Mini User Review of the HP Pavilion dm3t with SP9300 + G105M graphics

Prior to 2006, there was a distinct difference between Apple and the PC industry. Apple specialized in design, and still does, and the PC industry won over customers by wooing them with the best bargain available—features for the price charged—and almost always at the cost of a pedestrian design. In 2006, in an ambitious bid to gain market share, HP launched a massive and hugely successful marketing campaign known as, “The Computer Is Personal Again,” and redesigned all of its laptops with the extremely popular high-gloss Imprint finish. In less than 2 years, HP unseated Dell as the undisputed leader in PC shipments and maintains that lead today.

3 years later, HP is back again (perhaps) to change the game. Borrowing from design cues from Apple’s Macbook Pro line, HP launched the dm3 in late October and the tm2 earlier this month, with designs that feature a brushed aluminum finish. Is it successful? Read more to find out.

How this laptop was purchased

I had shopped for a while to look for a new computer to replace my aging dv6000t from back in the Windows XP days. My options were the HP Pavilion dm3t and the Sony VAIO CW. I visited a Best Buy to check out some of the laptops, and I can say that I was absolutely repulsed by the build quality of the Dells these days. They suck. Period. What really won me over from the Sony CW was the build quality of the dm3t. The aluminum finish really is outstanding. More on that later.

Earlier this year, HP offered a multitude of stackable coupons, so I ordered online from HP Home and Home Office Store. I had found a $350 stackable coupon, and since I’m a student with a tight budget, I was more than ready to order my laptop. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really decide between having an extra 2GB of RAM upgrade and an Intel processor upgrade from the C2D SU7300 to the C2D SP9300. I weighed my options and, at the last minute, changed my config to have the upgraded processor. Unfortunately, the coupon expired, so I instinctively picked up the phone and called HP. Why not? At this point I had nothing to lose but something to gain.

My call was almost immediately received by a human sales rep (after going through an automated system) based out of the United States, which is really impressive considering the current trend of outsourcing. The rep was efficient, as he did not attempt to persuade me to add on options like warranty, and was courteous and accomodating—in fact, to the degree that he applied the $350 coupon even after it expired! Bravo, HP. In total, the call lasted for no more than 10 minutes and my order was placed. Here is the config:

Pavilion dm3t-1100 CTO

• Intel Core 2 Duo SP9300 processor with 512MB nVidia GeForce G105M + Intel GMA 4500 MHD (Intel Hybrid Graphics Technology)
• Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
• 4GB DDR3 RAM at 1066 MHz (2x2GB modules)
• Intel 160GB Solid State Memory Module (model number SSDSA2MH160G1HP, X25-M)
• 13.3" diagonal High-Definition LED BrightView Display (1366x768)
• Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n Card with Bluetooth (Dual Band)
• 57WHr 6 cell lithium ion battery
• 32.59 cm (L) x 23.01 cm (W) x 2.43 cm (min H)/ 3.12 cm (max H)
OR 12.83” (L) x 9.06” (W) x 0.96 (min H)/1.23” (max H)
• 1.89 kg or 4.17 lbs

The total came out to be $1,000 with free shipping. The laptop was built after 5 business days (8 days including weekends) and took a total of 4 days to ship from HP’s laptop factory in Shanghai to the North Campus of the University of Michigan.

Build and Design, including ports and keyboard/touchpad



The dm3t, as I have emphasized before, features a brushed aluminum design. I think HP calls this the Modern Argento or something like that. The bezel of the screen is quite thin, and the screen itself is surrounded by shiny black plastic. This part is perhaps the cheapest part of the laptop, but whatever. The top part is entirely metal (BRUSHED ALUMINUM), but HP chooses to attach an Energy Star sticker to it, which really is quite tacky. If you already put one on the box, you don’t need another one on the case itself. Seriously. Of course, HP has its logo stuck on it’s laptop. Its logo is also made out of metal. Because of the material, the case has virtually no flex.

