Great experience with HP notebooks and support?

I'd like to hear stories (if there are any out there) of people who have had an HP notebook that met their expectations and lasted 4-5 years without repairs. Does HP manufacture a notebook that doesn't need to be sent in for repairs after 1-2 years? It seems like when purchasing a laptop, HP has the stigma of being unreliable. Perhaps it is because this is a support forum, but I think it'd be nice to hear some pleasant stories instead of the "customer service horror" or "HORRIBLE repair service" threads. I hate to say it, but I'm already getting worried. I ran HWMonitor and found my dv9700t's hdd temp to be 54C just surfing the web (been on for abour 1.5 hours).

 

I think you have to take all the posts here with a grain of salt, as you said, since only those who have had problems will be here. Otherwise, they would be something other than worrying about their computer

Anyway, while I've had problems with the dv9700t, I do have to say that my HP desktop has been quite excellent. I've had it for 8 years, and nothing has gone wrong except the CD drive. I'd say that's a pretty long lifespan, even for a desktop.

 

I owned my previous laptop, an X1000, for 5-6 years before I wanted a replacement. The only problem it had was with the AC adapter wearing out over time. This amounted to me needing to buy 2 AC adapters over the course of it's life. Well, the first one was more my fault since I tripped on the cord and messed it up. I probably damaged computer itself. When it came time to get a new one, I wanted to get one since I would be needing a new AC adapter. I could tell when an AC adapter was starting to go out because it would stop charging from time to time. Nevertheless, I think I was the main culprit behind the AC adapter problem when I tripped on the first one.

My experiences with my 8510p have also been positive. So far, I've owned this laptop since it came out about a year ago. HP support was very helpful in telling me how to do a clean install, swap my HD, swap my RAM, and clean out my computer's fans. The only problem I've had with my laptop thus far is overheating. However, when I contacted support, they told me to clean out my fans and vents which solved the problem. They said if that didn't work, I could drop by a repair center and have them fix it free of charge. I could also send it, but there's repair centers all over the place where I live. In fact, there's one about 15 minutes away.

Oh I just remembered, that there was a mix up with my 8510p's shipping date, but it wasn't a big deal. My laptop just showed up a little bit later because it was a custom order and my screen wasn't in stock.

Whenever I've called or chatted online (I prefer chatting), I've had zero problems with support. Furthermore, every time I've contacted them, they have been nice and had a decent idea on how to solve my problems. For the record, I have called or chatted at least 15 times over the course of my X1000 and now my 8510p. I'm not the only one without any problems with HP laptops or service. Several of my friends have HP laptops and none have had any problems. My parents also have an old HP laptop (about 5 years now) which it still up and running without any problems.

The reason you see most people describing horror stories is because this is a tech help forum. The vast majority of users with good stories simply don't post them since there's no real reason. Those threads usually die after a short while due to lack of interest. Yes, I have seen glowing reviews of HP support since I've been on here. Another thing, I suggest being weary of posters that only post complaints about any given company. EVERY forum has gone through posters like that. When I joined, there was someone describing their horror story with Lenovo. That said, I don't doubt that people have had very bad experiences, but I think they're on the extreme end of the bell curve.

Although I don't usually say this, just look at the laptops the Mods and high rep people recommend in the "What Notebook" forum. You will see that HP gets brought up quite often. I think that's usually a good sign about the overall quality of any given laptop or company.

 

Funny you should ask. I just posted this last night.
Perhaps you will find it informative.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=270011

 

We've had some pretty good experiences with HP's support here at the office. A day after I reported issues with my 8510p's LCD, they sent a guy over to replace the LCD. When we reported overheating on a 6910p, they sent someone to replace the whole base of the unit, but it took two days because parts had to be flown in from the Netherlands. Overall, we have no complaints about their responsiveness.

 

I think part of the question concerns HP's overall reliability, not just whether or not they repaired the unit but has anyone here owned an HP notebook that didn't need some sort of repair for a 5-6 year period? I read OldMajorDave's story and HP treated him well but that was after 3 or 4 trips for repair over a 2 & 1/2 year period.

My ZD7000 was great until it fried its own MB 2 months out of the 3 year warranty (HP made good and I ended up with a new DV but the point is that the ZD died after 3 years).

 

I have a Pavilion dv6000, and I love it though I've only had mine for a year and a half. The battery isn't as great as it was, but that is probably to be expected. I did just recently have to replace the AC power adaptor cord. I purchased a universal adaptor in case HP cords were less reliable. I have used HP tech support twice and both times were helpful and responsive (first time was IM and second was via email). I would definitely buy another HP laptop if the time comes.

 

My ZV series lasted 2 years 9 months, and then the charging circuitry failed.
I replaced it with a DV9000 CTO and a 3-year CarePack... it's been back to HP four times in 20 months.

 

I've had very few problems with my Compaq Evo N620c in four years, and when there have been issues they've been handled promptly and properly.