averatec 3225hs

I've been looking for a cheap and light notebook and found what appears to the best deal out there--by a longshot. It is for an Avertec 3225HS (about 4.2 lbs, Athalon XP mobile, 512 RAM, 40 GB HD, DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo) available from Microcenter after various rebates for a net price of $700. Only thing is I don't know anything about Avertec, and can't find a single review of this machine anywhere. It seems to have the best combination of features for the price. But is it reliable? Any information about this machine in particular or Averatec in general would be greatly appreciated.

 

Averatech is new too the business and they haven't sold all that many machines yet, so finding anything about them is difficult. When I was considering them I just googled them "averatec review" and read those. I found several "this is what I think of my avertec type documents" and they all pretty much agreed. What did it for me thought was the tiny odd keyboard. The placement of the keys and the odd sizes (esp. backspace and spacebar) were just too different. I was constantly making typos while using it in the store. I didn't think the feel was too bad, it was lightweight and it had a nice screen, but when I can't really use the keyboard I just can't get it. I think if you are comfortable with the keyboard it should work fine. Just don't expect to do anything more graphic intensive than watching a dvd. The integrated graphics chip on this one is subpar and can't really handle it.

 

I have the averatec 3225hs. It's a solid machine. It gets alot of ohhh's and ahhhh's wherever you bring it. And when I tell them the price, it knocks their socks off. It's light, durable, has great specs, and looks cool too. I highly recommend it. Great machine to take anywhere. Keyboard is a little bit different but like most things in life, if you spend enough time with it you're bound to get used to it. Not a big deal. This is the newest model for averatec. The older models, 3150, 3150hd, 3150 hw, etc, are lower in power than this one and cost the same. If you can, get this at a great deal while you can at micro center. When word gets out, everyone will want it, and demand/supply will take effect and jack it up to over 1000 a piece im sure. Note: don't install the new microsoft update. I don't know why but it screws up windows system on ur computer and u will have to do system restore. Advice: leave your comp alone.

-Drew

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by anjaru

 

QUOTE:[ I've been looking for a cheap and light notebook and found what appears to the best deal out there--by a longshot. It is for an Avertec 3225HS (about 4.2 lbs, Athalon XP mobile, 512 RAM, 40 GB HD, DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo) available from Microcenter after various rebates for a net price of $700.]
I missed that deal. Does anyone know anywhere sells this model near that price ? Microenter sells it for $1049 - $150 rebate now.
I own a Dell 8600, it's a great Centrino, but 7.5lb is only suitable for inside the house as a desktop replacement. I want something like this 3250, light and cheap for out-of-town use. Please let me know where can I find it cheap.
Thanks.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by lotus18

 

Quote:[I just bought the Averatec 3225HS from Microcenter and it had two rebates, a manufacturer rebate (for purchases at microcenter only) for $150 and a microcenter rebate for $100... Also, since it's only $20 to ship and no taxes (if you live in AL, AK, AZ, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, HI, ID, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MD, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NC, ND, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, TN, UT, VT, WA, WV, WI, WY, International) it's really a great deal... to summerize:

1049.00 + $20 s/h - $250 rebates = $819

I doubt you'll find a better price anywhere... especially with a comparable Dell (D600 or 600m) which'll cost $500 more!

Can't wait for mine to get here! ]

Richjg, I went to the Microcenter's website and could only see the $150 rebate from Microcenter. When did you buy it? May be it had the other $100 rebate then, not now. If you still see the $100 rebate, please show me the link.
I am lucky or should I say unlucky enough to live in a city where there is a Microcenter store and I have to pay about $85 tax, so that $100 extra rebate means a lot to me.
I totally agree with you that this is a good value compare to my Dell. The only thing is that I am taking a chance or risk to try a no name brand as compare to Dell, but the cheaper price made it up though.

 

Also, this week either office max or office depot has one of the averatecs on sale for 799.00 after rebates.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 21,862

 

QUOTE:[Also, this week either office max or office depot has one of the averatecs on sale for 799.00 after rebates.]

