New HP DM4T

I just ordered a new DM4T with i3-2350, 6GB RAM, 640GB HD, 1600x900 display, and backlit keyboard. (total is 714.99 with free shipping from Costco)

However, http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11750798&whse=BC&Ne=5000135+4000000&eCat=BC|84|56670&N=4047229 4294899839&Mo=5&No=4&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&topnav= just showed up on Costco's website todayfor 599.99 plus 29.95 shipping. I really want the backlit keyboard and I imagine it would be easy to swap out at a later time if I got this one, but what about the screen?

My question is will I find any benefit from the i5-2450? I will be using the computer for web browsing, email, streaming music and video, typing up my thesis (using LaTex and a word processor). In the past I have played some games like Need For Speed, FIFA, STEAM games but dont know that I will necessarily get to them again.

 

For your purposes, the i3 should be perfectly fine. It's a dual core with hyper-threading, which means each core can do two things at once, essentially.

Backlit keyboard is nice, and only available on a few of HP's current models.
1600x900 display is also nicer than 1366x768 as you can see more on the screen at any given time which means less scrolling, etc.

By the time you factor in the shipping, the price difference isnt that great.
I didnt see any dm4t's on there for $719 so I dont know exactly which one you got.

As for games... I dont know. It all depends on the game, and separate research would need to be done to determine which CPU can run which games, etc.

 

Thanks for the response! I ordered the DM4T as a build to order machine with only backlit keyboard and 1600x900 display added. Thought about it some more and I haven't played any computer games in at least 4 or 5 years, and even back then it was only a couple times a month.

I have been waiting for Costco to carry a 14" laptop with USB 3.0, bluetooth, and backlit keyboard for almost a year so pretty happy this one finally appeared on their website. The 1600x900 matte display is an added bonus =)

Anyways, in case anyone is wondering why I would wait so long for something from Costco: I got a 14" Acer Timeline back in Aug. 2009, ended up having to send it back a couple of times for repair. Before sending it a third time Feb. 2011 went to Costco and politely asked if they could handle shipping to Acer; they said they couldn't but did offer a full refund. Awesome customer service and 3 years warranty (when purchased with AmEx) made me wait =D.

 

Well if I was customizing it, I'd be really tempted to upgrade to the i5-2430m for $50 more, just because I could. I thought you had bought it preconfigured, sorry.

The i5 gives you TurboBoost, which will speed up the CPU a little when the CPU isn't being heavily used (which is often). It just gives you a little bit of extra speed when you need it. Other than that, it seems to be basically the same as the i3.

Did you get the Intel integrated graphics, or the upgraded AMD graphics?
I don't think that model has switchable graphics, so I think it's either one or the other. If you dont need the more powerful graphics, and you are sure you won't down the road, the Intel basic graphics are perfectly fine, and will give you better battery life and a cooler running machine.

The only other thing to consider is the battery.
HP seems to have two versions of the 6-cell battery.
A standard 6-cell and a "high capacity" 6-cell. Exact info is tricky to find, but HP says the high-capacity 6-cell gives 30% longer battery life. I dont know if they mean runtime, or the number of years the battery should last before deterioration. Might be something to look into if you will be using it on battery a lot.

Then there is the big 9-cell battery which is a huge clunky thing that adds a big bulge to the laptop and isn't very nice.

Getting battery upgrades bundled with the system purchase seems to be cheaper than getting them separately after the fact.

I dunno, just some things to think about.
Overall, it sounds like you have a nice little machine there. I'd love to have one very similar to that myself, but they dont sell that one here in Canada.

 

Hmmm, I thought about the i5-2430 upgrade but can't think of any time I will really need it. If anyone has some examples of when the Turbo Boost would come in handy, please do chime in. I do work in math, but pretty much strictly theoretical stuff that does not require a computer. If some day I need some serious computing, the department computers will handle it better than any laptop I am sure.

I went with integrated graphics as I've read that the card available is not all that great anyway. Seeing as STEAM games ran fine on my old P4 with some Nvidia card (maybe fx5200?), I think they will be fine on integrated graphics. I think I will appreciate the added battery life over "improved" graphics.

I thought about the battery and had originally configured it with the "high capacity" 6-cell but looking online it seems that it (possibly aftermarket) can be found for less than the price of upgrading. This way, if I find I need more battery life I can just get a second battery and it will end up costing less. The 9-cell was not really an option just due to size but same argument against it holds as above.

Looks like you have some other nice choices through Costco in Canada though: Elitebook 8460p and Lenovo U400...

