Review of Averatec's 3250, the sub-$1000 sub-notebook
By Ryan Block 
posted December 24th 2004 11:56AM
posted December 24th 2004 11:56AM
It's a little late now for the gift giving season, but if you're looking for a laptop that's under 5-pounds (4.5, to be exact) and under $1000, Averatec's 3250 may be the one for you. The impressive package is an inch thick, got a Athlon XP-M 2200+ CPU, 12.1-inch XGA TFT display, 802.11g WiFi, and options for 60 or 80GB drives, and a combo burner or DVD burner. We're not sure why they'd cap the maximum RAM at 512MB, but otherwise we've gotta admit, this definitely does look to be one of the better deals around for such a little laptop with a lot of power, and PDA Buyer's Guide's got another review of one. If you want the spoiler: they like it.
or you could just get a 12" ibook
Or you can just shut the fuck up, Apple-dork.
I had one of these for like 6 months (it was the older model, and the only difference was that it had a 40gb hard drive). I liked it at first, but it really started pissing me off when I was on a road trip and could only get 90 minutes of battery life when playing a dvd, not to mention that the sound -through headphones- was not loud enough at all. Oh, and this thing gets HOT. it feels like it's going to overheat, even when you are just using the internet for more than an hour or so. The fan is almost always on, and it is extremely whiney. The paint job is also terrible, the texture of it feels extremely cheap. The cramped keyboard is bad too, and the symbol (.,?/;: etc) and number keys are all half-size. It was a complete piece of crap. I bought an ibook a few months ago and couldn't be happier- every problem i mentioned about the averatec is the complete opposite on the ibook- the case is beautiful, the sound is plenty loud through headphones, the fan, in 3 months, has gome on twice, i get 4 hours of battery life, and the keyboard is amazing. (just make sure you upgrade the ram).
Eventhough it says it takes a max of 512 MB of RAM it will actually take 1 GB. I have the 3250HS and have a gig of RAM in it. It's a sweet laptop for the price. Sam's Club sells this model which has the DVD burner for $899.
I have a similar Averatec computer (the 3500 convertible Tablet) which is built from many of the same components. I will concur with Chuck by saying that the performance is fine, but the darn thing gets HOT and the fan is loud and just runs all the time. I got SpeedSwitch XP to dynamically throttle the CPU when it's not being used, which helps a lot, but it's still annoying. If pressed to purchase again...I probably would have bought an Apple or an IBM.
Staples hasve this 12 inch laptop for 949 - 150 staples rebate - 100 averatec rebate = comes to 699. Not sure exact specs though, was 12 inch.
Sure the fan is loud and the paint scratches easily, but it is a great laptop for the money. I've had the previous version for a year now and it's perfect for students and light business travel.
I concurr with the apple dork. Get a 12" iBook and be done with it.
di11rod
The 12" iBook is an overpriced p.o.s. for pimping, Mactard.
I too have one of these, in fact I'm typing on it now. For the $600 or so I paid for it, it was definitely a deal. There are a number of annoyances that come along with the price. Fan noise and short battery life are two. If you're seriously considering one of these, I'd recommend reading through the forums here: http://www.averatecforums.com/ You'll find a wealth of info on the common problems as well as some suggestions for fixes. Look here for a fix to the 512M memory limit as well.
I too thought the Avertec 3000 series was a heck of a good buy for under a grand with a DVDRW, 512M. However, I returned it after two days....when the keyboard froze up and the autorun feature failed, tech support themselves said to return it if I have that option from the store. So I returned it alright....for a SONY VAIO SGNS260. Sure it cost twice as much, but is more than three times the computer! It's true.....you get what you pay for!
