Acer Timeline U M5-481TG 6814 review

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)


Let's face it: unless you're out to find the most stylish laptop ever, most laptop shopping is about value for money. As back-to-school season enters its dog days, one clear-cut winner in that regard is the Acer Timeline U M5-481TG, an ultrabook with all the trimmings that costs as little as $779.

And by all the trimmings, I mean all of them: the M5-481TG configuration I reviewed has Nvidia GeForce GT 640M LE graphics, a 500GB hard drive, 4GB of RAM, a backlit keyboard, and even a DVD drive, all crammed into a 14-inch laptop shell that feels no bigger really than the generic and more expensive Toshiba Satellite U845.

The Timeline U M5 is the U.S. version of a laptop I previewed a long time ago that never saw the light of day here, the Acer Aspire M3. The M5 has a smaller footprint and a newer Intel Core i5 processor.



Technically, the Timeline U M5-481TG is an ultrabook. You can throw that terminology out the window, though, because this Timeline is really just a very reasonably priced thin full-fledged laptop with nearly no compromises...assuming, of course, you're willing to forgive a somewhat forgettable design. At this price, you should.

Source:
http://www.cnet.com/laptops/acer-timeline-u-m5/4505-3121_7-35332512.html?ttag=fbwp