Customer Reviews

HP Pavilion DM3-1140US 13.3-Inch Laptop (Silver)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The HP Pavilion dm3 1130us (AMD CPU & ATI GPU model) is a good compromise between the portability of a netbook and the functionality of a full sized laptop. Technically in the "Ultra-portable/Thin & Light" category, I would say it is a netbook on steroids. I was looking for a portable computing solution but didn't want a small keyboard or a hard-to-read/small screen. It had to have a small form factor, yet have a more powerful processor and graphics than traditional netbooks. I use it mainly for office work, web surfing, video streaming, music listening and light gaming.

Most of the specs are readily available on Amazon, but you can get a more in-depth overview by going to HP's site and looking up the dm3z line in their Ultra-Portable category. The 1130 is essentially a later production run of the 1030, which is still available on Amazon as of this writing.

Back to what I was looking for;
Basically, I wanted a MacBook but only had about five hundred bucks to spend. I'm a Mac user normally but could not see paying so much for a laptop. I searched high & low and weighed several other options. In this laptop segment and at this price point, it is all about compromise and what you want as an end user. In this end, the 1130us was the best fit for me. I was able to find it on sale for under five hundred on the OfficeMax site and then found a [...] dollar rebate. I used that saving to buy a [...] , and so far that is working perfectly too. I was a little leery about getting an HP since they don't have the best reliability reputation, but I would expect more problem reports from a company that sells so many computers. My mother-in-law has a 3 year old Pavilion that still runs like new.

What I like about it:

1. It's fast, faster than I expected. Initial set-up was a snap. The 1.6GHz AMD Athon Neo X2 dual-core processor and ATI Mobility Radeon HD3200 graphics see to that. Perhaps not the best combo for intense Photoshop sessions or cutting edge 3D gaming, but I have several apps and browser windows open at once with no system slowdowns. Online video from various sources streams just fine and I've played a number of games (including Star Wars Battlefront) with no issues. The AMD cpu and ATI gpu combo uses more wattage than the Intel option, but I think you would sacrifice computing power for battery life if you went the Pentium or Core Duo route.

1b. 7200 RPM 320GB Hard Drive. Did I say it was fast? And spacious.

2. The screen. It is glossy, but not as bad as some and it is nice and bright. 13.3" w/ a 1366x768 widescreen resolution means things are a bit smaller than on a standard desktop monitor, but everything is nice and crisp and the colors are good. It seems much bigger. HD content looks great on it and the viewing angle isn't bad. I had a stuck pixel, but it went away. The lid opens about 135 degrees back so you can easily work with it on your lap. It has a nice firm hinge so there are no worries of it falling one way or the other.

3. Wi-Fi draft N. I've only had fast and excellent connectivity so far. Having bluetooth is nice too, but I've yet to use it.

4. Windows 7, not a cobbled Started Edition. Coming from OSX, I have to say I'm growing more and more impressed with the latest Windows OS. It seems to have more intricacies than with OSX, but I'm getting used to it and have to say the user interface is top notch. Before this, I've used XP and am so glad that Microsoft has finally refined their product. Connect a device for the first time and either the drivers are already there or they download automatically. Nice. Lots of eye candy too.

5. Touch pad. Some reviewers pan it, but I find it works well for me after a slight learning curve. Sure, it is the only fingerprint magnet on an otherwise lovely case, but I like the feel of the shiny chrome finish and find the multi-finger gestures useful. The "mouse-buttons" could be a little easier to depress, but that is a small quibble, just tap the pad. It is also very customizable to your specific needs. The 1030us touch pad had some wake-from-sleep issues, but that was fixed in the latest BIOS. I also use a [...] but have no problems adjusting to the touch pad if I leave mouse at the office.

6. 4 USB, 5-in1 card reader, 1 VGA, and 1 HDMI port. Connectivity ahoy!

7. Full sized keyboard. It took a little adjustment, but I like the quiet, island style keys. When in the proper position, I can type just as fast as with my desktop's keyboard. I measured it, and it is slightly LARGER than my G5's primary keyboard area!

8. The case. This is one sturdy feeling case with little or no flex that I can detect. You can hold it by a corner without fear. I love that it isn't a finger print magnet like so many others out there. The brushed aluminum finish is very attractive and gives it a high-end appearance.

9. It came with 4GB DDR2 ram, expandable to 8GB. With the 64bit OS, I could do this, but see no need to at the present time.

10. Cool. Even after all day use the air blowing out of the rear side exhaust vent is only slightly warm. The front wrist rests can get a little warm, but never uncomfortable (at least to me).

