Customer Reviews

Averatec AV3360-EH1 12.1" Laptop (Intel Pentium M Processor 725 (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW Drive)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I originally saw this product advertised on ComputerShopper and fell in love. Circuit City seems to have the lowest price but there are a few availability issues depending on where you live. I bought mine from Amazon and it was delivered in less than 2 days with standard shipping! This is perfect for office/student use, NOT for the hard-core gamer. I travel a lot and take lots of digital pictures, so this is perfect in terms of portability and performance.

Pros:

Small form factor

Huge hard drive

Great battery life (avg. 3 hrs)

DVD burner

SD/MMC card reader

External monitor support

Cons:

No floppy drive

No manual or support documentation

No original discs for installed software (for backup)

No IEEE 1394 ports (FireWire)

Like the previous reviewer, this is my first notebook/laptop as well. I bought it as an alternative to the Epson P2000 40GB photo storage unit (that's been sold out everywhere) to download pictures for an upcoming two-week vacation to France. I haven't regretted this decision and think it's even better solution for me overall in the long run.

Not only does this unit have twice the storage (80GB), but being a notebook computer I've also installed Adobe Photoshop CS2 which will enable me to process my images during the vacation instead of doing it all when I get back. My only extended use has been a three-day trip to Yosemite which was a great opportunity to see how this concept was going to work out. Being able to download 2+ GB of photo's per day using a Sandisk USB CF reader, see them on the 12.1" screen and also process the RAW files in CS2 was in a word... sweet! Even the memory hungry CS2 was responsive with the standard 512MB ram - although I'll probably upgrade to a 1GB at some point.

Important factors to me in considering which notebook to buy where screen quality, battery life and weight. The screen resolution and quality is quite "good", but not as great as the VAIO and some others. Battery life seems to run a little over 3hrs with continuous use and weighing a little over 4 lbs, it is light! The wifi works like a champ and connected easily with my D-Link unit at home. The built-in ethernet port is significantly faster as you'd expect. Although the touchpad and its software work well, I'm too used to using a mouse and also bought a USB mouse. This system seems to be well made and has a nice quality feel to it. The feel of the keyboard as far as notebooks/laptops go is more than adequate and easy to use.

Oh, and the iGO charger unit that I bought for auto/air/wall charging is also a great convenience factor to think about - one charger does it all. Finding a nice "sleeve" to simply protect the surface when it's being carried in a suitcase or backpack has been a challenge, but it looks like the 12" Apple iBook dimensions are close enough. We'll see...

I bought this laptop almost a year ago from Circuit City. Like I do with all my laptops (this is my third) I bought their extended warranty so I can't say anything about Avaratec's service. (However, I can state something about it from a friend's point of view. More on that later.) I have owned or worked with HP, Sony and PowerBook laptops. You really get your bang for the price you pay for this laptop. I will admit I got it for a fantastic deal so that made it even sweeter. It works just as fast as the higher end brands and can work for hours on end. I teach in a computer lab and will often use it hooked up to a projector, mimio and speakers. It never shuts down on me and lets me be able to do my job. Like another person said, if you want a computer for anything heavy (movie editing/creation, gaming, etc...), you may want to look at other brands with better video cards and inputs. (I prefer macs for movie making anyway.)

I gave it four stars because of it overheating. I solve that problem by getting a cooling pad/fan for it. Laptops often do that anyway and the pad/fan works wonders. This model, however, does tend to overheat more than other brands I've worked with or own. My friend, who I bought one for when I bought mine, called Avaratec, had her go through a process to change some settings and it helped her cool things down. However, hers was getting much hotter than mine so I think there may have been a flaw with her laptop. Another "concern" is a line that mine has, hers has, and a co-worker's has (she had to buy one when she saw mine). I don't know if it is on the inside of the screen or the outside, but we all share it. I don't think it's pixelated dots. I'll take it back to Circuit City and use their warranty (I've gotten mixed messages about when it kicks in-during the first year or after it's over.).

Overall, it's a great laptop for a stupendous price. I couldn't believe the hard drive storage space, the RAM, and the other specs. Sure, a firewire capability would have been nice, but you can get a card for that. Built in wireless? That's sweet!

I'd buy another Avaratec in a heartbeat if the price were right. They have a good price because you don't get a lot of garbage software on the machine (which is a waste of money anyway).

