|
HP Pavilion DM3-1030US 13.3-Inch Silver Laptop - Up to 6 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) | 
| Brand: Hewlett-Packard
Category: Personal Computer
List Price: $699.99
Buy New: $580.00
as of 3/11/2010 19:55 CST details
You Save: $119.99 (17%)
New (7) Used (1) from $510.00
Seller: DENEZHKOLLC
Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 873
Media: Personal Computers
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
CPU Manufacturer: AMD
CPU Speed: 1.6
CPU Type: AMD Athlon
Processors: 1
System Memory: 4
Memory Type: SDRAM
Hard Drive Size: 320
Floppy Disk Drive: None
Modem: None
Display Size: 13.3
Battery: 1 Lithium-Ion
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.2
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: 2531394
Model: VM073UA#ABA
UPC: 884962548752
EAN: 0884962548752
ASIN: B002ONCCGQ
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo X2 Dual-Core Processor for Ultrathin Notebooks (512 MB L2 Cache) | | • | 4 GB DDR2 RAM (2 Dimm) | | • | 320GB (7200RPM) SATA Hard Drive | | • | 13.3 Diagonal High-Definition HP LED BrightView Widescreen Display | | • | Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, *Up to 6 Hours of Battery Life | | • | ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics with 128MB Display Cache Memory AMD M780G with 64MB GDDR2 with up to 1.9 GB | | • | Total graphics memory |
|
| Accessories:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The mobility you want, at a price you can afford. The thin, lightweight HP Pavilion dm3 notebook PC is packed with power inside a bold aluminum chassis.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 28
 A fantastic, highly mobile laptop! February 28, 2010
G. T. Craig (Louisville, KY)
The first thing that you notice about the DM3 is the look, and feel. I've always been pleased with HP laptops (also have a DV7 and D9000), but HP has really outdone themselves with this one!
The brushed aluminum skin makes this laptop appear much more expensive than it is, plus it masks fingerprint and smudges perfectly! (Although the shiny trackpad is a fingerprint magnet.)
And the feel: this is a featherweight computer! (Bear in mind I'm comparing to my monster 17" DV7 though!) It is very thin, and at only 4.4 lbs, should be easily totable for most anyone!
Open the lid (nice smooth hinge feel), and you're greeted by a Macbook-like chicklet keyboard and more brushed aluminum. I really, really like the keyboard, and maybe even a bit more than my DV7s keyboard, which is itself a dream to type on. The individual chicklet style keys seem to reduce "fat-fingering" typing mistakes, and they're crisp and responsive. The only minor con I can think of here is they're a little loud if you are a hard typist (like myself). But on the plus side, they don't feel wimpy, and those of us who bang away on the keyboard need not worry.
The LED backlit screen is razor-sharp, and just seems easier-on-the-eyes than a fluorescent backlit LCD (though this could be a "placebo effect").
Boot time is very, very respectable, considering the AMD Neo is only running at 1.6GHz (dual core, though). The 4GB RAM and 320GB hard drive are pretty standard on mid to high-level notebooks these days, and perform as expected (which is to say nicely!).
I'm not a big gamer, so haven't attempted games on this, but I'd venture to guess if you're looking strictly for a high-octane gaming laptop, this probably isn't it. That being said, the ATI Radeon 3200 easily handles the photo-processing tasks I've thrown at it.
I could go on and on, but let me try to sum it all up via pros and cons:
PROS:
Lightweight
Nice look and feel, people will think you paid much more than you did
Highly capable for most computing tasks, possibly minus intensive games
Responsive keyboard
Outstanding value, you get a nice computer for not a lot of money
Really decent battery life: 4.5 to 5 hours average capacity in my experience
Enough screen real estate to not feel cramped, yet small enough to keep laptop highly portable
Integrated bluetooth: the ability to pair with a bluetooth mouse without sacrificing a USB port is great; haven't paired the bluetooth with headphones yet, though I wouldn't expect any issues
CONS (I had to be kind of nit-picky to even come up with cons, but here they are):
Power button could be easier to engage, you have to use a fingernail to slide it on; a push-button would have seemed more logical
Speakers are adequate, but don't plan on filling your room with music using them
Trackpad attracts prints, but I paired this with an HP bluetooth laser mouse, so I rarely use the pad
No optical drive. This keeps things thin and light, and is easily (and cheaply) solved with a USB slim external optical drive, for those times you need to load something off disc
WISH LIST:
A backlit keyboard would have made this nearly a perfect laptop, although I guess battery life would have suffered.
Summary: The DM3 is a fantastic marriage of portability and computing capability. You'll feel like you're using a larger laptop due to the nice screen appearance and pleasant keyboard, yet certainly would be right at home at your local Starbucks with this gem on your table or lap, looking hip and trendy!
I'm actually thinking of buying a second DM3 to replace the wife's aging desktop. (Bear in mind, I wouldn't really label this a "desktop replacement", but for what she uses a desktop for, it is.)
Get one of these, you won't be sorry!
 Obsolete out of the box? February 20, 2010
Franco Guerri (Montana)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you want to email and surf the web, save money and buy a cheaper machine.
If you want a computer that is obsolete today, then buy a 1.6 Mh processor. To put this in perspective, My 3 year old Vaio is a 1.83. It was respectable when I bought it, and is still usable. My rule of thumb for best value is: buy in the 60-70 percentile of chip speed. This way your're not paying a premium to have the very best and fastest and newest chip, but you will have a usable computer longer. 1.6 is at the very bottom of the range today - even by the click-on guidelines on Amazon. for $600 you can buy - only as an example - an Acer [I have no affiliation with any store or company] with a very respectable chipset and all the other bells in the neighborhood of 2.2. Try to get a new model as it comes out as this will buy you 6 months of use. Life cycles are 2-4 years depending on type of use.
Also, I'm an Intel fan. I used to work in manufacturing equipment for making silicone chips. Intel was the most demanding as far as quality of all the "fabs". We had special process just for tham. They required each machine to be perfectly identical. This removed layers of variability in their process that involves as many as 100 processing steps. Variability is the demond in your computer that causes glitches (technical term. Stick with Intel.
A great "Tweener"! February 10, 2010
Kort Kramer (South Florida, USA)
This review is originally for the HP Pavilion dm3 1130us (AMD & ATI model) which is essentially the same but is a newer production run of this model.
The DM3z is a good compromise between the portability of a netbook and the functionality of a full sized laptop. Technically in the "Ultra-portable/Thin & Light" category, I would say it is a netbook on steroids. I was looking for a portable computing solution but didn't want a small keyboard or a hard-to-read/small screen. It had to have a small form factor, yet have a more powerful processor and graphics than traditional netbooks. I use it mainly for office work, web surfing, video streaming, music listening and light gaming.
Most of the specs are readily available on Amazon, but you can get a more in-depth overview by going to HP's site and looking up the dm3z line in their Ultra-Portable category. The 1130 is essentially a later production run of the 1030, which is still available on Amazon as of this writing.
Back to what I was looking for;
Basically, I wanted a MacBook but only had about five hundred bucks to spend. I'm a Mac user normally but could not see paying so much for a laptop. I searched high & low and weighed several other options. In this laptop segment and at this price point, it is all about compromise and what you want as an end user. In this end, the 1130us was the best fit for me. I was able to find it on sale for under five hundred on the OfficeMax site and then found a fifty dollar rebate. I used that saving to buy a http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002C1BBU8/ , and so far that is working perfectly too. I was a little leery about getting an HP since they don't have the best reliability reputation, but I would expect more problem reports from a company that sells so many computers. My mother-in-law has a 3 year old Pavilion that still runs like new.
What I like about it:
1. It's fast, faster than I expected. Initial set-up was a snap. The 1.6GHz AMD Athon Neo X2 dual-core processor and ATI Mobility Radeon HD3200 graphics see to that. Perhaps not the best combo for intense Photoshop sessions or cutting edge 3D gaming, but I have several apps and browser windows open at once with no system slowdowns. Online video from various sources streams just fine and I've played a number of games (including Star Wars Battlefront) with no issues. The AMD cpu and ATI gpu combo uses more wattage than the Intel option, but I think you would sacrifice computing power for battery life if you went the Pentium or Core Duo route.
