Technical characteristics
Screen : 15.6 inches (1366×768), LED backing
CPU : Intel Core i5-2467M (1.6 GHz)
Memory : 4 GB DDR3-1333 MHz
Video card: : Nvidia GeForce GTX 640M
Hard drive : 500 GB (5400 rpm)
Connection : Wi-Fi 802.11g, Bluetooth 4.0, Lan
Connectors : USB 3.0, 2x USB 3.0, Lan, HDMI -I-In, Audio
Battery : lithium-polymer, 4850 mAh, up to 8 hours
operating system : Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Additionally : cardrider, webcam, 1 year warranty
Dimensions : 37.6×25.3×2 cm
Weight : 2.2 kg
Price for June 2012 : 31,000 rubles
In the words of the “gaming laptop”, the image of a healthy colossus of impressive thickness, weighing four kilograms and at least 50,000 rubles, arises before my eyes. Acer decided to break this stereotype: in May of this year, the M3 model included in the freshly formed Aspire Timeline U Ltra line. According to the manufacturer, this is a 15-inch ultrabook that will pull all modern games and at the same time cost 31,000 rubles. It sounds incredibly and extremely tempting. Therefore, as soon as the opportunity appeared, we immediately ordered a novelty for tests.
Joke
The first impression of the M3 is described something like this: “Yes, you probably joke! Such a thin thing cannot be a gaming laptop ". Judge for yourself: M3 looks like a small black folder with documents. No frills: a rectangle with roundings at the back. The height is only 20 mm, which is 4.5 mm less than that of the Apple MacBook Pro, famous for its modest sizes https://velobet-gb-casino.co.uk/. The main material is high -quality matte plastic. The entire lower half is made of it. A solid aluminum plate decorated with Acer mirror logo went to the manufacture of the upper. Note that the screen here is only 4 mm thick.
There is nothing interesting on the bottom: a lot of ventilation holes and a lid that opens access to a hard drive and RAM. It is curious that the battery is closed, it will not be possible to de -energize the computer when freezing will not work. It is proposed to use a button drilled into the base, reaching which it will only be possible with a needle. Inside the m3 looks no less strictly – all the same dark plastic. The only decorative elements are a gray substrate under the keyboard and a couple of white inscriptions.
Complex click
Governing bodies for M3 – the necessary minimum. There is a keyboard with a digital unit, a touchpad and a power button on the front face. They did not put bonus keys; What is there, even HDD indicators or pressed Num/Caps/Scroll Lock: there are only two bulbs indicating whether the computer is turned on or not, and it also hangs on charging or eats from the battery. On the one hand, such scarcity is upset, on the other hand, it does not interfere with full -fledged work, and all additional functions are caused by combinations through “fn+”. It is another matter that the available funds were not quite successful.
The keyboard is island – medium -sized buttons standing at a noticeable distance from each other. Standard layout: “Ctrl” in place, “Enter” and “Shift” are wide and are easy to touch. Only the arrow and "Home/Insert" are distinguished. There was not enough space for them. The first stood under the right “Shift”, and the second lined up in a horizontal row, continuing the F1-F12 line. It’s easy to get used to these features, but mastering a short, 2-mm, the key move is problematic. Together with a stiff substrate when printing, you feel that you are tapping the rhythm on the table. It will be especially inconvenient for girls with long nails – you will have to fill the text with fingertips. Specifically in our model, the situation was also aggravated by excessive sensitivity. Lingered for a split second – received re -triggering. It was difficult to recruit large documents, although the way out was found: in the Windows control panel increased the time of double pressing, but this made it difficult to navigate using the shooters and action “Delete”, “Space”, “Backspace”. According to the manufacturer, this error applies only to our engineering, sample, it did not leak into the series.
For amateur and touchpad. A large freeznoal surface has been installed today. Those who prefer the mouse will not cause inconvenience, those who are used to using built -in means will have to retrain. The main problem of such sensory sites is the lack of division into zones. In fact, we have one button reacting to touch. Clicks are worked out depending on which side the press passed. Since there is no markup, it is impossible to determine the “blind” where the left and the right key begins. However, we will not swear, you can get used to.
Look and listen
The screen in the M3 is made on the basis of the 15.6-inch TN matrix. Coating is matte and resistant to glare. The vertical viewing angle is traditionally small, about 10 °, horizontally – about 30 °. The working resolution is only 1366×768, for the 15.6-inch panel there is not so much, there is enough for work and dynamic games, but for strategies or MMO type Eve Online is already small, the visible area is too narrow.
Two speakers are responsible for the sound, located on the bottom closer to the front of the laptop. The reserve is enough with the head, as for the reproducible frequencies, the high and medium -sized frequencies prevail, the bass is standardly absent. Normal for watching movies, but for games or music we will advise external acoustics or headphones.
All ports in the M3 are on the back: power, three USB, HDMI, LAN and a single 3.5 mm headset connector. On the sides-only a hole for the Kensington Castle, writing a DVD drive and cardrider.
