The
dm3 series of laptops might be HP's biggest potential seller. Hitting that 13-inch sweet spot, they are neither too small, nor too big, neither underpowered, nor overly encumbered, and -- unlike the
Envy 13 -- they're actually priced within reach.
Laptop Magazine had a $839 configuration in for review, and were immediately impressed with the ultrathin aluminum-clad body, describing it as "one of the best looking notebooks of the year." Opening it up, they found a "thoughtfully designed" keyboard, above-average display and speakers, and a stonking 9 hours of battery life under a WiFi-enabled web browsing test. Their gripes related to a heat issue on the bottom left side and, more significantly, an overly glossy touchpad that refused to play nice and left the reviewers feeling like they were fighting, rather than using, it. Read link shall enlighten you on the full spec and relative performance of the
ULV processor inside.
posted October 26th 2009 4:13AM
it looks like a pavilion. they use the same touchpad. i can say that they are very wrong, its the smoothest feeling touchpad ive ever used.
you should try apple multitouch trackpad, far better than this hp one, tried on my fren hp machine, it's really hard to use!
+1 on that. I have used quite a few of these HP touchpads and they are by and large the worst pieces of shit ever to grace the case of a notebook. You finger refuses to move along the surface unless you are some nasty bastard who never showers and has very oily skin.
Absolutely agree. There's an HDX on display at my work with a touchpad that is damn near impossible to use, especially with a 16 inch screen. And I thought my dv2000 was bad. Does HP even test this shit?
I have to agree with the previous two posters. My parents have an hp dv4 and it has by far the worst touchpad I've ever seen. It's got the same tiny, glossy one as this dm3 if I'm not mistaken, and it is absolutely awful to use. When your finger isn't getting stuck to the surface, the thing is unresponsive and far too small.
I don't really understand why the first guy to reply was downvoted either. Say what you want about the multitouch trackpad's single button or it's functionality in Windows (which is pretty terrible), but in OS X it's easily the best trackpad available on a notebook. Plenty of others are still good, but none can compare to the size or smoothness.
A bit of fine sandpaper clears a sticky/glossy touchpad right up.
He was down voted because he is a mac user commenting on engadget review.
Another underpowered ULV laptop with a crap touchpad. Oh joy.
I think it's worth the 9 hour battery life to use the underclocked proc at least 99% of the time
idk i don't think i would ever not purchase a laptop cause of the pad, I mostly always (like 90%) of the time use a mouse, mice are still a superior method, so idk if that would stop me from a purchase like this(not that i'm interested in this or w/e)
my thoughts exactly... meh.
I tried the DM3 at bestbuy yesterday, the trackpad was great.
Nipple anyone? Even the worst nipple is vastly better than the best touchpad.
Nope. Nipples don't do two-finger scrolling.
Is it wrong to feel dirty saying that?
They could just put two of them, then.
"Twist left nipple to zoom in."
Sure, but scrolling is achieved simply by moving the nipple with the index finger while the center button is depressed with your thumb. You can scroll in any direction using this method. At least, that how it works on Thinkpads.
For me, the nipple scroll is still quicker than two-finger scrolling. Your hands remain on the keyboard, too, so switching between scrolling/typing is instant.
However, I do agree that for really tiny hands, the nipple is a disaster, unless you're using a midget-book like the Fujitsu U820/P1630...
Flick the nipple to enlarge.
Nipples are only good for sucking. ;)
The battery life is a huge plus, they figured out how to prolong the battery life but still no solution to the heat generated from the laptop? btw love the cover of the laptop. 6 1/2 THUMBS UP
So it seems that EVERY review of any new HP computer mentions how terrible the touchpad is. How is it possible for a company to overlook something like this on all of their computers?
Not to mention their laptops consistently being noted for having heat issues. My friends' motherboards keep getting fried because of that. This is a ULV-equipped processor too! I thought they were let off less heat.
