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

Only the part about the drive is true. The screen and remote are both wrong and they were likely confused with the dv4.

 

dude, can you help me with my issue?

 

Sorry, but everything I know about this laptop is from research. I can't. :s

 

lol ok ill try to calibrate the baterry more

 

I wouldn't do that if I were you. Fully discharging the battery decreases the maximum capacity.

 

I'm completely torn. There is a LogicBuy coupon available that expires today for $200.00 off when you add the i7 620 CPU during customization (will not work with any of the lesser CPU options). I'm looking for better battery life over raw processing power. My question is, would getting the i7 620 over the i5 430 significantly reduce battery life?

 

How long is the battery life on this for normal use? Also is the brightview display really bad? (Like a Macbook Pro screen or worse)

 

The display quality is worse than a Macbook Pro. An MBP screen has better color and brightness.

 

Calibration calls for a "full discharge", but the battery isn't actually fully discharged. In HP's guide for calibration, you're supposed to run the battery until Windows automatically hibernates the computer, which I believe is at 8% charge.

 

Oh. I was under the impression that hibernate had to be disabled to calibrate.

 

I have the standard 6-cell battery, and I'm getting around 3.25 hours (integrated graphics). However, that's with the display brightness turned up pretty high. I also run Process Explorer 24x7, and I know that eats some CPU. I should look into the power consumption, but I've been pretty lazy.

If you want to check out the power consumption yourself, go here:

19 Tips Every Windows 7 User Needs To Know​

Scroll down a fair ways until you hit the section called, "Command Windows 7 to Generate an Energy Report".

 

Thanks for responding, I'm glad someone else knows what I'm talking about. I know what you mean too, it seems like every key has to be pressed firmly and squarely for the keystroke to register. In all the years I've used computers I've never had to be aware of the way I type, but maybe it is something I can get used to. The scuff marks do bother me though, they're very visible and mar an otherwise beautiful laptop. Maybe I would have better luck getting it from Best Buy. Every laptop I've tried from Amazon in the last few months has had some kind of serious cosmetic or functional problem with it.

I always set any laptop I use not to do anything when the lid is closed, but this sounds like it might be a problem no matter how it's put to sleep.

My DM4 was much snappier and quicker to boot after I uninstalled all the software I didn't need. A clean install would work just as well of course

I agree, the display is not that sharp doing regular Windows stuff. The hi-def episode of Futurama I tried playing on it looked fantastic though.

I actually really like the touchpad. The very last issue I had with it was resolved when I disabled two finger scrolling.

I'm very pleased with how quiet the fan is. That's not something I take for granted with any laptop, especially one of this size. I'm also very happy with the level of heat it generates, which is not much, although you do feel the stream of hot air from the left vent when the laptop is actually in your lap.

 

You don't need to get the i7 for that coupon! The total price before discounts needs to be at least $1249 for the coupon to apply, and the way they advise doing that is by getting the i7, but you can configure it with any upgrades you want that bring it up to that base price. The only things excluded from that are the HP care packs and accessories like printers and laptop bags; any hardware or software counts toward it. Get whichever CPU you want, then upgrade the other components as you wish 'til you get to over $1250, and you'll be golden. Take a look at the battery page in particular, since battery is something you want

 

Then what should I do? With the nine cell battery people are getting at LEAST 7 hours of life with 60% brightness and browsing with videos, and I'm getting 6 hours with lowest brightness, power saver, and light browsing! With those settings, abaddon's review said i should be getting closer to NINE hours! that's three hours off abaddon's time and four and a half off HP's time(even though I know this isn't too accurate)

I think something is wrong/

 

My dm4t's on the way, and should be here tomorrow!

Specs:
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-430M Dual Core processor (2.26GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.53GHz
• 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5450 switchable graphics [HDMI, VGA]
• 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter 2010
• No additional security software
• One 6 Cell (standard) and One 9 Cell (over-sized) Lithium Ion Battery
• 14.0" diagonal High-Definition HP BrightView LED Display (1366 x 768)
• 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Protection
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• HP TrueVision Webcam and Fingerprint Reader
• Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• Standard Keyboard
• Upgrade to Computrace LoJack for Laptops, Four Years from One Year

I'll be replacing the OS with Windows 7 Pro thanks to my school's MSDNAA, and will be buying Office 2010 Professional Academic at the discounted student price. Didn't bother paying them for Norton's crap, instead just going to use Microsoft Security Essentials.

