I visited our Palmdale California Costco and a C3500 was locked down and the password kept people from trying the unit. There was nothing to distinguish this unit from any of the others present.

Down the street from Costco was Sam's Club. It carried other Averatec models but not the C3500.

Staples is the other company to be offering the product.

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Long saga to get the Averatec 3500; I'll shorten for expediency:
To review, my 18 year old dyslexic son is pre-med (very bright, just reverses things) and the neurologist suggested a PC tablet -- seems to work well for his disability. That suggestion led me to this web page and LPH's great advice.
Here's our quest for the illusive Averatec 3500
- I was the first customer to order on Averatec's web page (July 18)
- received an email that the tablet was backordered 1 - 2 weeks
- more calls and was told the 3500 is now backordered until end of August!
-Averatec sales rep suggested I try Costco
-Called area Costcos; St. Peters, Missouri just received a shipment
-drove the hour to the store and purchased one ( $1279 -- and more memory than the one on order. None were available on the display floor; we bought on the faith of the good reviews and advice)
-son (has used laptops for last 9 years, ranging from apple to dell to HP) was ecstataic -- 3500 does everything the reviews say and more! I will have him give a more informed evaluation soon -- if I can tear him from the tablet -- since mom knows nothing about computers.
Again, thanks to all -- especially Layne -- for the informed dialogue!
:lol:

I'm posting a review on the Averatec 3500

First, I am very pleased with this convertible. I bought the C3500T80-01 modle from Costco 3 days ago

Pros
-The AMD processor gives nice performance, much better then my HP 2.4 ghz pentium 4
-512 MB DRR ram and 80 GB HDD is impressive, esspecially for such a low price.
- Originally i was suspecting the sound card to be a flop, but the small speakers give a reasonalbe amount of output, enough to make me content for moble use.
-The screen is easy to read even on the dimmest setting, and brilliant on the brightest setting
- The CDRW drive burns very nicely and is located in a convinent place so one doesn't accidently bump and open it when in tablet mode
- Hand writing recognition is very accurate
- pen is very accurate and didn't even need calibrating once out of the box
- comes with a great protective case
- stylish LED indicator lights
- graphics card produces stellar graphics ( I'm pretty sure it is 32 mb)

Cons
- My model came with a serial s-video port. This isn't really a con, but more of a observation since Averatec was advertising an rca s-vidio port on the 60 GB. I prefer the serial so it worked out well, but if you buy the 60 GB, you will probably receive the rca s-video instead.
- AMD processor gets warm. I didn't find it too uncomfortable but some people might find it too hot.
- The fan is quieter then my HP pavilion, but louder than my mother's Titainum Powerbook.
- Battery only lasts for 1.5-2 hours on brightest screen setting but you get the 3-3.5 hours on the dimmer setting.


The Averatec seems to be a great convertible, but I've also only been using it for 3 days. Many times the Pros are easily identified and the cons surface with further use, but as of now, I have no regrets about buying this computer and highly recommend it.
Thanks for helping my mom find this for me!
Chris