Acer’s currently-available “Timeline” series of ultraportable notebooks made waves back when they were released thanks to their inch-thick frames and relatively light travel weight. The current crop uses Intel’s Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) processors, which sit somewhere in between netbook CPUs and a full-fledged notebook CPUs. The idea was to provide something with a little more oomph than a netbook while maintaining portability, yet offering screen sizes closer to that of a notebook.
Next Monday, the 22nd, Acer is expected to reveal its line of “Calpella” Timeline notebooks. The machines will be similar in size to the current line of Timeline ultraportables—about an inch thick—but will use Intel’s more powerful Core i3, i5, and i7 processors.
One of Acer’s selling points for the first Timeline series was the promise of 8+ hours of battery life. In order to achieve that number with the new Calpella machines, DigiTimes is reporting that the new Timelines “will feature a 9-cell battery instead of the Timeline’s 6-cell battery.” The bigger battery, along with addition cooling modules that are needed to keep the more powerful Intel CPUs from overheating, will add a bit of weight to the notebooks. It appears, though, that Acer will be promising 8-hour battery life with the standard 6-cell battery and up to 12 hours with a 9-cell. That’s pretty impressive.
I was able to dig up some of the product pages for the new machines already (the pages have since been taken down by Acer but I’ve attached them as PDFs below), and it looks like the series is called the Aspire TimelineX and that the 11.6-inch 1830T, 13.3-inch 3820T, 14-inch 4820T, and 15.6-inch 5820T models all feature 6-cell battery packs. However, the 13.3-, 14-, and 15.6-inch models’ product descriptions all claim “up to 12-hour battery life” and list 9-cell batteries as available options.
Apparently the 11.6-inch 1830T is supposed to feature an Intel Core i5 CPU but the product page I was able to grab only lists an Intel Centrino and an Intel Core 2 Solo CPU as options. Again, these product pages weren’t supposed to go up yet so the info could very well change.
Quick features for the upcoming models are as follows:
Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830T (full product page PDF)
- Intel Centrino, Core 2 Solo, or (supposedly) Core i5 CPU
- Up to 4GB of DDR3 memory
- 11.6-inch LED-backlit screen at 1366×768 resolution
- Intel HD graphics with 128MB dedicated memory
- Three USB ports, HDMI/VGA out
- 1.01/1.10 inches thick (thinnest to thickest points)
- 3.09 pounds with 6-cell battery (good for up to 8 hours)
Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820T (full product page PDF)
– Intel Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 CPU options
– Up to 8GB of DDR3 memory
– 13.3-inch LED-backlit screen at 1366×768 resolution
– Intel HD graphics with 128MB dedicated memory, ATI Mobiity Radeon HD 5650, or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470
– Three USB ports, HDMI/VGA out
– 0.86/1.14 inches thick (thinnest to thickest points)
– 3.97 pounds with 6-cell battery (good for up to 8 hours, 9-cell battery good for up to 12 hours)
Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820T (full product page PDF)
– Intel Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 CPU options
– Up to 8GB of DDR3 memory
– 14-inch LED-backlit screen at 1366×768 resolution
– Intel HD graphics with 128MB dedicated memory, ATI Mobiity Radeon HD 5650, or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470
– Four USB ports, HDMI/VGA out
– 0.94/0.99 inches thick (thinnest to thickest points)
– 4.85 pounds with 6-cell battery (good for up to 8 hours, 9-cell battery good for up to 12 hours)
Acer Aspire TimelineX 5820T (full product page PDF)
– Intel Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 CPU options
– Up to 8GB of DDR3 memory
– 15.6-inch LED-backlit screen at 1366×768 resolution
– Intel HD graphics with 128MB dedicated memory, ATI Mobiity Radeon HD 5650, or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470
– Four USB ports, HDMI/VGA out
– 0.94/1.24 inches thick (thinnest to thickest points)
– 5.3 pounds with 6-cell battery (good for up to 8 hours, 9-cell battery good for up to 12 hours)
All models list Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Home Basic as available operating systems except for the 11.6-inch 1830T which lists Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows Vista Home Premium instead. That’s the same page that listed the older CPU types, too, so I’d expect that to change once the announcement is official.
No word on pricing or availability dates yet, but that information is likely to be released on Monday when Acer’s expected to formally launch the series.