I'll post impressions once it arrives; I tried one out at Office Depot (lower specs) and it seemed really nice, so I'm excited. Currently it's in Oakland, CA...

 

Have you tried calling HP to complain? They advertise 10.5 hours on the 9 cell battery (which everyone knows isn't true), but if you're only getting 6 (which is what they advertise for the 6 cell battery), they might be able to send you a new one or something.

 

I'm having issues with my new dm4. I have it set to go to sleep when I close the lid and I can close the lid and reopen it without problems. The computer quickly comes out of sleep mode. The problem is that when I close the lid and leave it for any extended period, I can't get it to wake back up. When I open the lid, the power button and the wifi button lights come on for a split second and it sounds like the drive starts to spin up, but then the lights go out and the sound from the drive stops. A few seconds passes and then the lights come on for another second and the drive starts to spin up again. Pressing the power button doesn't do anything and the only way to get the system back up is to pull out the battery and boot back up.

I did a clean install of Win 7 Pro and I've installed and reinstalled all the latest drivers. I've checked the event logs and there isn't anything helpful. I've run RAM and HDD diagnostics and those don't turn anything up either. Has anyone seen anything like this?

 

YEah man, I called HP, and the guy just made me run the HP battery check which said my battery was fine.. and then he said I need to send the laptop in for them to check since their stupid software said it was fine. And when I complain that they're basically lying with their 10.5 advertisement, the dude's like 'the battery life may not have been updated from the older processors, your newer i-series processor takes more power' and so I'm feeling enraged, at this stupid guy who doesn't even realise that the DM4T released with i3/i5/i7 as standard. So anyways... I'll still try to call and get a replacement...

 

hi guys!

i'm considering to purchase the dm4t these days, and there will be a Instant rebate -$150.0 which seems good to me.

I would like to know whether there are any available coupons i can use for my purchase.

thank you!

Joan

 

Call their bluff; beat them at their own game. Refer them to the Intel Processor Database: the TDP for a Core 2 Duo T6500 and an i5-540M are exactly the same; 35W. Compare Intel® Products. Also, part of it just depends on who you get on the phones. I've spoken to at least 5 HP reps in the past 2 weeks while trying to decide on and get the best price on a laptop, and they've ranged from completely incompetent to really helpful and friendly. Just keep calling back 'til you get someone who will give you what you need.

 

Right now, LogicBuy has the best coupon for a dm4t: $200 off, plus the original $150 rebate for computers configured at $1250+ before the rebates. It expires tonight though, so act fast! There'll surely be other deals soon though. Just googling "hp coupons" will find you plenty. Also, if you're a student, check out the HP Academic discounts.

 

OEM tech support. sigh..
I had to deal with them once. Filed a report with BBB. Usually gets thing done.

 

That may be. However, shortened battery life can also be caused by installed programs (using up too much CPU) or USB devices (because they prevent the processor from going to sleep).

Edit: And browsers can eat CPU, too. One or more of the extensions that I've loaded into firefox is causing my FF to occasionally eat several percent CPU.

 

Thank you! it helps a lot!

joan

 

Yeah I'm gonna try to keep calling back.. but so far 3 calls and no luck . They all say the same thing XD

 

Thanks for the info! I figured that out shortly afterwards. I decided to go middle-of-the-road on the CPU with the Core i5 520 as it seemed to be the best bang for the buck, and used the rest to upgrade the graphics, RAM, wireless and battery options. I went with the high-capacity standard battery as I wasn't too crazy about the bulkiness of the extended battery. I know it doesn't add much, but every little bit counts. This notebook will primarily be my traveler for school. I have an Envy 17, but it's a royal pain in the @ss to carry around back and forth to the campus.

I was tooling around with the idea of upgrading to the SSD, but as tempting as it was, I just couldn't see 160 Gigs being enough storage in the long run.

