HP or Dell

[HeathQuad]

I am looking to purchase my daughter a very basic entry-level PC for Christmas. Given that the computers are exactly the same in configuration except for the processors (HP processor is a 2.8 versus 2.53 for Dell) which one in your opinion would be the best to go with?
She will be only using this for playing around on the Internet, maybe e-mail etc.
Heath

[kkmay]

Well do you know exactly which Hewlett-Packard and Dell computer you wish to purchase? My first desktop was a Hewlett-Packard. Then my second desktop was a gateway and then my laptop right now is a Dell. Let's see the differences between the computers you wish to buy. Every little detail. And then I will give you my two cents about which one to pick.

[HeathQuad]

Here is the HP

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_series.do?series_name=a1130e_series&catLevel=2&category=desktops/hp_pavilion&storeName=computer_store

Here is the Dell

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DB110B&s=dhs

[kkmay]

I would pick Hewlett-Packard. You don't want to be stuck with a Celeron. But that's my opinion.

[kkmay]

I'm sure that moderator PN will give you his opinion. He knows some stuff about computers.

[carl]

I am looking to purchase my daughter a very basic entry-level PC for Christmas. Given that the computers are exactly the same in configuration except for the processors (HP processor is a 2.8 versus 2.53 for Dell) which one in your opinion would be the best to go with?
She will be only using this for playing around on the Internet, maybe e-mail etc.
Heath
Just a few questions that anyone would need to answer your question:
How old is your daughter and in what school grade? How many years do you want to get out of the investment and then what - upgrade it or throw it away? Does she need a monitor and printer or do you have them? You wrote internet/e-mail - by dialing the phone, DSL, or cable? Do you need the warranty that comes with a new computer?
Carl

[metronycguy]

The content below is a thread from Fatwallet (http://www.fatwallet.com/) forums. Thread Title: Dell HOME - Inspiron 2200 $399 after $100 MIR , Dimension 3000 $299 after $50 MIR - starts 11/23 (Wednesday)

Date Posted: Nov/22/2005 10:51 AM
Posted By: Dwynne
Rank: Senior Member
1K This is NOT a repost of the current D3ll SMALL BIZ $399 deal - this is D3ll HOME!



Skip the Crowds this Holiday Season!

Special offers on select PCs begin, Wednesday, November 23rd!

Inspiron 2200 Notebooks Starting as low as $399!

After $100 mail-in rebate and $150 instant savings ($649 before rebate and instant savings). Also includes, FREE Wireless Card and FREE Dell (http://www.fatwallet.com/redirect/bounce.php?afsrc=1&url=http://www.dell.com/) 720 Printer! Offer good on e-value codes or order code containing the following sequence only: i2200bft1.

Dimension 3000 with Intel® Celeron® processor Desktops Starting as low as $299!

After $50 mail-in rebate ($349 before rebate). Dimension 3000 with Intel Pentium® processors are excluded from this offer.

Offers not combinable with other offers.

Scroll down for more offer details.

Rebates are redeemable after purchase at regular system price. Rebate coupon must be postmarked within 30 calendar days of your system ship date. Rebate checks are ordinarily processed within 8-10 weeks.


Linky-Poo (http://www.fatwallet.com/redirect/bounce.php?afsrc=1&url=http://www.dell.com/blackfriday)

Dennis

[HeathQuad]

Just a few questions that anyone would need to answer your question:
How old is your daughter and in what school grade?
11 years old/fifth-grade

How many years do you want to get out of the investment and then what - upgrade it or throw it away?
I'm really only expecting to get two to three years out of the computer. We have upgraded at times and we have purchased new, just really depends on what is available at the time.

Does she need a monitor and printer or do you have them?
She needs a monitor but does not need a printer.

You wrote internet/e-mail - by dialing the phone, DSL, or cable?
We have cable Internet she will be hooking up through a wireless connection.

Do you need the warranty that comes with a new computer?
I really do not worry about the warranties.
Carl

The above deals on the Dell Computers are on their web site you just have to look under advertised on TV deals in you will find them.
Heath
.

[duge]

to me you can't go wrong with a Dell, had one for almost 3 yrs and never had any trouble. I just bought a 2200 Inspiron laptop for my son from Dell I gave a bit more but got a Pentium processor.

[PN]

Dell HOME - Inspiron 2200 $399 after $100 MIR , Dimension 3000 $299 after $50 MIR - starts 11/23 (Wednesday)is NOT a repost of the current D3ll SMALL BIZ $399 deal - this is D3ll HOME!


