This is a beautiful machine. Check it out -4.2 lbs, 1" thick, Magnesium case, 7200 rpm HDD, spectacular HD display, 4 GB memory, 320 GB Hard Drive, Iconic keyboard Windows 7, 4 USB ports, HDMI port, great WiFi,etc. etc. All for under $600! It's astonishing. One begins to wonder what truck they steal these off of. Yes, my title is correct, "Macbook Killer." Look at the two machines side by side -they are pretty much the same thing. Yes, the Macbook Pro has a backlit keyboard, ok. But the DM3 has an HDMI port, which means I can attach it to my HDTV and play Neflix or Itunes movies, or youtube, etc. in High Definition. Sure, it has no optical drive, but folks, cd's and dvd's are becoming old technology, and being replaced by thumb/jump drives. Even software will be coming on these. Actually, the DM3 weighs almsot a pound less than a Macbook by eliminating the optical drive, and the advantages of using an external drive are many. Keyboards are almost identical, case is a toss up, display's are similar, windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard has its plusses and minuses going both ways. Yes, the Macbook is more powerful for high intensity graphics, but if you are using your computer as most people do, you will not notice the difference. But the knockout comes at checkout: It is less than 1/2 the price of a similarly configured 13" Macbook Pro!
It is so far superior to any netbook that there is no comparison there. Yes, it's not perfect. It does re-charge slowly, and the trackpad takes some getting used to. But it has so many fantastic features, when you factor in the price, it is the best value out there in ultraportable computing.
I have been using portable computers since the mid-eighties when they were 25 pounds with tiny monochrome screens floppy drives and cost $3000. Now for under $600, they are 1/6th the weight, yet 100 times as fast with 3000 times the storage and much more functionality. Think about how amazing this is! You will love this little machine.
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This laptop is a winner! I'd rather have a fully functioning laptop than a Netbook that can't keep up. I've had it for a week and don't regret buying it.
Pros:
HDMI works well for watching Hulu on my HDTV.
Brushed metal case means fingerprints aren't a problem.
Quiet fan and hard-drive.
Wi-Fi is easy to set up (Windows 7 is rock solid).
Light-weight and easy to carry or stick into a travel bag.
13.3 screen size is a happy medium between a Netbook and a Laptop.
Keyboard is easy to use.
4 Gig of RAM is snappy.
13.3 screen size is a happy medium between a Netbook and a Laptop.
Cons:
Battery slowly drains if not plugged in.
Mouse pad wants to start Sticky Keys at times. Fixed by disabling Sticky Keys. Occasionally the mouse pad is briefly unresponsive.
Notes:
Although the battery lost 10% of its charge in 30 minutes while surfing the Web in normal mode, it recharged to 100% very quickly.
A CD drive would sap energy, which is why it's not included (you can buy an external one if you need it).
Overall, this is a great buy for the price. I really enjoy using it.
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I've only had this machine for a couple days but it's very nice so far.
Pros: sleek, widows 7, plenty powerful, lots of ram and drive space, battery life, graphics card is decent, weight
Cons: power plug sticks out pretty far when plugged in, but not a big deal. Updated the track pad driver after one freeze and it hasn't locked up again since. No gigabit lan. Memory card reader won't read MS Duo without an adapter, not a deal breaker. Small up/down arrows, again not a killer, I'm already used to it. Track pad is a little sticky.
The biggest problem I've had so far isn't a ding against this computer, it's a windows 7 issue. Games for Windows Live wouldn't update, couldn't uninstall, couldn't reinstall. Finally got it working, but don't ask me to repeat the process.
I saw a guy on the interwebs frantically searching about how to change the DM3 Function Keys back to the standard F1, F2, F3 etc. It's in the bios. Hit Esc during startup, then F10 to enter the bios, configure from there, it's on the third tab or thereabouts. I may keep them as the media keys, don't know yet.
Games: Runs Halo 1 very well, runs Team Fortress 2 pretty decently, Dawn of War II is playable with everything turned way down. So that's a pass for the graphics and processor as far as I'm concerned.
My favorite thing about windows 7: You can select a group of files, right click and change their meta data! So awesome! Updating mp3 tags is a breeze!
I didn't want a desktop replacement, I wanted a laptop replacement and this fits the bill. I'm coming from an old Sony PCG-SRX99 so I'm used to not having an optical drive. Windows 7 lets you mount one on the network anyway.
Very good overall. I'll update if anything changes.
EDIT 11/29/2009
The touchpad is still unresponsive after coming out of sleep. It's turning into a major issue. Hopefully a firmware update comes out.
EDIT 12/14/2009
Now I have a bad pixel, right in the middle of the screen. Always on green. I've knocked down the rating to 3 stars, and thinking about sending it back.
Honest reviews on HP Pavilion DM3-1030US 13.3-Inch Silver Laptop - Up to 6 Hours of
What comes in the box?
User manual
AC Adapter
6 cell rechargeable battery
Notebook
Construction
The notebook is compact and light which makes this highly portable for traveling. This is a compact device that fits nicely on my lap or an airplane tray table. The screen is a glossy 13.3" Widescreen and reflects glare in areas of bright light. There is no wrist pad flex but quite a bit of screen flex. The lid is a brushed Magnesium alloy that easy to wipe clean. The integrated camera is positioned above the screen.
