Anyone had a compaq or hp notebook computer for a while? - Page 2

Nimrod's Son · 02-15-2007, 08:56 PM

btw enjoy getting this problem from nearly every piece of software you install
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931573

j, the first thing you do with your new vista machine is dl that fix. then do all windows updates. dont install shit before then or you're fooked

wHATcOLOR · 02-15-2007, 08:59 PM

im glad you posted that -- i'm btwn a refurbished compaq 512 mb ram, windows xp, order online, vs. a new compaq, same ram, bigger hd, but has vista, and i can pick it up today at fry's..

if i do that fix, etc., do you think i'll be relatively ok?

wHATcOLOR · 02-15-2007, 09:19 PM

if you do that fix before installing anything, will you not face the problem goign forward?

wHATcOLOR · 02-15-2007, 09:24 PM

i wonder if a pirated copy of office 2003 will work with vista

wHATcOLOR · 02-15-2007, 09:39 PM

the more i read about this shit the more nervous i get. http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl.../02/03/1852245

wHATcOLOR · 02-15-2007, 09:46 PM

i ordered a factory refurbished compaq with windows xp pro, hope it works ok

Nimrod's Son · 02-15-2007, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wHATcOLOR

im glad you posted that -- i'm btwn a refurbished compaq 512 mb ram, windows xp, order online, vs. a new compaq, same ram, bigger hd, but has vista, and i can pick it up today at fry's..

if i do that fix, etc., do you think i'll be relatively ok?

yes

Nimrod's Son · 02-15-2007, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wHATcOLOR

i wonder if a pirated copy of office 2003 will work with vista

probably not

Nimrod's Son · 02-15-2007, 11:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wHATcOLOR

i ordered a factory refurbished compaq with windows xp pro, hope it works ok

get an extended warrantee from compaq

Nimrod's Son · 02-15-2007, 11:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wHATcOLOR

if you do that fix before installing anything, will you not face the problem goign forward?

probably not but who can say

bardy · 02-16-2007, 12:40 AM

I've had my gateway laptop for 5.5 years now and it still works!!

I am going to buy a new one when vista gets all the bugs worked out.

brendo_91 · 02-16-2007, 12:44 AM

Good choice on the Compaq, is it an HP Compaq and not a pre-buyout model? Some of the pre-buyouts have the same "waxy trackpad" thing as the latest Toshibas, but only slightly... nowhere near as soul-destroying as the Toshibas.

You can always upgrade to Vista later on. If you do, I'd reccomend a full install... you can do this from the upgrade disc by doing a full DEMO install, i.e. don't enter a key during setup, and choosing to demo the version you bought, then doing an upgrade over the top of itself.

Bardy, I'm surprised your Gateway hasn't fallen to bits after 5 years... we've got 2 or 3 that are lying in pieces in the storeroom.

bardy · 02-16-2007, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brendo_91

Good choice on the Compaq, is it an HP Compaq and not a pre-buyout model? Some of the pre-buyouts have the same "waxy trackpad" thing as the latest Toshibas, but only slightly... nowhere near as soul-destroying as the Toshibas.

You can always upgrade to Vista later on. If you do, I'd reccomend a full install... you can do this from the upgrade disc by doing a full DEMO install, i.e. don't enter a key during setup, and choosing to demo the version you bought, then doing an upgrade over the top of itself.

Bardy, I'm surprised your Gateway hasn't fallen to bits after 5 years... we've got 2 or 3 that are lying in pieces in the storeroom.

Yeah I don't know. I got the higher-end model when I bought it due to my school requiring me to have certain software and system requirements. I don't know if that made a diference. I've taken this thing many places in my backpack along with my books. It's been on many plane rides and hotels. The silver cover is a bit scratched and something on the bottom is kind of loose but it still works!

I thought it was destroyed with some spyware I got, I even went and bought a new laptop, but I decided I wanted to save my baby and I ended up fixing it. The people at bestbuy were not happy when I returned my laptop the next day!

As for everyone I know who got Acers, they didn't make it passed 2.5 years. Most of my friends' acers died their sophomore year and my roommates hung on until the end of her junior year.

