HP were ok for run-of-the-mill stuff until the Compaq merger, and their 'phone service and next-day swap outs were very good. In fact I used to sell HP on service not cost, if you can credit it! The merger with Compaq was an utter disaster though, and what you say about Compaq is 100% accurate, CV; prob the worst machines I've ever worked on, everything soldered as you say, specific memeory with notches in different locations, no visible jumper setting guides on the boards, and often great big metal rods clamping the board down preventing you from doing eventhe most bsic of repairs unless you spend several hours dismantling the whole unit, case and all. All intended of course to deter you from doing your own maintenance and upgrades, and to force you to go to Compaq for "genuine" parts, at hugely inflated prices. For example, I once went to Compaq for a quote on an IBM "Blue Lightning" 486 board for a Presario; £350 they wanted (I bought one from VIP for £45) Some 32mb EDO for another machine; £180, and I got it for £60 from a fair. And, if you can believe it, Compaq wanted £399 (yes 399) for a copy of W'98 on 1.44mb 3.5" floppies.

Is it any wonder they were going out of business? (the laptops weren't bad though)

had to laugh last year when a Dell machine we'd bought failed while under warranty and Dell insisted on sending one of their "trained and qualified service engineers" out; he'd actually never worked on computers before and didn't even know what a processor was! he was a nice enough youth but didnt have a clue, so after we'd sufficiently humiliated him in the time-honoured manner, we showed him what he needed to do. Took him 2 days to sort out changing a processor over though it's a 5-minute job, if that. Drove up from Croydon too. We sorted his home wireless out as well, as he didn't have a clue how to do that either.