Posts tagged laptop

clubbing together a month’s worth of everything into one big gigantic post

Dec 22nd

Posted by SEV in staying.general

1 comment

This is the 4th attempt I’m making at trying for a halfway decent beginning to a post. Have I really been reduced to saying such banalities? I can’t quite believe it. When I look at my front page, most of my recent posts are about movies. Reviews, basically. Most of my recent posts have also ended with a sign-off saying that I will have a proper update soon. This post, by virtue of being an “update”, doesn’t count as a proper post either. I have notes here, there and everywhere galore… none of which I have really expanded on. Hell, when I was going through my drafts I realized that I had a started a post last winter which I never got round to finishing.

I’m not happy with that start either, but its a start.

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why you should never buy an HP laptop of any kind ever

Jul 10th

Posted by SEV in staying.shitty

16 comments

Once upon a time I bought a laptop.

[I know that start is not as great as 'Many many years ago, on a galaxy far far away..' but you can pretend those words appear on the line above if they mean that much to you.]

Anyway. A laptop. An HP dv2500t. Yes, the very same laptop that died on me a few days after my warranty expired.

We are getting ahead of ourselves. Let us return to the beginning of time when the laptop landed in my hands a second time. Yes, I know it is counter-intuitive to think of a ‘beginning of time’ and a ’second time’ simultaneously, but still. In short, HP screwed up the order the first time it shipped to me. So begins the tale of them screwing up. With a screw up.

Flashback to last year. A year of heating problems and over-heating…and my graphics card is shot. I am in the middle of a conference. I need it fixed ASAP. HP charges me $300 (which I now realize I could have invested in a nice efficient little netbook), and ships it back to me pretty quickly. Everything seems fine. A month later, the edge of the panel facing me comes loose from its fastening. Repeat call to HP. They blame it on me. I think it may be possible. I don’t want to spend on it. I live with it. Over-heating still exists. Oh well. Jinxed laptop and all that.

On this trip to India, I find another good laptop engineer. Who is cheap. Amazing how everything in the US costs 10 times as much compared to India. Said engineer tries his best to open the laptop, because I think a cleaning of my laptop is overdue due to the overheating problem yada yada yada. Eventually he decides to try it in his lab. Back at the lab, and an hour later, I get a call.

[E] “Boss, they’ve applied super-glue.”

[Me] “What? HP Support? No..no..not possible. International organization, quality standards, etc etc.”

[E] “Boss, these panels are welded shut to the base. Super-glue. I’ve put in a solvent. Its coming unstuck. I’m telling you. Super-glue.”

[Me] “Ok.. great.. whatever. Open it up, clean and get it back to me. I’ll take care of it.”

So, let me get this straight. HP did not respond to my complaints (apparently, “high-end graphics cards can get pretty hot, sir”) when I said my laptop was over-heating until… my warranty expired and my video card blew. Then they replaced the entire fucking motherboard (‘coz of their god-awesome architecture), couldn’t fix the panels back on correctly, and so used SUPERGLUE to fix it? (My engineer managed to do it just fine without superglue, btw). When it went back to overheating and the panel came loose.. somehow I am to blame. Now, why did the panel really come loose? Well, sometimes superglue doesn’t hold everything in place. Why does it still overheat? Lets see:

  1. One tiny laptop fan.
  2. One Core 2 Due CPU.
  3. One NVidia 8400M GS graphics card.
  4. One tiny fuckin’ air vent on one corner.

Putting (2) & (3) results in a crapload of heat. Adding (1) to the mix means very little is being cooled down. Adding (4) to the mix means the heat goes nowhere. Bravo for neglecting every single rule about computer architecture and heat dissipation, HP. Now for the rhetoric. Why does HP suck so? Don’t get me started.

Never buy an HP laptop ever again. That’s what I tell everyone. Even the random guy in the store who I see taking a slight interest in HP products. Every salesman I meet at an electronics store in any country. Please don’t buy HP. For the love of manufacturers that make products that actually work.

Please.