The palmrest and areas surrounding the keyboard are also made out of BRUSHED ALUMINUM. It really feels sturdy and is quite nice. The finish makes this laptop feel more expensive than it actually is. As with the previous generation of HP Pavilions, nothing actually holds the screen lid down when you shut it; there seems to be some magnetic attraction that allows the lid to snap shut. The screen hinges are made from shiny black plastic, and I would have appreciated it had HP made it from metal. The laptop would feel more sturdy if they had done so. The keyboard itself is also made from plastic, and its look and feel is similar to that of the Macbook Pro. It’s quite pleasant to type on and feels quite roomy as well. The touchpad also feels like plastic. I actually don’t find the touchpad as troubling as some reviews make it out to be. Actually, it seems to perform as well as my dv6000t. Perhaps the editors at Laptop Magazine and Engadget are jealous of HP’s massive success. Come, you know they’re winning the market for laptops.





Similar to the dv6000t, HP does not have any ports in the back of the notebook. In fact, there are also no fan outlets in the back either.The laptop stays relatively cool despite this. On the left side of the laptop, there is the power outlet, HDMI output, 2 USB ports, a media card reader and the audio outputs. In the front there are 2 LED inidcators for the battery and the hard drive. On the side, there is a fan outlet, 2 more USB ports, the wireless button, and the power switch. Both the wireless button and power switch have LED lights to show their status. The power switch is a little awkward at first, but it's something that you'll get used to after a few times using the computer, because computer manufacturers usually place the power switch/button above the keyboard.

The bottom of the notebook is made from sturdy hard plastic. There is the standard Microsoft CoA sticker and HP serial number/machine identification sticker affixed to the laptop. HP includes access to the RAM, wireless card, and the hard drive. Of course, there is a place for the battery, because there won’t be laptops without batteries. Or will there be?



Overall, the laptop is light to carry around, though compared to other 13” notebooks, it’s a little heavy, but its BRUSHED ALUMINUM finish accounts for that. In general, the build quality overall is quite solid, but I feel that HP should have also included metal for some of its components, like the screen hinges, to give the notebook a more solid feel. The laptop definitely attracts attention, as many people who have seen this laptop in person has commented on how "great" and "sexy" this laptop looks. Heck, even a Macbook Pro owner regretted buying a Mac when he saw this laptop in person. Personally, I think that if HP had put its logo in a less noticeable place on the case, most people would not have guessed that HP built a laptop with such outstanding build quality.

Screen and speakers





The screen is a 13.3” LED glossy widescreen with a WXGA resolution. The screen is much brighter and is much more clear to view when you look at it without an angle. Colors are relatively vivid and text is clear. Due to its glossy screen, if you look at it from an angle, you won’t be able to see very well. Note that the camera’s representation of how the text shown on my screen sucks because my camera sucks, not because of how the screen sucks. In general, however, the screen is really nothing to write home about in 2010. LED backlighting is so last year.



The speakers are made by Altec Lansing and have the SRS surround sound, placed at the front of the laptop. Given the laptop’s thin profile, this placement really doesn’t make sense because the speakers are directed toward the surface you have your laptop on and really doesn’t serve a purpose except for aesthetics. In fact, it ruins the sound acoustically because it often sounds muffled. Given its small size, the speakers are actually quite loud, but the sound generated by the speakers are crisp and lacks bass. Overall, the speakers are lower in quality than I’ve experienced with previous HP laptops.

For testing, I played samples of random songs on iTunes without any equalizer preset turned on. Modern Top 40 songs such as Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”, and Cascada’s “Evacuate the Dancefloor” sounded terrible because of the absence of bass. Songs from alternative artists like Kings of Leon’s “ on Fire”, Death Cab for Cutie’s “Marching Bands of Manhattan”, and Radiohead’s “No Surprises” also sounded terrible because for some reason there was sound distortion, particularly in Death Cab’s song because the audio had a whirring quality to it. Ironically, songs from decades ago, like Phil Collins’s “True Colors,” the Foundations’ “Build Me Up Buttercup,” and the Rolling Stones’ “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” sounded decent, bordering on being pretty good. Similarly, Bach and Beethoven were great on these speakers. (Somehow, the older the songs, the better they sounded on this laptop) As you can see, I’m quite the audiophile and eclectic music-lover.

Moving on…

Performance and Benchmarks



Inside this beautiful and petite package, there is a little monster of a performer in this laptop. Because of its Core 2 Duo processor and Intel SSD, it’s really snappy in performance. After all my programs were installed, with 75GB of free hard drive remaining, the computer booted up in 20 seconds for the hard drive to stop spinning after loading the main screen (14 seconds for it to reach the login screen) and shut down in 8 seconds.

