*HP dm3 (1XXX series) Owners Lounge*

I'm thinking the few that got their SP9300/105m combo are no longer visiting this forum...I just want some real battery life numbers, not speculation

 

I'm looking for some gaming impressions from those who have the AMD + 3200 version... is TF2 playable on decent settings? How does this laptop perform with the integrated graphics?

I'm thinking of ordering one online with the 4330 but the Office Depot model has all the specs I want (save for processor and graphics card) at a very college-student-friendly price, so maybe I can get by just fine with the integrated card.

 

For those who got the 7200 RPM 320GB drive, I am guessing it is the Scorpio Black?

Trying to decide if I want to go custom build from HP or the prebuilt intel system from JR.com

Also, anyone interested in reviewing their dm3t or dm3z?

 

I don't know I've gotten up to 5h 20minutes just surfing the web with the screen at 70%.

 

team fortress 2 ? no i didn't. I can borrow it from a friend if you want ?

 

Well dont go out of your way for it. I was just asking because I think im going to buy this laptop with a similar build to yours. And while i have a box for gaming, it would be nice to be able to play TF2 and L4D for when I am away from home.

And since dragon age apparently is such an awesome game, I might have to get that too.

 

How is the fan noise when using the switchable graphics with the 4330 hd, is it like the version with just 3200 hd when not using dedicated graphics??

 

hey folks thought I would add my 2 cents re: my experience at the dm3z.

Things I like about the machine:
I love the weight,
the sleekness,
the eye catching look with the brushed aluminum,
the trackpad looks great (when unused with no smudge marks)
the keyboard feels great too,
the screen is stunning to me
the AMD Dual Core Neo X2 L625 with 3 gb of ram seems adequate for a fairly power user for me (minus multimedia editing which I haven't tried)

The downsides for me

-Palm rest doesn't just get warm, it gets hot and having had a Dell Latitude previously, I know what it feels like
-The vent for the processor is on the right so when I am using an external mouse with it, the heat is okay in the summer but a few months down the
road, I do not see the problem as something that I would prefer to adapt to.
-The sticker for the product model on my laptop is different than the actual model # inside the BIOS!!!

Other problems are
Heat at left palm rest, heat at left palm rest, heat at left palm rest. Yes, I typed that.

When thinking about long term use, I am thinking this notebook is only going to get more inefficient over time due to the heat at the palm rest. The components will have additional wear and tear. Further, the experience will get incredibly frustrating - having had a previous experience with the dell which got replaced for me with another model, I would prefer not to have to replace laptops - just have them work right out of the box. you lose a lot of productivity.

The heat has been enough of an issue today that I am going to ask for an RMA and provide this feedback. I sometimes use the laptop for 2-4 hours at a stretch and within 45 minutes, the heat starts to bother me, after an hour and 15 minutes, I can't tolerate it.

I have a Dell D630 that's fine, just weighs around the 5lb barrier. I am probably going in for a ASUS UL30A-X5

While it may cost me 80 dollars more, my dm3 experience is something that I certainly hope is unique and not one that others start to feel re: the heat. At the end of the day, i want a laptop that doesn't get hot for me to operate with period.

 

Working on getting battery run times on my SP9300 this morning. Ran it a bit last night, but since I was messing with settings, restarting etc., it's probably not a great test. Having said that, based on what I saw, my guess is that we're looking at around 2 - 2.5 hours. Hopefully more, but not sure.

Charging now for a more true battery test. Takes a long time to charge. Any requests on how you'd like me to test this?

Also, WEI numbers posted again for those that asked:
5.9
5.9
4.7
5.6
5.9
(in normal order, Processor, RAM, etc.)

SP9300, G105, 4G ram, 320GB 7200rpm HHD

 

Thanks for the post dgoth. Would you be able to put up your 3dmark?

 

2-2.5 hours? Wow... that's terrible. Please update us with newer times... just do some browsing/music listening, nothing too strenuous. Thanks so much!

Oh, and in power saver mode if you can.

 

Nothing special on the Battery test in my mind, just the standard things most folks do, maybe having some we pages running, and maybe a movie running...thanks for responding

 

as for my battery on my dm3t sp7300/g105m i ran excel for an hour with wifi off, and then turned it on to watch an episode of the office on hulu, brightness at around 35%. battery is currently at 72% so, not to bad.

 

INteresting..I played with both DM3 with L335 NEO X2 and HD 3200 at bestbuy and office depot..OD one was hot hot...bestbuy one was cool, no heat at all..both place were cool with AC and both have nearly same spec..so I wonder which one you have and what caused the difference at both places...

 

Anyone else noticing extreme heat problems? Seems like most posts speak favorably in terms of the amount of heat being put out.

 

I have the Dm3z with "L625" Neo and HD 3200 integrated I believe.

