*HP dm3 (1XXX series) Owners Lounge*

I came with the DVD-RW, also the box said it only had b/g wifi , but when i checked it was an Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter

I just burnt my recover dvd`s so i know the dvd-rw works.

 

Hi,

Has anyone tried out the headphone port on the dm3z? Does it make some static noise in the headphone when plugged in using AC power and running at full load? My old Dell has this issues, which mean the audio wires are not very well shielded.

I'm shopping around for a new thin laptop and this one fits all my needs. My boy does this laptop look awesome!!!

 

Did you install something along the line of "HP Play Launch". It should be part of a application rather then the hardware driver. I've had other HP laptops that need that. Hope it helps

 

Sounds good. I should do the same...

 

Hey Thrallz...

Well, I finally broke down and did the HP tech support thing to solve this problem. Turns out for the display volume bars, there's another bit of HP SW needed to run this that isn't listed in their SW / drivers section online.

Here's the link I got from hp to the needed SW (called HP Quicktouch Software):

http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp37501-38000/sp37799.exe

This required a restart after running, and it did bring back a version of the volume bars, but not the green ones...while i preferred the original, this is better than nothing.

Hope this helps.

 

I've used the headphone port plenty as you've described and haven't noticed any static at all.

 

Thanks jpark93 for the reply. Now, I'm definitely going to get this one. I believe it's $499 at Fry's after rebate. What a deal!

 

greatly appreciated it =)

 

this has been asked before, but not answered

anyone know what the 160gb SSD is that is optioned with the DM3T?

I just bought one with a dm3t but it will not be here for another week.

 

I think i remember reading somewhere that its an Intel SSD.

 

yeah but intel doesnt make a 160gb they make a 128gb, unless it is only available as an OEM drive and not retail.


can someone confirm

 

They do make a 160gb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167024&cm_re=intel_160-_-20-167-024-_-Product

 

thanks for the link.....

still no one who actually owns a 160gb SSD from HP?

 

There really needs to be more video reviews of the dm3 online. Just a couple, and the ones that are out there are often lacking. (guy too thick to turn on the machine)

 

I do. Its a G1 X25-M. No trim support.

Bought it in Australia. Has anyone else bought a dm3 in au? Mine doesn't come with an external dvd drive and they installed 32bit win7 .

 

hmm, okay well a G1 for $100 isnt a bad deal. it was $300 upgrade and then a coupon for $200 off....

thanks

 

You mean a G2 right? The G1 is only 80gb I thought.

 

Model no: ssdsa2mh160 g1hp

 

so if u buy a hp dm3t with original price more than 1300 $ u can use a coupon with 200$ discount and the original 150$ discount so total price will b 950$
so here are my config to reach the needed amount
su7300/105M
4 g ddr3
160 gb SSD
extra battery
wireless g card with bluetooth

it will cost me 1040 $ dollars after taxes
is it a good buy or do i wait for the ul30vt better
coz i hear a lot worrying things on the HP
by the way i went for su7300 not the sp9600 coz i think i wont be needing more cpu power what do u think did i make the right choice
thanks

 

For $1040 after taxes I think that deal sucks. About the only thing that really shines is the 160g SSD. The SSD HDD's are a great option for any notebook user.. super fast, generates no heat, erie quiet and uses almost no battery power. But lets be realistic.. their prices just arent reasonable yet. Especially knowing as soon as other manufacters give Intel & OCZ some SSD competition.. those outrageous prices will drop like a rock. A HDD upgrade is always an easy option you can do anytime in the future. A year from now a 160g SSD will retail for $200 or less everywhere on the net.

If your configuration was $1040 with the SSD **AND** the 9600 proc, Wifi-N + Blue, and external disc drive (DVD or BR) then I would say it was a good deal. But as it stands its nothing special. HP is giving those $1300 discounts because most of the upgrades themselves are overpriced. Things that are a $5-10 upgrade in the regular market are a $50+ upgrade when configuring the DM3. The only true $50 upgrades I see are the external DVD player and extra battery. Those items really would cost you $50 bucks off any given website.

