The Netbook We've Been Waiting For

AMD may have taken its sweet time getting involved in the netbook race, but at least they're here now, and Brazos gives the market the leg up it's needed since the day ASUS introduced the first Eee PCs. The Bobcat core may not have been the homerun we were hoping for, but it's a fantastic start. We finally have netbooks that can pass my "Grandma Test": can it play 1080p video on YouTube and is it fast enough that your grandmother won't complain?

The only thing that hurts about using the dm1z, really, is the amount of bloatware it ships with from HP. That stuff can be uninstalled, though, and if you put a clean installation of Windows 7 on the dm1z you're going to find a surprisingly capable little computer that really screams past the Atom-based netbooks of old. It only felt sluggish when I was using it next to another computer with a mainstream or better processor; otherwise the dm1z was perfectly serviceable and a far cry from the waitfest that an Atom-based netbook can quickly become.

HP really nails the design and aesthetics of the dm1z, too. This is a sharp-looking netbook with premium looks, and in a nice change of pace HP ships it with a 7200RPM mechanical hard disk and 2GB of DDR3 standard. That may put it well over the price of competing Atom machines, but not far enough to not be a solid deal at $449—and let's not overlook the full Windows 7 Home Premium install (instead of Starter). The only major dents in the dm1z's armor are the poor screen and constantly running fan. At this price point these things are forgiveable, but in the case of the screen it doesn't mean we can't wish for better and continue haranguing manufacturers to improve what has quickly become the biggest problem with modern notebooks at any size.

The fly in the ointment is that while the E-350 is a step up, it's a long overdue one and it's not quite the huge one we needed. AMD has already announced that they'll be moving forward with CPUs that have four Bobcat cores, but we don't need more cores in the E-350; we need faster ones. I think it's fairly telling that manufacturers have largely ignored the other three Bobcat-based chips save maybe the C-50. Two cores are the sweet spot for this usage pattern, but really we need those cores to be running at faster clocks. (And sorry—there's no overclocking support for the dm1z at present.) For a first foray into this kind of territory, Brazos is a fantastic design and at least the E-350 brings some much needed life to the netbook market, but we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't continue to prod the industry and ask for more.

At the end, my experience with the HP dm1z was positive enough to recommend one to my mother to replace her aging HP tablet PC. It's responsive, runs cool, lasts a long time on the battery, and has a smart design. If I can recommend one to my mother, I can recommend one to you, and for that I think the dm1z (at least at $449) is worthy of a Silver Editors' Choice. At $399 and with a better screen, we'd be looking at Gold.

On a final note, this certainly isn't the last we'll hear about Brazos netbooks/laptops. We have several other reviews in the pipeline, and we'll be looking into the gaming potential and additional performance metrics in those reviews, along with a full platform comparison between CULV, Nile, Brazos, and Atom. Jarred already has a thread in the forums for requests, so chime in there if you have any specific areas you'd like to see addressed in the future articles.