My Last HP Laptop

[billroper]

My last HP laptop (with apologies to bedlamhouse) is sitting downstairs incapacitated with two keys that are no longer going to stay attached to the keyboard. This is the third or fourth time that this laptop has lost keys, because the attachment is just that flimsy. Had I realized how lousy this keyboard is, I never would have bought the machine, certainly not to reside in the same household with small children, the elder of whom managed to detach four to five keys with one swipe of her hand this afternoon while I was at work.

My previous HP laptop had a much more stable keyboard. Unfortunately, it had a bogus design for the power connector which eventually led to it breaking loose from the motherboard. I passed that one along to someone who worked in a place with the appropriate soldering tools to try to fix the beast. I think he succeeded.

Mercifully, the new keyboard isn't that expensive. The several hours of swearing that it'll take to install the new keyboard, well, that's a different story.

Comments

[mdlbear]

I have yet to own a piece of HP gear that didn't give me trouble -- usually by dying mysteriously and abruptly.

[laurel-potter.livejournal.com]

LOL, when I see "HP", I think of Harry Potter.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

My HP laptop (that I had to get with effing Vista) gives me no end of annoyance. Its software has A Wonderful Plan For My Life, etc. You know the drill. Seriously, on my last two laptops I used a full-size USB keyboard whenever possible -- saved me a lot of headache.

[bedlamhouse]

Blame not HP for Vista, which was forced upon us. Note that you can still get XP for many models if you order from the web...

I get my first personal experience with Vista (though I've worked on it for other people) since my new work-supplied laptop comes with it.

Oh, boy, am I looking forward to that.

If I'd wanted software that thought it knew everything I wanted and kept me from doing anything else, I'd have stuck with my Lisa...

[grey-lady.livejournal.com]

Yeah - wish we'd done that with my Christmas present HP laptop, which had Vista installed and which we've never been able to get onto the wireless network, despite everything else in the house managing. I can't say for sure it's Vista causing the problem, but ...

In the meantime, it's an expensive paperweight. Ah well. We'll probably hand it over to djbp and see if he can scrub it and load something useful on it.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not blaming HP for Vista. I'm blaming HP for its own software, such as its completely useless "help and support" software, and its media player QuickPlay, the command for which is apparently something I hit routinely while playing any first-person game using WASD navigation -- which is pretty much all of them. So, in mid-fragfest or somewhere in the West Gash region of Morrowind, suddenly the DVD player pops up. (I have the same problem with the now-uninstalled Google Updater, which seemed to need a damn stake through the heart.) No software is that freakin' important... media player programs, much less so.

HP

[jdonat.livejournal.com]

Their laptop group musn't talk with their server group very much... The servers that I work on at UBS are easily taken apart -even to the silly bits like cables, etc.

It takes that much "fun" (for LARGE definitons of fun) to change a keyboard on an HP laptop? The last keyboard I had to change was two clips on the keyboard and a cable.... Oh, ya, that's on a Mac laptop. :) Sorry, I had to do it.... I must admit when your HP is in one piece its a pretty nice laptop.

Re: HP

[billroper]

I've downloaded and looked at the tech manual. The trick is not removing the eight or so screws that I have to take out to lift up the top of the laptop that contains the keyboard. The trick will be getting everything back in place just so.

*sigh*

Re: HP

[jdonat.livejournal.com]

ahhh. sounds like when I had to change out Michelle's hard drive. (see previous post of mine). I used a bunch of small tubs to hold the various screws, etc. Seems like they really don't want that keyboard to be pulled. Good luck and take your time...

[bedlamhouse]

I've swapped out keyboards before on HP laptops (I tend to be VERY hard on keyboards no matter who makes them) and the alignment isn't as hard as you'd think.

It depends on the model, like everything else.

[mbcrui.livejournal.com]

I have a bad HP keyboard too. But the bigger problem is that the screen has started to go. My laptop is suddenly becoming a desktop.

[kestrels-nest.livejournal.com]

My laptop is a Dell (and no, I won't make that mistake again), and it's on its 3rd or 4th keyboard - I've lost track. I will say they are very easy to swap out; even with my inexperienced fumble-fingers, it only took me about 15 minutes. I did the same swap for my best friend, for her Toshiba, and it took all of half an hour. So it might not be that bad.

[kizoku42.livejournal.com]

Amber's HP laptop had the same problem with its power cord connector. Sigh.

[rrcgoose.livejournal.com]

HP has given me a whole lot of trouble this year. Back in March when I was sent to Korea on business for a week, my year-old HP laptop crapped out on the second day there. Upon returning to the States, returning it was fairly easy, except for the fact that it had to be sent back TWO TIMES. The first time it came back, the back-light on the monitor was dead on arrival. The second time, the system was back in my hands for a week before failing for the exact same reason as the first time (Heat failure as best they would explain to me). And that time, it took them nearly a month to return it to me.

Since then, the thing has worked fine. But, I'd imagine that it will begin to have problems at some point where it's most inconvenient to me.

Steve-

[birder2.livejournal.com]

I hereby defend HP, and not just because those are MY initials. The computer on which I am writing this is an HP and it has given me very little trouble despite the total kludge wiring it's connected with. My laptop is a Compaq, which now is the same company. Of course, both are several years old--thereby being obsolete as computers go, but I won't replace either until I must.