Rated 
Averatec 3270-EE1
Cheap, slim & lightweight, DVD+/-RW, 512Mb RAM, can upgrade to the latest AMD Turion 64 CPU
Overheating, reportedly poor customer support (didn't face it myself)
Posted May 16, 2006 - I won't list all the features of this laptop, they are impressive. Instead let me talk about the problems and how to solve some of them. And just a quick note: the real manufacturer of this laptop is Twinhead, model E12K. Q: If the customer support is not good, where can I get any help? A: Unofficial Averatec forums (this is a great web site!) Q: Is this laptop linux-friendly? A: Yes! all hardware is supported by linux. Q: Does it look good? A: Yes. One guy at the airport said he thought I am using an iBook before he saw the "Sempron" sticker. The buttom of the case is made of a magnesium alloy and is very robust. However the top and the lid are plastic and scratch very easily. In fact I use an iBook neoprene bag to carry it around. Q: Is it reliable? A: Mostly yes. If it fails you can certainly mail it to Averatec for repairs. But many users reported long turn-around times, and bad quality of repair. Most reported problems are overheating (can be cured by cleaning dust from the cooling system and putting new thermal paste between the CPU and heatsink) and loose power connector (here you can resolder it youself). Q: 512Mb RAM is good, but can I upgrade it? A: There is only one memory slot, and the max memory you can put in is 1Gb. Q: Does it have WiFi, is it good? A: There is a built-in 802.11b/g miniPCI card Ralink rt2500. It is well-supported in Windows/Linux/*BSD, but the design quality of this card is questionable. Many recommend to buy an Atheros miniPCI card instead. Q: It has CPU socket 754. Is this laptop 32-bit or 64-bit? A: Yes and No. No: this laptop has a 32-bit Sempron CPU, and we can't blame Twinhead for this choice. At that time the AMD's low-powered 64-bit mobile Turions were not available yet. Yes: the hardware (socket 754 and chipset K8N800) does support AMD Turions. Current BIOS R1.03 will not boot with Turion installed, but the updated BIOS R1.04, which has recently been leaked, seemingly works just fine. More on that at averatecforums (search for "AMD Turion on 3270"). Q: Does it include Recovery DVD or CD? A: No. The recovery information is stored in a "hidden" 5Gb partition at the end of the hard drive. This is obviously not good, because if your hard drive fails, you are helpless. Neither Averatec, nor Phoenix (manufacturer of the FirstWare Recovery software for this hidden partition) are willing to provide a real recovery DVD or any help how to extract it from the hidden partition. Fortunately, you can do it on your own (search for "recovery DVD for averatec 3270" on averatecforums) . Another solution is to install some third-party software and back-up you hard drive to a DVD or an external HD (periodically doing a back-up of your system is a good idea anyway). If we compare 3270 to other (newer) 12-inch Averatec models, here are the points where 3270 wins: * it has a magnesium (at least a part of it) case * the silver-color case looks more respectable than new white averatecs (and doesn't attract as much dirt) Here where they are on par: * since it is Turion-compartible, you will be in the same boat when you decide to upgrade your 3270's Sempron or low-speed Turion, found on other averatecs (and with the default low-speed Turion you don't really see any performance hike) Here where it looses: * the most of other averatecs have two memory slots (so you can put a maximum of 2Gb of RAM) * newer averatecs have a transparent glossy cover, which gives an additional protection for the screen.
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