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The Cabin >> The Computer Room >> $60 Laptop? The Evolve III Maestro
http://www.hondosackett.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1662348274

Message started by Fernando on Sep 4^th, 2022, 11:24pm

Title: $60 Laptop? The Evolve III Maestro
Post by Fernando on Sep 4^th, 2022, 11:24pm

The Evolve III Maestro “Education Laptop” is a small Netbook laptop with Windows 10 OS. It is a very basic laptop made in China. It is a single core Intel Celeron N3450 CPU (used on many netbooks and chromebook portable systems) running at 1.1GHz with 4GB of RAM. The Windows 10 OS is the Educational/Personal version meant for school and college students, with MS Office installed on it which they want you to sign up for their 365 Service. In short it is not a Game Machine. Out of the box you get the following:

Intel Celeron N3450 1.1GHz Processor
4GB LPDDR4-2133 RAM
64GB ROM Data Storage
Intel HD Graphics 500
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Education
microSD Card Reader
Wi-Fi 4 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0
11.6" HD Display

The total specs are:

General Information
Platform: Notebook PC
Color – Lid: Dark Grey
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro Education

Processor
CPU Core: Apollo Lake
CPU Brand: Intel
Cores: Quad-Core
CPU Type: Celeron
CPU Speed: N3450 (1.10GHz)
Level 2 Cache: 2MB
Turbo Boost Speed: Up to 2.2GHz
CPU Main Features: Intel 64

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology
Idle States
Thermal Monitoring Technologies
Execute Disable Bit
Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)
Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)
Intel Identity Protection Technology
Intel Secure Key
Intel HD Audio Technology
OS Guard

Secure Boot
Intel AES New Instructions
Intel Memory Protection Extensions
Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Memory
Total Memory: 4GB
Memory Type: LPDDR4
Memory Speed: DDR4L-2133

Solid State Drive
Flash Storage: 64GB

Display
Screen Size: 11.6"
Display Type: HD
Resolution: 1366x768
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Front Camera: Yes
Front Camera Resolution: 1080p
Front Camera Features: Full HD

Video
GPU Type
Intel HD Graphics 500
Video Memory
Shared

Audio
Audio System
Integrated Audio
Communications

WLAN
Wireless LAN Wifi 4 (802.11n)
Wireless Technology
802.11b
802.11g
802.11a
WiFi 4 (802.11n)

Bluetooth
Bluetooth 4.0

Card Reader Media Supported
microSD

[b]Ports & Connectors
USB 2.0: 1 x USB 2.0 (Type-A)
USB 3.1: 1 x USB 3.1 (Gen 1 Type-A)

Mini HDMI: 1

Audio: 1 Audio Jack

Power
Battery
2-Cell

Battery Life
Up to 8 Hours (Stated battery life is estimated based on manufacturer's engineering testing for a new battery. Actual performance will vary based on notebook settings, environmental conditions, and usage. Battery capacity decreases over time and use.)

Physical Specifications
Width: 10.90 in. (276.86 mm)
Depth: 7.49 in. (190.25 mm)
Height: 0.72 in. (18.29 mm)
Weight: 2.05 lbs. (0.93 kg)

What's in the Box? Evolve III Maestro 11.6" Laptop Computer, Power Cord

As reviewed on the Microcenter Website: “The only group harder on electronics than the military are elementary school students. When it comes to durability, the Maestro Wi-Fi edition brings portability and the peace of mind of knowing it can handle a few bumps along the way.”

One thing of interest – there is a slot for it for a Cellphone Card. That means that it can connect to a cellphone service on 4G when a cellphone SIM card is inserted, and the cellphone card inside the laptop can be upgraded to 5G as it is a removable device card. But in researching this, I found out that you can swap out the cellphone card for a M.2022 SATA series slot SSD Card for added storage space, though I also found out that this for the V2 version of the laptop and perhaps a few others. I would think this is because some laptops may have the cellphone card while other don’t. The one I have does have a cellphone option on it.

Its small size and light weight makes it portable smaller and lighter than many netbooks. Its quad core CPU and 4GB of RAM makes a powerful system equal to many name brand entry level systems of four times the price. Note: As mentioned on the heading, the cost of the laptop is $60 at MicroCenter Computer Stores.

This system is designed for K-12 school students and college students, so it has the basic video system for a PC and not for accelerated graphics used in games, CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacture) and VR (Virtual Reality). But it is more than enough for many educations, business, personal and non-3D game applications.

There are other hacks that can be done to this little unit to improve on speed and storage but I would not take it too far. The more you hack any system to improve its speed outside what the designers intended the more unstable it will become. Improving on the storage would be fine enough for me, and adding a second storage drive would be great to this cause. Next hack would be to find out how to replace the SSD that is already in there with a larger and faster one.

For what it is, it is a fine laptop. For its price of $60, it makes it an excellent little laptop.

Title: Re: $60 Laptop? The Evolve III Maestro
Post by Hondo I. Sackett on Sep 6^th, 2022, 12:21pm

Nice! Might look at one. Don't need one but still tempted! ;D

~ Hondo