Dec 10, 2009 08:07 AM
8213 Views
(Updated Dec 10, 2009 08:27 AM)
All HP laptops bought in 2007 with Nvidia integrated graphics card are defective. The combination of AMD and Nvidia almost kills your laptop with excessive heat. But HP recalled only selective models based on their business risk analysis. My laptop was not recalled and I had the graphics problem exactly at 11 months into usage. I was having intermittent graphic display crashes, I ignored them initially by re-starting the laptop. Then when it started to happen too often, I researched on the web and HP forums and found lakhs of people having the same exact problem. From then on I started updating my drivers from HP on my own, the HP software was not loading drivers on its own. I wanted control on what happens to the laptop.
Webcam did not work of initial couple of months until 3rd version of the driver was made available.
My colleague bought the same laptop and his crashed in six months and HP replaced his MB.
I always test the drivers before continuing to use them. I install specific drivers one at a time for two days and see if does not cause any issues. Also check if fan speed is very high after the change of drivers, if the fan speed is high, the driver is causing hardware to over-load.
I used -1 version of the graphics card driver for more than a year as the latest version was crashing the laptop display.
The battery does not last even 0.5 hrs. I never disconnect the power, I use battery for backup only.
I un-installed all the crap-ware that HP gives with the laptop, removed all other software. I use it only for editing home videos and browsing.
Overall, this laptop gave me constant tension, even though it did never had an actual hard failure on critical components.
Cnet USA published this report, HP has the highest 25% defect rate for 3 yrs usage while other brands have 15-20.
https://squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf
I would buy a Dell business grade laptop(Vastro or Latitude) or Asus the next time around.