11. Quiet. If a completely silent room you can hear the faint breath of the fan, but otherwise it and the spinning hard drive are unnoticeable.

12. Well packaged. There are no disks included, but the manual and documentation are pretty clear.

13. Price. Find this on sale and you've got yourself one heck of a deal!


What's not so great about it:

1. It is about 13" wide and weights about nearly 5 pounds with the battery inserted. For me that's no big deal but if you plan to lug your laptop around a lot, you may want to look at something smaller and lighter. It is only one inch thick so it slides easily into most bags.

2. Speakers. You know going in that they won't be that great, but I still couldn't help being a little disappointed. However, I tweaked the sound settings and get decent output now, though not very loud. It does the job though. Use earphones. I connected it to my speakers with a subwoofer and Pandora radio sounds terrific!

3. Battery life. I get about 4 hours of constant general use life out of it. Another reviewer stated he was able to play the entire Fellowship of the Ring movie before it went into hibernation, but I have not tested that. The good news is that 4 hours is still decent, and the power cord isn't too cumbersome. If you need an all-day, cord-free laptop/netbook, look elsewhere.

4. Some bloatware. Being new to Windows I researched what to do when you first get a computer. One of the most common recommendations is to remove the manufacturer installed software. I got rid of the MS Office trial and Norton. I'll still playing around with the suite of HP software. I may keep some, but will probably ditch a good bit of it. However, some users may like the included software. Even with it, the 1130us is a speedy customer.

5. No optical drive, but I knew that and won't need one every day. The Samsung will also be useful for my other computers.

6. No OS restore disk. I know, there is no optical drive and there is a recovery partition, but it still would have been nice.

7. Possible fit and finish issues. I just noticed a very slight gap along the top right front edge where the wrist wrest meets the side paneling. Pressing down on it does reveal a little flex. Not enough to return it, but it is worth keeping an eye on and could be cause for concern. It is too early to tell. (see my product photos)


I have not used the Quickweb feature, but Windows 7 boots up (after some re-configuration) in less than a minute so I'm not sure I'd need it. I've also not yet used the HDMI out port or webcam. I plan to test both soon and have heard that the webcam is good in low light. I've only been using the 1130us for a little over a week so I can't speak to its long-term reliability, but so far so good. I'll post an update if I have anything new to add.

So, is the dm3 1130us the right model for you? If you are not a 3D gamer and want a nice looking, sturdy, portable laptop without most of the limitations of a netbook, then the answer could be "yes". Of course, technology is changing rapidly and in a few months the next latest and greatest will be out. But if you need something now, and want a lot of oomph at a great value, then the dm3 1130us could be your best bet. It exceeds my expectations at a price point other laptops couldn't match, so that is why I'm giving it 5 (4 1/2 actually) stars.

UPDATE-March 30, 2011: It is over a year later and I'm still loving this little machine. No major issues. Yes, the left palm rest can get a bit warm, but I've never had it become uncomfortably so. It still does everything I need it to with little fuss.

UPDATE-June 09, 2011: The DM3-1130US is still going strong. My wife has taken over this computer when it's at home. During they day it gets put through it's paces playing Pandora with other web-related activities. Word processing too. At night she often likes to bring it to bed to watch videos on YouTube and catch up on email. She sometimes is frustrated with the trackpad, but that's about it.

I got the DM3-1130 (the AMD processor) in early February, after an extensive search to replace my HP Pavilion dv5000. I had considered ASUS and Macbooks, in particular, as I wanted something in the 13-inch range, lightweight and with a good track record.

This model has more memory than the slightly more expensive ASUS model of this size, and Macbooks, while perennially getting great reviews, cost hundreds more. I use this for personal use and for some business use (Internet, writing, some photo editing), so a Macbook wasn't worth it. Sorry, Justin Long.

After my brief time with my new HP, here are the pros and cons, for anyone considering it:

Pros:
1) It truly is a lightweight, portable model
2) The style is hard to beat, if you like the metal look
3) The keyboard style is different than what I'm used to, but I've found the chiclet style very use to type with
4) HP Quickweb is a useful, practical feature to get you on the Internet/listening to music or looking at photos without accessing Windows 7
5) Windows 7 itself rivals Apple's platform in the litany of user-friendly features and style. I was very impressed.
6) The battery life is about what was advertised- probably in the 4 hour range, if you're using wireless and looking at photos, etc. People who are only getting two hours probably are watching a movie and/or didn't let the battery fully drain the first time before they charged it.
7) The four USB ports, the SD slot and the exhaust fan on the side are all nice features.
8) I haven't had any problems with the mousepad- people who have commented negatively on it, I would guess, want the world's perfect mousepad. It's functional. And sure, it gets fingerprints on it, but that's because you use your fingers to use it. What do you expect? And are you trying to impress people with your fingerprint-less mousepad?
9) I was installing multiple programs and browsing the Internet all at once and experienced no interruptions or slow down. At least in that test, the RAM and processor are keeping up. I went with the AMD instead of Intel partly for cost (much cheaper), but also because I was told by some computer experts AMD might work a little faster. No regrets yet.

