*HP dm4t (1XXX series) Owners Lounge!*

How long does the battery last in this laptop? Is it really 6.5 hrs as advertised or even less?

 

Standard 6-cell battery while last you for a MAXIMUM of 5 hrs with normal usage.

I just got this laptop with the following setup; i5-430M/2.2GHz, 4GB DDR3, 500GB S-ATA (7200RPM), ATI Radeon HD5450 512MB DDR Switchable Graphics

PROs first: This machine is ROCK SOLID! Love the design of it. It has a great chiclet keyboard. Screen is glossy, but good. Performance is great.

CONs: Absolutely horrible touchpad. It is as unprecise as you can get it. This is also mentioned all tests Ive read, except trustedreviews (maybe they are sponsored by HP?). Unpleasent sound, I believe it is from the HDD (not fan), which is constantly. Buzzing sound, very annoying. Anyone else had this problem?

I will unfortunately have to turn my in next week due to these cons...

 

Wow why does everyone complain about the touchpad? Mine is as precise as anything else I've used...it works perfectly, and I love the design of it...do a lot of dm4ts come with defective touchpads? or are people just extremely picky?

 

Because it really is that bad -- especially compared to other trackpads.

I've got the sensitivity cranked down almost as low as it goes, as well as virtually all features turned off, and it still bothers me:

• The "hide mouse cursor while typing" feature doesn't work. The mouse never hides on my dm4. This is a real pain because ...
  
  
• While typing, the mouse cursor zings back-and-forth, because of my palm. And, yes, I do have the "palm detection" settings cranked all the way up, to "yes, I want my palm detected, d***it" (doesn't help, though). The various systray utilities, to disable the trackpad if a palm is detected, don't really work for me.
  
  
• The integrated trackpad buttons are awful, because you must press a button WITHOUT MOVING your fiinger. If I move my finger slightly, while pressing downwards, I'll often move the cursor off the button I'm trying to press, resulting in a missed click (the button doesn't get pressed).
  
  
• If you turn off tap-to-click (yes, I turn this off), you can no longer disable the trackpad, because (*facepalm*) you have to double-tap. Sad thing is, older trackpads had no way to disable them, because they really didn't need to be disabled -- they worked fine, as-is. However, trackpads of the past few years NEED a way to disable them (well, HP trackpads, at least).

Fortunately, I use a bluetooth mouse most of the time, as that is what I prefer to use, anyway. However, that doesn't stop me from recognizing the trackpad for what it really is ....

 

I too love my touchpad. After a couple months of use, it is my favorite. I used to prefer mac touchpads, but after tweaking mine I am quite satisfied. I turned the sensitivity way up. I did disable all of the features on the touchpad, as I would not have used them anyway.

I must say that after more than two months of use, I am still very satisfied. The build quality is excellent this time around!

 

If I were to add the 1gb graphics card would this laptop overheat a lot more and would it really affect the battery life.

 

We just bought one for university work with the ATI Mobility 5450 1GB version. Heavy use of the video card hasn't been tested yet but in surfing the web and listening to music the GPU has hovered around 51C.

The battery life hasn't been tested as it prompts you to switch to the Intel HD card and this is what we usually select. We haven't tested fully to see what the maximum battery life could be but the general sense is that you can certainly get 3-4 hours easily with web surfing and music listening.

 

The 1GB card is exactly the same as the 512MB one, and I haven't seen any complaints of overheating here. It has switchable graphics, so battery life shouldn't be affected at all.

 

I second your thoughts on it. Coming from a Dell Inspiron which had a decent touchpad, the HP version is years ahead and no worse. I haven't noticed any issues with the touchpad registering inadvertent touches or not being accurate.

The buttons do need a bit more pressure than I would have liked to register but it has gotten easier as I have used it in the last few days.

 

It's switchable graphics eh, so you don't have to use the dedicated card, and preserve battery life. But you can use it when you need it.
When on full power, the card does generate extra heat. But I don't think the laptop will 'overheat', there's just more hot air blowing out of the left side especially.
As been said before, I don't think performance will be better if you get the 1GB instead of the 512MB version of that same card....

 

Large CAD designs and high resolution displays, 1920x1080 and up, will show the benefits of the extra 512MB, but under most circumstances the 512 MB card will suffice.

 

When I play starcraft 2 on high detail usig th 512mb graphics card, my laptop does get really really hot...should I be worried about this?

Also, there is a pixel on the top right area of my screen thats always red...wth?

 

you've been told to get the temperatures will HWMonitor. "Really really hot" is very ambiguous. Metal conducts heat better than plastic so, compared to a plastic laptop, it will get hotter even if the inside temperature is the same.

 

Has game play been pretty smooth with Starcraft 2 on high detail?

 

I've also read some posts below you that says the exact same thing...
I'm considering buying the laptop too, but a bad trackpad just takes all the fun out.
Can't it be fixed by a software update? Is it really that awful?

 

My DM4T has a good trackpad and I don't notice any of the issues others have complained about regarding the trackpad. The two-finger scroll works well even. I am using the latest Synaptic driver with a clean Win7 install so that might have been it as well.

The only other difference I can think of is that my DM4T is a custom build rather than one that was bought from a box store. Perhaps the custom build quality is better than the mass produced ones they deliver to the box stores.

 

yosup, that sounds like a stuck pixel... see if you can rub it out (be gentle)

 

Ok thanks, I'll try HWMonitor and post again how hot it gets.

@dotcomNotebook Yep its been really smooth. No lag unless you're in a huge battle online.

And kk, I'll try rubbing out my red pixel

And bomba I still think the trackpad is perfectly fine.

 

I've been following this thread and the dv6t SE thread, and I've tried the touchpad myself in-store on several occasions. My conclusion is that it just comes down to preference. Some like it, and some don't. Just try it for yourself in-store before buying.

 

Hey! So I used HWmonitor to check the temps of my computer

While I play SC2, I get the following temps

T200: 75 (150)
T201: 57 (134)
T202: 54 (125)
Core#0: 84 (183)
Core#2: 84 (183)
GPU (5450 512mb): 82 (178)
Air flow: 40 (104)

The number without parenthesis are the Celsius degrees, and the numbers in parenthesis are the Fahrenheit degrees. The actual temps might be sightly higher since I have to alt tab out of starcraft2 to check the temps, and they may decrease slightly when I do that...

Anyways, can anyone tell me if these temps are safe for the laptop? Or would the life of my laptop be affected by the high temps? I need this laptop to last 4 years, so if its getting too hot, I'll have to give up either starcraft2, or the graphics card.

Thanks very much for the help and sorry for the long post!!

 

They are _marginally_ safe, but close to dangerous. You don't want to see your CPU get up to 85-90. That would be bad. GPUs, in general, can handle higher temperatures, up to 100. If your temps get to the "critical" stage, the laptop should shut off, but you don't want to see that.

The temperature will not decrease significantly in the time it takes to alt-tab out and look at the temps.

Also, is it really that bad to decrease the settings to medium or lower the resolution?

 

Are you running any other apps in the background while you are playing? Is a browser with multiple tabs opened or a photo-editing app still opened?

Playing a game like Starcraft 2 will push the limits of the laptop especially at high settings. Also how long were you playing before the temps reached those numbers or do they hit it as soon as you begin?

The other option I've heard of people using is a laptop cooler. One that gets lots of attention is found here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/acc...-cooler-review-pics-stats-my-take-cooler.html

According to those charts it can lower overall temperatures by quite a bit.

 

I agree that the temperatures are high, for the cpu...
It'd be nice if we can get some temperature data from other dm4 owners for comparison.

 

Hello! I've been browsing this thread for a while.

Recently, I ordered a HP dm4t, and it's expected to get here tomorrow. My current laptop is an HP as well (HP dv6000 to be exact). The main problem I've experienced with the dv6000 is with the battery. Although I have it plugged in, it won't charge higher than 35%. In addition, the fan is extremely noisy.

I'm hoping that my new dm4t won't have the same problems! Can any of the current owners comment on the fan noise and battery?

 

SC2 (and the HW Monitor program) is the only thing I had running at the time. The laptop reaches these temperatures in just a few minutes of playing SC2, and even if I play a couple of hours straight, the laptop doesn't really get any hotter than the temps I posted earlier. And when I close or alt tab out of starcraft, the laptop cools pretty quickly.

And yep, I could lower the settings but if I have to go lower than high detail, I guess I might as well send the laptop back and get a new one without the 5450 card. The integrated graphics can play the game on low or medium so I don't see the point in having the 5450 if it has to overheat (or causes the CPU to overheat) to dangerous levels just to out preform the integrated graphics card.

Any more advice? thanks in advance!!

 

And what are the temps of the CPU when you're playing sc2 with integrated graphics?

 

When I play a graphic-intensive game, I get CPU and GPU values of up to 80 degrees Celcius (and I recall GPU surpassing 80 C). The environment is not really warm or anything.
So, there is nothing wrong with your dm4-unit specifically. Yes, it does get quite hot, but it also cools down very quickly afterwards. I would not worry too much... I know I don't

 

The Synaptics website indicates that scrolling can be done with ONE or TWO fingers: Synaptics Gesture Suite for TouchPads | Synaptics

"How to use Linear Scrolling:
Place finger on right edge of the TouchPad and slide finger upwards or downwards along the right edge to scroll vertically. Place finger on lower edge of TouchPad and slide finger to the left or right along the lower to scroll horizontally."

This sure sounds like the dm4t can use the more traditional one-finger "scroll zone" method and/or the two-finger method.

Can a dm4t owner with the latest drivers please confirm this? Thanks.

 

So are the temps of the 2 cores of the CPU what I should worry about? When I play on medium (which I'm fine with) with the 5450, the cores temps don't go higher than the mid 70's at the most. I'll also try it on medium with integrated graphics and post what temps I get!

 

Working on that! I'm still testing out the best setup for my brand new Cooler Master Notepal U2, since what I thought would work best is turning out to work worse than the cheapo $5 cooler my little brother picked up at FiveBelow xD. I'm hoping this can do helluvalot better, so I'm in the process of working this out.

I can't say much on the battery since I pretty much use AC power all the time. But the fan noise is pretty darn quiet. Then again, I'm in my basement which has noisy basement stuff running all around, but for the most part, it's not anything distracting. Sometimes I wish the fans would be louder because my dm4 can get really hot D:.

The two-finger method works perfectly for me, but I have no idea what this 'one-finger scroll zone' thing is.

 

Based on Intel's specification (it's for i5 540M but other i5s are similar) it's okay to go up to 105C (221F) so I think you have nothing to worry about.

 

I have been playing SC2 on medium settings, and the thing coasts around the mid 60's (C) for the CPU, and high 60's for the GPU. This is all after 2 hours of game play on battle.net.

I have mine sitting in a room that is around 75 degrees (F), on a desk. I also use the 9-cell, so the extra gap below the unit could help with air flow.

 

Thanks fuzzish, 'works perfecly' is always good to hear! My new dm4t should arrive this week. I'm sure many of my 'apprehensions and doubts' will go away after I get to play with my new toy!

 

Hi everyone,

I got the laptop yesterday and I'm loving it except for one issue:

The boot up time seems a lot slower than I expected. It takes around 1:45 for it to be up and running. Basically the first 10 seconds it oscillates between a black and white screen then it goes into the Windows 7 load screen.

I mean it's pretty fast but just a little disheartening when my three year old Inspiron 1525 starts up faster.

Does anyone have any advice/suggestions to make it run quicker? The only bloatware I've uninstalled is Norton right now, could that be slowing it down?

