Advent 4213

[solo12002]

Well after much debate. I brought a Advent 4213 Netbook. Im off to Portrush tomorrow for a week so it be good to see how it performs with a three BB sim etc.

Thanks for adding the netbook page onto the fourm

[Hands0n]

LOL, nice one :) I'll be interested in your comments and findings. Just remember, it is an Atom-powered Netbook. It does a lot okay, but video (i.e. iPlayer and the like) suck dreadfully. But all of these Netbooks do, so no real hardship.

I use a Vodafone £15/3GB contract Mobile Broadband SIM in mine and it rocks! :cool:

[gorilla]

Well lets get the big question out of the way first: did you get nice weather in Portrush?:)

I'm going to buy the missus a netbook for surfing the web while she watches the tele, for no other reason. I don't want mobile broadband, I'm not interested in doing anything demanding with it, just normal browsing / email / shopping ;) etc.

Is the advent a good option for this? I had been toying with the idea of an MSI Wind, but they seem pricey and they have a new one coming out soon.

I also don't want windows, I'm happy to go down the ubuntu route or OS X (tut tut!!), I'm toying with an SSD even if it is tiny, I can't really see what we'd :D oops I mean she will want to store on there. I know Ben says his Dell mini is pants, but there must be more netbook owners on here. Of course I could just wait for the £1k :eek: Apple netbook that they deny all knowledge about :p

[Hands0n]

Well you know I have the Advent 4213 - but if you don't want built-in 3G then it is a bit pricey compared to the non-integrated Netbooks. And seriously, if you are only looking for something for the Mrs to put on her lap then you probably wouldn't go far wrong with any one of these here --> http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Laptops/

[gorilla]

I've now acquired one of these. First impressions are really good. However, XP? That should not be sold to anyone these days. I'd forgotten how annioying it is. After 30 mins of playing I got fed up and installed windows 7 (not that I was ever going to keep XP on it!) which was a breeze. I was going to get a PAYG 3g sim, but when iPhone 3.0 is released, tethering will be allowed (correct?) so I should be ok.

Straight out of the box windows 7 works really well on this netbook. Far better than the installed XP.

Has anyone bought a replacement battery or increased the ram?

[miffed]

I must admit it is bizarre that new machines are still coming with XP - OK I understand it is the best thing MS have to offer ATM , and am not suggesting that it is BAD OS , but could you IMAGINE 2-3 years ago buying a brand new machine running Windows ME ?

Funny old situation really !

[solo12002]

At long last an update

I love the advent even if the keyboard is a bit small for my fingers. Its been useful to have when Ive been at hotels and down at the Skerries Caravan Park in portrush. And in fact ive brought my Bro in Law one for travelling.

I intend to take mine to Poland for the week in August, with the removel of like three and I know they will be chargeing 10p MB from june to end of jan 2010, the best deal I can find other wise for data is on metor:http://www.meteor.ie/bbtg/payg/pricing/ €.99 a day for up to 500 MB

A few things not so much about the advent but mobile BB. I came prepaired in that I brought my contaract 3 Dougle along, a O2 and vodafone PAYG one.

Firstly Three. Mobile phone coverage on 3G was good even in the caravan, the dougle was crap most of the time I was informed that I had no sim in the thing, funny enought it worked ok off peak, but there were ares in portrush etc I could no use it. So be aware.

Tried the vodafone one in the caravan site best I got there was GPRS or at times if I was at white rocks Vodafone IE so be aware.

O2 tried it again best I got was EDGE, was hiting another caravan sites WIFI but would not let me access it.

So the netbook was a god send able to access emails and the net by taking a light weight device with me.

One other thing clearly i now have the three, vodafone and O2 software all installed, going to remove it, be aware that I was at hilton hotel Temppatrick last week and it would not pick up the WIFI - Why because I have to go through the o2 manager that the dougle installs. Point to note.

[gorilla]

Ok, after my boast yesterday about how great windows 7 was on the Advent, I experienced my first blue screen and then another and then another! I think the problem has been with some software I installed to get the 3g working, so I did a recovery to an earlier date and all seems fine now.

Only problem, how to get 3g working? Any ideas?

It is a clean install of windows 7, so none of the additional software that came with the advent has been installed. I followed instructions on a netbook forum and that didn't get the 3g modem working and updating the drivers didn't seem to achieve anything either, Can windows not manage the 3g modem or do you have to use the manufacturers software?

[solo12002]

Bit of a daft one here, but are you turning the 3g modem on with fn+f2?

I think you have to use connection manager which comes with it, you can download it free: http://www.avanquest.com/USA/software/avanquest-connection-manager-107347?meta=small-business&cat=communication-software&sub=laptop-cell-phone-software

Also tyoe in advent 4213 and 3g you fine a number of other fourms with info, that may help

[Hands0n]

I had feared that you would run into this problem for several reasons.

Firstly - you need the 4213 system device drivers for Windows 7 or it will, in true Windows fashion, use it's own default "best fit" drivers that are famous for bringing on the BSOD. But will Advent create Windows 7 drivers for this "old" product? Unlikely.

Next - you will need the Windows 7 spec drivers for the 3G card. It is possible these can be had from the specific card manufacturer.

