Has Hp gone sour?

From the recent forum reading...seems like Hp has only focus on their new look and forgot their built quailties. So many problems list in the hp/compaq, yet I saw very few in others... any comments? I am a victim of it

 

I think they really need to address the heat issue in their laptops - it should not be necessary to buy a cooling pad to insure the good functionality of your laptop.

 

I guess under Vista it is getting hot, and it also depends on the air conditioning in your room.

Mine is hovering around 45 Celsius Centigrade and not so noisy with Rmclock. But under Linux, it is a bit noisy with un-undervolted CPU.

 

I wouldn't say HP has gone sour. Yes there are a few issues that need to be corrected but overall the build quality is MUCH better than Dell, from my experiences with my friends' e1505s the HP's are a lot sturdier.

But yes Hp has some downsides, just like any other company.

Some things that need correcting: cooling system needs to be more robust, this will help the noise issue as well; short battery life; and I would like to see better graphics options across the board from the 14 inch through the 17 inch I think each needs to be kicked up a notch.

 

Yes, HP has gone sour. There are always many issues with their notebooks. I would rather get a Sony laptop next time even thought it might be priced $100-$200 more.

 

I don't think they have gone sour totally, the temp issue it happens in both XP and Vista. But the temps tend to be higher during the summer for almost every computer. But provably they will have to improve the colling system any way.

 

I doubt I'd buy another HP laptop, printer yes, laptop no.

 

No, in my experience HP hasn't gone sour. The new look is excellent, but the build quality is also great. The fans are on a lot, but the bottom of the computer is always pretty cool to the touch. It NEVER has gotten really hot. I like my computers to run cool, so the fan being on doesn't annoy me if it's doing it's job. Remember, the fans will be on a lot more in the summer then they are when it's winter, etc. I've owned an HP desktop and 2 laptops and they've all been good for me so I it's not like I haven't owned them to be able to say.

 

Haven't the new Santa-Rosa based HP's (2500, 6500, etc.) had less issues with cooling?

 

Yes! My tx1000's lid is flimsy and it runs very hot on the right side. After 2 months, a rubber bumper fell off the flimsy lid for no reason at all. HP resfuses to send the part, insisting that I send my entire notebook into their warranty center black hole over a minor, largely cosmetic 5 cent part. I've had a ZV5000 17" notebook and a Compaq v2000, and loved them. Their new stuff is junk, in my opinion. Not that Dell's build quality is much better, but at least their support is responsive. No more HP's for me.

For the record, in the last 3 years, I've bought 3 HP notebooks and 3 HP desktops, an average of 1 system every 6 months. Hope you lose thousands more like me, HP!

 

i used the 9500 and its somewhat warm but not hot

 

I just want to point out some thing. Please go check out the Dell forum (biggest hp competitor) I have not seen that many ppl asking for help with their Hardware laptop problem like hp forum does. It does tell me something about it. Also I am a victim of this, so I want to hear what everyone else want to say.

 

Gone sour? That implies HP's build quality was ever very good - which in my experience is definitely not the case. I've owned 3 HP machines over the years, and every single one has had major QA problems. My first desktop, bought in '96, came with a defective CD-ROM drive and speakers. The next one, in 2002, had a defective DVD+RW drive, floppy drive, and one of the worst-designed cases I've very experienced. The integrated sound never worked quite right, either - it would fail about every 2-3 hours and require a reboot to get working again. Then the onboard NIC failed about a year ago. The other original optical drive died on me about a month ago. Overall, not a positive experience.

Then comes my Compaq v2000z, which I bought in early 2006, my first foray into HP laptops - also a disaster, of course. In the grand tradition of their terrible QA system, they didn't apply sufficient thermal compound between the processor and the heatsink, causing overheating problems. The spring-loaded release lever on the PCMCIA card slot also broke about a month in (even though I never used a PC card - it just popped out one day and wouldn't stay back in!), and the lid latch was never very secure. Not to mention the cheap silver paint on the case scuffed painfully easily. When I sent it back under warranty, they not only just replaced the affected components and sent back the same machine, but the hard drive was completely empty. As in, completely empty - not even a formatted partition.