 

If you didn't do a clean install of Win7 I would look into doing that as my boot times are rather fast with a clean install of Win7. I haven't timed it yet but I will report back with the total time later this evening.

 

Is there any deal going on for dm4t in microsoft store? I saw 30% and 40% discounts for select laptops in MSS but couldn't find out for which ones. Can anybody help? And i remember somebody telling office depot is reducing the price of dm4t this week. Has it been reduced?

 

Thanks a bunch. As for a clean install, is it safe and can I do it even if I didn't get a disc?

 

yes, you will have to call to activate it though.

 

I just followed the steps in this post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...-hp-laptop-out-box-guide-2-0-windows-7-a.html

There's a step where he describes how to backup your Windows 7 activation so that you can re-activate it after you finish your clean install. Read and re-read the steps he posted. The key step for me was to backup the C:\SwSetup.

If you are going to perform the clean install, this post was helpful to me as well: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...vers-hp-dm4-dv5-gen-2-cq32-envy-14-intel.html

 

datestamp: 8-18-10
Latest HP dm4t discount...

Coupon code via dealnews.com
apply coupon code 'NBE629764' at checkout for $100 additional off
Note: HP Home is currently discounting $180 + $100 = $280 off + free 5-7 day shipping(specs below)

From HP Home & Home Office Store
HP Home & Home Office Store - HP dm4t

Intel Core i5-430M 2.26GHz dual-core processor turbo boost to 2.53GHz, 14" 1366x768 widescreen LED-backlit LCD, Intel(R) HD Graphics [HDMI, VGA], 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200 rpm hard drive, dual-layer DVD burner, 802.11n wireless, webcam, fingerprint reader, 6-cell battery, Microsoft Office 2010 Starter, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

$879.99 - $180 instant rebate - $100 coupon code(NBE629764) = $599

Note: build to order to configure to your own needs and the coupon code and discounts will still apply. No info on the expiration date of discounts.

 

Wow nice $100 off?! If I call them and tell them about the coupon, would they give me the discount? I'm still within the 21 day return period, but I don't want to have to return it and wait another week or so

 

This is what I got-
We're sorry!


We no longer have the PC you're trying to customize, or some of its components, or the server you want.


Please choose another customizable PC or one of our ready-to-ship PCs, or choose another server. You can also call our Sales Center at 1 (800) 351-9687.


Thank you for your understanding.

 

Yes, you can configre the scroll zone to the right side of the touch pad. I find this a lot more useful than the two finger scrolling.

 

Coupon code no longer works for me. Was going to suggest this to a friend.

 

I recieved the dm4 and I'm loving it, it's a really nice machine. I'm typing this message on it! Two questions/concerns though:

1. There seems to be a fine crosshatch of horizontal and vertical lines on the glossy screen.

2. Left clicking on the touchpad has almost two levels, it clicks and if I continue to push a little harder, click again. The right side does not do this.

So are these two issues common to all dm4s? Does anybody else have the same issues?

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

Ok,a quick question. Does the coupon work? And if it does, can i combine hp student discount with it? How and when to use hpa discount?

 

Blackwheel,

I think I know what you're talking about for the first issue, and I think thats just how the screen is. For the touchpad issue though...my touchpad is fine, it only clicks once. If it bothers you, you might want to exchange the laptop.

Anyways question for everyone else...the red pixel on my screen is still red and won't change...I tried rubbing it off, but it didn't work...anything else I should try? Should I send it in for a replacement?

Thanks!

 

Coupons can't be combined with HPA.

 

Just timed the boot up and it clocked in at 54.803 seconds using boottimer.exe to calculate the bootup.

 

First time poster in this forum, I did a search but didn't find my answer...

Is it possible to replace the keyboard with a backlit keyboard for the DM4T?

I read people talking about the dv5 might work, but didn't get a confirmed answer. If anyone has info on this I would greatly appreciate it. This is the 1 thing keeping me from buying this laptop right this minute.

*Edit - Nevermind, just played with it in store and it's a bit too chunky for my taste.