Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program About 2 years ago I was looking for an ultra portable Windows laptop with this wish list (in order of importance):Portability I needed it to come with me at a moment's notice
Computing muscle as a software architect and teacher, it was important that the laptop keep up with my demands
Large screen I figured 13.3" @ 1366x768 was the absolute minimum for my needs
Usable touch pad as I rely exclusively on the built-in touch pad
Extended battery life at least 4 hours.
After a lot of research, and a bad experience with a Toshiba T135-S1310, I settled on the Lenovo Ideapad U-450P, and raved about it here on Amazon. Unfortunately, the devil's bargain was to trade off computing muscle (it used Intel's CULV SU7300) in return for portability and battery life.
Fast forward 2 years, and I can finally check off "all of the above" with the DM4!
1. At just over 4 lbs, this is truly portable.
2. Its 3rd generation i5 chip makes it capable of chewing through serious business software.
3. Its 14" screen @ 1600x900 resolution is generously large, with a gorgeous reflection-free matte finish.
4. Its touch pad is sensitive and accurate.
5. Decent battery life (Rated: 7.5 hours. Actual, under normal operation, is about 5 hours.)
Other key features?
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1. Cold to running in an amazing 30 seconds! Up from standby in under 5 seconds! (Really.)
2. Great computing horsepower for tasks such as running MS Office 2010, or Adobe's LR4/PSE. Again, the startup time with these applications is simply amazing.
3. Awesome ergonomics. Its display is clean and bright, text is crisp and readable (even at its native resolution), its keyboard is firm and responsive (lets me touch type without fatigue), its touchpad is very usable, its wrist rest is surprisingly comfortable, and the red keyboard backlight is very non distracting.
4. Very respectable Windows Experience Index numbers (out of a max possible of 7.9):
[CPU: 7.1 | RAM: 7.5 | Graphics: 5.4 | Gaming Graphics: 6.4 | Hard Disk: 5.9]
5. Cool operation. After 4 hours of use, it had only heated up on par with my far less powerful Lenovo.
6. Quiet operation. You can barely hear its fan, allowing it to be used to drive videos to a TV without distraction. (It supports wireless video using Widi.)
7. Less bloatware than most. Other than a trial Norton, a trial MS Office, and a few web redirect icons, most are well intentioned HP utilities that might be considered a value add. Especially noteworthy is HP's Support Assistant it automatically processed even a BIOS update.
8. Its 2x2 300 Mbps 2.4Ghz single band wireless b/g/n card also speeds up browsing. I watched a 2 hour streaming HD video without a hiccup.
9. I prefer the convenience of its integrated DVD+RW drive. However, it does not support Bluray, which is typical of this class of machines.
Any annoyances?
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Yes. Fortunately they were minor.
1. The function keys (F1-F12) default to action mode (e.g., modify brightness). This prevents their use as standard function keys, and also makes it easy to disable the wifi card by accidentally hitting F12. Fortunately, this is fixable in the BIOS. This computer boots so quickly that I couldn't read the initial instructions to get into the BIOS. (Press Esc while it is starting up.)
2. The touchpad is slightly off center with respect to the space bar, increasing travel distance for right clicks.
3. Pet peeve: Why does no one include recovery discs with their machines?
4. The omnipresent Beats branding is borderline narcissistic (even the B key is a tiny logo).
Who is this for?
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There is a premium here for the ability to run multiple simultaneous heavy duty business applications in a light package.
However, it is overkill if your needs are less strenuous and you don't need the future proofing that it provides. Its lack of discrete graphics also leaves it far from being a gaming powerhouse. It's battery might also disappoint road warriors who need to power through a full day.
What is the competition like?
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Other contenders at this price point include the Dell Inspiron 14Z, Toshiba's U845, Lenovo's U410, and HP's own Envy line.
Unfortunately, they compromise on some or all of the DM4's unique features: providing a less powerful processor (the ultra low voltage i5-3317u), a lower screen resolution (1366x768), a missing integrated optical drive, a non-backlit keyboard (blech), no hard disk shock protection, a missing fingerprint reader, less RAM, and of course, no Beats Audio.
Conclusion:
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I rated this DM4 at 5 stars due to the elegance and excellence of this model's design.