WARNING - DON'T BUY AN AVERATEC. My laptop had a serious flaw with the hardware that caused it to crash and not restart, even in safe mode. All the data was lost this way twice and I had to reinstall windows and all my software. I was using the notebook as is, with no system tweaks when this happened. The second time I sent it back to Averatec (I had to pay shipping) they had it for 3 WEEKS 'fixing it', and when it came back, the keyboard was loose. They will not replace the physical unit and so now it has to go back for another service. They said they would 'rush' it, which means that it will be out 10 days. This computer feels like it's about 5 years old now and anyway, what's the point of owning it if it's not ever around?

I can understand that things go wrong but HP and Dell would replace the physical unit.

I am going to give this laptop a great review. I bought this laptop near 7 months ago, and so far, I love it! Nothing is better for the price. It offers everything you need in a laptop, plus it is very stylish. I am a small girl and I love that it is very lightweight and easy to carry. It is my first laptop, and I did a solid 3 months of research before I made to leap to buy. I felt like I took a huge risk with Averatec being such an unheard of brand; however, I definately don't regret it.

The reason why I have taken away 1 star is because of the fact that the first time I got the laptop, it actually had a hard drive crash, but luckily it happened early, so I was able to return it (no questions asked) and get a new one without extra charge. The new one has not had ANY problems. I am not sure why the first one crashed; however, people need to keep in mind that with any computer, especially a laptop you are risking something. You don't know if you are getting a rotten egg. During my research period, I found that every electronic company has had many people report problems...so I don't necessarily blame this problem on Averatec. I think if you are taking the risk to buy a laptop go with an inexpensive one. That's why Averatec was the best choice for me.

I have also noticed that the fan is slightly noisy and just like most laptops, it tends to get warm (but not HOT). These things don't bother me. And I have don't countless hours of internet searching on it (I'm on it right now).

Overall, well worth the money. I would buy from Averatec again.

I bought my averatec with basically the same specs as this one two years ago. I use a computer a great deal but it is basically an appliance to me. I want it to work consistently and do what I need it to do. The averatec has not let me down. This is basically my travel computer. It is small enough to slip in a large purse. The battery lasts longer than other brands I have used and appears to charge quicker. It has a large enough hard disk and memory. My computer came with xp pro which has been good as this is what I use at work. During the time it is not travelling it is in the tv room. It is durable. I left it in a TSA bin and got it back a week later, it has a few scratches on it due to travel etc, its been dropped and flung around a few times. While carrying a pile of books, papers and the computer I dropped the computer from about four feet up, it landed flat on the pavement. It still worked fine but the shock did break something that connected the power supply and I had trouble charging the battery after that. I had that fixed fairly inexpensively at a local shop and it has worked great every since. If you can find one of these and you are not looking for a desktop replacement, you are okay using headphones for sound (the speaker are very small)and you want something portable-- this is it.

First off - I've owned this laptop for over a year so I should know a bit about it. I can't speak about Averatec's customer service, because I've never needed to use it. The laptop battery life is perfectly fine (2-3 hours) and it's held up very well including playing DVD's for many hours on long flights (using an airplane DC attachment). It's a very fast laptop and the wireless is excellent. I prefer this centrino (Intel) model over the AMD model. Also - There's a fan/cpu calibration in the bios that must be run when you first get the unit...I don't understand why people seem to miss that step in the manual.

This is my first laptop. I got it at Circuit City for less than here at Amazon.

Battery life is good. The Intel Wireless-G adapter works fine with my Linksys WRT54G -- 48-54Mbps. WRT54GS was no faster. The 80GB hard drive is responsive. Loaded software was adequate. Has two video adapters so you can display on another monitor. Lacks a microphone (has a jack) and FireWire. Speakers are adequate but not great. Touchpad has some good features, but I added a Logitech USB notebook mouse. I have MS Office Pro, Visual Studio 2003 and SQL Server Personal installed and performance is fast.

Keyboard is small but usable. This is a nice small-footprint machine.

I have made the mistake of buying two averatecs. The first died within 6 months (and by died, i mean the computer constantly crashed and the power supply would not work properly - it would constantly "come unplugged" while the source was plugged in. therefore, my battery was always dead). My second averatec lasted about a year, and the same issues came up. the laptops are simply cheaper than all others...and you pay for what you get...also, averatec customer service is quite possibly the worst i've ever experienced. i think i would rather talk to a telemarketer.

only buy this if you are in need of a VERY CHEAP laptop...

Its very nice, very compact too, I love the size and the mobility since is very small and fits in my backpack with no problem I use it hard, I am taking online classes and go to college everyday, the wireless is great. The only downfall the speakers suck. Bad sound system so I carry my headphones.Everything else is perfect.