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

I had problems with my first dm4. It would crash upon coming out of sleep mode. My replacement has been great though.

 

It looks like HP has released a new video card for the DM4 now. They started offering the ATI Radeon 5470 with the 512MB and the 1GB option instead of the 5450 only at 512MB. And the price is still the same. Can't wait for a coupon to come out. I'm most likely going to get one the moment I can get it for a cheaper price to replace my Dv6000.

 

I rolled back the BIOS. The biggest problem I was having was that the wireless wasn't connecting even though it stated it was connected. The previous BIOS didn't have the problem. Also I didn't notice any difference on battery life or temperature.

 

The November issue of Consumer Reports magazine has the dm4-1065dx as the top rated 14 inch laptop, and one of the 400 Best Products of the year.

Rating details will be in the December issue.

 

Waiting for a coupon as well! Do share if you manage to find any

 

There ought to be; my PC distributor is currently sourcing one for me. However, you have to be careful buying the device; the standard slim blu-rays don't fit into the dm4 bay -- I know this because my distributor tried a slim-factor Sony which was the exact same shape and dimensions as the DVD drive that came with my dm4-1009tx except for the thickness. HP's DVD drive was just a few millimeters thinner. You need to get one that has the exact same dimensions, otherwise it won't fit. Also, there may be an issue with the front panel since the LED light is different (it's white and placed differently) compared with the others in the market.

 

The track pad is an issue. The adhesive seems to be letting go and the track pad is seperating from the board. Any idea what type of adhesive to use? I would rather fix it myself instead of waiting for HP. Or should I just send it in and wait?

 

Not sure I understand your issues. It's not like the trackpad is glued to the system...what do you mean exactly?

By the way, you guys keep your stickers or remove them?

 

I found some sites but I don't know the actual dimension of the original drive. Once I changed the DVD drive on an Averatec laptop and the face is replaceable.

 

I keep 'em on! They're fun . Except one's slightly crooked which kinda bothers me..

 

I keep the stickers, because I don't want to go through the hassle of removing them and using goo gone to remove the sticker residue. Plus it keeps the laptop looking brand new.

 

It's really not all that difficult. Little water and maybe some alcohol swabs...I did it on my dV2500 before the NVIDIA chip killed itself...and the DV2000 before that before that NVIDIA chip killed itself. haha.

The Envy 14 doesn't have stickers..and I find the DM4 to look more luxurious than it...wonder if I should at some point. But I kind of like it... at least for now. Maybe down the road I will take em off....might be more "classy"

 

just bought a new dm4 and did a clean install.

my previous laptop has beeped every 5 sec when the batter was low,
but when i get the bettery low with the dm4 i only get the win7 sound with no beep every 5 sec.

is there anyway to enable this feature?
thanks

 

Ive just picked up my dm4 and created my restore discs. Is the best way to clean install to use an oem image of w7 home premium x64 to reinstall? I've backed up my activation manually, I assume this is what everyone else doing.

Is everyone else hosing the recovery partitions as well?

 

That's what I did. Just follow the clean install guide...basically back everything up.....format....install from a fresh win7 copy...then install drivers....

 

Why do u have to back up your activation if you have a retail version of windows?

 

Alright, so guys am torn between the new dm3t and the dm4t. I really like the core i5 although i know the corei3 might probably suffice my needs. My major concerns are battery life and portability. For those who have gotten the chance to see both models, how bigger is the dm4 compared to the dm3. And how do the battery lifes compare?
And finally whats the latest deal on the retail versions of the dm4. Is it likely there will be retail versions of the dm3 soon? thanks

 

Hi I have the HP dm4 with core i5 430m and I can say this is a lot better choice, than dm3 with an underpowered core i3. The battery life I get is almost 4,5 hours on full battery charge. The dm3 might have a couple of hours more (6+ hours maybe), but it's a lot weaker. The dm4 is a little bigger but still very portable due to it's thin/light design and formfactor. But yes the dm3 is smaller and lighter. In my opinion though, a 13" screen is not something I prefer on a laptop because it's too small to look at, but it's great when you're outside on the go and just want to be on the internet and write documents. I play games (Rappelz and Allods), so the dm3 would be too weak and too small for me. The dm4 is the perfect size for me, I can both game and edit images and take the notebook anywhere I go in my backpack. So a summary would be that if you're a lot on the go/outside and just want to do simple light stuff, the dm3 would be a better choice. If you want more power and bigger screen and want to play games on high settings with no lag, the dm4 would do better.

