Let's face it: unless you're out to find the most stylish laptop ever, most laptop shopping is about value for money. As back-to-school season enters its dog days, one clear-cut winner in that regard is the Acer Timeline U M5-481TG, an ultrabook with all the trimmings that costs as little as $779.
And by all the trimmings, I mean all of them: the M۵-۴۸۱TG configuration I reviewed has Nvidia GeForce GT ۶۴۰M LE graphics, a ۵۰۰GB hard drive, ۴GB of RAM, a backlit keyboard, and even a DVD drive, all crammed into a ۱۴ - inch laptop shell that feels no bigger really than the generic and more expensive Toshiba Satellite U۸۴۵.
The Timeline U M۵ is the U. S. version of a laptop I previewed a long time ago that never saw the light of day here, the Acer Aspire M۳. The M۵ has a smaller footprint and a newer Intel Core i۵ processor.
Technically, the Timeline U M۵-۴۸۱TG is an ultrabook. You can throw that terminology out the window, though, because this Timeline is really just a very reasonably priced thin full - fledged laptop with nearly no compromises…assuming, of course, you ' re willing to forgive a somewhat forgettable design. At this price, you should.
The Acer Timeline U M۵-۴۸۱TG, while being thinner than previous Acer Timeline laptops, is not exactly thin or light compared with its ultrabook brethren: at ۴.۲ pounds and ۰.۸ inch thick, it ' ll feel heavier and thicker than most competitors. However, compared with your regular everyday laptop, the Timeline U will feel, with apologies to Mr. Creosote, wafer - thin. Such is the strange middle ground of the " thinnerbooks ": the Sony Vaio S is close to the same size class, and so is the Toshiba Satellite U۸۴۵. The Acer ' s feature set more closely matches the Vaio S, however, than the oddly pared - down Satellite U۸۴۵. It all comes down to expectations: most pared - down ultrabooks trade off features for size. In this size class, I ' m fine with a bigger chassis if it affords all the extras this Timeline U manages to cram in. The Satellite U۸۴۵ felt disappointing for the same reasons this Timeline U feels impressive.
Clad in a combination of matte black plastic and glossy brushed aluminum around the keyboard deck and lid, this Timeline U doesn ' t fall too far from the tree of Acer ' s previous Timeline laptops. These thin - and - lights with low - voltage processors predated the term " ultrabook " by a good several years, and laid the groundwork. It doesn ' t come as a surprise that the look of the new Timeline U feels familiar rather than revolutionary. It ' s clean, and it ' s not ugly, but it suffers from a little of the generic feel that plagued the Toshiba Satellite U۸۴۵.
The beauty of the Timeline U M۵ will be in the eye of the beholder. If you ' re a budget laptop shopper, this Acer will probably look surprisingly good to you. If you ' re looking for a premium product or an ultrabook, it ' ll look disappointing.
Amazingly, the Timeline U M۵ manages to fit a tray - loading DVD drive into the left side, a feat that makers of similarly thick ultrabooks like the Sony Vaio T seemingly found impossible or undesirable. Most regular folks would probably prefer to have a DVD drive if price and size weren ' t an issue. They ' re not, in this case, so it ' s a win.
Ports on the M۵ have been shifted to the back of the laptop, an odd choice in terms of access. For Ethernet and the power - in jack, it ' s a plus. For USB ۳.۰ and HDMI, it ' s a minus.
The raised and backlit keyboard resembles many other keyboards from Asus, Toshiba, and others. Keys are comfortable and about as shallow as those on a MacBook Air; the only problem is the annoying column of keys on the right side that cramps access to the Enter / Shift keys. Volume and other controls are carried out with combination Fn / other key presses on the keyboard.
Not only is the keyboard good, but so is the touch pad: the matte, slightly recessed multitouch Synaptics clickpad worked better than those on some more expensive laptops I ' ve seen. There ' s enough finger room to be useful, while leaving ample palm rest space on the sides.
Quick challenge: where ' s the power button? It took me several minutes to spot it on the Timeline U M۵. The thin, narrow button is on the front edge of the laptop, one of the oddest choices I could think of. It ' s hard to press, hard to reach, and easy to accidentally trigger in a bag. Bad move.
A glossy ۱,۳۶۶x۷۶۸ - pixel - resolution, ۱۴ - inch display has average picture quality and poor off - axis viewing angles, but DVDs, Netflix streaming video, and games all look fine on it. Colors are vivid, even if black levels are poor. Normally, I ' d look for a higher - resolution screen on a ۱۴ - inch laptop. At this price, it ' s forgivable.(But, on Acer ' s larger ۱۵.۶ - inch version of the Timeline U M۵, which has the same ۱,۳۶۶x۷۶۸ resolution, it ' s not).
Stereo speakers, seated below the front edge of the laptop, are shockingly loud. Cranked all the way up, they ' ll turn heads at an office. On the other hand, they ' re crass and lack quality sound definition. They will, however, blast audio quite nicely in a busy room.
A brief note on preinstalled bloatware: Acer ' s one of the worst at this, and there were plenty of pop - up antiviral and trial software windows that annoyed me enough to write this paragraph. Acer ' s hardly the only one to do this, but I just wanted you to know that this very affordable laptop does come with annoying trialware.
An included ۱,۲۸۰x۷۲۰ - pixel - resolution Webcam worked well enough, and picked up my face in a dimly lit office.
Tucked into the rear of the M5's chassis are all the basic ports you'd need, including a pair of USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, and an Ethernet jack, plus Bluetooth. A DVD drive rounds out the perfect package, especially at this price. I just wish some of those ports had been added to the sides; plenty of unused space on the right could easily have been used for more than just an SD card slot and a headphone jack.
