A few months ago, a hard disk crash left my HP laptop utterly stranded, forcing me to buy an iMac as a replacement. The real issue was the crapware that had been supplied with the laptop, none of which were good enough to resurrect it, even with a new hard drive. Not even the OEM Windows XP reinstall disc worked.
While the iMac is a great machine, I missed having a laptop - so I decided to once again attempt to revive what had been a $2,000 doorstop for the past few months. Thanks to tips on how to use the upgrade version of Windows Vista (I have Home Premium) for standalone install, I bought a new hard disk again and gave it a try. Fortunately, it worked, and thanks to lack of crapware on the clean install of Windows Vista, the laptop is working better than ever. (This is legal on my machine, since it had been supplied with OEM version of Windows XP, even though it was unusable.)
And while HP is a company that has fallen out of favor with me, it is still good at providing drivers through its website, and I was able to gather all the necessary drivers to ensure that my laptop works well.
At least now, I have a laptop that will enable me to surf the Web and process photographs, while on business or personal trips - despite its 17" bulk and weight. I had been contemplating purchasing a MacBook for the past few months, but it looks like I won't have to shell out the money for the next 2-3 years.
