Ralink RT5390 wireless card in the Pavilion dm1z and WiFi on 5ghz

The HP Pavilion dm1z comes with a Ralink RT5390 wireless card. At least this is what the unit I bought comes with, I'm assuming most if not all customers will get this one too, http://www.ralinktech.com/product.php?s=22

It is single channel 1x1 and supports up to 72Mbps as well as supporting 802.11b/g/n.  It is not a dual channel card. It cannot connect to a 5Ghz WiFi network, only 2.4 GHz. I have a dual channel Cisco Linksys E4200 wireless router. I want to use WiFi n over 5GHz as this would be faster and offer less interference resulting in fewer lost or poor connections. But I cannot go 5GHz with the dm1z out of the box. It's unfortunate as 5GHz WiFi is becoming more common and will supplant 2.4 GHz eventually I'm sure. This does not impact my perception of the dm1z as I still like it a great deal and I do recommend it. For under $500 I know it cannot nail every feature I need now or may need/want in the future.

PC Magazine "The Top 10 Best Laptops", HP Pavilion dm1z made the list

Here's PCMag "Top 10 Best Laptops" available today (March 30, 2011):

• HP Pavilion dv6-6013cl
• Dell XPS 15 (Sandy Bridge)
• Lenovo ThinkPad X220
• Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt)
• Asus U41JF-A1
• HP Pavilion dm1z
• Sony VAIO VPC-Z1390X
• Toshiba Portege R705-P35
• Acer Aspire AS5745-7247
• Asus U45Jc-A1

There's been generally good reviews of the dm1z and my experience so far has been positive. Anyone looking for a new PC should compare your options like I did, this list of the top 10 laptops from PC Mag is of some benefit to review. I'm happy to see the dm1z made their list, it does deserve to be there.

Page Up, Page Down, Home, End Keys and the dm1z Keyboard

The HP Pavilion dm1z does not come with specific keys on its keyboard for Page Up, Page Down, Home, or End. Some reviews I read noted this as a negative. The equivalent actions can be obtained with the 'fn' plus the respective arrow key. So fn + up arrow is your Page Up.

Overall the keyboard is very good, it's full size and sturdy. Though not having the actual keys is a drag I accept certain compromises for a netbook so this isn't a big deal for me.

dm1z vs x120e - Raw Performance Numbers

Including some raw side by side performance numbers on the HP Pavilion dm1z and Lenovo ThinkPad x120e. The numbers were interesting because the dm1z generally beat the x120e on all tests though not by wide margins.  I wanted to see such numbers before making my buy decision to ensure there were no glaring performance issues between my two target systems. As it turned out this did not influence my decision to buy the dm1z over the x120e as performance wise they are essentially equal.

This table I got from the engadget review of the x120e (higher numbers better)

System	PCMarkVantage	3DMark06	Battery Life
Lenovo ThinkPad X120e	2465	2080	4:56
HP Pavilion dm1z	2510	2213	5:02

Side by side x120e and dm1z specs from PCWorld (weight, dimenstions, etc.)

More performance numbers in the table below from PCWorld. They did not have these tables side by side so I copied the data here for ease of comparison (not all the data, just some of the items that I care about the most). I'm assuming higer numbers are better though PCWorld didn't seem to give and info on what the numbers mean.

Performance	x120e	dm1z
Adobe Photoshop CS2	892	902
Autodesk 3ds max 8.0 SP-3 DirectX	634	617
Autodesk 3ds max 8.0 SP-3 Rendering	1502	1525
Battery Life (Video Playback in hh:mm)	5:26	6:41
Firefox 2	745	800
Microsoft Office 2003 with SP-1	531	539
Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9.0	458	466
Nero 7 Ultra Edition	329	359
Roxio VideoWave Movie Creator 1.5	379	384
Winzip Computing WinZip 10.0	441	457
WorldBench 6 Score	57	55
World Bench 6 Multitasking	863	900

HP Pavilion dm1z vs. ThinkPad x120e, why I chose the HP netbook

What other systems did I look at before settling on the HP Pavilion dm1z? My research brought up the Lenovo ThinkPad x120e. The x120e is nearly identical to the dm1z. Anyone looking for a system similar to my purchase criteria need only review these two systems as currently there are no other competitors in this space.

Reviews for the X120e are generally been excellent. They all highlight the traditionally great ThinkPad keyboard and pointer nub. The dm1z does not have a pointer nub.