1b. 7200 RPM 320GB Hard Drive. Did I say it was fast? And spacious.
2. The screen. It is glossy, but not as bad as some and it is nice and bright. 13.3" w/ a 1366x768 widescreen resolution means things are a bit smaller than on a standard desktop monitor, but everything is nice and crisp and the colors are good. It seems much bigger. HD content looks great on it and the viewing angle isn't bad. I had a stuck pixel, but it went away. The lid opens about 135 degrees back so you can easily work with it on your lap. It has a nice firm hinge so there are no worries of it falling one way or the other.
3. Wi-Fi draft N. I've only had fast and excellent connectivity so far. Having bluetooth is nice too, but I've yet to use it.
4. Windows 7, not a cobbled Started Edition. Coming from OSX, I have to say I'm growing more and more impressed with the latest Windows OS. It seems to have more intricacies than with OSX, but I'm getting used to it and have to say the user interface is top notch. Before this, I've used XP and am so glad that Microsoft has finally refined their product. Connect a device for the first time and either the drivers are already there or they download automatically. Nice. Lots of eye candy too.
5. Touch pad. Some reviewers pan it, but I find it works well for me after a slight learning curve. Sure, it is the only fingerprint magnet on an otherwise lovely case, but I like the feel of the shiny chrome finish and find the multi-finger gestures useful. The "mouse-buttons" could be a little easier to depress, but that is a small quibble, just tap the pad. It is also very customizable to your specific needs. The 1030us touch pad had some wake-from-sleep issues, but that was fixed in the latest BIOS. I also use a http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002OGMNT4 but have no problems adjusting to the touch pad if I leave mouse at the office.
6. 4 USB, 5-in1 card reader, 1 VGA, and 1 HDMI port. Connectivity ahoy!
7. Full sized keyboard. It took a little adjustment, but I like the quiet, island style keys. When in the proper position, I can type just as fast as with my desktop's keyboard. I measured it, and it is slightly LARGER than my G5's primary keyboard area!
8. The case. This is one sturdy feeling case with little or no flex that I can detect. You can hold it by a corner without fear. I love that it isn't a finger print magnet like so many others out there. The brushed aluminum finish is very attractive and gives it a high-end appearance.
9. It came with 4GB DDR2 ram, expandable to 8GB. With the 64bit OS, I could do this, but see no need to at the present time.
10. Cool. Even after all day use the air blowing out of the rear side exhaust vent is only slightly warm. The front wrist rests can get a little warm, but never uncomfortable (at least to me).
11. Quiet. If a completely silent room you can hear the faint breath of the fan, but otherwise it and the spinning hard drive are unnoticeable.
12. Well packaged. There are no disks included, but the manual and documentation are pretty clear.
13. Price. Find this on sale and you've got yourself one heck of a deal!
What's not so great about it:
1. It is about 13" wide and weights about nearly 5 pounds with the battery inserted. For me that's no big deal but if you plan to lug your laptop around a lot, you may want to look at something smaller and lighter. It is only one inch thick so it slides easily into most bags.
2. Speakers. You know going in that they won't be that great, but I still couldn't help being a little disappointed. However, I tweaked the sound settings and get decent output now, though not very loud. It does the job though. Use earphones. I connected it to my speakers with a subwoofer and Pandora radio sounds terrific!
3. Battery life. I get about 4 hours of constant general use life out of it. Another reviewer stated he was able to play the entire Fellowship of the Ring movie before it went into hibernation, but I have not tested that. The good news is that 4 hours is still decent, and the power cord isn't too cumbersome. If you need an all-day, cord-free laptop/netbook, look elsewhere.
4. Some bloatware. Being new to Windows I researched what to do when you first get a computer. One of the most common recommendations is to remove the manufacturer installed software. I got rid of the MS Office trial and Norton. I'll still playing around with the suite of HP software. I may keep some, but will probably ditch a good bit of it. However, some users may like the included software. Even with it, the 1130us is a speedy customer.
