AVERATEC C3500 review

Averatec's C3500 is a convertible tablet PC. It looks like a traditional notebook, but its screen swivels round into a tablet position, enabling you to work directly on the screen with a stylus.

The C3500 is fairly inexpensive for a tablet notebook and is well-built. The swivelling screen settles into place with a satisfying clunk when you switch to tablet mode, and a durable clip holds the screen in place while you're using the notebook as a tablet. The stylus is stored in a recess on the side of the screen. Unlike the Hewlett-Packard Compaq TC1100, which we reviewed in What's New, Shopper October 2004, the C3500's screen doesn't separate from the base, so it can't be used exclusively as a lightweight tablet.

Once you have calibrated the touch screen the pen is accurate, and navigating Windows soon comes naturally. A button on the stylus acts as a right-click. The C3500 comes with Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005, which includes Microsoft's handwriting recognition software. We found this to be much better than many third-party applications.

Drawing on the C3500's screen is not as easy as it is with a dedicated graphics tablet as the stylus is not pressure sensitive, but it is still much easier to use than a mouse. The reflective screen is bright and displays text clearly, but colours can look washed out and the screen's viewing angles are quite narrow.

The C3500 also has all the standard features of a notebook PC, including a built-in DVD/CD-RW combo drive, four USB2.0 ports on the rear and S-video and D-sub outputs. Its performance in our benchmarks is below average compared with that of other ultra-portable notebooks we have tested, as the Mobile Athlon XP-M 2200+ is less powerful than its Intel rival. The processor is also less energy-efficient than Intel's, which contributes to the C3500's disappointing battery life. The base gets very warm. 3D performance from the integrated graphics chipset is so poor that playing games is impossible. However, the generous 60GB hard disk and 512MB of RAM go some way towards making up for these shortcomings.

Averatec's C3500 is a good-looking and well-built convertible tablet PC. However, its poor battery life limits its usefulness, as you can't stray too far from a power socket. That said, the low price makes it a good tablet PC for those on a budget, although if you don't need the stylus interface, you'll get much better value from an ultra-portable notebook.