Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830T-38U4G64nki review

As you’d expect on a portable PC, there’s no optical drive, and expansion ports are limited. You only get three USB ports, VGA and HDMI video outputs and a network port. We were pleased to see a memory card reader on such a small laptop, and those with older audio equipment will be pleased to find that the headphone socket doubles as an analogue S/PDIF audio output.

Acer has opted for larger keys on the keyboard at the expense of the touchpad, which is tiny and sits right at the edge of the case. Its two buttons have a light action however and it’s responsive, and even supports multi-touch gestures. The keyboard uses flat-topped keys which have a light but shallow action, so they don’t have as much feedback as we’d like, but despite this we found it comfortable to type on. Only the narrow left Shift key irked us; the rest of the layout was fine.

The 1830T’s design is the same as that of other TimelineX models, which have been around for two years and are starting to look a bit dated, but it’s slim and practical. Its fast processor and huge hard disk put it a class above netbooks, but it still only has an 11.6in screen, which many may find cramped. If this doesn’t bother you, you’d be hard pressed to find a better-value portable computer, so it wins our Budget Buy award.