What I am dubbing as the “El Cheapo” laptop is back in stock at Micro Center. It is the Evolve III Maestro 11.6″ Laptop. While the price has gone up to $79.99, at least in the Cleveland market. Even at that price it is still a steal for a computer for logging and doing digital modes while out and about.
I need to give a shoutout to Josh (KI6NAZ) of Ham Radio Crash Course for announcing it on YouTube earlier this week.
I reviewed this laptop last year. I bought another and managed to get one with the LTE card that can be swapped out for a SATA SSD. I will be doing just that. I have a 256GB M.2 SATA SSD on order and it should be in any day. I will be giving my old one that I bought last year to a friend who is in need of a basic computer so that it doesn’t end up as E-Waste.
**This review is not sponsored by Evolve III or Micro Center. I purchased the device out of my own funds and these are my experiences based on using the laptop.**
On the advice of Josh (KI6NAZ) from Ham Radio Crash Course I went out and picked up one of the Evolve III Maestro 11.6″ laptops from Micro Center a few weeks ago. And (as of this writing) it is still only $60 at Micro Center. The ones that are available now are the version that does not have the LTE card and also then does not have the M.2 connector on the board, but it is still a great little laptop for going out in the field
Now to preface this, this is a $60 laptop and it is the quality of a $60 laptop. you get what you pay for. For me this the laptop that I take out in the field. I am not worried if a storm comes up on me really quick and I get drenched. I am not worried if it takes a spill. Once again it is a $60 laptop. I don’t feel like I hav to bee super worried about taking out my expensive M1 MacBook Air.
Before going any further lets take a look at the specs on this little guy.
Evolve III Maestro E-Book Specifications
Make
Evolve III
Model
Maestro E-Book
Part Number
MEB1164G64GWWIF
CPU
CPU Make
Intel
CPU Model
Celeron N3450
CPU Speed
1.10GHz
Turbo Boost Speed
2.2GHz
Level 2 Cache
2MB
Instruction Set
x86_64
Memory
Size
4GB
Type
LPDDR4
Speed
DDR4L-2133
Storage
Size
64GB
Type
eMMC
Display
Screen Size
11.6″
Display Type
HD
Resolution
1366×768
Refresh Rate
60Hz
Video
GPU
Integrated Intel HD Graphics 500
Video Memory
Shared
Networking
WLAN
WiFi 4 802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 4.0
Ports & Connections
USB
1 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.1
Video Out
1 x Mini HDMI
Audio
1 x 3.5mm Headphone Jack
Card Reader
1 x microSD
The Review
It is a nice small laptop with just enough power to get the job done out in the field. The great thing about this laptop is that it runs off of 12V DC which means you can run it off of solar, batteries, the power brick it came with, whatever. I was able to run HAMRS and WSJT-X at the same time with absolutely no issues. Battery life is surprisingly good for such a small device, probably because it has a Celeron processor, RAM, an eMMC SSD and almost nothing else.
The build quality is a little on the cheap side, not so much that I am worried its going to fall apart just looking at it, but the plastic scratches easily and it has some flex in the deck. There are two versions being sold at the same price, one with an LTE card and one without. If you can get the one with the LTE card that will be the better choice as you can replace it with a SATA M.2 SSD card and get a huge performance boost. The screen also has poor viewing angles. I have also been unable to get Linux to install to the SD card.
The big issue is if you run Windows on it and it needs to do an update you really can’t do anything else, so make sure you run Windows update before you leave.
With all this in mind I would still suggest this for anyone who wants a laptop to go out in the field with. It is cheap, if it gets destroyed in the great outdoors you are only out $60 and a trip to an eWaste recycling facility. If I can ever find one with the LTE card I will definitely buy a second and donate this one to a local organization that provides tech to kids in need.