Why I'm Sticking with HP
Disclaimer: I am NOT a Hewlett-Packard employee or affiliate. I am just another very satisfied customer of it's products.
Back then in early 2007, I was just graduated and just got bonus from my first real job. Well, that was the time when I was in the market for a laptop. Actually, I've been thinking of getting one for some time, but time and money was not right.
I was browsing for some new ones, my criteria was simple: light and powerful, design is additional score. I was in between Sony VAIO or Macbook. To keep it short, the former holds non-official warranty (it's parallel imported) and the latter was Apple.
So my father took me to his usual used laptop store to take a look at the used ones. I was particularly sensitive to buying used electronic devices. They will never have enough MTBF to justify buying second hand. But that day was different, there's a 2 weeks old laptop on display, and it looks damn cool.
That laptop was then and is still my current laptop.
The HP Compaq nc2400 is a premium business class laptop, even though it's not powerful, it made up in weight, design, and warranty. The warranty was 3 years, international, parts and labor. Which means, if anything happen during the 3 years period, I will just need to deliver it to HP, and they will bring it back to me, up and running, with zero cost.
And yes, they did that.
The first occasion was power adapter problem. It was Indonesia Imagine Cup 2007 Software Design final. I was there as a guest to look at some of the interesting stuff made by our students. At the end of the event, suddenly my laptop is not charging anymore. I'm still thinking that the adapter had short circuit or overload, since the electricity in Indonesia is not that reliable. Nevertheless, I was back in Jakarta the next day, and brought the laptop and the adapter to the service center (which is just around 2 block from my previous company). In 3 days, they have returned my laptop, working exactly like new. They even cleaned up the laptop! Zero fee.
The second occasion was just last week. This time, the optical drive was not working properly (cannot burn, cannot read DVDs, etc.) and the mouse button was not responsive (probably due to some leftover Pringles inside). Nevertheless, I brought the laptop to the service center in Singapore. Within 3 days, they have delivered my laptop, working exactly like new. They also cleaned up the laptop. And again, zero fee.
These two occasion, puts HP in a very good position for my future buy. The other laptop brands I have experience with are Acer (lots of problem when worked overtime) and Toshiba (top of the line quality, but suffers from abysmal after sales support).
But, there is always a room for improvement. On both occasion, the queue is quite slow and long. On both occasion, I've to wait for around 45 minutes until I get to the support officer. Plus, they haven't released similar product to the one I'm using right now. They have one though, but the specification is a little outdated.