Mariner · 02-16-2007, 01:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wHATcOLOR

oh, economics. i've dabbled:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...ron/supply.jpg

sometimes hard science can be so elegant

brendo_91 · 02-16-2007, 01:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bardy

As for everyone I know who got Acers, they didn't make it passed 2.5 years. Most of my friends' acers died their sophomore year and my roommates hung on until the end of her junior year.

Yeah... Acer seem pretty junky.

If there were some sort of Laptop Care award, I'd try and have you nominated. Seriously... 5 years with any laptop is a good run.

daydreamer999 · 02-16-2007, 01:48 AM

my dad just bought me a cheap-ish hp laptop with vista. have to see how it goes i guess, but this thread has made me kind of apprehensive about it.

Future Boy · 02-16-2007, 01:53 AM

Did they do anything about the vista speech recognition executing commands via a sound file?

daydreamer999 · 02-16-2007, 02:01 AM

hopefully having my own computer will get me back into boarding

wHATcOLOR · 02-20-2007, 08:51 PM

well it arrived today. it has windows xp, not windows xp pro as advertised.

also when i started it, it notified that the memory had changed since last reboot. paraphrased:

before reboot:
slot 1: ____
slot 2: 256 mb blah blah

current:
slot 1: 256 mb blah blah
slot 2: 256 mb blah blah

kind of makes me think that slot 1 was originally occupied by something larger, then they took it out to replace it with the 256. that doesn't bother me since it was advertised as having 512, but the OS thing is actually kind of annoying

brendo_91 · 02-20-2007, 11:12 PM

Force them to send you an XP pro cd, or a vista upgrade. you should get what you paid for.

oh, and 256mb dimms? WTF?

daydreamer999 · 02-20-2007, 11:23 PM

i got my laptop on monday. vista is kind of annoying and slightly buggy but still usable, so that's cool i guess.

wHATcOLOR · 02-21-2007, 01:38 AM

im an idiot, it turns out it does have xp pro..

but it doesn't have wireless. and i don't think they said it did either, i just assumed. anyone got a suggestion for a good/cheap wireless card? im not really sure whats involved in setting that up

brendo_91 · 02-21-2007, 07:50 AM

steer WELL FUCKING CLEAR of netgear.

MAJOR FUCKING PITA. worst fucking wireless cards EVER. EVER.

driver issues, and all sorts of fucking headaches which you can easily avoid by staying away.

also i'd suggest PCMCIA instead of USB... again, to avoid issues.

teh b0lly!!1 · 02-21-2007, 09:13 AM

i, for one, went with nimrod's strategy of spilling a considerable amount of money on a new laptop and covering myself with enhanced warranty.
here are the specs:
Toshiba A100-599

i actually just made the decision of purchasing it - i managed to get the guy who's selling it to me to install another 1GB of RAM (for a total of 2GB) and enhance the warranty to 3 years for a bit less than 1800$.
keep in mind i live in israel though so things are way overpriced here, but this is a pretty sweet deal.
all the vista talk kind of worries me though, i actually asked the guy to install XP pro on my machine and give me the vista cd's for later installation, but im not sure it'll be possible and it seems like I'll be getting the computer with vista installed...
i really dont feel like fucking around with all those problems

teh b0lly!!1 · 02-21-2007, 09:17 AM

oh yeah, i actually wanted to make a thread about this but i'll use this one instead
what's your take on Creative's Audigy 2 ZS Notebook edition (PCMCIA)?
im seriously considering getting one for my laptop; its moderately priced and since i record and listen to vast amounts of music, i need everything to sound like heaven and more importantly, not to lag and have latency issues on recordings..
anyone had experience with those, or other PCMCIA\ExpressSlot soundcards i should be looking at?

brendo_91 · 02-21-2007, 09:37 AM

Stay away from Creative if you want to do any amount of "serious" recording. I always had ASIO issues with my Live... namely that Creative don't provide ASIO drivers so you're forced into trying to piss around with ASIO4ALL etc.

