[valis]

ford vs chevy.

We buy only hp's at the office, got a package deal with them, and out of 1100 users, have had maybe, and I mean maybe, 5 hardware failures. One of the opco's has chosen to purchase specifically Dell's; that particular opco has had by far and away the most problems with their machines, be it desktop or laptop. Completely random stuff, like powerpoint producing a runtime error; this has only happened on dell laptops, not their desktops. And we've had about a half-dozen latitude d800's need their system board replaced as it decided to quit recognizing the modular dvd bay.

I've got 3 hp's at the house, one since 98, and have had zero problems with them, outside of the ones I caused, and one PSU unit, but that was to be expected, as that's the 98 box, and it shares a room with a cat. Get's sorta dusty in there.

Bought my dad an HP6910P laptop, he loves it, has had zero issues; my mom got a dell, and it cratered, then Geek Squad got involved, and long story short, she was sans laptop for close to 3 months. Thing still runs herky jerky.

Again, though; ford vs. chevy. Depends on which one you like. The only think I dislike about HP is their AIO equipment; the scan drivers are junk and the tech support is useless.

[poochee]

Originally Posted by sup2a

the only thing about the newer HP printers is that even if there is black ink left if a colour cartridge is empty it refuses to print even black, now i don't use colour much so it tends to dry out, i have been trying to keep it going by printing a good colour pic every now and then but then it tends to run out too quickly... oh and the shipping would no doubt be a LOT more to Australia... got my old canon connected now anyway

Thanks for the info. The HP I have doesn't operate that way.

[Stoner]

I don't print anything in color so when the HP 832 that came bundled with my first computer, died, I bought a pallet of HP DeskJet Plus printer for $5 ( the pallet ) at a business auction, sold off several and kept the rest in the basement with one good one doing all my printing chores.
Those oldies may have been as heavy as tanks, but they are as durable, too.

[Freebirdz75]

I definitely like HP better than Dell. I think I like Dell as much as Gateway, and this HP laptop replaced the MT6821 made by Gateway that had a bad motherboard after 1 year.

I had an Epson Stylus CX4200, and I had to replace all four of the ink cartridges all the time, and it wouldn't print if any of them were empty. It was a money pit. This Brother MFC-440 I have is really good, and it has an adjustable lcd screen so you can see what your about to print.

[SiteGuiser]

Originally Posted by Soundy

And FWIW, I found the hack in about 15 seconds, in the first hit on googling "hp laptop waveout audio hack":
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=169644
...

Soundy, learn to read please (sorry if that sounded snide, but your reply was as rude as it was unhelpful). That thread was for a completely different machine, a completely different driver and has NO application in this situation whatsoever. FWIW, I did try to extract the theory of that post and overlay it with the Conexant driver...but it simply doesn't work. There's nothing in ANY of the install files that allows the mixer or wave features to be re-enabled. Here's a link to the actual driver. I warmly invite you to repeat my efforts and attempt to find what I have missed. I'd LOVE for you to prove me wrong (you won't) so that I can finally get the audio capture running without the need for an external sound device.

In any case. I have machines and operating systems pre-dating a lot of some people's births (seriously) and I have NEVER seen this feature disabled until now. It's loss is crippling to many like me, who make a living on audio processing, and renders the technology absolutely useless for my needs. I'm actually better off carrying around the boat anchor that is my PC and setting it up on a table at Panera to do my work outside of the home as it's actually capable of doing MORE. And that's where I'll end my contribution to this discussion. For with all technology...isn't innovation SUPPOSED TO PROVIDE US WITH MORE, NOT LESS!??? You don't retire any technology until it has been replaced of made obsolete. There is no replacement here and the technology is not obsolete...it's more relevant now more than ever. It was wrong to take it way, the reasons behind it are CRIMINAL (RICO statutes anyone??) and I am now going to make a FORTUNE selling people software and hardware that gives this ability back to them. Just ask Creative...they're ROLLING in the money now.

[Soundy]

Originally Posted by SiteGuiser

SI'd LOVE for you to prove me wrong (you won't) so that I can finally get the audio capture running without the need for an external sound device.

Send me an HP laptop, and I will.

[SiteGuiser]

Funny you say that. Mine's actually at HP right now for repairs...3 months old and already under repair (LCD failure). I asked them to re-enable the sound capture while they had it. I was politely (very) but flatly refused.

When they're done, I'll have them Fed-Ex it to your address. If you're serious, I'll pop in a virgin hard drive with the system set up just as if it came off the showroom floor and you can have at it.

You shouldn't need the box however. Just use the link I gave you for the driver....any reputable disassembler can get inside the relevant files and show you the inner workings. That's the failpoint. The hardware itself will perform audio capture just fine with the correct driver. The Presario F756NR (and other Presario F700 models) has been successfully back-pedalled to XP with some snags like the Wifi light staying one color and the speakers remaining functional with headphones plugged in. In any case, audio capture on the fly works fine in XP. With the out of the box Vista setup however, the audio capture features are noticeably missing. Same companies, same hardware etc...but draconian restrictions imposed on setups sold 2007 forward. It's absolutely criminal. Once you're ready for a guinea pig, zap me a link and I'll test your new driver for you.

If you DO get a working driver built however, I claim 50% royalty ownership of all revenue generated by the re-fit. We're gonna be RICH!