nVidia Class Action Fairness Hearing is Tomorrow - Almost time to make a claim!

I would now file a small claims case against HP and when you go to court, take your TX1000, hold it up in the air and tell the Judge "Possession is 9/10 of the Law your Honor" Tell HP to fix it, replace it or give me a refund.
Take your denial letter from the settlement administrator and these Doc's with you.

http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/pdfs/NVF_NOT.pdf

IT Resource Center forums - HP Must acknowledge serious problems with tx1000

 

Fry's is selling the Compaq CQ62-418NR for $299. It's still missing many of the features of our entertainment laptops (remotes, bluetooth, webcam), but it has a dual core P340 processor (that is 90% faster than the V140 in the CQ56), HDMI, a 7200 RPM hard drive, and a 5-in-1 media card reader. This just goes to show that NVIDIA was solely interested in getting the absolute cheapest laptop.

 

No one knows for sure but my guess is that Rosenthal is following whatever instructions coming down from NVIDIA and/or Milberg (just look at their epic failure in secretly changing FAQ).

We need a truly independent ombudsman, appointed by the court, to oversee Rosenthal/NVIDIA/Milberg. None of these companies are credible so whatever actions they are taking are questionable.

 

Just spent 6 bucks to send the "you need to show proof of purchase postmarked by April 18th" letter concerning repair reimbursement for my dv90000z, a cover letter explaining the contents of the 6 bucks to mail envelope, copy of the proof of purchase online order receipt from HP, scan of proof of purchase label from shipping box (had that copy from a rebate offer), and copies of my Paypal transactions via certified mail/return receipt on envelope. Hope I didn't make any spelling errors that might disqualify me from getting some of the money back I shelled out for repairs.

 

You can probably kiss that $ goodbye .. corporate greed goes for every penny they can salvage..but good luck

 

$6 compared to what I've spent isn't much. It would have been far cheaper/quicker to have just emailed the scans of my Paypal receipts and added the purchase receipt and shipping label/proof of purchase - however, that would be easy and have electronic times and dates attached to what I sent. Nothing in the ruling says the folks who are responsible for the mess have to make it easy for anyone to make a claim. At least I have good, old fashioned paper receipts from the post office, stamped/dated for today.

 

one of the commenters at fairnaividasettlement left this message:

I just recieved my craptop yesterday, 4-15-2011 via Fedex, so the replacements are being shipped. I originally mailed my faulty laptop to them at the end of February. It is substantially weaker then the laptop I had, and I’m going to sell it on eBay and buy a real laptop. It is just as pathetic performance wise as the specs predict. I may wait another weak before selling it to see if I will get a better laptop after the Judge gets off his butt and makes a decision. It is the Compaq CQ56.

did anyone else receive their replacement notebooks yet?

 

Interesting... this is the first person I have heard about.

 

I just saw that post myself and I was very surprised. It's the first such post I have seen anywhere.

I thought nVidia might have been holding off purchase of the toy laptops, awaiting Judge Ware's decision. So much for that idea.

I can't believe nVidia would have bought only a few of the CQ56 units. Either I'm wrong, or they must be pretty sure they will prevail.

Coming soon to a laptop near you: Toy Story

 

I wonder how that would compare to my old and slow
Acer Aspire M1100 desktop? It has:
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core processor
2GB RAM
7200rpm 250gb drive
ATI Radeon™ X1200 graphics solution, supporting:
Interlaced and non-interlaced displays, Maximum resolution of 2048 x1536 @ 32bpp, Full DirectX 9.0, 3D Texture, including projective 3D texture, OpenGL format for Indirect Vertices in Vertex Walker
Vista Home Premium.

I also have a Dell Latitude D600 with 1gb ram on XP Pro Pentium R 1.60GHZ
it would probably be slower then the Comcrap CQ56.

