For Laptop Owner's Only

[The Howling Wolves]

Need to ask you a question about laptops!
At Sam's Club today and they had a refurbished
HP Pavilion, dv7-3188cl, Intel Core i5-430M processor, 6GB ram and all the other goodies.
I can pay $475.00
out the door and use it for 90 days but the 1st 30 days I have option of buying extended warranty for 2yrs @$30 or 3yrs for $40
Is this a good buy? I am online with it now and so far everything is working ok. Just need someone with more experience with laptops than I am.
Product # wp586ua#aba

Ran sfc /scannow and everything was good.

What other tests can I or should I do to make sure this laptop is worth the money?
Add today at Frey's $699.00 for same model!

ps. I have a desktop that was refurbished from Costco and not a lick of problems for the 3 years I've owned it.

 

[richc46]

SFC checked the software
I would check the ram
Download memtest86 and test RAM
www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html

After your test the ram, take one good stick and test all the slots. You want to be sure no problems.
Test the hard drive, too
Test Hard Drive www.carrona.org/hddiag.html or this test http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

 

[linnemeyerhere]

"For Laptop Owner's Only
Need to ask you a question about laptops!
At Sam's Club today and they had a refurbished
HP Pavilion, dv7-3188cl, Intel Core i5-430M processor, 6GB ram and all the other goodies.
I can pay $475.00
out the door and use it for 90 days but the 1st 30 days I have option of buying extended warranty for 2yrs @$30 or 3yrs for $40
Is this a good buy? I am online with it now and so far everything is working ok. Just need someone with more experience with laptops than I am.
Product # wp586ua#aba

Ran sfc /scannow and everything was good.

What other tests can I or should I do to make sure this laptop is worth the money?
Add today at Frey's $699.00 for same model!

ps. I have a desktop that was refurbished from Costco and not a lick of problems for the 3 years I've owned it."


I would say it's a very good deal and for $40 for 3 years that as well seems a smart idea !

 

[ken9122]

Although I'm not a fan of HP, you can't go wrong at that price but get the warranty.

Ken

 

[DeaconFrost]

$40 to extend the warranty to 3 years should be a no-brainer. That could cost upwards of $200 normally.

 

[Little Darwin]

I agree... good deal on the system, and the warrantee.

I had a laptop (not HP) that failed right before 3 years and I had an extended warrantee. They installed a new keyboard and motherboard.

 

[LiquidSnak]

Also, you can't go wrong with a full-ish keyboard on a laptop. It is irritating for me to not have a 10-key.

All in all, it's a great deal, and that three year warranty is a great price.

 

[Hopalong X]

+7 You won't find a better deal. Get the warranty.

I had two HP desktops. One develped a bad DVD writer. HP mailed me a replacement with a prepaid return box for the old one. OVERNIGHTED it so I had it the second day after talking to the tech. They also told me if that didn't fix it they would send me a prepaid shipping box for the desktop. They figured the board was bad if the new DVD/CD player didn't resolve the issue.

Bad modem on the second one had it the second day. No return necessary.
Also Sam's/Walmart has good tech support for extended warranty. They were based in Canada when I used them.

HP may get bad mouthed for bloat ware etc. but customer service has always been A+ for me.

My 2 cents.

 

[TVeblen]

In addition to memtest and the hard drive test suggested by Rich, I would also run Prime95 for an overnight.

I also start removing the unwanted software and trialware as soon as I get it out of the box. That alone tests a lot of normal operations. When you start loading your own programs you will be testing the DVD drive.

I also start going through the Device Manager item by item, noting the component manufacturer and model number and current driver. I can google the component to see if others are having any issues, get a bookmark on the manufacturer's website driver section, and have the list of components handy.

Also check the operation of video by testing the graphics using W7's 3D games set at the highest levels, play with the Desktop Personalization settings and backgrounds, run WEI, and run any video intensive progs you have.

It was only after my daughter owned her laptop for a while (which we also found for $450 at the time) that we discovered that the on-board sound chip on her Persario did not have the capability to have a "Stereo Mix" device, regardless of driver. So you might take some time to look at all those Hardware and Sound Settings and see that all is there that you expect to be there.

Other than that, just play with it!

 

[gregrocker]

Who provides the warranty? I don't know how HP handles refurbished but usually they are only warranteed by seller, so who does that for Sam's?

It's an unbelievable good deal, and tempting to believe that Sam's would back it well. But verify.

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Who provides the warranty? I don't know how HP handles refurbished but usually they are only warranteed by seller, so who does that for Sam's?

It's an unbelievable good deal, and tempting to believe that Sam's would back it well. But verify.

