As a computer technician, I will agree with the whole bad cap issue. I have had to replace bad motherboards where the entire bank of capacitors along the CPU have bulged and leaked. The most notorious seemed to be several models of HP as well as a few models of generic PC motherboards made by Asus.

Now, that being said..... HP is a fine manufacturer of computers and laptops, and Asus is a premium motherboard manufacturer. I don't want anyone to think they are crappy- just a bad run (probably the same crappy Tiawan caps in both).