Open letter to HP computers.

[Kari]

Open letter to HP Computers.

I am a long time HP user. At the moment our home server is running on a HP, our both desktops and laptops are HP, as well as all three printers we have. Until quite recently I have recommended your products to each and everyone I know.

May last year I bought two HP ENVY 17-1150eg laptops here in Germany. The other one is working about as it should be, the temperatures around 60 degrees Celsius when idle and around 80 under load. As I am used to HP laptops, I know they are hot and loud and can live with that. As you certainly know, nobody buys an HP because they are quiet!

But the other one. Last winter I sent it to HP warranty, after fighting first about two weeks with your support staff who kept telling I had lost my warranty because I had installed Windows 7 Ultimate on it instead of the shipped Home Premium. This was oc course not true and was just a trick to avoid warranty repair costs.

I finally sent it to repair because of extreme temperatures and a clear fault in HDMI output; the picture loses two of the main colors after 2 to 10 minutes HDMI connection, making HDMI useless.See the attached image, the external display on left shows what I mean.

The temperatures on this laptop are over 80 when idle and up to 100 degrees Celsius under any load. It is always (I repeat: absolutely always!) so hot I can not use its own keyboard due the extreme heat both sides touch pad so I can not rest my hands on it. The laptop shuts itself down after about 20 to 40 minutes of use, giving the "Computer had to be shut down due the temperature" when next time booted.

I bought a cooler pad with three adjustable fans to be able to use this laptop. With cooling pad, the temperature stays in about 90 to 95 degrees Celsius and the laptop does not shut down as often . See the screenshot; the Core Temp app is showing the temperatures now when laptop is and has been idle for past 15 minutes only doing a regular system image backup, standing on a cooler pad. See the minimum values: the laptop is running on high 70s directly after boot. And the noice! it's quite absurd I need to shut down the laptop when phone rings, otherwise I can't hear a word.

Funny thing is, the laptop came back from your warranty support with a message "No faults found, motherboard replaced". Still, the serial number and BIOS versions of the motherboard are today the same they were before the "repair", the HDMI is still losing colors and the temperatures are exactly as before.

As I lost my faith on your support, I have not bothered to contact you anymore. Until this open letter now today, when even on cooler pad the laptop has now shut down 5 times during past two hours because of the temperature.

You just lost a good customer, buying about one desktop, one laptop and one All-In-One device every year.

BTW, the ticket number of my case was 8056852048 or 8057852048 or 8056752048, there was some misunderstanding due to your German support staff not speaking any English and even worse German than I. These three ticket numbers I have written down. System serial is CNF049G8N6.

Let's just add I am an IT professional with quite a many years experience. I do know how to take care of the computers.

Yours, truly,

Kari

 

[DeaconFrost]

I worked for HP for almost 6 years, but not within their consumer side at all. I've been out of HP for 6 years now, working as an I.T. Director for an unrelated company, and in an unrelated field. I buy Dells.

HP has the ability to make some great products, such as the home server boxes, but when they get one wrong, they lack the desire to make it right. I don't usually suggest people avoid HP completely, just to do their research to find out if their chosen product is a quality one, or one marred with issues.

 

[windude99]

My main computer is an HP. It is a well built pc except for one thing. It had one of those cheapo Bestec power supplies. When I upgraded the graphics card in this pc, I swapped out the cheap psu for a Seasonic which is much better made (and not to mention much, much quieter) That is the only real issue I have had with HP. There was a time when I contacted their customer support online and they were helpful. In terms of customer support, it is hit and miss for most of the big computer manufacturers (HP, Dell, Acer). The only time have been completely satisfied with customer support from tech companies is when I had to call Crucial and when I have had to call Apple. Apple and Crucial have the best customer support of all of the major tech companies.

 

[gregrocker]

When they get it right it's hard to kill it. I have carried around a 10 year old HP 510 business laptop which was given me, runs Win7 fast on 1gb RAM with a Celeron way beyond when I thought it would go bye. Never cleaned the heat sink and the temps are low end. I wonder if their business line is built tougher. I'd like to get a new travel laptop so I'm hoping it will die any time.

 

[indianacarnie]

Have only owned one H.P., a desk top. This was way back in my computer "noob" days understand, so I didn't know anything about them. Remember when I got it home thinking how loud it was. Called support and was told to "get used to it". Have not bought anything from them since.

 

[smarteyeball]

Next time you want to buy a laptop kari, shout me some airfare and I'll fly over to you and buy you something decent


(and that's some shocking results. Did they just look at the unpowered laptop and go - looks good to me, Ja? - kein Fehler gefunden. nächste.

 

[Layback Bear]

At the temperature you lap top is running at a 10% load you could cook supper on it. Normal.

