HP dm1z: Taking Fusion on the Road
by Dustin Sklavos on February 21, 2011 7:00 PM ESTIntroducing the HP dm1z
HP's been on board AMD's ultraportable bandwagon since the chipmaker first shipped the underwhelming Congo platform, and HP continued to produce reasonably compelling not-quite-netbooks with the Athlon/Turion II Neo-equipped Nile platform. But now that AMD has made a concerted effort to dethrone Intel's Atom with Brazos, HP has been able to produce a true netbook competitor. We have the shiny new dm1z equipped with the AMD E-350 in our hands: is this the netbook we've been waiting for?
HP has refreshed their dm1 line with AMD's Fusion APUs, but what else does their shiny new netbook bring to the table?
| HP dm1z Specifications | |
| Processor |
AMD E-350 (2x1.6GHz, 40nm, 1MB L2, 18W) |
| Chipset | AMD Hudson FCH |
| Memory | 1x2GB DDR3-1333, 1x1GB DDR3-1333 (Max 2x4GB) |
| Graphics |
AMD Radeon HD 6310 IGP (80 Stream Processors, 500MHz core clock) |
| Display |
11.6" LED Glossy 16:9 1366x768 (AU Optronics B116XW03 Panel) |
| Hard Drive(s) |
320GB 7200 RPM (Western Digital Scorpio Black) |
| Optical Drive | - |
| Networking |
Realtek PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Realtek RT5390 802.11b/g/n Ralink Motorola BC8 Bluetooth 3.0+HS |
| Audio |
IDT 92HD81B1X HD Audio Stereo speakers Headphone+mic jack |
| Battery | 6-Cell, 10.8V, 55Wh battery |
| Front Side | Altec Lansing speakers |
| Left Side |
AC adapter Kensington lock Exhaust vent Indicator lights HDMI USB 2.0 |
| Right Side |
SD/MMC reader Headphone+mic jack 2x USB 2.0 D-SUB Ethernet jack |
| Back Side | - |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit |
| Dimensions | 11.42" x 8.43" x 0.8"-1.2" (WxDxH) |
| Weight | 3.52 lbs |
| Extras |
1.3MP webcam Flash reader (MMC, SD/Mini SD, MS/Duo/Pro/Pro Duo) Altec Lansing speakers |
| Warranty | 1-year limited warranty |
| Pricing |
Starting at $449 Priced as configured: $449 (at time of writing) |
The most interesting thing about the HP dm1z, right off the bat, is that it's the first netbook we've reviewed to feature AMD's Fusion APU, and HP equips the dm1z standard with the most powerful one in the lineup. The AMD E-350 comes with dual 1.6GHz Bobcat cores, 1MB of L2 cache (no L3), along with a Radeon HD 6310 GPU integrated into the processor die. The HD 6310 is more or less an on-die Radeon HD 5450, with 80 DirectX 11-class stream processors in AMD's VLIW5 configuration and clocked at 500MHz.
The E-350 features a single 64-bit DDR3 memory channel capable of supporting up to two DIMMs for a total of 8GB of RAM. The whole shebang has a TDP rated at 18 watts, which may seem like a lot until you remember the IGP is built into the processor instead of the Northbridge, and instead of having a Northbridge+Southbridge combo as is traditional for AMD, the E-350 requires only the Hudson FCH, a tiny chip that includes just enough SATA, USB, and PCI Express connectivity to get by. Besides, TDP isn't the same thing as actual power requirements—18W looks to be close to the maximum the APU can draw.
Given the small form factor of the dm1z and its intended market, HP is actually fairly generous in its stock configuration. At the time of writing, HP offers a "free upgrade" from the base 2GB of DDR3 and 250GB 7200RPM hard drive to 3GB of DDR3 and a 320GB 7200RPM hard drive; this is the configuration you're most likely to see in retail. The Western Digital Scorpio Black is pretty fast for a mechanical drive, too, so it's nice to see HP step up and offer this 7200RPM drive as standard. Connectivity is handled by Realtek Gigabit and 802.11b/g/n wireless networking along with a Bluetooth 3.0-capable Ralink chipset. About the only complaint we really have on this front is the lack of a separate microphone jack, but that's relatively small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.