 

So I went online last night and found that a 1600x900 screen can be had for about 70 and a backlit keyboard for about 30...So if I were to get the cheaper machine and upgrade it myself, I would pay just about the same total price but have a core i5...

Now the only question is if the 1600x900 screen and backlit keyboard would plug right into that machine...

 

Very nice machine. The current dm4t is my favorite Windows laptop. The additions of backlit keys and 1600x900 make it very appealing.

Your Costco price is good, as these two options are ~$130 on the HP site.

Take some pics when you get it. Perhaps my search skills are off, but there isn't much chat about the dm4t online.

 

I haven't heard much about it either. I ordered one a couple days ago and I plan on posting pictures/review, etc.

 

So I was just looking at the specs for the DM4T Beats...it looks like its got a 32GB MSATA drive in addition to the 500GB HDD. I am now wondering if the non-Beats will also have an msata slot.

Well, the great thing about Costco is that if I decide I do want something a little more powerful I've got a full 90 days and there is no restocking fee.

 

mSATA drive support with a regular HDD would be sweet. Let us know what you find.

 

Good timing on me coming to check here. My son just got one of the beats SE machines from frys yesterday and I'm helping him setup/cleanup the system.

He got the i5 2450, 500 GB, intel graphics configuration. He games on his xbox

To answer one question on the drive configuration (since I was wondering the same thing). The drive appears to be an oem variation on the seagate momentus hybrid drives which combine flash with a standard drive.

So no separate flash drive I can find. The interface does show as sata III.

Anyway, It's a nice machine and seems to have above average build quality for an HP. I like the red keyboard backlight and the soft touch deck as well.

The beats audio is interesting as this is easily one of the loudest laptops I have heard when it's cranked

The 1600*900 screen is impressive too. I think that may be a sweet spot for a 14 inch screen. The weight was a surprise and is about a pound lighter than an older DV4 that I support at work.

My only "complaint" about the physical aspects of the machine is the bright read beats logo on the lid. I think it would look less gaudy in black or possiblly dark silver. And the keyboard is a bit "bouncy" but that's personal preference and my son likes it.

Anyway, a question for all.

When the unit goes to sleep either from inactivity or if you close the lid, upon waking the audio is muted until you hit the volume control.

Is this normal behavior? HP support was clueless on this and it took the kid 15 minutes to even find any info on the unit.

Thanks

 

Sorry, I have not yet received my computer so can't answer your question about the volume. What model number did your son get? How is the included subwoofer?

Looking through HP parts surfer, it looks like the DM4T-3090SE comes with a 20GB MSATA SSD. What is odd though, is that it is not an option when building your own nor does it appear in any other preconfigured variation. Also, the board is the same for computers with either screen so a 1600x900 screen should work in a computer that came with the lower resolution screen. However, just as in the DV6, the connector appears to be different and is about $40 from HP.

Mine should arrive in about a week and I will check to see if it has an MSATA slot. I might also take it apart to get a model number for the display if I have the time.

 

My model is DM4-3090se

Other than the weird muting issue, the sound quality is VERY impressive for a laptop. Best that I have heard and more than adequate for a small room.

One other note on the drive issue, my system is showing three drives/partitions one is the main volume, the second is a 4GB partition called recovery, the 3rd is a 2GB partition labeled tools.

I guess if the ssd and main drive were hooked together in a RAID configuration they would not show as separate volumes. If that's true I wonder where physically the SSD is. I could not see it just by taking off the plate where the hard disk was, but that's also as far as i went.

 

It could be that the drive is configured as a caching drive much like Intel 311series SSD, with SRT, are meant to be used; this only shows up as one drive letter. This also gets me to wondering if it is an Intel drive in there; if it is, they have it at a great price on Parts Surfer. I am not sure where the MSATA slot would be on this computer. Mine just shipped today so should be arriving mid week, at which time I will run into (or not) said slot and will let you know.

 

Just sprung for one of these for the Mrs. yesterday with the $200 off coupon. Just a little heavier than the 'premium' Envy 14 Spectre but a lot more horsepower. Pretty good deal. $1004 for:

HP Pavilion dm4t Entertainment PC

• dark umber
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 2nd generation Intel(R) Dual Core(TM) i5-2520M (2.5GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.2 GHz
• 1GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7470M GDDR5 Discrete Graphics(TM) [HDMI, VGA]
• FREE UPGRADE to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 160GB (Solid State Drive Flash Module)
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
• No additional security software
• High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery(standard)
• 14.0-inch diagonal HD+ Anti-glare LED-backlit Display (1600 x 900)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• 720p HD video streaming webcam supports Skype + FingerPrint Reader
• Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)
• Backlit Keyboard

 

Received mine on Tuesday 2/7...earlier than the expected ship date (Wednesday 2/8). The screen is really awesome. It is a little dimmer than other laptops I have had but a lot easier on the eyes as far as glare. The colors look better to me than the desktop monitors used at school and on the HP Mini I have been using.

