this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2024
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HP is so desperate for money that this is what they need to do to survive.
What does HP (hardware) actually do these days? Where do they compete (and I mean compete, not have products in)?
They ruined Compaq.
They killed their golden goose printing business with bullshit like this.
They killed their server hardware business with bullshit like locking software, drivers and firmware behind support contracts.
As somebody who always bought HP and advocated for their hardware (many years ago), I would never buy anything they make today.
The day HP locked all firmware and driver downloads behind active contracts was the day I stopped buying it.
I can go on Dell's website and download drivers for a server I bought in 2004. For free. By just putting the service tag in.
Don't even get me started on HP's partsurfer or warranty websites. It's a mire of hundreds of subdomains, none of which are actually managed properly.
It's no wonder they're swirling the drain. They are blatantly anti-consumer and anti-corporation.
Wait. What? Is this real? Firmware and drivers behind a pay wall? Are they insane?
Zero day patch? Fuck you, pay me. Firmware update for your SAN controller? Fuck you, pay me. Doesn't matter, it's all profit.
Yeah. Even legacy stuff. Want to fire up that old server? Need new firmware for it? Guess what. Now it needs to be on contract or HP won't lift a finger to give you old software they already have.
I used to be a bit iffy on Dell years past when their reputation was largely as commodity shovelware and overpriced premium kit. But honestly, they've evolved over the years into by far my favourite of the big mass manufacturers. Not only is their hardware generally solid for the price point (with a few exceptions), but their customer service is absolutely second to none. I've never had such smooth and helpful customer support from any other hardware manufacturer, big or small.
That alone puts them leagues ahead of HP and Lenovo for me.
Yeah of all the zombie reanimated corpses of computer companies that used to have some kind of reputation but now have been hollowed out by enshittification, Dell seems to smell the least.
Thought they could be Apple without atleast the reasonable build quality
They make decent laptops. I had Elitebooks, ZBooks and an Omen, excellent machines. I liked them more than Dell or lenovo.
About 90% of laptops I've seen fail are made by HP. Specifically, it's their cooling solution that always seems to fail, even after replacing the thermal paste.
They might be great laptops for maybe about 3 years, until they're not.
A friend of mine won the top of the line omen model in a gaming tournament. We went through three of them before we just accepted the thing doesn't fucking work for shit and demoted it to a Super Gengear 64 Station boy advance and stuffed it under the TV.
It's not what they "need to do", it's just what makes them money. Printer scams have been around nearly as long as printers themselves, because suckers buy them. HP is just constantly pushing to see how much bullshit their consumers will tolerate.