HP

Brian picked up a new HP Spectre 4K laptop with 16GB of RAM, 1 TB SSD, and a thunderbolt port. But out of the blue, it won't boot. No power. Just out of warranty. The battery is charged, there's power going to the board, but nothing. He's discovered a known problem with the HP Spectre voltage regulator. A repair place found it in Northridge. And HP won't even take the call without $100 charge because it's out of warranty. Leo says that HP should consider doing an out of warranty fix if they want to keep customers coming back.

Steve's printer is suddenly printing out ads. What the heck? Leo says there's a good chance he got nailed by either a browser hijack, or malware that has replaced his printer driver. He recommends using Malware Bytes, by only get it from the original creator. The chatroom says that there is a printer exploitation tool kit out there on the web. It could be that there's malware in the HP firmware as well.

Charles is getting a new Mac Mini and wants to know what display to get for it. He currently has a 27" iMac. So what's most affordable for the same size? Leo says that Apple is pushing an LG 5K Ultra Fine display, but it's not cheap at $1,000. Prices have tumbled for monitors lately, and as such, there are plenty of options.

Carmine has an HP Spectre laptop, but his USB-C connector won't power the laptop using his OtherWorld Computing adapter. Leo says that he's supposed to be able to with this new model. It's a data port as well as a power port, and so it may be an authorization issue. Leo says that he may want to try the HP power dongle. He'll also want to be sure he's getting enough power through the Type-C connector. There may not be enough through the OWC, and the laptop may think it's just a data connector.

Eric wants to buy a color laser printer and he doesn't really know what model to get. He needs one that has a document feeder and scanner. Rich says that HP makes the WireCutter's favorite color laser printer: The HP Laserjet Pro M254dw Wireless Color Laser Printer.

Tom uses Ubuntu, and lately, he's ran into issues updating his HP computer. Leo says that Linux only works on a computer that has drivers that are written for it. When people update, they may run into issues where their drivers have been "broken." It's often a video driver issue. Starting over and trying again will cause Linux to choose the right driver and continue. But if not, then it's a driver or hardware compatibility issue.

Felicia had her HP printer ink cartridges refilled, and now her printer won't accept the cartridge. It just says it's incompatible or counterfeit. What can she do? Rich says that printers are cheap because they can make up the cost on ink. Rich also thinks, however, that the contacts on the cartridges may just be dirty. So she should clean them with some distilled water and a coffee filter. Nothing that has threads to it. She should give it a good wiping down and try again. It should be able to see it then.

Randy is looking to get a laptop. Is Cyber Monday a good time to buy? Leo says that there will likely be some great deals. Leo prefers business grade laptops like the Lenovo ThinkPad. They're very robust. There are great support plans available too, including a one day turn around fix or replace option. Dell's Precision line is also worth taking a look at.

Clyde bought a new printer, but it wasn't compatible with his Windows 7 computer, so he had to return it. What printer should he get that will work? Leo says that HP has a whole page of Windows 7 compatible models. It could also just be that he needed to download a printer driver.

David wants to know what laptop to buy. Leo says that Lenovo's ThinkPad line is really second to none, but HP has been getting much better since they spun off the computer division into a separate company. Then there's Acer, which is a good budget brand.