HP Labs: the Science of Technology
by Jarred Walton on July 1, 2014 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- IT Computing
- HP
- Mobile Workstation
- Laptops
- Enterprise
- server
- Tour
HP Tour Wrap-Up
And there you have it: all of the testing that goes into HP's commercial line of products. In other words, this testing is done on their enterprise class hardware and software, and considering the cost of all the testing facilities you can understand why such hardware tends to cost quite a bit more than consumer hardware. Companies always talk about how much more testing and validation goes into their business class products, but this is the first time I've really had a chance to tour a major OEM and see exactly what sort of testing they do. It was an informative experience for sure, though at the end of the day it only makes me wish consumer products could receive a bit more TLC.
One thing I can't really comment on unfortunately is how HP's testing compares to that of other companies like Dell, Lenovo, etc. Do they do more than the competition, or "about the same"? My understanding is that HP does most of their testing in-house while Dell as an example apparently outsources a lot of testing, but I'm not sure if that's true – or if it's really even "bad" to outsource testing to a third-party lab. There are potential advantages to both types of testing (and I'm sure HP has third-party labs that help with testing at times as well), and ultimately it's the end user experience that matters.
To that end, I can say that my experience over the years with all of the mobile workstations has been quite good. Such notebooks aren't nearly as portable as an Ultrabook, and in some cases the design language can be a bit stale, but if someone tells me they want a laptop that will last at least five years before it needs to be replaced, my advice is always going to be: "go check out the business laptops from the major OEMs; they cost more but if you want high-end materials and build quality that's the best way to get it." By comparison, consumer laptops tend to be built with a disposable mentality – they need to last at least a year without too many failures, but after that all bets are off. I've seen budget consumer laptops that keep on kicking for five years, sure, but I've also seen many that go belly up within two or three years. Whether it's worth paying the premium for a more robust build quality is debatable, but there's no question that enterprise grade hardware has to pass far more stringent standards.
There were a few additional demonstrations of the robustness of HP's hardware, though I unfortunately didn't get videos/pictures as I wasn't in a good location. In our pre-tour briefing, one of the engineers stood dropped and ElitePad prototype on the ground and then stood on top of it, and of course it continued to work without trouble. Someone also mentioned a demonstration of where one of the project managers for the Z-line of workstations stood on a ZBook 15 that was lying on the floor with one foot (so all of his weight was on that foot), but I didn't personally witness that feat – though I have seen videos of similar demonstrations on YouTube. (Note to self: don't try this at home!)
Wrapping things up, the historical aspects of the tour were also entertaining. I saw quite a lot of old hardware still kicking throughout the labs – including many of the test areas that were still using old Compaq 486 machines (unless the internals had been upgraded). I also saw quite a few instances of Windows XP and even Windows 2000 still running; why replace something that still works, right? There were old posters from HP and Compaq scattered around the facilities as well – anyone looking for a hot new Compaq 386/33? (Yes, I actually lusted after such systems at one point, as I first started using PCs in the 8088/8086 era; the first PC I purchased with my own money was a 286/12 if you're wondering – and it only cost $2000!)
As for the HP employees, I was surprised how many people hailed back to the Compaq days, as the merger took place around 2001. The Houston campus was originally part of Compaq, so maybe it's not that surprising, but there were a lot of section heads that have been with the company for more than 20 years. There was also plenty of "new blood" kicking around as well, of course. Will any of them be giving me a tour in another 20 years? That's probably a question best not to ponder, but if I'm still around I'll be sure to grab my walker! And if you want a few additional images, the last gallery includes all the pictures I snapped on my smartphone (most of which were already posted via Twitter).