I concur with Metro on the Dell Dimension. I would bump up the RAM from 256MB to 512MB (add $40). Because you're using Windows, I would suggest that your daughter has a Limited User account. This should help decrease spyware and infections.

[2jazzyjeff]

IMO, it's apples and oranges btw. the 2. i have a Dell laptop and All in 1 copier, fax, printer, scanner... only because the state bought it for me. if it was MY money, i would go with HP, because you can buy them and all the accessories anywhere... Dell is only sold on-line.. i don't like that you have to use Dell printer cartridges and order on-line too....:mad:

[HeathQuad]

Thanks for the suggestions

[PN]

Heath, is this issue resolved?

[metronycguy]

i see that dell laptops with cd burners & dvd drives are under 400

[dgrotz]

I would go for the HP, myself I would go macintosh, but out of those two HP, they've been around longer, have a huge product base, and easier to get parts. Make sure you get at least 512mb, xp is a resource hog. ;)

[HeathQuad]

The issue is not completely resolved the we are leaning toward the HP. But it pains me to know that shipping adds 1/3 more to the price of the computer.

I would love to go MacIntosh also but they are a little more pricey than what we can afford at this time. I will look into the laptops and hopefully some good deals will come along in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks
Heath C4/5

[PN]

Heath, do you live near a Office Depot?

I just got off the phone with Brian at the Office Depot store on Harbor Gateway in Torrance, California. In the store they have a special on a Compaq Presario SR1610NX Desktop Computer With AMD Sempron™ Processor 3200+ (http://www.officedepot.com/textSearch.do?uniqueSearchFlag=true&Ntt=243744&x=26&y=12) that comes with a Compaq FS7600c 17" Color Flat-Screen CRT Monitor (http://www.officedepot.com/textSearch.do;jsessionid=0000qDjW-0Px1KKGt1yTsWt5gOb:10irskpha?uniqueSearchFlag=true&Ntt=190200&x=51&y=23) and a printer. You have to do all of this in the store and the special comes to an end on Saturday. The printer is a HP 3915. The total price before the rebates is $679 after rebates $329. To upgrade the RAM from 256MB to 512MB is going to cost $42.

$50 computer rebates
$50 monitor mail in rebate
$50 printer mail in rebate
another $30 printer rebate
$150 Office Depot mail in rebate

(For some reason I come up with $349)

I did this on-the-fly but be sure to sign up for the Advantage Plan for additional savings.

[HeathQuad]

I believe there is one about 30 miles from here

[PN]

Give them a call and find out if they have this deal. If you miss it, there will be more.

[HeathQuad]

I think I am going to look around tomorrow at a few of the electronic stores in the area in the way so I'll just stop by there. Will let you know why I find that out

[mr_coffee]

I've had 2 HP computers, 1 desktop and 1 laptop both suck very bad and I paid alot for them. HP doesn't supply ample cooling system in their systems at all. Its also very cramped in their cases. I never had a Dell though. I hated HP so much they drove me to learn how to build my own computer, and i'm very happy with that. If price isn't an issue I would highly recommend an Alienware System. I just bought one a few months ago and it runs great and the technical support is unbelivable. But if price is an issue, go for Dell, HP really gets to me! Thats my 2 cents.

[HeathQuad]

Heath, do you live near a Office Depot?

I just got off the phone with Brian at the Office Depot store on Harbor Gateway in Torrance, California. In the store they have a special on a Compaq Presario SR1610NX Desktop Computer With AMD Sempron™ Processor 3200+ (http://www.officedepot.com/textSearch.do?uniqueSearchFlag=true&Ntt=243744&x=26&y=12) that comes with a Compaq FS7600c 17" Color Flat-Screen CRT Monitor (http://www.officedepot.com/textSearch.do;jsessionid=0000qDjW-0Px1KKGt1yTsWt5gOb:10irskpha?uniqueSearchFlag=true&Ntt=190200&x=51&y=23) and a printer. You have to do all of this in the store and the special comes to an end on Saturday. The printer is a HP 3915. The total price before the rebates is $679 after rebates $329. To upgrade the RAM from 256MB to 512MB is going to cost $42.

$50 computer rebates
$50 monitor mail in rebate
$50 printer mail in rebate
another $30 printer rebate
$150 Office .

Thanks Paul, this was available in our area so we made the decision to purchase this one.

