Weird laptop question...

V

Vorret

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 26, 2003
Messages
1,100
alright... situation:

My mom and her bf are in florida and they decided "hey I want a new laptop"

So they go to Staples and there's a HP Pavillion DV7-1232 on sale for 649$.

They ask me if it's decent, I check it out quickly and it seems like a "decent" deal.
Now... here's where the fun starts.

The guy at Staples starts telling them that when they receive the Laptop only one of the 2 cores is activated and they charge 85$ to activate it.

Of course my mom calls me and I'm like WTF? Never heard that before and it's probably a scam cuz honestly, I hate staples and I think their service is crap but whatever...

Is that even possible ? A new laptop with only 1 core activated? in 2009?!?
If for some weird and twisted reason it is... how do you activate a 2nd core?

lol... I'm still laughing at this story it just seems so.. unbeleivable.
 
I've never heard of that one before. Does the laptop already come with a dual core cpu? Maybe they mean that it comes with a single core CPU and that you can upgrade it to a dual core CPU for $85. Sounds a bit fishy to me though.
 
Nah it's dual core this is the CPU specs sure looks like dual core to me ...

Processor AMD Turion™ X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor
Model RM-74
OPN Tray TMRM74DAM22GG
OPN PIB N/A
Operating Mode 32 Bit Yes
Operating Mode 64 Bit Yes
Frequency (MHz) 2200
System Bus Speed (MHz) 3600
Wattage 35 W
L2 Cache Size 1000
Process Technology 65nm SOI
Package/Infrastructure Socket S1

And as you said, I've never heard that before either lol... for a very vaery basic user, the best way to tell him how to check if both cores are active will be trough system in the config panel right?
 
WTF, seconded as a completely bizarre and fishy-sounding sales person. How on earth do you turn off an entire core for the whole OS? I was under the impression that you'd have to do that in the BIOS, and I thought only the Intel chips could do it.

...I suppose they could've installed some sort of bizarre registry-mucking software that forces all of the apps to run on one core? Is there another way to do that? Would that even be legal? :confused:
 
That's total B.S. Tell your mom to request to speak to a manager at Staples and tell them they can't do that, that could be illegal, and that you will contact the manufacturer about their selling tactics.
 
Thansk guys that's what I thought too but I wanted more opinion... guess they saw them as an easy target to make a few extra bucks.
 
ruu said:
WTF, seconded as a completely bizarre and fishy-sounding sales person. How on earth do you turn off an entire core for the whole OS? I was under the impression that you'd have to do that in the BIOS, and I thought only the Intel chips could do it.

...I suppose they could've installed some sort of bizarre registry-mucking software that forces all of the apps to run on one core? Is there another way to do that? Would that even be legal? :confused:
Click to expand...

Depending on the BIOS, you can choose to disable/enable cores. Now with an HP BIOS, I wouldn't guess it had these options but who knows.
 
Morazl said:
Depending on the BIOS, you can choose to disable/enable cores. Now with an HP BIOS, I wouldn't guess it had these options but who knows.
Click to expand...

I have a pretty vanilla Toshiba laptop, and I'm pretty sure it has options to disable/enable cores in the BIOS. But my point was that I thought only Intel chips can do that; someone told me that AMD dual cores don't have the option to disable cores in the BIOS.

Of course, I've never actually owned an AMD-powered system, so I could be talking out my rear. Still. Those sales people were full of crap.
 
I actually bought one of these laptops... its a nice lappy.. both cores are functional all the time not sure what your staples guy is saying... i found it for 650 online.. they tried fighting it saying it wasnt on sale here at our local store.. but after complaining they gave it to me anyway. nice laptop for the price im enjoying it. sounds to me like someone is trying to make 80 bucks....
 
Did the guy say, Staples could "activate it" for $80 or that HE could activate it?

That's like buying a V8 and being told, well only 4 cylinders work, but if ya want, I'll turn on the other four for a small fee of $500.
 
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