I repair and support business machines for a living, and my verdict on HP is blunt: it builds laptops down to a price, and it runs its printer business as a lock on its own customers. Lenovo's ThinkPad is the machine I would rather open, fix and hand back. I cannot see what HP pays for any component, so what I say about its parts is what I see on the bench and what I believe. Every date and number below is sourced at the end.
The firmware that said "damaged or missing"
On 13 September 2016 an HP firmware update, the Dynamic Security feature, began disabling third-party ink cartridges. Owners saw error messages saying the cartridges were "damaged or missing". HP later admitted those messages were wrong. The US class action that followed was settled with a $1.5 million fund.
In December 2020 Italy's competition authority fined HP Inc and HP Italy 10 million euros for misleading and aggressive practices. It found that the printer limits were not adequately highlighted on the packaging, that customers were led to think non-original cartridges needed replacing because of defects or shortages, and that the firmware recorded cartridge consumption without telling them. HP then used that data, the authority said, to deny assistance to printers that had used non-original cartridges.
The most recent case I found concerned a firmware update that stopped printers working with third-party toner. It settled in March 2025. HP's notice says it denies doing anything wrong, and HP agreed to keep disclosing how Dynamic Security works and to keep letting users decline firmware updates that carry it. To me that is a promise to keep telling people about the lock, not a promise to remove it.
The CEO described the business model
In January 2024 HP's chief executive, Enrique Lores, told CNBC that HP wanted to reduce the number of what it calls "unprofitable customers". Every printer sold is an investment, he said, and a buyer who does not print enough or does not use HP supplies is "a bad investment". HP's long-term goal, he added, is to make printing a subscription.
Asked about third-party ink, he said viruses can be embedded in cartridges and travel through the printer to the network. The security specialists Ars Technica consulted said that, even if such a threat exists, it would take resources usually reserved for high-profile targets.
HP's own FAQ for its HP+ printers says the program requires Original HP Ink for the lifetime of the printer. The same page says HP's standard printers use dynamic security measures to block non-HP chips, and that periodic firmware updates keep those measures effective and block cartridges that previously worked.
I think a company that sorts customers by profit and sells the printer as the bait is not designing for the person sitting at the desk. I cannot prove the laptop line runs on the same ledger. I can say the laptops I open are consistent with it.
Battery recalls, four times over
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission posted four HP laptop battery recalls in under three years. Each one says the lithium-ion packs can overheat, posing fire and burn hazards.
- June 2016: about 41,000 batteries, sold with notebooks from March 2013 to August 2015. HP had seven reports of packs overheating, melting or charring.
- January 2017: about 101,000 more, sold from March 2013 to October 2016, for HP, Compaq, ProBook, Envy, Presario and Pavilion notebooks.
- January 2018: about 50,000 in the US, in ProBook, x360 310 G2, Envy m6, Pavilion x360 and HP 11 notebooks and ZBook 17 and ZBook Studio workstations, sold from December 2015 to December 2017. HP had eight reports, including a first-degree burn to a hand.
- March 2019: an expansion of 78,500 more, adding the ProBook 4xx G4 and covering packs shipped in laptops until April 2018. HP had announced it in January.
By my addition that is roughly 270,000 packs in the US alone, in the business-grade ProBook and ZBook lines as well as the cheap ones.
A budget HP laptop, measured
LaptopMedia bought and reviewed the HP 15 (15-fc0000) in January 2025 and titled the review "A Budget Laptop That Cuts Corners". Its unit had a Ryzen 5 7520U with 8GB of RAM soldered to the board and running in single-channel mode. Its display was a 1366 x 768 TN panel covering 50% of sRGB, with a contrast ratio of 290:1 and an out-of-the-box colour error of 11.0 dE. The reviewers also noted a keyboard that flexes in the middle and a plastic body that could be more stable. They told buyers to avoid the TN panels "like the plague" unless the budget is extremely limited.
The worst part is the naming. The same model name covers versions with soldered RAM and versions with two SODIMM slots, so you cannot tell from the badge which machine you are buying. To me that looks like a decision about margin, and the customer finds out after the box is open.
A ThinkPad with the bottom cover off
Lenovo publishes the Hardware Maintenance Manual for the T14 Gen 5, P14s Gen 5 AMD and T16 Gen 3 as a free PDF. The fourth edition is dated February 2026. It lists the keyboard, the base cover, the memory module and the M.2 SSD as self-service customer-replaceable parts. That is the information I want from a vendor whose machine I am paid to keep running.
iFixit gave the T14 Gen 5 a provisional 9 out of 10 in 2024. In March 2026 it gave the T14 Gen 7 and T16 Gen 5 a provisional 10, the first time a T-series ThinkPad earned it, up from a 7 for the 2022 T14 Gen 3. It praises a nearly tool-free battery swap, standard M.2 storage, modular LPCAMM2 memory, individually replaceable Thunderbolt ports and one of the easiest keyboard replacements it has seen. It also lists the faults: the Wi-Fi module is not modular, and display or webcam repairs mean working past adhesive.
iFixit states that it consults for Lenovo and sells ThinkPad parts, and says that does not change its scoring. I mention it so you can weigh it. Its current laptop table lists sixteen ThinkPad entries and no HP laptop.
Testing with the limits printed
Lenovo says it has tested ThinkPads against MIL-STD 810G since 2007, across twelve methods and twenty procedures. It also says that testing is not a guarantee of future performance, and that abuse of the kind in those tests is not covered by the standard warranty. I would rather buy from a maker that prints the limits of its own claims.
The keyboard is my opinion and I will not dress it up as data. In my hands the ThinkPad keyboard is the best I have used on a business laptop, and the flexing, mushy keyboard LaptopMedia describes on the HP 15 is the kind I would not want to type on all day.
A laptop that comes with a free service manual and a keyboard you can swap yourself is a laptop that respects whoever paid for it.
What I take from it
I do not know what HP pays for a panel or a memory chip, and I will not pretend to. I can read the finished product: firmware that blocks cartridges, a CEO who, in my reading, sorts customers by profit, four battery recalls, and budget laptops with soldered memory and a screen the reviewers tell you to avoid. Lenovo hands me a maintenance manual and a design I can open. I know which one I trust with a company's staff.