5. No optical drive, but I knew that and won't need one every day. The Samsung will also be useful for my other computers.
6. No OS restore disk. I know, there is no optical drive and there is a recovery partition, but it still would have been nice.
7. Possible fit and finish issues. I just noticed a very slight gap along the top right front edge where the wrist wrest meets the side paneling. Pressing down on it does reveal a little flex. Not enough to return it, but it is worth keeping an eye on and could be cause for concern. It is too early to tell. (see my product photos)
I have not used the Quickweb feature, but Windows 7 boots up (after some re-configuration) in less than a minute so I'm not sure I'd need it. I've also not yet used the HDMI out port or webcam. I plan to test both soon and have heard that the webcam is good in low light. I've only been using the 1130us for a little over a week so I can't speak to its long-term reliability, but so far so good. I'll post an update if I have anything new to add.
So, is the dm3 1130us the right model for you? If you are not a 3D gamer and want a nice looking, sturdy, portable laptop without most of the limitations of a netbook, then the answer could be "yes". Of course, technology is changing rapidly and in a few months the next latest and greatest will be out. But if you need something now, and want a lot of oomph at a great value, then the dm3 1130us could be your best bet. It exceeds my expectations at a price point other laptops couldn't match, so that is why I'm giving it 5 (4 1/2 actually) stars.
 Pleased with system at $450. February 2, 2010
D. Souhrada (Evanston, IL)
This system was on sale recently at Office Depot for $450 after rebate. The "newer" model--the dm3 1130 was on sale at Office Max the same week for $499 after rebate, but all indications led me to believe there was little or no difference, so I chose to save the $50 and buy the dm3 1030.
I stumbled upon this system while seriously considering buying a netbook for travel along with a modest desktop for home use. After finding this notebook, I chose this as a compromise between the two and use this notebook for home and away. I am pleased with the performance of this system. I have it connected to a Samsung SyncMaster 2233 and it displays beautifully at 1080p. I use an HP Elite Keyboard/Wireless Mouse system and it feels like I have a much more robust system than I paid for.
A top priority for me was weight. I will be carrying this unit around a lot and was looking to stay close to 4 lbs. This unit fits the bill, but still has a fair amount of power and decent RAM at 4GB. Of course, there's no optical cd/dvd drive, but I am planning on buying an external drive for home use.
I'm not crazy about the keyboard. The chicklet keys are a bit smooth and the trackpad is very touchy. I have been annoyed by accidentally hitting the trackpad on several occasions. It is easily disabled and I will likely start carrying around a travel mouse, which I'd rather not do. As others have written...the screen is REALLY glossy. In the store it didn't seem like a big deal, but it is distracting at times.
All-in-all I am pleased with this computer at the price I paid, but I would be disapppointed at $550 or $600. However, if you will need to use a cd often, and don't mind the additional weight and size of a 15.6" screen, I believe there are better values available. If you want this unit, call your local Office Depot and see if they have it in stock. Ask for item number 328626. The store I went to didn't have any on display but when I asked they were able to bring one out from the storeroom.
two HP laptops don't work; enough with HP! January 30, 2010
Lewis M. Weinstein (Key West, FL and Collioure, France)
I have returned this computer. The problem was a failure to properly click between sheets on Excel spreadsheets. The bigger problem was the failure of HP Support to solve the problem, despite several hours of effort on their part and mine. This is in the context of another HP computer failing after 13 months (1 month after warranty expiration) with a motherboard losing USB, sound and other connections, sometimes booting up and sometimes not. HP offered only to replace the motherboard at a cost of more than $400. So I returned the new HP (the one I'm reviewing here), put the old one (also purchased from Amazon) in the closet, and bought a Toshiba Satellite, which (so far) is outstanding. BTW, the extended warranty on the Toshiba (I've learned my lesson) is much less expensive than for an HP.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 28
|
|
|
|
Information about prices, products, services and merchants is provided by third parties and is for informational purposes only. Electronics-vault.com does not represent or warrant the accuracy or reliability of the information and will not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this information or any losses, injuries or damages arising from its display or use.
|
| |
