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HP Dishonors Warranty If You Load Linux
darkonc points us to a writeup on linux.com about a very Linux-unfriendly policy at HP. A woman bought a Compaq laptop and loaded Ubuntu on it. Some time later, still well inside the 1-year hardware warranty, the keyboard started acting up. An HP support rep told her, "Sorry, we do not honor our hardware warranty when you run Linux." Gateway and Dell refused to comment to the reporter on what they would do in a similar situation. (Linux.com and Slashdot are both part of OSTG.)
How you were modded Insightful instead of trolling I'll never know, especially since you were just agreeing with someone else. Most system's I've repaired, especially pre-built ones, it was because of shoddy parts (usually power supply). I'm sure linux is perfect, and never has software problems.
HP's customer support is particularly bad this way.
They insisted that I do all kinds of goofy things when the mobo friend in my laptop. Lost the calls three times (their side) talking to tech support. Resupplied ALL information for every call (excuse was, "our tools are slow", no BS). They tried to tell me I couldn't send the laptop in with the HDD removed (source I didn't own on the disk). They called me a thief when they shipped my laptop back missing the drive bay covers and I called to complain, said they were making a note never to replace a missing part for my laptop, and threatened to hang up on me when I cursed under my breath. This was after 8 weeks, start to finish.
I got a hold of a security guard on the HP campus in the middle of the night, got transferred to the VM of HP's POC for BBB related issues, left a nasty message. I emailed every corporate email address I could find at HP, and then filed a lengthy BBB complaint.
A couple days later I got a call from an American citizen, employed in the US, who straightened everything out in about 5 minutes.
HP blows, and I feel like an ass for having bought one. The bigger lesson? Call BEFORE you buy any piece of equipment, find out if ANY of their tech support is outsourced to India, and if the answer is 'yes', don't ever purchase a laptop or desktop from that company again. I haven't had a customer service problem with a PC or laptop since... personal or business.
Buy an HP with Linux or FreeDos instead of Windows....
Of course this is too complicated for Linux users as it will prevent you from complaining and crying, but it is worth a try.