HP Pavilion dm4 (Intel Core i5 2540M processor 2.6GHz, 4GB RAM)

With the flood of Ultrabooks that's expected to enter the market this year, mainstream 13.3- and 14-inch laptops appear most vulnerable. Although they have been the workhorses of the industry due to their affordable prices, they don't look half as good as the sleek ultrathin laptops announced at CES last month. 

HP's Pavilion dm4 is an attempt to add some class to the mainstream notebook. With its compact footprint, refreshed Radeon graphics and Beats Audio with two subwoofers, at first glance, it may seem like a promising candidate. When upgraded to the higher-end configurations, the dm4 is certainly a solid performer, especially for productivity apps.

Unfortunately, the new Radeon graphics chip is disappointing and isn't much better than entry-level discrete graphics. While it's a step up from the integrated graphics on an Ultrabook, one is unlikely to play the latest games at acceptable settings in both cases. This narrows the advantages of the dm4 over an Ultrabook to a larger storage capacity and Beats Audio. 

As our review unit is sourced from the US, its configuration differs slightly from what you'll find in Asia. Based on HP's US Web site, a similar setup is estimated to cost at least US$1,065. Meanwhile, the price of the HP Pavilion dm4 starts from S$1,099 in Singapore.

Design

The HP Pavilion dm4 belongs to the recent breed of laptops which claim to fit a 14-inch notebook into a 13-inch chassis. What they really mean is that the footprint of the dm4 has been reduced. However, when we compare the specifications of the dm4 that was released in 2010 with the current version, there isn't much of a difference (341 by 228mm on the older model versus 338 by 225mm on the latest iteration).

Despite weighing 1.9kg, which is light for a 14-inch mainstream laptop, the dm4 has some way to go before it can challenge the slim Ultrabooks. Compared with these ultrathin laptops which measure less than 18mm, the thickest point on the wedge-shaped dm4 (32.3mm) hasn't changed from that on the 2010 model.

The plastic lid on our dm4 review unit comes in a dark shade (HP also offers a steel grey option), with a brushed aluminum layer on top. This layered design is repeated on the inside--the palmrest uses the same aluminum material, while the chassis underneath is plastic. This plastic chassis is rough to the touch and while we believe this may be intended to help you get a better grip on the laptop, it felt too much like sandpaper.

Perhaps we have been spoilt by the unibody chassis designs that are found on Ultrabooks, but compared with them, the dm4 felt creaky and less solid. 

Specifications	HP Pavilion dm4t-3001xx
Starting price	From US$1,065
Processor	2.8GHz Core i7 2640M processor
Memory	8GB, 1,333MHz DDR3
Hard drive	20GB SSD + 500GB, 7,200rpm HDD
Chipset	Intel HM67
Graphics	AMD Radeon HD 7470M 1GB
Operating system	Windows 7 Home Premium
Dimensions (W x D)	338 x 225mm
Height	32.3mm
Screen size (diagonal)	14 inches (1,600 x 900)
System weight (with AC adapter)	1.9kg
Category	Thin-and-light

The dm4 uses an island-style backlit keyboard favored by HP in recent times. It's slightly sunken into the chassis and showed little flex when tested. Functions such as volume and brightness controls are activated using the usual Function keys, and similar to Apple's laptops, you don't need to hit the "Fn" key together to enable them. The matte-plastic keys are quite resistant to fingerprint smudges and generally are of a good size. Our only complaint is that the Up and Down arrow keys are too small. 

As for the touchpad, it's a modest-sized multitouch-capable version with two distinct left and right buttons at the bottom. The typical multitouch gestures were supported and worked fine, but the small size of the touchpad meant that we used it mainly for horizontal and vertical scrolling.

Features

As mentioned earlier, this review laptop hails from the US, so there are some differences from the Asian version. For instance, the display on our unit is matte and it has a higher screen resolution of 1,600 x 900. Meanwhile, the glossy BrightView LED display found in this region will top out at 1,366 x 768. Although this resolution is typical for a 14-inch mainstream laptop, we feel that HP should offer the higher-resolution option here, too.

Also present on our souped-up review unit is a 20GB SSD that works together with the 7,200rpm HDD to improve system performance. This is done by caching frequently used apps and files and it is automatically managed by the Intel Smart Response technology supported on this laptop. According to HP, this SSD configuration is available in Japan and Korea.

Like many of its competitors, the HP Pavilion dm4 has a pair of USB 3.0 ports, located at the left-hand side. Other standard ports found on mainstream laptops are also present, such as Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI and VGA output. Some users may not be too pleased that HP has combined both the headphone and microphone jacks into a single jack. 

