Hewlett Packard to exit computing
- Thread starter Sinistar
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...Unless you happen to be Apple, of course. >_> <_<
My dad bought an AMD-powered HP lappy last year. It wasn't particularly expensive though, that model probably retails (if it's still available) at $550 or less, so I'm not sure how much profit might be squeezed out of it at the manufacturer level.
You may have seen the squabble between HP and Oracle, when the latter decided to stop supporting (HPs) Itanium-based servers? I spent a bit of time looking for confirmation that server hardware would continue to be developed and sold, but I found none.
HP has changed CPU-architecture a number of times through the history, so Itanium dying isn't necessarily a show stopper for them, but I wouldn't be surprised if in this case HP will simply fulfill their contractual obligations, and then phase out server hardware as well.
I would doubt that HP would consider getting rid of it's server business, it's still a very high margin high growth market. In fact IBM kept it's server business when it divested it PC manufacturing business to Leonovo.
HPs situation isn't the same as IBMs. Nor is the leadership. Apotheker's a software guy. As I said, I looked without finding anything said either way. If I were HP, if indeed they intend to keep developing server hardware, they should be careful to reassure their server hardware customers in a situation like this, rather than leaving the issue in a zone of ambiguity. On the other hand, the deal is clearly about their PC/mobile business, so you could say that their server business isn't implicated at all, pointing to an IBM like scenario, as I wrote above. Eventually, we'll see.
That is quite strange, you wouldn't expect the personal laser/inkjet market to be very profitable. I guess it's like most of the printer manufacturers now, they make all their money from consumables. I assume there's also far less support costs with printers.
I hated PB more than HP, but not by much. I won't miss 'em.
HP is one worldwide leaders of servers (along with IBM), that's not something you go out and "phase out".
Well, they are THE world leading supplier of PC hardware, still, that's exactly the business they are divesting.
So I'd say that argument is weak. While there has been no mention of the server side of hardware, it's clear that the current leadership is quite prepared to rock the boat if justified for business reasons. The show will go on regardless - just because a business branch is spun off doesn't mean it stops existing, it just gets a new sticker on the front. At least that's true for the PCs, I'm not sure a business producing Itanium servers would be long lived. HP will do what makes sense for them financially, and if producing hardware to complement their software services makes sense for them, they'll keep doing so (and at this point there is no official word suggesting otherwise). If not, the slack will be picked up by someone else.
But you can be sure the current leadership has discussed the issue.
HP is the worst of the large PC OEMs from a quality control standpoint, IMHO, as a PC technician involved in the repair of thousands of PCs over the past few years. I've seen more HPs with bad motherboards over the last 5 years than all other brands combined, by a ratio of at least 3:1 and that's not being hyperbolic. I'm glad they're gone, in a way, but I'll miss the revenue 
HP is the worst or the large OEMs from a quality control standpoint, IMHO, as a PC technician involved in the repair of thousands of PCs over the past few years. I'm glad they're gone, in a way, but I'll miss the revenue
As was mentioned don't expect their PC business to be gone, but rather spun off. So perhaps with the Compaq name or something, but they aren't exactly closing shop.
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