*HP dm3 (1XXX series) Owners Lounge*

How did you manage to get the 25% bing cashback? Did you get from Staples, Office Depot, or HP? Thanks.

 

Does this laptop have some sort of dynamic brightness feature or something? Whenever I view a website with a black background I notice the screen noticably dimming itself. Is there a way to turn this off?

 

It was a promotion only on 18 October, if you linked to HP's website through Bing.com. They will probably have similar deal day after Thanksgiving.

 

What do you plan on doing with the notebook ?

If you need max battery life go with the cheapest intel with intergrated gpu.

If you need a good balance(game and program ability) but cheap go with the amd + hd 3200

If you need a good balance but on the cheap side with alot of gpu power.go with the amd + hd 4330 for gaming

If you need the best get the most expensive intel one. But remember in most apps the amd + hd 4330 will do everything you need and may run cooler in the end with more batter life vs some of the intel offersings because of the switchable graphics

 

Hi Pasta4U, any thoughts on the power button on dm3? Is it just my fat fingers, or is there another way to switch on the laptop without around using my nails to latch on the led light?

 

not really , i'm 6'4 320lbs and its not a big deal to me. Then again i was used to my psp and ds and their little toggle buttons so. Basicly just push your finger down right before the little notch and then slide back. You don't need much of a slide

 

Alright thanks Pasta4u. I'll try that. Maybe my fingers are too oily.

 

thanks for the clarification.
i picked up a plain and simple asus x83vb-x2 to be my mobile laptop, but surprised to find that it provided equal or worse battery life than my g50vt. not a big deal since i can buy additional ones for $50. oddly enough, the biggest reason why i'm getting rid of this x83vb is because the trackpad is driving me crazy! never imagined such a minor problem would ruin the experience, plus the keyboard is slippery and noisy. also... unfortunately, i think i'm getting caught up in the ultra light & ultra thin trend

since this is just a "spare" laptop, i don't really want to spend TOO much money (~$600), want 13-14", and most importantly... minimum of 5 hrs of battery life. i don't need it to play games or anything graphic intensive since i have the g50vt, yet i don't want it to studder or lag when playing a movie or streaming a video.

with that said, i've narrowed my choices down to the dm3z and ul80vt. i know i know... i've read both sides of the argument in this thread... the dm3 w/ su7300 and 4500mhd would be ideal, but for the price, i'd rather spend a little more and get the ul80vt. seems like the dm3z w/ hd 3200 will be sufficient, but biggest concern is battery life. here's my pros/cons list based on what i've read here...

HP DM3Z
pros:
- best looking laptop i've seen in a while
- seems to be more solid/sturdy
- roughly $200 cheaper

cons:
- seems like ~4 hrs is the average around here and that's not enough for me
- heat issues (1 BB display model was uncomfortably hot in idle, another BB had a display model that was normal temps in idle )
- trackpad issues
- noticed a lot of vibration on both palmrests on the BB display model

Asus UL80VT
pros:
- switchable graphics (just in case...)
- easily overclocked with Asus P4G
- more than enough battery life

cons:
- $200 more expensive
- keyboard and chassis flex
- some reports of trackpad issues


if the dm3z could achieve at least 5 hrs with wi-fi on, web browsing (not including videos), word documents, and quickbooks... i'd be sold. also, if someone could confirm that the neo x2 could easily handle multitasking those.

 

My personal experience (with higher powered SP9300 and GeForce 105M) is that the 6-cell battery still delivers ~5hours of normal (wireless browsing+word processing) usage.

If you get something less power intensive I would assume you could do better.

 

Thanks for the reply. I install the IDT Audio Codec from HP. It works for one time. Basically, I would install the driver, restart the computer, and the mute button (F6) would work until I restart the computer again, and it would stop working. I then uninstall the driver, restart the computer, and same thing happen. The button would work (even without the driver) for once. As soon as I restart the computer again, it would stop working.