Incredible nearby
However, the most amazing in this laptop is how much Acer managed to stuff in the 20-mm case. Beat your fingers. First: dual -core processor Intel Core i5-2467M with a frequency of 1.6 GHz, the ability to accelerate to 2.3 GHz, built -in Intel HD Graphics 3000 and 3 MB L3-Kesha. Second: RAM DDR3-1333 MHz with a volume of 4 GB. Third: hard drive for 500 GB. Fourth: 20 GB SSD for data caching and quick inclusion. And fifth, main trump card: discrete video card GeForce GT 640M. It is based on fresh architecture Kepler and can boast of enviable performance. Compared to last year GT 540M The number of streaming cuda nuclear ages increased four times, from 96 to 384 pieces! The speed, however, has almost not changed: 625 MHz. The memory bus remains the same-128-bit controller working with 1 GB GDDR3. But even in this layout for a laptop 2 cm thick – this is a record.
Interestingly, the M3 cooling system has nowhere to go: several ventilation holes on the bottom and one exhaust on the rear wall. During the games, the computer, of course, heats up, but unlike many of its brothers, the hot zone is located closer to the center, so that the laptop can be kept on the knees.
To save battery, the function of NVIDIA Optimus is actively used. The discrete chip is connected only in pre -selected programs, and the rest of the time it is inactive, shifting the drawing to the shoulders of integrated graphics. Unfortunately, the latter is seen in the part of the games as the main board, which is why some settings are blocked (for example, DirectX 11, which is not supported by Intel HD Graphics 3000).
To the record
The test of the sample entrusted to us began, as always, with synthetics: they drove off the PCMark7, which gave out quite acceptable 2290 points, 3DMark11 (modest 2540 “parrots” in the overall standings) and Unigine Heaven Benchmark 2.5, scoring 275 points at 10.9 fps. After that we set about games. To get started, they launched aliens vs. Predator. Without anti-aliasing, but at maximum settings and with Directx 11 effects, it turned out 30 fps. But there were no longer enough fillings for more serious modes, with an increase in AA to 2x, the speed fell to the non -granular 22.7 fps. The next in line was Dirt 2. It was possible to drive not only at the Ultra graphics level, but also with AA 2X. Just cause 2 showed decent results – even with smoothing 51.8 frames per second came out. But about Batman: Arkham City, the computer stumbled – only 23 frames for all parameters for "high". I had to reduce the requirements. A simple rejection of the tesselation did not help (in total, one frame), but the complete shutdown of DirectX 11 sharply increased the speed to 56 FPS; With this performance, you can even turn on Physx – the bar will be installed on 29 fps.
We tried on M3 and Max Payne 3 with Battlefield 3. The results are more than encouraging. The first, with all the settings for “very high”, issued 30.1 FPS, and on the second on the map, “Noshahhra channels”, stably went on “average” graphics at 46.7 fps, and on “low” – at 53.1 fps.
Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 is one of the best laptops that we have seen recently: in a thin strict housing, the manufacturer fit a powerful filling, which is enough for almost all modern games. Yes, this model has its drawbacks – not the most successful keyboard, an unusual touchpad, a slight resolution of the screen. But all this is more than overlapped with an excellent appearance, low weight and, most importantly, at a price. In our configuration, the model costs 31,000 rubles! The best offer is simply not to find – definitely “Choice of the editorial office” and “Best purchase” in one bottle.
Pros:
Decent performance
pulls almost all modern games
easy
thin
can work up to 8 hours from the battery
Great price
Cons:
It does not cope with network shooters
unsuccessful keyboard
Low screen resolution
All ports are located behind
Games are loaded for a long time
Table 1
Synthetic tests
3dmark11
Graphics
1743
Physics
1797
Score
2540
PCMark7
Score
2290
Unigine Heaven Benchmark 2.5 (1366×768)
Fps
10.9
Scores
275
Table 2.
Game tests (personnel per second)
Dirt 2
1366×768, Ultra, AF 16X
44.2
1366×768, Ultra, AF 16X, AA 2X
35.4
Batman: Arkham City
1366×768, Max, AF 16X
23
1366×768, Max, AF 16X, No Tessalation
24
1366×768, Max, AF 16X, No DX11
56
1366×768, Max, AF 16X, No DX11, Normal Physx
29
Max Payne 3
1366×768, Max, AF 16X
29.4
1366×768, Max, AF 16X, AA 2X
22.2
Battlefield 3 (Noshahr Canals, TDM)
1366×768, High, AF 16X
42.3
1366×768, Med, AF 16X
46.7
1366×768, Low, AF 16X
53.1
Aliens vs. Predator
1366×768, VERYHIGH, AF 16X
30.8
1366×768, Veryhigh, AF 16X, AA 2X
22.7
1366×768, Veryhigh, AF 16X, AA 4X
18.1
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