Usage Impressions and Conclusion

Averatec has seemingly nailed their target market with the N3400, delivering a powerful machine that is still small enough to easily take with yous at a price point that won't break the banking concern. The 1280 x 800 glossy LCD screen looks great. It is enough brilliant even at medium settings and viewing angles are in a higher place average both horizontally and vertically.

The keyboard is good merely not bang-up. I personally dislike the placement of the Function key in the bottom left corner. Also some of the secondary Part buttons are oddly placed. For instance, the volume controls on the Part row keys have the Down arrow on the right and the Up arrow on the left. The aforementioned goes for brightness controls, which can be a little confusing.

Battery life was good for two hours and 44 minutes when sitting idle at the desktop, using fifty% screen brightness. We didn't expect much from a 2-cell 5000mAh pack, just given how the battery is internal and thus non swappable it was definitely a letdown. If you lot rely on a notebook for piece of work, you volition need to stay near a power source for a skilful portion of the twenty-four hour period with the N3400.

The downward-firing speaker system is pretty good. Audio is of form louder when using the notebook on a difficult flat surface and noticeably quieter when working on a soft surface like a coating or couch. The overall quality of sound was a bit tinny but didn't distort at the upper end of the spectrum.

Having worked with a lot of netbooks recently, I actually appreciate the additional horsepower from Intel's Dual Cadre T3400 in this system. Sure, it contributes to the less-than-stellar battery life, only I was able to do everything I wanted without any noticeable slowdown or lag. Playing HD videos from YouTube and Hulu only taxed the CPU about threescore% at full screen, leaving plenty of spare cycles for multitasking.

When utilizing the CPU to its maximum chapters, the N3400 is a scrap on the noisy side, more so than nearly portables I have worked with. It is most equally loud every bit a standard optical drive when spinning a disc, simply and so over again the system is having to absurd a dual core chip which puts out more than heat than weaker unmarried core solutions. The cooling system works efficiently, however, as the keyboard and touchpad are barely warm when nether full load. On the lesser of the system, heat is expelled via the ventilated slots on the upper left corner, and so naturally that expanse of the notebook is pretty warm. But the remaining areas are all only slightly warm to the touch, making this a suitable arrangement for lap usage. When not being pushed hard, the N3400 remains nice and placidity.

I as well appreciated the inclusion of the USB optical bulldoze. This is something missing on all netbooks and several smaller notebooks. I even found myself using the drive with a netbook during testing. It is very convenient indeed.

Overall build quality on the N3400 is nice. The lid is solid and doesn't take a lot of free play. The aluminum outer crush adds a bear on of grade and I can just wonder what the system would look with a full aluminum body.

Closing Thoughts

The 13.iii" Averatec N3400 Ultraportable Notebook currently retails for $800, making for a squeamish portable system with plenty of processing power to muscle through any task. If you need something a flake more than powerful than a netbook but still want something modest enough to comport around, the N3400 is worth checking out, merely in the end you'll have to decide if performance and portability make upward for its poor battery life.

Pros: Slim and stylish blueprint, very capable processor, three USB ports, most no junk software bundled, USB optical drive included.

Cons: Dismal battery life, battery is not easily swappable, disruptive keyboard layout, hard to admission internals.