How satisfied are you with your HP notebook?

In general, how satisfied are you guys with your HP notebook? How many troubles did you have with it, how often did you send it for repair?
I personally, am pretty satisfied with my model, except for the temps. At stock clocks, i get into high 80s and more on my GPU, and arround 76 on my undervolted CPU. I don't even want to consider to OC my GPU, as the temps are already pretty high. I guess i will open it and clean it, its almost 2 years old and i never cleaned it for dust since then.

 

Unfortunately, the poll has too few options. I am mostly satisfied with my current HP lappy, as well as the two others I have bought in the past. However, if further gradations were available, I would have to choose "satisfied, but just barely." They are a good value, but for example, my dv9000 is on its 4th motherboard, because they didn't design it so much with heat dissipation in mind. I would rather have a recovery DVD since that which takes out my hard drive will usually take out the boot sector as well. So, not perfect, but overall a good value for the money, depending on how you use them.

 

Aye, too few options to vote. I love the HP products but damn if you have a problem prepare to fight it out or just suck it up.

I had a problem with a warped, from the factory, bezel around the screen. Over time it caused a buffing type scratch on the screen. It was under warranty and I went through cane with HP on that one.

The other note is, same notebook, 3 months after my standard year warranty expired my laptop started smoking out of the blue and the motherboard fried. My luck, I had personal home insurance that covered the repair. $750 repair to replace the motherboard.

I recently read an article discussing the high amount of HPs notebooks that need warranty service. My advice is if you spend a good amount for your HP notebook (I spent in and around US $2k) then go ahead and spend the money for the comprehensive extensive warranty and peace of mind. Hind sight being 20/20 I would have dropped the $300-400 for the 3-4 year full coverage.

The problem with customer service was that it was hit and miss. Half the people I would talk to were sympathetic and helpful the other half were more drag than lift and became more of a problem than a solution. Problem resolution took way too long with the dedicated HDX premium and US military phone support lines.

I have also own a couple of other HP notebooks/netbooks with no issues. The HP Mini 110 and the one with a swivel screen (cant remember the model).

I have owned HP desktops for years with no issues.

I have to say when I buy another laptop if its under US $1k HP will be a consideration. When I buy another "high end" laptop HP will not be considered. Too much money to be wrestling back and forth like that.

 

Very satisfied so far. I have had my laptop almost 7 months and have had 0 problems. Temps are fine and everything works. Though I do plan to go another direction when I buy a new laptop in January of next year. I want to have owned every major brand of laptop to compare the companies (HP, Dell, Acer, Asus, and Toshiba are done with Lenovo or Sony next).

 

I'm happy with all my HP experiences.
I bought my pc speakers from them first (logitech Z-2300). They came pretty quick and the price was right.

I bought a dm3t, but wasn't happy with it completely because I had only used a $75 coupon and there was a very noticeable seam line along the top. When the $250 coupon came out I decided to send the laptop back and reorder. As soon as fedex scanned in my return HP processed my refund and I had my cash back on my card in 2 days. By that time the coupon expired so I configured my system online (specs in sig) and then gave HP a call. After a bit of waiting on the rep to check things on her end she said the coupon has been used up (1800 uses) but applied the discount anyway. My system cost $762 after tax, and that's including an extra ac adapter and pair of earbuds.

I'm happy with HP.

 

yea, i guess i should've added more poll options, but i can't find the button to do that
btw, i read somewhere that dv5t notebooks need to be raised a few inchies from the desk, and the temps will go down, and it worked, my cpu temps droped to 60
i used orthos to stress it for 20 minutes, and the highest temp was 61
same goes for the GPU, the highest temp i got for playing dragon age 2 hours, was max 70
i can now finally consider to OC some of the hardware

 

My Envy cracked after the 4th week. -.-

 

I've had nothing but trouble with mine, but I also know it's a turd of the bunch. I 'm really not satisfied with this one, but I would buy an HP again. I know it's just this model which is bad.

