Reviews for HP (Hewlett-Packard) HP A257C / Intel Pentium 4 2.66GHz / 512MB / 120GB / DVD+RW / DVD-ROM / Microsoft Windows XP Home

HP (Hewlett-Packard) HP A257C / Intel Pentium 4...

Strengths: Powerful hardware: Fast, high quality, lots of features.

Weakness: Comes with unneeded software that slows computer down, default setup is buggy and unreliable. Does not come with Operating System CD and HP Refuses to provide CD. Tech support frustrating.

We ordered this computer as an office computer for a small United Methodist church about two months ago. Right out of the box it had a lot of problems; even though it was a Pentium 4 at 2.66 ghz, it ran very slowly because it had so much junk installed on it. The wordperfect office suite included with it had problems with crashing and would not print properly, even though other programs could print.

We wanted to do a clean install of Windows XP in order to alleviate these problems and start from scratch, but there was no Operating System CD included with the computer. We called HP tech support and they claimed they would send a CD, but they only sent the "System Restore" CD's which restore the computer to the factory setting, a setting which was faulty and inefficent to begin with.

When we called back, HP told us that they were unable to provide us with the Operating System CD, and that we would have to purchase it again from Microsoft, even though we had already paid for the cost of the operating system in the cost of the computer (which was overpriced, I might add).

So in short, HP has taken away all possible freedom and control over the operating system from the user. There is no choice: you need to go with their setup and you can't choose to start from scratch. This is a sleazy practice and the whole process of talking again and again to tech support was so confusing and alienating that I would urge all responsible consumers to refrain from buying any HP products until they stop this creepy practice of refusing to provide operating system CD's. Maybe they still make good printers, but I would never ever recommend this computer, and I would never want to support a company that treats its customers the way we have been treated. We regret ever purchasing this computer at all!

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