Good thing I know a little bit about computers. Their staff was very unknowledgeable. First off they didn't even have the printer that goes with the deal in stock and then come to find out they were giving us the wrong printer anyway. We found that mistake and then they still didn't even have the correct printer in stock so we have to wait on it.
We had to explain the rebates to them because all of them were not coming up upon checkout. We stayed in the store for an hour trying to get all of us worked out.

Question though, one guy told me he did not think I could upgrade the RAM and another guy said I probably could (which I know I can) but he could not tell me what type of memory was in the computer. Is there anyway for me to find out without having to open the computer?
Heath
.

[PN]

We had to explain the rebates to them because all of them were not coming up upon checkout. We stayed in the store for an hour trying to get all of us worked out.

Question though, one guy told me he did not think I could upgrade the RAM and another guy said I probably could (which I know I can) but he could not tell me what type of memory was in the computer. Is there anyway for me to find out without having to open the computer?
Heath
.

Heath, is the final price of the computer $329 after you have finished filling out all of the mail in rebate's? I know (family friend) the former president of Office Depot and this helps when it comes to customer service. Provide me with the phone number of the store along with the location and I will find the answer to your memory question so you do not have to open the case.

[PN]

Update: I just go off the phone with Parker at the Torrance store on Harbor Gateway and he told me that you can purchase two sticks of the DDR RAM (256MB each, you have two slots) and you can buy the memory at Crucial (http://www.crucial.com/),Kingston (http://www.kingston.com/) etc. I was also told that this computer is expandable to 1GB of memory. Office Depot will not install the memory for you. Let me know if you have any problems or need any more assistance with this issue and I will call Brian.

$34.19 for 256MB at Crucial (http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.asp?Mfr%2BProductline=Compaq%2BPresario&mfr=Compaq&tabid=AM&model=Presario+SR1610NX&submit=Go)

[metronycguy]

i hope your compaq work out for you, i had a big problem with Compaq a couple years back, it was blue screen of death out of the box. i had to use my credit card guarantee to return and get my money back, i lost the shipping price.
i would never buy another from them.with dell you have 3 weeks to return it no questions asked..i hope its still that way..

[mike]

I have to agree with the comment relating to supplies. My son has a Dell Printer and ran out of ink. Instead of running out to the closest store and picking up another cartridge, he had to wait for an on line delivery. Can be a real problem should you be working on date sensitive material such as your tax return.

[HeathQuad]

Heath, is the final price of the computer $329 after you have finished filling out all of the mail in rebate's? I know (family friend) the former president of Office Depot and this helps when it comes to customer service. Provide me with the phone number of the store along with the location and I will find the answer to your memory question so you do not have to open the case.

Office Depot
Address: 4710 University Dr NW, Huntsville, AL 35816 Phone:(256) 722-8231


We finally received all of the rebate offers we were supposed to have but after closer inspection last night when we get home all of the rebates revolve around the bundle (Tower, monitor, printer) and you must have all three UPC codes before you can send for the rebates. With them not having the printer in stock I do not have the UPC code for it and after calling the store they really cannot guarantee when a printer will arrive.

There is a time limit on the rebate offers and I have 14 days to return the unit. If the printer has not arrived in 13 days I am going to return the unit. I cannot hardly believe they advertise this bundle deal and then didn't even have all of the components.
Was not very satisfied with my experience with them.

Over the years I have had a Compaq, a Packard Bell, a Hewlett-Packard and a Dell. I've never had any problem out of the first three as long as I use them for what they were designed for. They were low end basic units only to be used for simple task, surfing the Internet, e-mail, word processing etc.. I personally have a Dell Dimension 8200 and I've had more trouble out of it than anything. It's had to be reformatted twice because of system crashes, the hard drive had to be replaced and the sound card had to be replaced. We had a unit just like it at work and we wound up throwing it away because of all the problems with it. I would still purchase another one though because they're so easy to work on.
Heath

[PN]

I just looked at Sunday's ads and I think that OfficeMax has a better deal. However, I have no connections with this store.

HP Pavilion a1130e Desktop with AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (2.0GHz) & 15" f1523h LCD Flat Panel Monitor
Save $519 After Rebates. Includes LCD Monitor and Printer
$349.99
After Rebates
thru Dec 3

Your PC, Built by You!
• 256MB DDR-400MHz SDRAM (1x256)
• 40GB 7200 rpm SATA Hard Drive
• 16x DVD-ROM Drive

FREE Upgrade to 15" LCD Flat Panel from a 17" CRT. A $130 Value!

