HP DM4 Review

Read the DM4 review here...
HP Pavilion dm4 Review - A Review of the HP Pavilion dm4


Basically, it runs cool AND has great battery life, which is fantastic to here. I think HP finally turned their ship around. I had their previous 14in machines and they all suffered from crap battery life and very high temperatures. To hear that the machines run very cool and get 5 hours of battery life on the standard 6-cell battery is really great. This bodes well for their other systems, as all HP designs seem to mimic one another. If one model has heat/battery issues, they all do, as I've read of similar horror stories in the DV6000 and what not.

They got 5 hours of battery life with the 6-cell, i5-520, and Intel graphics. That's really phenomenal as far as I'm concerned. They offer switchable ATI graphics, so you can opt for discrete graphics and still get the 5 hours...

Man. I'm so happy with HP right now. They told Nvidia to go and dunk themselves...seems like it's ATI across the board. Having been burned twice by Nvidia, this feels oooooo soooo sweet! Take that Nvidia CEO Shang Tsung (mortal kombat, I know)!

Only wish they offered a backlit kb on the dm4 and a higher res-option, but that's why I'm waiting on the Envy 14. We'll see the price of the Envy 14 though. A lot of the things they said are going to be standard, I don't think they will be, as then basically fully specd DM4 is going to cost as much as the Envy 14. Would make no sense... they have to have the Envy 14 cost more.

Seems like the HP fools finally learned that cool running systems with good battery life is what we want! Heck, with the high-cap 6-cell, probably get a bit higher than the 5 hours of battery life. 5.5 maybe.

 

I think the review was bit harsh, giving it a 3.5/5 and one of the cons being graphics power (it's a thin and light ultraportable that weighs 4lbs!). I would have given it a 4 out of 5. I'm worried about that boot time though, maybe they had a defective install or something? They were using a 7200 rpm hard drive. Or maybe they just didn't remove the bloatware.

As they said, with driver updates to fix the trackpad issues and removal of bloatware or fresh install (for better boot times), the DM4 is an excellent ultraportable.

Looks like the DM4 is the first success of the new lineups.

 

It's the bloatware... pretty sure they mentioned it somewhere. Even if they didn't, HP puts so much crap on it.. could be a six-core system with SSDs in raid and it would still take forever...lol

Ya, i'm with you. They complain about the gpu when it offers a discrete gpu with switchable graphics...spec up if it's an issue fools. And they always complain about HP trackpads...whoever works on the trackpads at HP probably wants to kill that staff haha

Personally, would have given it a 4.5. They just really really hate HP trackpads....unfair to give it a 3.5 considering it's a pretty great system.

 

The 10 Best Notebooks

Just read this article, how come there is no Envy , oh no...

It seems very fair though

I won't agreed this
ASUS U30JC: Best Thin-and-Light

It's super thick and much heavier than sony Z , it is also less performance....

Asus gave them some good cash to put U30JC in this top 10

 

You must not have read the whole article. They gave the Sony Z the best ultraportable....

 

It is the better option than the Z because it is less than half the price, which is taken into account when they make their decisions.

I agree with what has already been said. A 3.5/5 because they don't like the touchpad is stupid. The slow boot time has to be the bloatware, judging by the hard drive speeds, and they should have expected the poor gaming performance. I would have given it a 4.5/5

 

Not to sound like a hp fanboy but comparing the integrated version of the dm4 to the lenovo with the dedicated ati 5650 is absurd. Wish they were able to review the ati version of the dm4 for a relatively even comparison

I'll be honest though i'm concerned about the touch pad responsiveness issue mentioned in the review though

 

The rating was a bit harsh just mainly for trackpad issues, surprising since the trackpad was a big thing HP wanted to enhance and improve on. The graphics comparison was unfair, the graphics rating should be on par with other systems with intel's hd graphics. The bloatware is understandable for the boot time, not a big problem there, can always uninstall the bloatware. The rest of the review was generally good overall in terms of the system's functionality and speed, heating, great battery life, good keyboard and webcam, and great overall design for a thin and light. I'll see how the trackpad really is when it arrives to my doorsteps and let you guys know. Overall, the review was good news and I can't wait for it to arrive at my door

 

I always use a mouse when I use a laptop. I can't stand using trackpads as it is, let alone if they are poorly designed and the software support isn't solid. I just bought one of these instead of worrying about the trackpad issues.

 

I'm sure the trackpad isn't as bad they make it out to be and if it was, I'm confident HP will come out with an update. In HP's videos announcing the notebooks, they emphasized working with synaptics to improve and enhance the previous Envy trackpads which will also be on dm4 models. I wouldn't be worried at all about that particular negative comment on the notebook in the review.

 

At this point it is a recurring theme. The HP touchpads with the integrated buttons still seem a little finicky. Gen 1 Envy's had the problem, Gen2 Envy 15 were still a little wonky, their netbooks that use a similar touchpad have the problem, as do the new Probooks, and it seems the DM4 has the same issue as well. Again, this has been a long going issue that has involved multiple lines. Don't you think that if HP was going to fix the issue that they would have done it by now? Yes they have improved but I still don't think the touchpad works as they intend it to. I'm not confident that HP will totally fix it with the Envy 17 or Envy 14. It's not a deal breaker for me but this is a widespread problem across HP notebooks that hasn't been totally fixed for quite a long time.

 

I agree, the touchpads are not great but not a deal breaker for me. If people are expecting Macbook quality trackpads, they need to look somewhere else :x

 

Man who would have thought ATI and AMD to get their stuff together like this? Especially AMD's mobile department. Everything they made before it was a steaming pile of *cough*cough* good to hear that Intel will have some competition again.

 

The main thing they MUST fix is simply the whole clicking issue.

Two main issues I found with my Envy:

1. When you click, sometimes your pointer will move, missing your target. This is the number one issue.

2. Similarly, if you rest a ringer on the clicker portion, it should not have an effect on the other part of the trackpad.. except it does. This is pretty big too.

 

This laptop doesn't use an AMD processor. Maybe you should actually read the review.

 

I think he was referring to the fact that AMD is the maker of ATI graphics cards, and that AMD started to pull it together after the last set of problems with the nvidia video cards. Not necessarily in context of that review.

Because there is no dedicated graphics in the reviewed machine.

 

Setting one up for a family member. Can't believe HP keeps re-using these touchpads. They're so crappy. My 5310m touchpad isn't great, but it's at least useable, but these new touchpads are terrible. If I didn't know that's the way they work, I'd have a support call in asking why my cursor keeps jumping around. Sadly it looks like the 5220m will also use this touchpad.