How is HP's Quality?

My mom is worried about buying stuff online, before I chuck out $1,000 for a laptop I wanna make sure there is a slim to no chance of it breaking...

 

Personally I find consumer level HPs to have very low lifespans, and to be plagued with overheating issues, as well as dead fans and motherboard. I stay away. Far away. For quality I stick with Clevo/Lenovo

 

yep consumer HPs are pretty much garbage when you consider build quality. For pete's sake, they use cheap plastic on their cases. the cooling system is bad PERIOD lol. If your in tight budget then i guess take the hp.

If your not post something on buying a laptop forum with a filled out faq.

 

I agree with the previous posts, in general, though there are a few better built models even within the consumer line. The HP business line (especially the higher end kind naturally) is quite well built in general.

None of this, however, has anything to do with buying things online....

 

Well if they are that bad I guess I won't be purchasing my dv5z.....

 

Avoid these HP models for now, they have cooling problems:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01087277&lc=en&cc=us

My own HP is having these problems.

 

The dv5 series is actually quite sturdy for a consumer laptop. It is, however, very new so any possible problems might have not surfaced yet. That is always an issue when you buy a new product, you have less feedback.

 

I've had my HP DV9500t for almost a year now and have never had one single problem with anything. I find it to be quite sturdy and cooling has never been an issue.

These people who so call give advise and "warnings" to those that ask, should keep there opinions to themselves unless they have personally had experience with an HP notebook. Talking through second and third hand information is useless and quite ignorant.

 

Agree with most above, that it sucks, especially at the lower price end ($1,000 and below). I just had a horrible experience when my laptop heat-sink fan died after 1 MONTH of light use. That wasn't the worst part. HP repair was. They initially made things worse (made me do hours of troubleshooting with a failed fan), then returned my nearly new laptop all banged up (scratches, gouges..) and with solvent on the case and solvent fingerprints all over the screen. Then denied they did it - tried to blame FedEx except I took pics before shipping and FedEx box arrived back in good shape. So then they tried to blame it on me (before I reminded them I took pics before sending). Anyway, consumer model quality is bad and repair - which you will probably need - is WORSE. I think Lenovo (formerly IBM) is probably the best quality for the money right now.

 

P.S. Whatever you decide, look into Squaretrade ( www.squaretrade.com) warranties. They are an eBay company and you can usually extend your warranty and get accidental damage protection (if you want it) a lot cheaper than elsewhere.

 

I'd argue that the HP Pavilion laptops in general have good quality, better than Dell. Most laptops in the $500 - $1000 range have similar quality.

I wouldn't have paid $1,350 for a dv5t if I didn't think it was sturdy. The chassis does not flex and the keyboard and screen are excellent.

 

Thanks for the positives - I'm ordering a dv5t tomorrow.

Rob

 

I am sorry but I disagree.

There is very little value in the experience of one user when assessing possible chronic problems with a product. You remind me of people who take all kinds of "natural" medicine because they feel it helps them. One person cannot look at the whole picture through their own experience and that is why we have clinical trials .

Obviously problems such as over heating or breaks do not happen to everyone, this is a statistical question. It is the experience of many users combined that form the answer to the OP's concerns. When people answer it does not matter if they personally experienced problems with their HP or not. What matters is how many people did. You do not have to have owned or used the laptop yourself to know about issues such as this. A lab technician, IT manager, store worker or just someone who spends hours and hours reading about people's complaints online can be just as knowledgeable. We are, after all, not talking about exact science but more about the general consensus and frequency of complaints.

So, it's definitely good for people to report their own experience with their laptops (otherwise there will be no data to work with obviously) but it's also good that there are some people who are able to collect that data and reach some sort of an average conclusion. Otherwise this will only be "HP is great, mine works" and "HP sucks, mine broke" sort of thread.

Obviously, when people claim to have had problems they did not have it is not productive to anyone and users should generally only respond to questions when they think they have enough knowledge about the issue and not generalize when they don't. I'd say that is a given

Hey, just venting, this has been annoying me for a while. Don't mean to attack you personally of course

 

My first laptop was HP Pavilion Zv5000 series. After 1 month of usage, I had to replace the DVD rom. Then around 1 year of usage, I accidentally poured water through the keyboard. After several hours it was able to boot up and start working again. However, the battery no longer worked. I replaced my four years old zv5000 with a dv2700t just three months ago. So far within the past three months of usage, the computer has powered down spontaneously 5 times so far. I asked the wonderful people on the NR forum and they think it's probably an overheating issue. True, the hard drive part (left palm rest) does get extremely hot frequently, even on power saver mode.
So overall, I would say HP has many quality issues. However, it is a necessary risk of buying stuff cheap. I think buying from HP is kind of like buying an old car. You need to have some kind of troubleshooting knowledge yourself, as well as a whole forum of people to back you up. If you rely purely on the HP tech support, owning a HP product will sure be a miserable experience.

