Averatec Intros 13.3" Aluminum Notebook

Averatec Intros 13.3" Aluminum Notebook

Averatec introduced its latest notebook, the 13.3-inch N3400. It features aluminum build materials, weighs less than four pounds, and has an MSRP of $799.
Specifications of the N3400 include:

• Intel Pentium Dual-Core T3400 (2.16GHz) processor
• 13.3-inch WXGA display
• 3GB RAM
• 250GB HDD
• External USB DVD Burner
• 802.11n and Bluetooth wireless
• Intel GMA X4500HD graphics
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Dimensions: 12.8" (W) x 9.0" (D) x 0.40 - 0.98" (H)
• Weight: 3.8 lbs

The N3400 is backed by a one-year warranty and is available now through Averatec's website and major national retailers.

Averatec Press Release

 

hopefully this is a start of a trend for more aluminum build PC laptops pleasee...

 

Interesting. It's distributed with both TriGem and Averatec brandings...

This notebook looks quite nice, hopefully it's actually built well - my experiences with Averatecs has not been very pleasant to date. The metal casing is promising, though.

 

I want a Titanium one

 

hmmm, can you get a better processor in it (more powerful) i mean?

 

Averatec has never allowed much customization. From their website, it seems the answer is no.

The price is too high to justify what you get, in my opinion. I'd much rather get a nice Dell Studio 14z at that price.

 

Need more carbon fiber notebooks.

 

You guys have no idea what you are talking about. There are only few computers out there with 13.3" screen and less than 1" thickand below 4lbs. To list MBA, MSI X340-X320, Lenovo U350, Lenovo X200 series

None of these have a regular Pentium Duo CPU in them. This one has the fastest CPU compared to those. Especially X340 and U350 comes with SU2700 which is a rellay crappy single core CPU. And the other two costs alot more. For the price ($799 shipped at TG and $700 after MS CB) this is THE best deal out there. Oh also other than the expansive MBA none of those come with aluminium body. This one also comes with external optical drive.

 

And the the Lenovo X300 and X301

 

that notebook looks really good! and thin too!

looks like it is a serious contender with the macbook air! the only thing it can't match or beat, is the gpu, the ram (more of it, but not ddr3) and OS X (pro for some, con for others...)

and as for the price, $1799 vs $799! that's 1k less for practically better specs!

 

Well this one beats the MBA in port selction and expandibility. You can replace everything including CPU on this computer by just removing the bottom cover.

 

Well i dont mind, the more aluminum notebooks the better.

Now start making me gaming aluminum notebooks

 

Good thing it's not a CULV processor in the laptop.

 

i thought the mba had the weaker gpu.

 

MBA (the newest one) has the 9400, which smokes the Intel 4500.

Not sure if I'm liking the Pentium Dual Core, but it's not bad of a deal overall.

 

Personally, CULV would have been better. People who get thin and lights don't require power and any ULV or LV CPU would be enough for day-to-day tasks.

 

You can always buy the MSI X340 or Lenovo U350 if you donlt mind the pathetic CPU performance. T3400 does 32M Wprime in 38 secs. SU2700 does it in 70 secs. Also with SU2700 you can not even play the youtube hd videos on full screen.

 

I have found the Intel Pentium Dual-Core mobile CPUs to be very competent processors; they are basically a gimped Core 2 Duo with a 1MB cache and slower 667MHz FSB. The PDCs also don't have support for things like virtualization - then again, the budget/'unofficial' C2Ds don't either.

 

lol what the heck? This isn't more powerful than the MBA. The MBA has a core2 plus a 9400m, it would leave this laptop in the dust!

But....this Averatec is $1k less, which is pretty awesome.

 

Looks like an attractive little notebook. Its got a 16:10 screen which is a plus to go with the attractive looks. Interesting specs for the battery on this notebook however, 2 Cell 5000mAh.

http://www.trigem.com/us/product/product_overview.asp?category=2&seq=136

 

Yeah, but Averatec puts "Warranty Void" stickers over the screws that are required to remove the bottom cover of the notebook - even replacing the RAM voids the warranty (I know because I have an Averatec)!

 

Yeah but those also come with the U9300 and even U9400(and in some cases like the Sony TT the 1.6ghz model) cpus as an optionn. At least that is what I hear for the U350. Also the MBA(and the older Lenovo U110) have the LV cpu which is a little faster than ULV at the same clock.

 

I am getting one tomorrow. I'll let you know if they have those stickers or not.

 

I got the computer and man it is great. It is very slick. It plays Hulu at 480P full screen flawless. Youtube HD video, perfect. One issue tough. I couldn't figure out how to remove the bottom panel since there are no screws holding the panel. Himmm???

 

hows the battery life on this unit ?

 

At 98% it said 2 hours and 45 minutes at balanced. I didn;t have time to see how it goes in pwoer saver mode. I would assume abit more than 3 hours.

 

I prefer Averatec ~13" to Macbooks.... these ones are very decent.

 

This is not bad at all. I mean, it definitely has major drawbacks when compared to the expensive 13.3" ultraportables (DVD drive is external, only ~3 hours of battery life, lousy processor), but for $800, these are very reasonable -- most machines of this class cost twice as much.

 

Averatec has, at least in the past, specialized in very affordable ultraportable/thin-and-light laptops, which is what drew me to buying my Averatec 2155 a few years ago. Its build quality and durability, however, proved to be quite lacking, and Averatec's tech support was meager as well.

I do hope that their merger with TriGem has improved some of these aspects, and the metal build of this laptop is rather promising as well. They still have quite a way to go before I will consider returning to that brand, though, instead of paying a little bit more for a more quality machine.

 

UPDATE---
I just dropped in a P8600 CPU into this machine, the idle temps are mid 40C and max temps is 67C. This is now a champion. I also put a 64gb ssd. Wife loves her new computer.

 

I noticed this laptop is now available for $499 on TD. What has been your experience with performance? How durable had it been? Have you found it easy to upgrade the CPU or GPU if needed?