I just want to list a few little things I would like to see improved on the C3500, changes I would like to see on a hypothetical C3600, just for fun...

1) lighter computer - 5.5lbs is too heavy to be used as a tablet. I do not feel safe holding the computer in one hand.
2) Screen with less glare - Viewing on this screen is impossible under strong lighting. I was really disappointed not to be able to look cool with this on my patio; had to really struggle to read.
3) Means to wakeup / turn on computer with keyboard covered
4) power connector that stays in better - this one keeps disconnect electrically but appears to be connected physically.
5) Usable keyboard - Pen is not quite there for writing long essays; unfortunately typing on this computer is almost as bad. I keep having to go back and make corrections for missing characters.

I won't mention faster or better native screen resolution because those seem like more major items and I might as well end up buying a more expensive computer from somewhere eles (I know, so is #1 above).

Anyway, anyone care to add to this or comment?

Well, it's really a tossup. If you go lighter, it will be more fragile. Of course, lighter means it won't hit the ground as hard, but a deceleration's a deceleration. If you make the screen bigger, then we're talking even more weight and less portability.

I don't see a way to get better battery life without severely decreasing performance. Maybe some more creative passive cooling, or maybe a different processor. I hear good things about the power consumption of the Athlon-64 mobile chips. I don't know what they can do about the display, without switching to some radical new technology like e-ink or OLED. The digitizer would be better if it had better sensitivity, or at least a way to adjust it. I don't mind the battery-in-pen approach, really. It would also be nice if they got some Wintab-compatible drivers scraped together.

I'd like the LCD brightness and suspend functions hardcoded in BIOS. Currently they use some wonky outsourced tray program to capture the Fn-Key events, which means that adjusting your display brightness will switch the application focus away from whatever program you were currently using. Plus, it also means there is no way to adjust it in Linux.

The display driver doesn't have equal performance in all orientations. I guess there is some software translation going on. I don't think that's uncommon for many tablets. However, if you want to watch videos in tablet mode, you need to have the display in its native orientation to get the best performance (and power efficiency). Unfortunately this means that if you have the tablet tilted up against an airplane seat or wall, the hot Athlon heatsink exhaust is pointing down and probably blocked by your leg or the table. It would be nicer to draw air through the laptop via smaller ports scattered through the structure, and then blow the hot exhaust out the side.

Power button has got to be located where you can access it in tablet mode. No excuses there.

They need to change the BIOS code to let the keyboard and other buttons wake the laptop, in addition to the power button. I'd probably never shut it entirely off, but if it was easier to do I'd blip in and out of suspend dozens of times a day and probably make the battery last the whole way.

I think some Powerbook-style built in rubberized gripping areas would be useful. Nothing like having your tablet slip out of your hand and smash into a concrete floor because of a little dust or sweat.

Having the power cord more securely attached is a good idea. Some kind of twistlock maybe, and a small plug that doesn't get in the way.

It would also be nice if they selected a more popular mobile video chipset like nVidia or Radeon. Increasing the maximum external video resolution would be a nice side effect. 1024x768 on a 22" monitor is as harsh as 1600x1200 on a 17" monitor.


Overall, I still love it. Didn't cost me much, works as well as any other laptop of similar portability that I could have bought, has good built-in features like 802.11g and CD-RW. I use it as a general web pad, sketchbook, music player, mobile CAD station, DVD/DivX/WMV/Quicktime player, I even built a S-Video-to-composite adapter and it replaces my Nintendo, SNES, and Playstation (with up to four USB gamepads), and I can hook it up to almost any TV. It still gets the "That's pretty dang cool" comments when I flip the screen around and lock it down. I'd say it was a good first try for Averatec in this market sector, and I don't feel that I got cheated out of the better products that are sure to come.

I've run into two issues so far;

The only disks with the computer are a set of recover disks. There are no install options. So it is either wipe the entire hard drive out and start fresh, or nothing. Not a good situation if you need to reinstall one of the applications or want to partition a drive. But, I am sure it makes things easy for technical support. The solution for many problems is just, "use the recovery disks"

The pen, while it obviously has the physical stff for the eraser feature, their tech support now tells me that this is not a feature. I really miss that feature.

I have a Wacom tablet as well, with a working eraser end, and to be honest I don't use it at all. In most applications it is just easier to tap "E" or another hotkey, instead of twisting the pen 180 degrees. On a Tablet PC it makes more sense to have the eraser, but I still think it takes more time to turn the pen over than to go tap whatever button switches to eraser mode.