HP is exiting the consumer electronics business! What does this mean to you? (1 Viewer)

[Scott Merryfield]

I am typing this from a HP PC at home, so this news is rather surprising to me. If Acer does end up buying HP's personal computer business, it will be the last HP I ever own. I had a horrible experience with a Gateway PC that I purchased about 18 months ago, leading me to return to HP, where I've had much better luck. I've also had a workhorse HP laser printer for many years, but like Carlo, I have avoided their ink jet printers like the plague due to their ridiculous cartridge costs. I guess my next home PC will have to be from Dell -- assuming they stick around.

 

[mattCR]

I guess my experience has been the reverse. HP has really been a plague for me the last few years. The HP Laptops had at least four seperate recalls that I know of.. the DV6000 and DV9000 were amongst the worst laptops ever released; they cut the damn vent holes wrong and almost every single one of them I've ever seen died in a hurry. (You can check good for "DV9000 or DV6000 and about the first thing that pops up is video failure)


Even the G60 series etc. were poor; lately, I see a lot of the HP consumer desktops that were sold cheap (ala Walmart) die of early motherboard failure... almost like Dell with issues with caps.


Their laser printers, however have always been high quality stuff. I would recommend an HP laserprinter to anyone. But I'd pass on all the other stuff.

Originally Posted by Scott Merryfield

I am typing this from a HP PC at home, so this news is rather surprising to me. If Acer does end up buying HP's personal computer business, it will be the last HP I ever own. I had a horrible experience with a Gateway PC that I purchased about 18 months ago, leading me to return to HP, where I've had much better luck.

I've also had a workhorse HP laser printer for many years, but like Carlo, I have avoided their ink jet printers like the plague due to their ridiculous cartridge costs.

I guess my next home PC will have to be from Dell -- assuming they stick around.

/t/314058/hp-is-exiting-the-consumer-electronics-business-what-does-this-mean-to-you#post_3843026

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

A few years back I was helping a friend of the family with some computer issues. Some component or another needed to be replaced in their HP laptop. Popped it open, and I was shocked to find masking tape used in a few places where screws should have been. Seeing them cheap out in such a basic way convinced me never to buy HP hardware going forward. Even though Dell has gone downhill in recent years -- and their tech support is famously atrocious -- I've stuck with their hardware because when I go under the hood, everything looks how it's supposed to. The bigger problem will be printers. I've used HP printers for years. I recently switched to a Canon multifunction that I love, but I can't find the ink for it anywhere. Everyplace sells HP ink.

 

[DaveF]

My last HP product was the marvelous 28S RPN calculator, bought about 20 years ago for college. But I've not used it over 15 years and the battery case is broken. I don't think they support it anymore. (And I've got pCalc on my iPhone now.)

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by mattCR

Their laser printers, however have always been high quality stuff. I would recommend an HP laserprinter to anyone. But I'd pass on all the other stuff.

Forgot about that. I married into an HP laser printer; ethernet capable and everything! It's unstoppable.

 

[Carlo_M]

Yep that's one thing we can agree on, HP laser printers = rock solid.

 

[mattCR]

Yep. One of the best buys I've ever had is an HP4000TN. That laserprinter is like a truck. I've had it years, never a hiccup, it saves me a crazy amount of money as a toner will last me months.. then again, designing a product that means I'm not buying a new one soon may backfire for them

 

[Patrick Sun]

So ... anyone score a cheap HP Touchpad at the $99 (16GB) and $149 (32GB) models this weekend? I think the slickdeals thread on this topic hit 10,000 replies already. If mine shows up, I'm just going to use it as a glorified digital frame, and to do some surfing with it.

 

[Sam Posten]

I got 2 32s from HP direct and 3 16s from Onsale, but none have shipped. If the orders get cancelled I will be disappointed to not have cheap Christmas gifts for my young relatives but will survive.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Going with the digital frame idea, I was going to load it up with various photos of poses and compositions, to help future prospective subjects visualize what I'm looking for in the shot.

 

[mattCR]

Hah. I snagged 4 off of Craigslist for $70. I told people why would I pay them $140 when they were being sold new for $99. Grabbed all four for $280. Still had boxes.

 

[Sam Posten]

HP claims mine will still be fulfilled but is delayed. I bet on sale is going to f me over, only regret is no way for me to give them bad feedback other than ResellerRatings.

 

[DaveF]

I didn't give it a thought. I don't want to put any time or money into an "ecosystem" that's DOA. And my 18-mo niece would be happier with a box

 

[Sam Posten]

I intend to put honeycomb on em if possible.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Is it possible yet?

 

[Patrick Sun]

I can't stop reading the slickdeals thread on this Touchpad topic, simply human nature at its basest.

 

[DaveF]

Got a note from a friend -- who first told me three years ago that Palm was resurrecting with new awesome system -- that he bought the 32GB touchpad for $149. Said it's very slick for the cost.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I got my HP Touchpad 32GB today. Now just trying to figure out how to play video on it. I do like being able to load photos on it and show them to folks. My friend was impressed that it was able to multi-task (playing streamed music on the internet, and surf, and display photos without skipping a beat).

 

[Patrick Sun]

To answer my own question, just make sure the video file is in the H.264 MP4 format (so you may need to find a converter).

 

[Patrick Sun]

I think the number was around 1700 (both free and not-so-free) when I looked in the HP App Catalog, so it's pretty paltry compared to the AppStore. And no to the any Android or iPad/2 for comparison. I wasn't going to jump into the tablet space at $400-$500, but for $149 for the 32GB model, I wouldn't feel too bad as long as if acted like a glorified digital photo frame, media player, and ocassional web browser. Plus, having flash support, and being able to use grooveshark and youtube on it is pretty cool. Now, do I feel some app-envy when it comes to conventions putting out schedules that are only available for Apple/Android devices, sure.