Averatec who? Laptop users?
 

I saw a small laptop (10.6" screen) last night that looked promising for the things I'd need it for. The Averatec 1100.

It's very very small (3 lbs and smaller than printer paper in L+W), but not too small to be incovenient to me. It's got a Pentium chip in it, and it appears to have enough I/O for my use. I've read a few good reviews on the web, but the Pelican brain trust is probably a better test.

I've wondering if anyone has an Averatec laptop, and if so what would you rate the reliability and durability of the product?

What kind of chip does it have and what are the specs on it?

Only about 8-10 companies who make laptops, all in Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea or Singapore.

Found out that the old name of this company was Sotec

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=67

Might do some searching on them to see how they fare.

Here's the model's website:

http://www.averatec.com/products/portable/featherlight/1100Series.asp

And a review:

http://compreviews.about.com/od/ultraportables/gr/Averatec1150EW1.htm


I have a Dell Latitude D600 for work that I have been using for the past 2 years or so. Even it is a little big for my taste. I'd be giving up some performance with the Pentium M if were to buy the Averatec, but the portability is what I'm after. I have a couple of desk tops at home that are powerful, if I need to perform high performance tasks. My PDA and thumb drives, cell phone and planner (yes I still use one) just don't cut it.

What I really need is a device that can act as a PDA, cell phone and computer. No one makes such a thing. The very tiny Averatec looks promising in that I can put it in my glove box or backpack and go (in the 911 or on the motorcycle)! It's got a longer battery life than some laptops I've seen.

The next lower cost laptop on my list may be the IBM Lenovo. I haven't touched one yet. It's more powerful, but it's about the same size as the Dell I'm using. Of course it's an IBM so it should have good reliability.

http://about.pricegrabber.com/search_techspecs_full.php/masterid=20711234

The Sony Vaios are cool but they are too much for me to justify. The Averatec 1150 can be had for about $1000.

Typing on one now. Great for travel (size/wt) especially if you have to carry a lot of other stuff (ie not just your computer). Had mine for 2 years without probs (knock on wood). Keyboard is smaller (b/c of overall size) which was the hardest thing to get used to. Has seemed to have adequate cooling (the biggest bugaboo IMO about many laptops).

It has performed exactly as expected/desired.

My wife was looking for something small and light that she could easily carry to school. The Sony Vaio was really nice, but just too darn expensive, so we got her the one of the 10.6" Averatec 1000 series machines a little over a year ago. I think we paid about $900 at Sams. We haven't had any problems, it runs good, it's reasonably speedy. Her school uses Cisco LEAP authentication for the wireless and that's supported (much to my surprise) by the built in wireless. I'd say it's a nice little laptop.

We just bought my daughter a new laptop. She also wanted something a bit smaller for the same reason. We ended up getting her something just a bit bigger, the Toshiba Satellite U205, $1300. It seems to be a well made little laptop. I think the U200 is closer to the Averatec 1000 in features and price, $900. The U205 has more HD and RAM.

I've had my Averatec 2250 (can't quite remember the model, 12.1" screen and AMD Mobile chip) for about 3 years now. I carry the laptop to school everyday so it's been thoroughly abused; missing a chunk of casing right next to the PCMCIA slot because I slipped over a wet bench and fell on my butt, with the laptop hanging in the backpack; the screen frame on both left and right lower corners have been cracked (I suppose from opening by pushing on the top portion, leverage and all) and a piece of tape is holding the frame together. However, the laptop still runs as well as it did out of the box (actually better after ditching the BS Windows XP for 2000). Mine has a decent battery life (just over 2 hours) and reasonably fast enough to do what I do (engineering school crap).

I was actually looking into buying another one, or rather, researching for my next laptop when the current one completely gives up, and Averatec seems to have expanded the model range and generally improved their computers. If I had to buy another laptop, it would most likely be another Averatec.

Sounds like I know what to ask for this Xmas :D

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Souk,

Consider the little Macbook.

http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html

Screen is 13.3, not as small as the Averatec but still a small highly portable box. The screen is stunning and the keyboard is great. Dual core processor, better video, will run XP and Vista. $1,100.

It's a better box for the same money.

Scott

If you upsize to 13" displays there are tons of machines out there to look at. Even the 12.1" screens are pretty plentiful. If you want to go below 12.1" then your choices start to diminish.