On Thu, 2006-11-23 at 17:32 -0800, Marc Shapiro wrote: > Compaq Presario ($399.98 US) [snip] > HP ($379.99 US)
Don't buy an HP/Compaq. Two reasons: 1. They never perform as good as the hardware suggest. This has been my observation over several years dealing with clients who buy nothing but HP. 2. HP of late has a filthy habit of boobytrapping their notebooks to not take generic components. My nx6125, for example, will not work with any hard disc other than the 80GB Seagate (with HP firmware) that it came with. Sure you can put something else in, but it simply disables DMA making it hardly usable. This leaves you with two problems. If you run out of space, you can't put something bigger in, and b) if your disc dies after the warranty ran out, you're going to pay through your nose for a new drive. I can also not replace the wireless min-PCI card. Mine shipped with a broadcom. At the time, ndiswrapper was quite unstable, so I put an Atheros card in that I scavanged from an AP. Notebook wouln't even post - says something like "Unsupported PCI device, please remove." I thought, OK, I'll buy one from HP - got an HP branded Intel 2200 card (which was listed as compatible with my notebook) - same story. Hans -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
