Costco Members: HP Pavilion 15t Laptop: i7-8550U, 12GB RAM, 1TB HDD Expired

Hey, guys. Thanks for the detailed insights about why you feel this way. Without such details, I would have had doubts about your opinion. In my humble opinion, anonymous Internet strangers can't be trusted without at least some explanation. Thanks again!!

Having owned many different brands over the past 25 years, (Dell, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Sony), all brands will eventually have a bad product. Thus, generalizing 1 or 2 experiences across an entire brand isn't an objective way to rule that brand in or out.

You really do need to research each model you come across or are interested in (expert reviews from different websites, verified purchase reviews, etc.). While these reviews are entirely subjective, if you average across a large enough sample, the reviews will be fairly accurate in terms of what you can expect to experience.

Performance: You also need to understand 4 key aspects regarding performance: CPU (is it the mobile U version with lower power draw but less processing power), HDD (spinning disk or solid state), and RAM (look for DDR4), GPU (discrete is best for gaming, integrated is fine for office/school workloads).

Display: You also need to ensure you understand the type of display and resolution (and ensure it will work for your needs). It's rare now... but every once in a while you'll come across a 720p screen (1280x768... or in most laptops with 16:9, 1366x768). Stay away from those.

Warranty/Customer Service: Make certain you understand the warranty terms and look for the experience of others when interacting with that company's Customer Service department. For many, including myself, this can be a deal breaker.

Case in point: I've had great experiences with Dell laptops.... and I've also had awful experiences. Dell Customer Service is one of the worst that I've had to deal with. And I've had multiple reasons to deal with them over the past decade. Therefore, while on average Dell laptop hardware is good, I stay away due to the awful CS unless I'm getting a crazy great deal. I factor in the headache/wasted time of possibly dealing with CS into the purchase price, which can easily tip the scales from a great deal to an okay deal.

If you do advance research and know what to look for, the time spent above can help you spot a truly great deal and avoid the "buy and return" effort of jumping on a deal without enough understanding of what you are buying. By being prepared, you can quickly assess a deal's worthiness.

Best case I can reference goes back to this time last year. The Lenovo e570 deal. That was an awesome deal. And, if you had done some basic research in advance, you would know that a 7th gen i7 + SSD + 950M discrete graphics for $500 was a steal. You could do some basic research on that model to assess overall community sentiment with quality/durability. I did just that last year and purchased the e570.

This e570 has been rock solid. Driver updates have been consistent and I've had zero hardware issues. Even if I had paid $750 for that laptop, I would still give it 4.2 stars out of 5 (nothing is perfect). Had I solely based my purchase decision on my prior experience with a Lenovo laptop from 2007, I wouldn't have made the purchase (that was an awful machine).

Long story short: do some research, understand your needs, only use community sentiment when provided in a large enough sample size (e.g. - not a couple of posts on a SD thread), and factor in your own experiences to make a purchase decision that works for you.

You can also grab the $25 off online coupon from the store.