Layla make a PCMCIA card in various in/out configurations or there's always firewire or USB solutions too.

teh b0lly!!1 · 02-21-2007, 10:10 AM

i actually heard some great things about the Audigy series, brendo.
not sure about the Live - but anyway, the audigy's get great reviews everywhere on the net.
did you have any bad experience with a notebook Audigy?
and, do you have any specific Layla model I should be looking at?

Starla · 02-21-2007, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nimrod's Son

i've liked my sony and my toshiba and hated my HP. oh, and btw do NOT get Vista, unless you want a fuckload of problems. I can't even begin to explain how bad of an OS it is

I'm having all kinds of hell with vista.

brendo_91 · 02-21-2007, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teh b0lly!!1

i actually heard some great things about the Audigy series, brendo.
not sure about the Live - but anyway, the audigy's get great reviews everywhere on the net.
did you have any bad experience with a notebook Audigy?
and, do you have any specific Layla model I should be looking at?

I just don't trust Creative for recording. If you're a gamer, they're great, and I think you'll find most people reviewing them are gamers.

http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/Ca...goIO/index.php

That one is one that a friend from work has, and he does some decent work with it. Only stereo I/O but if you need more than that, again I'll suggest something firewire.

02-15-2007, 08:56 PM	#31
Nimrod's Son Master of Karate and Friendship Location: in your butt Posts: 72,943	btw enjoy getting this problem from nearly every piece of software you install http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931573 j, the first thing you do with your new vista machine is dl that fix. then do all windows updates. dont install shit before then or you're fooked

02-15-2007, 08:59 PM	#32
wHATcOLOR THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! Location: \|\| MY NAME IS KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID ROCK!! Posts: 46,831	im glad you posted that -- i'm btwn a refurbished compaq 512 mb ram, windows xp, order online, vs. a new compaq, same ram, bigger hd, but has vista, and i can pick it up today at fry's.. if i do that fix, etc., do you think i'll be relatively ok?

02-15-2007, 09:19 PM	#33
wHATcOLOR THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! Location: \|\| MY NAME IS KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID ROCK!! Posts: 46,831	if you do that fix before installing anything, will you not face the problem goign forward?

02-15-2007, 09:24 PM	#34
wHATcOLOR THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! Location: \|\| MY NAME IS KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID ROCK!! Posts: 46,831	i wonder if a pirated copy of office 2003 will work with vista

02-15-2007, 09:39 PM	#35
wHATcOLOR THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! Location: \|\| MY NAME IS KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID ROCK!! Posts: 46,831	the more i read about this shit the more nervous i get. http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl.../02/03/1852245

02-15-2007, 09:46 PM	#36
wHATcOLOR THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! Location: \|\| MY NAME IS KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID ROCK!! Posts: 46,831	i ordered a factory refurbished compaq with windows xp pro, hope it works ok

02-16-2007, 12:40 AM	#41
bardy Immortal Location: helllllloooooo!! Posts: 20,831	I've had my gateway laptop for 5.5 years now and it still works!! I am going to buy a new one when vista gets all the bugs worked out.

02-16-2007, 12:44 AM	#42
brendo_91 Minion of Satan Location: ██████████ Posts: 6,479	Good choice on the Compaq, is it an HP Compaq and not a pre-buyout model? Some of the pre-buyouts have the same "waxy trackpad" thing as the latest Toshibas, but only slightly... nowhere near as soul-destroying as the Toshibas. You can always upgrade to Vista later on. If you do, I'd reccomend a full install... you can do this from the upgrade disc by doing a full DEMO install, i.e. don't enter a key during setup, and choosing to demo the version you bought, then doing an upgrade over the top of itself. Bardy, I'm surprised your Gateway hasn't fallen to bits after 5 years... we've got 2 or 3 that are lying in pieces in the storeroom.

02-16-2007, 01:48 AM	#46
daydreamer999 Minion of Satan Posts: 5,782	my dad just bought me a cheap-ish hp laptop with vista. have to see how it goes i guess, but this thread has made me kind of apprehensive about it.

02-16-2007, 01:53 AM	#47
Future Boy The Man of Tomorrow Posts: 26,972	Did they do anything about the vista speech recognition executing commands via a sound file?