 

Sorry I forgot to answer this, a quick check on www.shopping.hp.com shows that the price on dm4 is $729.99 at the moment, and the price on dm3 is $549.99 sorry if my english is bad I'm not english.

 

thanks magiclove, that was helpful. just wanted to find out if the 4.5hrs was with the high capacity battery? I know with time, these batteries lose some power, so if I can still get at least 4hours after a year of usage, that will be great. I'm kinda leaning towards the dm3 because of the portability, I really dont do much gaming and I used to have the old dm3 withe su4100, and I thought the performance was ok. So I guess I will be more than impressed with the corei3 processor!!!

 

You're welcome. I'm using the normal 6-cell battery that came with the notebook out of the box, so i guess a high capacity battery will increase the battery life with a couple of hours more. Yes after a year the capacity will be less because of many charges. A high capacity will last longer though, but then again the battery is heavier and makes a big bulk under your notebook and elevates it below under = definitely not so portable and not stylish at all (in my opinion). Sure the dm3 is a great travelmate and it has great battery life, especially with the powersaving settings on. I'm glad you found the right notebook.

 

High Capacity does not equal a 9-cell battery.
A High Capacity battery still has 6 cells and is the same size as an regular battery.
The dm3t does not have a high-capacity or 9-cell battery option.

 

Does the dm4t offer a minimized system recovery like the Envy?

 

Yes i know that "high capacity" for dm4, which is the same size as the normal battery that comes with dm4. But I wouldn't call that battery a high capacity it only has 16% more capacity not much at all (in my opinion). Not even an hour more of use, or barely that.

 

Hi,

My dm4 model is: 1090ee and the Processor is M620 at 2.67Ghz, with 4gb Ram.

Did enyone try to OC the processor?

Did anyone try to upgrade the dm4 by installing 3G card and antenna?
the 3G card you can buy from:
NEW Qualcomm un2420 3g wwan Card Gobi2000 HP DM1 5310m - eBay (item 390233499608 end time Oct-01-10 07:24:12 PDT)

and the antenna from:
HP original 3G WWAN + GPS Antenna for 10-inch netbook - eBay (item 250680719154 end time Oct-05-10 06:03:54 PDT)

My shippment it is on the way.
I found that it is hard to open the LCD. Have anyoane did? Can you share with us an easy way?

 

Laptop speakers and headphones have bad sound---
i've a hp pavilion dm4-1065dxentertainment notebook

,its just 15 days old and since yestrday it has startd

making abrupt rattling noises which stop d min i turn

off d speakrs by clickin on d icon on d far right

cornr of d screen and starts whnevr i try listnin 2

nythn n continues 4 a few mins n thn starts again aftr

a very small intrval n thn stops. The cycle repeats

whnevr i play ny audio or video file.Trust me d noise

is not only annoyin but scary cuz its a brand new

laptop,how can it giv probs so early......iam a girl

so u konw how much knowldg i'll hav abt all dis

technical laptop/p.c mumbo jumbo.Like being a girl

wasnt nough i don even hav access 2 ppl who can fix

it,so plz help me....plz....pretty please....thanx in

advance.

 

I don't know if you typed this from a phone or something, but you should type legibly.

 

Hi nu_D...

I found the above problem you were encountering back in September but couldn't find that you had gotten it resolved. My DM4 is doing exactly the same thing, so any assistance you can provide me would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Tom in Arizona

 

Ya I fixed it. Basically...
Turn OFF "automatically turn off display" in the power management. Turn on your screen saver, I got mine on blank.

That's what I did. I may have done a few more things...but try that. It's been a while but I'm pretty sure that's what did it. If it doesn't work, get back at me.

 

Hi nu_D...

Your suggestions seems to have resolved the problem!

Thanks so much for your quick reply and helpful solution.

Tom

 

No problem. Took me about a month of work, 22 formats, a million different types of installs, 10 different drivers...then I turned it off, and boom, it worked. Go figure. lol.