First, Happy Holidays to all! I'm only 17, not yet wise but somewhat of a smart-a$$ who received an Averatec 3250HX laptop for Christmas. It's not the BEST...it's not the WORST. Dear Chuck, you seem to have LOTS of ANGER towards a laptop that YOU purchased without doing your HOMEWORK (be mad at yourself). They only cost $800-$1,000 -- were you REALLY expecting to get Champagne with Beer money? There's also an invention called LAPTOP COOLER about $15 - I bought one with my paper route money. At last, it baffles me to understand why we are encouraged to finish school JUST to become grown-ups who still play video games and attempt to use a laptop to watch DVD Movies and spend hours on the INTERNET while on a ROAD TRIP. Can we say, "Portable DVD Player?". But in the end, you did the right thing...YOU DUG DEEPER IN YOUR POCKET to get more of a work-horse laptop so you can watch your DVDs and play on your Internet while on your road trip.
yo, for reals though, a 12" iBook is a much better laptop than THIS p.o.s. and it's at the same god-damn price for christ's sake. How the hell can you call the iBook overpriced??? The 12" iBook is a better laptop than most $2000 PC notebooks. You take a look at the review, Sebhelyesfarku? I'm not even gonna get into the design aspects of that crap... I honestly can't wait until the day people finally realize that Apple make's great hardware and software. Thanks god for the iPod for making people say, "damn, my iPod f-ing rules. Last time I went to the Apple store, that iMac G5 really caught my eye. Now that I think about it and really do the frickin' math, $1299 is a really good price for an all-in-one computer that takes up like no space on my desk AND has a widescreen 17" LCD monitor." Let the iPod halo-effect begin!! Oh, and you may continue with the Apple-dork flaming if you must...
Please don't ever say "yo, for reals though" again. Thanks.
i just got mine - and am liking it.
my fan does not seem to be on much more than my Toshiba; and when it is on, it's not that loud. battery still seems fine, over 2 hours, but i've never had much luck with rechargeable batteries on my laptops (or cell phones) so i don't count on them. speed is fine, memory is fine, hard drive is great! and i don't use the 12 inch screen to view movies - that's what a DVD burner and home DVD player (and 36" TV) is for.
i'll come back in a couple of months and give you all an update.
I recently recieved this computer for christmas and i am very happy with it. At first i was getting poor battery life but then i read the forums and did some of the little fixes and it works great. i could not ask for a better laptop for what i do than this one. it is light and great size to carry with me to class or in the library. so i would recommend this laptop to anyone espically bc the cost is great. It has a celeron cost with much better features and products.
Do not buy from Averatec they have awful product support and do not honor their warranty.
Picked up the 3250 H1-01 (512Mb, 60Gb, DVD/CD-RW) last week. Yes it does get a bit warm and the fan is on a lot. And yes, battery life is mediocre, about 2 hrs with wireless on. However, for $699 after rebates, about a third of what I paid for my last laptop in 1998, I'm certainly not complaining. Now I can ditch both the old 7-lb laptop (AMD K6-300, 64Mb) and the not quite-so-old but extremely slow and heavy monstrosity of an Iomega CD burner. Best of all, everything works under Linux (both Ubuntu and Fedora Core), even the built-in wireless (using ndiswrapper and the Windows XP rt2500 driver).
Averatec does not honor their warranty. Do not buy
Averatec honored my warranty, but they made the same mistake several times on the shipping address. The reason I had to ship it back? The power jack died, so I couldn't charge the battery. It's a wonderful computer if you get one that won't break.
ok, there's a fan callibration in the BIOS. the fan is quiet. the battery in the box is standard, if you want more than 90 minutes, buy the extended life. great laptop FOR THE PRICE. it is designed to be an inexpensive and small personal computer. yes, if you want more performance, buy one that's made for that. Get a Liebermann or even Alienware. Apples are overrated and designed for yuppies.
I have had one of the Averatec 3250 for almost a year now and the only thing I hate about it is the short battery life. The keyboard is just fine and nothing is falling apart on me. I have a coolpad with fan that keeps the laptop completely cool and it only cost me $15. I was a poor college student when I bought it and now that I am a teacher (and still poor) this notebook gets more bang for the buck. I plan on getting 1GB of RAM soon and making it even better!