HP=welfare of laptops?

[650hpAMG]

Mercedes must be equivalent welfare equiv. in cars... lots of problems with their cars ESPECIALLY the 2001-2007 era of junk they produced and turned a blind eye to.

not that or this thread makes any sense or anything... what is a welfare laptop again?

LOL. Nice.

[patrica.K.]

... what is a welfare laptop again?

The public library computer terminals.



HP Sucks {3 letter word, 1st letter begins with A}

[GeoHack]

Sorry for the thread necro but what is potentially wrong with the Envy17 keyboards? I'm deciding between this and a couple of other business laptops (Lenovo T530/EliteBook) for writing up my PhD thesis and a bad keyboard is a real deal breaker for me.

[Delgormo]

The public library computer terminals.

Lol. So true. I think my hp touchpad could beat those.

The reason HP's high end models are awful are simple. HP makes its money selling more "spec" for less.

There are three categories that manufacturers spend money on: specs, looks (chassis), and the "intangibles". To undercut other sellers and sell more "spec" for less they must sacrifice one of the categories. It can't be specs, and it can't be looks, it much be the intangibles. the spec part is obvious, to compete, it must match up good on a spec sheet for almost any buyer. For most people who buy a laptop the look is important. It can sway the unknowing budget shopper and is a demanded component for those who wish to buy a "premium" product. So they cut the intangibles. By intangibles i mean the screen (is that red or orange?), the keyboard (again the envy as cited in this tread), touch pad, build quality (DV6's peeling bezel and BR drive), etc. The intangibles are what make the mac's so great (and expensive).

When HP cuts these corners for the budget comps not many people complain. At that price point people are looking to spend as little as possible and all comps cut corners on the intangibles. HP may just cut a few more to give a lower price. And at this price point not many people care. Many average consumers would't even think about screen res, keyboard flex, or viewing angles. So here they get away with it and are none the worse for the wear.

However it is a different story with their high end laptops. They still make their money buy undercutting the rest of the market but the "intangible" corners cut are more obvious and documented. In a budget world you can have shoddy cooling with a core 2 duo or a i3 but when you pack in an quad core i7 and a 2gb gddr5 650 the cut corners on cooling systems are a lot more evident (again the dv6). Same with the key board on the envy that was complained about. It is the same "intangibles" cut that hp uses just magnified by more demanding components and consumer expectations. It's just how HP operates.

Because of these issues I view HP premium products as not true premium but "sub premium". It is the specs of premium and the looks of a premium sans the intangibles that, in my opinion, truly make a premium a premium. Maybe faux premium is a better term. They hit premium product on spec and looks just not intangibles. They are the anti mac. The mac nails the intangibles and looks but skimp a bit on the specs (though their software lessens this quite a bit). Also to a lesser extent like sager who offer high specs and decent intangibles but have sub par looks.

For many people these compromises are ok. They are willing to deal with problematic faux premium products to save some money just as some spend more money to get a mac with impeccable intangibles. I have been guilty my self of saying "this HP would be perfect for this price if they just fixed these two issues" i.e. the new dv6 (heat and peeling bezel etc.). What we need to understand is that to fix these issues is to raise the price to on par with other premium products. HP fills the niche of faux premium and if you don't want that then get another product (for me the asus n56). For your own sake just ignore hp if you seek genuine premium. It will only infuriate you to see the potential wasted by second rate keyboards and off color screens with non ejecting disk drives. I know it is hard to do (says the person writing an insanely long rant about something he advises to ignore to avoid getting angry enough to write insanely long rants about) but just shop another brand. HP will not change while there is a market for faux premium laptops (kind of like their fauxtra books, almost but not quite for less: HP's business plan that charms the masses). The asus n56, dells new xps, sammy series 7, etc. are all good options for genuine premium.

