Customer Reviews

Averatec AV7115-EH1 17" Laptop (Mobile AMD Sempron 3000+, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, Dual Layer DVD Burner)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pros: Price, Screen size, Full size keyboard

Cons: It comes with toll free number for assistance. Every time you call them you get to speak with hard headed rude and purely unprofessional customer service executive.
It does not come with any recovery disc. You have to create one by your self as soon as you start using your system.
No user manual except pdf file loaded on hard drive with is really unintuitive and useless. After scrolling through so many pages you never find what you are looking for.
If you play game for more then 20 min it gets really hot.

Over all its not a bad deal if you don't need any help from customer service, can do without recovery disc and user manual and don't play games.

AVERATEC AVERATEC AMD 1.8GHZ 80GB 512MB DVDRW XPH 17"
I purchased this new notebook from RCS Experience on Amazon for 599.99, and also ordered 512ram of PC2700 on Amazon on 1/2008. This Averatec is very functional. It is the coolest running of my notebooks because the cooling fan runs constantly. It doesn't cycle on and off, so you will here it make a whirring noise which not bothersome. The speakers are adequate but can be tweaked to your liking with the Realtec audio manager. Audio jacks are directly in front so you can use your headset for better quality. The screen is clear with some reflection, and can also be tweaked for brightness on the keyboard. The key board is comfortable with a number pad. The 5-in-1 card reader works good. XP home is the operating system and works reliably, but extra memory is needed because the video takes 40MB from the total memory. No recovery discs come with this computer. You restart the computer tap the F4 key during boot-up and boom the Phoenix recovery system asks you what do you want to do next. It works slick. There is an icon on the desktop so you can create a recovery DVD. This computer is not very rugged so I use it for a desktop replacement despite its thinness, and light weight. It is made in China. I have spoken by phone to Averatec tech support about some user issues and was able to get hold of someone quickly early in the morning when they open. Hours 8:00AM to 5:00 central time M-F. I have heard they are slow about returning serviced computers. Bottom line this is a fully functional computer without much software or bells and whistles, like you would see on an HP. If you want to keep it cheap this notebook might be worth considering.

This laptop has everything I could reasonably need for my non-gaming lifestyle. It is a bit bare inside the box, but if you're reasonablly familiar with laptops already, this should be fine. The screen is HUGE and beautiful. DVD burner works nice, and comes with pre-installed burning software. I like the video capabilities, many USB 2 ports, and even a nice firewire port! For $650 total, this is a great deal!

The first thing i noticed was that the laptop didn't come with a Windows CD. I called customer service about this and they informed me that everything i needed was backed up on a 2nd partition on the hard drive.
When i buy a computer with a 60 gig hard drive, i expect to have a 60 gig hard drive, not a 40 gig with 20 gigs that i can't use because its reserved for backup space. That's what the DVD burner is for.
One of the ram chips burnt out. I had to fight with customer service for a while. The first person i talked to told me to reinstall windows. Since it didn't come with a windows disk, i installed my copy of XP Professional. Same problem with a missing page file was happening, so i called up and they informed me that since i installed a different version of windows, it had voided my warrenty and they would not be able to help me. I fought with them for a while (3 days) and was able to get them to take my laptop, replace the malfunctioning RAM and for some reason replace my hard drive. That took them a month and a half.

Overall, HORRIBLE customer service. The laptop itself has a few kinks with it, but i think that's just because i got lucky and got the one screwy one out of the entire batch that was made. This may not be the case, however, because i have a few friends who also bought Averatec laptops, and they've had to reinstall their drivers for their mouse, sound or usb drives several times. I've had to reinstall my touch pad drivers a few times.

The keyboard is also a little screwy as far as its demensions go. The zxcv row is moved over a few milimeters compared to other laptops, and the shift key for the left hand is half sized. The shift key on the right hand is oversized. The period key is half the size of a normal letter key. Same goes for the ?/ key. There are also two \| keys which leads me to beleive that they could have gotten rid of one in order to make they keyboard have proper dimensions. If i go onto any other laptops or keyboards now, i get confused.

Averatec is a screwy little company. I don't think i'll buy from them again. I've since replaced the ram in the machine with stuff i know doesn't burn out, and i've upgraded the hard drive to a 160 gig.

As far as good stuff goes, The laptop stays very cool at all times unless it gets dusty. The power source stays pretty cool as well. The DVD burner is handy as it burns duel layer DVDs for more storage. The sound is low coming from the speakers, but through outside amplification, this laptop can make some serious noise. The screen is very nice. All the FN keys respond. Having a 10-key pad on the laptop is very handy.