02-16-2007, 02:01 AM	#48
daydreamer999 Minion of Satan Posts: 5,782	hopefully having my own computer will get me back into boarding

02-20-2007, 08:51 PM	#49
wHATcOLOR THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! Location: \|\| MY NAME IS KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID ROCK!! Posts: 46,831	well it arrived today. it has windows xp, not windows xp pro as advertised. also when i started it, it notified that the memory had changed since last reboot. paraphrased: before reboot: slot 1: ____ slot 2: 256 mb blah blah current: slot 1: 256 mb blah blah slot 2: 256 mb blah blah kind of makes me think that slot 1 was originally occupied by something larger, then they took it out to replace it with the 256. that doesn't bother me since it was advertised as having 512, but the OS thing is actually kind of annoying

02-20-2007, 11:12 PM	#50
brendo_91 Minion of Satan Location: ██████████ Posts: 6,479	Force them to send you an XP pro cd, or a vista upgrade. you should get what you paid for. oh, and 256mb dimms? WTF?

02-20-2007, 11:23 PM	#51
daydreamer999 Minion of Satan Posts: 5,782	i got my laptop on monday. vista is kind of annoying and slightly buggy but still usable, so that's cool i guess.

02-21-2007, 01:38 AM	#52
wHATcOLOR THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! Location: \|\| MY NAME IS KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID ROCK!! Posts: 46,831	im an idiot, it turns out it does have xp pro.. but it doesn't have wireless. and i don't think they said it did either, i just assumed. anyone got a suggestion for a good/cheap wireless card? im not really sure whats involved in setting that up

02-21-2007, 07:50 AM	#53
brendo_91 Minion of Satan Location: ██████████ Posts: 6,479	steer WELL FUCKING CLEAR of netgear. MAJOR FUCKING PITA. worst fucking wireless cards EVER. EVER. driver issues, and all sorts of fucking headaches which you can easily avoid by staying away. also i'd suggest PCMCIA instead of USB... again, to avoid issues.

02-21-2007, 09:13 AM	#54
teh b0lly!!1 Braindead Location: PROWLING THE BADLANDS Posts: 16,215	i, for one, went with nimrod's strategy of spilling a considerable amount of money on a new laptop and covering myself with enhanced warranty. here are the specs: Toshiba A100-599 i actually just made the decision of purchasing it - i managed to get the guy who's selling it to me to install another 1GB of RAM (for a total of 2GB) and enhance the warranty to 3 years for a bit less than 1800$. keep in mind i live in israel though so things are way overpriced here, but this is a pretty sweet deal. all the vista talk kind of worries me though, i actually asked the guy to install XP pro on my machine and give me the vista cd's for later installation, but im not sure it'll be possible and it seems like I'll be getting the computer with vista installed... i really dont feel like fucking around with all those problems

02-21-2007, 09:17 AM	#55
teh b0lly!!1 Braindead Location: PROWLING THE BADLANDS Posts: 16,215	oh yeah, i actually wanted to make a thread about this but i'll use this one instead what's your take on Creative's Audigy 2 ZS Notebook edition (PCMCIA)? im seriously considering getting one for my laptop; its moderately priced and since i record and listen to vast amounts of music, i need everything to sound like heaven and more importantly, not to lag and have latency issues on recordings.. anyone had experience with those, or other PCMCIA\ExpressSlot soundcards i should be looking at?

02-21-2007, 09:37 AM	#56
brendo_91 Minion of Satan Location: ██████████ Posts: 6,479	Stay away from Creative if you want to do any amount of "serious" recording. I always had ASIO issues with my Live... namely that Creative don't provide ASIO drivers so you're forced into trying to piss around with ASIO4ALL etc. Layla make a PCMCIA card in various in/out configurations or there's always firewire or USB solutions too.

02-21-2007, 10:10 AM	#57
teh b0lly!!1 Braindead Location: PROWLING THE BADLANDS Posts: 16,215	i actually heard some great things about the Audigy series, brendo. not sure about the Live - but anyway, the audigy's get great reviews everywhere on the net. did you have any bad experience with a notebook Audigy? and, do you have any specific Layla model I should be looking at?