HP Laptop Woes
I generally don’t like to focus on the negative in my posts but this time I need to vent. My laptop is driving me nuts. It is an HP dv8000 purchased about 4 years ago. That’s probably a good life for a laptop but given that I take very good care of it and only travel with it infrequently my expectation was that it would provide trouble free service for longer.
It is still very usable but my primary gripe with it is a growing number of vertical lines. I am currently at 20 of varying colors up from 10 just two months ago.
The thing that gets me about this is that it seems to be a common problem as I found out from visiting hpverticalline.com but HP has done nothing to address it. Sure, the extended warranty I never used expired in 2008, but I expected more on my support inquiry to them last year where they just told me to have it fixed locally. I’ve read that some people who pay to have it fixed just end up having it appear again in a short time. It might feel better if the display just totally died rather than seeing this ever worsening problem every day.
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John-
Had the same thing happen on a company issued Dell Laptop. It survived 4+ years of frequent air travel and extreme cold and heat conditions. I had a service tech come out and replace the LCD, it was not that difficult to swap the screens. 8 screws and plug and play install. The price was horrible, the part alone was $400 + the cost of the service call. Looking back a new computer would have been a better investment. Wonder if any aftermarket / refurbished screens are on ebay?
I think my repair would be in the $300-400 range. I did just now check ebay and screens are in the $120-150 range. That might be worth a try. Thanks for the idea. I’m really hoping that a new laptop is in my future, though.
Save yourself the trouble with HP, and buy a Dell. Well, my dad works there so I am just a little biased.
@Ryan, I have heard good things lately about Dell. I definitely won’t be buying HP again. Thanks for the full disclosure!
I have actually been also considering a Macbook Pro. But, there are strong indications that the line will be refreshed very soon so I am holding off any decision on that. If anything, it’s good justification for not buying now. I’m resisting my standard urge to break out the credit card and just buy something. I am trying to actually save up for it.
FYI, at last count, 28 lines.