 

Great Reviews posted at Best Buy's review site:
Posted by Lyn8988:
I purchased this computer approximately 30 days ago. It was "ON SALE" at the time for $329.00. Shortly after I bought it the regular price went down to only $299.99 and I can see why. The mouse on this computer is terrible. Very hard to push and my fingers tend to get very sore. In addition I would rate the display screen only poor-fair. Wish I hadn't purchased.
What's not so great: the mouse No, I would not recommend this to a friend

JKC 1526:
I purchased only for the price and was disappointed when I got it home. It was very slow, had a terrible screen, not very durable.
What's great about it: The PriceWhat's not so great: Everything else. No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

RTC66:
I purchased this computer in February 2010, by July the power cord stopped working and had to get a new one, by November the battery would not charge and I kept getting error 601 message. Now in March 2011 13 months after purchasing and one month after warranty expired hard drive is dead. Compaq wants $265 to fix, and will give 3 month warranty. Stay away, this machine is junk.
What's great about it: PriceWhat's not so great: Junk do not buy No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I need more friends like this, NOT like Milberg.

 

The V140 processor it appears we'll be receiving is only slightly superior to the AMD V120 processor which began the series. They are very similar, one to the other.

Here:

AMD V-Series V120 Notebook Processor - Notebookcheck.net Tech

is a website that might answer some of your questions. For each benchmark you can click "show comparison chart" to get a feel for the situation vis a vis the V120.

 

The CQ56 will almost certainly be slower than your desktop simply because
1. dual-core vs single-core---except when you run only 1 program at a time---i.e. not downloading stuffs from the Internet while performing other tasks.

2. 7200rpm disk will run faster than 5400rpm ones

CQ56 will however be faster than your old Dell laptop since it's also single core and likely has an older and slower ATA 100 hard drive.

 

I actually would rather have a closure sooner than later. Right now the CQ56 may still be worth $300 ish....next year it would likely drop to <$100. It would not make sense to get something only marginally better(say $350-$400) but have to wait for a year. The crap that I sent in was worth $500-$600 at the time of purchase but I really do not expect to recoup the same value... It was already long dead which had a value of "0" anyway.

I understand it's very upsetting but my way of fighting back is never getting another HP/NVIDIA product ever........especially NVIDIA.

On a side note, I recently worked with an IT consultant in Italy. He had a Dell laptop with a very fast "NVIDIA" chip and he basically removed the entire bottom of the laptop in order to keep it operational... I really should have taken a picture of that...

 

I still think that NVIDIA makes a good product.
My single greatest issues lies with the fact that if these manufacturers screw up something that ends up in ours hands they should just just make reparations.

I will still buy NVIDIA products.
I cannot say this for HP unfortunately.
Milberg, boo hisss.. Disgusting really.. Giving lawyers a bad name.

I have an affected 17¨ Entertainment class laptop that has many liked features. I expect the same in return. Its pretty simple. Someone needs to be held responsible.
I don´t think the founding fathers had this in mind.
We the members of the class find this ugly. I believe my saying that represents a common sentiment. I believe I have said something along these lines already.

 

NVIDIA products are generally good, and nothing is ever perfect. It's the hp products that truly suck. They (hp) magnified the NVIDIA defect by poorly engineering Pavilion "Entertainment Notebook" computers in such a way that they were destined for failure.

This is not necessarily accurate. The old Dell has a better quality Pentium M single core CPU and it may well outperform the wimpy POS AMD V140 in real world experience. The SATA HDD only improves data transfer rates, not overall system performance. It would be a combination of several technology advances--such as DDR3 memory and higher FSB speeds, as well as SATA--that might allow a CQ56 to outperform an old Dell D600. It would not be SATA alone that might give an edge to the mousy little CQ56.

The dinosaur Dell Latitude D600 is still a way better machine than the CQ56 in many ways, including build quality. (IMO, better than anything manufactured by hp when it was new also.) It does seem to be appropriate to compare the performance of the CQ56 to a 6 year old Dell.

I shipped back my wife's dead dv6449us and NVIDIA received it the third week of February. I haven't received a CQ56 yet. So far, so good. But, brace yourself, folks. The CQ56 is a turd in every way. You can tell by simply handling it, before you ever press the power button. It looks like garbage and feels like garbage. The keyboard is mushy, and the plastic case feels especially flimsy. If that's what everyone ends up with, it will be super sad. If you haven't already done so, stop by your local BestBuy to look at one and ruin your day. It's definitely a $299 [or less] retail value.

