The Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T belongs to the class of thin and light notebook computers first made popular by Apple’s MacBook Air. At its thinnest, it’s just 24 millimeters thick, rising 5mm at its highest.
Since it’s made so slim, like earlier ultra-portable PCs, it doesn’t have an optical drive.
And like ultra-portables, it uses Intel’s new Consumer Ultra Low Voltage platform, which generates little heat.
It has a long battery life, too. Acer claims eight hours of use at a single charge, but you will need to reduce the screen brightness and turn off some functions.
You can manage battery performance by choosing a power plan provided by the Power Options feature. It’s fair to say you can get at least five hours of good performance on a single charge.
To cool the notebook during long hours of use, Acer’s Laminar Wall Jet cooling technology redirects cooling air along the bottom side of the machine.
The 3810T comes packed with regular features such as a large keyboard, memory and hard drive capacity.
Its grey and black aluminum finish makes a good first impression. The display, based on Acer CineCrystal with a resolution of 1,366 by 768 pixels, offers good color and contrast. But the lid can’t be pushed back far, limiting viewing angle when the notebook is on your lap.
Those who work on the go will appreciate its large, well-spaced keys. Just above the keyboard on the right is a row of touch-sensitive quick-launch buttons that control the Wi-Fi antenna, built-in backup program and Power Smart preset, which extends battery life.
The touchpad supports finger gestures such as pinching (to zoom in and out), swiping (to flick through photos or Web pages) and swirling (to scroll).
The single bar, which replaces the standard left and right mouse buttons, is disappointing. It’s a little too rigid and works only…