Decline in quality since the HP-Compaq merger?

Is it just me or has the quality of Compaq business notebooks gone way downhill since the HP merger? My Compaq Evo N620c was the last model to carry the Compaq logo, and it's built very well (except for that the paint on the display enclosure tends to scratch easily). I got to handle its successor, the HP nc6000, and it was a piece of junk. Very plastic feeling, and not at all solid. Even the current models don't seem to be as well built as the Compaq Evos and Armadas that preceded them. Really a shame...

 

The current HP Compaq 8000 and 6000 series notebooks are some of the best built business lines around.

 

Agree.

Many people like to equate solid weight with quality. Notebooks in general have gotten much thinner and lighter, hence leading to the perception that they are not as well built simply because they now feel light and hollow, not like solid bricks. That is not true as built-quality is not measured by how heavy they feel, but the assembly precision and materials used, which has only gotten better as production lines are now more advanced than they used to be, allowing for greater precision in the molding and assembly processes.

To ease the OP's worries, I should add that HP has maintained the same ODM and product design team from Compaq for its business notebooks post-merger, so the current range is still designed and manufactured by the same resources that made the old Evo and Armadas.

 

Was the NC6000 just a fluke then? Because the ones I've handled have been garbage. I'm seriously considering a 6910p (or whatever HP comes out with to compete against the Dell Latitude E6400) as a replacement for my Evo N620c, so if its up to the quality standards of the older models that's good to know.

 

From what I've heard, the quality has actually improved after the HP/Compaq merger. In particular, the nw8000 models that our current seniors have at my school are a MAJOR improvement over the evo n800w models that the year before them had, both in terms of performance and in reliability. The HD failure rate on the evo n800w's was astronomical (since it was right next to the CPU and right underneath the keyboard on the right side). The finish on the nw8000's seems much more durable, too.

Now, this is just from what I've heard; I haven't played around with either model too much to see how well they feel. But from what I've heard around campus, the nw8000's were a big improvement over the evo n800w's.

 

The N800s were based on a Presario model if I recall correctly, and were generally of worse quality than the N6xx and N4xx machines.

 

I think the appeal of Compaq is a lot bigger since they merged with HP so I don't there is a decline in quality...

 

but HP was never a popular computer brand before the merging thing.

Compaq was always one of these best selling companies along with Dell and IBM ,though.

so to me HP is more like unknown quality than Compaq and I dont think HP computers are really appealing,I should have bought a compaq since it is the same computer as a Pavillion with out the flshy design, AVcontrol and camera.......these who dont need or like HP imprint finish , remote control and fancy speakers , should check out these compaq pressarios , they are seriously cheap and nice spec'd, in Asia they 've even got the NVIDIA graphics and Penryns.

Still, for me Dell is a lot better brand than HP since Dell really let me CTO , HP 's CTO is nothing like Dell's. No high resolution screen , no XP pro option .etc.

Oh well, too late I need to forget about somehting I can not buy in my area.

Take it easy and have a good night to all.

 

What I don't understand is the rebranding of the business notebooks. The Compaq brand was kept around in the consumer market. The Compaq Armada and Evo brands were much more popular in the business market than the HP Omnibook line, so from a marketing standpoint the switch to HP branding was kind of odd.

The thin/light notebooks are starting to fall behind in performance now too...the 6910p's graphics card isn't DX10 capable (unlike the Lenovo T61p) and nothing has been released about an upgrade to take on the Dell E6400.

 

This is mostly true in Asia Pacific markets where the "new" HP is essentially the rebranded former Compaq operations, but in the US, HP is significantly larger and more popular than Compaq.

The idea is that the business lines would be merged and carry dual branding, hence the HP Compaq brand, but then it didn't seem to have been executed that well? Either way, the current platform has been pretty stable and I suspect a complete refresh may be due this Q4 or in Q1 next year.

 

I dont understand it either , I thought Compaq was more professional sounding brand name than HP.

Omnibook ? I 've never known that name , was Omnibook the name of HP business line used to be ? really never heard of it. Sorry but I dont know much about old HPs , but I know Armada and Evo (I had a couple of them), so as from pure marketing standpoint, I think your right many people like me got really confused why HP choosing its unpopular name "in business" on their new business line laptops over the more popular business name of its new subsidery or merger brand, and the Compaq color with Armada name was always red and I like the Red so , it is kinda sad to see HP showing its dominance over Compaq brand name.

 

Omnibook was the brand that HP sold its business notebooks under. This is the Omnibook 6000.



To me the Compaq Armadas and Evos were instantly recognizable by the metal strip with the bright red Compaq logo on it on the top cover. They were well known and HP decided to rebrand them with a less well known brand. I really have to wonder what the thinking was on that one.

Dell has Latitude, IBM/Lenovo has Thinkpad, but HP doesn't give its business notebooks a unique brand. There's no reason to abandon a well-regarded brand name like Evo or Armada.

 

I think that HP's and Compaq's quality have both gone up since the merger. I had PCs from both before, and wasn't happy with either. Now I love all my HP stuff.

To each his own, I suppose.

 

I totally agree with the brand name point. Whoever came up with the totally anonymous number based nc/nx designation and then replaced it with the equally confusing s/b/p/w designation needs to be sacked. This is stupid.

The product is great, but the lack of an instantly recognisable brand name kills it. As a result, most consumers only equate HP with their Pavillion notebooks and judge HP solely on the relatively poor performance of their Pavillion line.

 

ive got an old Win98 Compaq Presario 5170 and it is still running strong...
the quality is much better than the new compaq computers

 

I haven't seen much of the consumer line but I do recall the Presarios of the Win98 era being awful so I wouldn't be surprised if quality in that line has improved.

 

I've personally had a lot of issues with HP (and Dell to be fair), but I'd have to agree that quality has gone up by a fair margin. Both business notebooks and consumer notebooks alike.

However, in my book HP and Dell both have awesome after-sales support. And that means a lot to me.

Regardless of how many problems I had, and how many pieces of laptops had to be shipped to me, HP continued to be professional about it and just do what needed to be done. And that alone earned them praise from me even though I don't like some of their current notebooks. If its broke, they will fix it. If it isn't broke, then that's even better for you.

 

That's true. I've rarely had problems with their tech support people. I send my machine in and it comes back fixed.

 

Based on my experience not at all: in my opinion, the HP-Compaq business notebooks are some of the best built and nicest notebooks around.

Edit: p.s. regarding support, I managed to spill a full cup of coffee all over the keyboard while using my HP-Compaq nw9440 workstation a while back, after which it stopped working. Fortunately I'd purchased an accidental care package with the machine, and HP repaired it with no complaints at all. When I got it back the repair sheet read something like: We checked the mother board. It was defective and we replaced it. We checked the memory. It was defective and we replaced it. We checked the keyboard. It was defective and we replaced it. We checked the... etc.

 

the only real problem i found with the presario is that when you take the case off, one whole side of the computer is covered by stainless steel, so you have to drill holes to remove something like a cd drive
i was looking at desktops at many stores and the quality of the new compaq desktops just seems flimsy to me