I had one that lasted a long time, but then it just completely broke down. Somehow we gave it to someone else to keep a few years ago and it started working somewhat, although it didn't have internet and you couldn't play games on it then, but it was just to teach someone the basics of using a computer. I would give HP about 2 1/2 stars.

The worst customer support team out there.  I spent $3000 on a new HP with Vista and completely loaded in April and it's now December and have regretted this purchase everyday!  It's not just Vista and I won't even go there.  You will call for technical support and first you will ge "customer service" which is a totally different team that must take your information and diagnose your problem before sending you on the "technical support".  Well good luck getting that far, customer service is in India.  Nothing against anyone from India but Indians should do support for India, Japanese should do support for Japan, and Americans should do support for america and so on!  There is the language barrier and it just does not work, here's what happened.  The one time that I finally made it through to technical support and an English speaking American, they set me up for an in home repair (as service I paid and extra $350+ for when I purchased the computer) to replace my faulty hard drive.  The technician never showed.  I called and the customer service person in India said they were still coming just later in the day.  Still they never showed.  I called again, the call center in India had looked at my account and decided to cancel the appointment saying they had no record of my warranty purchase.  They also didn't bother to call me and tell me this after I stayed home from work to wait on someone.  After much argument including someone telling me I was an idiot and that I had not puchased the warranty, I was finally transferred to someone speaking American English and who gave me a fax number to send copies of my warranty receipt and serial numbers, etc.  Before I could even send the fax, I received an email stating they had received the info (that I hadn't even sent yet) and concluded that I was not covered by an in home warranty and the matter was now closed.  I also cannot get them to agree to let me return my hard drive at my expense for replacement by my own hands (in home warranty aside this is covered by the standard warranty) and without their permission they won't guarantee me a new hard drive or even that I will ever see my old one again.  All this power and these features are useless when you can't even keep the computer on!  Bottom line is why have the bells and whistles if it won't even run and you can't get any service.  This message is being sent from my mother's Dell.  Some of you may like HP better than Dell but at least she's not even had to try the warranty on hers.  Let some Joe blow build you a no name box with pirated software and potentially stolen parts for a couple a hundred.  They will usually fix it for free and you won't have to deal with some customer support know nothing jerk.

Builds quality computers for decent prices also has nice case designs that were once ahead of their time in PC's making them formidable to Apple in more ways than pure power. (and yes x86 IS more powerful than PPC, and it's soon to come replacement will be too ;) )