Sotec 3120X

Overall the Sotec 3120X is a rugged and reliable unit. The family has used it so much the keys are worn smooth and it just keeps going. I have heard others have issues, but hopefully they are not the norm. I have an HP with nearly twice the CPU speed and double the memory that's not as fast as this thing, and I hope it doesn't die for a long time to come! Light, strong, has lasted over 5 years of daily use and abuse. Fast for the processor speed and memory. The fan is a known weak point and goes bad more commonly than others. First fan lasted 2 years, second 5 months, and looking for my third. The keyboard is cramped and takes getting used to. Occasionally, the cursor will jump to another part of the page due to errant mouse hits with the palms.

I have owned the Sortec 3120X computer for almost 2 years. The computer was sent back twice under warranty, both times for CPU cooling fan failure. The second time it was sent in, they discovered an additional problem, but failed to contact me while it was still under warranty. I am not a hard person to contact; they had 3 phone numbers, 2 of which were cell phones that were always on, and being carried by my wife or me. And 3 email accounts that are checked 2-5 times daily. A week after the warranty expired, they provided me with a very vague description of what else was wrong, and that since it was now out of warranty, it would cost $236.00 to repair, not counting shipping. After several phone calls it was resolved that I would not have to pay the labor to replace the $20 part. Now, 6 months later, the power jack in the computer overheated and fried the motherboard. To repair it would be nearly $500. If you ever try to format and install a different windows platform, be prepared to carefully reinstall specific drivers, individually, from the manufacturer's provided ghosting discs. After doing this, I highly recommend going online and finding the company websites for each hardware piece, and downloading and installing newer drivers to avoid software problems. I ran into this problem with the video, modem, and sound drivers.

The Sotec 3120X is the best college graduation gift ever! I've had this PC for 3 years as well and it has been very good to me. I used this computer everyday for work and play and I've never had any major problems! I've gone through two desktops and this computer still remains my mainstay CPU. It was definitely worth the $799 I paid for it at Wal-Mart. I love this product and I will buy from their new company Averatec this year.

I have had my Sotec 3120X for quite some time now and I absolutely love it. It was a good deal for a laptop and I had no problems with it until recently. I have a fan error. I use this computer everyday for a multitude of reasons. Researching, playing games, shopping, whatever, and have never had a problem til now. This computer is nearly 3 years old and just now having a problem, thats better that most desktops. I would recommend it. Absolutely.

The size being the biggest factor in chosing this light weight compact system. The price was fair until we found that a replacement cmos battery was not available through Sotec. We were informed that we would have to buy a new motherboard...cost estimated at $550.00, and mail the system back to them. Just to replace the CMOS battery less than 1 year from our purchase date!

i've had my sotec 3120x for one week now and the following is my review.

i'll start off with some of the shortcomings of the unit. the cover over the lcd and the cover over the cpu are slightly off in color. the lcd has a blue tint while the rest of the laptop is silver and the modem port cover is beige. and "magnesium alloy casing"?....mmm, feels more like plastic. i think the most annoying thing is that the battery has some play in it when it's inserted. it doesn't seat snugly into the laptop. i fixed this problem with two small pieces of scotch tape...i taped the two corners of the the battery above the keyboard to the cpu. i'm wondering if this is why the unit only has a 6 month warranty on the battery while the rest of the unit is covered for one year.

for those of you who have the same problems above(or don't have the problems), post your experiences on the board to compare notes.

alot of people may complain about the size of some of the keys. i got used to them in about 3 days. i used to use a handheld pc so i adapted w/o problems. for those with chubby fingers or feel uncomfortable with compact keyboards....you shouldn't be looking at unltra-lite notebooks to start with.

you might think i'm not happy with my unit by the above observations, but i'm extremely happy with the sotec. the shortcomings(at least to me) are minor annoyances...hopefully, sotec can fix these in time.

i guess i can summarize my feelings by saying this: you cannot find a better bargain for a sub 5 pound notebook with built-in cd drive anywhere.

(see complete review at http://www.kotonk.com/sotec)