FREE DeskJet 3747 or Upgrade to a PSC1610 All-In-One for $49.99 After Rebates. A $79.99 Value!

Add an UPGRADE PACK for Just $140!*
• AMD Athlon™ 64 3500+ Operating at 2.2GHz
• 80GB 7200 rpm SATA Hard Drive
• 48x max HP CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive (48x32x16x48x)

$738.99 - $209 instant rebate - $50 PC mail-in rebate - $50 monitor mail-in rebate - $50 printer mail-in rebate - $30 printer mail-in rebate = $349.99

OfficeMax (http://officemax.shoplocal.com/officemax/default.aspx?action=detail&flashbrowse=y&storeid=2420376&rapid=206408&pagenumber=6&listingid=-2096117376&ref=%2fofficemax%2fdefault.aspx%3faction%3dbrowsep ageflash%26storeid%3d2420376%26pagenumber%3d6%26ra pid%3d206408%26prvid%3dofficemax-051127)

Compaq Presario Desktop Computer Bundle with AMD Sempron™ Processor 3200+
SAVE $330
329.97
After Mail-In Rebates
thru Dec 3
• With Enhanced Virus Protection
• Reliable 256MB memory
• 80GB Ultra DMA hard drive
• Play DVDs/CDs & burn CDs via the DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive
• Windows® XP Home
• 9-in-1 media card reader
• ATI Radeon® Xpress 200 video
• FS-7600c 17" CRT monitor, (16" viewable area)
Model SR1610NX

Upgrade to a 15" LCD monitor for $110 more. Model VS15 849-904. After combined purchase Mail-In Rebate.

659.97 In Store Price - 150.00 OD Mail-In Rebate - 50.00 PC Mail-In Rebate - 50.00 Monitor Mail-In Rebate - 50.00 Printer Mail-In Rebate - 30.00 Printer Mail-In Rebate

Office Depot (http://officedepot.shoplocal.com/officedepot/default.aspx?action=detail&flashbrowse=y&storeid=2434873&rapid=207370&pagenumber=5&listingid=-2096108433&ref=%2fofficedepot%2fdefault.aspx%3faction%3dbrows epageflash%26storeid%3d2434873%26pagenumber%3d5%26 rapid%3d207370%26prvid%3dofficedepot-051127q)

[HeathQuad]

I just looked at Sunday's ads and I think that OfficeMax has a better deal. However, I have no connections with this store.

HP Pavilion a1130e Desktop with AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (2.0GHz) & 15" f1523h LCD Flat Panel Monitor
Save $519 After Rebates. Includes LCD Monitor and Printer
$349.99
After Rebates
thru Dec 3

Your PC, Built by You!
• 256MB DDR-400MHz SDRAM (1x256)
• 40GB 7200 rpm SATA Hard Drive
• 16x DVD-ROM Drive

FREE Upgrade to 15" LCD Flat Panel from a 17" CRT. A $130 Value!

FREE DeskJet 3747 or Upgrade to a PSC1610 All-In-One for $49.99 After Rebates. A $79.99 Value!

Add an UPGRADE PACK for Just $140!*
• AMD Athlon™ 64 3500+ Operating at 2.2GHz
• 80GB 7200 rpm SATA Hard Drive
• 48x max HP CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive (48x32x16x48x)

$738.99 - $209 instant rebate - $50 PC mail-in rebate - $50 monitor mail-in rebate - $50 printer mail-in rebate - $30 printer mail-in rebate = $349.99

OfficeMax (http://officemax.shoplocal.com/officemax/default.aspx?action=detail&flashbrowse=y&storeid=2420376&rapid=206408&pagenumber=6&listingid=-2096117376&ref=%2fofficemax%2fdefault.aspx%3faction%3dbrowsep ageflash%26storeid%3d2420376%26pagenumber%3d6%26ra pid%3d206408%26prvid%3dofficemax-051127)



Paul you are correct with the shipping charges.

There is a $99 applicable shipping and handling charge that is not included in the above price. I'm not sure if it is in the fine print in the ad but it is listed on the web site. You cannot purchase this at the store it must be delivered from HP. The disclaimer is as follows:

Only Available thru HP Custom Computer Center. By Delivery Only. See Package for Rebate Information. Applicable Shipping & Handling Not Included in Advertised Price.

