HP Pavilion dm1z Review

Our HP Pavilion dm1 (dm1z) features the following specifications:

• AMD E-350 with AMD Radeon HD 6310 Graphics (dual-core CPU at 1.6 GHz and dual DX-11 SIMDs at 500 MHz)
• 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 HD glossy display with LED backlighting
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
• 3 GB DDR3 memory
• 320 GB, 7200 rpm HDD (Hitachi Travelstar 7K500)
• Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11b/g/n wireless
• Bluetooth 3.0 (Ralink Motorola BC8)
• 6-cell Li-ion battery (51Wh)
• Dimensions: 11.45 (L) x 8.45 (W) x 0.9 - 1.25 (H) inches
• Weight: 3.53 pounds
• MSRP: $449.99

Build and Design
The new HP Pavilion dm1 is an evolutionary update to last year's Pavilion dm1z and the dv2 from 2009. Stylistically, the dm1 has more in common with the dm3. In fact, if you place the new dm1 side by side with last year's dm3, you'll see that this 11-inch notebook is basically a smaller version of the dm3. At first glance it's easy to mistake the dm1z for one of the dozens of HP netbooks that have shown up over the last few years. Fortunately, the Pavilion dm1 has a lot more to offer than those low-performance netbooks.

Build quality is on par with what we've seen from the rest of the HP Pavilion Ultraportable notebooks and HP mini netbooks. The plastics used in the chassis are durable and thick enough to prevent flex or cracking under pressure. The plastic screen lid provides adequate protection for the screen but the middle of the lid does bend inward under firm pressure (be careful jamming this into overhead compartments on your next flight). The lid also features an attractive matte black paint job with black pinstriping done in glossy paint. This makes fingerprint smudges far less visible than what we see on laptop lids with glossy paint jobs.  Opening up the screen, the hinges have enough tension to hold the screen in place when it's motionless but not enough tension to hold the screen in place when you're carrying it around. The rest of the body of the notebook seems to be well designed with minimal chassis flex and no obvious creaks from the plastics.

 

One area of the design that will probably get a mixed reception is the bottom of the notebook. HP decided to give the new dm1 a clean look with a single massive bottom plate secured by screws that are hidden beneath the foot pads. At first glance there is no expansion bay access panel here and no way to quickly upgrade the RAM or replace the hard drive. Granted, the overwhelming majority of people who buy a $450 laptop will never open it up to make upgrades. However, if you remove the battery, slide the battery release switch again and pull forward on the bottom plate, the entire bottom of the notebook will slide forward giving you access to the RAM, hard drive and wireless cards. I just wish this was a little more obvious for owners who want to upgrade the notebook themselves.

Ports and Features
Port selection on the HP Pavilion dm1z is fairly standard for a modern netbook or 11-inch ultraportable notebook. HP gives you three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI-out, VGA, Gigabit LAN (hidden behind a rubber door), and a single audio jack for headsets, microphones or headphones. It also features a SDHC-card slot for loading images off your camera while traveling or expanding your available storage. The only port that's missing here is a USB 3.0 port. Since we're starting to see USB 3.0 on more consumer notebooks and there are many USB 3.0 external hard drives on the market, we really wish HP had found a way to put at least one USB 3.0 port on this notebook. Also, since USB 3.0 has more voltage than USB 2.0, it would mean that USB accessories and phones could be charged in half the time it takes than to charge over a USB 2.0 port. Here is a quick tour around the new Pavilion dm1:

Front View: Altec Lansing branded speakers

Rear View: Battery and screen hinges

Left Side View: AC power, security lock slot, heat vent, activity lights, HDMI and USB 2.0 port

Right Side View: Media card reader, audio jack, two USB 2.0 ports, VGA and LAN.