any major reasons to avoid HP?

i'm shopping for a new laptop. well, let's say the shopping is preliminary as i won't be buying before sometime in fall (ie see some proper reviews of Meroms & Turion X2s before deciding which way to go). i currently have a Dell 6000d (2ghz Centrino, 1gb RAM, Radeon X300) and while it was a good deal, it's butt-ugly. and it's really not running too well, especially after my 7200rpm hd died and i replaced it with a 5400 16mb model (at which time i reinstalled & optimized the OS and ... the performance was still unsatisfactory). i'm a bit surprised that i push the laptop to its limit all the time, but i frequently use Photoshop CS2 (an utter hog), amongst other Adobe & Macromedia products, and i use the laptop for audio production as well (which is when i really push the cpu).

in the last couple of months, i've become more aware of HP as an option, especially after seeing the dv2000 (yowza!). HP has ... style. and good prices. and generally positive reviews. so are there any major reasons to avoid HP? i haven't found any yet, so i thought i'd ask the crowd. i'll list some of my requirements below, but currently it seems the dv8000t is the one i want, unless the dv5000 series comes with a 1680x1050 resolution option later this year.

-1680x1050 resolution, no more no less (i looked at 1280x800 and i didn;t like it)
-dual core cpu (doesn't matter if it's intel or amd (whenever the TurionX2s appear)
-at least 2gb ram
-low heat & noise (the dell's fan runs ALL the time when i'm making music, a break would be nice)
-good battery life (the dv8000t seems to have great battery life, though not as unreal as one of the 5000 models)

i'm quite happy with my 15.4" screen, and at my preferred resolution i can't go smaller no matter how sexy the dv2000 is (hopefully it's design will be found in 15.4" or 17" models later on). i'm not keen on the size & weight of the the 17", but the resolution is more important. however, i did look at one yesterday and the big screen was *sweet*.

also, i dunno if i'd spring for the tv tuner, but i do have dish tv and it would be a kinda cool option to have. i've also never used XP MCE - is that necessary for tv tuner action?


thanks in advance.

 

If you are interested in the HP Analog TV Tuner, it is necessary to have XP MCE. TV Tuners from other brands such as ATI, WinTV, Hauppage, etc., can run on XP Home and/or XP Pro.

 

btw, that was a really nice review you just wrote.

 

Check the thread in this forum about dv8000 keyboard problems. You might find it relevant. (Maybe by fall they'll have figured it out.)

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=57325

 

I would read the number of threads about the keyboard problems that both the dv5000 and dv8000 series are having. This appears to be a defect, hardware related, which HP has so far shown no interest in addressing.

I plan on avoiding HP in the future.

 

HP's are supposed to have iffy keyboards. They also have bad customer service. Our system admin was complaning the other day that HP CSRs are in India, and reading from a script when they talk to her, that they try to get her to open up the laptop to fix the problem.
Another option is to buy a cheaper thinkpad, and a desktop machine for heavy duty work.

 

You may look for nx6325
http://h71016.www7.hp.com/MiddleFra...=2417&BaseId=19171&oi=E9CED&BEID=19701&SBLID=

or
http://h71016.www7.hp.com/MiddleFra...=2417&BaseId=19168&oi=E9CED&BEID=19701&SBLID=

 

the keyboard problems are troubling. let's see what happens in 3-4 months when i'm actually ready to buy.

the service i'm not too concerned about - i will probably reformat & reinstall everythng immediately. i've been building my own desktops for years, so i'm pretty good with troubleshooting computers. of course, reformatting/reinstalling only works if they're good about providing all drivers and necessary software. are they?

thanks for all responses so far.

 

@ puthupa

I have an HP laptop, and I must say the keyboard's been great so far. It's been a month since I got it, and overall the system is great.

I used to have a Toshiba Satellite M30, and switching to HP was kind of a tough call, cause my Toshiba experience was amazing. Yet what made me switch to HP? It was simply the best offer, including the compromise between mobility and performance (of course in this case biased towards performance).

The only thing I would note is setting up the system is not as easy as in the Toshiba, because it has a recovery drive. But overall, thumbs up

 

the keyboard issues are weird, some have it, many don't. toshibas look nice too, and a friend of mine had a good experience with a 4 yr old Satellite.

 

The CSR's in India arent that bad. Most of them have pretty thick accents and speak in the "proper" english( British english). Ive talked with HP service plenty of times with questions and such and if you give a clear responce, there pretty quick in answering.

 

No issues with any of the 3 I own. I have seen troubles with the screens only running at 58hertz and 59Hertz...which they should be running at 60Hertz... most new games today require 60Hertz

also on the Keyboards I have had no issues...

 

I've had absolutely no issues w/ my HP ZV6000. The keyboard is very solid along with the rest of the laptop build quality...just a solid unit all-around. HP will definitely get my hard look the next time I'm in the market for a laptop...but I've totally enjoyed my HP. Plus the laptop itself just looks cool...all the interface labels, cool blue light, nicely labeled keys, the otherall colors they used and where. I'm very visual with my computers, but I like performance too. It doesn't let me down there either.

Can you tell I like HP?

 

not one bit ;-)

HPs have come a long way in terms of style. the style/price combo may be unbeatable.

 

That was another thing I enjoyed was the price. I paid $1287 for the system listed in my sig. To me that was a great deal, and on top of that I was in a position I could sign up for their HP Shopping card and have gotten a year of no payments/no interest...I'm paying it off next month but I've saved over $250 in interest alone with that deal. I've been very happy and is in my top 3 purchases ever...besides my car and my TV.