I have owned two HP printers that haven't exploded - yet. Although I had a third that started printing gobbledygook rather than what you actually told it to after about 2 years. I also have an HP Photosmart M517 digital camera that still works, although the battery life is atrocious.

The point is - I've owned a Dell for 2 years now that has had no problems at all that required warranty service - no defective components, no overheating, nothing (except its battery life is pretty terrible too, but it's a 17" w/6 cell so that's to be expected). I've also had a Gateway 7422GX for over 2.5 years that has had no issues, other than some cosmetic case cracking near the hinge. My custom-built desktop is still going strong after 6 months, as well as a partially-Dell, partially custom built desktop I share with a friend - no defective components yet on either (knock on wood), which could certainly not be said for any HP I've owned.

Having said all of that, I'd still buy from them again if the price/performance/feature ratio was right. They do, mercifully, have a really good warranty system (they even pay shipping both ways). I'm patient enough, so I'm fine with warranty repairs - who know, maybe they'll learn that if they do it right the first time, they won't have to keep paying to fix it.

 

Did you go through tech support for all this? yet you still bought a compaq in 2006 from the past bad experience. I wonder why? at the same time you also whole that many other laptops at the same time? Everey company has their ups and downs on different models; however, I am taking about recent models.

 

My slow working and overheating(CPU steaming at 79-89c during surfing) laptop was picked up my HP monday two weeks ago. My Case manager told me that it was going to take maximum two weeks to fix it but now I'm in the third week and he has told me that he hasn't heard anything from the service team about when it will be fixed.

So I'm a little dissapointed but when I get my laptop back it better be properly fixed, otherwise I'll never buy anything from HP again.

 

I don't think HP has any serious problems. I've used several different brands of laptops, and while I've liked IBM in the past, for my own personal use the HP is the better deal.

 

any company can have a good and a bad series of products. We had 2 Toshibas that gave us no problems, but I got an A75 series and had to have the system board replaced 3 times already. Glad I had the ext warranty.

 

Don't think they've gone sour. There's just many more people buying HP products these days and coincidentally, they go for the lower-end models which tend to exhibit higher instances of failure. HP's support will also be worse for these as the cost of providing support for them is probably not worth the margins they're earning from each unit sold.
Some manufacturers such as Sony and Apple refrain from entering this segment of the market and hence avoid problems like these. HP has some excellent notebooks too, but they just aren't popular with the masses.

 

I had major problems with the off the shelf model DV9008nr but HP stepped up and did right the right thing in my case anyway. I am very happy with my DV9000z replacement. I have no issues what so ever with the new unit. HP has not lost me as a customer.

Jim

 

Wow, those are some bad experiences. Conversely, I've owned 6 HP/Compaq machines. Never had a single problem on any of them. Meanwhile, I've had one Dell, and my dad has had two... each one was a P.O.S.

 

...and that, my friends, is why I refused to send in my hard drive with my Compaq.

 

you got the right point I made on my post. My current dv2000z is my second hp laptop on the last 4yrs. I had the same experience with my old laptop during the summer time, even though the it had a 62w cpu, during the winter time it ran coller obviously.

I personly think that hp have not gone sour, since in the last 5 years all the computer we have owned at my house are hp/compaq and never had any problem with any of them.

My first hp computer, a Desktop computer got it on Jan 04, and it is currently my house main computer, mostly use by my little brother. So far no problems.

My second Hp computer, a laptop ZV5000z 15.4" with the AMD XP 1.6, got it July 04, right before going to college. It was under my service unltill Jan 07, after I got my new laptop. It just because I needed an smaller laptop to move around in college. I originally planned to keep both the old 15.4" and new 14.1" but could not afford it, so I sold it. Never had problems with it.

My Sister, Compaq V5000z 15.4" laptop got it for college last spring May 06, so far no problems.

This is my personal experience with HP, saddly not every one have the same experience, since in mass manufactured products (Electronics, Cars, bikes etc...) out of a 100 there is going to be at least 5-10 defective. That it is the case for every thing the is manufactured in mass production. And just because a little pice of rubber came of computer it doesn't mean the computer is a lemon in the case, thats the only problem.

 

Has HP gone sour?