Quikster, I cannot find Averatec on either OfficeMax or OfficeDepot's website. If you happened to find them, can you please paste the links here. Thanks.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>
Richjg, I went to the Microcenter's website and could only see the $150 rebate from Microcenter. When did you buy it? May be it had the other $100 rebate then, not now. If you still see the $100 rebate, please show me the link.
I am lucky or should I say unlucky enough to live in a city where there is a Microcenter store and I have to pay about $85 tax, so that $100 extra rebate means a lot to me.
I totally agree with you that this is a good value compare to my Dell. The only thing is that I am taking a chance or risk to try a no name brand as compare to Dell, but the cheaper price made it up though.
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Lotus,

Below are the links to the two rebates for the Averatec 3225HS:

$100 - http://www.microcenter.com/rebate_show.phtml?id=13054
$150 - http://www.microcenter.com/rebate_show.phtml?id=13157

Sucks about the tax, but I hope this helps.

 

richjg, thanks so much for the links, I'll go to the store first thing in the morning and check out the 3225HS. I just don't understand why the $100 rebate is not mentioned in their website. Thanks again.

 

I see that Microcenter has put both rebates on their websites now.
Thanks for your input though, richjg.

 

If you're smart, you'll go directly to microcenter. you get 3 rebates. 150+100+100 for applying for the store credit card. Thats 350 bucks off. Thats what I did for mine. Total: $699. After you pay with the credit card, dont ever use it again.

-Andrew

PS 3225hs is the best. I almost bought the 3150hd for 799 but luckily, the store ran out. These are brand new models, no one has em yet thats why you cant find them on google.

 

I noticed that when I went to the store yesterday, but it was sold out. I wondered if richjg has received his online order yet. Too bad the extra $100 rebate from the store's credit card is not avaialble for online purchase.
richig, have you received yours yet and how long does it take them to deliver to you ?

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by lotus18

 

Hi, I was wondering if anyone else has had problems with the windowsupdate and the averatec 3225hs laptop. Because I'm pretty interested in getting one. Thanks.

 

also i was wondering if anyone put windows xp professional edition on their laptops. Because thats what i was planning on doing when/if i bought the laptop

 

I cannot be happier. Guess what ? I picked up one in the local Microcenter for $699 after rebate. I was lucky to stop by the store and found out the truck had just shipped in 5 units. I bought one and called my friend to get another one. This thing is so hot that the sales said the remainder units were all reserved.

 

Battery life? I also have the AV3225HS it works great but, I only get 1 hour of DVD playback time on batteries. I've read reviews that say the 3150 supposedly gets 2 hours of playback time (tomshardware.com). Has anyone else tried this? Please let me know what kind of battery life you are getting. I called Averatec and their customer service line and they said that this model is just more power hungry, I was hoping that my battery was bad and just needed to be replaced. I actually returned the 3150 that I bought at Staples because I could get the 3225HS at Micro Center at about the same price after all the rebates ($700 not including tax). Now I need to buy two extra batteries if I really want to do very much totally wireless work.

Also I have done just the sercurity updates for XP and they seem to work fine.

 

I picked up my AV3225HS yesterday, and so far I think it's great! For the money, you can't beat it. I've installed the beta of Windows XP Service Pack 2 and it installed without any issues what so ever, everything continues to work perfectly. So, going forward, everything looks good as far service packs go.

James Ellis
[email protected]
Windows XP Associate Expert
Expert Zone - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone

 

When I opened the box, I could not locate any owner's manual.
Is it a missing part or just that is the way it is?
I found the 3200 series manual on their website. Are the new customers supposed to download he manual themselves ? For those who just bought this 3225HS, did you find the manual ?

 

You should find it as a .pdf file under Start -> All Programs -> Averatech -> Users Manual. I did not get a hard copy either. I'm sure everything's electronic these days to save money

- Jim

James Ellis
[email protected]
Windows XP Associate Expert
Expert Zone - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by kfix

 

Thanks EWC. I am not familiar with this brand, I think it makes sense so that they can sell this cheaper and I don't mind a bit.
What about that black thingy in the little plastic bag ? I saw another thread about this, but still don't know for sure if we need that and what's the official use of this from Averatec. Is it documented anywhere ?

 

yea, does anyone know what that black thing in the bag is for? No directions what so ever. If someone knows, tell me please.