 

Yeah i used that dell from 2008 till now with no problems. built like a tank. i use it in the car when train watching or storm chasing and all the jitteryness of mobile use and it stilll works as good as the day i bought it on ebay. People are having the CQ56 die just from causal use i know it won't last a few weeks for mobile use. I've had my dell so hot in the car i thought it would die but nope. thank god. i think i am going to sell the cq56 that is, when it arrives and buy a Acer/Gateway laptop. they look real nice for $400-500.

 

Before you jump to acer or gateway their customer service sucks BIG TIME..
look it up NOW!!! Build quality is on par with comcrap!! Failure rate is huge fyi IMHO

 

I was able to buy a toshiba c655 for 100 bucks basically brand new with box and everything, which is basically equipped like a cq56 with the AMD V140, and with 2gb of ram, it did feel a bit quicker than the D600 I currently have. I dont think I would be able to play half life 2 on the d600, but half life 2 actually played quite decently with most of the details.

But what makes the D600 better is being able to use BT and IR on it and I prefer a laptop 14in or smaller, 15.6in to me is way too big.

I upgraded the toshiba to a P320, however, I sort of messed up the LCD flex cable, during the cpu upgrade so I havent been able to see how it performs with 4gb of ram and the p320 playing games etc, but I assume the cq56 would perform the same.

 

I got a similar letter. I neglected to include the receipt for a battery I had to buy. The battery was in addition to the cost of repairs. What got me was the short window they gave to resubmit. They take their sweet time and give us only a few days to reply. I got 3 days.

I made sure I didn't rely on their return envelope. There would be no way of tracking and confirming delivery. I put it in another envelope and registered it. It cost me a few dollars but I have proof if they come up with some other roadblock for me. They have a way of finding reasons to deny our legitimate claims

 

Thanks for the heads up. i hadn't got around to researching it yet. Too bad really. Was acer and gateway always that bad? What product lines/brands would you recommend for that price range? thanks.

 

I bought the aspire 1 aod250 failed 1 month out of warranty could not get an english speaking csa paid 99 bucks for mobo replacement looked it up and many people had the same experience. Gateway is owned by asus so I assume the same without any direct knowledge

 

You mean owned by Acer? My sister got a gateway and the keyboard keys looked thick and sturdy and the machine looked of good construction. the dell i wanted at walmart has flimsy looking keys but a prettier design. walmart has a 15 inch and 14 inch version. 14 inches would be good for mobile use in the car. and the CQ56 at walmart does have flimsy keys and body. the mouse buttons are hard to click and the display looked washed out unless their settings was off. walmart has them locked down so i couldn't adjust them to see what looks better. the dell and acers had better pictures then the cq56. i wonder if the HP version of the CQ56 is any better as the build is the same design.

 

MY BAD!
I do not know about gateway I assume guilt by association. I have dealt with acer I do not recommend just because of cs problems and build quality.

 

It would be nice if we got an answer tomarrow, but I'm not holding my breath...

 

They did provide a smallish prepaid envelope - it's big enough for a couple pieces of paper. I used a manilla envelope, reinforced all seams with box sealing tape, checked and rechecked that I'd included everything, sealed the flap with packing tape, put clear packing tape over the return address and Administrator's address as well, certified the envelope and put a return receipt requiring signature to show that they received it. I have the receipt from the transaction and the stamped paperwork showing the return receipt information as well.

The postmark on the envelope I received from the administrator was metered on April 8th, and I got it on the 14th. I have a suspicion that the letter sat for several days before getting mailed. Estimated arrival in CA from here is Tuesday. I send small packages to CA on a semi routine basis and 1st class usually takes 3 days from when I drop it off at the post office. Why I couldn't scan and send online is rather curious - I guess playing games with time and postmark dates might result in a lessened possibility I'll jump through the hoops to get some money refunded towards my repair costs. Sad situation, but I've waited this long so what's a little more time?