Design: No
Their new design and finish quality tops nearly all consumer notebooks.

Build Quality: Undecided
I've owned various HPs and Compaqs recently. Before my DV6000Z, I had a V2000Z (which I thought was superb). Before the V2000Z, I had a ZE5170 (solid system as far as the chassis, but horrible hardware- I would fix one thing and another thing would break).

Tech Support: Undecided
8 years ago, when I purchased my first new Compaq desktop, two things went wrong with it. The modem stopped working, and the CD-ROM drive died. We had to drive it to a nearby Compaq authorized repair place- who then fixed the problem, formatted the hard drive, and gave us a bill for $300 because the format was considered a "software" repair and not under warranty. That was a horrible experience.

Now 8 years later, I'm experiencing more HPaq woes. The issue is minor for most notebook users, but for me who has a docking station, video must make it to my monitor without signal degradation. There's nothing worse than looking into a 19" widescreen LCD and seeing static. And speaking of static- why don't these notebooks have DVI-out!?

HPs mail in service is absolutely wonderful. Overnight shipping and prepaid packaging material and shipping costs is a big plus. I wish every manufacturer took care of their customers like this. But as much as I love FedEx's speed, I can't count that toward a service that doesn't work. There are so many users here and elsewhere that have horror stories about the HP service facility. Laptops being lost, hardware being downgraded or removed completely, parts on backorder, or (in my case) notebooks being sent in multiple times without being repaired.

In order to get a result you want, you have to be lucky enough to either get a good case manager, or get lucky enough to be one of the chosen few selected by the executive customer support team (which I have neither). right now I'm stuck with a representative that isn't returning my calls, that isn't following up, and that really doesn't seem to give a damn about my situation.

Not to mention HP, along with practically everyone else, has outsourced their support to a country with people that don't speak English as a first language. Rushed support folks who speak English with a strong accent doesn't make for clear communication.

So... has HPaq soured? Yes, but I think most of their problems are common to other manufacturers as well. I think for my next notebook, I'm going to get a low end business model. I'm sick of consumer notebooks.

 

well...they kind of do...
the looks is great much better than before, but in general not as strong and hard to break as before, but that is obvious, we want to buy a good hardware on cheap price, so the companies are trying to give us that, cheap prices and cheap stuff. I have mine complains, the speakers grid in my ex dv6000t came banded and it was pretty noticeable, there was a bigger gap between the plastic connections on the left side than the right side, but that was “ok”

The few things that really pisses me off about HP is the stupid policy not to give the customers the choice of the whole nVidia VGA range, 8400gs/8400gt/8600gs/8600gt on every laptop they sale, I really do not see the logical explanation to include 8600gt only with HDX and dv9500 /not even sure for the second one/ I would buy dv2500t if it was equipped with better VGA!!!
Customer service, I do not even want to go there, I am sorry but I do not want to learn Indian and I do not have an extra few hours to solve my problem, I am glad that I did not to in the past, but a lot of my friends had to.

Still have to work a lot to beat the ASUS prices and not to mention the quality.

 

Ohh if problem is solved in hours then you are a lucky person!! Your friends might not have had chance to deal with case managers in home country. They won't even bother to call you back. And in case if the service is scheduled then God knows if system will return fixed or with addtitional problems.

 

Had my budget V2000 for 18 months. Use it almost 24/7 no problems except for wear on the keypad and a key tile.

 

The lightscribe DVD burner on my DV8000t had been not been working very consistently so I contacted customer support yesterday; they took down my information and overnighted me a new drive. Received it today, and now it works beautifully. I am satisfied with my experience thus far and hope to own one of their newer models later on.

 

I have two recently purchased 2 Dell notebooks, an E1705 and a D630. I had problems with the E1705 (and yes, it IS a cheap build), but their customer service went out of their way to quickly resolve my problems. Other than the badly designed and cheaply executed dual battery latches, the D630 is the most solidly built of the 6 lappers I've owned (3 HP/Compaqs, a Toshiba, and 2 Dells).