	HP Pavilion dm4	Average for category (thin-and-light)
Video	VGA-out, HDMI	VGA-out, HDMI or DVI
Audio	Headphone/microphone combo jack	Headphone/microphone jacks
Data	Two USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, SD card reader	Three USB 2.0, mini-FireWire, SD card reader
Networking	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional WWAN
Optical drive	DVD burner	DVD burner
Other features	Webcam	Webcam

Beats Audio is found on this laptop. If you're a big fan, HP is also offering a special Beats Audio edition of the Pavilion dm4 that comes with a red backlit keyboard and a huge Beats Audio logo on its matte black lid. As far as we can tell, the actual audio experience on this dm4 will be similar to that on the Beats Audio edition. Both models come with two small subwoofers at the front bottom. However, from our testing, you'll be better off using headphones, where Beats Audio is still superior to audio solutions on other mainstream laptops.

The dm4 also comes with a fingerprint reader. Together with the included software, you can use your fingerprint to log in securely to your online accounts. Other useful tools include the usual bunch of HP utilities that help users with their wireless connections or backup their hard drives. We also found Skype preinstalled along with a CyberLink Webcam program.

Other HP technologies found on this laptop are HP CoolSense, which automatically adjusts the laptop's cooling system to keep temperatures on the comfortable side, and HP ProtectSmart, which can detect when the notebook is falling from a height and subsequently park the hard drive head and save your data in order to minimize damage. It's not fool-proof, but we'll take anything for such situations.

Finally, those who are used to long-haul journeys and usually come prepared with spare laptop batteries will be pleased to know that the dm4 has a removable battery, along with the option for a more powerful nine-cell version, which should extend it the 4 hours of tested uptime by at least another hour.

	HP Pavilion dm4	Dell Inspiron 14R	Asus N45SF
Processor	2.8GHz, Core i7 processor	2.8GHz, Core i7 processor	2.3GHz, Core i5 processor
Graphics	AMD Radeon HD 7470M	AMD Radeon HD 6630M	Nvidia GeForce GT 555M
Video	VGA-out, HDMI	VGA-out, HDMI	VGA-out, HDMI
Audio	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone combo jack	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks
Data	Two USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, SD card reader	Two USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, one eSATA/USB, SD card reader	Two USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, SD card reader
Networking	Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi	Ethernet, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi	Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
Optical drive	DVD burner	DVD burner	DVD burner
Price	From US$1,065	S$1,299 (US$1,033)	S$1,298 (US$1,033)

As the HP Pavilion dm4 was only released late last year, it has the newer Radeon HD 7470M graphics. However, the Nvidia GeForce GT 555M found on the Asus N45SF should beat that easily, given that it's on the powerful side for midrange mobile graphics. Similarly, the Dell Inspiron 14R's Radeon HD 6630M should be slightly faster than the dm4. 

Performance And Battery Life

This HP Pavilion dm4 review unit comes with all the bells and whistles that you can configure at HP's Web site. While, it's a US set, the important components, however, should be available for the Asian version, such as the choice of processor and the option for the Radeon HD 7470M discrete graphics.

With the Core i7 2640M on the dm4, it managed a very good score of 2,873 in PCMark7, which is higher than many mainstream laptops. Much of the credit goes to Intel's Smart Response technology and the 20GB SSD on the dm4. This score is better than the 2,642 recorded by the HP Envy 15, which uses a slower 5,400rpm HDD. However, it's not as good as laptops with a proper SATA 3.0 SSD, such as the Asus Zenbook UX31E.

As for the rebadged Radeon HD 7470M graphics chip, it's not as fast as the Radeon HD 7690M on the Envy 15. It managed 694 in 3DMark11, significantly less than the 1,338 scored by the GeForce GT 555M on the Asus N45SF. It should be adequate for older games, but you're likely to have to lower the resolution settings and other graphical details for more modern games.

To test the six-cell, 55WHr battery on the dm4, we tried Futuremark's new Powermark benchmark. We chose the Balanced test, which splits the laptop usage evenly between Web browsing, word processing, video and gaming workloads. The dm4 was tested to have an uptime of 4 hours and 22 minutes. This was achieved with wireless connectivity (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) disabled.

Since this is the first time we are using this benchmark, we also put the dm4 through our older battery life test as an additional comparison. This involved looping a standard-definition video at 50 percent screen brightness and with the speakers muted. This HP laptop lasted 3 hours 20 minutes, which is slightly longer than its 14-inch rivals--the Dell Inspiron 14R (3 hours) and the Asus N45SF (3 hours 10 minutes).

Service And Support

HP includes an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the system. Support is accessible through a 24-7 toll-free phone line, a well-maintained online knowledge base and driver downloads.