My Investment is in TROUBLE - HP repairable laptops

I thought literally yesterday as of writing that HPs were shit to repair while me and my dad were opening up a HP 15-ay085tu to make it usable for my sister. We were joking about how HP stood for "Hinge Problem" and it took 10+ screws, prying the front without a prying tool and 2 hidden screws under the hinges to remove. Good job HP.

HPs laptops are repairable down to the keyboard... which is riveted to the palmrest, and turns what should be a 30min job into a several-hour job. Replacing the keyboard on my probook 445 g9 took 3 hours, even with the help of an electrician/substation engineer, who spent several years doing consumer electronics repairs. HP is making a step in the right direction, but it could still be far better. It's also nearly impossible to get spare parts from an official HP retailer, even though this is an enterprise-grade laptop.

Sorry to shit on your sponsor but they’re not worth shit. Bought an HP Envy 13 it lasted me 2 years. Just the battery is dying and isn’t charging properly. Everything else is in good condition.

Now when I asked support they told me the battery lasts just about the same time as the warranty. Why?

So when the warranty expires, so will your battery and then you’re gonna have to give them more $$ to repair. Don’t fall for these companies, people.

I used to replace a laptop every 4 to 5 years, but having a lifetime of just 2 is outright pathetic. Might as well use a phone.

Anyway, I’m gonna enjoy destroying this piece of garbage on the ground and choose a company that actually gives a fuck about its customers.

Never buy HP people. They’re just scammers.

it could be my next laptop ,,,,, but that 51WH battery seems very small bcs of the space needed for the card reader

After the bullshit HP pulled with their printers, I'll never buy anything from them ever.

Framework costs such an unreasonable price so it competes directly with MacBook Pro’s, which is laughable. No wonder there is a high chance that they may go bankrupt.

I was going to buy a Framework laptop but bought an HP Elitebook instead because of this review. Thanks LTT for being unbiased!

change the keyboard real quick!
used to be possible before g7 but now... well, rip. and water spill is still deadly.

Can't replace the power-supply USB ports without replacing the motherboard it seems- pretty much the most likely connector to get worn/suffer.

HP lives by selling new models every year. I hardly think that they will change their business model.

You forgot to show how to remove the keyboard.

How is repairing or replacing the keyboard like?

I would like to see more repairability laptop reviews. Framework is too cavalier about it’s availability and distribution so a lot of us don’t even have choices PLUS it’s never a good thing to have a monopoly of something. After two years of waiting at least one reasonable modular option I’m guessing I have to settle…

Just ordered my 865! Super excited. My last laptop died because the RAM died and I couldn't fix it due to it being soldered so I decided to only go with a more fixable option.

Although HP has a better processor than the framework. I do like that you can pick what ports you want to have and can switch out quickly.

I bought aHP envy AMD Ryzen 7 last March had nothing but issuse with it & now I think the motherboard is dead as all I get is a blinking caps lock then rapid blinking

I only just now saw this video, 7 months after it was published. I have an HP Omen that I think I bought around the same time as this video. I opened it up to put in an extra SSD so I could reserve the included one for boot drive only. When I was in there, I noticed QR codes all over the place. Replacement parts. I had a hunch then, but now I know for sure. HP has come a long, long way in recent years. In the 90s I can remember my dad trash-talking the brand incessantly, so this Omen is actually my first HP product ever. I also picked out a 16" Envy in that (to die for) gorgeous blue, for my mom when she needed a new laptop. No regrets so far, and even less knowing they are seemingly "with" the "right to repair" camp.

Bro if global warming was caused by the PC industry this would be ok. Try the battery companies. They're the real bad actors, sometimes. Strip mines dug by moms and kids stuff. I literally bought my HP laptop im using bc it had good cooling, not bc of all this green crap theyre made to invest into. I bought the wrong laptop for gaming and Im living with it. XD. Id rather buy a new laptop than dealing with bureocrats who just want to get rid of you ASAP... Every laptop ive owned had its battery die within a year. Not plugged in, plugged in.. they just die quick.

Waiiit wait.. .wait wait... HP making repairable laptops?
What kind of a joke is this? Did the world end and we're now in heaven? Naaah. Impossible!
This is something so alien I just can't believe it without actual tangible evidence in mass. Even then it's extremely unbelievable.

Just because something is easy to open doesn't mean it's repairable. Likely most parts are "whitelisted" and you cannot make off-the-shelf parts work in the laptop even if they fit. The laptops UEFI firmware will refuse to activate the part if it's not whitelisted to the manufacturers list of "compliant parts".

Maybe this is the right time to give HP a new chance, after a series of bad experiences long time ago. The inside of the laptop actually reminds me of the insides of my mobile, only larger. Yes I know, I'm one of the few that opens it up and repairs it, mostly because the local repair shops refuse to do so. I mean, if it is already broken, what have I got to lose?