Cons:
1) The left palm area gets hotter than you'd like.
2) I had a problem after registering/setting up my laptop. After installing a few programs I needed to restart. When I got to the log-on screen and entered the password I had selected during startup when I created an account, Windows kept telling me I was incorrect, although I was sure (and the password hint verified) that I was right. HP tech service said that sometimes happens when an administrator password is selected during start-up, and had me restore my system. It worked (I just didn't enter a password during setting up screen), although I had to reinstall stuff I had already installed before, as you'd expect. Lost some time, but not a huge deal. You'd think it could have been avoided with a simple "Set up a user password later", as I'm sure I'm not the only person that's happened to. That's more of Windows' fault than HP's. At the least, HP tech service was helpful.
3) No optical drive, which you need to make a recovery disk at some point. I'll have to borrow one. Since most software is downloaded these days, I won't otherwise need it. It's something you have to give up if you want an ultraportable model, in most cases.
4) HP offers a $50 rebate for this model, but it's not valid if you buy it off of Amazon. I knew that ahead of time- still went with Amazon because it was cheaper than factory direct, but that's a bummer.

No more MacBook Pro envy for me!!!I love computers and have owned many laptops over the years, everything from Mac PowerBooks to Dell Mini's. I thought for a long time about buying a new MacBook Pro. I loved the size (13 inch model)and the brushed silver look and many of the apps. What I DID not like was the price and the fact that I could not use Office OneNote(as a teacher and a mother, this is one app I truly cannot live without!!) on the Mac without having to purchase Windows 7 and Parallels. Did some playing around in computer stores with both the Mac and other computers and fell upon this HP dm3. Loved it from the first touch. It is solidly built, beautiful to look at, light-weight, and perhaps most important to me, FAST!! I do not play computer games but do a lot of web surfing, watch streaming video,and use lots of photo and movie apps. This little guy is just as fast as my big and much more expensive desktop replacement,and simply blows my Dell Mini right out of the water. Not even in the same league!

If I could give this more stars, I would...this is a fast, sleek 13-inch (just the right size) computer that is every bit as pretty as the MacBook Pro. I am not a big fan of touchpads; I always use a mouse. That being said, I actually love this one!

I would be remiss not to mention that the service at Amazon is absolutely second-to-none. I had originally ordered an Asus 13 inch but changed my mind after reading some comments about the wireless abilities (plus, it kind of freaked me out buying someting that I had never actually touched.)Having played with this one at the store was really the deal-maker for me. They have the finest customer service on this planet, and I would never buy my computers from anywhere else. Also worth mentioning...bought the SquareTrade 3-year warranty that includes spills, etc. I had an old MacBook(6 years old)that I had a SquareTrade warranty on. It died one day, I mailed it in, and had my complete purchase price in my bank account within a week. Very much worth the money! P.S. This is the only review I have ever written although I have been a loyal Amazon fan for years. Guess that shows how much I really do love this machine!!

The look and feel of this laptop is great and I really really want to like it, but the battery life is absolutely horrific. I expect at least 4 hours of solid use out of a thin and light. This thing averages barely 2.5 hours off a full charge with the screen set at the dimmest level. The worst part...the battery takes 4 HOURS to charge. Absolutely absurd. If you don't mind ALWAYS having your power cord, go ahead and buy this comp.

Pro: Sturdy metal chassis and brushed metal cover! If you hold up the laptop with on hand on one side, you can feel how it's so freaking sturdy!
Crisp, clear screen with deep blacks and bright whites, good contrast.
4 gb of memory, 64-bit
Dual-Core!
Decent battery life (I get about 5-6 hours with 30% brightness, more if I turn the wireless card off)
Pretty gosh darn thin at .8-1.1 inches!
4 USB ports! HDMI out!
Draft N wireless so it's alot faster than many b/g only netbooks!
Integrated play, skip, pause, stop buttons that are so convenient when you are playing videos and music on WMP.
Windows 7 is GREAT!!!! Much better than XP and Vista.

