Buying a new HP computer? Buyer BEWARE!
Feb 26 '01
The Bottom Line HP is generally a good computer, but be sure to find out about its upgrade abilities!
Purchasing a new computer can be a very daunting task for most people. Many of us don’t really know much about the workings of a computer, save for terms like megahertz, RAM, gigabytes, etc.
You might know the basics of what you’re looking for, like how fast you want the CPU (central processing unit), how much space you want for the harddrive, and how big you want your monitor to be. Unfortunately, there is so much more behind the scenes that the average salesman may “forget” to mention.
When I purchased my Hewlett Packard 8380 desktop, I thought I had done my research. I checked how many PCI expansion slots it had, as expansion was very important to me. I have owned at least five computers over the past 10 years, and each time I wanted to upgrade I found that I basically had to buy new. For some reason or another, the system I had just either couldn’t be upgraded or it wasn’t economically feasible to do so.
For the most part, I have been quite happy with my HP over the past couple of years. It’s relatively stable in regards to cohabiting with its finicky operating system, Windows 98. Let’s just say I have had computers that liked to lockup every ½ hour or so, always leaving some cryptic “system fault” error (reboot time, again!)
The service I received from HP was also adequate, as the original DVD drive on my system had major problems. They sent a new one to replace my faulty drive within a few weeks, and once installed it worked fine. I would also like to say the HP website does a nice job making software updates, bug fixes, and current drivers easy to find and download.
My only problem with my HP Pavilion 8380 is when I decided I needed to upgrade some hardware on the system. Once again I ran into the dirty word of the computer world; proprietary hardware. I had run into this problem with previous computers, and once again I came up against a brick wall.
Some of the hardware inside this computer is actually permanent, in that it is physically fixed to the motherboard with solder. For example, I recently decided the 4MB AGP graphics card inside my computer needed updating. Many of the games I play are beginning to become unplayable due to the graphics resources required.
I decided to upgrade to a 32MB AGP card. I opened up my computer, and looked for the slot in which the graphics card resided. I saw the modem and the network card, but nothing else. Upon research, I discovered the graphics card was actually part of the motherboard, therefore irreplaceable, at least by me.
This is a very disappointing fact, as I am stuck with a graphics card that is for all intents and purposes, practically useless my today’s graphical standards. I can’t add a new card as the AGP slot is being used by the current card. I also discovered the display card is also proprietary, so upgrading that would also be impractical, or simply impossible.
I am very disappointed, as I am happy with the speed of my current processor, yet I can’t improve anything around it. I’ve already upgraded the RAM by several hundred megabytes, but that’s not enough to compensate for the paltry graphics acceleration.
My advice to you when buying an HP, or any computer for that matter, is to be very specific with your questions to the salesman. Ask him about the upgrade capabilities, and have him physically show you the various cards that the computer houses; graphics accelerator, display card, modem, network card, capture card, etc.
Ask if each piece can be easily removed and upgraded when the time comes to upgrade. Right now a $150 graphics accelerator would allow my computer to do everything I require. As is it, I’m going to need to spend about $1000 on a brand new system, and believe me, it will be upgradeable!
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Member: Hunter Paschall
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Denizen of the pacific northwest, purveyor of atypical music, & hacker of golf balls.
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