DV3z - anyone own one yet?

Does anyone here have the HP DV3z revealed at CES this year? If so, how does run (quick, cool, no crashes) and how does it feel (build quality, keyboard, screen)?

Seems like it could be a pretty good 13" laptop if it isn't plagued with problems although the color is a little suspect.

 

I ordered one late Jan. First one that came had a problem; wireless connection didn't work. HP problem resolution was very nice about it; let me keep the bad unit until new one arrived. I've had that one three days now. So: based on a couple of weeks of experience on two machines, here is a very brief and subjective review:

I'm lovin' it!

I bought this unit as a personal machine to supplement my company-provided laptop. I wanted something small enough and light enough for when I had to carry two units, yet large enough to work on for extended periods and powerful enough to handle the tasks that I'm most likely to be performing. I looked at a lot of 10 - 11" displays in mini notebooks, etc., but decided they didn't fit the bill (at least at a price that I was willing to pay). BTW; I got mine with a $500 coupon that was available at the time. Made it a very good value.

With regards to temperature: I had seen a lot of comments about how hot these run with the AMD chips (as opposed to the Intel configuration in the 3500 available at BestBuy). It does run warmer than my work (IBM Thinkpad T42) laptop, but not enough to warrant any concerns and certainly not at a level that makes the machine uncomfortable to work on or be around (including working on my lap.) I believe that the processor that I got has one of the better heat profiles. Also, the SSD drive may be keeping the heat output lower than the typical unit.

With regards to performance: I have absolutely no complaints. Boot time is relatively fast; the SSD drive seems to be blazing! I am not a gamer; I run a lot of office apps; a lot of photo editing apps; a lot of media apps. I have not found any performance issues with any of these kinds of tasks. I'll leave it to the review sites to post all the fancy benchmarks. All I can give you are the "Windows Experience" numbers - Processor = 4.9; Memory = 5.9; Graphics = 3.6; Gaming graphics = 3.9; Hard disk = 5.9.

With regards to the build quality: Other than the aforementioned manufacturing problem; I have absolutely no complaints. It is a very solid unit. I really like the keyboard; very good tactile response. I absolutely love the backlit feature. The display is also really crisp, vibrant, and bright. The screen looks like it will be too glossy when it's not on, but once it's up, it has not been an issue.

Battery life is about how it's been spec'ed in other reviews. I got both a 6 and 9 cell battery for when I have extended travel plans. That should cover it.

I'd suggest going down to BestBuy and getting hands on with their version of this unit. There are a few cosmetic differences; the BB version has two headphone jacks; both on the left front side. The dv3z has one; it's on the right. The layout of the disk drive and ports are different also.

Hope this helps!

HP Pavilion dv3z
• AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core ZM-80; 13.3" diagonal WXGA LED Display; 4GB DDR2 System Memory; ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics w. 64MB Cache; 80GB SSD Flash Drive; Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth;Slot Load DVD+/-R/RW w/Double Layer Support; Backlit Keyboard; Vista Home Premium 64bit SP 1