Cons: Cheap bright plastic strip surrounding the edges of the bottom part of the laptop is easily chipped, and makes creaking noises when pressed, but only happens on one side. it's a minor build quality issue but it bugs me how they skimped on this. But at this price point, I guess it's understandable.
Gets pretty warm where you put your hands.
The mouse buttons are hard to press, and while this may seem like a very minor flaw, if you are surfing the web and pushing the buttons alot, your fingers may get swollen and sore like mine did.
Competitors, while a bit more expensive, have built-in overclocking to speed up your computer when you need power, and use less power when you're away from a power cord.
Battery takes a while to charge when it's depleted.
Integrated graphics and CULV processor means playing 1080p and 720p is not as smooth as you would have hoped.
I would have liked the fn button to be on the right of the keyboard, so you can use "page down" and "page up" commands with just your right hand when viewing pdf files or reading word documents.


I use this laptop for school, and get lots of compliments on the way it looks, and 13.3" is perfect. It's thin and pretty light, making it easy to carry in a backpack, and the metal chassis and the accelerometer that protects the HD means it's more protected from the inevitable bangs and scuffs. Multitouch was removed, I think, and I have no issues with the touchpad, it's not bad, you just need to get used to it. It's definitely fast enough for office, powerpoint, even basic photoshop! I had about 5-6 programs running at the same time, and it was only using around 2 gigs of RAM. The processor maxes out sometimes, but only when loading my browser and stuff. The keyboard is great, and it's has a nice balance between clackety and bounce. However, the mouse buttons, while they are two separate buttons (instead of an annoying single bar like on some netbooks) are hard to click and require stronger fingers. The best mouse buttons I've used were thinkpads by Lenovo, but those are really ugly compared to this beauty. I've had this for a few months, and I've had no problems. This is like a Macbook for 40% off!!! The only thing Macbook has that this doesn't is an optical drive but it's thicker.

I'm a bit disappointed I can't get 10 hours even on low brightness, but it's enough to get me through a full day of school, editing presentations, browsing the web and stuff. I see this as a good alternative to the netbook. I was about to get one but the screen is too small. The extra 3 inches diagonally in screen size means alot of more real estate.

If you have some extra money to throw away, and want a bit more battery life, but less metal, try the Asus UL30. It has adjustable clock speed, but it's more expensive and the processor isn't noticeably faster, though it's a SU7300 vs. this HP's SU4100. Save yourself some money if you want by going the HP route. Asus has better build quality, meaning the pieces are glued together better, but the HP feels more sturdy as a whole due to the metal chassis.

Oh, and the metal part surrounding the keyboard is actually many pieces very tightly put together. you can see the seams that blend in with the "brushed" lines, and the plastic tray where the keyboard on my unit wasn't 100% smooth with the metal surrounding it.

Anyways, this is such a great deal guys, despite some build quality issues. Check out the Asus 1201N. Less battery life, weaker processor, and only like 70 bucks cheaper? Please!!!! Hope this helps.

I recieved this laptop yesterday (2/5/10)and here is my review: When I removed the laptop from the box and held it, I was impressed with the laptop's construction. The keyboard is big enough for my hands, and the 13.3 inch screen is large enough for me to see. The laptop is not too heavy--but it is not too light. Unlike a netbook, this laptop has 320gb of hardrive and 4gb of rams, expandable to 8gb (that's very powerful for this little machine!). It has four usb ports and a hdmi port for hooking it up to a big screen TV. It also has a webcam camera and an internal microphone. The laptop is loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium for stability and a lot of HP software junk. The laptop has Bluetooth technology to communicate with other Bluetooth devices. The laptop doesn't have a fixed optical drive, which is cool since most software can be downloaded from the Internet. In closing, if you need a smaller laptop for just basic computing, a netbook will suffice. However, I would STRONGLY recommend you to spend more money on a laptop like the HP Pavilion DM3-1130US model, because sooner or later you will need a smaller laptop like this one for heavy duty computing.

Pros:
I was looking at netbooks, but found them too small. This is a perfect size for the coffee table, and looks very slick with the brushed aluminum. I has a really nice screen, and a great keyboard, with the play/pause/volume buttons you need for music playback on the top row. The HDMI out and 4 USB ports are a plus too.

Cons:
I haven't had any problems with with plastic trim coming apart, as one reviewer did. The only design flaw that I see is the rubber pieces that prevent the screen bezel from touching the keyboard bezel when the lid is closed are a little too small or shallow, so the screen bezel does get some very slight scratches. I think this can be minimized by not putting anything too heavy on top of the computer when closed, and not squeezing it too tight when carrying it. But that's a minor problem. Also, the computer does get a little warm (esp. under the left palm, probably where the CPU is), perhaps too warm for extended use on one's lap, but it's super quiet -- a trade-off I can live with.