Windows Experience Index

Since this computer includes the ability to switch between the Intel integrated graphics and the nVidia GeForce G105M graphics, Windows has two separate ratings for the laptop. The processor rates at a 5.9, the memory a 5.9, and hard drive at a 7.7 (you can imagine, since it has the amazing Intel SSD). With the Intel graphics, the Aero graphics score was a 3.2 and the gaming graphics score was a 3.4, whereas the nVidia card had a 4.7 and 5.6 respectively. Overall, the computer was a 3.2 with the Intel graphics and a 4.7 with the nVidia card.



CPU

The Pavilion dm3t was unable to run the wPrime benchmark test and failed to complete the PCMark2005 test. Since I’m on a tight schedule, I did not try to find a way to make these tests work. So instead of running the wPrime benchmark test, I used the aging SuperPI test. It took 24 seconds to calculate 1 million digits of Pi. For comparison, my previous laptop took about 1 minute and 30 seconds with its Intel Core Solo T1350 processor. According to Notebookcheck, the processor should perform about as well as an Intel Core i3-330, but slightly slower than the Core 2 Duo P8600. Note that the Core 2 Duo SP9300 is NOT a CULV but what Intel calls a “medium voltage processor.” However, using RMClock, I was able to undervolt the processor from the stock 1.15V to .925V. This helps reduce heat even further and theoretically should prolong battery life. Note that each individual processor undervolts differently, so your SP9300 may not be able to undervolt as much as mine did.

UPDATE: I ran the PassMark test. The Intel Core 2 Duo SP9300 scored 1701.3 points.



Hard Drive

Of course, I decided to go with the Intel SSD because it’s so fast and was a good deal as it was a $300 upgrade (before the $350 stackable coupon). The Transfer rate test of the HDTune benchmark returned an average of 206.2 MB/s (minimum 161.1 MB/s @ 27% and maximum of 217.4 MB/s @ 70%). I believe that this is 10 times faster than a 5400RPM SATA hard drive. Access time was 0.1 ms and burst rate was 83.1 MB/s. The graph is not available.

Overall, I love the inclusion of the Intel SSD. The performance gains from an SSD are far more noticeable than the gains from a faster processor such as the i5. The C2D is a more than competent chip and the inclusion of the SSD makes everyday tasks feel incredibly fast. Considering that the same model retails for $449 at Newegg.com at the time of press, anyone looking for an SSD should opt for this upgrade if they can afford to do so, especially considering the number of stackable coupons HP has offered lately.

Graphics




Switchable graphics


Power Saver mode


"HP Recommended mode"

To round out the series of benchmarks, I also performed a set of graphics tests. As an entry-level graphics solution, the nVidia GeForce G105M has 512MB of dedicated video memory and supports up to DirectX 10. Its core is clocked at 640 MHz, faster than its predecessor, the 9300M, and memory is clocked at 700 MHz. Power consumption is estimated at 14 watts.

To save battery power, HP also includes the ability to switch between the nVidia GeForce G105M card and the Intel GMA 4500 MHD card, and this feature is quite useful to have, though when you run graphics-intensive programs, HP will force you to use the nVidia card, and the Power Saver function is disabled until you exit the program.

The test results reveal that the card performs about the same as its previous generation cousins, nVidia GeForce 9500M G found on Dell's Studio XPS 13 and 8600M GS, is about 10-15% faster than the ATI Mobility Radeon 4330 found on the HP Pavilion dm3z, Probook 4310s, and Probook 4510s, and is about 10% slower than the ATI Mobility Radeon 4570 found on the Sony VAIO SR.

In terms of numbers, the card scored 19,623 points on 3DMark2001 SE, 8,432 on 3DMark03, 5,618 on 3DMark05, 2,970 on 3DMark06 in XGA resolution (1024x768). Note that the numbers are for the nVidia graphics, because when I tried to run the tests with the Intel card, HP kept insisting that I enable the nVidia graphics “for maximum performance.” In general, the nVidia graphics should be sufficient for most people running low-level games, perhaps some medium-level games, and the Intel solution is perfect for everyday tasks such as word-processing or browsing the Internet and is capable of running Aero well enough.

