Averatec Satisfaction Poll

Are you happy with your Averatec laptop?

 

Averatec has the cheapest 12" laptops around. But you get what you pay for. If you have any problems, you're better off being your own technical support.

 

I bought my 6130hs in 2004 and I've had no problems with it.

 

You can't beat the price, and the features are OK, as good as Dell offered just a couple of years ago on its mid-priced laptops. And one deserves a medal of honor for NOT buying a new Dell or HP, or the IBM clones, or any of the other big sellers. If my 2200 works, it works fine for my uses, and it travels light. But that power switch, it is cheap, and it breaks. Why couldn't they install a simple mechanical on/off switch, like a rocker? It would save them RMA costs out the kazoo, last practically forever, and help the reputation.

And the keyboard...if they would have only expanded it like 1/4 inch on each side and used the extra space to widen the SHIFT key....the one in there is way too small for real writing (I am writing on an 8-year old Compaq keyboard at this moment, not a bit of trouble with it). When I travel I take a another keyboard and usb mouse to use with the 2200.

Averatec is based in Santa Anna California. Here are the corporate officers:

CEO: Brian Yoon
President: Saeed Shabazi
Vice President of Sales: Joyce Ahn

 

I've had my 6130HS for over 2 yrs now. It was cheap for a desktop replacement. The LCD & Bottom case was replaced under warranty. Case failed 2 mo later again. Most of the problems were due to poor workmanship. Averatec has the worst service I have ever dealt with. The Back plane was not not straight putting a bind on the lid and case. cracking everything. Soon as it was out of warranty I dissambled and corrected every thing. Since then beside the case falling apart it has worked flawlessly. I have found that I can order parts directly from Uniwill. Have replaced the lid and hinges, and have ordered parts to replace the bottom case and keyboard bezel, full of cracks. These P4 unit run HOT no butts about it. Once you learn you have to blow the lint out of the cooling fan on a monthly basis it works with out any problems. You must set them on a hard surface, free of lint.

I wish I had bought some other laptop that had a metal case. With Added ram and 7200RPM HD these units are great. I use mine on a average of 12-14 hr/day.

 

I have a 3225H for four years now and no problem except I had to replace the DVD drive twice which was my fault for jarring it when I was on vacation. The drive is very common and cheap and the steps of installing it is very easy. I looks cheap but can't beat the price

 

I thought that this laptop (6130HS-20) sounded great for the price. I've had quite a few problems with it now that the warrenty has run out....

the right arrow key broke off my keyboard, and I found that Averatec wont ship parts to end customers... what a pain. The LCD has developed an intermittant column of "dead" pixels and the brightness flickers. I also have intermittant USB... sometimes they work and sometimes they cut out and tell me that the USB device cannot be recognized... doesn't matter what the device is.

I've owned the laptop for about 2 years and it has been a good workhorse for school. The main problem that I have is with the useless customer support.

 

Exactly...I have a 2260 (2 actually, one for me and one for the wife). We couldn't beat the price w/ rebates at Circuit City. Anyway, after about 4 months my power input stopped working. Took Averatec 6.5 weeks to fix it under warranty and I had to pay to ship it back to them. And I actually only got it back 3 days after my BBB complaint went through otherwise it probably would have never gotten fixed. My wife's unit has been trouble free.

Other than that I've been happy w/ them...generally well built, nice LCD, peppy enough for my needs. Could've used a better integrated GPU as try to run 720p content can be slow at times.

 

I have the 2370 and while I LOVE the screen and pressure-hinged lid, I hate the keyboard layout. I've had it since black friday 2006 and I'm still not used to the odd placement of the Fn keys.

Also, the DVD door isn't flush, that really bothers me.

Also it gets VERY hot. That really bothers me.

Also in order to upgrade my memory to 2 GB of DDR 667, I had to void my warrantee.

That really bothers me.

Also I've filed a BBB complaint agains ModusLink for not sending me my "free" vista upgrade that I had to pay $13 "shipping" for.

 

you definitely get what you pay for. dont have any complaints though.

 

Yes we get what we pay for, but they did not tell that help with driver and tech support while in warrenty is absolutely useless so far, last day of warrenty is dec 11 2007

 

yes...but with regrets

I have an Averatec 2370. I like this notebook a lot. Fortunately it is manufactured by Twinhead with virtually no customization by Averatec other than the BIOS firmware.

In the past year, a cadre of Averatec owners have caught Averatec in out rights lies to its customer base on more than one occasion. Often the only way to get warranty assistance is following complaints to the Better Business Bureau or California Attorney General's office - - and even then the results are so-so. Averatec may promise to these entities to do something, contact the customer, and then never follow-through.

To allow our 2370's to perform properly, many owners have resorted to, in-effect, stealing updated newer BIOS firmware from parallel Twinhead units released under other labels. Averatec says no newer BIOS code is available, but calls to the BIOS publisher indicates such code is available, but Averatec has not requested their private branded version for release. Given that running the non-Averatec version of the BIOS firmware solves so many problems, sort of proves the disservice Averatec is providing its customers.

