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Averatec 3500 Tablet PC Review & Rating
Averatec 3500 Tablet:
With a great price, the Averatec C3500 is by far the cheapest convertible notebook you can buy, providing the benefits of the new Tablet PC 2005 operating system and a DVD/CD-RW drive for about $400 less than the competition. It's not as powerful or long-lasting as more expensive convertibles, but it should satisfy students, presenters, and anyone else who wants keyboard and pen-based computing at a budget-friendly price.
If you're wondering what corners Averatec cut to keep the price so low, the first is the processor. "Powered" by an AMD Athlon XP-M 2200+, Averatec has put it in the same ballpark as a 1.1-GHz Pentium M. Nevertheless, the C3500 keeps up with the new Tablet 2005 operating system.
In addition to its digital note-taking abilities, the Averatec C3500 offers students and mobile professionals a generous 512MB of RAM and a large 80GB hard drive. Having 802.11g on board sweetens the deal for those who want to connect at hotspots or anywhere on campus.
With its 12.1-inch rotating display, the Averatec 3500 Tablet easily converts from a notebook to a Tablet. A sturdy latch securely locks the screen in place while you're taking notes using the included pen.
The C3500's 5.5-pound weight and 1.6-inch thickness is fine for travel but less than ideal for walking around with, especially when you consider how much thicker the machine gets when the display is sandwiched on top of the keyboard.
The convertible has two buttons and a toggle switch right underneath the display. The first button changes the screen's orientation from landscape to portrait, and the second brings up a series of options, including another way to rotate the screen, brightness and volume controls, and shortcuts to the Tablet settings and Tablet tutorial. You can also hibernate or shut down the Averatec 3500 Tablet with a single click, which comes in handy since the power button is inaccessible when you've got the system in Tablet orientation.
Otherwise, the Averatec C3500 looks and acts like a standard thin-and-light notebook, with a DVD/CD-RW drive, dedicated volume wheel, and mic and headphone ports on the right side of the system. The S-Video-out, Ethernet, modem, and PC Card slots are all on the left side. Four USB 2.0 ports and a VGA port line the back.
The Averatec 3500 Tablet lasts less than 2 hours with the wireless turned on. You can turn the radio off with a dedicated switch, which gives you an extra 14 minutes, but that's still not much in the way of endurance.
Another weakness is the display. Presenters will like that they can swivel the screen around to face the audience, but the C3500's viewing angles are rather narrow because of the screen's glare.
Less of a concern is the integrated graphics adapter, which tells us that Averatec didn't design this machine for gaming - only the occasional DVD.
Even with its drawbacks, the Averatec 3500 Tablet PC has a lot to offer for a very fair price. If you don't mind plugging in every couple hours and toting a little more bulk, Averatec's convertible Tablet is worth taking a second look.
Averatec 3500 Tablet PC
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Averatec 3500 Tablet Features/Specifications
- Classification: Convertible Tablet PC
- Display: 12.1'' XGA
- Processor: AMD Athalon XP-M 2200+
- RAM Memory: 512MB (Expandable to 1GB)
- Hard Drive: 80GB (4200RPM)
- Optical Drive: DVD-RW
- Floppy Drive: No
- Media Card Slot: No
- Graphics: Integrated 32MB Shared
- Audio: Built-In Speakers
- Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
- Internet Connectivity: 56K Modem + 10/100 Ethernet
- Battery Life: 2 hrs.
- Operating System: Windows XP Home
- Weight: 5.5 lbs.
- Warranty: 1 Year
- Laptop Ports On This Model
- (1) PC Card Slot Type II
- (1) S-Video Port
- (1) VGA Connector
- (4) USB 2.0 Ports
- (1) RJ-11 phone jack
- (1) RJ-45 standard Ethernet jack
- Microphone, Headphone line-out jacks