There can be multiple factors for them to be hot or cold.

For example, since how long has the laptop been on? Is it days or hours?

Plus, the factor of cleaning the vents if they have been at the same spot for a number of days..

Plus, the area around the laptops if there is enough air around for recycling which is cool..

 

Hey, a little while back I posted with a very brief comment on how a 1080p mkv file ran on my dm3t w/ 4500MHD. It chops maybe for a couple seconds right when it starts up, but then runs fine. This is, of course, assuming you have all your codecs in place. I was playing it in Windows Media Player.

I would assume the AMD should be able to handle this about the same, or better, if using gpu acceleration.

Keep in mind that a 64bit Windows OS can run just about any software previously available on 32bit (unless the program itself requires a driver, which is rare). Your Office 2003, and firefox will work fine. I'm running firefox right now to post this.

But yeah, if you don't have more than 3GB of memory, it's not a huge issue, but I'm officially on 64bit on all my machines.

 

does anyone else notice their battery taking forever to charge?

 

I've been doing light browsing on mine (7300/g105m) all day here at work (full performance setting, aero enabled, occasional videos) and the left palm rest is just slightly warmer than ambient temps and there's just a touch of warm air being pushed out the right vents.

20-30 minutes of playing a taxing 3D game, however, and the laptop becomes uncomfortably warm. I just noticed that the owners manual warns not to hold the "laptop" on your lap.

On a related note, I was checking to see if there was a way to throttle the GPU when I don't need full performance. I thought Nvidia's Powermizer features were standard, but I don't see any options for it in the Nvidia control panel. Anyone know how it's supposed to work? I checked to see if I could grab the newest drivers, but apparently we're limited to HPs drivers.

 

Just happens that's one of the reasons I pulled up the owner's manual. Here's what it said:

The battery charges whether the computer is off or in use, but it charges faster when the computer is off.
Charging may take longer if a battery is new, has been unused for 2 weeks or more, or is much warmer or cooler than room temperature.
To prolong battery life and optimize the accuracy of battery charge displays, follow these recommendations:
● If you are charging a new battery, charge it fully before turning on the computer.
● Charge the battery until the battery light turns off.
NOTE: If the computer is on while the battery is charging, the battery meter in the notification
area may show 100 percent charge before the battery is fully charged.
● Allow the battery to discharge below 5 percent of a full charge through normal use before charging it.

 

I don't know anyone who actually follows the last rule. It almost seems silly... Like, say for instance you use it to 50% and it is time to go to bed and you have a trip the next day. Do you A) Not charge it because it isn't below 5% or B) Charge it so that you have a full charge at the airport.

Personally, with Lithion Ion's in all the laptops I have used over time don't mind being plugged in all the time, nor do they mind when you charge them at 5%, 25%, 95%, etc... The old Nickel Cad's required that, but I don't think the Lith Ions are that sensative to these things. I have used many, many laptops and I will tell you that I always leave the power cable plugged in with the battery installed and when I unplug the power it lasts pretty much the same as when it was new. There is probably a slight reduction because they do lose their max charge capacity over time, but I don't really think it matters as much as some people claim.

Again, my experience and my used with probably 10-15 laptops over the last few years. To many drawbacks to draining the battery to 5% each time, not to mention removing the battery when on power cord. Not my thing... Others may report different results or give you a story how they forgot to charge it properly once and now it only has 1/2 the capacity it once had... I say nay, maybe just a fluke or defective battery in those cases.

 

One thing to note is that the charger is a 65 watt, and after A/C to D/C conversion it is even less. So when the laptop is in use it requires more power and since it has a max output of 65 watts, using 20 of those to run the PC will of course slow the charge time versus having all of them available to charge the battery. Also as another user noted, a newer battery may take longer, or one that has not been charged in a long time. Though I can't personally verify those being in the owners manual is enough to give it some credability.

 

Ok, just finished a full battery discharge on the SP9300.

Ran in default "Power saver" mode, which puts the brightness at a bit below 50%. The entire time I was streaming both music online and streaming a hulu movie (full screen). Pretty much just let it run, and every so often ran a few other MS applications, checking email, etc, but nothing too processor intensive.

Result: at exactly 4 hours of runtime, battery was showing 8% left. About one minute later, the computer hibernated on it's own due to low battery.

So I guess this last 8% isn't really usable, but I'm much happier with these results than what I saw last night. Maybe the difference was the power setting, or maybe the applications I was running.

I don't think this test was doing much with the cpu, as all the temps remained super cool. Near 35C for the processor and HDD, and < 50C for everything else.

Not super excited about running the Mark06 stuff since the download looks like nearly a 500MB file with a bunch of other stuff packaged on it. Maybe someone else with this configuration can run that one? If not, maybe I can do this tomorrow.

Hope this info helps.