I guess you could say the $300 SSD drive is good offer too.. but only because it retails for $600 which is a ripoff. So for it to be a good deal, you consider paying $300 for a HDD a good deal. I've used mechanical HDD's for the past 20 years and dont have a problem using them for another year or 2 until they come down to a realistic price.

The UL30VT will be impressive, but its price should start around $900 and realistically be a $1000+ properly configed.

Where the DM3 shines is its the best bang for buck notebook at almost netbook prices. (like the $500 versions being sold at Office Depot & Best Buy). Once you start piling on the overpriced extra's.. the DM3 doesnt look that great on paper. Any notebook costing a $1000 should have a super fast proc & wifi-N as standard features.

Maybe you can combine it with a 15% cash back offer to sweeten the deal and get that price down into the $800's shipped.

 

well said
by the way the ul30vt is out @ amazon for preorder for 800 and i guess it will sweep the market
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XZLURC/
its the laptop i dream of
i really wished i would get an ssd but as u said may b i can upgrade later when the prices becomes realistic
u remmeber when they made a 500 $ discount on hps more than 1400 $ now that was a real deal but as u said 200$ is not enough
and sorry man i dont live in usa i will make a friend buy me one from USA so i dont know what is a cash back !!

 

How the heck are you guys getting into the bios!?! I cant get into it at startup for some reason... wrong key?

 

You press ESC top left of keyboard, then you will get a list of option press F10 bios setup.

 

Whats being changed in the BIOS.. did I miss something?

 

What is the bottom of the DM3 made of metal or plastic, it feels like plastic?

 

I believe it is magnesium on the bottom.

 

In the service guide it says the access door covers are made of plastic , I hope it`s wrong

 

$800 + 600 for ssd = $1400 vs $1040 = $370 price diffrence.

 

I paid $1000 for mine with tax and shipping with an extra battery for 2 years from now, wifi N w/ Bluetooth, 105 GPU and the SSD.

If you took the ssd out and sold it on eBay for around $400 you would be back at $600 which is a nice deAl for the 10hrs of battery life


For me I wanted the ssd in a thin and light and a mbp with an inferior ssd was over $1800

@$1000 it's a good deal when the real price of the ssd is factored in. Now if you don't want an SSD and can't pay for it, well the. It's not such a good deal.

 

I just don't like the lack of trim in that drive.

I'm waiting for prices to be sane again and I will most likely get a 80 gig gen 2 intel (mrp is $250) or a 120 gig ocz vertex (msrp is $300)

Trim support is really important , i've seen the huge diffrence it can make on my desktop

 

anyone has more info regarding that black dm3 color available from microsoft?

 

yeah well with the anadtech article on SSDs the X25-m w/o trim does farily well over time. Does not suffer the same amount of performance loss as lower end SSDs
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3403&p=17

defenately being able to delete data and actually have the SSD clear the block prior to needing it is a great thing and will help keep the performance strong over longer periods of time.

But the X25-M G1 can hold its own and for $300 as a upgrade it is a good price for the storages size as it is at newegg for $600.

Also with the $200 off the notebook I was already going to purchase it made the SSD upgrade only cost $100 more than the Free 320gb 5400 RPM SATA drive...

so for $100 more you get an Intel X25-M 160gb that you could turn and sell on ebay for $400ish

It was a no brainer for me.... and i will have a notebook that could get 10+ hrs of battery run time since the SSD uses less power.

For $250 for the 80gb G2 I would buy for my desktop..... but in a notebook that only has 1 drive bay I want more storage.... although you could supplement a expresscard SSD and a SD card to get more storage.

 

Hey just wanted your opinions of which laptop to get between these 2 configurations:

Sams Club
4GB ram + 500GB HD (7200RPM)+ 1.3 GHz Intel Pentium SU4100
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=449476

or

Office Depot
4GB ram + 320GB HD + AMD Athlon™ Neo X2 Dual-Core Processor L335
http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/328626/HP-Pavilion-dm3-1030us-13-3/

I want the laptop for normal use, streaming videos, surf the web and light gaming, the one that will perform best, run the smoothest, and can handle multiple simultaneous applications the best.

Thanks!

 

1 = better battery life, quieter, runs cooler, poor gaming performance, larger hdd

2 = blu-tooth, 2x more powerful graphics, undervolt`s well, cheaper

The cpu`s are approx equal in performance.