It's very frustration. I don't know if it's my laptop's fault or if this is Windows 7's default.

 

Here is my honest opinion. Of those two choices get the DM3z and replace the hardrive with a 80-120 gig ssd. That will cost you between $200-$350. Much better upgrade if you don't need to play games on the device. More responsive and better battery life with an ssd. Also since ssd's boot so much faster than regular hardrives you coudl be back up aftre switching from a battery in as little as 15 seconds. You'd also get rid of that vibration from the 7200rpm hardrive you felt in the store

 

They are no offering a 160gb SSD for $300 with the DM3T.

That would be the Intel X-25m which retails for ~$500, so that's a killer deal.

I can't wait till I get some more feedback regarding the heat from the SP9300/105m... but man, SP9300/105m, 4gb DDR3, 160gb X-25... in such a small great looking enclosure... that's one heck of a laptop, man.

HP fools also changed the base CPU option to some SU2300 or something... and jacked the prices of the other configurations by $50. Tools.

 

you sure your not turning on the function button for some reason ala word and then leaving it on ?

If you do that it wont work

Just throwing out ideas

 

on my hp academic account it's showing the same price as before. i was kind of annoyed with a prior glitch that the "free" upgrade from 250 to 320 gb cost $40.

 

i was actually considering that option, was looking around on newegg for SSDs. prices are still a little too high for my liking though, but seems like it'd eliminate all my gripes about the dm3z except for the trackpad. hopefully improve battery life to ~5 hrs, eliminate hdd vibration, eliminate heat on left palm rest (assuming the heat is coming from the hdd?). and hopefully the trackpad can be remedied by those skin products that someone mentioned earlier.

now all that's left is... wait till black friday or buy now? i honestly can't imagine there being much of a deal on the dm3, those BF deals seem to usually be reserved for ~$300 junk laptops.

 

I saw that the best buy website and staples now has the DM3 in stock with staples selling it for $499 with MIR. Has anyone had a chance to check these out? They come with an Neo X2 cpu and HD3200 graphics so they should perform better than the Intel CULV models that are in the same price range. HP claims 6 hours of battery as well.

 

The intel doesn't support trim right now. So thats out of the question

 

If your using the hardrive alot your basicly going to cut at least half the power out of the device. The 7200rpm drive is going to be idling with a 2-3 watt power draw while the ssd will be around .5 watts at idle.

The heat on the left palm rest is i believe the cpu so that wont really help but it will elimate heat from the system and improve cooling.

The track pad except for the problem on wake up once in awhile is easy to use imo . Of course this is my first laptop. So I may not be used to another type of pad.

It all depends on what you want to do. Remember you can allways in the future move that ssd to another computer (deskto or new laptop)

In 2011 the amd fusion comes out. Which will basicly be their dx 11 igp built into the cpu. The power savings there will be huge so I bought my laptop with an eye towards upgrading in 2012 .

 

You missed this gigantic thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5510928#post5510928

 

The Intel drive is actually retailing for $600... so for $300, it's a steal.

It will support TRIM so.. I'm sure in a month or so the firmware will be out. They had actually released the firmware for it but it bricked some of the drives and a few days ago they released a statement stating they're working on it...

 

It doesn't support it yet , the old trim update had the drives kill themselves. So who knows when it might get updated.

 

Ya I know... Like I said, they already released the firmware, but it bricked some of the drives.

It'll be out pretty soon, according to the statement they released this past week. You're getting a $600 drive, one of the fastest ones out there at that, for $300. Not too bad. So a little wait for the updated firmware isn't going to hurt.

 

I saw that BB and staples have started carrying this model locally. I am interested in the version with the Neo X2 and HD3200 as it is on sale right now for $499 but I was wondering what the real world battery life is on that particular config when it comes to wifi browsing and using apps like office. All the reviews I have read are for the CULV version.