Gaming

I'm not much of a gamer, but I thought that you guys might be interested. I downloaded a set of demos so I started to play through some at native resolution:

DIRT 2 Demo, Morocco: 12 FPS (highest detail settings possible)

Call of Duty Modern Warfare Demo: high 10s-low 20s FPS (highest detail settings possible)

Benchmarks were recorded on FRAPS.

Heat and Noise

Prior to undervolting the CPU, the CPU ran at the stock voltage of 1.15V. Even at this level, the laptop did not get very warm and the fan was very quiet. After the voltage was lowered to 0.925V, the laptop is very cool and the fan is almost never on. As I type this review, the core temp of the processor is a cool 32 C. During the benchmark tests, the core temps never exceeded 50 C (topped out at around 48 C before undervolting and at around 43 C after undervolting). To put in relative terms, my dv6000t was in the high 30s to lower 40s when it was at rest and could run up to 70 C at peak. The dv6000t’s fan was almost constantly on and was loud enough to create its own soundtrack prior to HP’s release of the F.29 revision of the BIOS. I guess HP has fixed the heat and noise issue for good with its dm3t.

Wireless

It loads webpages and Youtube videos well, so it works.

Battery

I like the new design of the battery for the dm3t. It’s quite thin and matches the profile of the notebook well. It is a 6 cell lithium polymer battery (according to the website, but ion according to the battery) and is rated at 11.1 volts and 57 WHr. Battery tests are not yet available, so I hope to post them soon for both Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10. By next week, I hope to include results for both graphics modes as well. (Intel first, nVidia last) The tests will be run with the processor undervolted to 0.925 V in Windows 7. (yes, this laptop undervolts really well)

The battery tests were run on Battery Eater Pro 05 (v2.7), with exception of the tests run in Ubuntu and the Reader's test. The Reader's test consisted of random activity, including some music processing, word processing, Internet surfing, music playing in iTunes, and Youtube videos. The Ubuntu test was run based on some installation tasks and computer programming. Here are the final results:

(upon shutdown at 7% battery life remaining)



The battery takes about 2.5 hours to charge back to full capacity. It charges particularly fast for the first 80%, taking about an hour to hour and a half. Such rapid charging may not be good for the laptop, as it may contribute to more pronounced battery wear. After the first charge, I measured the full capacity of the battery at 58.2 WHr (higher than rated); however, after just one charge, the maximum charge capacity shrinks by 1.5 WHr. After three weeks of usage, the battery wear level is now at 3%. Earlier tests showed the battery wear going up to almost 11%, but this was lowered after calibrating the battery. The battery also experiences a noticeable drop in voltage during discharge. At full capacity, the battery outputs a voltage of ~12.5 V. This drops to 11 V at 25% capacity.

The processor has two modes for graphics which you can change by clicking on the battery icon. Intel graphics are enabled when you click Power Saver and nVidia graphics are enabled when you click HP Recommended. Since the Intel graphics run Aero well enough and I don’t play video games on the computer (I use my Wii for that), the nVidia graphics are almost never on. Note that in graphics-intensive programs, the laptop will automatically switch to the nVidia graphics, as noted above. The computer will revert to its original graphics mode once it exits the program. Though it is convenient, I would have preferred HP including a hardware-based switch and not just some buttons on a menu in the operating system. But thumbs up to HP for including a hybrid graphics system. A similar system can be found on the Sony VAIO Z, but that’s twice as expensive as this laptop.

Battery wear tracking:

After 2 months: 6.1%

Customer Support

I’ve had some experience with HP’s customer support, and needless to say, it’s best to avoid it if you don’t need it. I have used HP’s chat support in the past, and responses are almost always scripted, so it can be assumed that tech support is based out of India. The last time I used the service was about 6 months ago, so I’m not sure if anything has changed for January 2010. I don’t know, but maybe HP has brought tech support back to the USA like it did with phone sales. However, I think most people call this “wishful thinking” and isn’t very likely in this age of outsourcing.