Heath

[Patonb]

Watch out... both have only 256megs of ram

[HeathQuad]

Watch out... both have only 256megs of ram

Yes I've seen that but a quick $40 memory upgrade takes care of that. But for an entry-level computer the Compaq is not a bad deal. I really wanted to go with a Dell but better comparable basic unit with a memory upgrade with shipping and taxes was going to be around $500.

As long as you don't mind being with the rebates this unit will be around $360-$370 with the memory upgrade. A good savings for a budget strapped family. And for an 11 year old this will be plenty of computer.

What baffles me why don't they just discount the rebates when you purchase. Hoping you will forget to turn them in I guess.

Heath

[PN]

Heath: Nice talking with you today, and I hope we can get this issue resolved.

Starting with OfficeMax, on the very bottom of the page on their website and in the newspaper they write the following: "Only Available thru HP Custom Computer Center. By Delivery Only. See Package for Rebate Information. Applicable Shipping & Handling Not Included in Advertised Price."

It is in small letters, and nowhere do they mention what the shipping price will cost for delivery. We now know it's $100.

I talked with Nancy, the Assistant Store Manager at the Office Depot in Torrance, California, on Harbor Gateway. She was aware that all of the Office Depots are out of the HP 3195 and they are offering the HP 5440 in its place. According to Brian (who I have dealt with in the past, and who is very knowledgeable) these printers should be in the stores and there is no supply shortage of the HP 5440. Bottom line: you cannot get the HP3195 and the store in Huntsville, Alabama should have the HP 5440 along with the UPC code which you need to mail in to get your rebate. The stock number for this printer is 213440.

Patonb: We know about the PC only having 256MB of RAM, and our plan is to upgrade the memory to 512MB by ordering it from Crucial. Scroll up further in this post and you'll see the link to Crucial.

Heath: You may want to inquire about the Advantage Plan at Office Depot, because there should be some additional savings or benefits.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

[Aly]

Be careful with the rebate. We sent in all of our stuff and we got a letter saying we had not. When we called to complain they said they send that letter out to everyone and unless you call and confirm you will not get the rebate. :thinking: :mad: :confused:

[HeathQuad]

Gave this computer to my daughter, we completed all of the required set of procedures and it wanted to know if I wanted to make a set of recovery disk because the computer is not shipped with them. of course I say yes and about halfway through the first disk the computer shuts down automatically. Tried to restart and the computer would automatically shut down on its own three or four times. We finally got it to stay on, got it working, got connected to the Internet, got everything registered, then it shuts down again. Frustrated call tech support.

First off can't hardly understand the people but they say sounds like corrupted file so let's do a recovery. Get to the recovery screen and oh no he doesn't want to do a normal recovery he wants to do a destructive recovery (doesn't sound good) so we start the process. Of course it is going to take 20 or 30 minutes so we get a case number and get told to call back when completed.

75% completed, computer shuts down big blue screen pops up, call them back. They try a couple of different things and then say it appears with the destructive recovery all files including the recovery files were deleted for some reason. We have a fatal error so for $23.99 plus shipping we will ship you a set of recovery disk to fix your problem. (Say what, 23 more dollars to fix your problem). We supposedly talked to a manager or consultant and they basically say we are closing out your case number until you purchase the recovery disk we can no longer have you. I am ready to explode by now. total time 1.5 hours with no results

So I go to the HP support web site and low and behold they have a live technical support chat. I finally through that get an understanding person that promises to take care of my situation. She tries several different things. Including things I had never seen before but nothing would ever get the computer so it would boot up. She finally says give me a minute and she comes back wanting all of my information because they are sending me a set of recovery disk free of charge. And that if that doesn't fix the problem I will probably be getting a new computer. Very nice people, took care of the problem, and seemed very sincere and trying to help. Total time 1.25 hours but hopefully we have a solution. The shipment should be here Thursday or Friday.

The support person I was talking to over the phone called back later with another case number saying they had deleted not original conversation (the one that told me to do the destructive recovery, covering their tracks I guess) but that they still could not help me if I did not purchase the recovery disk. I am very disappointed in the support from the telephone service but hopefully the support from the chat session will have my problem fixed. Very frustrating and disappointing for an 11 year old who is still waiting on her Christmas present.