 

Has anybody installed Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux (or any other Linux distro) on the dm3z or dm3t? Have seen some really good prices on the dm3z. Was thinking of getting one and mutibooting between Windows 7, Windows XP and Ubuntu.

 

with browsing andwatching south park studios i can get over 4 hours.

In fact the best i've done is 5h 45mins now that was using firefox with add blockers. The cpu was staying at 800mhz the whole time and my screen was at 40% brightness

 

That's not bad at all. I am definitely going to have to go this weekend and check it out then.

 

pasta, if the battery is actually capable of that with the neo, then i think i'll be more than satisfied. strange thing i noticed though, the multi gestures and scrolling on the trackpad wouldn't work at several best buy models. however, i went to office depot and their's worked like a charm and i actually have no complaints about the trackpad.

 

1. How long does it take Cnet to benchmark/test and release its official review? Its been half a month already.

2. Has anyone noticed that the HPdirect prices have increased? I had a configuration that came out to about $705, now its $766.

 

just to make sure...
but any reason not to buy the dm3 from staples, office depot, or office max and buy from best buy instead?
only thing i can think of is more lenient return/exchange policy, but i'm not too worried about that.
staples/office depot/office max = 4gb ram, bluetooth, $500
best buy = 3gb, no bluetooth, $550

 

I've experienced the same problem twice already. I hope a driver to address the issue comes quickly!

I personally don't like the touch pad. I find scrolling to be a challenge especially for long webpages.

 

Is there any way to get more volume out of the speakers? Like a add on program/booster or registry tweak? My touch pro 2 speaker is louder. I am serious. thanks

 

Just to be clear at the time I had a 30 gig ssd from ocz in there (vertex model)

The 7200rpm drive at the retail stores will use up to 5 times more power .

With my 250 gig 5400rpm drive in I get less time.


The 30 gig ssd is to small for me . After the holidays I will be buying an 80 gig one as that si enough to keep all i want on the disc and I bought an 2.5inch encolsure for the 2.5inch drive the system came with to keep media in. Its about the size of my 3rd gen ipod so its not a problem to carry it with me. I'm also going to make use of 16 gig sd cards for media.

I'm very happy with this laptop , my upgrades are going to be to upgrade to 4 gigs of ram and the 80 gig ssd.

 

So i was taking a look at the user manual yesterday and it mentioned that some models of the dm3 have hp quickweb? does anyone know anything about this that could give more information on the matter?

I know that the new power books come with them but i heard that the dm3 does as well

 

Alright guys, I need your recommendation summed up for me. There is a TON of info in this thread. I am buying a DM3 in the next 1-2 weeks.

I want to be able to output HD content to my HDTV without hiccups. (HD youtube, hulu, etc) Which processor and/or graphics card do you recommend for this? Battery life is not a huge concern for me but it would be nice to get 4hrs+ with light use.

People with AMD's, are they running hot? All I have seen in this thread are people saying store demos are hot. I have never had an AMD but am indifferent.

Of the available graphics options with the intel processors, is there an option that would be able to provide me with my HD output needs?

THANKS!

 

The amd with hd 3200 will do what you want . Depending on your light use it may not get 4hrs + though. However you would need something with the geforce intergrated graphics on hte intel side as while the intel video card can play back most 1080p files it will do so by using alot more cpu time and can cut back video playback time

 

Hey guys,

In regards to the battery wiggle, what I've done is rather simple. Get two strips of duct tape just shy of the length of the battery (don't worry, we're not taping anything). Stick them together (so that the sticky sides touch and there's nothing left sticky on the outside) to create a thin but 'padded' sort of grey strip.

Put this between the battery and the laptop when putting the battery in. This way it stops the wiggle, and it remains just as easy to remove.

 

The 4500MHD with the Intel CPUs is more than capable of handling HD output.
Check out the laptopmag.com review, they outputted 1080p content to an external LCD perfectly. It also gets around 9 hours of battery life to boot.