From a sales perspective, HP includes 1 year of hardware warranty and (I think) 90 days of software warranty. It eliminated restore discs about 4 years ago due to cost cutting, so you are forced to make your own restore discs or rely on the restore partition (which was about 12-14GB in size when I made my restore discs or roughly 3 DVDs), but I think that’s the same with almost all the computer manufacturers today. After your warranty expires, you can also peruse HP’s fairly well-organized support website and forums, and these are helpful at times.

As always, when you boot up your laptop for the first time, HP includes a ton of crap software, like WildTangent’s Games and a 60-day trial of Internet Security from Norton and Microsoft Office 2007. Most of the software was easy to uninstall (but annoying), but Norton’s Internet Security was notably the most difficult to remove. Actually, the first time I tried uninstalling it, the program crashed my computer and I had to restart it. Hmmm … perhaps Norton is the creator of all viruses?

For LINUX users

Also, last note for Linux users: I am a fairly knowledgable computer geek, but installing Ubuntu Linux on this laptop is EXTREMELY painful. Because HP includes a partition for the recovery stuff, "HP_TOOLS," and something else (I don't really remember), you are not able to add another partition for your computer, because the hard drive can apparently only handle so many partitions. Do not make the same mistake of installing Ubuntu inside Windows, because Ubuntu simply does not work as well. You must burn your recovery discs ASAP and then delete the recovery partition completely. If you lose your recovery discs, you can always order a set from HP for about $15. Of course, most manufacturers don't actually support Linux, I won't dock HP any points for making our lives difficult. Also, for some reason, my dm3t has a habit of corrupting the Linux kernel, as I have installed Linux multiple times (as of press, 4 times) without success, and it's not good news for me as an engineering student.

Once you're inside Linux (I use Ubuntu Karmic 9.10), you'll notice that any undervolting work you did inside Windows does not apply to Ubuntu. Also, graphics drivers for the nVidia card are glitchy, and I cannot find a way to enable the Hybrid Graphics Solution in Ubuntu. However, you can work around this by using the root terminal to disable the nVidia card and enable the Intel card. After that, you will need to reconfigure your computer through the XOrg file. There are several tutorials on this on Ubuntu's forums and other sites. Just Google it.

I also notice that the laptop runs slightly warmer on Ubuntu than it does on Windows, even when it has been underclocked from 2.26 GHz to 800 MHz. The fan is also on much more often in Ubuntu than in Windows 7 and is quite audible but not loud. CPU temps under load can exceed 50 C in Ubuntu, significantly higher than that of Windows 7. Because of the lack of optimization for notebook hardware in Ubuntu, the battery life in Ubuntu is quite short, about 4 hours of life, give or take half an hour depending on type of usage.

In terms of real world performance, the dm3t takes (after selecting the option in GRUB) 5 seconds to reach the login window in Ubuntu 9.10 Koala Karmic and 2 seconds to reach the main window after login. The computer shuts down in 3 seconds. Needless to say, this laptop is a beast when it comes to speed.

Conclusion

I think that HP has another solid product on their hands with the HP Pavilion dm3t. I can see this laptop faring well in the face of competition and should be around for a while like the high-gloss Imprint finish has. In general, the computer is well-built and performs very well. What would be great for HP to do next is to make this baby walk and talk, or that's the reason I'm in college right now. (and of course, make the battery useful for a longer time).

Pros

• Great battery life given components (not CULV processor, i.e.)
• Snappy performance
• GREAT value with Intel SSD
• Well-built with nice keyboard
• WiFi works
• Aesthetically pleasing and perfect successor to the high-gloss Imprint finish
• Brushed aluminum body does not attract fingerprints
• Switchable graphics (BIG PLUS)
• On side note, HP Trade-In lets you save money and put your old computer to good use

Cons

• Crappy speakers (BIG CON)
• The mouse on touchpad is a little "sticky," so it takes some adjusting. The touchpad itself is not very troublesome.
• Plastic screen hinges
• Missing fingerprint reader
• Lacks optical drive (not really a con)
• It doesn't walk and talk (not really a con)

Grade: 9/10

 

Good review, I have the AMD model of the DM3 and have had it since they cam out on October 22nd and I can say that I have had no problems...

I undervolted it and get about 4.5-5.5 hours of battery with brightness at 50% and doing web browsing and iTunes.