I bought one of them... at first the touchpad was terrible then eventually my finger grease / sweat sort of worked into it and now it's no worse or better than any other touchpad.
multi-touch feels gimmicky and i'd rather have the nipple on my laptop
1) It's MIRROR SHINY and sticky like a newly Windexed mirror. If you clean it off so it isn't covered with greasy fingerprints, it really, really sticks as a trackpad. I've tried 30 different pads over the past week, looking for a new computer. This is the worst.
2) It isn't just a HEAT issue in the front left. The unit vibrates from the hard drive in the store unit I spent an hour with. Further, when the fan kicks in, the unit vibrates even more. Enough to be highly distracting.
I really like SO much about the machine, and could use a mouse 90% of the time, but the 10% with the trackpad would be most unpleasant. And the vibration and heat says to me they really, really didn't get the internal design right. Too bad. I had been waiting for this one.
I bought one of these for my GF and it's one great lappy! It's going to be a huge HP bestseller. B)
The problem is it's an Alps touchpad. My wife has a Dell Inspiron 15 with the same touchpad and it's quite possibly the worst I've ever used. If I don't have a mouse around to plug into that laptop, I don't use the laptop.
I wish they made a 15" version of this... I'd be very interested in buying one of those as the Envy is too expensive.
i just got a asus ul30-a2 after researching the the timeline 3810, hp dm3 and toshibas 13 ulv and i am very impressed with the asus after owning crappy hps. Battery life is great lasted me from 12:00 to almost 10:00 with off and on surfing, itunes, and cod4 demo (very low settings and decent framerate for me).
Excellent choice. It comes with a 2 year warranty including 1 year accidental damage - that's HUGE! Feels like making me cancel my dm3z order for the asus that you have ordered.
yeah the only things i can complain about are no option for bluetooth, improved graphics, and touchpad takes some getting use to but its hard to find a "perfect" laptop :)
Follow up comment. The Asus costs 165 more than the Hp. one can get the HP AMD version for ~579 after a coupon and an upgrade, buy a squaretrade 3year warranty for approximately ~$100/- and then still have the HP cheaper than the Asus.
It's the same trackpad they've been using. It doesn't work well for sweaty warm fingers, but in most cases it works well with a light touch and dry hands that are clean. They aren't horrible really, just picky.
I have to agree with the touchpad issue. I own a dv2 (with the AMD neo) and love everything about it, except the fact that I hate using it because it feels like work to use the track pad!
But...Flashing the bios and re-installing the driver made a huge difference. The upgrade to Win7 did the rest. Love the computer now, all of it.
Is it possible to replace the touchpad yourself?
I owned a dv6205 with a Synaptics pad and it was absolutely fantastic.
I now have a dv2715 with the Alps pad it is definitely worse but not as bad as you would think. Eventually it gets to a point where its great.
I can confirm that the trackpad is a problem. It is easy to lose you typing by touching it accidentally.
More importantly, when the machine wakes up from sleep, it is easy to get stuck in a mode where the cursor either does not respond or looks like a magnifying glass. Either way, the only option is to do a hard reboot.
I found that mine also got frozen in multi touch mode after waking from sleep. I turned off the multitouch options under the settings and it fixed the problem. Not the best answer but at least it doesn't get stuck anymore.
That's true, the alps driver is rubbish. Hopefully they get that straightened out shortly, but in the mean time you can disable the multitouch features or, rather than perform a hard reboot, remap the power button to hibernate, and hibernate/resume will solve the problem as well.
My HDX 18t has the same problem with the heat as the GPU is located in a very poor spot which is right where your palm rests.....
I just bought this laptop, its super nice!
Well since nobody else will, I will stick up for HP trackpads. I hate friction touchpads. I used a Thinkpad for about a month before my fingerprint started to rub off on the sandpaper-like trouchpad. I've had several HPs with this very trackpad and it is absolutely fine. The smoothness is unrivaled. I will say that within the Synaptics settings, I turned the sensitivity up which makes fluidity in hand movements even more amazing for my personal needs. Keep the touchpad clean and there really isn't a problem.
This is an Alps trackpad not Synaptics.