Decent but not exceptional

I bought this computer a year ago to use with basic programs such as powerpoint, excel, word, and outlook. The processor speed is decent and I haven't had any problems with the computer being too slow.

Also, the computer seems very sturdy. I do not take care of the computer all that well but it still functions fine.

One annoying problem is that some of the keys and buttons do not work well after use. I need to hit the space bar in the right area for it to work and I need to press on the left click button hard for it to work. These buttons were fine in the beginning but as I used them a lot, they started to become unreliable.

Also, the speakers aren't that loud and I found the battery life to be around 1.5 hours which is not that long.

Hope that helps!


Rating:


Junk, even worse than older offerings

I had a 3250 which when two months old, crashed on the floor. I wasn't in love with it, but it wasn't bad. I bought this 3715 which by specs, should be real sweet. The honeymoon ended within hours and although we went through counseling, it is time for a divorce.

If you buy Averatec, you should know that you aren't getting rugged construction. Some of the complaints on this page would be valid comparing to a Mac ibook, but hey, this is a $700 laptop.

This laptop has no recovery discs, relying instead on something called Recover Pro by your friendly BIOS maker, Phoenix. The first problem is that it is dated, expired version from 2004. You have to go through "service" hell to find out that you have to download a file - presuming that all the auto reboots don't keep you off line - and burn a CD. OK, we did that, but it still has problems. And of course, if you ever "recover" your OS, you destroy all your data and preferences. You don't own your OS, you rent it.

I probably have 16 hours in this junker. I do not appreciate being forced to use Norton, it is a bloated pig. (Try Grisoft's AVG Free. Did I mention it is free?) It has no office suite, not even Word Perfect.

You need the optional asbestos right hand only glove if you don't want to burn your palm. And don't even think about using this laptop on your lap.

My 3250 has an actual little audio volume wheel. The 3715 doesn't even have an up and a down button off of the keyboard, you have to use two hands, one to push the Fn control, the other to carefully poke on the undersized Fn keys. Brilliant. (I'm being sarcastic.)

The owner's manual, which is only in PDF, has a space for you to write in the purchase details. Yes. The manual has zero discussion on the Phoenix Recover Pro. Or on the "Silent (sic)made" button. I THINK it is how the processor is kept at 800mhz, but that corner is still damned hot.

There are no bootable USB options. This is 2006, guys. Since you are not provided with an OS disk, and there is no USB boot option, you are up the creek if this puppy ever refuses to boot. This is the dirty little secret of NT/2K/XP. If it doesn't boot ("Can't find NTLDR" "Unmountable boot volume" "Boot.ini file corrupted")you better be on good terms with the Goddess. Almost every recovery system that XP can do, and none of them are reliable, requires either a bootable XP CD or a set of floppies. Are you noticing that there is no bootable CD and there is no floppy drive, even USB bootable external?

My trusty (very) old Compaq 266mhz has a hard drive that slides right out in a tray. Like many new laptops, the HD and RAM are well concealed on this puppy, taking small screwdrivers and bravery to access them. My point is, is that you can't readily pull the HD and set it up as a slave on another computer in order to save data.

Of course, all this is no problem because XP and HD's never fail, right?

Welcome to The Matrix.



Rating:


A waste of money

In echoing what other reviewers have written, don't waste your money on Averatec products. I bought an Averatec notebook. Within a couple of weeks, two of the cheap keys popped off the keyboard. Returned the notebook for repair, even though it was "supposably" still under warranty, was a herculean feat. For several weeks I heard nothing, despite checking the Averatec website for updates on the repair status. When I finally called and got through to a human being, they told me they were "holding" it because the keyboard was not included in the year warranty! I had to pay over $100 for a NEW keyboard, and $85 to have the computer shipped back to me. The Better Business Bureau should be doing something about this company.

Rating: