*HP dm3 (1XXX series) Owners Lounge*

With regard to the trackpad question...

I have a sneaky suspicion the the trackpad is just fine.

It is just that the drivers for it need to be updated and refined; and then some personal tweaking is required.

I would love to see a youtube video from hp on how to best adjust the trackpad settings to avoid glitchy behaviors.

My beefs boil down to two things:

First, when waking from sleep I was experiencing a weird bug whether the cursor came up as a magnifying glass. And was unresponsive. I think I somehow fixed that (though maybe it will come back). I turned off a bunch of HP and Microsoft software at random. So I am not sure what I did that seemed to work for now.

The second beef is that the trackpad is sensitive to my palm touching it while typing. The screen jumps all over the place. I made an adjustment in the trackpad setting to turn the pad off while typing, but it still reacts sometimes.

But for the price this machine is a killer ($550 plus tax less eventual $50 rebate).

 

Who would want to test the very new ubuntu dist 9.10? That may help knowing if the touchpad works intrinsiquely bad or because of 7 ...

 

Same here. Clearance Delay in Memphis, TN.

 

Well, it's definitely not Win7's fault the trackpad would be bad. But yeah, it's possible the drivers would function better in Ubuntu, but it's doubtful. Alps touchpads have always sucked pretty hard in Ubuntu from my knowledge.

 

If you are accidentally clicking all over the place while typing, I'd recommend turning off the "Tap-to-click" function of the mouse. I was clicking on stuff with my 14z but when I disabled that it helped tremendously.

 

I assume that you mean I should uncheck "tapping" in the Alps menu. I just did that to respond to your suggestion, and already things look a lot better!

Now if I don't get a repeat of the magnifying glass issue, I will be good to go.

By the way; does anybody know what that magnifying glass upon wake is all about? I mean what function it is supposed to be for?

 

One of the multitouch functions is zooming. For some reason, when you resume from sleep mode, it seems to default to this. Others have reported the same issue and I have seen it myself. The only way I was able to clear it on my DM3-1030 was to restart the computer.

 

I corrected my earlier post on battery life because I found less percentage this morning than i thought i had last night, but here's my conclusions:

DM3-1030US L335/3200 from Office Depot:

6 hours 10-15 minutes battery life under the following conditions:

Wifi - off
Bluetooth - off
CPU frequency capped at 50%
Screen at 50% (i didn't allow it to Dim or anything like that during the test)
Usage: Word & Bibleworks & a little of Adobe PDF reader, plus shutting down and restaring once.

There's my experience, hope that helps others. I was very impressed. I still think a little more time could be squeezed out, but realistically this is pretty good for student/office kind of non-Wifi work.

 

I was able to stop this problem by disabling all of the multitouch options in the touchpad's menu options.

 

Hello wonderful insightful people. I would like to get the dm3t series and I'm having a dilemma wether to save a $100 or not.

I'm deciding between these two:

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor SU7300 (1.3GHz, 3M Cache) with 512MB NVIDIA GeForce G 105M

and

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor SP9300 (2.26GHz, 6M Cache) with 512MB NVIDIA GeForce G 105M

I want a laptop to do the following: Light gaming (Sims, The Longest Journey, FIFA 2008 - Soccer), Internet, Videos, Adobe CS2, Microsoft Office, watching videos, photo editing, WordPress, Netflix...

I'm on a tight budget and would like to know can I get away with the SU7300 for all this?

 

Yep, the SU7300 + G105 would suit you fine, and so would the AMD L665 + 4330 as well--your choice.

 

If you're strapped for cash, the dm3z with the Radeon 4330 will suit you just as well, possibly better if you don't mind having a little less battery life. In exchange you'll receive more graphics power for games + media editing, switchable integrated-discrete graphics, and not to mention $100 more dollars in your wallet for an extra battery, accessories, or more HDD & RAM options to mention a few. In my opinion, the dm3z is the just the more economical choice if price is a factor.

 

Actually you and the person asking the question are both incorrect. The difference between the laptops is $50 not $100. If you go ahead and add both to the cart, you'll see it's only a $50 difference. Secondly, depending on the buyer, it may be worth it. For $50, you'll most likely get much better battery life and DDR3 RAM (though that may not make a big difference.) I can't really explain why it's dropped down to $50, but indeed, the difference is $50, and not $100. Could make a big difference in the final decision.

 

I ordered the DM3t. Here's the info:
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
* • 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* • 320GB 7200RPM 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 with Bluetooth
* • HP Color Matching Keyboard
* • 6 Cell Polymer Battery
* • External LightScribe Super Multi 8X DVD+/-RW w/Double Layer
* • Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
* • HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Estimated build date: October 28, 2009

Total price: $861.98 (I got a 10% educator's discount....pretty easy to register for, too)

Looks like I'll be receiving this on Tue. It was built in Shanghai but made it to Memphis TN in one day. Then customs held things up for another day. Now it's cleared customs and FedEx says I should have it by Tue. Can't wait!

Hard to believe you can get a Core2 Duo processor, 4 gigs of DDR3 RAM and a 512 MB graphics card with a 7200rpm 320G hard drive for significantly under $1000.

Anyone else who already received their DM3 have customs delay their shipment?

 

Im not discrediting anyones post. Your results are your results.. the problem is variation is going to be so much between all of us, its pretty much a moot point.

 

Then let's have someone who is familiar with benchmarking choose a free benchmark (or suite of benchmarks) and set standard parameters for running the benchmarks. Could be the first truly collaborative benchmarking effort in this forum. Who wants to do it?

 

I wouldn't know, mine has been taking a tour of China for 4 days :-(

 

Hi guys,
I am ordering an flat LCD screen today, to hook up with the Dm3 I'll be getting. I went to best buy the other day and was hesitant btween 22" or 23"inch. THe sales guy told me that since the native resolution on the dm3 is 1366x768 it will look blurry and stretched on big screens. He honestly advised me to get a 20"....

1-Is that true (23" too big for dm3 native res)?
2-If that is true, isn't a dedicated graphic card sufficient to handle the higher res of big screens? I thought so....?.....

Also, what is your ideal size LCD (for surfing,word/excel,movies and gaming)? I get the feeling that too large/wide might be a strain on the eyes since I'll be at my desk, not far from the screen, but some nice screen real estate with multiple windows is always a plus..... Thanks for your knowledgeable advice so that I can get my groove going ASAP.

Edit:
I might go for this one
http://www.frys.com/product/5871753?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

 

Hey Mifa101, in answer to your question...
1- When you connect to an external display, you can choose what resolution to display it on, so say a 23" is 1920*1080 you can choose it to display that, and on your dm3's screen you'll still get 1366*768.
2- Even if the laptop has an intel integrated graphics card it should be able to handle an external display with ease.

Hope it helps!
Nick

 

Ubercool, i am confused that you have a 3.1 for the Athlon Neo X2 L335...

I have seen scores for dv2's and dm3's (including my own) and they are never that low! That score may mislead people. I have run the WEI on my DM3 several times and seen the scores from other machines and the processor score is 4.2

Did you accidently put up the base score for some machine? (which is 3.5 on mine, for Aero Graphics), or did you get a score from somebody who ran the WEI on PowerSaver or something?

In any case, please edit it, it isn't accurate. It makes the L335 look like an Atom processor!

 

Avatar26,

I just noticed your video review/information on the Dm3 and I appreciate your work on that.

However, I noticed that you weren't running it in high-performance mode...that might make a difference. That blue line on your cpu usage is the cpu frequency, which, in anything other than 'high-performance' floats around. Yes it can move up to 100%, but i bet performance is better overall when it is always running at 100%.

Just thought i'd point that out.

 

Good point, I will take a peek at that when I get home today. May make a small difference while on A/C. I won't leave it on high performance while on battery, this thing chews up too much battery on balanced mode as it is...

 

That's exactly what I told him from the common knowledge I had. but he insisted that my laptop wouldn't handle it .... Doubtful/Weird.....Anyway now I 'll go for Samsung 24"-at $219-can't go wrong.
http://www.frys.com/product/6055588?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
Thanks Nick.

 

Don't go for that . Spend the extra $80 or so and get an LED LCD monitor. The diffrence is night and day and they use about 40% less power.

You'll be happy in the long run when your blacks look black

 

Can someone please comment on the fan noise. This is a big issue with me. I would really appreciate it. Especially if you have the l335/3200 configuration. Thank you.

 

I don't have any scientific proof other than my experience, but it seems pretty quiet to me (l335/3200).

 

my friend has the dm3z from bestbuy. Its not very loud and during normal surfing you can't hear it unless you put it on a bed or restrict air flow to the vents some how. However after playing wow for over an hour it started to make itself aware.

 

I haven't heard that the dm3z has bad fan noise. Realistically, any laptop when playing games will get at least a little noisy. Unless you are really sensitive, I doubt most people will notice/care about the noise it makes.

 

Is the quality difference that dramatic? U probably right I have no idea- . But my budget will suffer....or I'll see if I can find a decent size screen...

This one looks good (now, let's hope no one is going to ask for OLED )
http://www.frys.com/product/5996544?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
Thanks for the advice - I looked around and already learned quite a bit...
http://uptill1.com/2009/08/26/plasma-vs-lcd-vs-led-tvs/

 

Looks like CNET is going to take on that responsibility.

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-pavilion-dm3/4505-3121_7-33786189.html

Of course their battery testing with the 7300/4500 configuration is going to wildly differ from other configs. Their performance testing will be just as wildly different too.. notice they are using a configuration with 2 gigs of ram.

Because this notebook can be had in so many different configs.. almost every review is a truly YMMV scenario.

 

Can't anyone tell me if the DM3Z , bestbuy version with AMD Neo Duo can play MKV files youtube HD and other HD files without skipping or play at all? THere were review that says this lappy can't play HD files without skipping.....

 

It can play Youtube HD files just fine. I played some Youtube HD videos on it while I was using it at BestBuy. They had it hooked up to the internet for once. It can also play 1080p GPU accelerated files just fine, since that is dependent upon the GPU, which is the HD 3200, and it can handle HD videos just fine. The only HD videos the dm3z with the L335 won't be able to handle is Hulu HD. I hear that normal Hulu plays pretty well but sometimes stutters.

 

i tried a 1920x1080 hd mkv video on a best buy dm3z and it was very skippy. the same video on an hp mini 311 was smooth. go figure.

 

@_@ HP Mini 311....assuming you are talking about the one with Nvidia ion LE? that plays fine with single core but DM3 with duo core and HD 320 wont?

 

Got it thanks..that review did mention hulu HD not watchable...dang.thought this one would have just enough juice to push those. Appreciate the reply

 

yeah, i was pretty surprised too, but those in-store computers are usually on for hours if not days, and i don't know what the settings were. to get it to run i had to bring my own memory stick with an mkv-capable player and a full hd mkv file stored, but i did copy it to the hard disk. the hp mini 311 ion le i tested was a friend's (i.e. well-treated and not on for days continuously) and the video is gpu-accelerated. i also tried nulldc on both (also had to have directx 9 on the memory stick) and they were both slooooow.

 

The computer being on for long periods of time does not affect performance (unless it is so hot that it melting the internal components). The main thing I would be worried about you trying out a Bestbuy model is that they have background software running to demo the computer and prevent it from being stolen. The background software may have affected its ability to play the HD video file, but probably not. The dm3z is probably just not capable of playing that dense of a file. Maybe the the upgraded AMD processor with the bigger cache will be able to handle it. We'll have to see.

 

Man...that's pretty disappointing was kinda thinking to get it since its darn beautiful and low powered duo core....

 

oh, i forgot, i also tried the high resolution dark knight trailer (quicktime format) from http://www.whysoserious.com/happytrails/trailer.htm and it was smooth on the dm3z but skippy on the mini 311.

 

i checked out the dm3t with the ULV pentium at my local microcenter,

the CPU itself runs really really cool, not a problem at all, but the HDD is what's troubling me, its ing hot in idle mode!

 

Hi, when I connect my dm3-1030us to the plasma TV using the HDMI the output on TV has much less brightness compared to the brightness on my laptop screen. Any idea why? I never had this problems with my previous laptops. Both sound and video are outputing correctly but with less brightness. I tried adjusting TV's brightneess options.. but it doesnt help at all. Please advise.

 

Most likely you fried your Plasma TV by oversourcing your power play by outputting through the awesomeness that is the dm3.... jk

You can try adjusting the output settings on your laptop with your "brightness" and "contrast" settings in the ATI control panel. It could also potentially be your HDMI cord not putting a full signal through (however, that's unlikely). You could try googling the problem "low brightness through HDMI laptop on plasma tv".

Let me know if that helps...

 

I am testing the L335/3200 with various online video. Youtube seems fine, Hulu is not. But i encountered something strange:

Can anyone explain to me why CPU usage is higher on HD youtube videos when i have 'hardware acceleration' enabled and lower when i turn it off?

That seems pretty bizarre to me.

 

Cause you accelerated it

 

For those of you who ordered from HP, did they include the Windows 7 OS re-install disks so that you can do a clean install?

 

man...I'm tempted...even though the HD playback is kinda flaky...this would make a good little brother to my other machine...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+...lack/9556072.p?skuId=9556072&id=1218124204092

 

I took another look at the dm3z in Best Buy and now I understand why people complain about the trackpad. It's got a ton of friction. It's really odd, I had a HP dv4000 4 years ago and the trackpad on that was fine. =/

And now part of me wants to get the HP Envy 13, but that's almost too rich for my blood. Maybe I'll get lucky during a Black Friday sale.

 

What do you guys think of the touchpad on the dm3? Any comments on fluidity and speed? Any lag noticed?

Also who makes the touchpad?

 

I didn't spend a lot of time playing around with the touchpad on the display dm3 at my local Walmart, but I agree that it didn't feel as smooth as other touchpads I've used in the past.

 

I hope that smile means you are joking (sarcasm can be hard to detect online)...the whole idea of *hardware (i.e. GPU) acceleration* is that the CPU does less!

I am still wondering if anyone knows why the CPU is taxed more when hardware acceleration is enabled in HD Youtube flash.