 

Our family has owned 4 Acer laptops and 1 eMachines laptop and all of them have been excellent machines considering the low cost of acquisition. As far as owner satisfaction is concerned, the majority of surveys for 2010 had Dell, hp and Acer/Gateway/eMachines (all owned by Acer) in a tie with 77 out of 100 customers surveyed stating that they were satisfied with their purchase.

I do not give a lot of credence to surveys... neither the companies conducting the surveys nor the customers the survey companies contact are reliable sources of information in my view. Most surveys are not scientific and the results are inconclusive. Case in point, all the surveys show the highest customer satisfaction going to crApple. This is flawed because the number of crApple computers in circulation is minuscule compared to Wintel computers. You can expect a fan-boy to give the right answers to support their brand preferences in any survey.

In order to be accurate, surveyors would need to contact an equal (and much higher) percentage of customers for each manufacturer based on individual OEM market share. For example, to survey 10% of Apple owners and 10% of hp owners would require that literally thousands more hp owners be contacted than crApple owners because hp's market share is substantially greater.

The surveys should also target different price tiers, because quality is generally proportionate to price. (Although that was certainly not true in the case of the affected hp models in this class action, as their pricing was moderate and their quality was low.) Since crApple does not offer any bargains and supports a smaller niche market, that comparison is a very poor one. If they are comparing $1800 MacBook customers to low-budget Inspiron, Presario, Pavilion, and Aspire customers, that's like comparing apples (sorry for the pun) to oranges. To be accurate, they would need to compare the $1800 MacBooks to equally spec'd systems like the Dell XPS, hp Envy, Acer Ferrari, Lenovo ThinkPads and entry-level Alienware systems.

The only laptops I have had to use customer service/tech support for were hp and Dell and there was no comparison. Dell smoked hp hands down. In comparison to Dell, hp was literally a joke in the service and support arena. If a person makes a thoughtful purchase and experiences no problems, it would only stand to reason that a survey response would be favorable. It's what happens when things go wrong and a customer has to rely on service and support that separates the men from the boys. It would be very interesting to see a survey based on market share that excluded all happy customers and included only those customers that had problems with their systems.

Thankfully, I never needed to make a support call to Acer. Their products worked flawlessly for my family until they were retired. They were not "super computers" like my Dell XPS or my Alienware, but they did what they were purchased to do very well. Had I needed to, and not been able to, talk to someone directly in service and support; or found them to be as unconcerned for me as a customer as what I experienced with hp, I might be an Acer-hater.

One of my kids is an iPod nut and I have been to the crApple store many times with him. I'm always amazed at the number of unhappy people waiting in line at the Genius Bar, and how many of them are muttering about how they wished they had stuck with a PC. Apparently, those are not the people answering questions in surveys.

The bottom line is, barring a situation like the problems giving rise to this class action, and hp's nonchalant attitude toward customers and their problems that stemmed from their poorly engineered products, the old adage "you get what you pay for" is mostly true. The best products are those that do what they are supposed to do, for as long as you want them to do it, regardless of what brand name is on the package. The fact that ours did not is why we're all here, waiting and hoping for some good news about our pathetic situation.

 

+1 Mr Fox... needed 10 character.s I hope you are doing well my friend~!

 

I'm doing great, Jeff. +1 back to you for making me laugh with the 10 characters comment. Have a happy Easter, friend!

 

Easter with mom in law and fam tons o fun!!!

 

From Fairnvidiasettlement.com looks like somebody else received a comcrap:

Carl Desmond April 18, 2011 at 8:09 am

I also just got my replacement CQ56 this morning by Federal Express (7a.m. on 4-18 to be exact, Eastern time). I’m not going to even open it up until the judge makes a decision. I hope I will be ab;e to send it back for a replacement that lives up the the agreement. Right now I feel like I was conned, big time.

