I've already mentioned my dead notebook computer. I would have to say it lasted just over a year before it couldn't be used anymore without being taken to an HP authorized service center. Of course, I didn't have an extended warranty on it, so I shelved it.

My Son's HP Notebook Computer

My younger son (Jon) has an HP notebook computer which I bought him about a year before I bought mine, which was the exact same model as the one I bought for my older son (Joseph). Joseph's notebook lasted about two years. In terms of usage, Jon's notebook didn't last even six months.

Jon pushed the adapter plug into the receptacle just a little too hard one day, pushing the receptacle into the notebook case. After letting it sit for months, he finally took it to a local computer shop to have it fixed. When he got it back, the technician told him the hard disk needed to be replaced. I haven't examined it myself yet but if the hard disk drive needs to be replaced, the technician either damaged it himself or he swapped it with a bad one in his shop. The shop isn't an authorized service center and I wouldn't be surprised if he swapped it.

Of course, it may just be an HDD boot sector error and if so, I can fix that myself. If not, I can use my spare drive (from the dead notebook computer since I haven't taken it out yet — too many other things to do).

HP Sales for 2009

I recently read a news article at Reuters.com about how computer sales were up almost 25 percent during the last quarter of 2009, helped by the sales of low cost notebooks. Perhaps they just didn't want to say "netbooks".

The part that amazed me was that they reported HP as the leader, followed by Acer, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba. If people knew how much service seems to be required on HP notebook computers, would HP have been the leader? I seriously doubt it.

Despite the almost 25 percent increase in sales, the US still lags way behind the sales in Asia, my neck of the woods. I haven't seen any reports about who the market leader is in Asia, but I can tell you from observation that the MSI Wind netbooks seem to be flying off the shelves as fast as the shelves are stocked.

Now, if you believe everything I've written about HP notebook computers, would you buy one of their laptops or would you look for something else?

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The HP notebook computer (HP Pavilion DV8110-US) that I bought in late 2005 or early 2006 died on me in September of 2007. First, the fan quit working right and I thought it was just dust, but I was wrong. Then a couple of weeks later, the monitor started developing vertical red lines and I thought it was dirty connections, but I was wrong. I'm not a genius, but I was able to take it apart and clean everything. It was to no avail, because the problems did not disappear.

Shelving the Notebook Computer

Since my notebook computer was past its one-year warranty period and I didn't want to spend days or weeks finding the HP service center in Manila, I shelved it and bought a desktop computer the following month. The desktop computer, by the way, is still working fine.

I initially thought I was just having bad luck or some other factors caused my notebook computer to not last very long. This wasn't the case at all. When I bought my notebook computer, I bought the exact same model and configuration for my older son, who took it to Germany with him. His notebook computer died on him a few months later with similar problems. He had it fixed, though, because there was an HP authorized service center near where he lived. Still, the fix only lasted about six months.

My friend, Hari, recently wrote about how his own HP Pavilion laptop was taken in for its periodic service (he has an extended warranty on it) and how he's getting tired of it, considering the laptop is only about 2-years old.

A Netbook as a Backup Computer

Around the beginning of August, 2009, I bought an MSI Wind netbook. I wasn't willing to spend another $1000 plus for a decent notebook computer, just to have it start giving me problems after a couple of years (since it would be a backup computer). I spent less than $400 for the netbook, which I found acceptable. It came with 1 gigabyte of memory and "Windows XP Home" installed. I'm going by memory right now, without actually firing up the netbook, and I think it has a 160 gigabyte hard disk drive in it.

I do not know if I can add memory to the netbook and I don't know if the memory modules in the dead notebook are compatible with it, but I'm getting ready to check (probably tomorrow morning when it's the coolest part of the day). There are two 512 megabyte memory modules and if memory serves me, I think the netbook can only accept two memory modules. If it has a single 1-gigabyte module, then I'll probably only be able to add a single 512-megabyte memory module. If it already has two in place, then I won't be able to add any at all.

I have an external HDD case waiting to be filled by a drive. The drive in the dead notebook is the right size and it's just a matter of removing it from notebook computer. The memory modules are easy to get to, but I have to remove a bunch of screws to get to the hard disk drive.

Can anything else be recycled?

That's a good question. There aren't many things in any laptop computer capable of being used anywhere but where they are right now. This is the problem with proprietary systems. Most desktop computers don't suffer from this problem.

I will keep whatever is left of the dead notebook computer in permanent storage just in case I find out that there's something left that I can actually use from it. This isn't unusual for me. I have parts, cords, cables and other things in storage which came from old computers. I'm not a pack rat, but I've found that I usually have what I need when a part needs to be replaced in a desktop computer. Such in not the case with laptops and I really don't want to build up a collection for them.

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