Dann Sheridan: My ZT1180

Sat, 15 Mar 2003 22:13:19 GMT

Drivel: My HP PC laptop has a number of documented design flaws in addition to poor operating system (Windows XP Pro) and hardware integration, despite the fact that has a label on it stating "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP". In a sentence, this is why I am switching to a Mac. Here are some hard numbers that support my switch. My HP laptop cut out on me roughly six times a week. It takes me about ten minutes to recover each time it cut out on me. Additionally, each time it cut out on me I lost an average of two hours of work. I lost an hour a week due to actual power failure and thirteen hours of work. This is 676 hours of lost productivity a year due to my laptop's inadequacies. This translates into approximately $68,000 in lost revenue a year for my business. Any questions? The G4 PowerBook, that I have not yet purchased, has already paid for itself.

I would hate to see someone target hardware and software integration as the primary issue of a productivity study. If I am loosing $68,000 a year as a result of these fairly common issues, how much is Microsoft loosing a year? How much are IBM, Dell, HP, and Gateway loosing a year? Not to mention even larger companies like GE, Boeing, AT&T, and everyone else who uses PC laptops as their primary computing device. The productivity loss numbers have got to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. This is hundreds of billions of dollars being lost (just pissed away) because someone wanted to get to market faster, beat the competition’s prices, or add a new feature that their market research departments said would increase sales by 15%.

Thu, 14 Nov 2002 15:32:42 GMT

Drivel: I have set up a Yahoo! group for zt1180 owners since resources are hard to find, at best. You can find it here. If you own a zt1180, join the group and ask your questions, post your experiences, and help other zt1180 owners.

Thu, 14 Nov 2002 15:26:49 GMT

Drivel: I was just looking at the HP site and I do not think that they are shipping the zt1180 anymore.

Thu, 14 Nov 2002 15:19:01 GMT

Drivel: My laptop has been fritzing out more frequently over the past week. The one design flaw I discovered is the space around the CPU does not allow enough air flow, so the unit will cut out when the CPU temperature gets about 130 degrees. I have found that elevating the back of the machine helps, such as putting the power adapter under it. However, it is no less frustrating when it does blink out.

Sat, 13 Jul 2002 17:49:12 GMT

Drivel: My HP ZT1180 has become my workhorse lately now that I am traveling to clients sites a lot. I have everything installed on it that I need to develop software (Visual Studio, VMWare), databases (MySQL), web sites (Apache, PHP, Frontier, Radio, site scraping tools, and various text editors), monitor and manage systems remotely (VNC, Timbuktu, BigBrother), and stay entertained (WinDVD). I have all of my MP3 software (RioPort, MusicMatch Jukebox, WinAmp) installed and all of the drivers installed for all of the devices (Palm Vx, RIO 600, Olympus 2100C, Motorola V60c) I carry around with me. I am loaded for bare.

Tue, 09 Apr 2002 21:58:54 GMT

Drivel: My ZT1180 currently run Windows XP Pro. It came with Windows XP, but this just isn't suitable for the work I am doing on it. Additionally, I am running VMware's Workstation product that allows me to run Red Hat 7.1 at the same time I am running Windows XP Pro. I have had both running at the same time and have had no performance problems whatsoever.

Tue, 09 Apr 2002 21:53:32 GMT

Drivel: I have notices that the majority of my referers come from Google about my HP ZT1180. The HP ZT1180 is the latest in HP's line of consumer, desktop replacement notebook computers. It is a screamin' machine. It has a PIII-M 1.2GHz processor, 512MB RAM (SDRAM at 133MHz), a 40GB hard drive, a DVD and CD-RW, and a 15 inch display (1400x1050). I have created a category that you can access via the links to the left about my ZT1180.