 

LOL my answer to this would have been very different (I voted satisfied) only a few months ago, but luckily HP came through with the replacement

 

I'm very satisfied with HP so far. I have a 2 year old DV7 with T5900 and 9600M GT that runs great and never had issues.
Couple of months ago I got a brand new dv6 2241 nr - with AMD CPU Turion 2 M520 2.3 Ghz and an ATI Mobility Radeon 4650 for the ridiculous price of $650. Totally surprised with the nice temps - CPU is about 75C under heavy load and GPU gets up to 76C ! The only con in it is that the colors of the screen of the dv6 look a little weird, especially the blue which is almost purple.
Other than that had 0 issues with stability or performance.

 

I am completely unsatisfied with HP. They shipped me a bad envy 15- for first 15 min screen would not even turn on, then it turned on for few hours and it just kept crashing every 20 min, after that it would not even turn on. I know, sometimes you get the lemon, but that is not why I hate HP now, the real problem is the way the tech support handled my problem. I now have 0 faith in HP, so I wouldn't want a new envy even if they could give me one that worked. I am returning it for a full refund.

-Customer support said a number of things that bothered me, but the last straw was after the guy asked me to get a screw driver and open up the machine,

I said, "these screws are too small, I don't even have a screwdriver that small. Listen, I waited 3 weeks for you guys to ship me a computer that doesn't work, and I don't want to to try & take it apart to try & figure out why it won't even turn on."

YOU KNOW WHAT HIS ANSWER WAS?

He, said "well, when you order a custom pc, it's going to take longer to build and ship to you, and you have to expect it to take that long..." ?

He's defending himself like we are having a debate?

They correct answer would be something like , "I AM SORRY WE SENT YOU A BAD COMPUTER."
I mean, I can't ever see apple tech support acting like this jackass.

When a company/ or anyone makes a mistake, and seem genuinely sorry about it, I am willing to give them another chance, but when they act like they don't even care that they screwed up, I never want to deal with that person/company(HP) again. Maybe 5-10 years from now I will consider checking out an HP product again; that ought to be enough time for them to get their act together. I mean, they obviously didn't even turn it on after they spend 3 weeks or whatever building it. All they had to do was turn it on once to see that the screen wasn't coming on.

 

No faults to the notebook but i am not happy that the HP model i wanted was only sold in USA or Germany. So i got the next best. HP should have an universal model system instead in being in hands of their localized mandarins.

 

i bought dv6-2106ea just 3weeks ago. i m really pissed of because of motion artefacts. its just getting my nerves. hate HP, love DELL. i m a dell lover. but as they haven't got any good machine, i bought this1.

 

Had the absolute WORST customer service experience of my life with HP repair (laptop). After months of lies, misdirection, and bungled repairs that actually made things worse, I had to sue them to get results.

But in a way, it has made my life easier, since now I never even consider HP products. Shopping is much more simple..

 

I am an extremely happy, and loyal, HP notebook customer. Just to show my objectivity, I absolutely hate their printers, and their printer division business practices - tech support, customer service etc.

But back to the positives. I own, or have owned, the following HP notebook computers: HDX-16, dv4t, dv6Quad, dv7Quad, dv8t(Quad), G60. I have a Touchsmart TM2 on order. I have never had anything but positive experiences with HP notebooks. When I have had technical or quality problems, I have found their customer/technical support to be extremely responsive. I will admit, it takes a while to learn "the system" to get responsive service on the phone (or via chat or email). Part of this is learning the right direct phone numbers to call (I won't publish these here, for fear that HP will take them down; you can learn them from HP personnel if you are courteous and polite and ask.)