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blackmagnum - Tuesday, July 1, 2014 - link
Please consider whether the pictures should accompany their relevant paragraphs to give the article a more attractive reading layout?gostan - Tuesday, July 1, 2014 - link
This tour shows you why HP is struggling. Look at those products! And of all the clips in this world, they picked Meg Whitman's interview!!??aaronjgoodrich - Thursday, July 3, 2014 - link
Explain your comment please? I can guess why you responded like you had.. but I would not like to assume. I need to hear you out first.HardwareDufus - Tuesday, July 1, 2014 - link
These guys work in Little dungeons... tiny Little isolated cubes... it's difficult to interact with each other... They need to open those spaces up in the Multimedia Lab and Software Testing Lab..vLsL2VnDmWjoTByaVLxb - Tuesday, July 1, 2014 - link
I know the software validation ain't that great as I was stuck with an Elitebook 850 G1 for 6 months that could barely operate after hibernation/sleep. Called HP for support and they were useless.ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq//sp66001-66500/sp6611... Is the issue/fix in detail, long after HP had told me again and again it was on my side. Kinda shameful I wasted so many hours on trying to fix that or that a bug that large actually exists. HP used to be such a great engineering company!
aaronjgoodrich - Thursday, July 3, 2014 - link
Wait, so a software fix which was readily available but not applied to your system is "HP's" engineering issue? I think that's a common sense issue there. No hardware was failing. It was a software issue. Plain as day from the link you provided. Maybe you hadn't applied all the hotfixes/patches to the system you were working on? "Synaptics TouchPad/ForcePad Driver " isn't a problem with engineering of hardware. Synaptics isn't HP. Think again.NikAwesome - Wednesday, July 9, 2014 - link
They should be responsible because they chose that part. The whole "experience" should be tested and guaranteed by HP because it is their product. They care about HW and SW, that's why Apple has an enormous satisfaction customer ratio (at the cost of being proprietary and not-open, they are control freaks)NikAwesome - Wednesday, July 9, 2014 - link
Edit: They should be responsible because they chose that part. The whole "experience" should be tested and guaranteed by HP because it is their product. They SHOULD care about HW and SW, that's why Apple has an enormous satisfaction customer ratio (at the cost of being proprietary and not-open, they are control freaks)vLsL2VnDmWjoTByaVLxb - Thursday, July 31, 2014 - link
The issue existed for 5 months. I was able to repeat it on other hardware. HP refused to look into it. That is a breakdown in engineering AND support."No hardware was failing. It was a software issue."
You do realize that HP encompasses both sides of the spectrum, right?
"Maybe you hadn't applied all the hotfixes/patches to the system you were working on?"
I had, of course. That is newb 101 tech stuff to try, dude.
""Synaptics TouchPad/ForcePad Driver " isn't a problem with engineering of hardware. Synaptics isn't HP. "
One wonders why HP would allow faulty software to come with their hardware? Dual edged sword. HP lost quite a bit of revenue based on their response to this one issue. Engineering (improper validation for basic functionality) and support (Customer couldn't possibly be right on this one) fail.
Samus - Tuesday, July 1, 2014 - link
Coming from the family Tandy 1000SL 8086, my Dad knew I needed a new PC, one to myself, and one day he came home with a Compaq Prolinea 4/25s. My first PC.After a SoundBlasterCD kit to add audio and CD-ROM, 8MB memory upgrade and a 500MB Maxtor hard drive to upgrade the 120GB Quantum, it had seem to reach its limits.
Until I got a 486/75MHz overdrive chip for my birthday.
And what was really facinating about this upgrade was a jumper on the motherboard that selected between 25MHz and 33MHz. Curiously, I moved it to 33MHz, and all the sudden, I had a 486/100MHz Overdrive (something the PC wasn't, on paper, capable of.)
My first "overclock" and on an OEM system. That was a great PC. Eventually I ran OS/2 Warp, then Windows 95. Around the time Windows 98 came out, I built my first PC with an ASUS motherboard and an AMD K5 chip, which I also mildly overclocked to 120MHz from 100MHz. It wouldn't run 133MHz without eventually freezing ;)
Good times. Ever since, I've been a big fan of Compaq "enterprise-grade" hardware, which today we know as HP Proliant servers, the best selling servers in the world. They're annoyingly proprietary with their drive rails, Softpaq drivers, and torx screws, but having owned a Prolinea 20 years ago, I've been used to that since.
I'm glad to know a lot of the engineers that evaluated my first PC are still at HP. Because I found it at my parents house a few years ago and fired it up, and it booted right to the Windows 95 desktop with Rise of the Triad, Warcraft 2, and Big Red Racing for good measure.