>>He didn't buy it after all.
FWIW, if you want a HP notebook, order it directly from the
www.hp.com site when they have one of their amazing 30% off coupons. (google HP 30% off coupon)
Alternatively, check eBay where there are vendors who buy cheap low spec late models and swap in better processors, SSD, more memory etc. HP and Dell both seem to charge a lot more for upgraded specs than you'd pay on the open market.
Re HP, I switched to HP in 2008 and have no regrets so far. Staff, wife etc all have HP notebooks. I guess we don't appear in the squaretrade stats because we don't buy third-party warranties.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
