Do Not Buy Hp Laptops
 

In November 2004 I bought HP Pavilion zd8000 with 17" screen, and it was my x-mas treat.:) A bit more than one year later started my great problems with screen: appeard white vertical strips about 5 cm of width, differend transparency (up to five sometimes, sometimes less), some of them flashing, one completely white, so the icons under were not working. With flasing strips I cannot work for long, it is basically non usable, (viz picture). With this problem the laptop also works very slowly. In Italy they say two years waranty, but FORGET IT!!!
As HP Hepline admit it is a hardware problem and the cost for new monitor is +/- 480 Euro. Naturally I do not want to give HP another money like this as I feel I was robbed enough.

I do not know what to do now. Everybody I know here localy, who bought HP laptop (five people) sooner or later had the same trouble with screens. What would you suggest? Is HP worth a new screen?

I am for years dreaming about MAC...:confused: Maybe is time to forget PC and Windows with their Vista... and bite into an Apple? Which one?

Please send me your suggestions.

Susan

Susan,

Sorry you are having issues with your Laptop PC. I too had problems with a Sony VIAO laptop originally had keyboard issues then died completely just outside of warranty which you just don't expect.

I had the machine repaired at what turned out to be a very dodgey repair centre and it worked for only a few weeks before failing for good.

I am fairly new to Apple Mac and have two, A Mac Pro desktop which is simply fabulous a real well built and put together system with an efficient OS with seems perfect for photo editting.

I also have a basic Macbook, but basic means Core2Duo CPU, bags of performance and with the same OS.

Whatever Mac you choose it will not disappoint but do get the optional three year telephone support and hardware cover, not that I am suggesting problems its an optional agreement that gives piece of mind for three years.

The first PC I bought was a HP and it died after 5 hours. Fortunatley I got a full refund.

Then about 12 months ago I was looking for a new PC and I bought a Compaq (made by Hewlett Packard) that one lasted 2 months. After several lenghty phone calls to a "help line" and three visits from an engineer, and three visits back to the shop, the manager eventually agreed to exchange the machine (not for a Compaq or HP). I ended up with a PC of better spec then the one I originally bought. But I will never buy Compaq or HP again.

You guys are lucky.
Half of my garage is full of PCs that simply fail to die and I simply can't get part from. My wife has accepted the bitter reality and is no more bothering telling me to get rid of them... I have 386 laptop with window DOS/3.1 windows on it, Packard Bell desk top with the very first internal 1X CD rom (That uses caddy), 286 desk tops, even IBM XT running only on DOS with 8086 processor etc, of course some macs including all classics, on pre classic and many power macs.
Well don't know who is the luckier one, you who get the new computer because the old one died or me that have to live with them all.

Sorry Susan if this didn't help with you posting, but I tend to agree with you that HP does use cheap stuff especially on lower end models. Dell is a bit higher in quality and best used to be Gateway. My Solo 9300 and 9600s are still rocking and quite usable with host of features including optic sound out put, Firewire connection etc. Well they are slow to be used for photo editing but still do well for general work including web surfing.

If you are not happy, there is no guaranty that you get happy with Mac. In fact if you are familiar with the PC platform, you will be in a lot of trouble for first several months of switch and these two platforms sees to talk in entirely different language.

With the price of pc fallen so low (We get about $300 deal quit often for entry level laptop) and yes I am not talking about the famous $100 laptop that is going to be shipped and be sold in third world countries, it is very difficult to resist not to move into new ones when the price of Vista itself is about $100 for the entry level ones.

My advice to you, if you are again going for the pc is to chose a more higher grade level and whichever brand name you choose, don't go for the cheaper entry level models as they are not build to last and internally they all have similar components no mater what the out side box name is. If you go for mac, then best of luck. Be ready to have a deep pocket first and adequate patience, down the road.

Wish you better luck for the next time.

Hi Susan, I'm a Mac user back to 1986 and the original Mac Classic, I used PC's at work. I would recommend any Mac Book or Mac Book Pro - any problems - you switch off and switch on again and its sorted. With the new dual intel chips in the Macs you can also run Windows - if you must !! So most of your Windows software is not redundant. It would give you a chance to run Apple Aperture, a fantastic Photo program. If on a tight budget look at eBay but be careful there are scams about.

Thank you guys for your answers. With this HP Pavilion zd8000 I did not want to be "saving money" - it was recommended to me by a websites building company and they all were using this laptop on a professional daily basis. It cost almost 1790 Euros. It took me quite a long time to swallow this bitter experience throwing away so much money. Now I do not need a portable computer so I decided for this new iMac 20", 2.4 GHz. It looks really cool. It should be delivered shortly. I can't wait.

Susan

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the tip. I am always using Photoshop and quite used to it. If you have any experience with Photoshop, is the Apple Apreture better? I was also looking at this software, but not sure what to expect.

Susan

HP sux all round laptops to printers. There Printers are so unreliable even the expensive laser ones and cartridges are a rip off. Back to the topic of laptops I've found Toshiba to be a good manufacturer or if you want to push the boat out ROCK are a very good make

My brother has an HP from work. Nothing but trouble! The Wifi stopped working (He is the IT Technician, so it is important for him to have this), it over heats and the battery lasts 20 minutes.

My friend's HP overheated so much, the motherboard melted. He could only shut it down by taking the battery out or by getting a blue screen of death! He got his repaired, it cost a lot and took a long time, but at least it works.

I'd go for a MacBook Pro, or a Dell Studio 17. Dell's customer service is excellent. If you have a lot of free cash, apple, if not try dell!

Close your eyes and go for Apple.

Im a computer technician aswell i personally i wouldnt go down the Mac route as there is no advantage to it anymore, as Mac use PC components such as Intel and Ati where as before they used there own motarola processors. In my opinion Mac's are over priced beyond believe and for the same money you could buy a lot more powerful machine

I love my lil' Dell notepad. It's hardly cutting edge spec' wise, but it fits neatly into the front pocket of the Billingham 445 kit bag. The wife's laptop is a much nicer unit, massive screen, newer design etc, but much bigger (and heavier).

I have an HP Pavilion laptop (I'm using it right now) and it's three years old. So far, it's still going strong (I'm looking round for some wood to touch :D ) and I use it all the time.
The battery is completely knackered, runs flat in 15 minutes, so I use it on AC power but as I use it at home, that's no big deal for me.

At the prices they charge? I was looking round PC World (and others) the other week, as my aunt wanted a new desktop, and the price difference between PC and Mac made me resolve never to buy a Mac. On average a PC cost around £400-500 while the cheapest mac was a few pence short of £1000.

Its all down to personal choice when choosing a MAC or a windows based PC. Macs are more stable and reliable than windows based PCs but the cost is a lot higher. Fortunately I bought a Mac Book Pro before the new model was released and I saved myself £250 as the new model was repriced higher.

I use my MAC for all my photo and video needs as it comes kitted out with basic software (iLife) which is really good and easy to use. Unfortunately with windows based PCs you have to pay extra for any decent software.

If you're doing a lot of photo and video work then go for a MAC. If not save the £££ and buy a windows based PC.

Having said that I am starting to use my MAC for more day to day stuff as I get more familiar with it.

Hi
Just been looking at the Mac comments after years of us using the Pc's theres no competition between them the Mac wins hands down in every way. F

i would second the mac thing i have had pc's for years and always had problems with them
ive had my macbook just under a year and had no problems at all. It might sound cliched but macs just work and when you do have a problem the customer service is excellent
my 2 cents
hope this helps