Averatec 3360- Advice?

Hi everyone,

I am doing some research to decide what type of new laptop I want to buy. I was out shopping around yesterday. Future Shop had an Averatec 3360 on for about $1400 (CDN). I have not heard a lot about Averatec and am wondering if those with first hand experience would recommend it.

I also saw a Toshiba Satellite (unfortunately I can't remember the specific model) at Staples for about $1600, so if anyone has any comments about that manufacturer as well, I'd appreciate it.

I don't need anything fancy. I am a student and only use it for internet access and word processing. I use it A LOT- I am a PhD student so my life right now basically consists of reading and typing notes on my computer all day, everyday. I don't care about music, gaming, playing DVDs etc. It cannot be too big, however, because in the near future I will have to cart it from the archives and back.

I currently have a Compaq Presario 700- it is about 3.5 years old. The lid does not stay up on its own anymore and it is running quite hot- the fan has to run all the time. And I can't burn CDs- yes, I am still operating off floppy disks! Strange, but true.

I don't really want to buy another Compaq. Any suggestions on other brands would be welcome. It is a confusing techno world out there!

Thanks
Heather

 

Averatec offers great value, I wouldn't have any problem going this route. They have a new 10" model too that is very cool, not sure if it's in CA yet though.

Brian

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I had picked up an Averatec 3360, and am very happy with it. It's a rather peappy machine, the boot times and restore times (when coming out of hibernation) are acceptable. I have had it about 3 weeks, and I started noticing a scratch in the screen, aparently the plastics at the edge of the trackpad touch the screen directly. From what I've read here though, it sounds like their support is a nightmare. I did purchase an extended warranty through circuit city where I got it. I got it for a variety of reasons. First of all, because I had originally purchased an Acer laptop and was horrified to find out the battery life on it was 1 hour. (On Acer's website, they have 90 minutes listed, not specificlly for the model I have, just the family) and the lower model in the family has a 14" display, while the model I had purchased had a 15.4 Widescreen display. So I ended up taking that back. My wife had told me before I even bought the Acer that I had a $400 limit for getting a laptop.. I laughed at her, I said I *MIGHT* be able to get a decent PDA, but no decent laptop. The Acer was $799. When I returned it and looked around, I found the Averatec as an open box unit. They had a price on it of $799. It was smaller, thinner, lighter, and has a hell of a lot more battery life. As they were taking it out of display case, I noticed some electrical tape on the power cord, apparently the rubber on the cord had gotten stripped off somehow, so they took $50 for that. Circuit city is notiorous for their restocking fee policy. But I'm not going to go into that debate here. I bring that up because on thier open box items, there is no restocking fee, but the way they function (or at least the store I purchased my unit from) is they subtract $100 from the price of the open box system in the system, then when you purchase it, they charge you the lowered price PLUS $100 in "software installation" fees which (how it was explained to me) pays for the technicians at the stores. Normally you would pay for the laptop in the department where you were getting it, but since I had been returning the acer, the customer service desk had my old unit, so the credit for the return. I took the computer "plus a ticket number for the order" which was placed into the system by the computer sales rep.

I go up to the register and want to finish the trade in. The girl at the register asked me if I was getting software installed, I of course said no, so she says "Well, it's only $649 not $749."

I was like, this is an awesome deal... but it gets even better

So, I'm waiting there while the reciept prints, and it just keeps going, and going, and going. Apparently there was also $150 in rebates offered for the unit. So, once I recieve my rebates, the unit will have only cost me $400.. This is one heck of a system for the price.

Joe