maximumpc.com Updated: 2014-05-18 01:13:33
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WHEN LOOKING FOR a tagline that will easily sell a boatload of Acer Timeline M3 notebooks, it doesn’t take much more than: “an ultrabook that will play Battlefield 3 on Ultra setting.” And it’s true, too. The Timeline M3 will indeed play BF3 on Ultra...
Powerful graphics in a thin package; loaded.
Mediocre panel; width pushes the boundaries of ultrabook portability.
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The Acer Timeline M3 is a study in polar opposites. Its thin, elegant chassis and superb performance for its class suggest that the M3 might be a true category leader, but an painfully poor LCD panel prevents the Acer from achieving that goal. At 4.5 p...
Sleek, thin, and elegant looking, Above-average gaming performance, Trackpad is overly sensitive...
Very poor overall display quality...
The Timeline M3 could have been a Macbook killer, if not for the poor LCD panel...
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When Acer's Aspire Timeline Ultra notebooks made their first appearance at CES, these 14- and 15-inch laptops seemed like little more than the successors to Acer's TimelineX series. Thin-and-light laptops, complete with optical drive and some likely reaso...
Thin and lightweightGreat gaming performance Super fast boot times...
Low-rent build materialsShoddy screenLackluster audio capabilities...
The Aspire Timeline Ultra delivers great performance in a svelte package, but a low-res display and cheap build materials keep it from being a lust-worthy laptop...
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Acer has always built notebooks that seek to find the sweet spot between quality (of build and components) and affordability. Often, consumers do get a good buy from Acer as their products tend to be value for money and that bodes well for many consume...
Thin and light, Fantastic battery life, Solid Build, Attractive street price...
Made mostly from plastic...
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Acer offers the M3 in multiple configurations, yet in each case an Intel ULV CPU is present. The Core i3-2367M (1.4 GHz) with a 320 GB HDD, 20 GB SSD cache and integrated graphics make up the entry level configuration for the device. The specs are upgrade...
Very good graphics performance, Fast SSD and thus very good application performance, Good battery life thanks to Optimus...
Poor display, Touchpad without dedicated buttons, Hot under load...
Nvidia wants to put the "Ultra" in Ultrabooks with the GeForce GT 640M - or so the striking PR statement says. Fortunately, The performance fulfills this statement to no end. The graphics performance of the GT 640M is considerable, all the while maintaini...
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The Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 is a unique laptop. It was the first product on the market to contain a GPU based of Nvidia’s new Kepler architecture, beating out not only other laptops but also the desktop video cards. It’s also a rare 15.6” ult...
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The Aspire Ultra M3 may be primarily made of plastic, but it's actually a fairly handsome design. Save the gunmetal-grey keyboard tray and a pair of shiny silver Acer logos, the entire chassis has a sleek, textured matte black finish that feels good in th...
Potent gaming performance, Good battery life, Matte external surfaces, Full-size ports...
Poor ergonomic design, Materials feel cheap, Ugly, low-res screen, Terrible speakers...
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FOLLOW US SHARE Look out, Razer! Acer is literally and figuratively stretching the definition of Ultrabook with the Aspire Timeline Ultra M3. This 15-inch laptop is the largest and heaviest Ultrabook to date, but at 4.5 pounds, it's still one of the li...
Relatively light for 15-inch laptop, Strong graphics scores, Excellent battery life, Good audio quality...
Low screen resolution, All ports on back, No backlit keyboard...
The first Ultrabook with discrete graphics and a 15-inch screen, the Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 will appeal to gamers on the go.
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The cooling fan inside the Ultra M3 stays running most of the time and remains virtually silent during all but the most demanding activities. The fan gets loud enough to disturb other people in a small office or classro...
Unbelievable graphics performance, Thin and light yet well built, Good keyboard and large touchpad...
Bad location for power button, All ports are in back, Nasty hot spot on the bottom...
The Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 is the most impressive ultrabook we've reviewed to date. Despite a few design annoyances, this 15-inch ultrabook delivers an exceptional balance of portability performance and a premium feel. We have a hard time overlooking things like a power button that is easy to press by accident and a complete lack of ports on the sides. Combine those two issues with a nasty...
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Some of our editors recently had the opportunity to take part in NVIDIA's Editor's Day in California's "sunny" San Francisco to be briefed on new products. While we can't go into any great detail on NVIDIA's new Kepler architecture (as that informati...
With the Acer Aspire TimelineU M3, we're really talking about and reviewing two different products: the ultrabook itself and the shiny new NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M. There's a certain poetry to the feeling that these two products are both worthy of the same...
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About two months ago I wrote an less than enthusiastic editorial about ultrabooks that pointed out several weaknesses in the format. One particular weakness in all of the products we’ve seen to date is graphics performance. Ultrabooks so far have l...
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