 

Tomorrow will be 10 weeks since I mailed the laptop. I just called them to check the status, they said they are backed up with the claims and it may take longer than 10 weeks. I asked if the replacement was going to be that cheap Compaq that is listed on the class action website, she said yes. I told her that I was not happy about the CQ-56 being concidered a replacement, and I should not have to wait over 10 weeks only to get a bottom line laptop.
------In the Future, I will never participate in a class any action suit. This is an insult to anybody with half a brain.

 

Did she give you the HP answer: "sorrrrrryyyyyyy" or just disconnect ?

 

Just wanted to update that I tried registering my product to provide proof of purchase and it worked as some of you said it would. I was able to enter the 2008 purchase date and get it mailed out this morning. Hopefully they don't try to come up with another reason to further screw me.

Thanks again to everyone for the help!

 

Oh, she was very sorry. LOL
I will say she was polite, and I could hear other conversations in the background of the call center. I heared a guy telling another caller that it would take 8-10 weeks (Lair, Lair!!!) Oh well, it is intertaining.
I already bought a replacement laptop.......I can't believe that they expect people to go without for months, and then they get a piece of crap to replace it.

 

know whats funny? Archos will be comming out with a 1.6ghz dual core tablet in a few months and the price will be under HALF of what i originally paid for this tx1000, contain roughly the same specs, and STILL cost less than this piece of crap they are giving us. all in a nice 10.1 tablet... so i really dont see how this crap they are giving us is any excuse. you can find better craptops for the same price....they LITERALLY INTENTIONALLY gave us bottom-of-the-barrel replacements...

 

So they're backed up with claims huh? Intersting as Milberg claimed this settlement was worth many millions of dollars, in fact much more than their $13 million in fees (they said their fee was less than 25% of the settlement value). As it turns out, only less than 40,000 class members filed claims, making this settlement worth less than $10 million.... and yet still Rosenthal is behind in dealing with claims? Something doesn't add up here.

 

$399.99 LIST PRICE

HP G72-253NR Notebook, Intel Pentium P6000(1.86), 4GB, 640GB,8X DVD+/-R/RW, 17.3" Diagonal LED Display, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit- Refurbished

Save $300.00 FREE SHIPPING

Anybody want a refurbished craptop? ;-)

 

I have seen several posts listing specs of various differnt models that are MUCH BETTER equiped, all right around that $300 price point. Sure, it may seem as though they could easily hand out one of the better models for roughly the same price, but, unfortunately, I truly believe anybody that thinks they are ACTUALLY spending anywhere near $300 on each of the CQ56s is seriously mistaken.

I know that almost all electronic components are practically dirt cheap to manufacture these days, and there is a HUGE markup from cost to retail. If the CQ56 is retailing under $300 at BestBuy (among others), I would not be surprised in the least if NVIDIA ends up paying 50% OR LESS of that value when it's all said and done (assuming Judge Ware doesn't rule in our favor). Actually, I have read TONS of reviews and posts describing problems with the CQs not unlike those our computers exhibit. I'd imagine Compaq has several surpluss lots of these turds they are trying to unload FOR CHEAP to retailers, like BestBuy, just to get them off their hands... Point is, just because the retail prices are roughly equal, I don't for one second beleive NVIDIA's cost for one of the MORE SIMILAR models would be anywhere close to what they will spend on the CQs.

The way I see it, IF Judge Ware ACTUALLY READS some of the documents Ted Frank filed, we win! I mean, it's really a no-brainer, IF you spend a minimal amount of time skimming over the motion!... Until I hear otherwise, I am going to give Judge Ware the benefit of doubt and assume that he won't rule on a motion brought before him without even looking at one side's arguments.

 

I'd much prefer a refurbished laptop with those specs over the CQ56. Even if it only lasted a year, I would be able to use it. I have absolutely no use for the CQ56.