So now I’ll detail why I went with the dm1z over the x120e.

The x120e looks impressive and it is I am sure. First thing is that the x120e pushes Windows 7 Professional. I decided that Windows 7 Pro offered me nothing I wanted over Windows 7 Home Premium so this was a non-factor for me. The only feature I may miss in Home Premium is that it does not offer Remote Desktop Host. Pro has Client and Host while Home has just RD Client. But I will never need to make my dm1z a host I’m almost certain and I read somewhere there’s a hack that allows you to make Home a RD Host anyway. So the x120e advantage here with the OS choice will not influence my decision.

You can see the feature differences between Widows 7 Home and Premium on Wikipedia.

I had already speced and priced out a dm1z configuration that met my criteria (the HP "Base Configuration" worked for me). Then on the Lenovo site I priced out a X120e that was identical to the dm1z Base Configuration. The cost came to $669.00. Way over my $500 limit (this limit was ‘all in’ including tax and shipping).

To hit my under $500 mark I had to do some options tweaking to x120e. I started with the $399 x120e Base Model on the Lenovo site which had these system components

• AMD Fusion Processor E-240 (1.5Ghz, 512KB L2, 1.0GHz FSB) 2.0GT/s
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
• 2 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 (1 DIMM)
• 250GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
• ThinkPad 1x1 b/g/n

So at $399 I had about $100 to spend on upgrades. Essentially I had to choose from a faster processor, bigger faster disk, more ram, and a 6 cell battery; critical factors for me. I think my ‘decent performance’ criteria would still be matched with the slower processor and slower/smaller hard disk so I left those as is. I need 5+ hours of battery life to hit my criteria so for $50 I upgrade the base to a 6 Cell Battery. But that’s it, all other options where $40 or $50 and with tax/ship that would take me over my $500 limit. There are coupons to get $30 (or a little more) off like I did for the HP so I could’ve bumped the RAM or got the faster HDD and still likely be under my $500 limit, albeit barely.

Now I have my configuration of the x120e and the dm1z that meet my new laptop purchase criteria and I can compare and choose:

• Processor: dm1z better (AMD 350 vs 340)
• RAM: Same (let’s assume I get the 3GB RAM and total right at $500)
• HDD: dm1z faster and bigger disk. I like the faster speed more than the size.
• OS: Same
• WiFi: Same [Not 100% true, see UPDATE #1 below]
• Bluetooth: dm1z has it, x120e in my config does not
• Screen: Same
• Battery Life: Essentially the same
• Weight: Same
• Size: Same
• Keyboard/Touchpad: x120e probably better keyboard and it has a nub pointer
• Price: dm1z cheaper by ~$50
• Intangibles: dm1z looks cooler on my coffee table

So with a $500 spend ceiling the dm1z has better specs and intangibles than the x120e and it’s cheaper. The slower processor in the x120e I had to choose to meet my criteria was a big factor. I don’t need a topped out system but the reviews say to go with the better processor. I could keep the RAM at 2GB and get the faster processor but that would lower my headroom for having open apps. I like to have many browser windows open and some apps up so more RAM won over the faster processor.
Reviews show the dm1z performance as perhaps slightly better than the x120e when they’re configured equally. The x120e keyboard and pointer nub would be nice have’s but these just are not major factors for me.

The engadget review of the x120e said it best, why spend more for the x120e when the dm1z is identical and cheaper.

So I didn’t, and I chose the dm1z with no regrets.

[UPDATE #1]
The dm1z Ralink RT5390 wireless adapter does not support 5GHz, it has a 1x1 2.4GHz card and HP currently offers no upgrade options on their online store. The x120e used to offer a 5GHz WiFi upgrade option for $20. However, it seems that the 2x2 option is no longer available although the x120e tech specs do list support for 2x2 while the dm1z tech specs do not (links to both the x120e and dm1z tech specs available from this page).

I mistakenly assumed 5GHz was supported on the dm1z. I would have still purchased the HP but you need to be aware of this dm1z limitation.

[UPDATE #2]
The Lenovo site is now selling a ThinkPad x120e with a configuration essentially identical to the HP dm1z Base Configuration (the one I chose) for $489.00; with NY tax (and free shipping) that would make it about $530. This is much better than the $669.00 price I was seeing a couple weeks back, but it's still over my $500 limit and nearly $100 more than an identical dm1z. It looks like Lenovo is more aggressively pricing the x120e to compete in the notbook category. This price change is good but I think dm1z is a better deal and perhaps even a better system.