In conclusion: yes, HP does = welfare laptops. They sell faux premium and if you want different then shop a different brand (not a criticism of you starting this thread, I love hopeless nitpicking as much as anyone ie this post). For me the intangibles being cut for a under cut price turned me off. Just depends on your priorities.

End rant thanks for reading.

[obscuredscarlet]

What an AWFUL product HP has!! I have...or should I say HAD one of the HP Pavilion laptops from April of last year. The first issue I had was with the graphics card and that was within the first day of having the thing. I returned it and the guy said he had never seen anything like that before. I get a new one, it runs ok, not great, but ok for the first year and three months of me having it. Then yesterday it just doesn't work anymore. The screen is black and it will not load, but the computer turns on and the fan whirs and whirs as it runs, the wireless light is orange, and the caps lock continually blinks. There are a few codes the HP tech site gives me, but they don't work. I sent it to a friend who is the guru of all computers. He knows how to build any computer, how to take them apart, format, the works. He's able to retrieve my documents with his magic, but he tells me that the CPU has been fried and it'd cost a load of money to fix it. Just to send it backto HP for them to take a look it would cost me $329 dollars, then after that I have no idea how much more it would cost me. Definitely well over what the computer is worth.

Comes to find out this is an extremely common problem with this computer. There is even a lawsuit in effect against them for their shotty product. Apparently they had this problem with this computer since it first came out. The computer would overheat and get fried. This happened to many people during the warranty of the product. So instead of fixing the problem completely or removing the item from the market they installed fans that ran and ran which would keep it from burning out until a few months after the warranty expired. I have read SEVERAL stories about this happening to other people and it disgusts me. HP knowingly sells a shotty product that they know will get fried just after the warranty expires then they don't have to fix it or do anything about it.

I will NEVER ever buy another product from HP again, I will suggest to anyone who might have just bought one if you still can return the thing then return it. It is not worth the money, or the hassle. And we as consumers should not support a company who sells items knowing that they will break just after the warranty expires so they have no responsibility though it was their fault it broke in the first place. It disgusts me as a consumer, and companies that are crooked like this should not be allowed to sell these products!!

[yeuemmaimai]

I look after them, re-paste the thermal compound when/if required, remove the usual dust and also deal with business support. (On occasions the standard Hp support as well).

I am aware of the issues, which there are many, but on the whole I'd still say that they're not much different than the other oems. I would, however, like HP to take control of things like thermal paste issues, which Apple and others also suffer from, as the past is seldom forgotten. Machines like the Folio 13 really do appreciate Arctic 5 compound (Of course standard consumers should NEVER have to even go anywhere near that type of thing.

At the end of the day venting on a forum will not get the situation resolved. Speak with your wallet, move on, then when HP sales start to 'really' fall they'll quickly realise the error of their ways.

If you need to reapply thermal compound to the machine, you need to take off the rose colored glasses and find a better built machine.....

[excalibur1814]

I re-apply the thermal paste not out of necessity but 'choice'. Did you miss the bit where it stated, 'when/if required'. ALL machines suffer from poor thermal compound application and 'even' the macbooks suffer in this regard.

[adrynalyne]

If you need to reapply thermal compound to the machine, you need to take off the rose colored glasses and find a better built machine.....

Heh, Apple arguably has some of the best quality in laptops and have had their own share of issues with thermal paste in the past....if you don't believe me, a simple Google search will confirm it.

[Starrbuck]

Heh, Apple arguably has some of the best quality in laptops and have had their own share of issues with thermal paste in the past....if you don't believe me, a simple Google search will confirm it.

Also Macs cost about twice as much for the same specs. Worth it? Debatable!

[yeuemmaimai]

Heh, Apple arguably has some of the best quality in laptops and have had their own share of issues with thermal paste in the past....if you don't believe me, a simple Google search will confirm it.

put down the apple sauce and come back to reality

laptop quality for 2011



they barely edged out Dell and as one can see HP is the worst brand

Laptop Reliability Ratings: Which Laptop Brand is the Best?