HP's 11.6-inch Pavilion dm1 goes on sale
By Darren Murph 
posted July 8th 2010 12:04PM
posted July 8th 2010 12:04PM
HP's Pavilion dm1 has done an awfully great job of living in the shadows, but it's just about time this 11.6-inch ultranote finally peek its head out to do battle with Gateway's LT32 and the host of others slotted between netbook and ultraportable. At long last, the style-centered dm1z is up for sale, touting space for 5GB of DDR3 RAM, a 250GB hard drive (or a 128GB SSD), a 92 percent full-size keyboard, optional external DVD burner, a 6-cell battery good for up to 5.25 hours of usage, VGA webcam, three USB sockets, a 5-in-1 card reader and a 64-bit copy of Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional. On the CPU front, it's AMD's Athlon II Neo running the show, with a variety of choices ranging from 1.3GHz (K325) to 1.7GHz (K125); there's also an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 GPU, 1,366 x 768 resolution panel, 802.11n WiFi, optional WWAN and a total weight of just 3.24 pounds. The whole shebang gets going at just $449.99, but don't be shocked at how easy it is to push this cutie beyond six or seven Benjamins.
i LOVE 11.6" laptops, perfect size. those 10" netbooks are too small.
@alexdlc Honestly, for me, anything below 13" is really too small to be productive on. Everything has a tool bar (Office, browsers, windows) and you can forget trying to run two windows side-by-side. I can see why these might be attractive to some people for basic stuff like surfing the web and watching videos, but really, you don't see much more weight going to a 13"-14" form factor
@Josh S, agreed, now that Sony has shown us that a 13.1" device can have a 1080p screen 13" is pretty much perfect.
@Josh S Except that the 1366x768 resolution on the 11.6" is the same as most 13" screens, so your point is moot.
@icase81 you can squeeze the same resolution to 3'' screen. Resolution is not everything. I totally agree with Josh, 13'' laptop is way to go, I had to do a lot of adjustments in FF to really utilize whole screen - there are so many toolbars, statusbars and menus and the actual usable area is tiny.
@Jimbojones
get chrome the toolbar and menu bars are almost not existent and with the bookmarks bar off there really is nothing but the address bar
@alexdlc
I would love it too, but it only has a claimed 5.25hrs runtime and likely 2.5hrs real runtime (hp is notorious for claiming *much* higher than actual life).
Seriously, being small and light is very nice, and the screen resolution is great, but WHY OH WHY is the battery life so terrible? Asus Eee 1005HA was able to get an ACTUAL 8.2hrs surfing (heavy flash surfing) and 10hrs idle runtime from a smaller (10.1"), lighter netbook (by 0.5 pounds).
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2822/5
Even if the lappy gets 5.25hrs, it's not enough. HP should strive for much better.
Pass.
@Josh S
I bought an Acer Timeline X 1830t for my wife a few weeks ago. Core i5-430UM 11.6"LCD, 3.09lbs, 5hrs 53min battery life (Laptop mag review)
We love it. We have no problem using it on a daily basis. We love how compact and light it is. As far as I know it's the lightest 11.6" non-netbook there is, with a 6cell battery. (I know the Dell and Lenovo can be optioned down to a 3-cell battery to get the weight to less than 3lbs)
This HP dm1 isn't big news though. Pricing it to $600- $700? You've got to be kidding. Not for an AMD machine. Not when that same 600-700 gets you a Core i5UM machine like my Acer with better CPU performance and better battery life. (and is lighter too)
@MagnetMan
You can't compare an Atom netbook battery life directly against a non-netbook computer. Of course it lasts longer. You have a smaller LCD screen and a much much much slower processor to power. I'm surprised you only get 8-9 hrs on that kind of machine.
You know what impresses me? The Acer 1810t, which lasts 8hrs and 45min. It uses the Core 2 Duo SU7300 (not the Asus Eee 1005HA's Atom N280). http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptop/acer-aspire-1810t.aspx?page=2
I still would pass on this HP, but not for your reasons. There are simply better options out there than this thing for the same price.
Nice. Netbooks are awful - they have no power and I'd rather browse the web on a mobile device.
@R94N I'd had to say I agree with you...especially now since mobile devices are being released with faster processors on faster networks. I think we'll see the demise of netbooks in a year or two.
but....where's my 4G in L.A? Tick-tock, Sprint.
@bandsaw I agree completely. The reason for owning a netbook is less and less when you consider what smartphones can do. I'd rather have a 13" full feature laptop and a high end smartphone.
@tasteskindasalty Yes, I have to agree with you there.
time for some webos
@ericrrr
breakfast?
K125 < K325 < K625
The K125 is a single core processor, the K325 and K625 have lower clock speeds but are dual core and have more L2 cache. It's definitely worth going with at least the K325, if not the K625 CPU over the Atom like processing of the K125.