 

Yeah, these are at Buy.com -
Buy.com - HP G72-253NR Notebook, Intel Pentium Processor P6000(1.86), 4GB, 640GB, LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW, 17.3" Diagonal HD+ HP BrightView LED, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

 

I have no experience with Acer or Gateway. But I checked the $350 Gateway at Best Buy as well as the CQ56. The look and feel of the Gateway model is a lot better than the CQ56. Though, I could not tell the performance. The CQ56 touch pad has very inconsistent responsiveness just like the V5000Z it may be replacing. We had to always use an USB mouse for the former which will likely be passed to the CQ56. Apperance-wise, the CQ56 is probably the ugliest laptop in the entire store(very subjective opinion). Whether the appearance matters or not is strictly personal. The performance seems to be okay and I expect it to perform better than the V5000Z or the V6000Z crap that I sent in even without any upgrades. Based on reviews on Amazon.com, the performance would be significantly improved with an upgrade to 8GB ram.

The pros and cons of this model was reviewed by notebookcheck.net in very details. I think they did a fair review. I especially agree with the weakness on display and touchpad. To me touchpad doesn't matter that much but the weak display is disappointing.

Review HP Compaq Presario CQ56 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

I agree that the CQ56 is very unattractive cosmetically, which is on par with its performance. I also agree that the budget Acer and Gateway notebooks look better and have a better chassis build quality. The CQ56 is a real dud no matter how you look at it. It's not even any good as a bottom-tier budget notebook.

As I insinuated in a prior post, it's exactly the sort of disposable machine you would buy for a middle-school kid that needs a computer for school work, but doesn't take good care of anything.

Touchpads in general are a sore subject with me, and I don't think the CQ56 can claim the loser's crown on that. I never had any complaints about touchpads until the last couple of years. I'm not sure what's up with that, but the people designing them should be denied access to a mouse and be forced into using them for a year. The laptops I have more recently owned, and the business class nc-series hp I currently use at work, all have lousy touchpads. The touchpad on the ThinkPad I had at work before the hp was the pits, too. (The little "eraser-head" pointing device on the ThinkPad and my work hp are an even bigger joke.) I've read that the Envy touchpad is crap. Even my $4000 Alienware touchpad is not very good... the touch surface is overly sensitive and erratic, while the buttons require way too much pressure for clicking. It's not always convenient to use a mouse, but I carry one at all times to avoid using a touchpad whenever possible.

 

I agree on the touchpads. my friend has a pretty decent H-Puke machine but the pointer jumps all over the place when using the pad.

 

We are starting to get way off topic, but one observation concerning touchpads is that most of them work way better as a pointing device using the standard Windows mouse driver than they do using the intended software. The major down side to that is you cannot change any features, such as tapping sensitivity. On a sensitive touchpad, the most gentle contact with the touch surface translates into a mouse click.

Now... back on topic, the CQ56 sucks, and less than 1% of the people on this thread consider it to be a "like or similar kind and value" replacement computer for their defective hp.

 

For Ted Frank or who ever knows little bit of class action, what happen if we receive the CQ56 tomorrow, and in the near future, Judge Ware rule on our favor.
Do we mail it back for exchange? (Additional cost for Milberg and nVidia?)
Or do we receive additional stuff? (Additional cost for Milberg and nVidia?)

 

I'm not a attorney but if judges ware rules in our favor and other notebook options are on the table. I believe nvida/milberg would have to give you the option of keeping what you have or selecting one of the new options.

I really don't think it matters whether you've already returned your computer or not. If you've already returned it then you've complied with what milberg has ask, that you return you computer within 7 days of receiving your conformation and shipping instructions.

So because of nvida/milberg's bait and switch move they would have to pay to reship it back in exchange for the like kind computer.

(I'M NOT AN ATTORNEY THIS IS JUST MY OPTION)

 

Courts are listening to Mr. Frank and sound logic. Here is a link to some of his recent victories. Gives me hope that the Honorable Judge Ware will also be using sound logic when he reads our motions.

Center for Class Action Fairness, LLC: April 18 press release

 

I'm surprised to see that they're shipping out replacements when they know the judge is going to rule in our favor. He's probably just figuring out the best way to define "similar or like in kind and value" more specifically.

 

Let's hope it changes from 5 successful recent cases to 6 in the very near future.