Hewlett Packard Technical Support [i wish this is a joke]!

[mark2410]

dell biz for support all the way

 

[skyline889]

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeperry /img/forum/go_quote.gif lot of guys got insects stuck in their LCD screens, that's what I meant

With a normal screen you can easily open it up to remove the bug, as its probably just between the lamp and the panel. Not to mention the even simpler solution of just tapping the panel. The Infinity Display is not removable and the dust is not stuck between the lamp and the back of the panel but rather in plain sight, right under the glass overlay. If you'd be ok with this, than you must have very low consumer standards.

 

[moogoob]

*cough*Apple Macbook Pro*cough*

Just kidding, I know I'm gonna get flamed.

 

[skyline889]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moogoob /img/forum/go_quote.gif *cough*Apple Macbook Pro*cough* Just kidding, I know I'm gonna get flamed.

No joke. I've never been a fan of Apple (Though I do like the 24" iMac and its H-IPS screen), however this business with HP has got me seriously contemplating either a refurb 13" Unibody or a refurb 15" MBP.

 

[Currawong]

Do it. It might take you a while to get used to Mac OS X, but 99% of the bullcrap you have to go through with Wintel will be gone.

 

[linuxworks]

recovery partitions are evil.

I won't buy a laptop that has no os cdrom. then again, the last laptop I bough was a p3-700 back in y2k timeframe

you're always better getting your own os, doing your own clean install and wiping out the 'vendor value add' (cough).

if you have to get a cdrom 'the strange way', so be it. that's life. I'd have no problem with that.

 

[Nebby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbfreak /img/forum/go_quote.gif As far as I'm concerned, the last decent product they made was the HP-41 series hand held calculators (a la RPN).

Their enterprise lineup is quite nice as well. In particular, I'm a fan of their networking equipment- lifetime warranty!

 

[Magedark]

So I guess I'm the one of few who hasn't really had problems with HP? When I need to get my screen replaced, I sent it and it was back fairly quick after fees were deducted. 4 years my laptop has been smooth otherwise.

But I really don't like talking to technical support either way. Such as Toshiba.

 

[moogoob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyline889 /img/forum/go_quote.gif No joke. I've never been a fan of Apple (Though I do like the 24" iMac and its H-IPS screen), however this business with HP has got me seriously contemplating either a refurb 13" Unibody or a refurb 15" MBP.

If you can get a unibody for a decent price, jump on it. I've got one and the hardware quality alone is fantastic.

Plus, the LED-backlit screen isn't bad and the thing does optical out to my DAC. Sure, the battery isn't user-replaceable but at least the glass screen cover is sealed to the bezel so stuff can't get in.

EDIT: And, you get the OS on a DVD with your computer, not a recovery partition. If you buy used without a disc, a new copy of Snow Leopard'll cost you like $25 and is fairly painless to reinstall.

 

[Khanate]

As long as you stay within the bounds of simply using HP products you are fine, if you expect something upgradeable steer clear.

 

[nylan8301]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khanate /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am not surprised at the trouble you have with your HP. They seem to go through a lot of trouble to make sure you cannot do anything with your computer except throwing it out. I used to have a HP Desktop Pavilion, and some day I decided to upgrade my ram and graphics card... no big deal right? I ordered 2 new sticks, put them in and... computer crash every 30 seconds due to the bios refusing to alter any of its settings. The bios on the motherboard was completely locked, a HPified generic motherboard in other words. So in order to change my ram I also had to change my motherboard. I receive my new motherboard, onward to installing it, wait a minute, it doesn't fit!!! The casing is slightly shorter than regular to get a sleeker HP look. Order a new casing! I receive the new casing, install the ram and the graphics card, everything going well except a call to microsoft to confirm it is the only computer running the windows key. I launch a game, computer shuts down due to the Power Supply installed by HP being just strong enough to handle the internal video card of the old motherboard, but not strong enough to handle an external video card. So in order to upgrade 2 very basic components on my old HP desktop computer I had upgraded: Casing, Motherboard, Power Supply, RAM, Graphics Card and kept my hard drive and CD-Rom. I am never buying HP again.

That's really unfortunate that they locked the bios. I would have contacted HP to find out if there was anything that could have been done (you may have done this, you just didn't mention it in the post).

At least you were committed to upgrading your computer. Were new parts less than a new system? Desktops are fairly cheap now. I can't even build a computer for the same price I can buy the tower from a store.

-Nylan

 

[Judge Buff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nylan8301 /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's really unfortunate that they locked the bios. I would have contacted HP to find out if there was anything that could have been done (you may have done this, you just didn't mention it in the post). At least you were committed to upgrading your computer. Were new parts less than a new system? Desktops are fairly cheap now. I can't even build a computer for the same price I can buy the tower from a store. -Nylan

If it is a desktop system, I build it... and have done so since the 90's. Our last computer purchase though was for two HP laptops that work awesome on the house wireless network. I accepted that upgrading them was negligible down the road, but they were much cheaper than what I wanted to do with the main house desktop. I'll get to upgrade it in a few months... I just need to find a way to present the upgrade package to my family accountant that I've been sleeping with (and married to) for the past 21 years.

I learned a long time ago in the business world that if you purchase any system from a vendor that it is best to talk to the company before spending any money on upgrades. "Open architecture" systems was the catch-phrase in the mid-90s and the caveat emptor admonishment is still true.

 

[Ducks_own]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moogoob /img/forum/go_quote.gif *cough*Apple Macbook Pro*cough* Just kidding, I know I'm gonna get flamed.

I was wondering when this would happen

 

[iriverdude]

yes because we all know Apple hardware never fails, and you can replace parts yourself from any computer retailer.

 

[Khanate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nylan8301 /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's really unfortunate that they locked the bios. I would have contacted HP to find out if there was anything that could have been done (you may have done this, you just didn't mention it in the post). At least you were committed to upgrading your computer. Were new parts less than a new system? Desktops are fairly cheap now. I can't even build a computer for the same price I can buy the tower from a store. -Nylan

I contacted them, asked them about the locked bios which they had no clue about, they told me they couldn't do anything about it. They proceeded to wanting to sell me additional extended phone tech support for 160$.

I bought the parts for the best prices I could find so it was the same price as building my own computer, but due to the order in which I ordered my pieces I bought a AGP graphics card when I could of bought a better PCI-E graphics card for slightly cheaper had I bought and chose the motherboard before.

Oh and I kept the processor...