Opened up the underside and it looks like it does have an mSATA slot right next to the wireless card. Also, looking on the HP website it seems that this is now an option on both DM4T and DM4T Beats edition, albeit now it is a 32GB mSATA so obviously not an Intel 311.

This laptop feels really nice; the hinges move super smoothly and they require just the right amount of pressure. There is some plastic (I think) between the bottom and the palmrest/keyboard as well as the screen bezel; neither detracts from the look and feel of the computer though.

 

Can someone PLEASE give me a review of the 1600 x 900 screen.

How are the blacks? Rich?
How is the contrast?
Gamut?
Is the brightness good? How many nits?
Do the colors pop even though it's matte?
Is it Radiance quality?

Please, I would REALLY appreciate it, since there are LITERALLY no reviews of it.

 

I posted some pictures of the screen here:

HP Pavilion dm4t 2012 First Look

There's a video embedded as well which might help to demo the screen.

 

Nice....exactly what I was looking for!!!

 

Great review btw.

 

Does anyone have any feedback with regard to the fan noise (during general use -- i.e. combination of office programs, pdfs, and internet) on a model equipped with the 1600x900 screen and dedicated graphics as opposed to one with only integrated graphics?

 

I don't have a way to compare the integrated / dedicated fan noise. However, after some usage the fan noise with the integrated is proving to be an issue so that doesn't bode well for the dedicated graphics version.

 

I haven't had any issues with fan noise using integrated graphics and 1600x900.

 

Yes, it is a great review, and Andrew doesn't even consider it a "real" review (which he promises in the near future) just a "first look," yet it:

1) is the only review anyone has done, several weeks after this rather significant new offering has been for sale (how long have we been wishing HP would put a decent screen and a backlit keyboard on a 14" or 15" well-priced notebook?!!)

2) covers nearly all the things we enthusiasts really want to know the minute a new model with intriguing specs is announced - something the "professionals" at endgadget, Laptopmag, PCmag, even Notebookcheck don't bother to do unless they are doing a "full review," which lately they only do for about 25% of the new laptops coming out.

In short, Laptopreview rocks and you guys are really putting everyone else to shame - and you aren't even getting paid!

Oh, did have one actual question:

In the review you say that the DM4t's 900p screen good, but is not very bright compared to the DV6t's (the 1080p, matte I assume). I can't find any test specs on that screen either, even though it's been out for months now. Since you have seen them all, might you kind of slot those two HP Pavilion screens among these "standard bearers":

1) 2012 Envy 15 1080p IPS
2) Thinkpad X220 768p IPS
3) Sony Z 900p TN
4) HP Envy 14 2010 "Radiance" 900p TN
5) Macbook Air 900p TN
6) Dell XPS 15 B+RGLED 1080p TN

If the DM4t's 900p screen can even play in these leagues, we may be looking at a very attractive alternative to an Ultrabook at very substantial savings.

Thanks - and keep up the great work!

 

^Yo. Check out this youtube video for the Beats hp dm4t with the 900p screen.

IMHO, from the looks from the video, it looks like a REALLY nice screen. I was first uncertain about the matte, but from the looks from it, I actually want it.

HP DM4 Beats Edition Preview and Interview - YouTube

 

If they make it available with a 7690 GPU it would be perfect.

 

And thank you for the positive feedback!

Zaz is actually in possession of the HP dm4t now and will have a comparison to the X220 with IPS. I wouldn't rate the dm4t/dv6t in that league of screens, the viewing angles were ok but nothing incredible and the brightness could have been better on the dm4t. The color gamut also was not on scale with the elite screens.

 

Thanks Andrew. I guess it was too much to expect to have an $800 computer to compete with a $1,200 computer by the same company. It is interesting to note that HP has so improved the build quality and materials used in the Pavilion line that, since they all use the same electronics anyway, the display's dynamics is about the only thing left that distinguishes it from the Envy line. Still, that DM4 seems to have found a sweet spot for an entirely appealing and powerful laptop in a reasonably compact package. Kind of a "poor man's"/working person's alternative to an ultrabook (I say "working person's" because it's a whopping 1.5 lbs heavier - heaven forbid having to carry a 4.4 lb laptop in your bag, lol!)

Again, great job. What can we fans do to help laptopreviews.com get the recognition it deserves?

 

I'll add my .02 on this. My son just got the dm4 beats se. I would describe the screen as mediocre at best. The strongest feature is the 1600*900 resolution.