 

I wouldnt have bought my third HP laptop if they werent reliable. Sure, the previous generation had issues but it was related to the Nvidia chipset/GPU being faulty rather than the any build issues. My older HP notebook is still in working condition other than a dead battery even after 4yrs of use and I dont see any signs of it stopping. As far as service is concerned the first line of customer service reps are pretty much useless, but overall service wasnt an issue. The laptop was fixed and shipped back to me in 3 weeks. I have to disagree with what others have said before, I would have no issues recommending an HP over Dell or any other consumer laptop brand.

 

Sounds like most people that have had any issues with HP notebooks have usually had them with older series. I know of three people with the 9000 series commercial line up and each of them share a similar experience to mine.

 

Well I for one honestly believe you cannot judge anything with out first using it first hand. Thats just what I stand by. People will always have their own opinions but I just think its silly to pre-fabricate a misconception on a certain product before hand just because of something one has heard previously about it,.

 

That is true, I certainty don't support "pre-fabricating a misconception" but you can express an issue you are aware of that did not necessarily happen to you. For example, I can say that there may be a problem with the 8 series GPU overheating on certain XPS laptops even though I do not own one.

Actually owning an XPS would not have made me any more or less qualified to make that statement. In fact, had I only been basing it on my personal experience it would have made the information pointless on its' own.

I guess the difference between our points of view is that I think the opinion of someone who is observing the problems other people are experiencing can also provide valid information.

I agree that there is a problem with people getting "stuck" on certain notions they have heard or reached with no substantial grounds.

Edit: btw, to try and stay on topic here, my three HP laptops have been mostly problem free aside from the nc4000 that had its' hinges replaced (they are still not working well) and some minor issues with cracks forming on plastic.

 

I am going to be ordering my sixth HP consumer laptop Sunday morning (a CQ50z), after having owned an R4000, three V5000z units and a dv6400.

All of the V5000z models are still running today, two of which are now owned by friends of mine. My dv6400 is also fine, even though it is one of the models prone to premature failure due to overheating. I use it everyday and it has not died yet.

The R4000 just got bricked yesterday, as the power jack finally gave out on it after 3 years. I had given this unit to my nephews two years ago, which is why I'm replacing it with a CQ50z. I'm hoping that this new model has the durability of the older V5000z series, as I've had good luck with them.

Considering that most of my units were purchased & priced as "budget" models, I think I've had a decent experience with HP. If I didn't think so, I would not be contemplating yet another purchase.




Mike

 

You are a lucky one ZERO88. Most dv9500t I know of (including the two I purchased last september) have died after about 10-11 months of use. Like clockwork. It is true that HP's consumer level laptops have widespread quality issues (mostly overheating), at least for the last couple of years.

Couldn't talk about the new line though.

Anyway, personally I wouldn't recommend buying HP before having some feedback on the reliability of the new ones.

Right now i'm gonna start looking for a powerful and reliable replacement of my dv9500t, which is still on warranty repair. suggestions anyone?

 

I've had no problems with my HP's. I have a zv6000 that I have had for nearly 3 years now and it is still kicking with no problems. I also have an HP desktop that I've had for about 1 1/2 years and it has had no problems. Good luck and happy computing!

 

I really don't think that you can expect great reliability in any consumer line notebook. And really, it depends on usage and components. A light user (ie less gaming, less heat) would probably be able to stretch their notebook a little longer. I think it really varies. On a personal note, I can say that my notebook broke down 11 months after purchase (faulty 8400gs gfx chip). But repairs were successful. I think it all depends on what you define as a reasonable lifespan for an electronic as complex as a notebook. But in terms of my experience, hp has been the least reliable out of all the notebooks owned in my household. Our macbook is over 2 years old and still running strong; sony fe was 1 and half years old when the power jack failed out of warranty (just used the docking station for charging instead); thinkpad t40 is over 5 years old and is running strong with zero repairs needed (actually still using it daily); my hp dv2500t went 11 mts prior to failing.; and our hp 6000z series (rarely used) is about a year old and still running strong without any issues. So i really think it varies. (sorry for the redundancy)

 

What brand laptop then? I thought Acer and Gateway were bottom of the barrel notebooks. What about Toshiba? I am going to buy another laptop and would like advice about the brand that is most reliable.

Thanks

 

All these consumer laptops generally have the same quality. You have to step up to the business line of laptops to get better quality. HP Business line and Lenovo seem to have the best reliability.

 

I guess I will chime in with my HP experience. I've had an HP since 2002 and other than a bad PCB Inverter board and a broken DC jack it has taken a lot of beating from me and is still running. I'm looking to replace with dv5t, m50 or np2096 and am leaning towards the HP because of price/performance.

If you are really concerned about quality, it seems almost everyone on this message board has good things to say about Sager, so maybe you should check them out.

 

I really think the hp build quality is quite good compared to dell. I have a dv2000, and its fine even with /quite/ rough abuse. I'm thinking people are getting this confused with the warranty, which really sucks

 

Can anyone comment on the quality of HP dv5z? Best Buy has a pretty sweet deal involving HP dv5-1002nr, and I want to know whether I would be making a mistake by jumping on it.. I really need this laptop to last at least two years...

