HP, worst laptops ever

Seriously, they cant cool for crap, put together crappy, terrible customer support.

I cant even play any games on the lowest setting without getting sub 10 FPS. Its freakin annoying. And god forbid I want to talk to someone I can actually understand that can help me with my laptop.

 

What graphics card do you have?

 

GeForce 7150m or something.

I know its not great but it should be good enough to run WoW on lowest settings and lowest resolution at above 20 FPS for more then 10 minutes.

Its an overheating problem.

 

I heard plenty of stories about the HP customer service, and that only made me want to take care of my laptop even more.

However, I disagree with you on the cooling ability of HP laptops. My HP laptop (a DV5t) cools itself okay, thanks in part to a notebook cooler, undervolting and playing in an air-conditioned room, and I was able to play games like Fallout 3 (medium settings) and Bioshock (high settings) for hours before I got tired and needed to sleep.

Maybe your laptop has a cooling problem and you need to check. Or maybe you have a buildup of dust and you need to clear it out. Give us more information and people here will be more than happy to help you out.

 

Fair enough. What happens at about the ~10 minute mark?

You might want to read our Cooling Guide, as I suspect that your notebook (dv9000 if I read some of your other posts correctly) is a few years old and hasn't been cleaned out. So you probably have a bit of dust and buildup in there, which would be the source of the overheating.

I'd also suggest updating your BIOS, HPs have been known to run hot...and after nVidia's trouble (yes, I know you have an ATI card) HP updated a lot of BIOS in notebooks to push the fans to keep the system cool. @Bond: When you have to "mod" the notebook that much to keep it cool, I would argue that the HP doesn't really have good cooling ability. I've owned four or five HPs over the last few years, they all ran fairly hot when gaming. I had one of mine (zx5000) literally melt itself.

Also, if you have a lot of software and whatnot running in the background it might prevent the notebook from operating correctly. Depending on how you've defended your system over the years, it might have some bloatware and whatnot slowing you down. You could try a fresh OS install, though I wouldn't do that until you give us a run down of what programs are installed and what your CPU usage looks like. Because of the CPU is bogged down, the game might suffer as a result.

 

7150 is crap to begin with Its a low end card 7150 is slightly better than a 6100 but if a game says it needs a 6600 minimum dont think the 7150 is better. It will have support for new technology that the 6 series didnt but its a low end 7. Theres three basic levels with nvidia 9 series and older and ati x series and older. For example 8400 8600 8800 next generation might commonly have 9300 9600 9800. 9300 will outperform an 8400 but the 8600 probably still play games on higher settings as long as it doesnt require something the 8 series doesnt have (which i cant think of anything).

Overheating is a different story. I was thinking about sticking with HP but i finally moved on myself. Love their products when Im looking not so much for many owners when they have them. Never had an issue with their support but i hear alot more problems these days.

 

Ive updated the BIOs, graphics card, sprayed it out with air to clear away the dust and not to mention its been getting hot since I bought it. This is even with using a cooling pad.

 

Ok after checking the temps. my CPU heats up about 10-15 degrees Celcius when then FPS drop. Ive called HP and all ive gotten is them telling me to do stuff ive already done and people that I cant understand.

This is annoying.

 

sorry but.. lol.. like:
However, I disagree with you on the cooling ability of HP laptops. My HP laptop (a DV5t) cools itself okay, thanks in part to a notebook liquid nitrogen cooler, undervolting, playing in an hermetically sealed air-conditioned room with no cats, living in antarctica and toutching the keyboard with a pair of copper gloves.

 

As a former HP tech and manager of an HP OEM Support Center, I'll tell you that yes, their current Customer Support is crap, and I do not agree at all with their (and others) decision to go with overseas support. Yet considering the knowledge depth of users they have to deal with (How do I turn my system on?), their main support resources have to be focused on their cash cows, and those are business support contracts, not individual users who won't take the time to learn how to maintain their system. Sorry for being so blunt, but I've dealt with this issue for many, many years, and after a while you just get tired of it. I spend a lot of time on the HP Forums, and each day I'm reminded of just how stupid the human race is. It's amazing that humans are arrogant enough to think we can "Save the Planet". The planet will save itself from humans, and will be here long after we're gone.