However it has horrible contrast (range is almost medium grey at the dark end and cloudy white at the high end) and middling viewing angles. I would not do any video or graphics on that.

Oh and the only time we have heard the fan kick in seriously was running handbrake.

My son is pleased with it but his primary use is coding and then general purpose office app and web browsing

 

That's a bummer. I suppose the long search continues.

Thanks.

 

Anyone else want to comment on the 1600 x 900 screen?

 

Just got mine and am creating the restore media (boy does this take a while - 4 DVDs to back up 75% bloatware...)

Just curious: I ordered the 'regular' (non-beats) model, but my screen says 'beatsaudio' on it. Do all the dm4s say this or did they give me a 'beats' dm4 by mistake?

On a related note, I went to configure a similar machine to the one I ordered a few days ago with the 30% off Beats dm4 laptops (versus the $200 off coupon I used for mine). The only difference was that the beats version had 8 gigs of ram versus the 6 gigs in this machine, and even with the coupon, it came out to $1250-$1300 versus $1000 for this one.

That's some branding!

 

All dm4s have the Beats Branding now, you have to order the dm4t Beats Edition to get the full treatment with case design etc.

FYI, new dm4t 2012 review just posted with full analysis of 1600 x 900 screen:

HP Pavilion dm4t 2012 Review

 

Everyone, here is an indepth-review courtesy of Laptop Preview:

HP Pavilion dm4t 2012 Review

 

Excellent review Andrew....thanks.

Will definitely take another look at the dm4t at my local best buy. Regarding the fan noise is it on even when the notebook isn't doing anything? Like if I just booted into Windows and stayed at the main screen after logging on would I still hear it?

I'm guessing its clearly on when doing Microsoft Word or viewing a YouTube video for example.

Such a tempting device. Especially with that coupon they had last week.

 

dm4-3099se to be be specific.

Has the beats branding and logo and red backlit keyboard. Main difference between that and the 3090 se most other places is no cache drive, but $100 cheaper than what the 3090 is being sold for locally.

If i was wanting to put in an SSD anyway, I might go this way...

BTW: at least in the one on display at the store, the screen looked improved over my son's 3090. Better contrast

 

Just customer ordered one of these for my wife to use as her work laptop.
Found a coupon for 30% off so we were able to upgrade a bit; to the i7 2.8ghz processor, 8gb ram, AMD graphics, backlit keyboard and the mSATA SSD plus the 7200 RPM drive (only thing I don't like about it is that the largest SSD available was only 32GB to pair with the 500GB standard HDD).
after discount it came out to just over $1200.
If anyone already has one and has any details on the type, speed and setup of the mSATA SSD please post as I am looking at having a new module on hand of higher capacity to install at time of orig setup of this machine (looking at either MyDigital 128GB or the OCZ 128GB models only because I can't find a way to get my hands on one of the Samsung PM 800 series).

 

First time posting on this forum. I also ordered with the i7, backlit keyboard, 1600x900, ati radeon 7470, 6gb (replaced it Geil 16gb from Newegg) and the mSSD 32gb+500gb 7.2k rpm drive two weeks ago with promo code that save me around $400.
I am a programmer and use the machine for developing database applications for Windows and Macs (vmware).
It boots/shutdown very fast due to the InsideH20 bios but I am wondering if some part of the OS resides in the mSSD drive. I checked Windows Explorer, Partition Manager programs but it does not show the 32gb mSSD drive. I read somewhere that HP places the OS in the mSSD drive so that it boots faster but I can see that Windows OS was installed in drive C that is the 500mb hard drive.
I open up the bottom cover and it has the mSSD card inside, beside the wifi lan card.
I already called HP TechSupport but did not give me any satisfying answers, they just tell me that's in there to speed things up.
Regarding the 1600x900 screen, at first the text is not that sharp and viewing angle is a bit disappointing, i have to push the screen way back to get clearer view of the text.
But after using it more, I have been using it 3 days straight at 10-12 hours per day, the text get sharper and viewing angle is good.
I guess you have to break-in matte screens to improve the screen.

 

Those of you ordering with the i7 are you worried that the fans will go crazy the moment it starts being used?

Nice configurations though overall. Its between this and the Envy 14 Spectre for my mom.

 

I have also considered the Spectre but max-configuration and cost wise, I went with the dm4T. I was able to add 16gb memory which makes dm4T run snappy in vmware. The ATI Radeon on the dm4T is also a bit powerful than on the Sceptre, and dm4T still comes cheaper. Also I did not like the button-less touchpad of the Spectre having experienced it on a HP Envy 15 3000 that I returned.
Beats audio in dm4T sounds very good for a notebook and once you use a wired/bluetooth headset with it, its very good sounding indeed.

