Should I stay away?

I was contemplating the Averatec 12/13" models. Should I stay away from Averatec in general? I haven't read much positive feedback on them or their customer support.

 

yea, HP is much better

 

They make a good cheap units. I have a 6130hs that has had most of the problems you have heard of. And yes I had my share of problems with them. I am please with my unit, and since upgraded the HD and Ram. But I am technical in nature and not a fraid to take it apart if needed. There are compaines that provide good service contracts, including accidental damage for around $70/yr.

I would check to see what problems they are having with the model you are considering. And weight the price against other models. There is no model trouble free. Dell makes good units but will void the warranty if you add ram. Only authorized service can do it. And are over priced if you get to the better units.

Personally I would buy one that has an alloy case, not plastic. I have seen many that have warped, this causes LCD to crack. When you car the unit you squeze the lid against the base causing flexing.

A word of thought.... It has been documented that you spend 1/2 the time waiting on the HD, 4200rpm. 7200rpm drive consume 10% more power for twice the performance. They sell it as longer battery life. In reality you are working only 1/2 the time.

 

You might want to check over at www.averatecforums.com to help in your decision. I have one of their 12" models, 3250HX, and except for the quick deterioration in battery run time (after 1 year I get only 50 minutes) it has performed well. But this may be an exception since the 3200 series has had many many problems as you will see over at that link provided.

 

I have a 2100 (2155 to be exact). I have only one issue with the lappy so far, and that is battery life. But thats to be expected on a 4cell battery. I will be visiting kinrite.com to buy a 8 cell for $129 and that will extend life to well over 3 hours or more.

Other then that I upgraded to 2gb and cranked the ati 200m to 128mb and I can game really well. UT games, and ghost recon play well (50+ fps in ut2003). I cant wait til i have the 8 cell and mt40 upgrade. Id recomend this model whole heartdly, but with all laptops Id recomend a warranty as they see alot of abuse.

 

Honestly, just go with Dell. My bro has had his Dell laptop for over 3yrs and no problems whatsoever. He even accidently spilled some water on it and it still works perfectly since the day he bought it. My advice, avoid Averatec. One time Averatec, never again.

 

no you shouldnt avoid...well maybe 13 in is bad....heat wise
i myself researched it alot and got the 2150(12in widescreen)
i love this unit...as well...i will say battery life isnt good..but then it is a powerfull portable
add the 8 cell and you pretty much have an msi 1013 or s270...which is a respectable notebook.

 

Dear lord! Run! Run my child! Stay away from the averatec, get as far away as possible! Run like the wind before the averetec you might have bought melts down and causes a thermonuclear explotion (I had a close call with that once, yup, I saved the world)!

 

Go to www.averatecforums.com and ask around there, plenty of Averatec users there to help ya out.

 

I had an AVERATEC 3270-EH1, not a bad little machine by any means, but the S3 Unichrome integrated graphics were abysmal and the battery died after a little over a year. However, newer machines have better ODMs and better ATi graphics, so I'd say there's not much to worry about, and AVERATEC has some good deals, especially when on sale.

 

I had an Averatec 1050-eb1 for 5 and a half months. I had no major problems with it. The battery life did degrade a little faster than I would have liked. The glossy screen is extremely annoying, I do wish they would just use a matte screen. Build quality is poor to average, meaning it's delicate but it didn't seem ready to fall apart as soon as I got it, like my Sager did. Since it is so small, you can safely pick it up by it's corner and it won't bend.