 

You definitely got a completely defect dm4. That noise.. probably defect motherboard or something. Sometimes even the harddrive is defect and can corrupt all the files. To explain it easy, your computer just doesn't work. You have a right to return it, and HP should give you 100% of the money back or a new dm4 Just make sure you send it back as soon as possible. I don't know HP's policy there, but in the USA it's 21 days return period. I wouldn't call tech support, many of them doesn't know what service and responsibility is, and it's just a waste of time and money and they will often charge people for something that should be totally free. Trust me, I have used the tech support and it's horrible.. it's just a long conversation to try to make the customers give up and leave. So if I were you, I would return the laptop as fast as possible and ask for a new one, or 100% money back.

 

Alright so I had one with a defective ATI card. After a month of going back and forth with sending it in for multiple replacements and no fix, they finally sent me a new one. It was working for a week until the usb port pretty much broke. It barely gets a connection cuz it's so loose.

I asked for a refund and they already said I will be getting one. It's a shame cuz this laptop was sucha good deal and looks/runs great...minus the build quality issues of course. It's been sucha hassle. It's hard to find anything that matches all the features this laptop has elsewhere.

However, I found the Samsung QX410/QX310 which are pretty similar (and in many ways better) and is coming out anytime now. I have a Samsung netbook and it has been great for the last year. I have had several HP products and this is the first time I've had any major problems with mine.

 

Very true. Just get ahold of a case manager as fast as you can. My case manager was a very nice lady that helped me with anything I needed. Typical customer support/tech support agents are a waste of time.

 

I have a dm4t, and I always use a usb mouse because hate the touchpad. I keep the micro USB adapter plugged in all the time because it's not in the way and it's ready when I need it.

My problem is this: the mouse will wake the computer up even if the lid is closed. If I close the lid to put it to sleep, I don't want it to wake up until I open the lid again. My old HP laptop did not behave this way.

I have unchecked the "Allow this device to wake up the computer" option in Device Manager, but the mouse still wakes up the computer when the lid is closed.

 

I had a issue with a run of the mill HPdm4 1020 model i got at Office Depot. I loved the unit so much i decided to return it and get the customized version from HP and returned the 1020us version @ Office but i THINK i went overboard, due to the 150 instant savings and 200 coupon.

Here's the model i ordered this yesterday (specs below) but i think i pulled the trigger too soon. I really know little ot nothing about configuruations (made evident by what i ordered...lol Thought "more is always better" so ordered the 1GB vram on the unit.

But after reading this entire forum, saw no one ordered 1GB vram. So when i called them to cancel she just explained they can refund me the difference for the "overordered VRAM" and is sending the unit as it:
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-460M Dual Core Processor (2.53 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5470 switchable graphics [HDMI, VGA]
• 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter 2010
• No additional security software
• 50% OFF! 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)
• FREE Upgrade to 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• HP TrueVision Webcam and Fingerprint Reader
• 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)
• Standard Keyboard
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope



Tried reading some posts all over the internet on "too much VRAM" but all i really decipher from what's out there is its "overkill and won't be utilized" but doesn't really say if its "bad".

Depending on what y'all think i would prolly cancel order.

Thanks for any help.

TGG

 

your specs are good, man. you have a 64-bit OS so the 6Gb ram won't go to waste. although if i were you i'd keep 4GB RAM, since it's 1dimm and cheaper to buy elsewhere, and use the extra $100 to upgrade the processor to an i5 560m.

 

Well since she GAVE me the upgrade from 512MB to 1GB for free, i really don't want to cancel and re-order IF i don't have to. What i am mainly worried about is:

1- Will 1GB be TOO much and actually SLOW the system down?
2. Will it raise temperatures
3. Is the 6GB RAM & 1GB VRAM a ridiculous amount of overkill and SHOULD I CANCEL & reorder the higher 520M and reduce the regular ram to 4GB and the VRAM to 512MB?


Appreciate any & all input,

Thanx,

TGG

 

1. No
2. No.
3. Not too ridiculous. In a few years, I'm sure you'll make use of 6GB of RAM. 1GB of VRAM is unnecessary, but since you have it, it's whatever.

