Acer Aspire Timeline M3 Ultra review

This is the fourth generation of Acer Aspire Timeline laptops and the M3 is described as an Ultrabook because it is amazingly thin at just 20.7mm and weighs in at 2.3kg. It does have a 15.6" display, though, so you'll have to be a bit more careful than usual when stuffing it into your backpack.

I was sent the bottom of the range M3-581T model which comes with four Intel Core i3-2367M processors clocked at 1.40GHz and 4GB RAM. It also has a basic Intel HD Graphics 3000 card, plus 320GB SSD storage - this particular model will probably set you back around £450 if your intensions are not too ambitious in terms of multiple simultaneous operations (especially in terms of gaming).

However, if you truly want to make the most of this model, then insist on buying the version with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M card with 1GB memory installed as this will ensure that you play games like Battlefield 3 with high frame rates even with the settings cranked up. You can also boost the storage capacity to 500GB.

What all the models in this range have in common is the positioning of all the ports round the back of the machine rather than along the sides. This is partly because Acer had to make room on the left side to include a DVD optical drive and a 2-in-1 card reader and also because they think it looks less clutered. Although this may in the end be a matter of personal taste, you do at lease get 3 USB ports (one of which is a USB 3.0), plus HDMI and Ethernet.

The styling of the M3 is deliberately low-key black throughout, with matching grey around the keyboard keys. The keys themselves are the typical chiclet style that are pretty universal these days but typing feels firm and responsive. There's a large touchpad underneath that is fine if you want to use lots of gesture controls like pinching, rotating and scrolling but can also be irritating at times if you catch it unawares when creating a document.

The other area where the M3 shows no variation across the range is the screen resolution which is a rather disappointing 1366 x 768 - surely if you're trying to promote this laptop as a good choice for gamers then they should deserve a higher spec than this? The other irony is that the only feature that is visibly promoted above the keyboard is the presence of Dolby Home Theatre sound technology, yet the speakers (as with virtually all laptop speakers) can never do justice to the content without plugging into an external source.

That aside, the Acer Aspire Timeline series has always had a good record on battery life and the M3 is equally impressive, even if it didn't quite reach the dizzy heights of the claimed 9 hours when I was using it with a mixture of video, sound and spreadsheets operating.

So be discriminating when choosing which version of the M3 best suits your needs and you may well find that it will appeal to both the low-level business user who wants a fast processor but limited graphics and the student gamer who also enjoys hours of social networking.


Score: 3.5/5