"This Tablet PC model provides 1024x768 resolution."

-C3500 Series User's Manual, p. 54


With these words, and a little more reading, my heart sunk :bawling: -- was my life with the amazingly inexpensive Averatec C3500 over before it had begun?



Background:

I currently have an Averatec C3500 on order from Amazon for my home use (30-day return policy and decent price after rebate). I was also about to get the new company I work for to buy me one as a Desktop Replacement (meetings, coding, etc.). I have worked almost exclusively with a notebook PC as my primary computer since about 1994 and for the last few years have used notebooks in meetings more often than paper and pen. I have been an avid PDA user for more years than notebooks and see the Tablet PC as the next obvious evolution.



I like big screens, preferring 14" for notebooks whenever possible and 20"+ for on-desk displays. With those sizes, and my need to see/do lots at the same time, I use 1280 x 1024 at a bare minimum, with my preference of 1400 x 1050 for 14"+ notebooks and 1600 x 1200 for large on-desk displays.



Only 1024 x 768 on external displays?!?! (how about dual-display?)

You must be kidding me. I was reading through the online user manual and came across this. It also doesn't detail if the C3500 supports dual-displays (Windows using both the built-in display and an external one with different content). I tried calling Averatec technical support and, as a number of people have found, Averatec "technical support" is pitifully bad. The rep. I talked to (I called around 10 PM Sunday Eastern US time and got someone who clearly had French as their dominant language and a moderate command of the English language) said, "We do not have access to the user manual for this system." I told him that I had gotten the user manual from the Averatec.com web site and that it was shameful that I was telling tech support how to download their own manual from their own web site.



I have also grown fond of Dual-Display functionality and would not buy a notebook without it even if I primarily (for home use) intend this to be a lap-based browse/email/light work PC.



So is it true that the C3500 does not have >1024 x 768 external resolution and Dual-Display (separate content) functionality? I might as well refuse my delivery if it is. Please tell me.



Assuming the end is near, I am thinking of the getting a refurbished Acer TravelMate C302.. instead. Any big gotcha's that I may have missed their.

For home I am looking for a lap-based browse/email/light work Tablet PC convertible that will last a few years. Specs:

• [Had last, but moved to first priority] Oh yeah, this is a secondary computer (primary is a powerful desktop acting as ad-hoc File Server (yes, with 1.2 Terabytes of RAID 5 storeage ) and we have another, older ThinkPad notebook -- so cheap is very important.
  
• 1 GB+ RAM max. needed for next MS bloatware OS/office package; 802.11g
• 1.5 GHz+ CPU for video showing (I use our Canon S1 IS digicam as a still image and camcorder using a 4 GB MicroDrive -- works well, but makes big 30 FPS AVI files that stutter on slower computers)
• good/readible in-door display 1024 x 768+
• external display ability as above
• traveling mainly when we go on trips so weight isn't a big factor, but a removable CD/DVD drive would be a plus since it wouldn't get used much and we could save the weight while browsing/emailing in the living room
• "Long" (3.5+ hours/charge) battery life would be very nice, but is not essential

For work I need a cheap-ish Tablet PC convertible as even notebooks are not the norm at my new company, and thus the budget per person is pretty small. Same specs as above, plus must have at least 1280 x 1024 (preferably 1600 x 1200) external resolution with Dual Display functionality so I can use both the built-in display and my 20" monitor. A docking station would be good, but is not an absolute necessity.

Note: After finding out that Averatec seems to be out of touch with user's needs in this area I thought ... maybe I'm out of touch with general user's needs. So time for a poll. http://www.tabletquestions.com/showthread.php?t=3520

P.S. - Just after I submitted this, the mail person at our company just came in with my home Averatec C3500 from Amazon (Super Saver Shipping to NYC in just 2 days). I'm going to find the UPS driver and post-refuse it if I find out the max. is indeed 1024 x 768 as I don't want to pay shipping back to Amazon and they can sell it new to someone who doesn't care about this.

Thanks to all in advance,
Andreas

I couldn't wait any longer with the sealed box with a new Averatec. I called Averatec's sales department. True to the quality of thier (off-shore) tech support, their (on-shore) sales team said the max. external resolution was 1024 x 768. When I said, "That's a shame and I guess I'll be sending back the one en route and not buying the other one for the office. I haven't seen a notebook in four years that doesn't have >1024 x 768 external resolution." the rep. asked for a moment to check. He tried it on someone's C3500 in the office and said that it could do 1280 x 1024. So at least it has that going. I really wanted 1600 x 1200 or at least 1400 x 1050, but I could maybe live with 1280 x 1024 for my big external monitors.

I'm trying it myself and found the same max. resolution. Now on check the 3rd-party pen driver compatibility with pressure-sensative programs :blink: (External link removed. You are welcome to refer to the links on this forum.)

Oh, yeah. The battery for the pen was missing -- took me about 5 minutes before I openned-up the pen and found nothing. I'm not sure that it was Averatec's fault as the bottom "security seal" on the box was unstuck. Could be just an accident or someone could have returned it to Amazon as new after buying it and (for some reason) removing the pen.

Andreas

It supports multi-desktop fine. Max resolution on the TV-out is 800x600, so if you want to do fullscreen video on a TV with the displays mirrored you need to do a mode switch to 800x600 or less.

It also seems to me that the pen is requiring less pressure to operate now that it has been used for a while.