That said, I have had poor experiences with the longevity of HP machines in the past, particularly due to over-heating. Hopefully their new CoolSense technology will prevent heat issues with the DM4. Only time will tell how my love affair works out, but at the end of my first week with this unit, I'm duly impressed.
Happy Computing!
~Damodar
Update Aug 5, 2012:
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1. HP CoolSense does not obviate the need for a good laptop cooling pad. While the DM4 keeps its cool under normal operation, it needs help with heat dissipation with abnormally heavy duty processing (e.g., generating 1:1 previews in LR4 for 1000+ images from a recent event shoot.)
2. The button to open the optical tray can be a bit hard to activate due to the button's raised profile and some play in the tray door.
Update Sep 17, 2012:
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I'm still just as impressed with this machine and its boot times. I often reach for it instead of my iPad, even for simple tasks.
The good: the touch pad has worked flawlessly with no negative experiences to report.
The bad: the fingerprint reader has worked itself loose, and requires regular pushing back into position. This is my first encounter with poor product design with the DM4.
Pros:
The backlit keyboard is great and a must since everything is black.
Better than average audio without external speakers.
Having a built in optical drive.
Cosmetics it's unique looking.
Low to non existent fan noise very much appreciated.
Fast boot up and decent battery life.
Cons:
Had to have my touchpad replaced under warranty.
Should have been designed with a fixed optical drive. Opening the tray is a hassle.
Easily Shows fingerpints from handling.
Hinges on case seem a little flimsy and you worry if they will last.
Wish it was a little thinner and a little lighter.
Battery life is really closer to about 4 hours than what is claimed.
Offshore tech support, though they were fine when my touchpad stopped working.
I would highy recommend this model.
ADDENDUM: How ironic! I just gave this laptop a 4 star rating this morning from my MacBook Air and then opened my HP to use it and much to my surprise it had a large black blotch in the screen. I never dropped it. I didn't close it with anything in between it. I did NOTHING out of the ordinary I simply plugged it in last night to recharge it and then reopened it this afternoon to use it again.
Then I called HP tech support and this time, unlike the trackpad needing replaced, it has been a complete nightmare. All of these so called support people are in India to begin with. First off they have no method to pull up your records by your phone number. Why? Instead they make you take the battery out and look up your serial and model numbers. Ok, fair enough, I can do this once. Then the first technician told me they would send someone over to look at the screen and replace it at their cost but that I would have to pay for the technician's visit at a cost of $139. Then the call went dead. So I called back and of course had to go through the entire process again. This person said the same thing and I said it was unacceptable that I would have to pay for a service call when I did nothing wrong and that I'd rather just send it back in yet again and let them fix it. At that point I was told they would have to transfer my call to another department that would give me my options in getting it fixed, which led me to believe that I would be transferred back to the USA to finalize everything. Nope. Another call to India or Pakistan or wherever they source their support and guess what? I have to give them ALL the info yet again for the third time and start at square one. This time they take all the info down and the tech tells me he would have to transfer me to his supervisor to let me know how the repairs would be handled. A lady comes on the line who says she's level two support (still offshore) and she informs me that screen issues are not covered by warranty and I would have to pay $349 to get it fixed!?! I told her that the first two techs had told me $139 to send a repair tech to my place and that HP would pay for the screen. She said she knew nothing about that or who told me that and assured me it would cost me $349 to fix. Her attitude was if it's a screen problem we don't cover it and there is no such thing as a defective screen. I told her that was unacceptable as it would HAVE to be a defective screen, given how it went bad on its own without any wrong doing or accident on my part. At that point she said I can assure you it was not defective and if you want it fixed you will have to call back and spend $349 to fix it! This is a six month old computer folks and all I did was open it to use it and was confronted with the black blotch on the screen. NEVER AGAIN with HP! NEVER AGAIN. And to think I actually recommended this!