 

I've HP dv1000, dv6700SE, and also Vaio FZ. I think HP quality is pretty good considering the price, yes, it's plastic but doesn't feel cheap by any means. Compared to other brands, HP has almost no keyboard flex and overall feels sturdy. It is not the lightest and comparison with $1500+ Vaio is not fair. I think what's important is not just the material (plastic/ carbon fiber), but how well other hardware is integrated and how the computer works as a whole.

 

I wouldnt do it...esp after reading some of these threads.
I like fujitsus, I've never heard anybody bb***** about them...
I wouldnt get a gateway or acer either.
Again, this is my opinion.

 

Funny that you should mention Fujitsu. I have one and my experience has been below par, to say the least.

The one I have (N3410) is heavy, and has lousy battery life. The casing cracked on one side - I'm not sure if this is due to my picking it up frequently with one hand, which may have stressed that side.

Then the battery stopped working so it's working only on A/C power only.

I am looking into buying an HP laptop, or perhaps an XPS.

 

Consumer reports recently rated a number of Notebooks in terms of quality / reliability.

In terms of overall repair histories, ALL of the notebooks were generally less reliable than desktops. Despite that, HP, Dell, Apple, Sony, (basically all of the popular brands) were quite close to one another. Apple was #1, but Dell may have lagged only by a few percentage points. And who really has the most notebooks out there after all? Just because you opted for a Toyota is doesn't mean that you won't have engine sludge in two years instead of 10. To buy a product on perceived, even statistically backed information is still a gamble.
This is why it is so important to look at a few other factors such as: Is the 100% guarantee really 100%? Or is it really just 20-30 days after purchase (which really only occurs because by law vendors have to accept a return during that period for practically any reason). Does someone answer right away when you call? Are they calm, collected, and courteous? Do they erect 30 barriers when you ask for repairs or replacements? Or do they solve the issue or set up reapirs / replacements right away with no BS or extra costs . . . except if it is fair?
I would by a Yugo and use my laptop as a cup holder if I knew that no matter what, no one was going to let me be broken down for more than a dew days to a week at the worst. The only fact of any machine is that it is going to break down at some point. Quality can only delay that sometimes.

 

I should have added, that in my experience with PC's so far, I've had good luck. The IBM thinkpad G40 is currently the longest lived notebook I have used. It is pushing 5-7 years old and going strong. Though I have been trying to get my girlfriend to get a 'modern' replacement for months.

The screen occasionally goes blank when you close the lid during shutdown, and then refuses to turn back on. Other than that, the thing apparently suffers years of dust and high P4 temps with aplomb.

 

Well it is true that every electronic device is gonna break eventually, and that the lifespan of consumer level laptops is expected to be shorter than those of business level. But I think there's an open discussion when it comes to how short is acceptable for that lifespan to be.

Personally I don't think 11 months is an acceptable lifespan for a $1700+tax machine, which is what I paid for each one of my laptops. It can be even suspicious when the two of them suddenly break down so close to the warranty expiration date.

 

Personally, from what I've learned with my experiences with consumer grade laptops is that they just don't cut. During the buying process you see this bias towards features, (perceived build quality ie how it feels in the hands). In the end, the ugly ole thinkpad is probably the best route. (then again, alot of horror stories with the new thinkpads as well). If i did it all over, I would've gotten a t61.

 

I agree with Squaretrade

 

You must have majored in some social science...

 

lol... pretty funny

 

It is. Especially this part:

"HP is great, mine works" and "HP sucks, mine broke."

It literally sums up nearly every complaint or praise thread.

 

very true Mr. 2.0

 

IME, no one sweats the small details like Apple, but my 2 HP notebooks are alright, hardware-wise.

My 17" DV9650US included an amazing amount of stuff for the price, though some of those features, like the TV tuner, seem to be generic items thrown in the box almost as an afterthought, and I seldom use it because it's pretty clunky. Plastics feel fairly sturdy, and the glossy finish seems pretty tough, but I'm careful not to gouge it (just in case), but remember that machines like this are mostly designed for around-the-home use, not serious road warrior duty. As such, you get largish speakers and multimedia goodies, but not a magnesium frame. To be fair, I should note that I got this computer as an Office Depot closeout for under $600, whereas a 17" MacBook Pro is somewhere over $2500.

My 2133 Mini Note included Suse Linux pre-installed, and it had a rough edged feel to it, like it was rushed out the door. No software support for the wifi, for instance. I ended up installing a different Linux disto on that machine in order to get functioning wifi. The power switch is small and recessed and you need to dig at it with your fingernail to work it. When you do turn on the machine, the power indicator is a dazzlingly bright blue LED that casts a beam on the opposite wall of my room at night.

But the electronics have worked okay, nothing's gone up in smoke, and nothing seems to be cracking. I'll probably keep the 17-incher and sell the Mini-Note.