 

Hey folks

I'm looking into getting the DM3 with the Neo X2 and HD 4330, but I've heard conflicting information about whether or not the machines actually have switchable graphics with the integrated HD 3200. I live in New Zealand, so maybe it's just the models we have available here that don't (DM3-1016ax).

I've talked with HP sales and tech support, and I've been told several times that they don't have switchable graphics and told once that the product is too new and they don't have enough information about it. I looked the DM3 up on the NZ HP website and the US HP website and neither seems to indicate that it has switchable graphics (although I have seen a press release somewhere saying they do, as well as a couple of reviews).

Could anyone that has the DM3z with switchable graphics please tell me the exact model number that they have? That would be a big help guys, I don't want to be lumped with one that has only HD 4330 and churns through battery.

Cheers

 

I happen to run into this page... feel free to DL this pic and send to your friend to impress them w/your DM3

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/15/hps-probook-5310m-and-pavilion-dm3-keep-thin-and-light-cheap/

 

I have narrowed down to two laptops.....

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/328626/HP-Pavilion-dm3-1030us-13-3/

or

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+...hite/9528996.p?id=1218119763906&skuId=9528996

any thoughts?

Will buy either one tonight or tomorrow latest

 

Left 4 dead 2 demo

1366x768
4x MSAA
Anistropic filtering 4x
double buffered
high shader detail , medium effect and texture detail and high pool memory avalible.

Get 20-30 fps. I'm def cpu limited in this game. most likely in all source games.i know this because 2x fsaa is free and 4x has about a 2fps hit

I don't have a way to put dragon age on the laptop yet. My friend is going to try and stop by later with his external dvd drive. If he does I will try that tonight.

So far the gaming on this is really good far better than I thought.

 

Hey pasta4u, I noticed on an earlier post that you have a DM3z with switchable graphics... I'm trying to ascertain which models have switchable graphics and which don't (read my post from about 30 mins ago).

Could you let me know exactly what model you have? Or if this was a customised machine can you let me know the exact specs you chose?

Cheers

 

Mine is from hp. I don't believe any store ones have switchable graphics.
cpu upgrade with the 4330
upgraded to 3 gigs of ram
upgraded to 250 gighardrive

idid thisbecause i had a limited budget and i can allways add ram or hardrive space later

 

So you ordered a customised model from HP with the Neo X2 L625 and the HD 4330 upgrade? And that came with switchable graphics?

If so then that sounds like what I'm after.

 

exactly, is there something u want tested

 

Nah that's cool, I just needed confirmation from someone that actually has one. The HP support in NZ isn't very helpful and the specs on the website don't explicitly mention that the graphics are switchable.

Thanks very much for your help.

 

pasta4u, could you test games using the 3200? left4dead 2 and tf2 among others?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5485728&postcount=677

Here is left 4 dead 2 on my set up.

Also remember i don't have dual channel ram (waiting for black friday) I did the free upgrade to 3 gigs. So you should get a slightly better performance in cpu limited tasks with an extra gig and double the bandwidth.


Is there a demo for tf2 ? couldn't find one on steam . If there is i will dowlnoad it. My buddy is coming over in about an hour with his external dvd drive so i can install dragon age.

 

Not sure if you seen my post a few pages back (I asked you a few things to test + commented in my little detour to Irvington, NJ) but if not, I was curious to know how LOTRO runs with the HD3200 in 21st Hall. All settings can be set to min for all I care, I am just curious if you are facing a slide show.

 

Dgoth:

Thank you so much! I tried giving you some more rep points but the system won't let me!

Just to clarify, you were playing a moving on Hulu the entire time in full screen?

Man, if I got that right, that means you should have been able to hit 5 hours easy sans the movie.

Those temps are also super cool. That's just fantastic. I mean, you really can't get that much more CPU intensive than playing a video in full-screen.... that's just phenomenal to be honest.

Edit:

hmm. I looked back and your previous temperatures when you were stressing the CPU were way higher, but I'm assuming you had it in Balanced mode back then. I think setting it at Power Saver mode made the huge difference.

 

sorry missed it . Irvington isn't to bad. I will have to go back and read that.

I'm only level 15 in lotro so i don't think i'm at the 21st hall. Don't really play much can't get into it at all but bought hte lifetime subscription so i play once in awhile.

Is there something similar low level wise that you want to see ?

 

Just so I have a clear understanding. You have a SU7300 + G105 and were playing Drage Age on battery mode, with medium settings and were able to play for 38 minutes at a loss of 20% battery charge? That is extremely impressive... Darn near with my HP MINI 311 can do. I can get 3 hours playing LOTRO, which is going to hit CPU + Graphics + Wifi + BT + HDD hard... I am really impressed... If only they could fit that in the 11.6" chasis...