HP systems however, aren't crap - if they don't run that great it's usually either due to poor maintenance or the user trying to run more than the system resources can handle (buy a low-end system, expect high-end performance, then complain when it doesn't work that way), or in rare cases a design issue like the Turion problem (or AMD in general). Since they've started using China for assembly, more assembly problems are showing up as well. Regardless, anyone who has been in the Repair and Support industry as long as I have (longer than most of you have been alive) knows that the biggest problem with most systems are their owners.

Computers are not appliances or toasters - you cannot just plug them in, do nothing, and expect them to work flawlessly, yet this is exactly what most people do. And when they have problems, they automatically blame the manufacturer instead of the person in the mirror.

Unless you blow out your intake and exhaust vents at least quarterly (you should do it monthly) overheating problems are expected on any system. Unless you've got one of the Dv 2000/6000/9000 AMD systems with real issues, & that's not an HP problem - all of those systems are AMD problems, specifically the AMD Turion.

Dust builds up a lot faster in a notebook than it does a desktop, but how many of you here actually blow out your systems, or remove your keypads to blow out the dust under your keypads (unbelievable crap there) on a regular basis? You can slow it down some with an external filter, but you still need to clean it regularly.

You can go to the HP SERVICEs MEDIA LIBRARY to find out how to take the top cover off your system to get to the fans and vent ducts to blow out your system - if it's heating up that bad then dust / dirt buildup is your likely cause. I'd be willing to bet you've never taken a can of air to your system at all, or at least not often. HP has the best notebook design for cooling that I've worked on so far - most need coolers. HP's don't. My own HDX Dragon runs so cool (around 80F overall) sometimes it's hard to realize it's actually running, even if I'm running games or doing video production. Then again, I keep my system up and it's got the resources so it doesn't overheat.

So - you can clean your system, or just keep blaming HP and those at HP Customer Support who know the problem is an ID Ten T error.

 

Damn.

 

How about using faulty GPU's? Does that qualify as a user error?

 

Cybervisions: well said...well said...

I would feel tiny if I were the guy that his thread was about...

 

95% of all computer issues are the fault of the user. I also did tech support. It is amazing how many people can't do simple tasks like downloading a file or unzipping one.

 

..thank you very much.

i have a 8510p business notebook and cannot express how satisfied i am with it. since my dads company only uses hp's notebooks, i am somehow restricted to using hp business notebooks, but im also very pleased with that, since theres no better notebooks, especially for that price.


although i would need the best asus w90 like high-end gaming notebook for my gaming needs, i am surprised with the performance of the 8510p (t9300, hd2600 256mb, 4gb ddr2 800mhz, winxp pro sp3) with newest games on the native resolution (1680x1050) and highest playable settings (i dont play anything below mid high to max).


i just hope they equip the sequel to the 8510p, the 8530p with the hd4650 - or better - soon, then this is my new perfect notebook for every usage, mainly gaming.

hp customer care, which is absolutely satisfying from my experience, told me the hd4650 should become available for the corresponding business notebooks as well, after i asked them about that when seeing it as an option for the dv6t/dv7t for the first time.

ps: ok, only their notebooks' BIOS could be a bit more adjustable, but thats hp's only major con imo...

 

my hp isn't the 'worst laptop ever'.

Your hp laptop has feeble integrated 7150m graphics which gets a woeful 340 odd 3dmark06 points. I'm surprised you can play any semi-modern 3d game with that.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-7150M.8841.0.html

I've clocked up more hours of gaming on my dv5 since I bought it 6 months ago than most users will undertake during their entire ownership of it and it cranks along fine.

 

Same here. In the last 2 years, only replaced the motherboard once. Apart from that, it is chugging along nicely.

 

maybe the notebook is you bought is not right one for gaming or you didnt research notebook seriously before purchase it?

 

I have been using Hp Business lptops for around 4 years now and have been very happy with it. They are very resonably priced compared to Lenovos and have a comparable build quality. HP business support is awesome the rare times i have had to use it.

I don't game, so whimpy Integrated graphics suffices for me.

 

"I've worked on so far - most need coolers. HP's don't. My own HDX Dragon runs so cool (around 80F overall) sometimes it's hard to realize it's actually running, even if I'm running games or doing video production "

I call BS ON 80 DEG FAHRENHEIT , while gaming ?? NONE of my computers idle at that temp ! And if you have been in tech repair for 52 years I feel sorry for you .
I have HP comps , business line , build quality is miles ahead of the consumer line , as is support . Any problems were taken care of , they even called back a day or 2 later to make sure things were still working .