 

I have a V4000T - It's going in for its second service fix in the last 6 months. Both because it routinely shuts off while surfing the internet, or just having outlook open on my desk. Its also now "stuttering", where it will freeze for a few seconds. It should have been sent back today, but despite me giving them the correct address to send the box for me to send it back in to, they sent it to an address I lived in 2 years ago.

The first fix they replaced the motherboard and powercord (the powercord replacement took over a month, and I was sent the incorrect part 4 times - including a case manager sending me the same incorrect part twice). I'll avoid them like the plague in the future. Also I purchased the total care 3 day express warranty - when I asked why it took so much longer they offered to refund my money (and not cover any of my remaining warranty- which still as 2 years on it). They are completely useless and borderline crooks

 

I am a victim of it too. Hard disk failing twice, laptop almost falling apart.. was almost thinking of throwing that darn HP off my school block..

 

Wow this is looking interesting how the Yes and No is starting to balance out.
It think if answer "no" do get about 80% of the vote, hp is still in good shape but I doubt it. However, we can try it with Dell forum see what they have to say.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=1041
guys check out the Dell satisfaction poll... hp is going down...

 

I have been buying HP notebooks for three years now and finally purchased a Toshiba satellite 200 series and like it a lot better then any HP notebook I have purchased. The fan runs quiet and bottom of the notebook is not hot. The keyboard is light in color and is better to see in dim lit locations. The customer support people are mostly based in the US. Goodbye to HP for me.

 

well... that's because hp only has YES NO...

hp is not going down... i've had 3 laptops... all good experiences...

go for the business line people... there's a reason why consumer laptops are cheap...

 

as I know sam there is a thread ask for help with his broken NC model... and I believe is a business model? You got lucky you didn't get a malfuntion one just keep buying it then you will be one of the victim... check the poll... it is almost 50% even even... buying laptop is not gambeling... i ain't playing the game. Check out the Dell survey I listed earlier... and see the different?

 

In the dell poll, 38 percent say they aren't fully happy (the regrets one is essientially saying it works, but they should've done better, which is what a lot of the "YES!" here are saying)

This poll, 42 percent.

The main thing thats hurting HP is their service. But Dell's is just as bad. Just buy the extended warranty and keep sending it in, if they keep ruining it, call, complain loudly, do not swear but sound aggitated, and try and get an upgrade. The higher end consumer models and business models generally have less problems. It is the same for ANYTHING. Go to a furniture store, if you pay 400$ for a supposedly 1000$ table, obviously it's going to be weaker and less stable. If your paying 1000$ for a laptop when they are selling 3000$ ones, obviously they are going to pay more attention to detail for the expensive ones.

 

the question there ask the satisfaction... yes and have regrets.... means they are ok with it. The question here is "has hp gone sour?" Which means it was a little better before as of now. If you want to make it the same question the we can do another poll, but I am sure most of the ppl here voted "YES" it went sour!!probably won't get a hp in another 5 years until they have change something.

 

Some many more laptop problems listed here in Hp forum than dell's... Doesn't that explain something?

 

It means that on this specific forum people are more satisfied with Dell. I myself will never buy Dell again. I got better specs at HP for 300 less dollars than at Dell. And I have the hope that the over the phone help center will be better. I only needed to call Dell 3 or 4 times over little things, but those phone calls lasted over 2 hours each.

 

Was those phone call indian speaking accent? I can't even last 20 min with hp tech since their accent are so heavy I have no idea what they are saying.
My GF got a dell and one time the HD failed and it is out of warranty. The tech support was speaking "clearly" help me run through diagonsitc what is wrong with it. It is out of warranty and the harddrive can be purpase from them...of course never get those part from them if it is out of warranty. But at least I am sure what the tech is doing and understand my problem.
They have 150 something ppl voted. And this not even 100 yet.
you can keep trying with Hp these days.. I ain't trying again at least another 5 years

 

Direct copy and past from eversman:

"My advice? dont bother calling HP for support. i had a hard drive go bad after 8 months of owning my hp. you wouldnt BELEIVE the BS i got told, and had to deal with. was promised the part in 5 working days, as it was a warranty issue. guess what? it took 4 and a half WEEKS to get the last of 14 people to tell me it was back ordered and would be another three weeks probably.