On almost every computer I have purchased I have received discounts equal to average of 20% over the already discounted pricing, essentially by asking. HP's policies are so customer friendly that last December, when the company was issuing stackable discounts on dv6-8Quad Core i7 notebooks, I called to complain that they kept lowering the price and I could only get the new discounts (while waiting for the production and shipment of my computer) was to cancel the order and reorder at the lower price. The result: they took the then-current price of the computers (I had 3 on order, 2 for my family, one for a gift), eg, $1,200 for the dv8, fully equipped, and took 20% of of each and made that the sale price, even if there were no further discounts, lowering the dv8 price to $960. Two weeks later, when the dv8 was due to ship, they announced a delay of a week and provided a $50 coupon for use on any accessory. 8 days later, they announced a further 4 day delay, and took an additional 10% off the "normal" price (ie, in this case, the $1,200 price, not the $960 I'd been granted), resulting in a net price for this computer, presently selling for over $1,600, a core i7 with 8GB of RAM, 500GB HD, Blu Ray ROM, TV Tuner, etc, for $840!!

It's not about the pricing, it's about the amazingly customer friendly attitude. The same is true of service. On the same computer, I found the coloring began to rub off the keys beginning in 45 days of use. I called to report the problem. 12 hours later I had an email from a Case Manager. 3 hours after that I had an email confirming shipment of a replacement keyboard. 3 days later the keyboard arrived, Fedex Air.

Because much of HP's service is in the Philippenes and India, there are accents to be dealt with and many of the front line agents have little knowledge or authority and read from "scripts." All it takes to escalate a problem is to go through their process and politely ask for escalation; I have always received the escalation I have asked for and always received a satisfactory result.

HP makes many compelling consumer models and people are attracted to them for their style, features and aggressive pricing. Many believe that their products are made so cheaply and that is the only reason they can be sold at low prices. I cannot say one way or the other, as I have not owned any HP product for more than one year. Then again, neither has anyone else in the current lines of their products, so they may last longer - or shorter - than historically. With a few notable exceptions (Apple, but for a huge price premium) I don't think there is a material difference between the quality of one manufacturer vs. the others. For notebook computers, heat is the major cause of failure. Better heat control in the design will extend the life of a notebook computer, but keeping vents clear of dust and bases well ventilated will probably extend the useful life and reduce repair costs of all notebooks dramatically.

HP products are exciting, attractive and almost always leading edge in the consumer space. They were using DDR-3 RAM and 7,200 RPM HDDs 9 months ago in their low price models, a practice only now becoming fairly wide spread in the industry. They use "fashion forward" designs - polarizing at times, but sales numbers suggest they work. While most are still making the shiny plastic notebooks they pioneered, HP is well on its way to converting to all aluminum clad matte finish cases.

People love to take pot shots at leaders. It's part of the price of leadership. I do not think HP's notebook computers are in the top 50% of quality and they can be extremely stubborn in ignoring features consumers are demanding - such as back lit keyboards (no longer in a single one of their consumer notebooks!) or high resolution screens (only 4 models in their entire line have either 1080p displays or resolutions as high as 1600X900 on 17.3" displays).

But I don't think there is a big difference in quality between the 20th and 80th percentiles among all notebooks. I do know that the newest models from HP are likely to get me salivating for a new computer and that if I decide to buy one, and I miss the "3-day sale" HP will like honor the sale price anyway, replace the machine if it breaks down in the first few months and make good on their products as long as I own them - or until their management changes or business fortunes are reversed! Let's hope they remain prosperous and keep doing things better and better. The market will be better off, and so will we.

Sorry all, I had no plan to write what sounds like an HP Fanboy testimonial. This is the truth, from the heart, all factual and, I advise, worth taking heed to when you look to buy your next computer!

 

i have yet to open mine, just bought it yesterday, i have 15 days if i want to avoid the restocking fee.

it was $800 after rebate.

how is the video card on this? can it play high quality 3d games?

 

Unfortunately the experts at Consumer Reports don't agree with you. Despite your case being an exception, according to them, most repairs on a computer are far less than the amount you'd spend on the insurance.

Instead, Consumer Reports recommends putting the money you'd spend on insurance away in saving rather than buying insurance. That way, if nothing goes wrong you retain all of your money rather than losing it to the insurance providers.

You should also know that most store purchased insurance plans are not in-house and come with a host of limitations that use every technicality to avoid making any repairs at all. Even when they do, it's usually relocated to a secondary repair services that can use remanufactured or used parts. If anyone decides to buy this type of insurance, make sure your read the fine print (and there's a lot of it) carefully!

