Review: HP Pavilion DM1 with Netbook HDMI
The HP Pavilion DM1 netbook is a powerhouse netbook, which has a dual-core CPU, discrete graphics, and up to 4GB of RAM, all able to pushing up to 1080p video over the HDMI port on the left-hand side. Even better, HP claims as much as 9.5 hrs of battery life, even though that needless to say is dependent upon what you are making use of it for. Web surfing and e-mail will get you closer to that 9.5h, while playing games and streaming video on High-Performance mode will likely bring you down closer to 2 or 3, max.
The trade-off is the fact that this is really a slightly bigger form-factor netbook computer, at 11.6 in., as opposed to the standard 10. The DM1 is a little heavier also, coming in at just under 3.5 lbs. But it is nevertheless a really svelte device with the performance it provides, and you'll have a hard time getting a similarly performant model in a more compact form-factor.
Hardware Details
Keyboard and Touchpad
The netbook keyboard is basically excellent for a netbook, responsive and full-featured. The keys really are a bit near each other, but honestly, this really is tough to avoid, given the form-factor. Maybe the greatest issue with the keyboard is HP's insistence on using the split Up/Down arrow for the arrow keys, which can be extremely uncomfortable if you have many years of muscle memory telling you that the Up key is a full keystroke higher than the Down key. The trade-off is you get a full-size Shift key, which may be more important to you, depending on your keyboard skills.
The touchpad is another matter. The control is a touch uncomfortable, plus in a couple of scenarios it can feel as if you're "skidding" when moving quickly, and the touchpad is smooth, not textured. I favor a textured touchpad - it provides a much better guide for how fast you're moving your fingers - but I completely acknowledge that it is a personal desire. This probably is not a deal-breaker for everyone, obviously.
Screen
The screen is stunning. You get a large, vibrant 1366x768-resolution display, which can be one more point you will not discover in ten-inch netbooks. HD videos appear sharp and crystal clear, and text is sharp and well-defined. The backlight is well-installed too, hardly any side leakage and there's no tell-tale "bright spots" or "dark spots" that indicate a poorly-installed backlight. If you have to take this baby on the road, apart from your HDMI-connected beast of an LED display, you will not be disappointed while you're apart.
Ports and Connectors
Around the left side, you'll find the power cord port, the security connector, the Gigabit Ethernet connector, the HDMI port, and a USB port. On the right edge, you'll find a VGA port (at times a rarity in netbooks that have a superior HDMI connection), two USB connections, the speaker port, and a card reader.
Included as well is a multi-format card reader, if you're the kind of person who still prefers to remove their camera memory cards instead of employing a USB cable. That said, with three USB slots, who needs a card reader?
OS and Software
Dependent on which design you get, your system will include either Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit or Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. Either will be a lot more than fine for the duties at hand, obviously. The fact that they give you the 64-bit version of Windows 7 and not the 32-bit version means you'll have the option to make use of the full 4GB of memory that this netbook can handle, that will make a huge difference if you buy the maxed-out model of this netbook or choose to update down the road.
There's a range of demos for video games, safety, and office software (a Norton Antivirus demo and a Microsoft Office demo stick out), but no totally free applications of note in any other case included.
The trade-off is the fact that this is really a slightly bigger form-factor netbook computer, at 11.6 in., as opposed to the standard 10. The DM1 is a little heavier also, coming in at just under 3.5 lbs. But it is nevertheless a really svelte device with the performance it provides, and you'll have a hard time getting a similarly performant model in a more compact form-factor.
Hardware Details
- AMD Dual-Core E-350 1.3 GHz processor
- 3GB DDR3 SDRAM
- 320 GB 7200RPM hard drive
- ATI Radeon HD 6310M graphics card
- 8.43" x 11.42" x 1.2"
- 6.18 pounds
Keyboard and Touchpad
The netbook keyboard is basically excellent for a netbook, responsive and full-featured. The keys really are a bit near each other, but honestly, this really is tough to avoid, given the form-factor. Maybe the greatest issue with the keyboard is HP's insistence on using the split Up/Down arrow for the arrow keys, which can be extremely uncomfortable if you have many years of muscle memory telling you that the Up key is a full keystroke higher than the Down key. The trade-off is you get a full-size Shift key, which may be more important to you, depending on your keyboard skills.
The touchpad is another matter. The control is a touch uncomfortable, plus in a couple of scenarios it can feel as if you're "skidding" when moving quickly, and the touchpad is smooth, not textured. I favor a textured touchpad - it provides a much better guide for how fast you're moving your fingers - but I completely acknowledge that it is a personal desire. This probably is not a deal-breaker for everyone, obviously.
Screen
The screen is stunning. You get a large, vibrant 1366x768-resolution display, which can be one more point you will not discover in ten-inch netbooks. HD videos appear sharp and crystal clear, and text is sharp and well-defined. The backlight is well-installed too, hardly any side leakage and there's no tell-tale "bright spots" or "dark spots" that indicate a poorly-installed backlight. If you have to take this baby on the road, apart from your HDMI-connected beast of an LED display, you will not be disappointed while you're apart.
Ports and Connectors
Around the left side, you'll find the power cord port, the security connector, the Gigabit Ethernet connector, the HDMI port, and a USB port. On the right edge, you'll find a VGA port (at times a rarity in netbooks that have a superior HDMI connection), two USB connections, the speaker port, and a card reader.
Included as well is a multi-format card reader, if you're the kind of person who still prefers to remove their camera memory cards instead of employing a USB cable. That said, with three USB slots, who needs a card reader?
OS and Software
Dependent on which design you get, your system will include either Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit or Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. Either will be a lot more than fine for the duties at hand, obviously. The fact that they give you the 64-bit version of Windows 7 and not the 32-bit version means you'll have the option to make use of the full 4GB of memory that this netbook can handle, that will make a huge difference if you buy the maxed-out model of this netbook or choose to update down the road.
There's a range of demos for video games, safety, and office software (a Norton Antivirus demo and a Microsoft Office demo stick out), but no totally free applications of note in any other case included.
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