Time/Tiny A520 Review

Overall Rating

XGA screen
Reasonable price

Rubbish build quality
Awful after sales service

I bought the Time/Tiny A520 to replace my trusty Sony and was wowwed by its screen, performance and price. I bought it from a local shop that had a resident technician and knowledgeable staff.
All was fine for about 3 month, when it started to rattle. I carry it daily between home and my office, in a good quality Targus bag. I took it to the shop and the techie opened it up, found a loose screw, and had it ready for me in 1/2 day.

That was fine for 2 weeks - when it rattled again. Repeat performance, this time he found a broken motherboard clip.

Again it was OK for a few weeks, when it rattled again. Back to the shop, to find - all the techies have been sacked as a cost-cutting measure. So it had to go back to their HQ, and after a week they rang me and accused me of having opened it and left glue inside it, saying I'd have to pay for the repair and my (2 year, at extra cost) guarantee was now invalid. It took over 30 minutes in a phone queue to give me the chance to give them a piece of my mind, after which they agreed to repair it under guarantee.
Needless to say my opinion of it is
a) decent price and performance
b) lousy build quality
c) second-rate support
It would never survive 2 years in my case, so I gave it to a friend (as its value drops faster than an Alfa Romeo) and bought a Dell Inspiron 510m, which is an amazing machine.
Don't be conned by "sell-em cheap" brands - get a respected one.