HP Pavilion dm3t Review

HP Pavilion dm3t

Review Summary:

The HP Pavilion dm3t is a very nice travel laptop with a few minor annoyances.

Pros

• Good overall performance
• Comfortable keyboard
• Decent battery life

Cons

• Bad speaker placement
• Poor touchpad quality
• Unimpressive graphics

HP Pavilion dm3t Full Review

 

The HP Pavilion dm3t has been on the market for a while now, but it has quickly become HP's most popular 13-inch laptop competing against more expensive notebooks like the 13-inch Apple MacBook. Is this laptop with a Core i3 processor and Intel integrated graphics a good purchase?

Our HP Pavilion dm3 (dm3t) features the following specifications:

• Intel Core i3-380UM Processor (1.33GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) + Intel HD Graphics
• 13.3-inch diagonal HD HP BrightView (glossy) LED Display (1366 x 768)
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
• 3GB DDR3 memory
• 320GB, 7200 rpm HDD
• Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11b/g/n wireless
• Bluetooth 3.0 (Ralink Motorola BC8)
• 6-cell Li-ion battery (62 Wh) and 65W power adapter
• Dimensions: 12.83 (L) x 9.15 (W) x 0.88 - 1.26 (H) inches
• Weight: 4.1 pounds
• MSRP as configured: $624.99

Build and Design
HP updated the Pavilion dm3 series late last year with a new low-voltage Intel Core i3 processor and a fresh design with a new cooling system designed to make the notebook more "lap friendly." Not only is this 13-inch laptop coolerf to the touch, but it looks cooler than the previous generation of the dm3. In short order this notebook became the trend setter for HP's consumer notebook line as the HP Pavilion dm1z and the the HP Mini line of netbooks were designed with a similar external appearance.

Build quality is on par with what we've seen from the rest of the HP Pavilion 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 does an okay job protecting the screen but the middle of the lid does bend inward under firm pressure. The lid also features a rubber-like matte black paint job which is great for avoiding those fingerprints that show up on glossy notebooks. The screen hinges offer enough tension to hold the screen in place but are loose enough so you can open the laptop with one hand.

HP decided to give the new dm3 a clean look with a two screwless access panels located on the bottom of the notebook. Simply remove the battery and slide a release switch to upgrade the RAM or swap out the hard drive. This is actually a great idea not only for making upgrades easier but it has the added safety measure of forcing you to remove the power supply before you can mess with the internal components (something you should do anyway).

Ports and Features
Port selection on the HP Pavilion dm3t is pretty standard without any surprises. HP gives you two standard USB 2.0 ports, one combo eSATA/USB 2.0 port, HDMI-out, VGA, Gigabit LAN (hidden behind a rubber door), and two audio jacks for headphones and a microphone. It also features a SDHC-card slot for loading images off your camera while traveling or expanding your available storage. Once again, the only port that's missing here is a USB 3.0 port or an ExpressCard slot. Here is a quick tour around the new Pavilion dm3:

Front View: Altec Lansing branded speakers

Rear View: Battery and screen hinges

Left Side View: Security lock slot, heat vent, VGA, HDMI, eSATA/USB 2.0 port and activity lights

Right Side View: Media card reader, audio jacks, two USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet port (behind rubber door) and AC power

Screen and Speakers
The 13.3-inch LED-backlit screen on the HP Pavilion dm3t is like most of the other glossy screens you'll find on 13-inch notebooks. The 1366 x 768 resolution is great for browsing the web, editing photos, or even watching 720p HD movies. Color and contrast are average thanks to the glossy surface and LED backlighting. We recorded a real-world contrast ratio of 214:1 in our lab and a maximum screen brightness of 180 nits; bright enough for indoor use under almost any artificial lights and bright enough for outdoor use (as long as the unfiltered sun isn't shining directly on your screen and creating reflections). If you tilt the screen forward or back, the colors start to look dim or very washed out. Horizontal viewing angles were better; staying visible until roughly 60 degrees.

The onboard speakers are located on the front edge of the notebook and push sound forward toward the user. These speakers carry the Altec Lansing brand name with Dolby audio processing. Overall the sound quality is good for a pair of small stereo speakers. I thought it was interesting that HP decided to put a fake speaker grill on the battery of the dm3. At first glance you think this notebook has massive speakers and then you discover that it only has a pair of dime-sized speakers under the palm rests.

The speakers had very little low frequency response to speak of and a reasonable amount of midrange. This is fine for listening to Windows alert sounds or watching a YouTube clip, but isn't the best solution for sharing music or a movie in a small room. The speaker orientation also causes problems if you have the laptop laying on a bed or pressed against thick clothing on your lap. I was able to easily obstruct the speakers on my bed comforter making the audio sound muffled. In short, music and movie lovers would be better off using a nice pair of headphones or connecting the notebook to a stereo through its HDMI-out port.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The nearly full-size keyboard on the Pavilion dm3 is a raised Chiclet-style (also called island-style) keyboard with relatively large keys and plenty of space between each key to help prevent typos. The keyboard is comfortable for typing with the perfect amount of key feedback and quiet, cushioned clicks. The keyboard support structure is simply fantastic with absolutely no flex or "bounce" under heavy typing pressure. The keys themselves have a silver semi-gloss finish on top which provides good fingertip traction but might show more obvious signs of wear over time.

