The Timeline 3810T definitely stretches the definiton of a laptop, and shows how blurry things are becoming. However, in the end, one of the values of the netbook movement is that more portable hardware with longer battery lives is the current trend- even if it doesn’t use an Atom chip.
The Timeline uses the Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 1.4 GHz CULV processor. I have to admit that the phrase “Core 2 Solo” always sounds like an oxymoron to me as the Core 2 is implying a dual core processor, yet this is a single core one, basically half of a Core 2 Duo, one of the finer chips Intel has made. Highlights include a 1.4 GHz clock speed, 800 MHz front side bus, 3 megs of L2 cache, 45 nm process, 64 bit support, but no Hyperthreading. It draws 5.5 Watts, which is more than the Intel Atoms. The part currently retails for $262 which explains the price of the Timeline. However, in benchmarks, it does run circles around the Atom and AMD’s Neo chip.
The rest of the package is also beyond standard netbook specs. It uses 4 GB of DDR3 of RAM, and a 250 GB hard drive. However, it shows its netbook roots with no discrete graphics, and no optical drive. The screen is a 13.3″ 1368 x 768 pixels which puts it beyond netbook territory. However, its OS is Windows XP, and the 6 cell lithium battery is good for around 8 hours (take that with a grain of salt). Still, at 3.5 pounds, it is portable.
The one chink in the armor here is the price, which is $799. As we get about double what most users will pay for a netbook, I think a dual core chip should be part of the mix. Perhaps with discounts, like on Amazon at $599 this makes more sense. Personally, for $500 even, I would find this hard to resist.
[CNET]
Leave a Reply