Obviously, the SP9300/105m combo will also be more than capable of outputting HD content, but you'll only be getting around 5-6 hours of battery life, which is still pretty crazy considering how powerful that combination is.

You could also go for the SU7300/105m combo as opposed to SU7300/4500MHD, if you plan on gaming or anything. Otherwise, I would just stick with the SU7300/4500MHD...

 

pasta, you have been most helpful
office max currently has the dm3-1030us for $500 shipped + tax and no hassle of MIRs. however, they don't carry them in stock and i'm incredibly impatient... was almost willing to just buy the best buy model (3gb ram and no bluetooth) for $550 + tax just to have it . however, i saw that staples still has it for $550 - $50 MIR and in their ad it says $500 with of course, the super fine print that it's after $50 MIR. unfortunately, no local staples had them in stock, so i went to the office depot across the street from me to PM. for once... sneaky marketing tactics worked against the big retailers! the manager didn't notice the fine print, just the large $499.99. let me just say... she was INCREDIBLY annoyed at having to discount $150 plus i get the rebate
so i basically got it for $500 - $50 MIR = $450 after rebate (not including tax)!!!

 

I actually got on the forum to ask about this very thing.

I don't have mine yet, but would love it if it had the quickweb application. I was considering replacing my Envy 133 with the new Envy 13, but I might be getting a dm3 from work, and might as well put off replace my 133.

 

holy crap, you guys were right... this thing takes FOREVER to charge the battery! it better last a good while on the battery if it's gonna take this long to charge it... (i know the two aren't related) otherwise, i have absolutely NO complaints about this thing. the trackpad isn't nearly as big of an issue as reviews have made it out to be, keyboard is great, no vibration on the palmrests like store display model exhibited, and best of all... it doesn't get hot under idle or low load. oddly enough, this laptop has given me a higher feeling of initial satisfaction than the G51VX, G50VT, or X83VB. can't wait to test out the battery

 

I've seen the 4500MHD personaly struggle with 1080p video . All depends on bit rate and codec.

Also the 4500MHD is going to use more cpu time keeping the cpu pegged at its normal speed thus negating the power saving features.

 

Well, the Intel configuration is going to get you 3-4 extra hours over the AMD... it might negate some of that, but not all. You will still end up with stellar battery life.

You would be the first.... I've never heard or read a review about the 4500MHD not being to handle HD content. Heck, one guy on the forums here posted how his laptop was playing 1080p content using the built-in codecs in Win7 on his 4500MHD while barely utilizing any CPU cycles.

 

and do you know what cpu it was. There is a world of diffrence between even the 3 intel cpus offered in this laptop. I'm specificly talking about the lowest spec one.

 

Well, the laptopmag.com had the SU7300.

In reference to that particular post on the forum, I cannot remember the CPU to be honest... but the CPU is irrelevant because once again, it was barely using any CPU cycles. He had even posted a CPU usage screenie just to show how it wasn't even using the CPU... ah here we go:

link

So ya. He was getting 0-2% CPU usage with the 4500MHD, so even if he had an i7 or an Atom.. it's irrelevant as the CPU isn't being used.

 

720p file thats not full screen and we have no idea what the bit rates are.

My zune also does 720p low bit rate basic profile hd videos. Doesn't really tell us much. Esp considering the laptop he has comes with a core 2 duo p8400 which is a 3M cache 2.26 ghz dual core cpu.
0-2% of that would much greater than the 1.2ghz celeron or even the su4100 1.3ghz or su7300 1.3ghz chip. In fact the chip is clocked at twice the speed of the Su7300 and has a faster fsb to boot.

From later in your thread Coldmack stated his performance was at 28% cpu

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/avivo-purevideo-clearvideo,2408-2.html

GMA X4500 is in this at 800mhz combined with a 2.53ghz core 2 duo

Remember this is a cpu clocked at almost double the speed of the lower end cpus avalible with the intel intergrated chip and the one in the laptop is running at half the speed meaning that the shader cores it uses to help decode the video formats are also cut in half performance wise. With a slower chip your going to see higher cpu usage.

