Is upgrading to HP dm3 1030 really an upgrade?

[lakermace]

Hello friends,

I've been throwing around the idea of upgrading to an HP dm3-1030 from my current HP dv6000. I was looking at the dm3-1030 about a week ago just for the fun of it and noticed a big box store has one on sale for $150 off ($499 plus tax). My reasoning for getting a new laptop is:

- I'd like a smaller laptop than my current 15.6" screen size. I've looked at netbooks but they're a bit week and maybe too small. 13.3" looks good.
- I'd like to be able to use it without it plugged in all the time. My current laptop's battery is shot. I either buy a new extended life battery for this or keep considering upgrading.
- I like the integrated bluetooth and webcams that most new laptops offer now.

There are others, but these are a few key thoughts as I've been weighing my options. So what I'm mainly asking you all is this: is the HP dm3-1030 a significant upgrade over my current HP dv6000? Is it a minor upgrade and if I really want to go unplugged, just buy a new battery? Any help will be greatly appreciated. And below, I've posted some specs from both models.

My current setup: HP Pavilion dv6000
AMD Turion TL-52: 1600 MHz (512 KiB L2-Cache per core)
2 GB DDR2
GeForce Go 6150
100 GB HD 5400 rpm
15.4" 1280x800 display
WiFi: 802.11 b/g
DVD & CD burner with Lightscribe technology
Battery life: none

My potential setup: HP Pavilion dm3 1030
AMD Athlon Neo X2 L335: 1.6GHz, 512KB L2 Cache
4 GB DDR2
ATI Radeon HD 3200
320 GB 7200 rpm
13.3" 1366 x 768
WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n with Bluetooth
No optical drive
Battery life: up to 6 hrs

 

[Maziar]

You will see a good performance boost in everything expect gaming

 

[lakermace]

I'm not a gamer but I do use Photoshop and InDesign. Primarily, I'll use CS4 on my desktop but wouldn't mind using it on a laptop when moving around. Would I be better off with my current laptop or the dm3-1030? Or not much of a difference?

 

[Maziar]

You will get a dual core CPU which helps in CS4,and 7200 RPM HDD which also helps(not a big difference compared to 5400 but still its good) and also you will get double RAM which helps too,so go for it,it would be a good upgrade

 

[Guest]

I isn't a true "dual core" in the sense of horsepower. HP V6000 is a 200hp V6 engine, HP DM3 with AMD is like a 100hp 4 cylinder x 2. An Intel Core 2 Duo would be a true 500hp V8 x 2. Intel Atom is around 80hp 4 cylinder engine.

The I7 is like a 500hp V6 x 8 with (Hyperthreading).

 

[mak99]

Lakermace -

Did you make this upgrade? If so, have you been happy with any increased performance?

Like you, I also have a dv6000 and bought the same dm3 last week, though it's still in the sealed box while I do more "research" to justify the purchase. My dv6000 has the Pentium dual-core T2080 w/ NVidia GeForce Go 7400. From the comparisons made between the two laptops at cpubenchmark.net, I should get better CPU performance, and even better video performance (if I'm reading things correctly).

I do own an Acer Aspire One netbook (AO751h), but will be selling it as it's just not fast enough for my needs. I like the dm3 series for its decent size overall, great portability, and cheap price ($500 after MIR) from Office Depot.

Thanks!

- mak99

 

[lakermace]

Hey Mak99, I actually go back and forth still about making the purchase. The portability and 3x battery life would be huge for me, but I don't know how much the actual performance would be with some of my design software. I almost pull the trigger each time Office Depot has that $500 special, but I'll probably wait until I see more apples-to-apples comparisons.

 

[mak99]

I'll most likely "break the seal" on the dm3 in the next few days and just keep it. I keep looking online for reviews, along with researching other laptops to see if I find an even better deal! I'm about to drive myself crazy...

My dv6000 is about 2.5 years old, and I don't really need a new laptop as it seems to run just fine. I just bought a replacement battery from Ebay since the original one would only give me 30-40 minutes max. Though watching Youtube videos, or anything streaming, is just so-so, which makes me favor the better video card in the dm3. I also like the HDMI port on the dm3, along with the 64-bit OS W7 (dv6000 came with 160 GB/5400rpm//Vista Home/HP bloatware, but upgraded some time ago to 320GB/7200rpm/Vista Ultimate/clean install). And like you mention, battery life and portability are more pluses...

I'll let you know if/when I get the dm3 up and running - and thanks for your reply!

 

[mak99]

Well, finally broke it out tonight, just going to update software and create recovery discs. So far it seems to work pretty well, though the fan has been running quite a bit, but that's probably I haven't given this a rest since I booted it up! the screen is razor-sharp, my BT mouse connected just fine, and it's a nicer, smaller package than my current dv6000. I think you'd be happy with this!

FYI, I found Office Depot online price had dropped to $529.99 in-store price (before $50 MIR). So I took my receipt in and they gave me the $20 adjustment back to my credit card. So not a bad deal for $480 + tax.

FWIW, the HP dm3-1130 is the exact same model as the 1030us, confirmed with HP on the phone today. It currently sells for $529.99 in-store price this week at OM...

 

[mak99]

Lakermace -

I just noticed this laptop is now $500 at register per OD website ($450 after MIR).

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/328626/HP-Pavilion-dm3-1030us-13-3/

So far I'm happy with it, just need to load up Win7 Pro and Office 2007 Pro and let her rip! I really like the chiclet keypad, and this ran for 3+ hours on my last flight, with ~50% battery still showing...