Acer recently launched two new 11.6 inch thin and light laptops. At first glance, they look nearly identical, since they both use the same case design. But the Acer Aspire One 721 costs just $430 though, while the Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830t runs nearly $700.
The difference is that the cheap model ships with AMD’s latest low power chipset while pricier model has a new chip from Intel. Laptop Magazine has posted reviews of both notebooks and basically determines that the Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830t really is a better machine with overall better performance and almost twice the run time of its cheaper cousin. But you know, it costs more.
The Acer Aspire One 721, on the other hand, as we learned yesterday really does offer better CPU and graphics performance than a typical netbook — so if you’re looking for a step up from an Intel Atom-based machine and care more about battery life than price, it sounds like it might be worth checking out.
You can check out Laptop Magazine’s review of the Acer Aspire One 721 and Acer TimelineX 1830t for more details.
I think I might have to buy one of those Aspire TimelineX 1830t machines. The power consumption is very good, the processing power is great and while the Aspire One 721 nearly meets it in graphics that only occurs in video performance. I think for light gaming the TimelineX would do a more solid job.
I’d hate to pay $600, but for a powerful thin & light that weights in so little it is hard to pass up.
If you’re going to comparison-shop the 721, you should mention the 521 as well. It’s nearly identical, but smaller. It’s got less RAM and the inferior Win 7 Starter but is otherwise about the same stat-wise. It shares the same processor and video chipset with the 721.
and the 1551, which was recently at $440 w/ coupon code.