Our review unit came equipped with the standard keyboard, but HP offers a backlit keyboard option for only $25 extra which is fantastic for typing in a dark room or while you're traveling on a plane when you don't want to disturb the person next to you by turning on an overhead light.

The touchpad on the new dm3t is a "buttonless" Synaptics model with adequate sensitivity, minimal lag and integrated touchpad buttons located under the bottom left and right corners of the touchpad surface. This type of touchpad is nice for ultraportable notebooks because it makes the touchpad feel larger. Unfortunately, the touchpad on our review unit didn't quite sit flush on the right side, so I kept catching the edge of my finger on the right side of the touchpad if my fingertip moved past the edge.

Once again, we ran into the same problems we've seen on most touchpads with integrated buttons. Specifically, if you are the type of person who rests one of your fingers or thumbs on a button while you move the cursor with the other, it's possible that the touchpad will interpret the two fingers on the touchpad surface as a two-finger gesture or quickly move the cursor between the two fingers when you lift one finger off the touchpad surface.

Performance and Benchmarks
The HP Pavilion dm3t currently comes with your choice of two Intel processors: the 1.2GHz Intel Pentium U5400 processor with 3MB L3 cache or the more powerful 1.33GHz Intel Core i3-380UM with 3MB L3 cache. Both processors should provide plenty of performance for the majority of average consumers. Our review unit came equipped with the Core i3 processor and proved to be quite snappy in our performance tests.

The only potential weak spot in the dm3's performance record is the use of Intel HD graphics. The integrated graphics provides enough muscle to handle HD video streaming and basic video editing, but it isn't strong enough to speed up performance in graphic-entense applications like Photoshop and it certainly can't handle the latest generation of action games. If you're content playingSolitaire and Peggle then you won't be disappointed by the gaming capability of the dm3t ... just don't expect to play Mass Effect 3 on this.

Still, it's slightly troubling that the less expensive HP Pavilion dm1z is actually a more capable gaming notebook.

The 320GB, 7200 rpm hard drive is fast enough to quickly load most basic applications like Microsoft Office or open file folders without significant lag. If that isn't fast enough you can always order the optional 160GB Solid State Drive from HP or remove the stock hard drive yourself and install your own SSD or a hybrid hard drive like the Seagate Momentus XT.

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

PCMark Vantage measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark06 measures gaming performance (higher scores mean better performance):

CrystalDiskMark storage drive performance test:

Heat and Noise
Under stress the low-voltage Intel Core i3-380UM processor didn't create any troubling hot spots on the exterior of the notebook. Outside case temperature of the HP Pavilion dm3t stayed mostly "lap friendly" after 30 minutes with both the CPU and GPU stressed. The bottom of the notebook spiked at 96 degrees Fahrenheit in our test lab with an abient temperature around 72 degrees. The system fan gets louder when the CPU and graphics are being stressed, but it's much quieter than the average fan noise that comes from high-performance ultraportables like the Alienware M11x.

Battery Life
At the time of this writing the HP website claims that the HP Pavilion dm3t delivers "up to 7.5 hours of battery life" from the included 6-cell battery. I don't have the specific testing procedures used to arrive at that number, but I suspect this figure comes from using the MobileMark benchmark with the notebook running at an essentially idle state with the screen set to minimal brightness. We assume most notebook users will set their screens a little brighter for average daily use and will be actively browsing the internet most of the time they are using their notebook.

In our tests with the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active while refreshing a website on regular 60-second intervals, and Windows 7 set to the Balanced profile, the HP Pavilion dm3 continued running for 6 hours and 13 minutes. That puts the dm3t pretty much neck-and-neck with the MacBook Air in terms of battery life. You "might" be able to extend the dm3's run time past the 7-hour mark if you lower the screen brightness and aren't actively loading pages every 60 seconds, but this is still roughly a half hour less battery life than the Pavilion dm1z.

Battery life test results (higher scores mean better battery life):

Conclusion
Overall the HP Pavilion dm3t offers an impressive value for those looking for a 13-inch travel laptop. Our tests show the optional Intel Core i3 processor delivers plenty of performance, and the Pavilion dm3t's battery life is essentially the same as a much more expensive MacBook Air.

The only potential issues that stood out during our review period were the weak and poorly placed speakers, the less-than-impressive touchpad, and graphics that simply aren't as good as what you can find on several cheaper notebooks. If you can live with those annoyances then the HP Pavilion dm3t is an affordable solution with enough performance to get your work done.

Pros:

• Good overall performance
• Comfortable keyboard
• Decent battery life

Cons:

• Bad speaker placement
• Poor touchpad quality
• Unimpressive graphics

Individual Ratings: *
Software & Support 
Upgrade Capabilities 
Usability 
Design 
Performance 
Features 
Price/Value Rating 

* Ratings averaged to produce final score