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Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 - Finding the Right Balance

By Leo Boon Yeow - 23 Mar 2012
Launch SRP: S$1698

The Right Balance

The Right Balance

The Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 is one of the first 'Ultrabooks' that deviate from the 13-inch form factor, and the very first to reach us with a shiny new NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M GPU in tow. This signals a desire from the manufacturers to break out from the usual 13-inch form factor and give users a wider variety of choices when it comes to Ultrabooks. To label the M3 as an 'Ultrabook' is probably overusing this new term because of the size of the 15.6-inch machine, but as far as its portability is concerned, it was indeed a leader in its segment.

When the M3 reached us, we wanted to dismiss it as a cheap plastic machine for the masses. However, as we spent more time with it, we were quite impressed with the overall build quality of the M3. Even the keyboard and trackpad felt much better in usage than their plastic material would suggest. This sturdy well-built notebook felt like it could take the slings and arrows of life pretty well, even if it was almost completely covered in plastic. But having a plastic shell also has its advantages as it made the machine feel like it weighs much less than its reported 2.2kg weight.

As you can see, Acer decided to make the trackpad as big as it can, leaving no wasted space between the trackpad and keyboard. Some may initially put the M3 down for its choice of materials, but we found that they don't cause any usability problems.

Another endearing factor would be its sleek design with a matte black coating that gave it a very serious, no nonsense look. This appearance might not appeal to all, but for those who want their notebooks to blend in with every scenario imaginable (school canteen, corporate boardroom, etc.), the Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 will not disappoint. And to complete the look, the M3 also comes with a wide variety of connectivity options that you may need (although placed in a difficult to reach spot), not excluding a tray loading optical drive.

Another highlight of the Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 is it’s early adoption of the new NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M GPU. The sleek design of the notebook plus being able to sandwich in the new GPU is what Acer and NVIDIA are promoting it to be the first 'true Ultrabook' as it packs respectable gaming performance capabilities. Overall performance of the machine is generally on par with higher specced multimedia machines or slightly better depending on the task at hand. As such, for casual all-round users who need a large screen notebook but without the bulk, this Acer machine comes well recommended. 

We do however greatly dislike two distinct aspects of the machine. Firstly, its badly situated connectivity ports make using the notebook a chore when extending its capabilities by hooking up accessories. Secondly and perhaps the deal-breaker for some, would be its low resolution 1366x768 pixels resolution glossy 15.6-inch display. At this day and age and especially for its size and class, we expected higher resolution displays to make better use of the screen size. We're not demanding for full HD displays, but anything better than this basic screen resolution would do better justice to its screen real estate. 

We hope that sometime down the road, Acer would give consumers the choice of swapping the low resolution screen with something that's higher in resolution and even a matte screen option. It is perhaps the only major handicap of the M3 notebook.

So what does all of this mean for consumers? In a nutshell, the very slim and robust 15.6-inch Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 is recommended for what it can do, and especially for its street price of just under S$1300 (although its suggested retail price is over S$1600, the recent local show saw it debut at just S$1298). For general productivity, internet usage and light gaming on a large screen, this machine is definitely great value for its physical attributes, raw performance rivaling previous generation higher specced machines and of course its reasonable price. It's a fine buy, provided that you're not overly concerned with the adequate, but relatively low resolution display that even 13-inch Ultrabooks are beginning to outgrow. While the Timeline Ultra M3 notebooks sold in the USA come with SSD drive options, none yet exist in this region, but we expect them to show up as time progresses.

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8.5
  • Design 8
  • Features 8
  • Performance 8.5
  • Value 9
  • Mobility 8.5
The Good
Thin and light
Fantastic battery life
Solid Build
Attractive street price
The Bad
Made mostly from plastic
Very low resolution screen
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