Actually, not the worst. I think it was next to las in the PC World magazine review I read.

As for me, I haven't had any costly issues or problem I had to send in the machine for so I'm pretty middle of the road at this point. Still, some of the things that went wrong really scared me especially since I've just got the one computer at the moment. I don't suppose that's really HP's fault since I really need a backup computer right now.

In any event, I'm not overjoyed with confidence or the fact that HP made simple repair (changing the keyboard) not a consumer changeable part. That's unfortunate because I think they have great potential to be number one in the industry.

Nevertheless, the odds are that I will not purchase another computer form them. If I had to buy a computer right now, I most likely would go back to Dell.

 

That's all right this time your story was poignant. But in the future write from the pocketbook that's what interest us most.

 

Thank you, and fair enough.

HP: great deals, great looks, more reliable than the whiners want you to believe, good service if you learn how to work with them. (24 words, all but 2 relate to $)

 

Where did you get that for $800? And, in my experience, the 4650 can play any game out right on at least medium settings.

 

If I answered this about 3 months ago, I would have said that HP was the worse computer company ever- I ordered a CTO dv8t-quad and I received one with a defected keyboard.So, I had this awesome notebook in my hand, turned it on and I found that the keyboard was not responsive. After waiting over a month, I was stupidly furious. Anyways I returned it and received a new laptop. The process was quick and easy. Fortunately, this time it wasn't a lemon and was perfect. The best thing is that I received it a WHOPPINGGGGGGGGGGGGGG two weeks a head of its estimated ship date. Dang, I was soooo happy that day =D.

However, I found another flaw- the fading keyboard. Anyways I emailed HP back and forth today and they are now going to send me a brand new keyboard, which normally costs $75 at HP's Parts Store =). I sent around 5 emails and I was returned a response after half an hour. That is what you call Customer Service.
Overall I'd say that HP's service is quite good. Hopefully their reliability is good too.

 

The results of this poll are likely to be skewed positive simply because it's in a HP forum. I had a bad experience with an Acer netbook some time ago, but I didn't go into Acer forums looking for satisfaction polls.

 

It's not that they're skewed; all laptops from all manufacturers will have some degree of failure.

Plus, as already stated, there's no exact formula as to what constitutes a failed laptop.

 

According to polls it isn't. But that doesn't stop people from buying their product. Go figure?

In this case he's correct. The wording of the poll presupposes that we are--to some degree--satisfied.

These things can be quantified, but again, it all depends on the wording.

 

I own an 8710w and am VERY satisfied with it ... in fact, for me personally it is the nearest thing I have ever used to an ideal laptop.

 

My dv 9312tx has been repaired 5 times and the motherboard has been replaced 3 times and even now the Go 7600 is running at 73C with a fully loaded notebook cooler and only Firefox running on the machine. My warranty is till November 2010 and HP now wants to do an on-site service on the notebook. I am not at all satisfied and will probably not even use an HP machine if given for free.

 

i guess you're right, but i heard a lot of complaints from HP notebook owners, so i wanted to see what the majority here thinks about it
i absolutely didn't have any problems with mine, considering that i purchased it second-hand and it ran at pretty high temps before; now after i undervolted it and raised it with a few inches from the desk, i have incredibile low temps, arround 60-61 on the cpu and max 73 on the gpu, that on heavy load and high performance power plan
its almost 1 year and a half old and i still didn't open it to clean it from dust, im pretty sure that after i will do that i will get even lower temps,
the looks are very nice, thin keyboard and 16:10 wide screen
all im dissapointed about is the fingerprint magnet, i clean it with a microfiber cloth arround 6-7 times per day on heavy use
But still, next time im very sure i'll take something else, i heard asus laptops are very stable and very nice price/performance ratio.