Here is another one showing its plaback cpu usage at 34.8 with a 1080p Mpeg 2 file , 29.3 with an avc and 37.2 with a vc-1 all at 1080p

To drive home the fact that cpu % is not the same across cpus and clock speeds here is a review using an atom cpu

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17078/6

Look at h.2640 1080p. its 67-100% usage without and then 24-44% with acceleration.

Its not magicly going to make cpu usage go to 0-2% it simply wont happen even with fast 3ghz cpus. I have a radeon 4850 and a quad core intel cpu at 3.4ghz right now and even 1080p on my system does not get 0-2% usage. 720p seems to peg my cpu at 3%. so unless your telling me that his slower cpu and less powerfull video decoding intergrated gpu is some how better at this than my 3.4ghz quad core and radeon 4850 1gig then this talk is over.

 

Man. You really hate the 4500MHD... lol.

Let me just put it this way, the 4500MHD can play 1080p content and can output it to an external display just fine. Will the CPU usage be higher than on other GPUs? Probably. But I'm not sure what the issue is, doubt you're going to be multi-tasking while watching a movie anyway.

Problem regarding lower battery life? Well, the SU7300/4500MHD is getting 9-10 hours anyway. So if the CPU usage is higher because of the bitrate or whatever? Alright, fair enough. Considering the AMDs are getting 4-5 hours, the Intel solution will still give better battery life, while running cooler, and you're still going to have the same quality HD output... although, maybe the CPU cycles will be a tad higher on the Intel solution, but in reality it's not going to have that big of an effect anyway.

Heck man, didn't one guy only gain like 15-20 minutes of battery usage in this very thread when he jumped from CPU to GPU decoding?

"We also tested this laptop’s graphics and video muscle by outputting a full 1080p movie trailer (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) to a 32-inch Samsung TV using the dm3t’s HDMI port. Playback was highly detailed, and we didn’t notice any hiccups during fast action sequences. "

 

Thanks for the post nu_D. I will be going with the SU7300/4500MHD. I don't play games, but just want to be able to enjoy HD content. I think the extra hours in battery life, plus my familiarity with Intel, are worth the extra money at this point.

thanks again!

 

@pasta4u, Where you able to get some temperatures from HWMonitor?

And about the hardware virtualization question for the L335 and L625, could you please run Securable and post the results? That would answer my earlier question whether the L335 supports hardware virtualization.

 

I have not seen smooth 1080p playback on lower end cpus with this chipset. I've seen the platform in use multiple times.

If your going to pair it up with a slow cpu your going to have playback problems when playing 1080p high bit rate video.

The person your talking about switched from te hd 3200 to the 4330 and thats because the 4330 has UVD 2 in it. So when using the 4330 your using less cpu cycles. Its the same thing in this case. If your using a igp that does poorly with a slow chip the chip wont down clock itself.

So when I use my 4330 to watch videos its using 7 watts or less (the whole chip isn't active) but my cpu stays at 800mhz instead of 1600mhz.

I'd love to see the link for your quote and what cpu was used in that and what the cpu usage % was.

Then with the slower intel chips you run into a problem of general performance issues.

 

You would love to see the link? Thought it's been posted here a bunch...

Here you go my man.

The quote is at the very bottom of the page.

It has the bottom of the rung SU7300 btw, oh, and only 2GB of memory too.

There's no performance issues man...

"Anecdotally, the dm3t was relatively snappy when switching between multiple open windows, and a high-res version of a Heroes episode streamed from Hulu had plenty of detail."



ballsagna:

Sounds great.. glad to help! The Intel chip will also run a lot cooler since it's max TDP is only 10watts.. the AMDs range between 15-18watts, a full 50% more. Good luck!