 

I had a dv6810us w/ 7150m and was quite happy with it, yes its not a gaming GPU, it could barely run COD4, but it did what I needed it to do without a hitch

 

I am glad HP has bought Compaq and designed Compaq notebook looks good with HP notebook I am happy with Compaq sexy notebook even though lcd died and it was fixed in a week and then last month wireless died it was fixed in a week....not bad for HP....They didnt messed up or scratch my notebook as other people have reported. Also I do video editing on my notebook and it still works.
Thank you HP for making Compaq notebook sexy

 

First of all, HP bought Compaq. Compaq sux IMHO. Screw it, I'm too lazy and drunk to reply to such a noob statement but overall, HP pwns.

 

All you have to do is make some modifications to HP laptops and they are good to go. I probubly have the most denounced HP ever built the tx1000 but i have done alot of modification to this system and I love it. But the bad part is I have a ton of money tied up in this thing (and I mean a ton) but its great now.

 

The thing is, I have a dv9000 which has had constant problems since day one. Ive had, fixed and ran rutine matenince on all my computers over the last 6-8 years and this is the first actual problem ive had.

I know the computer isnt meant to run something at top quality with great performance, but thats not my issue. The laptop should be able to run WoW on the lowest settings and at the lowest possible resolution with little to no drop in performance. The thing is, I know its an overheating issue and not a hardware issue.

WoW will run good and the temps on everything are fine, then as soon as it heats up, CPU temp goes up about 10-15 degrees, the performance drops. There is not reason, if the cooling system was actually decent and not complete garbage, for this to happen.

I bought it to do work, browse and run low demand games and it cant do all because of overheating.

Its getting to a point where HP wont and cant help me what so ever, the BIOs they link me to and all the other ones wont even install, and want me to send the computer I HAVE TO HAVE for work, in and pay them to fix something that has been heating up since I bought it.

 

How did you get a 160m in your laptop?

 

What Bran said is something that requires proof. That is such a small laptop.

 

If HP didnt bought Compaq then Compaq sucks. It is like Chevrlot bought Kia and put Chevy engine in a Kia car...I would buy a Kia.

 

Over on talbletPCReview there is proof of mods done to the tx100 that have cooled it down significantly. Cleaning off the black paint from the radiator, lapping the cpu/gpu heat sink, adding arctic silver 5...

 

I'd like to chime in here and state that both sides here have an element of truth and some "extra spin".

I have had several HPs, some Compaqs, a few Toshibas, an Acer, a couple Dells, and a couple of IBMs (before they sold out to Lenovo). Out of those, I have had the following issues:

- in the last 3 years, a minor display issue with an HP and a Toshiba resolved by warranty

-3 years ago, I had an Intel based Acer laptop that would heat up the touchpad hot enough to fry an egg within 15 minutes to burn your finger (ouch)

-in the last few months, an overheating issue with an AMD based HP laptop that freezes it up if on a tabletop for more than 45 minutes

-about 4 years ago, an IBM Thinkpad from hell which would BSOD at random regardless of drivers, OS, hardware replacement (from NICs to motherboards)

Considering the number of laptops I've had, some of these issues aren't too bad. I do have to blame any manufacturer for overheating, bad hardware configurations, and faulty designs that lead to various stability or personal injury issues. It is up to the engineers, designers, and QA of a manufacturer to ensure that poor quality products do not make it to production - not the consumer.

Obviously, rapid deflation in the electronics industry has caused the quality of some goods to dip but that does not excuse those for selling poor quality goods.

As for a side note, I do clean all of my computer and networking equipment regularly, regulate temperatures/humidity, and remove dust frequently - as I care for my equipment and understand the hazards that environments can present for electronic equipment.

That being said, one should not automatically assume that it is the end user's fault nor always the manufacturer and one should be wary of making such blanket remarks.

 

IF you are using a dv9000 series, I would recommend getting rid of it and getting something, new. The mainboards in those units are horrible. Its all based on a poorly designed BGA (ball grid array) on one of the chips in the video chipset. The pins are to close together and they cause cold solder joints. This can lead to no power or no post situations, I've seen this effect the wifi as well. It happens more often in the amd versions, but I've seen the same symptoms in the intel versions of these laptops as well. I used to love of HP but there dv2000, dv 6000, and dv 9000 laptops are garbage in my opinion and I've seen about 13,000 laptops, so My opinion is a well educated one.