Both are fine for online video

What kind of games do you want to play?

 

link tinder said

1) better battery/ worse GPU
2) Lower battery/ better GPU

the real power of this notebook is the $500 price range.... which I spend double

 

at $300 its a fine upgrade. I've promoted the kingston v series at $250 with 120 gig drive as a good value also and it doesn't have trim and is slower than the g1 intel ssds.

But there is no trim and wont ever be trim and for me that be a no go in a laptop for $300 or more.

He uses the intel x25-m with trim. If you look unlike the other tests on the second page when he has TRIM enabled and he deletes the data the drive stays just as fast.

so unless you plan on reformating every few months good luck with that non trim drive.

 

yeah I will have a WHS that will do nightly backups of it so if it is an issue I dont have a problem restoring the drive from my WHS

 

Hello lounge,
Just one question for now. I have decided on the Intel version of the Dm3 mainly for battery life among other reasons.

I can get SU4100 version at Fry's,( http://www.frys.com/product/6060198?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG) or configure it at hp.com with the SU7300. I wanted to know if I would see any performance difference with the 7300, and if it would be worth the extra cost.

I will mainly use the notebook for internet browsing, watching movies, Open Office work and very light gaming. Thanks for suggestions.

~Chris

 

Whats your light gaming ? If youw ant to do any gaming at all you want the geforce and not the faster cpu. The intel igp will play at best 5 year old games ... and that is on its best day with very low settings

 

According to passmark the SU7300 is only around 4% more powerful than the SU4100, though synthetic results can be inaccurate, take with big pinch of salt.

 

Thanks guys for the replies. My gaming that I would intend to do is only AudioSurf, any other games are saved for my desktop. If AudioSurf would work with either the 7300 or 4100 and integrated graphics than I should be happy. Let me know what you think. Thanks

~Chris

 

Well, mine come with 32bit win 7 too (bought it in Singapore), and I have been bugging tech support to help me change it to 64bit for the past 3 weeks now. Apparently 64bit win7 is still not supported by HP in this region.

Anyway, let me know if u are going to manually "upgrade" it to 64bits. I'm still hopeful HP will do it for me if I bug them enough.

 

Does anyone know if HP uses an Atheros WiFi chipset? I'm interested in either the dm3z or the best buy model dm3-1035dx, but the WiFi chip vendor isn't listed in the online specifications for either.

Thanks in advance!

 

My DM3z came with an Atheros AR9285 b,g,n , though the box said on the side only b,g also the HP website said only b,g

There is also a spare MINI PCI-E slot under the hdd cover.

I have added a couple of pictures of under the ram/wifi and hdd covers

All the base is metal including the covers, the only plastic is the battery.

 

I have the 4100 and my usage sounds pretty similar to yours. I've had it for 2 weeks and I'm totally happy with the performance. It's much faster than the last 2 laptops I've had...

 

Thanks for the help! If I may ask what kind of battery life are you getting, and how do HD videos/movies play. Thanks again for the reply.

~Chris

 

Has anybody else noticed the the stereo sound is uneven , the left is fine , but the right does not come from the right side but from under the middle of the notebook , a closer look with a light shows reasonable large left speaker hole , but a tiny right speaker hole, and a very large hole in the middle of the notebook and here is where the right spear sound is coming from.

I have played around with the balance and the right sound only comes from the middle of the notebook ?????

Can anybody else confirm this!!!!

 

I've only used it on battery in the hotel and in the airport, so I haven't had to push the battery life yet. There's been plenty of talk about battery life in previous posts though. The video/movies are pretty smooth, haven't had a problem with that at all.

 

yes, thats cause its not stereo, its mono..only the left speaker is on..thats the problem i was talking about it the last thread. the driver you and I and everybody has is bad...and hp doesnt have a solution yet....im working on it now though...im trying to find another driver that might give us stereo and remove the crackle sound...if i cant figure it out by tuesday im gonna have to return it...hp gave me 5 days to ship it back

 

I still dont get any crackling , but when i move the audio balance the sound does move from the left to the middle of the notebook , how can that be if it is mono?

Have a look at the size of the speaker hole use a flashlight, there is only 1 tiny one on the right hand side that i can see.