 

I think this is an OEM model made by Twinhead, a small but reliable maker in the Republic of China. Its weakness should be the integrated graphics by SIS, I think. It's a bit thinner than the iBook, and the form factor was initially PIII based until recently (AMD XP-M low power at about 1400+). Avertec is probably a trading company like Apex, which buys DVD players from various sources at high-volume to lower costs. I think they made a good choice if indeed it was a Twinhead unit.

 

Hi I just got my Averatec 3225HS today. Love it! I have a question though, I don't know if it's just me or what. If you go to the averatec.com website the 3150 series seems a bit darker than the 3200. My notebook feels a bit generic? The casing is plastic but on the specs it says that it has a magnesium alloy "frame." I never seen the 3150 series in person, is it the same casing as the 3200? Everything works peachy king, the numbers on the keyboard have some getting use to. They're on top of the keyboard so its not like you'll press a different button, it's just awkward cause its so tiny and cramped in. Each notebooks keyboard is different so it's really no major problem. Speakers are blah, I have yet to hear a laptop with phenomenal sounding speakers built IN. It gets a little warm, not unbearably hot but once again, I have yet to see a laptop that doesn't heat up. I've had no problems logging onto the internet, right out of the box this thing was ready to go. It came with this black thing in a plastic bag, I got one of those with my external CD burner, you're supposed to put it on the USB cord. I think it improves performance with USB peripherals because it has magnets inside. It came with no user manual [ !] Did have a PDF file that has all the nifty instructions. CD-recorder is great, dvd playback too! It's no desktop replacement but the weight and size do sure make up for its mobility.

I already knit the bottom of my notebook :-( That's the only thing that really bothers me, is the casing. Does anyone know where I could buy some sort of laptop case guard? Sorta like that leather thing you slip the Compaq tablet PC in. Not a good idea I guess cause it'll probably suffocate the laptop but if anyone has any ideas I'd be more than happy to read [ ]

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Cesarj1985

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by richjg

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by anjaru

 

yea, does anyone know what that black thing in the bag is for? No directions what so ever. If someone knows, tell me please.

It is a devise when clipped to the phone line/usb/lan etc during use will presumably reduce electromagnetic radiation/intereference etc, use it only if you has a bad connection. the manual recommends to use it at all time (?)
hope this helps

 

The Manual is found via Start Menu Averatec as a Adobe Acrobat Reader PDF File. It is the Same as what is online

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by lotus18

 

Looks like I missed out on the boat. Went down to Microcenter and noticed that the rebates are no longer available and the price is back up to $1050. Anyone know of a better price? Can't find much below $1000 online.

 

BestBuy has the 3220H for $750 with rebates. Although it isn't the 3225, you can buy 512MB for the approx price difference ($850 was the best I saw for 3225) and have the same computer.

 

hello,

My father is looking for a laptop thats not too expensive, but wants it to be nice and compact. He was really set on getting a nice tablet PC... sticker shock! (those Toshibas with GeforceFX integ. are nice though!)

I personally have an emachines m6805 Athlon64, the thing is a beast but its a massive DTR.

He and I saw the Averatec at MicroCenter, and I was impressed by the size of this unit (and also that its AMD XP-M! Im a fanboy, what can I say...).

My question is this: can the unit be opened? Sure it'll void a few warranties, but hey its $700.
What I proposed is that he buy this unit, and then we head over to newegg.com and pick up a nice Athlon XP-M mobile proc., maybe a nice 2600+ for $99. The FSB is still the same 266 and they are obviously pin-compatible, plus you get the advantage of a doubled L2 cache...

can you open the system, or do they somehow manage to lock out the end-user?

 

heh one more question:

using ClockGen, are you guys able to overclock the system at all? I know the XP-M's are mult. unlocked for Powernow! purposes, but not above whatever multiplier is neccessary to reach the rated clockspeed. Im sure the RAM they include isnt of the best quality, but is it possible to squeeze a few MHZ out of the FSB of the system? I cant find what chipset the system is based on, so I cant give you guys a specific version of ClockGen to mess around with, but if one of you has the time, it'd be much appreciated.

http://www.cpuid.com/clockgen.php


thanks

 

Matty,

No one knows what the fock you are talking about. Take your geek jargon and go share a cup of coffee with your dad and leave us alone. My head almost exploded when I read your posting.