Finally - you'll need the 3G Connect utility to drive everything or learn how to configure a dialler connection in Windows 7

Oh, and you'll need the Windows 7 app that enables the Advent 4213s function keys to switch on and off the HSPA, WiFi and Bluetooth etc.

Good innit :D

[solo12002]

Is the advent 4213 not the same as this one?

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?detailid=942&CategoryID=3&DetailName=Manual&MenuID=1&LanID=0

Any drivers there?

[Hands0n]

Is the advent 4213 not the same as this one?

In principle the Advent 4213 is indeed based upon the ECS G10IL

The drivers for this Netbook are indeed on the ECS Website (http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?detailid=942&CategoryID=3&DetailName=Driver&MenuID=1&LanID=0) But they are all for Windows XP (not even Vista), so you may as well use the drivers included on the Advent 4213 support CD.

I suspect that ECS and Advent will not bother updating the drivers for Windows 7.

Bear in mind, any software/drivers not written for Vista or Windows 7 are very unlikely to work in the new OS. That would include XP drivers.

I'm going to keep my Advent 4213 on Windows XP, there is no real need for me to be on Vista or Windows 7 anyway.

[gorilla]

I've installed jolicloud (http://www.jolicloud.com/) on the advent so I'm now dual booting with windows 7.
Jolicloud is based on ubuntu (I think) and its really, really easy to use. This should come as standard on any home pc. I've never used an OS like this before. Installing apps is even easier than OS X (who thought that was possible?) and the system runs pretty quick and I think it has given my netbook a battery boost.

This OS is primarily focused on making web apps easier to use and therefore its entire focus is to get you onto the web, so don't bank on using photoshop etc although they will run, how well I don't know.

For me this is the perfect system for this type of computer.

[paulbds]

Just read/heard about the new Nokia 3G net book. I was starting to get impressed with the spec until I heard about the price!!. Over £500 for a netbook, I will be keeping my Advent for the time being.
It sometimes a pain to swap over the sim card in the Advent but it takes any SIM card I throw at it. I think the Advent will turn out to be a keeper.

BTW, got hold of a 3Irl Sim card and just topped up €10 and works a treat. Even got 30 days Skype AND it woks in UK (on 3 like home)

Paul

[Hands0n]

@paulbds - when you topped up did you also have to go to My3 and convert the Top Up to a Mobile Broadband topup? You have to do that with the dongle so I suppose the same, just wanted to be sure..

[paulbds]

No, just bought a €10 top-up voucher from Craphone warehouse, went to My3 and topped up and away it went.Paul

[chris brazil]

perhaps you can help me then. Got an advent 4213. want to use it in portugal with minimal cost, maximum coverage. what sim card should I buy, at what cost and where from please? Thanks a lot.

[Ben]

I'm no expert on Portugal, but I'm guessing TMN or Optimus are your biggest networks? I've read reports that Vodafone were claiming over 50% of the 3G market, but whether that means their coverage is anything to write home about I don't know. I think you're going to have to do some research locally and see what works best for you.

Welcome to Talk3G :)

[solo12002]

No, just bought a €10 top-up voucher from Craphone warehouse, went to My3 and topped up and away it went.Paul

be carefull. My understanding is you have to convert that top up to a broandband one, otherwise you are biledl £1 or so for each MB rather than getting 1Gb for your Tenner. So be aware.

[Hands0n]

Yes. The top up has to be converted to a Mobile Broadband top up using My 3.

[paulbds]

Not too sure is wires are crossed here. I didn't top it up via my mobile phone, I topped it up via the dongle initially. I then place the SIM card in the Advent 4213. I can't get billed as it's PAYG. Whilst on the internet, I went to my£ and from there was able to check internet usage and Skype allowance (30 days).
Paul

[Hands0n]

As far as I can tell, you should be able to pop the 3 SIM into the 4213 and go to My3 free of charge. But if you go to anywhere else before converting the top-up to a Mobile Broadband top-up then 3 will burn up your credit at some ridiculous rate per MB.

The Advent 4213 is a perfect little device for such a SIM. But I'd recommend forcing OpenDNS settings to try and avoid some of the pitfalls of 3's DNS

[gorilla]

I've got my Advent working with the O2 iPhone PAYG card on jolicloud. Unlike windows 7, jolicloud seems to support this 'out of the box', you just have to turn the 3G card on and Jolicloud will then set up the rest.
The problem I have with this method is that despite O2 telling me I live in a really strong area (HSDPA) I only get GPRS or as iPhone users see o! So advent/jolicloud good - O2 bad.
Might have to take the advent out for a spin now, just to see if I can get 3G on O2. I have a couple of 3 sims that I'll check out as well, making sure to do as HandsOn states above.

[PhilipChan]

Sorry to bump this up, but I found that my Advent 4213 is reasonably quite noisy (the fan) and wondered if its the same as you guys?
I also wondered that is there anyways to control it since the silence mode isn't doing much.

[hecatae]

what os are you running, xp or 7 or something else?

[PhilipChan]

Windows 7 Ultimate.

& another question, does the netbook have a mini PCI-E socket? I couldn't find it no where so likely not. Unless its hidden somewhere as I thought of installing a HD Broadcom Decoder on it.