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Impulses - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
At the same time, this is cheaper than many tablets AND far more powerful and capable than just about any tablet... It may be anemic compared to a full fledged laptop, but you can get a lot more done on this than on a tablet. Frankly I think the market for this kinda system is larger than the market for tablets...IMO, the only people spending $500+ on a tablet are A) wealthy B) people who don't need an actual laptop for work/study C) people who have a big desktop replacement laptop and want something lighter to read, etc. It's just a total luxury item for someone that already has a smartphone and also needs a laptop.
Maybe I'm just blinded by my own usage habits, but I read a lot on my phone, and when I put it down it's because I want an actual keyboard (so I pick up my netbook), or I need an SD card slot or ample storage space, or I need to do stuff only my desktop can do (gaming, video editing/encoding, etc.). So a tablet's value to me would be pretty much limited to the couch, as a replacement for my phone when I'm watching TV, meh.
Powerlurker - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
Most people, especially if they don't have school-age children, don't use their home computer to do "work". They do their work on an employer provided computer at their place of employment. They use their home computer for general web-browsing/media consumption, email/IM/Skype, and casual gaming.Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
Have you heard of Tiny 7? It is a stripped down windows 7 install that fits on one CD. It uses 145MB of RAM. There are many different groups all simultaneously discovering that win7 need not take up much more space or resources than win xp. The UI can be changed pretty easily also. For example, icons can be blown up really big on Windows 7. It is just a matter of getting x86 tablets out there in quantity for cheap. (ie under $200). Once there is a good base of tablets, there would be a whole bunch of hacking and optimizing going on. The only reason it is not happening is because tablet manufacturers are all hellbent on 200%+ markup. There just is no market for $600-$800 tablets, except for dumb yuppies who all bought ipads already.Dex1701 - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
No offense, but a comment like that can only come from someone that values a sexy gee-whiz gadget over an actual portable computing device. Tablets are great fun and have their place, but if you actually want to get something done in an acceptable amount of time they don't work. Tablets = low-powered ultra-portable entertainment devices. They're great for some things, but if you want to be productive (even on a personal pursuit such as an artistic hobby) they're extremely limited even compared to a netbook.Does it really matter to you that much whether such a device is running MacOS, iOS, Linux, or Windows? Again, a comment like that can only come from someone that's more interested in image than results.
Griswold - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
I think you're late to reality.Atom based netbooks were useless for most work tasks. Same with pretty much all tablets. They're recreational devices, you cant do any meaningful work with it.
This puppy seems to fill the gap just fine.
Sabresiberian - Sunday, February 27, 2011 - link
Tablets are a fad - and talk about anaemic! As soon as people realize how good they look in commercials but how so-so they actually are to use compared to a netbbook or laptop, they'll die out.I've said it before - give me a tablet with a hard cover to protect the screen and a decent amount of storage, say 300GB. Oh, wait, that's a laptop, never mind. Or, give me a tablet I can stick in my pocket. Oh, that's a smart phone. I guess I didn't want a tablet computer after all.
Something about the tablet reminds me of the Etch A Sketch, not sure what . . .
;)
helboy - Thursday, March 10, 2011 - link
well IMO tablets are for ladies and people who dont like to get their hands dirty ;) ...Gigantopithecus - Monday, February 21, 2011 - link
Tablets are great for consumption but those of us who produce need a real keyboard, real hard drive, and not to mention, better connectivity than what's offered with the iPad at least.I'm waiting for the X120e (love the nipp...err, trackpoint), but I expect its performance will be similar.
One question, Dustin - is the mini-PCIe slot mSATA enabled? I.e. does it support Intel's Soda Creek SSDs?
zepi - Monday, February 21, 2011 - link
I believe that vast majority of computer users are consumers. Most people don't actively generate new content, they merely consume it.Thus, for most of the people tablet could very well be The Ideal computer.
I vaguely remember seeing stats that only 10-20% users actively produce content and that the rest of us just read it. I couldn't find it now, but I suppose that Anandtech forums / comments could be used a quick statistics...
I wonder how much pure readers does Anandtech have in comparison to users who actually participate in creation of the content? Though I suppose Anandtech is not the site whose users portray the Average Joe that accurately.
For the entire history of computing, computers have been generated by Creators for Creators. Tablet, feature rich home consoles and internet-enabled televisions might just be a start of an era where most devices are based around consuming content, instead of generating it.
This applies to Jarred's post also. Anandtech Crew is definitely in the subset of creators, which I believe to be a tiny minority of all people.
freezervv - Monday, February 21, 2011 - link
And you don't see anything wrong with converting the majority of people into consumers, rather than creators?