HP Pavilion dm3 is a brand new, stylish laptop for frequent commuters which can work for up to 9 hours. The laptop has aluminum finish which makes it looks like MacBook Pro and it runs the recently released Windows 7. So let’s have a closer look at it.
HP Pavilion dm3
HP Pavilion dm3 pros:
+ Battery lasts for up to 9 hours
+ Stylish design
+ Bright and crisp image
+ Built-in webcam works well in low light
+ Quite loud speakers
+ Windows 7
+ Comfy and responsive keyboard
+ Up to 4GB RAM
HP Pavilion dm3 cons:
- Touchpad could be better
- Gets warm on the left side
- Rather poor vertical viewing angles
- No CD/DVD ROM
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
The design:
HP Pavilion dm3 measures 32.6 cm (L) x 23.0 cm (W) x 2.48 cm (min H) / 3.18 cm (max H) and weighs 1.91 kg. The laptop comes in only one color – brushed aluminum and it is not prone to get too many fingerprints. The HP Pavilion dm3 has no dedicated multimedia controls, yet, the uppermost row of buttons on the keyboard serves this purpose quite well. The keyboard on the HP laptop is very good. It provides a nice bounce and as the keys are well placed and just the right size it is easy to write fast and without making mistakes. Unfortunately, the touchpad is not that good. It can quickly pick up smudges and fingerprints which makes using it uncomfortable. What is more, the touchpad is not responsive enough and so the cursor lags. On the bright side, the two trackpad buttons in the HP Pavilion dm3 are large and responsive.
The left side of the HP laptop features the Ethernet, VGA ports, as well as the power jack and HDMI, tho USB 2.0 and a card reader. Also, mic and headphone jack can be found there. The right side houses two more USB ports, Wi-Fi on/off button and the power switch.
Performance:
The HP Pavilion dm3 comes with a 13.3” screen displaying 1366 x 768 image. The horizontal viewing angles are great, but the vertical ones are a bit worse so you might sometimes need to tilt the display.
The stereo speakers on the HP Pavilion dm3 are loud and the sound quality is generally very good, although it gets a bit distorted then you turn it up too much.
The built-in webcam is sufficient to allow running conferences, not to mention making casual Skype calls.
The HP Pavilion dm3 is equipped with brand new Windows 7 yet in performance tests it scores in the average, or below average range. It is clearly not a machine for gaming, however, business performance is quite smooth.
The laptop works quietly, but it may get too warm on the bottom left side if you make it do some serious work.
Selected HP Pavilion dm3 features and specifications:
- Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium
- Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Neo Dual Core processor
- Memory/RAM
Up to 4GB
- Display
13.3″ HD BrightView LED Screen (1366 x 768 resolution)
- Graphics
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
- Hard Drive
Up to 500 GB
- Optical Drive
None; External optical drives in standard and Blu-Ray variety may be purchased separately
- Battery
Standard 6 Cell Battery (Up to 10 hours of battery life)
- Wireless
Atheros Wireless LAN (802.11b/g)
- Bluetooth
Optional
- Audio
Stereo speakers, microphone jack, headphone jack
- Expansion Slots
Express Card Slot
- Ports
4x USB 2,0, 5-in-1 Card reader, HDMI
- Price
Starts at $599
- Software
MS Office 60-day trial, Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5, MS Works 9.0
- Weight
4.2 pounds
- Warranty
Standard 1-Yr Parts and Labor, 1-Year Battery
Other recently reviewed laptops:
Toshiba A200-SAT 1YW T5450, Asus K50, Gateway LT2016u