So... yes I really like my Averatec notebook, but if I were purchasing the same notebook today, I would select a unit that had a different name on the box.

 

I with Jim on this one. I have had a 3250HX for just over 2.5 years and the only thing that went wrong is one of the usb ports quit. I replaced the entire assembly myself and all three ports are okay now. I have managed to avoid the dreaded dc jack problem <knock wood> which was the part that most people complained about.

While I still like my 3250, I wouldn't by this brand again. Prices have come down on all other brands trememdously.

 

I owned an AVERATEC 3270 for about 9 months, during which time I never had any problems other than the case scuffing. I sold the machine a sizeable portion of what I paid for it ($550 out of an original $800) and bought a Compaq v2000z, not because of any specific problems with the 3270, but because the S3G Unichrome Pro was so bad that I just wanted something with a little more oomph (and some more system RAM, for good measure). Within two months the battery on the 3270 had ceased to hold any charge at all. AVERATEC refused to cover it under warranty, insisting the battery was only warranted for 6 months. About a month later, the touchpad half died...it will arbitrarily send the mouse pointer off into crazy spinning motions with no reason. I'm glad I dumped the thing when I did...I can't imagine if I was still using it today how many problems it would have. Still, it was not a bad deal at all - $250 for 9 months of use of a fairly decent machine (when it worked). Hard to complain too much, since it is true - you get what you pay for.

 

Ive had my Averatec 3700 for over two years and honestly have treated it like a rented mule. I mostly use it on my lap to net surf while watching tv. It has hit the floor probably 5 times, and a couple of weeks ago got yanked across the room when the ac cord get tangled around my leg. Still works great. I am surprised how great of a buy this computer has proven to be despite some bad reviews and complaints about customer service. The only thing I don't like is that the touchpad isn't as responsive as it should be, but I've gotten used to it.

It's good looking as well. Looks like a little iBook.

 

I voted "Yes..with regrets".

I bought my 3715-EH1 several years ago when mini-laptops were in the $2K region and paid only $700 for mine at Sam's. I had read as much on the web as was available and understood I got what I was paying for (as was voiced by most of you as well).

It has actually performed very nicely and fits exactly what I bought it for which is to have a super small package I could actually sit in my chair on my lap without both legs going to sleep from just above the knees down due to the excessive weight of my former laptop.

I did, however, learn that Averatec had used some of the least known hardware on the market which causes a lot of compatibility issues with drivers and other operating systems.

One thing that has plagued me on this brick is the wifi. On Windows XP it is very weak and drops constantly. On Linux, it's one of the hardest boxes to set up an rt2500 driver that works with WPA-PSK (vid, I'm still stuggling with that on SimplyMepis rel7.0). On the positive, I found that Linux systems seem to automatically solve the power/heat problems that dog this laptop and just about everything including apps and hardware operates much faster.

Well, so much for that. If I had it to do over again, I'd have stuck it out another year on my Toshiba Satellite for the more reliable manufacturers to field their affordable mini-laptops.

 

I voted that I am satisfied but have regrets. I've just gone through nearly two months of Averatec warranty hell but the outcome after involvement by the BBB, the California Attorney General, and OfficeMax, is that my unit is repaired and now working well and like it was supposed to.

However, I certainly won't trust them again for either repair if needed or to buy another one though I suspect that would be very difficult. I'm going to pass on just a small tidbit I got from the head of Computer purchasing for OfficeMax. He stated that they dropped Averatec almost a year ago because they were showing dramatic signs of big financial difficulties. Rather than being caught with a bunch of problem stock they did an unload and didn't renew their purchasing contract. I suspect that's the case with the rest of their retail suppliers.

I, personally would suspect that shortly they'll be out of business and leaving their users in the lurch. Best recommendation I can give is don't buy one from any source. They are still out there. For, me I'm just going to use it until it goes west with the expectations of replacing it when it does with a larger better equipped manufacturer. Sad since it really isn't that bad of unit.

Rick

 

I was satisfied, until that crack in my screen popped up in April 2005. I had recieved this computer as a gift for christmas, to replace, a refurbished compaq( which my mom got me at a computer show. Big mistake). Anyway, I called up customer service, and the guy said that my screen may not be covered under warrenty. So I packed up the computer shipped it via the post office for $45 all the way to California.


A week later I recieved an email, with a picture they took, showing what my computer looked liked.

Then they said my screen would not be covered, and it would cost me $600 to replace it. I was shocked, and I knew that I was not going to pay it. So i decided that they can have my laptop. So about a months later, a service rep called to find out what was going on. So I told him, that was not how I shipped out my comp. So he said that he would have to look at the box it came in, and make an asessment from that. he gave me a number to contact him, but I never did.


So then June came around, and I left the state for 3 months, and I came home and noticed that my notebook was fixed.