 

I'm quite happy with HP laptops but I'm not satisfied with nVidia reliability

Basically every laptop in the world that has hot-running Turion TL-xx and nvidia GF Go7-8 -series or nvidia chipset will fail sooner or later. I can see it happen on Acers and I repair Fujitsus for living: those Amilo's aren't any better. Same goes for desktop computers: motherboards with nvidia chipsets die just like laptops.

That being said, guess what HP models sold huge amounts in the last few years? DV2000, DV6000 and DV9000 series. Guess what most of them were made of? Nvidia+AMD combo. Guess if they are now all dying?

I wish there was a way to count out nvidia failures from all manufacturers. It would tell more from the actual build/design quality differences among the product lines.

 

Another thing to think about is the user base. If more people have brand "a" laptops, there's obviously going to be more failures. From the looks of the poll though, most seem happy with what they received.

And I do agree that laptops that are fingerprint magnets are a real disappointment. Do the designers even try out these laptops? Glossy plastic has it's place, but not on heavy wear areas like the keyboard (probook 5310m), trackpad (dm3) or palmrest. It much nicer as an accent like screen bezels.

So far I'm still happy with my dm3t. Doesn't get too warm but I may undervolt it anyway for the sake of battery life.

 

Purchased my DV6-1237CA w/Vista 64-bit on October 27th, 2009.

I have the notebook sitting on a Zalman ZM-NC2000 cooler and keep all my data on USB drives.

Been using it 5-days/week for 8+ hours daily since that date and have had ZERO issues with it.

 

I bought an HP Pavilion notebook for $1800. It took me 2 weeks to get it up and running because of all the software and data I had to transfer. On the day it turned 5 weeks old, it died. Dead.

HP’s IT hadn’t a clue. Their only response was send it in for repair. 4-6 week w/o a computer. I asked for a refund. They refused because I was over the 3 week return policy. 3 WEEKS !!!

They have perfected their return window so that most people will not find the problems with their computers (that HP is well aware of) until after the return period expires. Then, they hire incompetent IT people forcing their customers to send the equipment in for repair- at their convenience and in their own time table.

It’s a big scam on consumers who pay $$$ for IT service in the price of their computer. And, there is nothing and no one who can make them honor their agreement to provide on site and phone assistance. They just demand you mail in your computer.

By the way, a geek on YouTube showed me how to fix the major issue. Then I had to figure out how to undo the mess the IT guy made on my notebook. He took 3 hours to disable and/or delete Outlook, Norton, my graphic software, the fingerprint reader, and freeze my cursor. I finally fixed most of the issues myself- I had nothing to lose at that point so I went in and started fixing. So far, so good but no satisfaction from HP.

You can’t even call HP to complain at their corporate headquarters. Their operators refuse to put through client complaints to anyone. Apparently, consumers are not a priority. We are just a nuisance.

 

My dv4-2045dx has worked fine. It's heavietr than I'd like but the price was right. Battery life sucks. I bought it a Best Buy. Buying my dm3t online was a nightmare. 3 weeks to get and another 3 weeks to replace.

 

My dv2000 had near dead experiences but both times were my own failure. So I am just glad that it still works.

*finger crossed*

 

You sentiments are reflected in their continuously low support ratings. In a recent one from PC World magazine, HP was listed one from the bottom. Nevertheless, they still sell a lot of computers:

http://www.brighthub.com/computing/hardware/articles/39780.aspx

 

I had to send my dv6 in for repairs it had a green vertical line the length of the screen.
I'm fairly happy because the new screen is much better, better colors, better viewing angles.

However I'm also having a problem about once a day the screen will 'flash' to black for a second. So I dont know if the inverter or something else is slowly dying.

Generally its not much fun to worry if your laptop is going to die again on a daily basis. I guess i'll be buying another years warranty just in case.

The laptop itself has good features, quiet, ergonomic, inexpensive. Shame about the quality.

 

More sales = more computers produced = faster production = more dud computers. And obviously, since more people buy HP, more ignorant people who have no idea how to take care of their laptops buy HP. That helps explain the failure rate, at least to some extent.

I am not saying that is the case with people here or even that it is the reason for the high failure rates. All I am saying is that it contributes something.