 

Excellent review, nice and detailed. I can't wait for the battery tests. I'll be running my dm3t in much the same configuration and usage as you. Undervolting will be a definite now.

One thing about the hinges. Under the plastic they may very well be metal. I know the hinges on my inspiron 1525 are plastic over metal.

 

Yes the hinges are made of metal.

Regarding your observation that older music sounds better, it's because new music (especially radio hits like Lady Gaga that you mentioned) is compressed like hell, squashing the dynamics and making the speakers work a lot harder, just so that it can sound louder than the other artists. You may want to read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_War and you'll understand. The irony of this is that the radio stations do their own processing, and sending a song mastered "loud" to the radio will actually make it sound quieter than the other ones.

Even my favorite rapper, Tech N9ne, seems to have gone into this trend, as his last 3 albums are mastered like s**t. But oh well. They'll eventually go back to proper dynamic range when all the CDs will be mostly white noise, and honestly we're not too far from that.

 

^ That's interesting info.

 

This is definately a notebook I'd really like to get. Wish all of HP laptops changed to metal chassis. However, I need higher resolution screens, hence why I opted for a dv5t. Hope we see higher res screens in the future.

 

I think 1366x768 is ok for a 13.3" display. Then again I'm running 1280x800 on a 15.4" and manage.

I think the switchable graphics change was added to compete more directly with the UL30VT. It already had it beat design and build quality wise. So far it looks like the DM3T will be an hour or 2 behind the UL30VT in battery life but taking into account it has a very capable processor makes it a very impressive machine. I hope HP keeps this one around for a while. I could see it becoming a best seller now that a lot of the bugs are worked out.

Thanks again for the review. Anxiously awaiting the remaining battery tests.

 

You're welcome all for your supportive comments. Will post the remaining battery tests in the coming days. (aiming for one everyday)

 

Wow, nice review!
Probably the most detailed one I've seen.

 

Thanks! I'm hoping that NBR.com will publish my review. How likely is it that will happen? I sent in my request to publish about a week ago but they still have yet to reply.

 

hey I'm new here, but i was wondering what your thoughts were on the SP9300 vs. SU7300. how much will the upgrade to the 9300 affect battery life? and do you think the increased performance is worth the lower battery life?

also hows the performance/battery of either of these compare to the L625? I'm assuming the SU7300 uses a good deal less power, but I don't know about the 9300 or how either of them compare performance wise to the AMD. Thanks

 

According to notebookcheck, the site claims that the SP9300 is about 2x times faster than the SU7300. I would go for the SP9300 because it really is worth the increased performance. The decreased battery life is quite minimal.

The battery life on the SP9300 (w/ integrated graphics) should be about the same or slightly worse than the L625 depending on usage. The L625 competes more with the SU7300 in terms of performance.

 

I agree on getting the SP9300 over the SU7300. You could always keep the integrated graphics off or set to balanced mode and with undervolting the SP9300 and maybe restricting the higher multipliers you could basically end up with an SU7300 on steroids. Very good battery life with power when needed.

 

^You don't even need to restrict the multipliers. I don't, because the SP9300 undervolts really well, possibly because it's an underclocked version of the higher versions of the P9XXX CPUs, like the P9700.

There is no balanced mode for the hybrid graphics. It's either on power saver (integrated graphics) or high performance or HP Recommended (nVidia graphics).

 

When it's on power saver will the G105M still kick in if needed?

 

As far as I know the graphics are not automatically switchable.

 

alright sounds great. What I'm getting is that the SP9300+nvidia is probably going to be the best combination of comparing power & battery. although the AMD version is tempting at $100 less... Think its worth the money?

 

Graphics are not automatically switchable unless you're doing a graphics intensive program ... then the laptop will automatically switch over to nVidia, but normally you'll need to tell the laptop to set Intel if you want to save power.

The SP9300+G105M is an amazing combo. I think the G105M is better than the 4330 offered on AMD's platform.

 

According to notebookcheck.com the 4330 is slightly faster than the G150 (4987 vs. 4214 on 3DMark 05).

Freeto, it really depends on what you're going to do with it. For some the SP9300 might be overkill. But at only $100 more, I'd go with the Intel combo because of the faster processor and better battery life.

