Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 27
 Sharp, Light, Slim notebook but a bit underpowered April 23, 2010
R. Petersen (Milwaukee, WI)
So, a couple of months ago I picked up this laptop and figured I'd write down my impressions. For the most part, I'm very happy with my purchase. It's a slim, light weight laptop with a flashy aluminum case and the performance to do most all of my every day tasks (and maybe just a little bit more)
I could probably fill a thesis on the device, but instead I'll just break it down simple so you can make the call on whether it's right for you. Keep in mind that since I've not owned this for a long period of time, I cannot vouch for it's long-term use.
PROS:
- Phenomenal look and size. It's your typical 13'3 laptop in terms of dimensions, but the aluminum casing, the black keys, sharp screen and good choice in layout of buttons, USB ports, etc...make this one of the best looking slim laptops on the market and a steal considering the price you'll pay for others in the same size and weight category.
- Very light, but sturdy; If weight is a big factor in your purchase, you'll like this laptop.
- Decent hardware specs for a travel & work. You're looking at an AMD 1.6GHz dual core, with 3GB of RAM, just under 300GB of useable disk storage space (265GB, if you subtract OS + the default software installed) and an ATI HD 3200 video card. The video card doesn't have any discrete memory, so it's not well suited for most modern gaming, but still a step up Intel GMA series you find on most $500-range notebooks.
- Good feel on the keyboard and comfortable to type on for long periods. The look takes cues from the Mac Book, though it does so convincingly.
- Monitor is sharp, bright and clear.
- Laptop runs nice and quiet during daily use.
- Battery life is decent. Count on roughly 4 hours, though you're mileage may vary depending on usage.
CONS:
- No CD/DVD drive. Though you can basically get by without one these days, if you you're one to watch DVDs on your computer and don't care to plunk down another $50 on an external USB drive, then keep looking. This fact is a bit amusing though, as you'll find that the lack of a drive still didn't prevent HP from shipping the laptop with a full suite of DVD/CD playback & burning/ripping software O_o
- The laptop compromises horsepower for top-of-the-line looks, style and size, so don't bother with this if you need a modern gaming machine or something capable of serious number crunching. The AMD/ATI chipset will play games 3+ years back just fine, but anything newer than that and you may end up rethinking your purchase.
- The mouse pad has a silvery/polished finish leaves smudges, can be non responsive when you have sweaty hands, and has a gesture interface that is just annoying (I disabled it after about a day) - Pads on a select few laptops are good enough to make you forget about your mouse, but this won't be one of them.
- For what I would presume were size reasons, the media keys (volume, brightness, etc...) are the same as the F1-F12 keys. Perfectly fine at first glance, till you realize that the media key is the default, and the FN key is required to access F1-F12. Somewhat frustrating when you hit just F5 on a web page to refresh and it locks your computer instead.
- Normal bloatware - Expect to spend the first hour or two uninstalling all the crap that HP puts on it.
- They claim 6 hours of battery life on the tech specs & packaging/labeling, but that it's a bit disingenuous. Like I said above, 4 hours is really what you can expect to get with a normal work use.
Anyway...in spite of the criticisms, I've very happy with my purchase. Nothing I described deterred me from making the decision that this was the right computer for me. I scored mines for $550 + Tax after comparing for a week and playing around with this one for the better part of an hour at the store.
If you like small laptops with respectable specs at a very reasonable price, then do consider it.
Boa relação custo benefício April 6, 2010
Fabio V. F. Roseira (Belo Horizonte, MG Brasil)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
É um note muito bom, com boa relação custo x benefício!
Prós: Leve, bonito, rápido para um Dual, tela muito boa.
Contras: não tem DVD (acredite!), o touch pad não é dos melhores.
Good notebook April 1, 2010
G. K. Gibson (Apex, NC)
I'm quite pleased with this notebook. It is thin and light. The performance is great. I had trouble with the touch pad and the video. HP Support initially gave me bad information about the fixes for both problems, but the touch pad problem was eventually fixed by getting a BIOS update and the video problem was fixed by a video driver update.
 Looks cool, otherwise useless March 19, 2010
buy less, live more
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
looks cool, that's about it. get's hot, uncomfortably warm on the wrist rests. and it's slow. and the speakers are weak. and there's a ton of bloatware. screen is very reflective. feels fragile. battery life more like 5 hours than the advertised 10. blah. the screen dims and brightens on it's own and the inaccurate trackpad pretty much solidify this as a useless piece. Returned after 3 days. I just got this Acer Aspire AS5740-6025. so far so good.
 totally super !! March 16, 2010
Jose U. Manansala (Manila, the Philippines)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am totally satisfied with my new HP Pavillon DM3 Silver Laptop. Its fast and has significantly improved and added value to my work. I am very thankful for having the chance to purchase such a product. Thank you very much.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 27
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