Well, it's back.

I got my laptop back from HP on Wednesday along with another box with a stick of 512MB RAM. I opened the laptop box and pull out my system. I read the sheet attached and again, no description of what actually happened and how it was fixed. I check my AC adapter and my battery. Still here. Then for some reason, I decided to shake my laptop. There was a rattling noise. I opened up the memory compartment and I find two sticks of RAM in there - one in the slot, the other just freely hanging out. If I had booted up my laptop, I could've fried the whole thing. Nice one, HP.

Anyway, I check the loose RAM. It's a stick of 512MB. I pull out the installed stick and see that it's a 1GB stick. Now I'm confused. I now have an installed stick of 1GB RAM, a stick of 512MB RAM that was hanging out in the memory bay uninstalled, and a stick of 512MB RAM that came separately. HP must have some serious organizational and communication issues. I'm also wondering why they installed one stick of 1GB RAM. Is it because the other slot is defective? Why won't they just tell me what was wrong with my laptop?

I boot up the system and it actually works. After a quick stop at System Restore, everything looks normal. I didn't play around with it that much, since it was late and I was tired. My landlord's internet is down anyway, so I didn't have any desire to stare at my desktop. I hibernated the system and now it sits in the corner of my coffee table.

I suppose my thing with HP is over. Who knows? I'll spend some more time with my system over the weekend and see if the issue will pop back up again. I never heard back from that PR guy or HP after my email. The only thing this whole experience has taught me is that HP stinks. My laptop has been supposedly repaired, but it still stinks. I have a feeling that at day 91, it'll stop again and HP won't repair it for me anymore.

The good thing about this whole ordeal is that it's taught me how little I use a computer at home. I find the main things I need a computer for are photo storage, music storage, internet usage, and email. I migrated some of my important functions to solutions online (Google docs for documents, online finance software versus MS Money on my system, etc.). So, my next computer doesn't have to be a powerhouse. I'm thinking a netbook. I like how it's ultra-portable and still offers a lot of what I need. After looking around at some of them, I think the Acer Aspire One is pretty nice (I already eliminated the HP Mini-Note because of this whole HP mess. Learning something HP? Brand loyalty is very important.). I've read up on the Asus EeePC, the MSI Wind, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, and even the Lenovo one, but the Acer Aspire One seems to give me what I want for a decent price; it even runs XP (no more Vista!). The one I looked at would set me back $399.95 on Amazon, so it could be cheaper elsewhere. I don't know when I would buy one, but at least I kinda have an idea what I want.

We'll see what happens as I use this HP crap a bit more. I hope it lasts a bit longer until I scrounge up some money for the Acer. So cross your fingers. I know I'm crossing mine.