 

All great points of course. The price consideration is definitely weighing heavily on my mind. Plus parents can be a little carefree when it comes to technology so I'd rather not get a phone call in a few months about the Envy Spectre dropping and shattering in a thousand pieces 2 months later...

 

dmdBantay,
Thanks for the post this actually tells me a lot about the setup. (I am a hardware guy not a programmer )
Since it shows as a single drive rather than two it means it is setup as a caching drive rather than a separate drive (anyone know if this machine uses the x68 chipset by any chance?)
So if I were to replace the mSSD with a larger one I would need to not only reinstall OS but also completely change BIOS setup and prob driver config as well.

 

Thank kcal63 for responding. Yes I think it is also uses it as cache memory but how does it use it?
I am also a hardware guy that have assembled/fix a number of desktops/notebooks
but a newbie on mSSD. Although I have not actually installed a SSD drive, from what I have researched
its very similar to a harddrive, once installed you can see it, make partitions and install OS in it.
But in my dm4T, I have used Windows Explorer, Device Manager, partitioning tools but the notebook
can not see the mSSD 32gb. I also checked the BIOS setup and there is nothing about the mSSD.

But the dm4T boots/shutdown very fast even much faster than a macbook. But I think its speedy because of the
InsideH20 bios which I first encountered with a 2011 Sony Vaio S notebook. The Vaio has InsideH20 but no
mSSD/flash drive caching but it boots/shutdown very fast too like the dm4T.

The dm4T has the Intel HM67 chipset and I guess this chipset or newer chipsets uses mSSD/flash drive as
a caching drive if the notebook has one installed. If so, is it then just system accessible and not user/software accessible
that's why I can't access it?
I checked Windows 7 virtual memory setting and it uses 16gb (same as installed 16gb DDR3 memory)
of storage in the C: drive (500mb). So how does Windows 7 utilizes this cache drive?

As for the back-lit keyboard, it is nice but sub-par as compared with the back-lit keyboards of Dell Studio, Sony Vaio S, HP Envy 15 2012 and Logitech illuminated keyboard.
It is not as bright, same lighting throughout all keys and adjustable like the Dell Studio but good enough at night/early morning typing on a dark bedroom.

 

I did further researching on how the notebook uses the 32gb mSSD drive and come across "Intel Rapid Storage Technology". This answered my question.
The dm4T motherboard/chipset supports this feature and there is a program folder called "Intel" where you can see the utilization of the mSSD drive and you can even turn it on/off so that the mSSD can be used as a regular drive instead of a cache drive and can be seen now in Windows Explorer.
Its seems to be a simple and straightforward technology and from what I have read, there is no need to reinstall/make adjustments to the OS when you upgrade the mSSD.
I was thinking if I could save a little if I just bought the standard drive (640gb, 5krpm) and bought the mSSD and 7k hard drive from Newegg but at today's prices at Newegg, it comes a tad expensive if I do that. So its good choice then that I selected this option.
My next question then since its easy to upgrade the mSSD, is there any benefit of using a bigger mSSD?

 

Well, bigger SSD's are more expensive/.//

 

In case anyone is interested in upgrading the screen to 1600x900, you will need screen AUO B140RW02 v.2 and cable HP 670397-001. The maintenace and service guide is floating around online if you need it.

Also, the backlit keyboard part number is 671180-001.

 

DmdBantay thanks for posting info. The RST system works like a suped up prefetch for the HDD caching frequently/recently accessed data/program code on the SSD. The value in using a larger SSD is both to cache more or to turn off caching and install OS and important programs directly on SSD to speed things up even further. 32gb is actually enough for a win7 install if you want to turn off caching and go that route but for my setup, as a home office machine I need to install quite a bit more so I want a min of 64gb SSD. BTW, right now the top of the line mSSD's are Samsung but they are only avail in machines (such as the 9 series) not directly. Runcore is good but pricey, OCZ is very good price to performance and MyDigital is the low-cost option. One final note if you do upgrade SSD remember no defragging, make sure TRIM support is setup and never fill past 70% capacity.

 

I Want use this machine with Linux (i am buying from Amazon: DM4-3090se) someone has tried this?
you can see the mSSD as a disk, like C:\ and D:\

someone please confirm me, I'm from Argentina and I want to bring me this laptop on my trip to USA, if it works the mSSD as disk would not have to buy an SSD to replace HDD. I do not want to use my mSATA as cache only. 20GB is a lot to install my Linux system and applications

Grettings
insulae