Sam's Club provides the warranty after HP 1 year runs its course. But will find out tomorrow when I return to check on the warranty
SC even has a tech support number for me to use.
Yes it is unbelievable.
Been working on it most of day getting rid of garbage and installing my special things.

 

[gregrocker]

I'd be sure it's HP who provides the first year. Then call the Sam's Tech Support to see who answers.

Many tech enthusiasts find a clean-copy DVD of their OS version and reinstall using the OEM Product Key on the COA sticker on machine. Any installer can also have all versions unlocked using the ei.cfg removal tool. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/85813-windows-7-universal-installation-disc-create.html

You can clean up and optimize the bloated factory install by first unchecking everything in msconfig>Startup except AV and gadgets as the others slow startup, hog CPU/RAM and can spy on you.

I would turn off the HP Connection Manager which is a big resource hog and use the superior Win7 manager in SysTray.

Decide which programs you can do without over time, then use Revo Uninstaller in Advanced mode to uninstall them. Revo will first run the Windows uninstaller but when prompted to restart instead click "Next" to delete the bolded hidden Registry Keys and files which Revo cues up.

Monitor whether bloatware uninstalls have corrupted System files by running SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker. Irreparable system files resulting in Performance problems can sometimes be remedied by a Repair Install but better yet do the Clean Reinstall.

Use a lightweight free AV like MS Security Essentials with the Windows Firewall to gain back performance from more bloated AV's.

Monitor Event Viewer>Admin View to google repeat errors to find how others have resolved them.

Clean and order the HD perfectly using free state-of-the-art CCleaner ("Run Cleaner" and REgistry tabs) then Auslogics Disk and REgistry defraggers monthly.

Save a Windows 7 backup image externally which may become preferable to the Recovery Disks. Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

 

[The Howling Wolves]

When it to good to be true..............it generally is.................

Today, I went to Sam's Club and was ready to buy the 3 year extended warranty. Talked to several employees about it and at the last moment another employee listened in to the conversation and said....
YOU CANNOT BUY AN EXTENDED WARRANTY ON A REFURBISHED ITEM!!!!
To make a long story short I took him buy the hand and went to Customer Service counter and handed the clerk my receipt and said I wanted to purchase the extended warranty and she said that would be $40.00. The guy with me told her that Sam's Club does not have warranties for refurbished products. So now all bets are off for this laptop. Talked about uninformed employee's!!!

I am now unloading all my stuff off the laptop and will package it up and take it back for a full refund.
Glad I checked before the clock ran out!

 

[LiquidSnak]

God, I would have slapped that guy. If they sell you the warranty for a product they can't go back on it, I believe.

 

[The Howling Wolves]

God, I would have slapped that guy. If they sell you the warranty for a product they can't go back on it, I believe.

LS,
I should have paid for it when I bought it.....then what would they have done?

I am going to make an appt. with the Manager and see what he wants to do.
Either take it back and refund my money or sell me a 40 dollar warranty and hope I dont have any problems with it.
His call cause I could care less because of the bad information.

 

[LiquidSnak]

If you take it back, I would head to fry's on the way home or what, and look around @ their refurbished laptops. Sometimes they have great deals.

 

[DocBrown]

TigerDirect still has this refurb I got 2 months ago

HP Compaq Presario CQ60-615DX Refurbished Laptop PC - Intel Celeron 900 2.2GHz, 2GB DDR2, 250GB HDD, DVDRW, 15.6 Display, 6-Cell, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit at TigerDirect.com

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
I'm not normally a fan of "extended Warranties" since they often cost a CONSIDERABLE percentage of the price of the equipment -- for example I see people paying 60 USD on a Printer which only cost them 80 USD in the first place -- but 40 USD looks good.

However people do replace their laptops within 3 to 4 years so 160 - 200 USD on warranties over a 3 year period on a 400 USD laptop *might* not be a good investment.

I've been buying electronic stuff for over 40 years and rarely if ever had a problem with any gear that wasn't my fault such as dropping it on a stone floor or spilling coffee into the innards.

It's all a question of Risk assessment and peace of mind.

Remember some companies earn MORE on selling the extended warranties than they do on selling the original equipment -- so CALCULATE carefully and check the price is NOT PER YEAR as at least the ist year you always (at least in W.Europe) have the Manufacturers warranty in any case.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Lemur]

+1 to warranty. Too bad it's not like carfax, where you can see what the original problem was. But for the price AND the warranty, I'd go for it. Enjoy!

 

[boohbah]

Try purchase warranty over the phone via your card , only make sure its a different clerk.