On a side note, I am extremely happy with my HP MINI 311. At first I had mix thoughts and feelings, but when I weigh all the options, it is clearly he best overall 11.6" notebook out there. Anyway, not to side track this thread, but I am extremely impressed with the SU7300 + G105 combo.

 

Can u guys with the dm3z run cpuz and tell me what the ht link speed you guys have and what speed your ram is running at.

My HT link speed is 800mhz, and my ram speed is 319 mhz ( it should be 400mhz) I have 3gb of ram for now, just waiting on my crucial 4gb kit to come in. will post an update then.

 

Hmmm, well... Not sure anything else can stress the game like Moria does. My HP Mini 311 plays silky smooth 40 - 70 at native resolution (all settings low obviously) in Shadows of Angmar areas. Once I cross over to Moria, the system struggles. It is definitely due to the CPU though, which is why I think the DM3Z stock would outperform my Mini 311 in Moria based content, essentially anything CPU limited. However, with the new expansion coming out, I guess it will be difficult to know how that will even run on my Mini. Moria is tolerable for sure, but it would be nice to have a system that is good 25% faster or so.

As far as Irvington, NJ... I did a search on the net after me and my partner were there and from what people say 'Don't go there' and was declared the highest murder rate in the united states per captica. I travel around around the United States and have never seen a shathole like that... I mean seriously, I visit all sorts of areas and I have been in 'bad areas' where people warn me not to stay past a certain time, etc... But Irvington, NJ was in a whole different league. I will take any area of Chicago, IL, Gary, IN over that place! If I ever fly into Newark again, there will be no stops 30 miles anywhere near there... Hehe...

 

I wish there was an option to put the rgb backlit panel the envy 13 has on the dm3.... and edge to edge glass..

 

Re: the bit about the "notebook"

They suggested that it will overheat if you use it in your lap and it's no longer called a "laptop" for that reason.

I am glad someone else had an uncomfortable issue when it comes to heat, even though it required playing a game. For me it was just operating as a power user without photoshop and the good stuff...

 

half an hour playing lotro seems to knock me down 15% so an hour is 30% looks like you can get 3 hours of lotro in with the 4330 on.

I was playing at native res 1336x768
set to medium and then tweaked (low light and blob shadows and I get 20-110 fps

adv graphics

Objects all high , scenery all medium. Texturing High filtering bilinear . Lighting low , blob shadows and disabled stencil shadows , blur filter at medium

here is a twist though. If i plug it in the area's i was getting 20 fps in , I'm now getting 40.

So something is going on even when i select the 4330 on battery. It must be adjusting clock speeds of the cpu or something

 

Thanks for the information. That is quite impressive battery numbers. I also agree, it appears to be downclocking the 4330. Thanks.

 

No problem. Also next time your in jersey rent a car and stay off exit 16w or 16e. They put you within 5 miles of each other. BUt its really nice. There is a good place called harmon meadows in either secacus (sp?) or north bergen. Not exactly sure which one.

Really nice areaa nd 15 mins from the city.

 

Just also to add to the game roster, call of juarez 2 (forgot if i already mentioned) runs 30fps on lower settings, Trine runs on high 20-30fps medium usually stays 30 or above, and an AMAZING game btw

 

That's playing on the 3200? Or on the 4330?

I was wondering specifically about the gaming performance of the integrated graphics, not the 4330. Thanks!

 

Oh thats the 4330. I will try the 3200hd in a bit.


Okay it stutters at medium settings no fssa at native res with the 3200.

It runs smooth as silk with everything at low. You can most likely tweak it for something between the two for smooth gaming. Fraps wasn't working for some reason

 

if this is a custom ordered dm3z that's nothing to worry about, perfectly normal. Usually the PN that is in the BIOS/on the board is a generic one while the one that is on the sticker is the "customized" one that reflects all the changes that you have mace to it during customization.

 

Did a clean install of Windows 7 Home Premium the other night before I used the laptop.

Today, I took my dm3z 4330 / 250GB 5400RPM / 4GB RAM out to class without the plug. Set to default Power Saver, with minimum brightness, Wi-Fi ON, NO Bluetooth. Operations consisted of OpenOffice Word + continuous browsing (perusing Google Reader and the forums) on Firefox 3.6 beta 1 with multiple tabs. "Excellent" signal strength on Wi-Fi.

After two hours of continuous use, my battery went from 100% to 66%. I wish I could have kept it going, but had to go. So -- extrapolating -- I could get 6 hours, more likely 5 hours, on this dm3z with heavy browsing/email (no YouTube or Hulu though) and word processing.

This is with the L625 on integrated HD3200, WiFi ON, Bluetooth OFF, Power Saver, minimum brightness. I am DEFINITELY keeping this laptop. Have yet to try gaming though, but will post soon once I get more apps on it.