to where you bought it, then it is probably better to backup, so you can restore it to factory OS.

After the Windows 7 upgrade, the Timeline runs extremely smoothly without any problem. This model has the Intel Pentium SU2700 1.3 Ghz CPU, 3 Gb of DDR3 memory, and 320 Gb of hard disk capacity. It is so cool-running that it is nearly silent in operation.

If you don’t play much games and want a large screen notebook that you can easily carry anywhere, the Acer Aspire Timeline is an excellent choice.

With Windows 7, IMO, there is less need to switch over to Apple’s Mac for ease of use and/or security. This computer cost just 1/3 to 1/4 the cost of an Apple MacBook Pro 15, and it’s lighter.

the western digital hard drive used on this model has a high rate of failure. it is one of the cheap refurbished items you could buy in bulk at discount computer stores like fry’s electronics. model number is WD3200BEVT-22ZCTO for anyone who is curious.

the laptop itself is good for the price. if only it lasted more than a year before something breaks. the keys are a bit flimsy but everything about this laptop is cheap anyways.