Difficulties ordering customized NX9420

Hi,

Thanks to some helpful info from posters on this site I have decided to order a NX9420. I am having on issue, I cannot find a way to order a truely customized system on the HP site...I am sure I need to call them in this case. But what I wanted to ask is based on the experience of people here does this mean there might be a supply problem or other production issues with a system?

I get a little "configure system" link if I look at the NW9440 but that is just a few hundered more then I need to spend. But I do not find that link on the NX9420 "home page".

I am just loathe to call and deal with a salesperson. I just bought a new car bit over a month ago and I don't think I have fully recovered from that ordeal.

My other concern is they might be discontinuing this model and are just trying to burn up existing inventory by the end of the year?

And YES, I realize people here would not know the inner workings of HP but am just curious if this happens on their site now and then.

 

As far as I know HP has NEVER allowed customers to customize that particular laptop online. I'm not too sure why, but I've never seen a CTO page for the nx9420...although the reps might have the power to make a custom model.

Usually it is cheaper to just offer a few pre-configured models...and quicker.

However, I'm fairly certain that the business laptops from HP won't get updated until March or later (when Santa Rosa comes out). Until then I'd be confident that what you see now is what you're gonna have for the next 4-6 months.

 

Well, that would explain it...for a while I thought I was just a bit loopy and missing the link. Ok...mystery solved. Man I cringe at the idea of calling to order anything anymore.

And yeah it is weird why they would not have a system which could not be configured online. One of this things that sold me on the darned thing is that it has a variety of options and a multiple device bay.

The newest Dell's do not even let you add a 2nd battery. And that is one of the reasons I am not getting a Dell this go 'round. I had one of the original Compaq Luggables (around 22#'s & looked like a sewing machine) with built in 6" screen (I think it was 6"), DUAL 360k floppies and all of 384k or RAM...I LOVED that system and used it for YEARS.

Thanks for taking the time to clear that up for me...much appreciated.

 

Just to follow up from 'the other' thread: on customizability and ordering from hp, in my experience, the nw9440 was not at all customizible either when I ordered it a little more than a month ago. hp only sold preconfigured models so you had to order one of those, and you needed a model number to do it.

The sales people were not too helpful, in fact. I wanted a core 2 duo with a WUXGA+ display, but at the time the business notebook pages of the website listed only models with core duo and WUXGA+ display, or core 2 duo and WSGXA+. (hp also seemed to be redoing their website then, so it may be better now.) When I called hp, they seemed to be pretty much reading off the same web pages I was looking at, and told me those were the only options. No model number, no order.

I dug around the web site some more and found what I was looking for in the higher education section. A model number only showed up after adding the machine to the cart and starting the check out. So I'd guess you can find a notebook that is close to what you want if you look around the web site enough (or maybe, if you're lucky, talk to a knowledgable sales person).

I'm pretty sure also this has nothing to do with burning up inventory, it's just how hp manages their business models. The price on the nw9440 stayed constant over the month or two that I watched it. And, according to what hp told me, they commit to supporting the business models for the long term (5 years, or something like that), so I very much doubt they plan on pulling the nx9420 any time soon.

The thing with hp seems to be to find out a model number of the notebook whose specs match what you're looking for and then you're set.

 

Thanks!! That is a great tip for dealing with phone support. You experience seems to support what I have come to feel about the whole deal with HP/Compaq...they are a mess in terms of what online users are used to dealing with when ordering a system online.

My guess is since other companies grew-up as mail order only sort of companies they have an infrastructure geared specifically to customization. Since they had no brick-n-mortar infrastructure there were no contractual comitments to deal with.

On the other hand the companies like HP and Compaq (pre-merger/buyout/whatever) had an infrastructure geared toward volume sales and sales to retail outlets. That would not seem to xlate well into the sort of online buying that we are used to from Dell, Gateway, Sager....etc...

Funny thing (in an ironic way) is how dismally Gateway failed at establishing a retail chain of stores. I think that was the early 90's?? And recently another company tried the same thing and that lasted like a month...

And ya know given the way HP deals with their retailers maybe some systems simply cannot be offered in a custom form online due to contractual agreements with resellers/retailers. Since you mention that your NW9440 was not available to custom build for a time maybe that is the case with the NX9420? Though hasn't the NX9420 been around longer?

Oh, who knows!! hehehehe...I'll keep looking and order something next week or as soon as I find one that works well enough.

BTW, the thing that really sold me, after the display that is, was the super-duper ultra battery...all I want is to get a consitent 6hrs of battery life using Wifi and I think with that and the main battery that should be sustainable...no Dell in this class can come close to that battery life as they do not have a way to add 2nd/additional batteries.

I'll go poke around the HP site for a bit since xmas dinner ordeal is not for a few hours yet...sigh...bah'humbug!!