Heath

[metronycguy]

that's was one lesson i leaned a couple years ago when i bought a $2500 computer via mail order from a online licensed vendor. it had blue screen of death out of box, return policy was i had to deal with the manufacturer not the sellers. luckily i had another computer still working, i did a quick deja news online search for this model , it came back with a couple discussions concerning this model, turns out all these new models were experiencing the same exact problem and the tech support had no idea why this was happening, i could tell from the online discussions that the manufactures was just stalling for time , they didn't have a fix. luckily i was able to get my money back via my credit card return guarantees program. the manufacturer tech support wanted me to start changing jumpers inside the computer and a lot of other stuff, that i already knew from the online discussion groups would not fix the problem and probably would add more problems to the computer.
after than i bought a dell, than they had a 30 day no question return policy, i am not sure what it is today, i heard 3 weeks.
this is still a good return policy, i think that makes their tech support more responsive. make it good or take it back, no reason for a brand new machine to have problems like that

[mr_coffee]

GOood call Metronycguy, I can't stand HP, I bought a 50 pack of HP DVD+R's and discovered their Disk Code, found out its the shittest quality DVD out there, 4th grade quality 0-50% success rate. I don't trust them at all.

[HeathQuad]

I have had several HP products between home and work and this is the first truly major issue I have had with their electronics but this is just my experience. My major complaint is the difference in the technical support.

Phone support = let's do a destructive recovery. Oh that did not work, the computer will not start up well sorry We cannot help you unless you purchase additional disk even though we told you to do something that screwed the machine up.

Online chat support = let's try to do this and this and this, okay nothing worked so let me send the recovery disk free of charge, sent me pinpoint detailed instructions on how to recover including permission to open the cover and reset the hard drive cables.

Just can't understand the differences in the two support options. I have grown to expect problems out of electronics but as long as they are supported and the problems are fixed that is okay. We will hopefully see by the weekend how it works out.

Heath

[PN]

So I go to the HP support web site and low and behold they have a live technical support chat. I finally through that get an understanding person that promises to take care of my situation. She tries several different things. Including things I had never seen before but nothing would ever get the computer so it would boot up. She finally says give me a minute and she comes back wanting all of my information because they are sending me a set of recovery disk free of charge. And that if that doesn't fix the problem I will probably be getting a new computer. Very nice people, took care of the problem, and seemed very sincere and trying to help. Total time 1.25 hours but hopefully we have a solution. The shipment should be here Thursday or Friday.

Heath, we need the feedback good or bad and I think a new computer is warranted because this one is less than a month old. I also believe that the online help may be a higher level of tech-support and hence the good results. Office Depot's policy is 14 days (for a full refund or exchange) unless you purchase their extended warranty. By the way, did you take the computer out-of-the-box shortly after your purchase and put it through its paces?

[HeathQuad]

We did use it for a couple of days before the Office Depot warranty ran out. I skipped some of the set up procedures with the main thing being we did not make it a copy of the recovery disk. But we ran all the programs, connected to the Internet, played around with it and everything seemed fine. We did not have any major complaints so we packaged it back up to be ready for Christmas. So I would not say that we carried it through rugged paces but we did use it and made sure everything was working okay.

On Christmas morning we unpackaged the computer, set it up, completed the few minor set of procedures that made it to be completed, registering the computer etc., then it ask if I wanted to make a copy of the recovery disk that goes the computer does not ship with them. Of course I said yes I'll always want to Ohio a hard copy of something if I can get it. About halfway through the first disk the computer just shut down.

After we finally got it started everything would work fine but it would just shut down for no reason and a restart. Might take five minutes or 15 but it would shut down.

I sort of figured when I was instructed to do a DESTRUCTIVE recovery that something was going to happen. Hopefully the recovery disk will solve the problem. At least I did not have to pay for them.
Heath

[PN]

Heath, glad to know that you will not have to pay for the recovery CD but I still hope that HP sends you a new computer. Keep us posted.

[metronycguy]

GOood call Metronycguy, I can't stand HP, I bought a 50 pack of HP DVD+R's and discovered their Disk Code, found out its the shittest quality DVD out there, 4th grade quality 0-50% success rate. I don't trust them at all.
i have been learning about dvd materials also , they are some real garbage ones out there and better ones, it seems you have to research everthing carefully before buying nowadays, http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm
i just found out that the lacie external drive i bought has a very high failure rate...
fatwallett is the best site for all this stuff, they discuss quality of products and give good links.

[metronycguy]

pretty cheap not to include a recovery disc as part of the product.