Synaptics TouchPad Driver Update

The HP Support Assistant popped up to suggest I let the tool scan my system for updates. I said OK but chose the option to inform me and not to do automatic installs. It suggested I update the Synaptics TouchPad Driver. I said OK as I prefer my touchpad behave as optimally as possible. No restart was needed after the install though my touchpad froze for a few seconds. I'll have to see if Windows Update suggested this as an optional update. Not sure what I think of these corporate preinstalled apps running as a service. I'm still working to clean the system of unwanted/unneeded apps and services. This is one service I may disable.

Lots of bloatware comes preinstalled on the dm1z

Even though I've had the dm1z for a couple days now I have not had much time to configure it to a state I am happy with. I like to clean up a system and get it to a lean state before actually installing my productivity apps. Got to go through the Windows Update process of course and this always takes a while with a new system. Just finished the update to SP1, 'winver' from command prompt gives: "Windows 7 Home Premium. Version 6.1 (Build 7601: Service Pack 1).

This system comes with a lot of bloatware. I've started uninstalling it. Should've listed what I've uninstalled so far. Oh well, I'll start listing this now. Is there a history kept in Windows of what programs you've unistalled?

The Tech Report has a good page about the dm1z and its bloatware.

I could have bought a Windows 7 Recovery DVD

The HP site gives an option to purchase a Windows 7 Recovery DVD when you buy the dm1z at the HP.com store. It was $20. I went back to the site to see what options there were as you customize your unit. I must have opted not to buy it, figuring why pay $20 when I don't even have a DVD drive I can plug in to the unit. But I'm still without Windows 7 recovery media, still researching what my options are.

The HP Pavilion dm1z does not come with Windows 7 recovery media, what to do if I need to recover?

The HP Pavilion dm1z does not come with Windows recovery media, no CD/DVD/USB, what to do if I need to recover from a system or drive crash?

I'm asking, I actually don't know.  I didn't get an external optical drive with the unit, do you really even need one now?  I thought HP would provide a recovery USB drive. Something I'll research.

YouTube HP Pavilion dm1z Video Reviews that swayed me to select the HP Pavilion dm1z

MobileTechReview:

TechBargains

Reviews that swayed me to choose the HP dm1z

I did a lot of research before making my purchase of the HP Pavilion dm1z. Here are the articles that convinced the HP dm1z was a top contender. The engadget review had the most influence on me.

• HP Pavilion dm1z (with AMD Fusion) review
• HP Pavilion dm1z Review
• HP Pavilion dm1z
• Review: HP's Pavilion dm1z is a genuine netbook-killer
• Techbargains Review - HP dm1z Laptop

I just bought a HP Pavilion dm1z laptop PC as it easily met my minimum criteria

... and so far so good, I like the HP dm1z unit a lot.

I was looking for an ultraportable/netbook that had to meet these criteria:

• 5+ hours of battery life
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit (none of that starter junk)
• Under $500, and the lower the better
• 3.5 pounds or less
• Full size keyboard
• Good performance.

I'm flexible on many details but above is what I needed.

My research quickly revealed the HP Pavilion dm1z and Lenovo ThinkPad x120e as viable options. I chose the HP Pavilion dm1z "Base configuration" (product number XL303AV/dm1z-3000 variety). The list is $449.99, I bought it for $419.99 + tax = $458 (free delivery) at the HP.com store using coupon code "SAVE30HP" to get $30 off. Look for coupon codes on Google, they're out there, you might even find one worth more than $30. The base configuration met all my criteria so I bought it.

The HP Pavilion dm1z Base Configuration has:

• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• AMD Dual-Core Processor E-350 (1.6GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)+AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6310M Discrete-Class Graphics
• 3GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 320GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard, HP says up to 9.5 hours of battery life)
• 11.6" diagonal High Definition HP BrightView LED Display (1366 x 768)
• Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone
• 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)
• Standard Keyboard

You can top out the system with more RAM and an SSD to boost performance but I got the base for the cheaper price. The base unit had everything I was looking for so no need for extras.

I bought it on February 26th, got it delivered to me via FedEx on March 15th. HP estimated it would ship to me on March 17th and since I took the free shipping option that would take another 5-7 business days they said. I waited nearly 3 weeks but I feel like I got it early.