 

Hi guys,

Sorry, I had not kept up with the thread as I am traveling. Thanks for this info, as I was leaning toward the integrated graphics configuration. Unfortunately for me, I'm only back in the US for 2 weeks and if I configure online through HP the estimated build date is 9 September, which doesn't give me much time to play with the machine and deal with any possible build issues.

I need to get something this week, so at this point, I'll probably pick up the base configuration (with Bluetooth) from Office Depot. I would have liked to have had the option of a more powerful CPU (I-520) and the integrated GPU, but it seems the base configuration will meet my needs for now. If I outgrow it, I can always farm it out to the better half or other family members and upgrade

 

Hi everyone, I just got my dm4 today! Got a refurbished 1063cl from Costco, and it's in perfect condition physically at least. No scratches, marks, dents or anything - just a few water stains from post-refurb cleanup that will be easy to clean. Haven't turned it on yet, it's charging at the moment. I'm not sure whether I can use the computer while it's on it's first charge - I remember with the older batteries that would screw them up, but not sure about now, anybody know whether I can use it?

 

It's fine. Although it is recommended you calibrate your battery.

 

Are you sure you have the settings in the power saving options on the right setting? For example it can be that sleep mode is set to 1 hours, but hibernate mode is set on 2 hours so after 2 hours, your computer goes hibernate mode. So when you open the lid your computer is confused and turns off. If you are sure your settings are right maybe you have a defect computer, so you might contact HP and ask for a new one. And sorry for my bad english.

 

Thanks for your reply, SnowSea. I've checked the settings and it's supposed to sleep when I close the lid and never hibernate. I tried uninstalling/reinstalling various drivers and it got to the point where about 50% of the time it would wake up without issue, 25% of the time it would immediately reboot upon opening the lid, and 25% of the time it would do the weird blinking/clicking thing.

I tried reinstalling windows and only installing drivers from swsetup, but it didn't help. I tried doing a factory restore and experienced the same problems. I'm going to try one more time doing a factory restore using a different hard drive and send it back if it still fails.

My last computer was a dv2000t and it had a lot of problems. After this experience I think I'm going to jump ship to a different company.

 

You're welcome. And it's definitely not the settings or the install. I really hope the different hard drive will solve it. If not, then good luck on whatever company you choose.

 

Does anyone have a good solution/setting to enable a "back" web navgation on the touchpad? The only one I've been able to find in the properties is to set the left button.

 

Yep! Just enable "three finger flick" in the touchpad settings. It's the last option under Application Gestures. Flick back with 3 fingers to go back; flick forward to go forward. Works in IE, Firefox, not chrome it seems, and also in Windows Explorer, Windows Picture Viewer and some other apps.

 

I'm about to be getting my DM4 and I was wondering if there was a clean-install guide out there or any tutorial for it or something....any links would really be appreciated.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...-hp-laptop-out-box-guide-2-0-windows-7-a.html

 

Perfect!!! Thanks so much for the quick reply. I was using Chrome.

 

Ok, so far I'm loving my dm4t, but there's one little issue... the battery meter only ever shows a percentage, never a time estimate. I know the time esitimate isn't always particularly accurate anyhow, but it would be nice to have at least something. This was the case both before and after reinstalling windows. Does anybody know of a way to get Windows to show a battery time estimate on the dm4t?

 

BatteryBar: http://osirisdevelopment.com/BatteryBar/

The free version works well.

 

Hmmm... that would work, but I'd really rather not have to use 3rd party software. On my old laptop, Windows (7) would provide its own estimate when you clicked on the battery icon on the taskbar.

 

I spent 90 minutes on the phone with tech support last night. After explaining how my computer fails to come out of sleep mode, their solution was to take remote control on the machine and set the action for closing the lid to "do nothing." They then asked me to try opening and closing the lid. When I told them nothing was happening, just like they had set it to do, they said, "Are you saying your issue is resolved?"

 

Sadly, I'm having the same issue you were - the 9 cell is only getting between 5.5 and 6 hours. I know somebody with a high-capacity 6-cell who's getting 6-7 hours on that, so you'd think with a 9-cell we'd be getting at least 7, maybe closer to 8. I'm currently calibrating the battery as per HP's support docs; if that doesn't work, I'll run their battery diagnosis tool to see if it reports any issues with the battery. And if that doesn't work, I'm calling them to complain.

