Segment Information (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2011 segment	Oct. 31, 2010	Oct. 31, 2009
Segment Reporting Information
Number of business segments	7
Net revenue:
Net revenue	$ 127,245,000,000	$ 126,033,000,000	$ 114,552,000,000
Earnings (Loss) from Operations	9,677,000,000	11,479,000,000	10,136,000,000
Earnings before taxes:
Amortization of purchased intangible assets	(1,607,000,000)	(1,484,000,000)	(1,578,000,000)
Impairment of goodwill and purchased intangible assets	(885,000,000)
Acquisition related charges	(182,000,000)	(293,000,000)	(242,000,000)
Restructuring charges	(645,000,000)	(1,144,000,000)	(640,000,000)
Interest and other, net	(695,000,000)	(505,000,000)	(721,000,000)
Earnings before taxes	8,982,000,000	10,974,000,000	9,415,000,000
ASSETS
Total assets	129,517,000,000	124,503,000,000	114,799,000,000
Net property, plant and equipment:
Total HP consolidated net property, plant and equipment	12,292,000,000	11,763,000,000
U.S.
Net revenue:
Net revenue	44,111,000,000	44,542,000,000	41,314,000,000
Net property, plant and equipment:
Total HP consolidated net property, plant and equipment	6,126,000,000	6,479,000,000
Non-U.S.
Net revenue:
Net revenue	83,134,000,000	81,491,000,000	73,238,000,000
Net property, plant and equipment:
Total HP consolidated net property, plant and equipment	6,166,000,000	5,284,000,000
Infrastructure Technology Outsourcing
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	15,189,000,000	14,942,000,000	14,563,000,000
Technology Services
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	10,879,000,000	10,627,000,000	10,665,000,000
Application Services
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	6,852,000,000	6,792,000,000	6,926,000,000
Business Process Outsourcing
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	2,672,000,000	2,872,000,000	2,977,000,000
Other services
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	362,000,000	296,000,000	249,000,000
Industry Standard Servers
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	13,521,000,000	12,574,000,000	9,296,000,000
Storage
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	4,056,000,000	3,785,000,000	3,473,000,000
HP Networking
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	2,569,000,000	1,705,000,000	762,000,000
Business Critical Systems
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	2,095,000,000	2,292,000,000	2,590,000,000
Notebooks
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	21,319,000,000	22,602,000,000	20,223,000,000
Desktops
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	15,260,000,000	15,519,000,000	12,892,000,000
Workstations
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	2,216,000,000	1,786,000,000	1,261,000,000
Other personal systems
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	779,000,000	834,000,000	929,000,000
Supplies
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	17,154,000,000	17,249,000,000	16,532,000,000
Commercial Hardware
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	5,790,000,000	5,569,000,000	4,778,000,000
Consumer Hardware
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	2,839,000,000	2,946,000,000	2,701,000,000
Segment total
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	130,687,000,000	128,512,000,000	116,336,000,000
Earnings (Loss) from Operations	13,928,000,000	15,627,000,000	13,367,000,000
ASSETS
Total assets	8,556,000,000	11,469,000,000	13,706,000,000
Personal Systems Group
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	39,574,000,000	40,741,000,000	35,305,000,000
Earnings (Loss) from Operations	2,350,000,000	2,032,000,000	1,661,000,000
ASSETS
Total assets	15,781,000,000	16,548,000,000	15,767,000,000
Services
Segment Reporting Information
Number of business units in segment	4
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	35,954,000,000	35,529,000,000	35,380,000,000
Earnings (Loss) from Operations	5,149,000,000	5,661,000,000	5,102,000,000
ASSETS
Total assets	40,614,000,000	41,989,000,000	41,189,000,000
Imaging and Printing Group
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	25,783,000,000	25,764,000,000	24,011,000,000
Earnings (Loss) from Operations	3,973,000,000	4,412,000,000	4,310,000,000
ASSETS
Total assets	11,939,000,000	12,514,000,000	12,173,000,000
Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	22,241,000,000	20,356,000,000	16,121,000,000
Earnings (Loss) from Operations	3,026,000,000	2,825,000,000	1,657,000,000
ASSETS
Total assets	17,539,000,000	18,262,000,000	12,185,000,000
HP Software
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	3,217,000,000	2,729,000,000	2,655,000,000
Earnings (Loss) from Operations	698,000,000	782,000,000	731,000,000
ASSETS
Total assets	21,028,000,000	9,979,000,000	8,546,000,000
Increase in total assets of the reportable segment (as a percent)	111.00%
HP Financial Services
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	3,596,000,000	3,047,000,000	2,673,000,000
Earnings (Loss) from Operations	348,000,000	281,000,000	206,000,000
ASSETS
Total assets	13,543,000,000	12,123,000,000	10,842,000,000
Corporate Investments
Net revenue:
Net revenue - segment information	322,000,000	346,000,000	191,000,000
Earnings (Loss) from Operations	(1,616,000,000)	(366,000,000)	(300,000,000)
ASSETS
Total assets	517,000,000	1,619,000,000	391,000,000
Percentage of decrease in total assets of the reportable segment	68.00%
Significant Reconciling Items
Net revenue:
Elimination of intersegment net revenue and other	(3,442,000,000)	(2,479,000,000)	(1,784,000,000)
Earnings before taxes:
Corporate and unallocated costs and eliminations	(314,000,000)	(614,000,000)	(219,000,000)
Costs related to stock-based compensation expense	(618,000,000)	(613,000,000)	(552,000,000)
Amortization of purchased intangible assets	(1,607,000,000)	(1,484,000,000)	(1,578,000,000)
Impairment of goodwill and purchased intangible assets	(885,000,000)
Acquisition related charges	(182,000,000)	(293,000,000)	(242,000,000)
Restructuring charges	(645,000,000)	(1,144,000,000)	(640,000,000)
Interest and other, net	$ (695,000,000)	$ (505,000,000)	$ (721,000,000)