*HP dm3 (1XXX series) Owners Lounge*

Has nobody run passmark on the Dm3t with SU7300? The only passmark score that i've seen for the SU7300 cpu is from this site...It lists the cpu as 911.


However, Passmark's site lists it as 981. I wonder if all those factory overclocked asus computers (UL30 or something) are skewing it up...

Can Dm3t users please post their passmark cpu scores (and overall would be neat to compare the full systems in light of ram and gpu differences) so we can compare them to the scores for the L335 and L625?

 

At long last, my order went through:

HP Pavilion dm3t customizable Notebook PC

* • Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
* • Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor SU7300 (1.3GHz, 3M Cache) with 512MB NVIDIA GeForce G 105M
* • FREE Upgrade to 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 2GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* • 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
* • 13.3" diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP LED BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
* • Webcam Only
* • Wireless-N Card
* • HP Color Matching Keyboard
* • 6 Cell Polymer Battery
* • Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
* • HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Estimated build date: December 7, 2009

Grand total was 807.30, not including 20% cashback from bing.

 

^The screen is actually 1366 x 768; hope that doesn't bother you.

instead of half, maybe i should say, not full then.
a half the size of the wifi card will fit, but most likely you can't screw it in. What you would need is a 1.8"/2" (if you count the connector) card. Dell Mini pcie drives seem to fit this size limits (ebay listings say 51mm long), but i don't have one, so i couldn't tell you for certain.

Here's a shot of the open pcie slot, and the ssd pulled from my asuseepc netbook. The card is about 2.75" long.

 

yeah but netbooks have crazy SSDs that are not not compatible with any other PC....

When i get mine on tuesday I will look at the connector. I want either another SSD card or a GPS in my open PCIe slot.

 

Can someone who has purchased the dm3 configured to order with built-in WWAN please describe the activation process, which carrier you chose (and why), whether you were forced into a contract or can go month-to-month, the impact on battery life, and whether or not the GPS integrated into the WWAN can be used by your apps?

I just ordered mine with the mobile broadband option and I am wondering what to expect. Since it has the Gobi chip, we should theoretically be able to activate on Verizon, ATT or Sprint and do some short term testing to figure out which one is best for a particular area, right? Of course, if they lock you into a contract it may be more hassle than it is worth.

 

i did not get one but i plan to add a sprint WWAN/GPS card from ebay and use it only for GPS.

it doesnt look like they prewired the anntenna in ours that opted not to get the WWAN card from HP, which is a bummer.

 

Same here, I am wondering if I should get the gobi WWAN card. Any one with any experience in wiring the antenna to work with the WWAN card?

 

I can't remember where I saw it, but I could have sworn I saw a pic of a dm3 that came from the factory with WWAN and it had a dedicated on/off button for the WWAN (above the keyboard? not along the right side like the WiFi switch). Can anyone confirm that, or did I just see a picture of a different model?

 

Very interested in knowing how that works out.

I have an SSD that I want to pop in there and boot from

 

Hey looks like the nice deals with the step in DM3z 1030 (OfficeDepot, OfficeMax models) are not for sale anymore or have increased in price?

Anybody know a place where it's still $500 or less than the $699 from Office Depot at the moment?

 

I tested one, and the trackpad, and it is FAR from the worst ever. I've determined that the dm3a is not the laptop I want (I want a netbook) since I already have a full-sized that gets the job done, but it is FAR from unpleasant to type on or use the keyboard. If I didn't have the full sized I have, I'd have bought it.

 

Does this GPS works?

http://www.azwave.com/product_GPS-M01_1.asp

 

You may want to keep an eye on eBay. Search "dm3", enter the notebook category, select the "Buy it Now" tab and sort by price. You can snag a good deal if you're patient. Be sure to buy from a well known seller + use PayPal. I was able to get mine for under $475 after 10% Bing cashback. (1030-US model, free shipping, no tax.) Seller was great and shipped the same day w/tracking information. Currently in transit, should (hopefully) arrive tomorrow.

I'll post an update and mini review once I receive it.

Right now it looks like the cheapest is $570. Comes to $513 after Bing cashback. Still a great deal, but you could probably find a better one if you wait a bit.

 

For those interested in the SP9300/105m combo:

I've been looking around for this combo in person and finally came across a local shop that stocked it....

Regarding heat:

To be honest, I'm very impressed. It had been running a PowerPoint presentation for at least 10 hours in high performance mode, and the HDD temps were at 35C, GPU at 44C, and the CPU at 39-40C. This is beyond remarkable. It was a little warm on the bottom but all things considered, it was running really cool. If you put this sucker in balanced mode, as opposed to the CPUs chugging along at 100% all the time, I'm sure it would hit even lower temps. I turned off the PP presentation for a bit and it immediately cooled down, it was almost instantaneous.

