HP to spin off its PC business

HP has confirmed today it is looking to spin off its PC business.

The spin-off, along with a $10 billion purchase of Autonomy Corp., are expected to be announced today or tomorrow.

Autonomy is an enterprise software company that "develops a variety of enterprise search and knowledge management applications using adaptive pattern recognition techniques centered on Bayesian inference in conjunction with traditional methods."

A few of its customers include multinationals like Coca-Cola and Nestle.

HP has been looking to expand into software and the cloud, which historically have higher margins than PCs.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Aug 2011 13:26

dRD

Funny how giants can still dance pretty well. I still do remember when HP bought Compaq to expand its market share in PC business :-)

Now, the only problem is for me to find a new laptop manufacturer that wont let me down (HP's biz line of laptops "just works", IMO).

18.8.2011 13:47 #1

KillerBug

If HP business line laptops are good enough for you, then a $300 toshiba should do everything you need.

And no...they don't "Just work"...they also overheat and break...and sometimes the batteries explode and HP claims there is nothing wrong.

HP bought Compaq because HP wanted the title of "World's worst PC", and Compaq had the title before.

I hope HP goes to being a cloud company...that way they will have almost nothing of value during the bankruptcy and the company will simply dissolve.

19.8.2011 01:17 #2

dRD

Originally posted by KillerBug: If HP business line laptops are good enough for you, then a $300 toshiba should do everything you need. Well, everybody's entitled to their opinions :-) I currently have HP Elitebook 8460p (8GB / SSD / stuff..) and it doesn't make any noise whatsoever and stays so cool that you need to actually check the lights whether the thing is on or not. Bought that about 8 months ago, after having had HP Compaq notebook as my primary work computer for 7 years (yep, same machine for seven years..) which never failed, never heated - let alone overheated - and, again, fans were always silent. Only reason I switched it was the sheer performance issue, PC tech tends to go forward in 7 years time :-) But the same, now 7.5yrs old laptop, still acts as my "surfing PC" in my living room..

Thus, my experiences with HP's line of business laptops are pretty damn good. Sure, each notebook has been in price range of $2000+ when purchased, which might make some difference :-)

Quote:I hope HP goes to being a cloud company...that way they will have almost nothing of value during the bankruptcy and the company will simply dissolve. Actually, not known to the mainstream, HP is huge service company already. I'm guessing half of the world's large corporations rely on HP to provide their data storage solutions (no, not your little $10'000 storage servers, but $10'000'000+ SAN solutions..), etc.

But no, I'm not a big fan of HP's cheaper laptops or printers, at all. And their digital camera business was a complete disaster, too..

19.8.2011 03:42 #3

Mr-Movies

@dRD
You may be the only one because most of the world thinks otherwise and this is why HP is hurting so bad. They do not make anything good anymore including printers which has always been their biggest strength. Their customer serverice is the worst in the world. Their hardware solutions are bad which also used to be their strength as well. I used to be a HP fan but no longer.

HP really bought Compaq for their server line but also wanted their laptop/pc division as well. Compaq used to make very good laptops and servers of course those days are long gone.

19.8.2011 13:17 #4

llongtheD

I purchased an HP laptop for my son who was going to college and it lasted exactly 14 months and the video card burnt up. Apparently this was a problem with this and other HP models, but I was never notified by HP and just missed the window when they were repairing or replacing them. I purchased it online right from their store, so this was shady at best to not at least notify people. Basically we have a 900 dollar paper weight, unless we spend around 350 to have it repaired. I for one hope they go out of business completely.

If your fish seems sick, put it back in the water.

20.8.2011 00:04 #5

Mr-Movies

Same here it was about 14 months for me too on a Special Edition HP. My screen was fine but my WiFi card went first and then my hard drive very shortly aftwards. Also they load up so much of their own software that tries to protect you and also that they use to market further with you that is wouldn't run certain programs I have and bogged the whole system down. I asked customer service for a clean OS install but of course they couldn't do that and you don't get a good OEM number or the MS OS disc to re-install with so you are screwed. Also they haven't updated the video drivers for it and they have issues. These are only some of the problems I've encountered with HP products there are many more to mention but I've already carried on too much.

20.8.2011 00:35 #6

BobShaft

I work on PCs and printers for a living so I deal with a range of HP products all the time. Like most big companies HP seems to be too large to do any one thing well. Sure they have some good (maybe even great) products but almost none of them are free from defects in either engineering or manufacturing. When we see a "grey" HP LaserJet come in the door we usually assume it has a formatter problem. I will agree that HP's Business line products are usually decent.

I'm writing this now on a 4 year old Compaq laptop. I like it, and have gotten a lot of use out of it but it's had problems. One of the hinges has broken twice and the first battery didn't last a year (which was replaced under warranty). Overall I'd say I got my money's worth out of it.

One warning, stay away from Pavillions!

21.8.2011 11:46 #7

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