If you’ve been reading my posts, you would know my love for Machine Learning and Self Driving Cars.
There is one major hiccup about “Learning” Machine Learning, that it needs huge amounts of GPU Resources-specially when you’re experimenting with Deep Learning. (A GTX 1070 May/May not be a huge Resource for you-but I’m getting started and it was a barrier for me)
Cloud
There are a large number of cloud solutions that offer great options at affordable rental rates
- GCP: Offers 500$ upfront credits if you sign up
- Crestle: is a convenient click and start option
- AWS: Also, has a handy number of options along with Student bonus credits.
- Paperspace: Cheaper and more powerful variants (Also, a neat Fast.ai image that is helpful to me)
There is a problem with these “affordable” options though. In the long run-If you’re running your models for 10–12 hours a day. The Cost of having a machine at home is cheaper than renting Servers online.
So, I chose to get one, rather I had been planning to get one since November.
Why a Laptop?
One, I stay in a shared living and I might have to shift places on short notice. Two, my hometown is thousand of kilometers away and has really poor internet. So, SSH-ing into a machine would be a nightmare. Leave alone the trauma of Downloading Huge Datasets.
Travelling with a 10-30 kg rig in Flights is impractical.
Hence, A Gaming Laptop as a Portable Rig would have been a wiser idea/the only option.
The Price
I decided to go with HP’s best Laptop offering in the Country: HP-Omen X
Electronics in my country are in general, Overpriced (Depending on where you’re coming from).
All of the Competitors-Alienware, ASUS, Acer are almost of the same price range. I had owned HP Laptops earlier and decided to go with another one. I traded in my older one and got the Omen X on April 26th.
The Insomnia
- Two days down the purchase, I started experiencing BSODs whenever the temperature would spike.
- TL;DR: There was a fault in the Motherboard causing the OS to freeze/crash under normal loads. Mind you: This is a gaming laptop and Normal Loads=Running GTA V or Training mild models for 10–20 minutes.
- Since there is a replacement policy, I requested for the same.
- The Laptop was sealed and returned and I was asked to wait for some time since HP didn’t have stock.
HP Retail-Online System
After a Month of calls and hold ups, I was told that HP has a system where they allow “3rd Party” Retailers to sell their products as “HP Authorized” Dealers.
Even though HP India’s website said that the item was in stock, The Retailer denied it and I had to wait for 20 days.
Damaged Replacement
I was offered a damaged replacement 20 days later-A box that was scratched a laptop having fingerprint smudges and micro scratches.I had to deny it, again. Obviously- they made me wait again.
Note that this was supposed to be a new laptop.
I was told that the replacement might take upto 40 days and otherwise I can call for a refund, where they would deduct the taxes and refund me the remainder.
I was constantly calling HP Helplines for almost everyday and literally begging them for a replacement even when I had paid for the Product and it was their fault.
Much later, they decided to put the Asia Head on my case and then too it took them another week to replace the laptop.
Finally, the “Early” replacement was given to me on the 26th of May. A MONTH LATER!
Insomnia
My University exams are usually held in the Month of May and during this entire period I was without a laptop. Obviously HP Felt no obligation to offer a substitute, let alone they weren’t interested in replacing the Product.
I’m a CS Student, I was reading PDFs on my mobile phone.
I had to beg the services for a replacement everyday and hear the same “We’ll try to get back to you, soon”. Some calls were just hung up without even allowing me to complete my sentences.
This is the standard of services they provide to people going out to buy their (country’s) best range.
For an Entire month I was without access to a system. Ofcourse, even the Customer Head of Asia conveniently denied that they aren’t obliged to offer any form of compensation because it’s not “mentioned under the policy”.
In my opinion, I wouldn’t recommend buying Laptops for Doing ML alone in the first place. My choice was a forced one and it isn’t recommended.
Secondly, even if you do-I’d strictly advice against going with HP.
This, However isn’t a post aimed to demean HP or their service. This is a post to tell you why I have been away.
I had set huge goals publically, I’m behind on all of them since I didn’t have a laptop. But No excuses.
It is what it is. I lost the “Top Writer” in Self Driving Cars Tag on my Profile thanks to the drama and I have to get it back.
Finally, I’m getting back to my senses and I must get to back to work too. So, this is where I have been. This is why there were no new posts from me.
Nevertheless there were more than plenty notifications on my Profile, Thanks to hackernoon and I only hope my future writings will get better.
Please accept this post as an apology for not sticking to my promised schedules of releasing my blogs and miserably failing at the goals I had set.
I have left out the detailed names and not uploaded the video to keep the integrity of my profile on here. I still have them in my possession, but I’m not interested in getting into another argument with HP. I just want to make up the lost time and get back to my senses and get back to my best.
If you remembered me and would like to wish me luck on rebuilding my goals, shoot me on Twitter here.