I don't know about battery life, but from what I can gather, you should be able to hit at least 5 solid hours of battery life with some internet browsing and music playing and other light tasks.

Build quality was very good, although around the edge where the side strip meets the middle layer, it seemed to be less than perfect. I don't know if it's because it's a display model or if HP hasn't worked out all the manufacturing techniques... but it's something to keep in mind. But it doesn't detract from the overall beauty of the machine... it's really slim by the way, pictures don't do it any justice.

Regarding the touchpad, well, it's just like any other HP touchpad. Really don't know what all the fuss is about.

Hope that helps!

I will say this though, from a guy who has been burned by two HP laptops that died due to overheating issues and is beyond paranoid about heat and laptop deaths, this laptop will have me resting peacefully at night. It's really something else, man. Especially when you consider all the power in that little chassis.

 

I got the L335 AMD version and the heat was driving me crazy. Turned off aero this morning and have been working much cooler --and acceptable-- all day. I would say now it is a keeper.

 

Thanks for the info.

I balked on te SP9300 and went with the SU7300 for battery life and heat.

I keep having buyers remorse on the CPU wondering if I should have gone with the SP9300.

If I can get substantially better battery life with the SU7300 I will be happy

good to hear the SP9300 is fairly cool. It is rated at 25w I think and the SU7300 is 10w if I remember correctly.

 

SP9300/105

General Use: Websurfing, YouTube videos(low quality), MS Word, and Chatting on AIM
ACPI: 45
Core #1: 41
Core #2: 42
GPU: 50
HDD: 33

Battery Life: Websurfing and a little bit of youtube vids ... 4.25-4.5 hours (HP Recommended Mode) - 50% brightness

Previous Laptop: HP dv2000t

 

okay guys I got my DM3T SU7300 w Nvidia 105m and Intel 160gb SSD and it is quick. I can say that I was pissed with how slow it was with all the HP crapware on it but after I uninstalled it all and reinstalled essential programs this notebook is FAST.

I just installed office 2010 beta and it loads in under 1s word, PP and excel all.

I even loaded a 400mb PowerPoint and it loaded in around 1.5s

I will do some real benchmarks on it this weekend, perhaps sooner, but my HDtach read was right around 190mb/s

I love the thinness and the keyboard is great. trackpad isnt good, but after 2hrs of use tonight it is getting better.

I dont understand not having 2 finger rightclick and the side scrollbar is lame.

with the SSD there is no noise when it turns on, i cannot hear the fan or anything.


thanks guys for the the help...

 

^just a word of advice, in case you were not aware. Since you're using an SSD, should disable things like superfetch, indexing, defrag in the services.

 

Hey, guys!

I got my DM3-1030US from Fry's this past Friday with a sure thought of putting up Windows XP Pro on it. Well, countless nights of sleep, near misses of throwing the laptop out the window, and hours of research here I am. Everything seems to be working fine now; however, the only problem that I am having is with the Atheros wireless card.

I was able to find out that the model is Atheros AR5009 and I put up the latest working driver I could find (7.7.0.198) for Win XP Pro. It connects fine and everything is bright and shiny, but... But the problems arise when the laptop goes into sleep mode or when I press the Wireless switch on the right-hand side. With AC plugged in, the adapter seems to recover more or less without a reboot.

Moreover, it gets worse when Im running off of a battery. It would just stop functioning. It would not connect and when I try to fix it, it would throw an error saying that Windows could not turn the adapter on and I need to check if its installed properly. Reboot seems to fix everything though. Needless to say that is not the best solution for me, but at least it is working.

Now Im hoping you guys would be able to help me out here, since I am sure I am not the only one running Win XP on this beautiful little machine.

I am even considering getting a different wireless adapter if it is possible, so let me know if that is an option as well.

I appreciate any help!

P.S. The HP Softpaq that was supposedly helping out a lot of people (sp42654) did not work for me, so I pulled the drivers from a different website.

 

I too was having this very issue, both under Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10. After much time spent on trying to resolve the issue, it seems to have sometimes fixed itself, and other times not going to work at all.

I decided to get rid of this garbage wireless card and buy a Broadcom BCM4322 off of eBay.

Here is the link to the one I purchased: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260513958428&_trkparms=tab=Watching#ht_4006wt_978

It seems like the best alternative to me.

Also, in the mean time I changed the Power Management settings for the current wireless adapter so that it can not turn off to save energy and can not wake the computer either. Try setting it that way to see if it works.

