I might be getting something wrong, but in this part of the world, HP still sells laptops under the Compaq name, mostly low end models.
Their consumer laptops were cheaply made junk. I paid $1100 for one in 2005. I had a problem with it, their online support couldn't fix it they asked me to send it to their service center for their 48hr turnaround service so I did. Big mistake. 2 weeks later I still did not receive it back. I gave it another week still nothing so I called them. They told me its fixed and ready to be shipped out tommorow. 2 more weeks still no laptop. I called them again they said they made a mistake it wasn't ready last time but now it is and I should receive it in 2-3 days. 2 more weeks went by, I called them again, the lady was apologetic and promised she would deal with it herself and personally make sure it goes on the FedEx pickup the next day. 2 more weeks went by still nothing. They were lying to me every time. So I called them. This time a man answered. I went off on this guy like you wouldn't believe I won't even post here what I threatened to do, I said I dare you to lie to me one more ***** time!! So a few days later I received a package from them which did not even contain my laptop. It was an obviously used, scratched up cheaper, older model with my hardrive in it. Within a year from then the plastic around the hinges had separated and split so bad the screen flapped around loosely when opened and the closing latch would jam every time it was closed. I eventually bought one with a broken screen on EBay and used parts off both to fix it but within a year or so the same thing happened to the hinges. In 2007 I bought a Dell Inspiron laptop nearly $500 cheaper than the HP. That Dell is now 10 years old, rarely had a problem with it, the case still looks and works like new. Needless to say, I never bought another HP product and I never will.
Their business PC's are high quality. They're more expensive than their consumer PCs. For what you're getting when you run a business, it easily justifies the premium difference.
My last two laptops have been HP ProBooks and the build quality is excellent. My next laptop will probably be another ProBook or EliteBook. Not only is the quality very high, I like that I don't have to unscrew anything, to remove the back panel.
My 1st and current personal notebook is a HP Pavilion. But I have used other laptops from employer(s) mainly Lenovo and Dell. To date, have never had any issues with my HP. Quality-wise and performances wise it has been stellar.
^Service-wise, HP laptops aren't good. I don't know a single HP that survived the long haul (4+ years) in tough weather conditions. I do know Lenovo, Acer and Asus laptops that did.
The one I described above never even got exposed to weather. I wrote a letter of complaint to HP corporate complaining about it, and the awful customer service at the HP service center. They didn't even bother to respond.