Buy HP Pavilion dm4-3170se 14-Inch Laptop (Black) Now
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program All in all, we are very pleased with this laptop. My wife's vision is getting a little worse as she is getting older and is buying reading glasses in order to see clearly. However, this laptop features red backlit keys that are so easy to read that she has no need for them while working on Girl Scouts, etc.All of the computer specs are clearly labeled in the product description above (i5 processor, 500 GB hard drive, etc.), so all that's really left to discuss is how well this laptop operates. In a word, fast. Even for my Alienware i7 quad core, this laptop takes its run for the money to startup and shut down VERY quickly and that is after some fairly heavy browsing, installation of Microsoft Office 2010, a formal installation of Norton Internet Security 2012, etc. With all the little, obsequious add-ons that proliferate just about every web page these days, this laptop takes it all in stride and works quite well. Even with the 5400 rpm drive (a disappointment, but understandable in terms of keeping power/heat low), it is quite responsive and there is no noticeable lag in any of the applications that we open.
Battery life is impressive, although I imagine that you are going to be running at a very lowly lit screen and downgraded video performance to get the full 7.5 hours of battery life advertised. With more typical settings, the battery life still shows an excess of 5 hours which is plenty good for our use.
Even if you don't have Microsoft Office 2010 (not included--we have our own license), you can still view your e-mail via the embedded Windows Live Mail feature. Although not as full-featured as Outlook (i.e., calendar, etc.), it will allow you to send/receive e-mail without additional expense. The laptop also does come with a free 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security 2012, but we went ahead and picked up the software ourselves anyway.
The laptop does feature a pinhole "HD" camera that will allow you to Skype and although it's not mind-blowingly great image quality in low light (it's a pinhole, mind you), it serves its function quite well without need for an additional peripheral. Built-in speakers work well enough to communicate, although there is a provided headphone jack for your use.
My wife has already tried the fingerprint security software that's on the keyboard and HP walks you through the instructions in its use. It also appears to work well and my attempts at entering passwords on web sites using the fingerprint scanner met with failure; it would only recognize hers, as designed. However, I'm just as happy using Norton Internet Security to store and regulate my passwords just as well--to each their own.
Now as for "Beats"...well, I did put it through the gamut of songs. I have over 15,000 songs in my collection, so although I don't claim to be an audiophile, I can say that I have developed a certain acoustical palate over the years. I don't own a pair of "Beats" headphones, but I did have my Bose AEs so I figured that if I compared the audio from my own Alienware against the laptop then I was still doing an apple to apple comparison. My Alienware has an integrated 7.1 THX-certified sound system. To be perfectly honest, I could not discern a difference between the HP and the Alienware. I used Deadmau5's "I Remember", Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells", Nickelback's "This Is War" and "Photograph", and Lush's wall-of-sound "Sweetness And Light"...and I am hard pressed to tell you, if blindfolded, that there is any difference. So both computers sound AMAZING to me, but I don't think that the "Beats"-factor is really anything to scream about.
What is even more curious has to be HP's choice in the target demographic. Although the "Beats" logo is destined to draw in the younger crowd (hell, look at the Olympics just about every other athlete is wearing their headphones prior to a swim match and recent arrivals of exchange students in our community reveals that they are popular with teens in Europe as well), the HP embedded software still seems to be targeted to an older demographic, offering chances to automate a bunch of settings. Most young people that I know are fully capable of maintaining their own computer and I found the embedded HP software curious as an add-on. People like my mother-in-law would probably deeply appreciate letting HP check updates, etc., for them, but for a tech-savvy person like myself, I wish that I could rid myself of it. However, it does appear to be embedded into the OS architecture itself, so no dice. The good news, however, is that it doesn't appear to detract from the overall performance of the PC itself (as previous HP iterations in the past USED to drag their systems down), so I just pretend it's not there.
The provided disc player will allow you to burn DVDs and play Blu-Rays on the 1600x900 resolution screen. It won't defeat a high-end HDTV, but the picture quality is still quite good and works well for its intended purpose. A 14" screen may not seem large, but it's plenty big when it's right in front of you.
Other features include a built-in Wifi receiver which connected to our Netgear N900 with ease and we had the laptop sharing our Homegroup network to facilitate file sharing between our PCs at home. It's quite a standard feature these days, but it's one that we still liked to mention that it worked well.
We are pretty happy with the laptop and apart from the curious addition as "beats" as a potential marketing gimmick, we highly recommend it.
Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion dm4-3170se 14-Inch Laptop (Black) Here
I purchased this laptop directly from HP (so you will not see a Amazon Verified purchase tag for this review). This is a very nice laptop overall. The matte screen is quite bright and has a great resolution unlike most other laptops of this class in the market. The weight is also just right. Its not ultrabook light but its not very far off compared to all the extras you get. The Hybrid drive enables the laptop to boot up very quickly but I do not understand why HP had to downgrade to a 5400RPM drive when the older generation DM4-3090se used a 7200RPM drive. Also, it would have been better to put in 8GB of RAM instead of 6GB.. though the RAM in this model is DDR3 1600 MHz (which is an improvement over the DDR3 1333MHz used in previous gen). The HP sleeve they give is a nice touch but it is pretty basic you would still need to buy a proper sleeve. One issue I do have with HP is the excessive amount of HP software that they just cram in most of it is not really useful at all. There are like dozens of softwares installed most of which don't really do much. It would be nice if HP would just install one software suite which would have all essential things instead of having a different software and service running for each of them.I also recommend the "Case Logic VNA214 14.1-Inch Laptop Attache" bag for this laptop which is a perfect case for this laptop.
Want HP Pavilion dm4-3170se 14-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?
I've been using my HP Pavilion dm4-3170se for one month at home and in libraries in other states while traveling with no problems at all.Pros:
14 inches is a very convenient laptop size for casual internet use at home and on the road.
The 1600 by 900 resolution screen is easy on the eyes for hours of reading ebooks. Yes, all my ebooks are on my PC's and available when I travel.
The dm4-3170se has a solid, dense feel of quality. Time will tell of course, but that's how it feels to me. It's not a lightweight for it's size and there's no flex when I handle it.
I was doubtful that a red backlit keyboard would work for me, but after using it extensively for a month now, I have to admit that the red backlit keyboard works as well as my white backlit keyboards on my other laptops. Doesn't work for my wife though. She can't see red very well so be advised.
The 32mb SS cache combined with the 500mb hard drive is a nice combination for casual internet use. W7 comes up in about 30 seconds and is ready to use. Amazing! The dm4-3170 is significantly faster on startup, waking up from sleep and loading programs like iTunes than my very expensive XPS M1730 gaming laptop with two hard drives in a Raid 0 configuration. I attribute this to the SS cache drive more than anything else. Looks like it's getting time to replace the hard drives in my XPS M1730 with SS drives.
And then there's the Beats Audio. When considering purchasing the dm4-3170se I dismissed the remarks about the quality of the audio as just hype. It isn't. The first music video I listened to was Promise by Santos and Usher on Vevo. Having listened to this song many times on my XPS M1730, I was actually startled to hear it on the dm4-3170se. What a difference. Using the same $70 headphones I've been using for years I heard instruments I'd never heard before. Slumber My Darling by Alison Krauss in my iTunes library was just beautiful. Sounded to me like she was singing right in front of me with no interference, clicks, pops or distortion whatever. Do keep in mind that I'm not an audiophile. I just enjoy music.
Finally, the 6gb of RAM, the 32gb SS cache and the 500mb hard drive can be upgraded or replaced. The laptop components aren't glued together like the new Apple laptops or soldered to the motherboard.
Cons:
The usual bloatware.
A 30 day McAfee trial. I deleted this and substituted my own preferred antivirus system. Much less overhead.
When the dm4-3170se arrived the screen needed some work with the calibration software fortunately provided as part of the bloatware because the colors were way off. Not just to my eyes either. The light colors were washed out, blues were purple and white etc. This was the first time in all the computers I've owned and used that I've had to calibrate a screen. Interesting process and I sort of enjoyed doing it, but it shouldn't have been necessary. When I finished calibrating the screen, text especially small blue text was a mess. The Cleartype tools fixed this after 5 or 6 tries and now colors and text look great especially with the 1600 by 900 screen. I'm comfortable doing whatever I need to do with computers to get them running right, but for most people like all my relatives for instance, none of those fixes would have been possible. They would have sent the laptop back to Amazon.
Summary:
Very nice laptop for casual use. Well worth the $. I'm glad I bought it. Hope it lasts for many years.
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