Why not just put the CPU/GPU on a separate daughter board so it could be replaced or upgraded?

Just buy 2 or 3 more. You have the money, ya know because all of the "do nothing' unicorn tech videos you produce & who cares water bottles...

Bull shit. You can't buy any part from hp store.

Premise of a repairable laptop depends on company providing parts 5-10 years down the line. For framework repairability is their whole business model, so they have to offer it, while HP could change their minds and just nuke the project in couple of years.

Thanks! Back at the time when I bought my HP Envy x360-15 with Ryzen5-2500U I was particularly interested in RAM and storage upgradability. So I looked at mainboard layout before committing the order. Ease of serviceability isn't great, but I upgraded to NVME SSD+HDD from HDD alone, from 2x4 to 2x16GB of RAM and could repack the battery (as new original batteries aren't easily available on sale in some regions). Also no problem with WiFi6E upgrade to Intel AX210. Kudos to HP for great upgradability (however parts availability may be a problem, as for battery). Hope batteries get more standardized and we see better cross-compatibility of laptop batteries in future.

repairablity and full moddibilty of a laptop and of its parts like framework is don't think is the same

Why is this laptop so expensive without having a discrete gpu?

I want a Framework 16 so bad I can taste it. But since it will be $2K or more, it might as well be $2mil.

FREE VIDEO IDEA!!! Hey Linus I know this is late but I am a huge fan I live in Canada and my family in Germany use a phone brand called "Fairphone" I think you can take stuff out and modify it. So can you take a look at it. PS it is European brand.

But we can't remove the keyboard or the motherboard like the framework

As an IT person this is nice to see. But the price tag is a bit too steep for my wallet… I guess this might trickle down in the tiers later in the future, if it’s a success.

I have a HP Envy 17t and it is amazing, the only thing is that my brother broke my trackpad so I have to repair it. If anyone can recommend me a service to help me repair my laptop that would be great!

I just hope HP hasn't released this to outperform Framework's business model, causing them to bankrupt after which HP would just discontinue this laptop.

I love this trend

The framework still seems wayy more user friendly

Is there any difference? This is just common laptop, my Dell is even simpler inside. Difference is just possibility to buy all components.

Search for "Simputer". They failed financially. But they started the trend. So it was not a failure of the idea.

So, that Hp laptop can not replace for new motherboard or upgrade?

Seeing this makes me hate apple even more. Also pokes yet another hole in the “iTs FoR YoUR oWn sAfEtY” claims they make to justify sealing YOUR device and making repair nearly impossible

The big advantage of Framework, you can upgrade the Mainboard with the processor and keep the rest.

If HP offers such a service I go for HP. It would be a win win for HP.
They only build the Mainboard no assembly lines and still making profit with less production costs.

Here in Spain, there is no customization, they just give you the seemly higher level and that's all

If this HP can actually cost considerably less than what Framework or other Laptop manufacturer can offer i can give this a try HP a try heck i could sell my Lenovo IdeaPad 3 just to fund this

Since HP wouldn't have brought out a repairable laptop if it wasn't because of Framework's lead in ethical business practices, I'll be for sure be preferring the Framework laptop, with HP at a far behind 2nd position. Thanks for the review!

It's true. I work in a PC repair shop and I love working on modern HP laptops. They have got much better over the years will serviceability and finding parts. Some part-finding exceptions are found in more specialized markets like the Omen series, but we have never not been able to find HP parts, just had to look harder. Even non-laptops like All-in-ones have great documentation and even disassembly videos. For laptops, I think the higher-end Lenovo is probably top for reparability and serviceability, but for mid-tier it's probably HP's game.

Im actually getting this. Framework is too expensive, plus AMD 6k is way better.

Dude, mine is also very repairable,
You unscrew 4 screws(on the letter it is assigned to)
And then just replace it.
It's 13 yo, so the HP laptop is overheating sometimes

This holds true to Linus saying if he had to eat his investment he would. Without the bs.

lol I remember when a lot of this stuff was standard on laptops. You use to be able to exchange batteries really easily as they just clipped in, Ram was always upgradable, Keyboards were easily replaced, heck much of the basics in the laptops were replaceable. However they noticed they were not making as much money when people were keeping laptops longer by buying new batteries and other things so they made batteries non swappable and started soldering RAM to the motherboard.

Most laptops in the budget or midrange are the same, its not better or worse than most other laptops i have worked on, and the main culprits of non serviceability are higher end and more expensive gaming laptops or thin ultrabooks. and every single lenovo to touch the planet, as for asus they are good. but they use many many different screws most of the time and take around 30+ minutes to disassemble in a NEAT fashion. as for the replicable daughterboard. Yes. we need this more. please.