Ewwwwww AMD
@justaPAkid yes, thats what i thought too, but as long as it works, i dont care if its AMD. wish it was an intel core i7 or something like that though lol
@justaPAkid
1 DIMM slot ewwwwww, thats a bit to netbookish for my taste.
It seems no advantage comparing to CULV laptop, maybe the video card is slightly faster.
@yejun
It's cheaper, especially with that coupon. CULV's notebooks typically go for more than the average budget laptop. This system falls in line with high-end netbooks, $400-$500. So if there's anything you should be comparing this system to it's netbooks. These AMD processors are easily more powerful than any mobile Atom processor currently on the market although at the expense of battery life. Intel will be introducing dual-core mobile Atoms of course, but they'll probably go at the high-end for netbooks.
Just FYI, the American equivalent to the DM1 is the HP Mini 311. It shares the same specs except for the processor. You can get an N270 @ 1.6GHz or an N280 @ 1.67 GHz. The 311 can also run Snow Leopard without ANY problems. I worked on the development for this netbook and this is the absolute best and most compatible system out there. The hacked BIOS also allows full tweaking of the CPU clock speed, memory timig, bus speed, and graphics clock and memory.
@sspirate
Thanks for the comment. Good stuff. If I don't already have the hp tm2, I would buy this or If I had lots of money I would buy this.
@sspirate
Yes the 311 is a nice machine but mine ended up parked in the living room as a region2 DVD input to the TV (1080p output is great). Why? Because of that insane touchpad placement. I'm a touch typist, what good is a touchpad under your right palm? I even build a plastic guard over the touchpad, which helped, but eventually had to give up on it.
Nice machine HP but hey JUST PUT THE TOUCHPAD CENTERED UNDER THE SPACEPAD.
Before you buy an HP machine, try typing on it. If you hunt and peck it probably does not matter to you, but if you touchtype you may find you just cannot use it.
i got the pavilion dm1 1101sa,
got to say very pleased and impressed by this little guy!
glad i don't get a 10 inch netbook!!
"a 92 percent full-size keyboard"
so it's not completely full-size then...
@sntXrrr As in 92-percent of a full-size keyboard.
@Ayepecks so it's not completely full-size then...
@sntXrrr Where is the other 8%? Dog ate it?
I have to say engadget this is the first time I've seen you guys late on a story. But I'll forgive you if you give me a review next week :)
Now I'm torn...I was previously reccomending the Inspiron 11Z for my sister. What do you guys think?
@Nitesh
I looked at the specs of 11z, I would still prefer this one. I'm looking at it performance wise, not price. Quality and Performance. Whatever laptop you end up buying, highly recommend getting at least 6 cell battery.
@Mtech91
Any idea how the Athlon II Neo compares to the SU4100?
@Nitesh
I think I read the 11Z has poor battery life but I can't remember for sure. I'd go for this just because you'll get more power under the hood with the graphics card. Though I'd definitely opt for at lest a dualcore CPU.
Battery life seems a touch low. I'm looking at replacing the wife's Netbook with something a little faster, but still super portable. This would be a really good option with 7+ hours of battery life.
Maybe a larger battery at some point? (not currently an option on HP.com).
@DT
Agreed. I personally expect around 8-10hrs usable from a netbook. The Eee 1005HA gets this and the Acer Aspire One AO751h.
I'm looking forward to the ultra-thin/light/fanless cortex A9 smartbooks. Hopefully they have comparable performance and insane battery life.
Why can't HP fit a full-size (100%) keyboard on an 11.6" laptop like every other manufacturer on the planet?
I currently own a dm3, and I wouldn't go with something smaller.
@mp3 how does it handle flash?
@Giantenemycrab
I have the DM3 1030 US(the AMD Neo model with a 1.6 Ghz dual core processer), and it handles flash reasonably well. I can do 720p youtube videos without a problem but 1080p gets a little choppy, but thats not a huge deal considering the monitor is 1366 x 768. The hulu performance is reasonable at 480p, a few hiccups here and there but definitely watchable. Things have got a lot better since flash 10.1 and the HD 3200 integrated graphics aren't half bad for some light gaming. I imagine the new 4225 graphics are even better.
no HDMI?? what year is it? 2006?
@pookguy88 Erm, but it has an HDMI port... so says HP's site anyway. And with the Mini 311 (same form factor) having one, I can't see why it wouldn't.
I assume this is faster than the HP mini 311 with the atom/ion. Would love to see a comparison review between the two.
@bebopblues I imagine this will be 30-50% faster than the Mini 311, just due to the fact that it's using a CULV Athlon/Turion CPU instead of the Atom. I love my Mini 311, but it's no speed demon, sadly. (Maybe with a little OC action... eventually I'll get brave and try it.)
I have the HP DM 1 1010sa and its got long battery life and does YouTube upto 720 well, can play 1080 films to if its one the harddrive, but as the screen is only lower hd its not a problem