 

OK, thanks. i wont be doing anything very graphics intensive, besides watching movies, but i do multitask a lot. i guess the best combo would be the SP9300 and integrated graphics, too bad that's not an option.

 

Funny ... my laptop's G105M scored in the 5,600 range on the 3DMark05. That's why I stated that it's faster than the 4330, based on my testing. Perhaps notebookcheck used a sample with lower memory?

And what do you mean that the SP9300 and integrated is not an option? The SP9300 + nVidia GPU has a hybrid graphics solution. As stated in my review, you can switch off the nVidia GPU at will to enable the Intel integrated graphics, though it will force you to use the nVidia GPU when you're running intensive 3D programs.

 

yeah, but i don't really need the discrete graphics. hypothetically the 9300+integrated would cost less

 

HP simply doesn't offer it. If you want the SP9300 with integrated graphics go for the probook 5310m.

The extra $$ is definitely worth it. I see it as paying for the processor and getting the G105M free.

 

alright, thanks for your advice. I'll be going with the SP9300+G105M then

 

You won't regret it. I don't, though part of me wishes that this computer came with an i5. But for most purposes the SP9300 is fast enough.

 

Thanks for this.
Enough to push me to order my dm3/9300 yesterday!

 

ordered yesterday, cant wait until march when it gets here

 

I've had the low-end AMD DM3 for a few months now and while I have greatly enjoyed the aesthetics and form factor, there have been several instances where I would have appreciated more processing and graphics power.

I originally had decided on and even purchased an Alienware M11x to upgrade to, but finally canceled my order. In addition to how long it was taking Dell to get it built and sent (compared to others who ordered after me with similar config), I realized how much I enjoyed the 13.3" screen and awesome keyboard on the DM3 and how much I would miss them.

I just purchased a SP9300/G105M DM3T and can't wait to get it in and pop in the brand new 80GB Intel G2 SSD I have sitting here.

Ultimately, I think it will be a worthwhile upgrade as I mainly use my laptop for oracle SQL/program development, often with several other browser windows and iTunes open at the same time. Light gaming capability would just be icing on the cake. BTW, has anyone ran TF2 on one of these? My AMD DM3 could barely play it on low settings/low res.

Thank you ab2013 for your excellent review!

 

GeForce 105M = 8400M GS. My 8400M can even deal with GTAIV at a playable rate (~18FPS), and an Acer with a 105M behaved about the same, maybe even a little bit smoother. I'm sure you'll be able to game too.

 

Can you tell me how you were able to get rmclock to run under windows 7?

thanks

 

Um, well, it just works. If you got 64-bit look for the signed rtcore64.sys, which will allow RMClock to work without having to F8 and select Disable Driver Signature Enforcement on every boot.

 

Great review! Rep!

I was wondering if you could post some HWmonitor screenies of the temps under typical usage like browsing/music playback. That would be great. I know you can't get temps for the SSD, but is it warm on the palmrest where it sits?

My DV2500 burned itself to death so temps are really really scary to me...

 

I believe I put up a pic of the CPU using RMClock during typical usage. Usually the CPU temp hovers around 27-30 C when undervolted.

I have an SSD, so it doesn't generate much heat (it's just fairly warm), but I'm sure that the temps will be higher with a traditional hard drive.

 

How well does the IGP with SP9300 play 1080p blu-ray? What's the CPU usage like during playback?

 

I've never had experience with blu-ray on my dm3t. I usually just watch hd movies on youtube or tv networks (i'm a busy college student so even online tv shows are a rare treat). The IGP does 720p on Youtube really well without any noticeable lag. I just checked CPU usage, which hovered at around 55% to 70% but this is with other programs running in the background (i.e. google earth and word and huge data files) and with my computer not having been rebooted for an entire week now so if you're running just the video itself usage should be a little lower.

 

Thanks for the reply.
Do you have flash 10.1RC installed?

 

Nope. 10.0.45

 

without undervolting it,

will the palm rest area be warm/hot to feel and touch it after a couple of hours of usage?

 

I have the same setup the SP9300 with G105M and the answer is yes, the palm area is warm. The hard drive side is warm too. If you have an SSD, the only the left side feels warm. The right side (which houses the HD or SSD) does not.

 

oh my, then its fine. guess i will give it a miss thanks for clarifying