AV5500-EA1 and WinXP SP2

I'm thinking very seriously about buying an AV5500. I don't have any experience with Averatec notebooks, but what I see is promising. One concern I have is that there seem to be some Averatec notebooks that have had problems with Windows XP Service Pack 2. Has anyone loaded SP2 to the 5500? If so, did you have any problems? It seems like a new notebook should come with it already loaded, but I haven't found any information about the OS other than it comes with XP Home edition.

Thanks.

 

Where did you read about the SP2 issues? I thought it came with SP2 preinstalled but now that I tried to confirm that I couln't find any information regarding this. All i found is that it comes with WinXP Home, and I am not really sure they mean WinXP without SP1 or without SP2. Since it's a rather new laptop I would expect it to come with at least SP1.

 

I have a 5500
It comes preinstalled with XP and SP2
No issues encountered so far

I also upgraded the RAM with an extra stick of 512Mb and also upgraded the hard disc to a fast 60Gb 7200
I also cloned everything
Overall pretty happy with the laptop

The only negative I have is the low signal strength from the wireless modem. It's much better on my two other laptops. But I installed a cheap USB adapter and all is well

 

Thanks for the posts! It's good to know it comes with SP2.

I have been thinking about more RAM and maybe a hard disk upgrade, so it's good to know someone has done it. I'll probably wait until I get it so I can see how it performs. It sure seems like a very good notebook for the money. I don't intend for this to replace my desktop, so I don't need massive CPU power and storage.

DoomX: About your wondering about where I heard about problems with SP2, I hadn't heard of any problems with the 5500. I saw mention of problems with other models about power management not working after the install of SP2. I've since seen on the Averatec web site a list of issues and their resolutions. The 5500 isn't on the list, so it seemed like a good idea to ask someone who actually has a 5500--so here I am on this forum.

 

I have ordered one and I am going to have it on Thursday so I only asked where you heard it in order to check it out. I have been also trying to find more information on forums on this laptop but no luck!

 

I just ordered one from Amazon.com. The order status said I should get it at the end of the month or the first part of February. Perhaps we can compare notes in a few weeks.

I had the same problem with finding information about the 5500--there just isn't much out there. Maybe it's because it's fairly new. Except for not having a DVD writer, it seems to be very competitive with their other laptops.

 

Hi Guys!
Decided to add couple of words to your descussion.
I got Av5500 month ago and things are going well so far
Also ordered memory 512mb chip))) so now this thing is damn fast.
Does anyone have problems with hot surface under right wrist?
Cause mine after more than 5 hrs of working gets pretty hot.
Notebook is awesome(for it's price of course)
Win XP Home SP2 is preinstalled

 

Mine get pretty warm too, but I dont really mind. The bottom part though get's VERY hot, and that combined with the fan at the bottom makes the "laptop" use out of question. I use a hard paper folder to put it on when i have it on my lap.

Also, about the low CPU speed issue, even if Windows show low speed, it's not as low as it shows. It's a feature of the new AMD CPUs to lower their speed when not needed. To stop this if it bothers you just uninstall the AMD driver from Add/Remove Program.