- Right click "My Computer"
- Select Properties
- Hardware tab
- Device Manager
- Network Adapter
- Right click on wireless adapter and select Properties
- Power Management tab
- Uncheck the aforementioned boxes
- Apply and Restart computer

 

Can someone do me a favor and measure the WWAN card in the dm3? I need to know the exact size of it.

Also, do you think it is possible to put an SSD Mini PCIe card in there and have the motherboard read it properly in conjunction with my current HD?

On a side note ... HP support is just littered with morons. They were about as useful as a kick in the face. I asked what size the WWAN card was, and what the make and model is. You would think this was a fairly simplistic matter ... HELL NO ... bring on the idiots.

"I don't know sir, I need you to tell me the model to another laptop that already has the WWAN in it so that I can look that up"

"So, you really can't simply look at the model of the card that HP uses in their laptops, and then tell me that number?"

"No sir, I can't do that."

.....

Are you farking kidding me? What kind of Support is that?

 

Has anyone tried using an INCASE for this laptop? If so could you please tell me if it is a snug fit.

 

ChristopherKnapp,
Thanks for the input. Ill try the settings, but honestly, Id rather spend a bit more and get a stable card, so I greatly appreciate the link. The only question I had is about the fitting. Since you mentioned that you already purchased the Broadcom one, then it must had fit. Is it standard size?

Also, completely agree with you on HP support. Had the very same issue with them. It got to the point, where I did not know if I should cry or laugh. One word, useless.

Regarding, SSD mini pcie, I believe it would work, but then again its a question of fitting. The slot in DM3 is not a regular sized one.

 

Well, just got mine. Already having major problems.

It will boot fine. But give it a minute or two of normal activity (loading the browser, opening folders, etc) and it will emit a very quick "beep / squealing" sound and then blue screen. This sound is NOT coming from the speakers. It seems to be coming from the system itself. Maybe the hard drive?

I'm running a factory restore out of curiosity as a stress test. If that works without any problems, but still crashes in windows, it must be some sort of hardware / software conflict? My last resort is to install a clean version of the Windows 7 RC. If that works without issue I'll still be somewhat nervous as I won't really know what the problem is.

Got this on eBay - new and sealed - from a seller with nearly 12k feedback @ 99.8%. Hopefully they'll be willing to work on an exchange if it comes to that.

 

The lack of two-finger right click pisses me off as well. Who the f**k designed that.

When you use the side scroll bar, try moving your finger just to the left of where it's painted on the trackpad. It works better along here than directly on the line.

 

Sounds like maybe the HD has bad sectors?

 

I got this 13" incase for the mbp 13"


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Incase+...2429848327&skuId=8740197&st=incase&cp=1&lp=10



It fits snugly, just barely big enough to contain the dm3. But its the best looking case I have found, and is thin, and has enough pockets for power and other small stuff.

 

To be fair, that question is fairly specific and technical. Is it hard to find out? Maybe not, but you act as if it should be on tap knowledge. Would you expect a car salesman in the US to know the valve size in the engine of a random car?

What you expect is unreasonable. It is a non standard question for a non standard issue, that is precisely the strength of a forum like this. Those guys are not trained on that kind of stuff.

 

Good point tybert7. Also, was the Incase $33.99 when you bought it?

 

I got the incase sleeve too and it fits perfectly. My dm3 feels really snug and safe inside it. I got it off amazon for $30 + shipping.

 

How widespread is the speaker problem I've read about in another thread, where sound only comes from the left speaker? How many current DM3 owners are having this problem, and what are you doing to fix it? I'm very close to ordering a DM3T, but this has me concerned. Thanks.

 

No I got my for around 50 dollars, the price on the best buy site. Pretty steep for a case, but it looked good and it got me to pay more to avoid ugly. What can I say, I'm shallow.


I have not seen this case anywhere near 30 dollars anywhere. There are some cases from incase listed on amazon for around 30, but they are NOT this case, they are the basic sleeves and nothing else. This one has a larger pocket on the back, and to smaller ones in the front, it is sleeve like in size, but it actually has more than just an opening for the laptop itself.

Here is the amazon listing for the model I have.

http://www.amazon.com/Incase-Designs-Nylon-Sleeve-Notebook/dp/B0018MRG5G/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

my brand new one doesnt have it. I have audio from both speakers.

DM3T got it yesterday.





Also i think I am going to get this card and then a USB GPS and mount it internally..... it will be a cool little mod that is completely removable.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350284210660&_trkparms=tab=Watching

 

I was wondering if anyone can give me an accurate battery life on a dm3t with SP9300 and 105M Graphics?

Also I was wondering what an upgrade from a 5400RPM HDD to a 7200RPM one would do for performance/battery life on the dm3t, and whether heat would be an issue.

