The Most Reliable Notebooks – Not HP
As I read through this today, I was not at all shocked by the news that HP notebooks did not do as well as one might have hoped. Based on my experience back in my PC repair days, they are junk. HP makes a decent ink jet printer, but its notebooks were frequent visitors to my shop when I was still repairing them.
Now there is no surprise from the above linked piece that netbooks are also not the most reliable things in the world. As some people have put it so a matter-of-factly, you get what you pay for. And with netbooks being made with the least valued hardware, it is hardly shocking to see them providing less than a stellar lifespan free of error.
So what is the answer then? Simple. First, stop buying HP notebooks. Second, consider going with the solid mid-range performers coming from ASUS, Toshiba, Sony, and yes, Apple. And last, get the extended service plan. Unless you keep the coin on hand to have the notebook repaired when the screen goes or the power connection comes unhinged somehow, for many people this might be the best approach.
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4 Comments
Mike Harla
November 19th, 2009
at 5:55am
Matt,
My experience is mostly with C-and D-series Dell Latitudes at work, plus a new Tosh Satellite A15 and a refurb Compaq nc-6000 both of which I bought for personal use; nothing high-end there.
I generally like the Compaq although it is now quite old, but the case has cracked thru on one edge.
I bought it to replace the Toshiba, which always had heating issues, and eventually suffered ‘lid hinge failure’ not worth repairing even with my own labor (so it seemed when I checked).
The Dells have generally worked out well. WIth a batch of Inspirons purchased in late ‘02 we had capacitor issues, with the boards replaced by Dell’s contractor at Dell’s initiative, but the Latitudes escaped similar issues experienced by various Optiplex desktop models during the ‘03 – ‘05 period.
Most of our D-series units are still out with users, and we have about 10 of varying ages still running, with normal upgrades like memory or hard discs, serving as portable stations for training sessions & etc.
The C-series were finally retired a couple years ago because they don’t have built in wireless adaptors.
Take it easy, Mike in NJ
Rick
November 19th, 2009
at 6:40pm
Ive had 6 laptops (4 dell 1 toshiba) and my last being a HP. The HP is not only the best laptop ive owned, it came with the best support ive ever receieved ANYWHERE! Im not saying my other laptops were junk and its not fair to compair them to my 20″ HDX. but all things considered, price, performance and support HP wins by a mile.
Dan Rudder
November 20th, 2009
at 2:06pm
Matt,
While I normally see things your way, but I believe you are doing HP a great disservice. My experience with my HP and several client ones have all been very positive. I do agree you should purchase a service plan making sure it covers screen breakage.
Dan
orbiker
November 25th, 2009
at 9:10am
At one client we have 16 HP laptops in the hands of technically challenged outside sales people/gorillas that have served us well. Some are over three years old. I have two myself, one is going on five years old and they both have served me well to date. I have another client that has two DV6000 series that had wireless problems but HP repaired/replaced both, though we did have to call them to find out that there was a recall on them. This year I’ve had more Dells come through than any other.