Complaint Review: Compaq - HP - Hewlett Packard

April of 2008, I purchased a Compaq Presario Notebook PC A913NR at Best Buy in Emeryville California. According to the box advertisement, the florr help and information I could find on the internet, this was a competent computer - not a fireburning gaming laptop, but supposedly it was good enough to do most multimedia work.

What I found out in July of that year was that the graphic processor had a major flaw - it could not process basic Direct3d instructions that processors years ago could easily perform. Therefore I could not run the simplest of games or any programs that required Direct3d. This also includes low-grade performance of Windows Aero, which also relies on Direct3d.

After testing it on games which incorporated Direct3d, from old, to fairly recent, to new, over and over again the processor failed to perform. By contrast, Opengl worked just fine, and I have ran fairly recent games that used Opengl without a hitch.

I first contacted Intel about this issue, and they told me it isn't their problem - they ADMITTED, even on their webiste, that the processor is not up to par, and is incompatible with many Direct3d applications - but they would not lift a finger to help correct the issue.

I went to HP and they told me "it isn't a gaming laptop" and that they wouldn't do anything but check it out and give me the same model back, which obviously would not solve the problem because the same integrated processor would be in it. Then they told me if I want to run games, I need to "spend more money" on my purchase. basically they gave me the big "FU".

Even though the PC is not a "gaming laptop", any modern PC should be able to run fairly recent games, because the components should be able to process Direct3d (and any DirectX instructions) - it is for Windows, is it not?

Additionally, I had a similar problem with the battery being only capable of 1 - 1.5 hours of usage. HP gave me another battery of the same type to "solve" the issue - but my problem is that only two months after I purchased this item new off of the shelf, HP treated it like it was a discontinued product. I asked them for an upgraded battery and they told me they don't even make one! so I'm stuck with a "Portable PC" that really isn't portable at all; and once again, HP could care less.

All throughout the process of my complaining, HP admitted the problems and shortcomings of this item, but they said their "policy" is not to replace with another model. They got my money and just threw me away. So much for customer satisfaction at HP. I suggest to anyone buying their products to get an A+ Certificate so you will be qualified to pick out the ones that aren't lemons - either that or buy the most expensive ones they sell, because otherwise they treat you like mud, and then blame it on you.