 

Unreasonable? It is unreasonable for me to expect the Technical Support agent to know what hardware is compatible with my laptop? Are you kidding me? These are NOT sales people, they are not just general knowledge people, they are supposedly TECHNICAL support.

I expect when I take my car to the dealership that the mechanic knows what to put where, and if I asked a technical related question ... he would be able to confidently answer it.

If they are not trained on that kind of "stuff" they should be, and if that is not the case, they shouldn't call it TECHNICAL support.

 

Technical support is supposed to be trained with the most common issues and problems. If there is a more specific issue that crops up over time, then that will be propagated among them. And there are different levels of technical information. The wireless card dimensions are simply beyond the scope of their training. You are not calling the guy who put in the cards in the body of the machine, or the engineers who had to space out the insides to get everything to fit, you are calling someone trained on COMMON issues, and I am sorry, the dimension of an internal wireless card, which by normal usage models is NEVER expected to be swapped in or out, is just not on the list.


Less than 1% of dm3 owners, by FAR, will be worried about the wireless card. Or getting it to work with an OS that is basically near end of life in microsofts eyes, and 2 generations old at that (which btw, has NEVER been more secure as an OS than even vista, let alone 7, to go back there is not logical on any level).

 

I need to know too. I'm buying a dm3 and can't decide between the (250gb/5400) -1015ax and (320gb/7200) -1016ax. Same specs same price, just different hard drives

 

I chose the 5400 rpm one. The speed gain was not enough to offset the heat/ battery life issue especially a computer with such a slim chassis. But the 7200 will be a better bargain if it costs the same.

 

I can tell you that this bad boy screems with the Intel SSD, wish it was a G2 for trim support so it would be this fast in 3 months... but I can do a secure format and then restore from my WHS farily quickly if needed.

No vibrations, almost no noise and low heat.... and wicked fast! SSD FTW

 

Regardless of what the basic knowledge of these "Technical Support" agents is, SOMEONE within HP should either make it available or have the knowledge to provide when a customer like me comes to.

When it comes to support, of any kind, simply saying to the customer "I don't know, and I don't know if anyone else knows or if they know anyone that knows" ... is far from acceptable. Since when have we become accustomed to this dumb down approach?

Telling me WHAT card goes in the slot, as far as brand, size and type, SHOULD be common knowledge to at least SOMEONE at HP. If it isn't ... we are working with monkeys.

 

@Adidas4275: What is the part number on your 160GB SSD? Is it black (50nm) or silver (34nm)?
The G1 part number is SSDSA2MH160G1 and the G2 part number is SSDSA2MH160G2.

My dm3t is in production now and I was really hoping it would get a G2, but I suspect the reason why it was only a $280 upgrade is because Intel is clearing out G1 inventory. I was especially hopeful since Intel released updated firmware with TRIM support today...

 

yeah it is a G1 50nm version.


with a coupon the upgrade only cost me $100 so even with out trim it is a good deal.... just need to secure format once every 1 or 2 months....

 

Not looking forward to that. Any thoughts on how to make it as painless as possible? Would it help to mirror the SSD to an external USB drive as a backup, and then restore it after the low level format?

Now I'm kinda wishing I had just gone with a 7200rpm drive and upgraded to SSD later...

 

For those with the SSD option, here are some things you can do as part of a regular maintenance routine to keep your G1 drive running fast. Check the last post for a link to the "TONY-TRIM" process as suggested on the OCZ forum:
http://communities.intel.com/message/76101#76101

Sounds better than frequent low level formats to me... ;-)

 

Cool, thanks for the link. I haven't received my computer yet, but good to know for when I start using it.

 

I looked at this listing on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-HP-Pavilion...iewItemQQptZLaptops_Nov05?hash=item2ea98fb4d3

it seems to come with a remote? does it means there is a IR port on the laptop?
where could one purchase it?
also anybody know of a source to get external DVD drive for cheap?

thanks!

 

From the ebay link "- No TV Tuner w/remote control"

 

Just had a new thought about what I could do with the spare mini pci-e slot that was meant for the WWAN/GPS card: UWB or WUSB!! Any thoughts on those wireless technology?

 

i wouldnt worry about trim, i mean in you can buy one with trim but I have used a prior intel x25-M G1 that was used for 2-3 months and it was still quick.

you will not wish you had a 7200rpm drive..... and a SSD is fast and no vibrations and heat is great. also no where can you get a 160gb SSD for $300 if you paid it w/o a coupon or CB. I got mine for $100 more.


the 40gb Kinston/intel is $100+

also if you dont want it, pull it out and sell it on ebay for $300+