Averatec AV7160-EC1

The lure of a big screen notebook like the Averatec AV7160-EC1 is hard to resist as you navigate the laptop aisle. While the machine boasts the promising combination of a huge 17-inch widescreen and an attractive price ($1,199), a little shopping around will net you better performance and even more multimedia features for about the same cost.

 

The sharp-looking AV7160 is clad in a glossy black shell with silver accents. Averatec should be commended for shaving the unit's weight to a slight 7.2 pounds; many 17-inch notebooks we've seen weigh more than eight pounds. Still, this is no featherweight, and the big screen makes this system too bulky to tote often.

 

Flip open the large lid and you'll find the AV7160's glossy widescreen. The AveraBrite technology helps deliver sharp images with rich, deep colors. The downside is noticeable glare and reflection, especially in brightly lit rooms. Viewing-angle performance from the panel was superb, with no color shift or drop in brightness as we moved off axis. The WXGA+ (1440 x 900) resolution lets you work in comfort, without requiring you to employ large fonts or high zoom levels. However, fans of high-res screens take note: Other 17-inch laptops are available with 1680 x 1050 panels.

 

The huge LCD allows for a full-sized keyboard, including a dedicated number pad. Some of the keys on the right side of the keyboard layout—most notably the period key—are oddly smaller than typical size, which takes getting used to for fast touch typists. The keyboard feel is good but not great, as the key plunge feels a bit shallow. The touchpad with dedicated scroll area was comfortable to use.

 

The port selection is standard fare, including three USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, S-Video, and VGA. We appreciate the 5-in-1 media card reader on the front edge.

 

If you're looking for multimedia performance, look elsewhere. During DVD playback we noticed blurring on action scenes typical of a panel with a somewhat slow pixel response rate. Worse, the top volume output from the speakers was weak and the sound thin. Other makers have used the large chassis to include much better sound solutions. The low 3DMark03 score of 1,203 tells you that this system was not designed to play anything but low-res games.

 

We love the way Microsoft Media Center lets you easily organize and access your video, photo, and music collections. But unlike other multimedia portables, the AV7160 doesn't have a TV tuner option to let you record programs to the machine's generous 100GB hard drive. The Media Center interface cries out for a remote (also not available), as navigating it with the touchpad and mouse buttons can be cumbersome.

 

Performance from the AV7160 also left us wanting. Its 1.8-GHz AMD Turion 64 ML-32 is more than adequate for business chores, but the machine's score of 185 on MobileMark 2005 shows that more demanding tasks (image and video editing, for example) won't run as quickly as on other multimedia portables, where we've seen scores in the mid-200s. Battery life was typical for the class, at around 2.5 hours.

 

In the end, the value proposition presented by the AV7160 is not as thrilling as you might think at first glance. For example, you can custom-configure an HP Pavilion dv8000t to include higher-end graphics  and an ExpressCard TV tuner with Media Center remote for the same price as this notebook. The AV7160 is a good first desktop replacement attempt for Averatec, but it trails the class leaders when it comes to bang for your buck.