Sample crappy HP laptops: Link 1.Link 2

Update (11 Dec 2009): The damn thing has pretty much died. Information gleaned from various sources tells me (1) this nVidia chipset sucks ass, (2) HP does not know shit about heat design for high-end laptops. Having ripped mine apart, I can tell you that the GPU has some kind of rubber between it and the heatsink – instead of thermal paste. I’m just shocked it didn’t die on me earlier. Since this post is hit up a lot:

  • Service manual: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01035657.pdf
  • Disassembly: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=228268. Please note additional inputs from here as well. I will try to post an even more ‘for dummies’ version based on the notebookreview link (hey, I’m a dummy, I mucked up so many times on this thing too).
  • Complaints, solutions, complaints: Link 1 (to be contd.)

I will attempt to find out more about the copper-mod, and see what I can do. Keep updating as and when I know more.

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the laptop gods hate me

Aug 28th

Posted by SEV in staying.general

6 comments

a year and 60 days after my warranty expires, the nvidia 8400GM graphics card on my hp laptop has fried. no matter that i have pointed out to HP more than once that the laptop does get pretty warm, and i have been using a  cooling pad/table since. no matter that graphics cards should only get fried if i really abuse them. no matter that hp’s solution to all problems is to have me send it to them, so that they can do nothing at all. maybe i should have done it earlier. maybe i should have lived without a computer for 15 days while finally tell me i need to use a cooling pad. the support team was pretty nice though, and very helpful. i am just pissed at the quality of the laptop build. $1250 for this ?

what does matter is that this laptop has been pretty jinxed from the word ‘go’. i wonder if this is a hint to move to a super-powered desktop. maybe this one. or, even better, this one.

i sad :(

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laptop down !

May 31st

Posted by SEV in staying.aside

No comments

alienware down. damn everything.

a moment of silence please.

deja vu

Feb 6th

Posted by SEV in staying.general

3 comments

for all my work on my lab computer; as much as a core 2 duo desktop processor runs, as great as 2-odd gig of ram makes the computer run, the tft screen… and so on and on and on.. at the end of it all working on my own laptop, is a feeling that just can’t be beat.

awesome.

and the next one… any suggestions for the best laptop around today ?

update: and due to my ridiculously ambivalent wording.. here it is in full: adapter here, alienware back, me happy.

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you have 10,000 spoons when all you need…

Feb 1st

Posted by SEV in staying.general

8 comments

irony has never sounded so sweet.

my alienware was on my lap, humming along merrily, having 1.25 gig of RAM felt good.. very good. charging was on, i was not against draining its battery to the very limit of its ability. eventually, the plugpoint was needed for more mundane usage, and so i yielded.

over the next few hours, i continued intermittent usage, mindful of the fact that i was using the poor thing after more than 2 days.. lab work has led me to be increasingly reliant on my desktop there. working on the alienware was a whole different story though.. this was a machine i had customized from the build up.

eventually, the battery showed signs of weakening.. i casually connected the charger and continued work. a cursory glance a little while later told me that it was not charging. damned loose connection. everything tested… still no go. yeagh. everything pulled out this time, the charger inspected very carefully.. reconnected.. and the LED on the damned thing doesn’t turn on. funny, the plugpoint seemed to be working fine a couple of minutes ago. a different plugpoint – same result. damnation.

it was now very apparent to me that the adapter was on the blink. repeated efforts didn’t have any effect, and so i whipped out the phone to call 1-800-ALIENWARE. 4th call in a year. it was a year ?! hmm.. vague remembrances of service/warranty contracts come to the mind. i should be safe, though.

eventually, self-identification done, the alienware rep confirms that the adapter, is indeed, at fault. no problem, replacements can be ordered. umm.. warranty.. has apparently expired 20 days ago. excellent. (renewal is impossible, and anyway, waaaay overpriced.) hmm.. model number: m5500. out of production. brilliant. parts aren’t as available anymore. what of a faulty part then ? an external supplier should be able to give me what i need. price check on adapter – one hundred fucking dollars. superb. you’ve got to be kidding me.

so my adapter apparently conked on me within 20 days of my not renewing the service contract, my model is out of production, and hence a simple AC adapter was going to cost me a $100 dollars.

also known as the answer to ‘define: ironic’.

[luckily, the very helpful rep found an adapter he could supply to me, which should work with my system.. and its to cost me $20.]

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