 

My system:

HP Pavilion dm4 1090ee
* • Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
* • Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-620M Dual Core processor (2.66GHz, 4MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz
* • 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* • TOSHIBA MK5056GSY 500Gb 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
* • 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5450 switchable graphics
* • 14.0" diagonal High-Definition HP BrightView LED Display (1366 x 768)
* • SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
* • HP TrueVision Webcam + Fingerprint Reader + Digital Microphone
* • Intel Wireless-N Card
* • Full-size island-style keyboard
* • High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard)

Aftermarket I install myself:
- 3G WWAN Card Qualcomm un2420 Gobi2000
you can buy from here: NEW Qualcomm un2420 3g wwan Card Gobi2000 HP DM1 5310m - eBay (item 390233499608 end time Oct-01-10 07:24:12 PDT)
- 3G WWAN + GPS Antenna
you can buy from here: HP original 3G WWAN + GPS Antenna for 10-inch netbook - eBay (item 250680719154 end time Oct-05-10 06:03:54 PDT)

All are working excelent!!!!.

 

no, there's absolutely no need to cancel and reorder. it's perfectly fine the way it is.

 

I was thinking of getting this for minecraft (im addicted ), civ 5, starcraft 2 and diablo 3 when it gets out. Will the
Intel HD Graphics be okay for me?

 

thanx mony, i appreciate the feedback... i try so hard to absorb all that i read online & in the forums but it just won't gel in my nimble brain, so thanx again...

TGG

 

Duplicate Post

 

Has anyone had issues with the keyboard on these? Got one for my fiance and she's really unhappy with the keyboard responsiveness, seems to miss keystrokes frequently and constantly screws up on passwords as a result. I've used it a few times and have noticed the same results: not registering keystrokes. It's frequent enough that it's becoming a deal breaker. Keystrokes are about twice the length of that on my Envy14. Not terribly happy with HP's build quality in general as I had to return my Envy for a DOA on-board speaker.

If it matters she has the: i5-430m, 4GB, 500GB, HD5450, intel-N w/bluetooth options.

 

No. Definitely get discrete graphics.

 

How long does it usually take to get your laptop? I put in my order almost 2 weeks ago, and it's still listed as "Order in production" And it's been like that all week. The estimated ship time has been pushed out a few days twice. I tried to cancel yesterday so I could just go pick up a laptop in the store and they said it's too late, I would have to return it once I got it. By the way things are looking that wont be till mid November.

This is what I ordered, I'm wondering if any particular part is pushing back the build date.

• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-460M Dual Core Processor (2.53 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz
• 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5470 switchable graphics [HDMI, VGA]
• 4GB DDR3 System Memory (1 Dimm)
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter 2010
• No additional security software
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 6.25 hours of battery life +++
• 14.0" diagonal High-Definition HP BrightView LED Display (1366 x 768)
• FREE Upgrade to 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• HP TrueVision Webcam and Fingerprint Reader
• Wireless-N Card
• Standard Keyboard
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

With coupons I got the system to $734.99 before tax.

 

Hi txtech...

That sounds like an awfully long wait. For example, I ordered virtually the same configuration, but with 6 GB of RAM on 9/27. The order shipped from Shanghai on 10/5 and I received it on 10/8 which was actually about a week earlier than they had indicated.

On the plus side, I can tell you that it's worth waiting for it. It's a great computer! I know that's easy for me to say, but trust me, you'll love it when you finally see the FedEx truck coming down your street.

Tom in Arizona

 

Hi guys,

So I finally got my laptop and absolutely love it. I do have one question regarding cycling of the battery - with the lithium ion, do I still need to perform the full charge and discharge cycles the very first time I use the battery? Been looking all over for the answer to this question and have gotten conflicting advice.

 

Only the first time you use it. At least I did and I don't think it's much use
to do it more, even if someone recommends 1 or 2 times a month.

1. Fully charge the battery to 100%. Let it still be connected to the wall
outlet for about 20 minutes more.

2. Disconnect the notebook from the wall outlet and then use the notebook
till the battery runs almost empty (less than 10% left). Restart the notebook and then charge it to 100% again.

3. Now it's done and you can use the notebook normally and charge it before it reaches 10 % or below