Out of curiosity, did you use the default install or did you reinstall Windows? I did a fresh install of Windows 7 Pro, whereas the person I know with a HC 6-cell kept the original install... I wonder if there may be something about their factory configuration which affects battery life.

 

Hey bigtruck. I am getting between 6.5-7.5 hours on my 9 cell, depending on what I'm doing. Mostly web browsing, youtube (which brings the battery life down), and some word processing. I go just over 7 hours on average, with the battery draining to 6-10% before I plug it in. When I let it drain all the way, I get around 7.5. Mt last 5-10% drains much faster.

Just giving you another instance to go off of. Hope it's helpful.

 

Thanks for the additional data. Did you use the default install or did you reinstall Windows? I feel like this may be related to the issue, so I'd be interested to know that. Thank you!

 

Ok, interesting discovery. I used the restore partition to restore my dm4t to the factory default image. I managed to get 6:50 of battery, which although still not as high as the 7.5+ hours some are reporting, is much better than the 5.5-6 I was getting before. I'm not sure why this is occurring - I installed all of the HP drivers when I did the reinstall - but it seems to make a difference. After ensuring that things were working ok, and removing the crapware, I performed an anytime upgrade to Windows 7 Professional, and I will test the battery again tomorrow to see if it is still lasting about as long as it was today.

If other people experiencing battery issues could comment on whether they're using a default install or a custom install, I'd be interested to know. I'm going to start keeping track, and if there's significant enough results to show a difference, I'll post some more on that later.

 

Could someone please help me with my issue?

I have the version with the 512mb ATI Radeon 5450 and when I stream a video, sometimes the browser will go black for a second and go back. The video will then just show a solid green color in its place and the audio will continue running. I'll get a little message at the bottom saying something like the driver stopped working but has recovered. This seems to happen whenever I load a video that uses hardware acceleration (ATI card over the Intel integrated).

The same thing happens in VLC when hardware acceleration is on. If I turn the hard. accel. off on VLC and Youtube they both work fine. This is how I determined it's the dedicated graphics card.

I also just received my laptop back from sending in for a repair to HP under warranty for the same problem. Before, the whole computer would freeze under the same conditions. However, HP didn't do ($&# but reload their bloatware software/partition. They literally didn't do anything else. The only reason why it works better now is because a better graphics driver came out that I installed in between the time my laptop was "being repaired".

I'm thinking it might just be a software problem but is anyone having the same problem? If everyones having the same problem I'll just keep it and hope for a new software/driver update. Otherwise I am sending it back and demanding either the problem be fixed or for them to put in a new graphics card. This is really inconvenient for me as I'm a graphic design student and need the laptop. It doesn't help that ATI doesn't support switchable graphics for their catalyst software unless getting it from the manufacturer (HP in this case).

Any suggestions?

 

I also noticed I can easily reproduce this issue by loading two youtube videos at once. Can someone try this on their dm4t with the ATI card enabled please? If you can confirm they both work fine without any issues then I will definitely send it back and demand a new graphics card be placed in or refund me my money.

Thanks in advance

 

No artifacts or other issues here while viewing multiple youtube videos simultaneously using dedicated ATI graphics. If you're still under the 21 days limit and you can get an equal or better one for the same price (coupons for this laptop seem to change frequently), I'd suggest just returning it and getting a new one. Otherwise, definitely demabd that they replace the graphics card.

 

Thank you SO much bigtruck. I appreciate you taking the time to test that for me. I guess my card really is messed up. I'm definitely past the 21 days. Their email response really sounded like they would fix it this time.

"I would request you to once again send the notebook to HP Service Center for onsite diagnosis. This time we will ensure that all the issues with your notebook are addressed and resolved to your satisfaction."

I hope they follow through this time because I should not have to send it twice. That is about a month out of my time of using the laptop. I feel like I should be entitled to ask for a free upgrade for my inconvenience. Anybody think I should call and discuss this with someone instead of the email I sent them?

 

Guys... any of you play with your color settings? If so... does it change right away? Cause with me I changed the gamma settings... and it takes CCC about ages to load as it spikes up to about 22MB.... is this normal?