HP dm1z: Taking Fusion on the Road
by Dustin Sklavos on February 21, 2011 7:00 PM ESTThe Swankiest Netbook You Ever Did See
First we should make one thing clear: the HP dm1z is basically small enough and slow enough to be considered a netbook, with most of the good and bad connotations that term brings with it. With that in mind, the dm1z is a remarkably attractive piece of kit and as you'll see, in many ways it feels like the netbook finally arriving at about the form factor and performance level it always needed to be at.
The lid of the dm1z is a textured black plastic that is a healthy stride away from the glossy plastic hell that used to plague HP's older models; it's attractive and doesn't easily pick up fingerprints and smudges, and the HP logo is nice and subdued in the lower corner. There's a silver trim that extends around the lid and into the body.
When you pop open the dm1z, you'll see that trim matched with silver matte plastics on the screen bezel and tastefully framing the keyboard and touchpad. HP has made some really great strides as of late in improving the looks of their notebooks, and the dm1z continues that trend. The silver plastic is used for the interior surface along with the battery and rim of the system and is complemented by sparse usage of white LED indicator lights.
HP has been pushing a standardized chiclet-style keyboard across all of their lines at this point, and it suits the dm1z. The 11.6" form factor allows HP to squeeze a comfortable full-sized keyboard into the unit, too, with the document navigation keys helpfully and logically mapped to Fn+arrow key combinations. The keys aren't marked that way, but it's easy enough to figure out. There's no number lock either, but I've never found the 10-key wrangled onto the main keyboard to be particularly useful. The only complaints about the keyboard are minor ones: HP, like Dell, opts to default the function keys to controls and shortcuts (though this can be toggled in the UEFI), and the left and right arrow keys are basically double-sized compared to the up and down arrows. On the whole, though, this is a solid netbook keyboard that most people should be very comfortable with.
The touchpad is more of a mixed bag, but kudos to HP for actually using a separate piece of plastic for it instead of just building the sensor into the inside panel. Of course, there's a reason for that: HP is using the same clickpad that's dogged their mainstream notebooks over the past year. To be fair the HP implementation is among the better ones used for Windows-based systems, it's multitouch capable, and the tracking surface is comfortable, but we would still rather see dedicated buttons on future refreshes. If you're using an external mouse or keep brushing the touchpad (not a problem I had in testing it), you can actually double-tap the top left corner of the touchpad with your finger to disable it; a pinpoint orange LED will glow when the touchpad is disabled.
One of my favorite features of the dm1z is actually on the bottom. HP has gone a long way towards simplifying user upgrades by simply putting one large, screwless panel on the bottom of the unit. The panel simply snaps on and off and feels both sturdy and user-friendly while also making the dm1z as a whole more attractive by hiding serial numbers and the Windows key. As you can see, everything you'd want to upgrade is easily accessible.
Taken as a whole I'll admit to being fairly smitten by the dm1z's design. It's remarkably well streamlined and clearly designed to improve the user experience while avoiding looking too chintzy or cheap. This is definitely one of the best-looking netbooks I've ever seen and it feels very solid.
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Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
There was a 200 post thread on slickdeals that showed how you could get this notebook for around $400. Some people were even getting it under $400. I dont know if you still can though.Wieland - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
It's definitely not available anymore, but I was lucky enough to jump on while it lasted. I got one for $352.99 including taxes and shipping after cashback with no payments due for six months through BillMeLater. I finally have a replacment for my Travelmate 8006lmi.jrs77 - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
Can you load a copy of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and see if it works?I'd rather not have a bloated OS like Win7 on a netbook.
MrVeedo - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
i thought i read the dm1z was shipping with ddr3 1066 memory? does the platform indeed run at 1333?xavier78 - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
HP lists the webcam as VGA, not 1.3MP. Do they now offer that as an option to upgrade?Quixote One - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
I agree that the new Brazos version of the dm1z is a slick little machine. The deal-breaker for me is the lack of the most current, higher-speed data-transfer interfaces -- an especially egregious omission in a netbook/"notbook"-class machine without an on-board optical drive. Other machines in this class have had either USB 3.0 or eSATA ports (and often both) for a year or more now as pretty standard features.If HP rolls out a follow-up model at around the same price point with at least one or the other (and hopefully, a less dismal screen), I'm there in a heartbeat.
darkhawkff - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
I think you're seriously mistaken on many comments here. I don't see this AMD Brazos platform as being any better than what's been out for a year plus.HP Mini 311 does as well as this netbook does, and it's been out for well over 1.5 years now. How is this a step up?
Just a word of advice, look at the whole netbook scene before making an article. Even the Asus 1215N is similar in performance in most respects. There again, how is this giving people the 'netbook they've been waiting for'? It isn't. It's a side grade from AMD, if you don't like the evil powers of Intel/NVidia.
Plain and simple, stop leaning towards AMD. The only real advantage I see, is the price. It's probably a little bit cheaper than the Intel/NVidia solution, which you barely make mention of.
Overall, I see this article as a "Look what AMD did! You should buy it!", when comparable performing machines have been around for quite a while (my Mini 311 cost $700 1.5 years ago....when this was cutting edge).
Taft12 - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
The last bit you said in brackets is why this is a notable machine. Netbook performance that cost $700 just 18 months ago is now $449 (or ~$400 on some slickdeals post) thanks to integrating all the discrete components that were needed on that platform (CPU/northbridge/southbridge/PCIE bus/graphics chip). Battery life also benefits greatly from this as you would expectApparently the netbook segment isn't as slow-moving as everyone thought!
darkhawkff - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
I think you missed the point. We could do this 18 months ago, and still achieve the same relative performance. Yes, it cost more 18 months ago, but that's how technology works. As time progresses, prices decrease for the same performance. The idea though, was that Fusion would be a big increase in netbook performance. So, where's my increase? It's not there, and thats the point. This article made it seem like this was an increase compared to whats out there. It's not, which is my point. Another thing of note, Ion is based on the 9000 series NVidia chips, so Fusion (ie 5400 series product) is only comparable to a 4 generation old competitor? As I said, the article makes this sound as if it's a new and exciting product. It's new, but it's not exciting, and it doesn't increase performance. The only thing this has going for it, is price. If NVidia could put a chipset out for Ion, this would be irrelevant when it comes to 'netbook performance'. Plain and simple.joe4324 - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
its not cheaper even, ION on a 11.6" screen was $399 16 months ago... This is coming out at the same price I thought?