With a refreshing new design (iBook anyone?), Averatec’s 3700 series has a unique white shell. And at just 1.9kg this ultra-lightweight laptop could be an ideal system for travel, school, as well as work, as long as you don’t throw CPU-intensive programs at it or work too long untethered from a mains adapter.
The 3715-EH1 (from £699) is a much-needed departure from the traditional black and grey laptops that dominate the market. The system is designed with a clean white top, white interior and keyboard complemented by a matt silver screen border and silver undercarriage. With a slimline format the relatively versatile 3715-EH1 includes standard features that are normally only found in more expensive models.
The laptop builds on its predecessor (3250) and is a small, well-proportioned and highly portable laptop measuring 275x225x29mm. The keyboard is almost full size with 18mm between the centre of one key to the centre of the next, but the arrow keys are cramped thanks to the unnecessary inclusion of two Windows keys and the Shift keys are uncomfortably small. The touchpad is positioned below the keyboard and the addition of two zones near the left and bottom of the pad allow easy and precise screen navigation. Less impressive are the two mouse buttons which are noisy when pressed.
The 3715-EH1 is far from a mobile powerhouse but it’ll fly through most office tasks and general day-to-day computing duties. Processing power is provided courtesy of AMD’s Sempron 3000+ (1.8GHz), along with 512MB of DDR333 (PC2700) memory and an 80GB hard disk drive (4200rpm). The Sempron is a budget processor - similar to Intel’s Celeron chips in many respects - so don’t buy this machine expecting it to handle heavy number crunching. An internal dual-format DVD RW drive adds to the hardware setup, along with VIA’s UniChrome Pro IGP GPU (uses 32MB shared system memory) and AC ’97 v2.1 compliant PCI soundcard.
In addition there are three USB 2.0 ports located on the right side for easy access, 4-pin FireWire port and 4-in-1 (MMC, SD, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro) memory card reader to please multimedia enthusiasts. The package is rounded off with a 12.1 XGA (1024x768-pixel) screen, VGA-out port, headphone and microphone ports, 10/100 Ethernet, 56K modem and Type II PC Card slot. There is no DVI port for connecting to a digital display and no S-Video port for hooking the system to a large display. Averatec claims an operating time of up to 3 hours, but we only managed to power the system for around 2h 15m.
Built-in high-speed wireless (802.11b/g) LAN allows for fast connection to public hotspots and your home wireless network, all the while keeping you secure with the included Norton AntiVirus, Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 with Enhanced Security Protection and AMD’s Enhanced Virus Protection. Unfortunately the 3715-EH1 lacks productivity software and strong multimedia software, and there’s no built-in Bluetooth. Two neat touches are the Wi-Fi power switch at the front of the system and a button under the screen that lets you throttle down the CPU’s speed to conserve battery life.
Better suited to those on a budget, the 3715-EH1 offers a respectable range of hardware features in a highly portable casing. You’ll either love or hate the styling (we weren’t fans), but the price might be enough to attract you if your needs are basic (Web browsing, managing e-mail etc). In addition to the disappointing battery life we found that the working range of the wireless adapter was below average. Power users looking for an ultra-portable laptop who can manage to spend a little more on customisation options will find much specified and powerful options from the likes of Dell and Sony.
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