The keyboard layout is well positioned and intuitive. No dedicated keys are present, except for the power switch and WiFi Radio button. Function key allows control of volume, brightness, sleep, lock, fast forward, reverse and play. The function key allows you to use the keys as a numeric keypad.
The touchpad is metallic in color and uses gestures to scroll, zoom and rotate. The mouse buttons take a touch too much pressure to depress and there is no integrated mouse stick, like you see on IBMs or other business machines.
Indicator lights in the front right edge are present for charging status and when the hard drive is being accessed.
This laptop is very quiet and I barely hear the fan. The bottom of the notebook (right where the Windows License sticker is located) is warm but not hot/uncomfortable.
In addition to WiFi, this has Bluetooth capability.
The left side of this notebook has the power Jack, network port, HDMI, 2 USB ports, headphone and microphone jacks. A card reader accepts SD, Memory stick pro, Multimedia cards and XD Cards. The right side of the notebook has lighted power buttons for the WiFi radio and Power for the notebook. 2 additional USB ports and a port for a laptop lock are also present.
This laptop is supplied with Windows 7. There is an MS Office 60 Day Trial and a trial of Norton Internet Security.
Operation
Use of this notebook, given the size and very good battery life make this a practical company for someone always on the go. The keyboard is comfortable and the features make this a great multimedia machine for traveler.
Screen quality is good but a touch too dim for my personal preference. The maximum screen resolution us 1366x768.
Sound quality is average but not powerful. Speakers are in the front edge of the notebook made by Altec Lansing. Dynamic range is limited and has high and midrange frequencies with a weak base.
Battery life in real time applications (WiFi, Bluetooth off, screen brightness on high, and running the Internet is about 4.5 to 5 hours. Only with Bluetooth and WiFi off, and screen brightness to 75%, Power Saver mode, can you approach the 6 hour mark. High Performance mode cuts battery life by about 20%.
Pros
Cost
Quiet
Lightweight
HDMI
Card reader
4 USB ports
Bluetooth
Fit, Finish and construction
Cons
No optical drive
Weak speakers
Slightly dim display
Conclusion
Given the size, cost and capabilities, this notebook rivals the larger laptops for its more than capable processing power and rivals netbooks for the size and price point. This laptop is worthy of consideration!
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I bought this item to replace a three year old 14 inch eMachines laptop that I spilled coffee on (yeah yeah I know). I looked at netbooks for a while because I liked the portability and lower price but realized that for $100-$150 more I could get this nice 13 inch laptop which fell right where I was looking to be. Netbooks are restricted with processor speed, ram, size (if you're looking for something slightly larger) and functionality (you can only get it with Windows Starter Edition).
So when compared to a typical laptop, is this a great machine? Well that depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for a small laptop with very reasonable performance all around that won't break the bank, then yes this is a great machine. On sale this unit can be found for around $500-$550 right now (if you are patient and keep an eye on prices) making it a steal in my book. I won't go into all the details since the other reviews pretty much addresses them all but here are a few others and thoughts:
Yes the track-pad is awful. It is fairly slow even with the settings set as fast as they can go. The clicking of the mouse button requires a "click" which I personally like over ones that seem to click every time I brush up against it but once again this may frustrate some people. I use a mouse 90% of the time so the track-pad hasn't been a deterring factor (although it does leave crazy amounts of fingerprints).
The keyboard is great if you ask me but if you use many shortcuts like some people tend to do, you'll find having to use the function key a bit of a hassle. I've read in another review that for example the F keys can be programmed in the bios to be just that without the use of the function key, so that may be an option worth changing for some. I am a bit surprised though that the keyboard does tend to imprint fingerprints too, but once again not a deal-breaker.
The fan is not very loud (at least not mine although I read a couple people complain about it) but I found the bottom of the computer does tend to get a bit hot and sometimes the top where you rest on the keyboard. This isn't unlike many computers and this thing is very slim yet fairly powerful so I suppose it's to be expected. If you're the type that feels any heat is bad, then you may want to look elsewhere.
The lack of a CD drive is worth noting. Through the use of things like Nero to burn images of programs you only have on CD, Daemon Tools to read them, and Bit Torrent to get programs in digital form this is fairly easy to deal with but if you have limited knowledge of computers you may find that just installing your old version of MS Office that is on CD will be a challenge. On a netbook the lack of a CD drive wouldn't even be worth mentioning but because this unit falls under the laptop category in every way then it's worth noting as a negative.
Lastly, the battery life while I haven't extensively tested seems to be a bit poorer than I thought it would be. I however don't give it much of a chance since I always have the brightness as high as it goes, wireless on, etc etc. Using the item in lo-fi to gain some extra battery life isn't worth it to me but should I be without the accessibility of an outlet it's good to know that I can get by when changing the settings.
So if you can get over these setbacks (like I have) and can get this laptop for the $500-$550 range, then I highly recommend it. If paying more, then the ASUS UL30A should seriously be considered. It's got very similar specs except double the battery life plus some of the cons of this laptop such as the track-pad and such seems to not be present with the ASUS. Choosing between the two basically boiled down to price for me and I've been very happy so far. As far as choosing between a small laptop like this or a netbook, all I can say is that current netbooks don't have the processor speed, included and expandable ram, and video playback capabilities that this laptop has. I can run multiple programs, including my accounting software, along with antivirus software, all at once without it skipping a beat.
