HP Pavilion dm1z Review Discussion

[HI DesertNM]

In terms of battery life, i will grant you that AMD Fusion APU provides better battery life, but at the cost of potentially worse performance in a netbook form factor.

Did you forget to read this part of Jerry's review, when evaluating the 1215N versus the DM1?

"The closest competing Intel-based netbook is the ASUS Eee PC 1215N ($499) with a dual-core Intel Atom processor and NVIDIA Ion 2 graphics. While the ASUS netbook generates some impressive numbers in our synthetic benchmark tests, our real-world performance evaluation was less than impressive. The dual-core Atom wasn't as "laggy" as single-core Atom processors found in budget netbooks, but it was still slow in a Windows environment and the Nvidia graphics struggled with newer games even at the lowest settings due to the weakness of the Intel processor.."

OR this part?

"The Aspire 1830T was roughly twice as fast as the new 11.6-inch Apple MacBook Air ($999) or the HP Pavilion dm1 according to the wPrime synthetic benchmark, but the Pavilion dm1 substantially out-performed the higher-priced Acer notebook in both synthetic and real-world video/gaming performance tests."

I don't know what your looking for, but honestly, if Jerry is saying the 1215N is laggy and a weak multitasker in W7 when compared to the DM1, then that says volumes. I could give a crap if the 1215N might pull a few more frames on certain games. The fact is, neither are serious gaming machines. You have missed the point of this review which basically supports the DM1 has having incredible value and performance for the money. Its snappy, and runs 1080P without any issues and does it running cooler and longer battery life. Not only that, the build quality is worse on the 1215N with a keyboard with more flex. Speakers are also crap when compared to the DM1.

Now you put the 1215N and DM1 in front of the average Joe and they are going to tell you the 1215N is slow.. that its lags, that it takes longer to switch from applications, that it has too much gloss, and bouncy keyboard. Jerry gave excellent real world examples. And when somebody says that one system can run more fluently in the W7 environment, for the same amount of money or less, why would I go with the Asus? You can deny all you want and still say the 1215N can hold its own against the dm1, but I would wager that 9 times out of 10, most people will choose the DM1 for its real world performance boost in W7 and its top of class build quality. Yes, many people who held and used the dm1 at CES 2011 have claimed that it is indeed, top of class in build quality.

The problem you have, is there is really only one worthy intel ION2 system to compare, and it fails. Once you start comparing with higher priced intel systems, then you have taken that conversation away from this form factor and discussion. Its hard for me to not think that some are just biased or have some agenda against AMD etc. Because most reviewers, including Jerry will flatly say that this APU had found a niche, or a hole that Intel left open. For what this APU was designed for, at its form factor and price, Intel has nothing to throw at it. And if this was not the truth then why are dozens of manufacturers scrambling to get something out ASAP with this new APU? And when Ontario is released, AMD is going to dig further into Intels market share with entry level netbooks with HD capabilities and HDMI.

[Kenneph]

Did you forget to read this part of Jerry's review, when evaluating the 1215N versus the DM1?

Don't neglect all of the other reviews which have been linked in this forum which unanimously call the dm1 the clear victor when compared with the 1215N. Until ASUS And ThinkPad start using the E350 in their low profile models, it just doesn't look like anything can compete with the dm1 in performance/value.

[coldmack]

The Lenovo is going to use the E350 in the Thnkpad X120 line.

[Nintendork]

I would like a test with League of Legends at high settings. A fusion killing machine for the road.

[boogieman99]

Finally an appealing netbook

If they can keep the Canadian retail price less than the Acer Timeline's, I'd replace my DV2 with this in a heartbeat

[autobulb]

I would like a test with League of Legends at high settings. A fusion killing machine for the road.

I'd like this too! I'm looking for a netbook for April when I will be traveling and I just want enough graphical horsepower to play 1080p movies and League of Legends (even if it's on lower settings).

[TommyB0y]

eh? the E-350 is slower than a SU2300, it does come close, but still is far from him. In fact, is slower than the Neo X2 L335 on my MSI U230.

Now, the HD6310 as faster than ION1 but slower than ION2, but for gaming, the E-350+HD6310 should be faster than D525+ION2, the ION2 is bottlenecked by both the D525 and the pci-e x1 1.0 bandwidth.

There is no point in 1215N, seriusly.

BTW, the Intel HD is still slower than HD3200 in terms of raw performance, X4500MHD is waaaay inferior, but it should be enoght for HD videos.

Here is a review of a pre-release Zacate setup against the SU2300 w/ ION, so you can see how the E350 compares to both the SU2300, which it does very well against, besting it at times and showing its GPU power beyond the Ion. Of course that was a pre-release and newer software and drivers may improve the Zacate performance.

PC Perspective - AMD E-350 1.6 GHz APU Brazos Platform Preview - Zacate APU Benchmarked

Additionally 3DMark is not a good synthetic because it does not adequately test AMD APUs and IGPs. They know why, and its just synthetically propping up Nvidia GPUs. I mean part of 3DMark is specifically written to test how Nvidia chose to make its Physx, vs AMD's methods.

NotebookCheck still recognizes the older HD4250 at 5% under the performance of ION2 in graphics, but the Windows experience rates HD4250 at 5% over the ION2, and 13% over the ION2 in gaming graphics.

The HD6310 is rated at 4% over the ION2.

[TommyB0y]

I dont think so mate. i was hoping for something from these new AMD that would justify my decision to NOT buy a 1215N or even a 1201N with the Atom 330 and Ion 1 but honestly that hasnt really materialised has it?

You wouldnt call me an analyser for simply analysing the numbers in the review? I could just as easily call you bias towards ATi because you seem to promoting this very heavily - and for no apparent reason. Especially given the 4270 comments which bear no semblence of meaning in context of netbook performance in a 12.1 or even a 13.3" form factor.

You want to compare HD4225 vs an Ion 2 now? Okay lets do that:

Given that this site has provided no direct gaming comparisons, like i said, i cannot deliver any further verdict on actual gaming performance between the 2. And other sites seem only to have tested the desktop platform Fusion APU not the version that appears in the mobile 11.6" form factor like the DM1z and performance does differ between the two.

Youre grasping, there is plenty of evidence that this DM1z is superior to both of those options. Lets look at other synthetic benchmarks HEREat Notebookcheck.
PCMark Gaming ION2 loses to HD4250 by 17%
CinebenchR10 ION2 loses to HD4250 by 100%
Win7 Experience Gaming ION2 loses to HD4250 by 15%
3DMark06 only has the ION2 at 5% over the HD4250

How much do we rely on these benchmarks

The previous edition of this DM1z came with an HD4250.

I may be biased, but I didnt jump into an Ion2 netbook review bashing the reviewer and praising the competition which makes you a troll.

My previous post includes a review that had some gaming comparison as well.

[vig1lant3]

Gonna be a long two weeks. Just ordered my new dm1z w/ 4GB RAM. Got a Kingston 128GB SSD to throw in when it gets here. Very curious to know if these Zacate APU's can be overclocked...

[HI DesertNM]

CNETS got their review and video up:

HP Pavilion dm1 Review - Laptops - CNET Reviews