Thats when i told him i wanted to speak to a supervisor NOW or my next call was the State Atty Gen. for failure to meet warranty obligations. After speaking to a supervisor, they bought me same size and speed and better quality drive from comp usa, and had it next day delivered.

Shame it took over a month, fourteen people, and a supervisor and threats of legal action to get my computer fixed. all for a legitimate warranty claim.

If hp's support techs are so great and are just doing their job, explain why it took so many people and so long to finally admit and tell me my part was back ordered? clearly they COULD have ordered the part from compusa at any time. so what took so long and why so much trouble to make it happen?

HPs support is garbage. and their products are good, not great. there are better makers out there. i just have no respect for HPs service at all. garbage.

ev"


I can't believe they can run out of HD and tell you to wait..! what the Fxxk

 

Yes he had an indian accent. I'm not saying HP service isn't bad, I'm not saying they are good. But with big computer companies it flip flops every year for who is better or worse.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_41/b3954102.htm?chan=tc

2005 Dell had the worst service, now it may be HP (comparing those two, there are definitely worse ways to go).

I am not planning on tweaking my laptop so bad it might need repair. After 5 years with my other computer I have not needed to send it in once, and although it runs slower now, that is expected.

So yes, HP service may be God awful and their laptops may not be the best quality, but Dell is not lightyears ahead of them.
They'll get better. Every company does. When a ton of people complain, it annoys them, so they strive to get less complaining.

 

So the moral story of this not to get Dell or Hp! great! at least I am staying away from Hp for a while

 

I have to agree on that for my own personal experience,but i did not have to go through 14 people and a law threat. Instead i had it face to face with the customer support rep.

 

Hp sucks get a Toshiba and talk to support from north america

 

Yup after getting an aftermarket replacement for me and mailing it to me, they didnt even bother to send instructions on how to do the self install. the retards. i went online using a friends computer and printed out the service manual, then did the self install and did the format and re install of all my programs and files.

Then i used norton ghost when i replaced that hard drive with the bigger one. i also changed out the OEM RAM because god knows what they were using in there. turns out it was the hynix stuff, and i hear that isnt that great. i replaced it with Crucial RAM. ever since i upgraded the hard drive and RAM, the puter has been a dream.

Its just been my experience that if you DO have a problem and NEED help, HP is not the place to turn. u are pretty much on your own, and pretty much are better off doing it yourself. you will like the results a lot better if you DO actually fix it by yourself, if its something you can.

ev

 

My Dv2000t is like a POS right now. i dont even wana turn it on. after 8 months, battery sucks. LCD colors suck. the only think i use it for is downloading movies lol. HDD always over heating. when i was using my friends Toshiba @ the hotel, i left it on all day downloading movies and never got hot when we came back to watch it. he left it on all night cuz he got drunk and fell asleep but the laptop never got hot lol. if i buy a laptop again ill get toshiba.

 

Now that is in addition of my previous words.
Finally got my new dv6500t, or should I say dv6000t??? Yes, according to the sticker on the top right corner of the laptop. Did I get my m8400gs??? not according to the missing sticker on the down right corner!!!
I really do not get this, are they that dumb, or they were just out of those stickers??? At least the hardware is right, the way suppose to be.
Oh, almost forgot the whole surface was covered by glue, so i took me 30min to clean it, nice!!!!

 

Wow. apparently quality control is not something HP promotes, and their fallback position of Customer Service/ Warranty Service also suffers from the same complete lack of giving a damn about their products, or customers.

HP for the Lose!!!! Next laptop i buy will be a macbook pro, or a Lenovo Thinkpad.

ev

 

HP experience has gone sour for me. I was praising my ZV6000 when I first got it. Now I absolutely hate it.

After the one year warranty was up, a few months later, there was an issue with my DVDRW drive skipping, the fan began to get noisy (rubbing against something and was aired out regularly). The chassis flexes a bunch so it its now in tripod mode. Not all 4 corners of the laptop sit perfectly flat. Just today, one of my screen hinges broke.

I consider myself to take care of my electronics very well so I find these sort of things unacceptable. But I guess you get what you pay for (except Sony.) Although I probably wouldn't mind a business class HP notebook, I hear they are decent.