Bottom Line:
This is a great little laptop for the money. I highly recommend it.

I have owned this computer for less than one year. I have had to use the recovery feature three times due to some unknown reason. The microphone failed -I mailed the unit to HP for repair which took 3 weeks. Then the hard drive failed. I am still trying to get HP to repair it. I am getting the run around. Now they say the warranty expired - which it hasn't. I have tried to no avail to talk to someone here in the states for help. No luck! So, I do not recommend this computer and I am now doubtful I'll buy another Hp product! My husband is an experienced computer user and use to repair computer too - now retired.

EDIT: It's been a few months now. I'm still enjoying this little lappy, but the battery life has settled into about 3 hours when doing basic surfing and Office tasks. On the plus side, it's very easy to hook up to my 50" HDTV and stream Netflix. Bought an inexpensive Bluetooth mouse and had no trouble pairing it to this laptop. I was able to peel off most of the undesirable stickers and leave a clean surface for my palm.

Does run a little warmer than I initially thought, but so far hasn't proved to be troublesome.

Wish the battery life would have stayed longer - otherwise, I'm still enjoying this purchase.

ORIGINAL REVIEW BELOW.

I had a little Acer 10.1" netbook for about 6 months. Loved the portability and long battery life, but the small screen and keyboard were killing me, so I sold it. After doing a lot of research, I settled on this as a replacement. This little beauty is SWEET. The keyboard is springy and responsive, it looks SO classy with the brushed silver exterior, photos look amazing on its screen, and it's still small and light enough to drop in a backpack. I considered buying an external DVD, but instead, I just shared the DVD tray on my desktop computer and loaded necessary software (Office 2007 Pro and Photoshop Elements 7) that way. Saved a few $$ by not buying that EDVD.

I was a little concerned about the uber-shiny and slippery touch pad, but I've had no trouble with it. I took the advice of someone who posted a review and used the little button above the touch pad to disable it before putting the computer to sleep and I haven't experienced any of the unexpected freezing some other reviews highlight. As others have said, it's a fingerprint magnet, but, hey...it's a touch pad.

The left side of the palm rest is a little warmer than the right, but it's not uncomfortable.

The web-cam powers right up and the images it produces are great. The built-in mic works fine for sitting a comfy distance away.

I charged it up, unplugged it, cranked up the screen brightness, and proceeded to uninstall HP bloatware, install Windows Security Essentials, Office, and PSE 7, watched some CBS videos, watched an hour-long TV show streamed from my desktop PC that I'd recorded via Win Media Center, and still it took over 5 hours to get the battery down to 10%. It took about 3.5 hours to charge it fully again (seemed a little long, but I wasn't in any hurry) and I'm in the process of draining it for the second time. It ran internet videos very smoothly and just had a couple of hiccups on the video coming over my wireless from my desktop. I built a fairly complex, multi-layer image in Photoshop Elements and it was smooth and fast.

It's only been a day, but I think I'm going to be VERY glad I made the switch to this machine. I have a couple of HDMI cables on order and can't wait to try connecting it my HDTV and stream Netflix.

My only negative is the sticker-fest all over the palm rests. They look like they'd peel off easily, but I tried removing one andit was stuck down so tightly I was afraid I'd be left with just a sticky mess behind, so I left the stickers there.

Happy day! Hope this review pushed you over the edge.

I purchased my DM3 w/ AMD Processor a few weeks ago. I was in the market for a MacBook Pro but when it came to time to submit my order in the Apple Checkout area, I decided to do some more research. I couldn't fathom paying nearly twice as much as the DM3 for a 13" MacBook Pro.

I appreciate the lightness of the DM3 at 4.2lbs. You're easily able to move from room to room with it in one hand or carry it around in a notebook sleeve. Additionally, the mostly aluminum build and chick-let style keyboard are nearly ergonomically and aesthetically perfect. I call it my little HP Envy.

My DM3 came with 4GB of RAM, a 500GB HD, and a separate, sleek External HP-Branded DVD Media Drive. I love the Bluetooth functionality and the HDMI port. It makes it easy to connect to my cell or LCD TV. (I've connected it with BlackBerrys, Palm Pres, Android phones, and an iPhone with no issues. It also connects with other PCs with no problem.)

Despite what some reviewers may say, I haven't experienced any lag even with resource intensive programs like iTunes and Norton Security Suite running in the background. I've routinely had YouTube running, with Microsoft Word, iTunes and Norton Security Suite running a virus scan in the background and not experienced an appreciable lag in performance.

I highly recommend this computer if you're looking for something portable, stylish, and functional. It is all of these things and more. Shop around and enjoy it.