From then on it worked, but I had lots of trouble with it. It seemed that when 2006 rolled around I had to do a system restore, to fix all the ailments it was having.

I noticed it started shutting off on me like once every 4 months, until finally this month it took its last breath.

my mom seemed to think, that I did something it, which is why my laptops are always breaking. Which was not my fault.

I actually like this laptop when I got it, because it was small and compact, and not heavy at all. I was even considering getting the model that had the reversable screeen.

I don't ever want anything from them again. Customer service was complete hell.

 

A terrible company to deal with. I bought a battery for a 6100 series from them. I got one for the 5100. I sent it back with a complaint and got a replacement one-again for the 5100. They then told me I had dealt with shipitfryou.com even though I had bought it on the Averatec site and never heard of Shipitfor you. I now understand Averatec own shipitforyou. I now have the computer for 3 years with no battery and have been charged $140 for the non existant battery. In the 1920's Al Capone could have been their owner!!!

John Feehan, Boston

 

My 7800 Series is approx 1 month old. The right shift key is too small, the speakers require Realtek program tweaking for improved quality, and it is not built very regid. The overall operation of the all components of the 7800 has been trouble free. The screen is great for looking at and editing photos. XP is very reliable. I purchased it as a desktop replacement. After reading the posts here I extended the warranty 1 year.

 

My experience is that they are not for the casual user. I would have been very dissatisfied with my 3270 had there not been access to the old Unofficial Averatec Forum.

 

Do u know about the "new" Unofficial Averatec Forum?
( www.averatec-forums.com). Note the dash.

 

As many of you've posted - most of the issues are common:
- Poor build quality
- Excessive Heat [mine has burnt the coating right off the bottom plates]
- Horrible Tech Support [it's a joke!!]
- Bad design
- and the list goes on...

The pro? Price; for the features, the price was unbeatable at the time. Unfortunately, like the old saying goes - you get what you paid for [or didn't, in this case!]

 

That's been dead for a while too.

PS: Sorry, didn't mean to double post.

 

my 3715-ed1 was good for 2-1/2 years until a short-circuit in the DC power jack completely blew the jack. Atleast i got some of my money back on ebay by parting it out

 

We have had the 7100 for a couple years now.
We repartitioned the HD the first day and started using Linux so when the DVD player app quit - like the fist or second day - we just abandoned the MS partition for everything but SIM2 pretty much.
The wireless jumped up and worked at the library no problems in XPHome and the modem side worked perfect for dialup but the winmodem/nic never has worked properly in Debian flavors. We do get this "white noise" screen from time to time on boot but it clears as soon as the distro properly finishes loading. The thing always seems to be running hot to us and we have had to clean the keyboard a lot more frequently to keep the keys free. The main problems are with the slim CD/DVD. It just fails to read sometimes until we reboot. This happens on both the MS and Lin "sides" so we suspect it is the hardware.
All things considered it is a decent deal for 700 clams but no raves compared to the other makes we have used.
We use it daily and it often stays on for weeks at a time, we got out clams out of it.

 

After a year of owning the 17 in. 7100 series I realize I had made a mistake.
I have had problems with the computer, and have sent it in for repair twice. Today the screen is not as bright as it was new and has inconsistency's in the brightness of it. The attached photo is what it used to look like before it was sent in. Thanks to XP it has no operational problems. I expect it not to last long and I will take the hard drive out and use it in another computer.
To bad. Toshiba only from now on!

 

This is my 1st laptop.
what a way to go, huh?

I have the 2370.
It gets too hot.
I hate no cd and having a hidden partition, that's supposed to have the OS, but who knows if that works.
As it is I can't format the HD into the other 3 partitions + logicals.
really don't like having everything all stuck on C drive.

I can't populate both mem slots at the same time. Don't know why. May be a software problem, maybe not. Not sure how to approach the problem.

One USB port died. The outer cover that over the hinge that hold the display tends to pop off.

So, this one has it's problems.

I do like the small size. The battery only runs for an hour though. And I can't find a replacement for 2370.

 

was happy with it until the DC-jack short-circuited. Making the laptop useless.

 

I have a 3700 (3725-EH1) that I got because it was dropped. The previous owner kept the hard drive and the DVD drive didn't survive the fall. The laptop itself is wonderful. The only things i dont like is that the touchpad and wifi card wont both work in the same version of linux and the tiny right shift key. I love the Elantec touchpad because of the 2 and 3 finger taps. The virtual scrolling still wont work in some apps like the Synaptics one on my old laptop (WinXP fail?)

 

I had a 6130hs all throughout college. It was really powerful when i bought it and 5 years later it was still relevant and worked for pretty much whatever i wanted.

However, it did have overheating problems which i read reviews from a year after it came out and i guess it was just the way they designed it was kinda screwy. I had a 3 year warranty so never had to pay for little fixes here and there.

All in all it's hard to complain considering i got 5 solid years out of it.