 

[DustSailor]

For the most part, I hear Dell is the way to go if you want good pc support. Perhaps expensive

 

[Kari]

Today the laptop mentioned in original post seems to be running OK, only around 80 degrees Celsius . I have it totally idle, it has been on half an hour I've done nothing with it, the screensaver has been on two times:



Notice the max temps (red). I repeat: laptop was turned on, clicked from Win 8 RP Metro screen to desktop and then nothing. Screen Saver kicks in after 10 minutes and then it maxes.

Nice!

Kari

Conversions for geeks on the wrong side of the big pond:

• 50°C = 122°F
• 80°C = 176°F
• 100°C = 212°F

 

[Borg 386]

Here you go, I found the solution for you

 

[pessimistic]

Here you go, I found the solution for you

Hahaha guess there's a fix for everything!

 

[Dinesh]

I use a Compaq laptop and its always around 55-65% celcius. HP is the parent company of Compaq laptops. So I guess the parts are the same in Compaq laptops which are used in HP Laptops. This is my first and only laptop though. Works just OK. Cant play heavy multi player games otherwise the laptop just shuts down out of excess heat. Using a cool pad makes only a little difference.

 

[Chilidawg]

HP ProBook 4530s with Home Premium 64 here. Mine typically runs right around 40C, but I generally don't play graphics-intensive games. It's a little over a year old, and thanks to the knowledgeable folks on the W7 forums, it has been running smoothly pretty much all that time.

 

[Britton30]

Not only HP but many companies ship different models than what they ship in the US. They provide different warranties to which makes no sense, a device works the same here as in Germany or Botswana. These companies want our money then try to deny warranty claim as much as possible or simply lie about doing a repair.


A friend sent me a Gigabyte m6900 mouse from Australia which quit working properly. I contacted them and they said since it was sold in Australia I had no warranty at all in there really poor attempt at English. They had no answer when asked what the difference was in using it there or the US. They also "repaired" a motherboard I returned to them....4 times! I kept getting the same one back until I asked for a cross shipment. Then that board was DOA. Their solution was for me to install XP because w7 would not work. This was after w7 was out for a year and the box had it listed as compatible. Each return for "repair" took 3-4 weeks.

 

[Gary]

I do not purchase OEM PC's. I either build them myself or get one built to my specs by CyberPower and seein how I will be 65 in August, the latter will probably be my choice if I ever need a new PC.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I do not purchase OEM PC's. I either build them myself or get one built to my specs by CyberPower and seein how I will be 65 in August, the latter will probably be my choice if I ever need a new PC.

Other than small laptops, I have no plans to ever buy a computer again. My last desktop was one I had custom built and it was a POS from the word go. I recently built my present one and will continue to build my own from now on (I'm pushing 64, btw) no matter how old I get (though I may have to hire help to lug it around).

I've been boycotting HP for many years now due to product abandonment and unbelieveably poor customer service/tech help(less). The only one worse than HP is Acer.

 

[Wenda]

That's strange, I've never had an issue in years of using Acers, that's wht I keep buying them.

Currently I own four of them.

The one time I did need their after-sales service (warranty replacement of a dead DVD-RW drive)
they replaced it while I waited.

Wenda.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

That's strange, I've never had an issue in years of using Acers, that's wht I keep buying them.

Currently I own four of them.

The one time I did need their after-sales service (warranty replacement of a dead DVD-RW drive)
they replaced it while I waited.

Wenda.

Everything of Acers I owned was a POS. The keyboard that came with the Acer desktop I had was awkward and uncomfortable to use (I went back to the seven year old keyboard that had come with my Gateway; every keyboard I've had since was better than the Acer). The mouse was uncomfortable and the design was so flimsy, I kept palm clicking it (the seven year old Gateway mouse worked much better). The machine itself was constantly breaking down and Acer's tech help was useless.

I also had two Acer Aspire Ones. The first one died one month out of warranty. I bought another one because it was the only one with XP I could find on short notice just before a trip. It died only three months later (while on a trip). I was so disgusted with Acer by then, I didn't bother to get it fixed or replaced under warranty; I just replaced it with an ASUS.

 

[Frank1]

Maybe I'm lucky. I've had a HP laptop for well over one year. I've had a HP desktop for over 2 years and have had no problem with either.

 

[gregrocker]

I carry a HP 510 business PC that was given to me and is about 10 years old, runs Win7 fast on 1gb RAM with Celeron.

One reason I find it hard to convince myself to replace it is that the ones I test all seem like cheap plastic that I could crumple in my hands, while the HP feels like solid steel by comparison - even though I know it's also plastic but it's so much toucher plastic that it doesn't give at all.

So I'm still waiting for it to die, realizing I'll likely never see another laptop build this tough, loyal to it as long as it stays alive.