Horror Stories?

I have heard a lot of horror stories about HP notebooks over the past few years. I have had several friends who have purchased HP and within a year, the laptop dies without notice of multiple ailments - motherboard, lcd, hd, etc. Is it just bad luck for these few or is the quality of product that slack?

I'm looking to buy a new notebook for college, and I do not know whether to trust an HP to be there when I need it. I have used two Compaq laptops before the companies merged, and did not have problems with them. Any input is appreciated!

Thanks!

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by astrofrog

 

Considering that most laptops come from the same two or three factories, all the companies are providing similar products. By this, I mean all companies will have failures and all companies will have laptops that run forever. It is the luck of the draw. Keep in mind, too, that people with "horror stories" are more likely to post their problems for others to see. When things are working nicely, people don't go out of their way to tell everyone else by posting on fora such as this.

Service seems to be about the same (unfortunately) across many of the manufacturers. I think the best advice is to get the extended warranty. A laptop is one of the few items where I think it makes sense.

BTW, I bought my HP refurbished and have had no problems at all with it.

Russ

HP ZV5000z
Athlon 64 3000+
768mb RAM
60gb 4200rpm HD
nVidia G0 440 64mb
DVD-RW/CD-RW
1394, 5-in-1 card reader
15.4" wide screen
802.11 b/g w/Speedbooster

 

Thanks for the input. I do agree that people do post much more often and extensively when things go wrong. It was just that from my small town and small group of friends, two or three major problems seemed a little out of the ordinary.

Perhaps user error on their part? [ ]