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avoid nVidia in laptops
The HP/Compaq and Dell notebook issues of the last year and a half are all related to nVidia graphics. I'm a hardware geek, and any laptop with nVidia graphics of the 9400/9600 variety especially are vulnerable to overheating issues, lockups, wireless connectivity issues and finally complete failure of the system. My current laptop is about to be returned for the third repair...so I am experiencing this firsthand. The OEM's are extending warranties, but they are replacing the bad parts with new defective parts that will fail again.
If you're a hardcore geek and want all the details, go to www dot theinquirer dot net (no, it's not the one with celebrity gossip - it's the US edition of the Register). If you're into wafer fabrication, nanometers, and ultraviolet lithography...they have the articles that give you all that good stuff.
The easy answer is to buy only ATI hardware in a laptop at this time. nVidia is not revealing the full extent of the hardware issues and they are selling NEW machines at retail with these defective cards. Even the new Macbooks with the nVidia chips are affected.
...and no, I'm not an AMD fanboy...nVidia was awesome until this stuff hit the fan. The good news is, the current batch of AMD graphics chips and cards are downright awesome for a change.
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