Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3-581TG: The tech geek’s preview – Part 3

The 15.6-inch LED screen is a major letdown when it comes to resolution. A maximum resolution of 1,366×768 pixels feels like cheating when all the other graphics and processor upgrades are thrown in; after all, this laptop boasts a next-gen Nvidia GPU, so why not show off a higher resolution? It baffles me, and while the final U.S. price isn’t determined yet, the fact that the European version of our configuration will sell for 1,299 euros suggests this isn’t a budget machine. Terrible viewing angles and lackluster color add up to a screen I’d settle for on a $600 laptop, but compared with screens I’ve seen on the HP Envy 14 Spectre, Razer Blade and Apple’s MacBooks, it’s weak indeed.

Built-in stereo speakers are seated under the front edge of the laptop, front-firing beneath the palmrest. They show off ample volume, but fall short of the quality suggested by the Dolby Home Theater Professionally Tuned label that hovers above the keyboard. Again, the speakers are fine for normal laptop use, but audio on ultrabooks like the Asus Zenbook put it to shame.

The news, in that regard, is good: running Street Fighter IV at native 1,366×768-pixel resolution and 2x anti-aliasing, the game ran at 59.9 fps. A far more graphically demanding gaming benchmark for Metro 2033 ran at 17.3 fps, in native resolution and graphics settings set to high. Despite the lower-resolution screen, that matches well with other midrange gaming-ready laptops. The Toshiba Qosmio X755-Q7170, with its Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M GPU and a Core i5-2450M CPU, ran the same Metro 2033 test at 23.7 fps, while the Razer Blade with an Nvidia GeForce GT555M and Core i7-2640M processor ran the test at 17.3 fps. Attached to an external 1920×1080 monitor, Street Fighter IV ran at 59.7 fps, with nearly no drop-off. That bodes well for this particular set of Nvidia graphics: while they won’t compete with high-end performance graphics on a desktop replacement, they should be more than suitable for many games as long as graphics settings are managed.

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Mar 24 2012. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.