HP Sucs.

Tranquility - Fri, 04/16/2010 - 19:10

So four buttons on my laptop are dead today. They're all on a line together - buttons ,ik8. Coupled with a large number of other problems that've slowly been building, 'ts time for a new computer..

Criteria:

Must be below 500$. Don't have much money left and have to save as much as possible. Can give up WoW, but not PC access entirely..

Must have decent GFX. Wanna be able to actually play games instead of seeing blocky shapes and particle effects.

Cannot be HP. Never again.

Must have integrated wireless. Only have an N-router. Compatible with A/B/G, but prefer N.

Must not require Vista. My current laptop came hardwired to Vista. Cannot change the O/S. Want Ubuntu.

Thus far there's only one that may be useful. Thoughts?

Tranquility's blog
Login or register to post comments

Comments

Well.

Tranquility - Sat, 04/17/2010 - 20:46

Got a replacement keyboard in the mail now. Few other buttons failed, and I said to hell with it and just hooked my computer up to our TV and got a long-wired USB keyboard. Playing games in high resolution is weird, and somehow it's boosted the performance. I suppose it's because it doesn't have to draw power for the monitor now.

The problems I've had with HP have been monumental. The best issue is that the webcam has never worked. The first few weeks I spent tinkering trying to get it into shape - turns out it required firmware that didn't actually load until I'd turned it on using the HP software at least once. The software that I deleted. They wanted 40$ to send me a CD, stating it was free, but I was just paying shipping. Building on that failure, the laptop cannot use any O/S besides Vista. Period. XP will not function. Linux will not function. The firmware for all of the onboard devices are designed exclusively for Vista. That's one of the biggest dick moves I've ever seen.

Don't game on a laptop

Tartare - Sat, 04/17/2010 - 12:36

Well, had to get that out of the way. Frankly, I'm still of the opinion that there's no such thing as a "gaming laptop" that isn't some $5000 monstrosity. Laptops are made of weaker components that can't afford to heat up.

That said, it's -possible- to get a laptop that -can- play WoW. barely.

If you don't like HP, Go with Toshiba or Acer. Make sure the graphics chip is an NVidia or an ATI, that's pretty much the main requirement.

Stay away from Sony (too expensive)
and Dell is optional, but I doubt you'd find anything great from them for under 500.

i did agree but i disagree now

ielinye - Sat, 04/17/2010 - 17:13

about 1-2 months ago, i was going to rebuild my desktop and blah blah blah. instead, i did research and got the asus g72gx laptop from bestbuy (best deal at the time) and i have to say, its well worth it and i'd definitely say its not about hardware anymore, but preference. it took me a little bit to actually like it but now, i actually love having a gaming laptop, especially for $999. anyways, laptops are starting to be very competitive for gaming imo.

and yes, add asus to that list, they are good :)

I have an HP

Siopao - Sat, 04/17/2010 - 20:35

Dv7

it works great for me...guess you had bad luck.

but then again you could just get a replacement Keyboard from HP for about $100.00

(No subject)

Shinwaka - Fri, 04/16/2010 - 19:13

http://www.newegg.com/Product

Poxumbra - Fri, 04/16/2010 - 19:51

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114788

Toshiba Laptop $515 dollars after shipping. I'm not sure that that is in francmarks or whatever it is you guys use. Uses an ATI vid card rather than that intel crap. I bought a similar one last year for my wife and have been very happy with it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114802

$100 more gets you double the ram a faster vid card and 2 inches more screen