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by matthewf01

 

Ugh...

Anyway, you can open the machine, but the parts are not upgaradable.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

hah sorry... im used to speaking on Anandtech... i guess thats a whole different crowd


anyway, im on the new lappy right now... seems pretty solid, i installed AMD Powernow! to dynamically change the clockspeed depending on how hard youre taxing the system...should squeeze a lot more life out of the battery.
Averatec does NOT install this program, and theres sort of a problem between AMD & Microsoft (the program wont install under XP...)

If you guys are interested, go to the AMD site, download the powernow installer. Then right-click on the install file, go to Compatibility, Select Windows 2000, then run the install.
Reboot, then go into the Power settings in Control panel. There will be a new AMD POWERNOW tab with good settings in there for the system to automatically change the CPU speed, thus saving precious battery!!! Give it a try!

 

I really want to buy one of these.. but i am really really scared about quality problems that i have read about online....

 

I bought the 3225HS about two months ago. I have had no problems with the windows updates. Actually i have had no problems at all with this laptop. The keyboard does take a little to get used to and feels a little "cheap". However I love the size and price. You won't do any gaming as the S3 graphics are not that good. It does play DVD's with no problem and the graphics are more than good enuff to anything except play high end games. Battery life is about 2 1/2 hours during normal use. I have noticed that I have to reconnect to my wireless network about every 20 min, but I am not sure if that is my linksys wireless router or the Broadcom wireless chipset in the laptop (I am still fairly new to wireless). Overall I think it is a fantastic laptop with a fantastic price after rebates.

 

I've had the laptop for a few days and think it's a great laptop for what you pay. Magnesium frame feels better than the assortment of dell/sony/hp I've used in the past with their plastic cases. I upgraded the memory to 1gb and it seems to work well. As far as the wireless having to be reset every 20 min or so, do you have your laptop set to go on standby after 20 min? I have to push the wireless button off then on whenever it goes to standby. Other than that, there are no major complaints. Wish the video card could be upgraded. I like the touchpad with the scrolling sides.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by matthewf01

 

I have noticed that I have to reconnect to my wireless network about every 20 min, but I am not sure if that is my linksys wireless router or the Broadcom wireless chipset in the laptop (I am still fairly new to wireless). Overall I think it is a fantastic laptop with a fantastic price after rebates.
[/quote]

i am using dlink 54 mbs w two 3220 laptops and has no problems whatsoever. it is a nuisance though one has to press the wireless button everytime when turn on the machine. dumb! overall, that is the best laptop i have bought for ages, highly recommend.

 

I too have found that after about 20 minutes the wireless will read "unavailable". Thereafter it will detect the network and often reconnect without further intervention. Not a huge deal, but mildly irritating. Prior to password protecting the router, however, no problems. Using DLink 802.11b and 3220H1. Anyone have any wisdom?

 

Hello
Just picked up this little laptop from the Future Shop in Canada last night. So far so good and I seem to be on wifi alright. Doesn't appear to be disconnecting anymore after playing with settings and such. In Canada this unit is 100.00 off at FS bring it to 1299.00 CDN but the optional warrenty covering hardware not related to human damage is 299.00 for three years. What do you think, should I go with the standard company one year or pay the 300.00 over three?
Happy with the unit so far.

 

25% of the cost for an extended warranty? Me personally, I'd just replace the darned thing, but that's me. I buy with a credit card that extends my warranty and gives me some loss protection anyway..

 

I bought one of these from Circuit City, I've been using it for about a day and so far I like it, other than the fact that the keyboard is driving me nuts (the different sized keys for letters and non-letters are hard to get used to).

I have a problem with the Broadcom 802.11g chipset, though. It is really slow, I only get a throughput of about 70 kbps with an "excellent" connection. I plugged in my Netgear MA111 USB adapter and it works fine, so it's something to do with the Broadcom hardware or its settings. Has anybody else experienced this and solved it?

 

Looks cool, I like the light and thing stuff, but is it no good for gaming at all? Thats what id like, a gaming laptop thats light n thin, and it seems thhey don't exist. This looks dandy, but i want to be able to dl some games with out having to uninstall stuff to make room. Feedback on games?

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by bluesky