HP Pavilion dm1z Refresh, Now with AMD Dual-Core Processor E-450+

HP refreshed the dm1z a couple months ago. The biggest changes are new processor options, namely the AMD Dual-Core Processor E-450+ and a Intel ULV Core i3 option. The initial dm1z used AMD's first Fusion APUs, the E-350 (1.6GHz) while the latest uses the E-450 (1.65GHz).

With the new processors come a boost in performance though the reviews state the gains are small. The look and feel (literally) has been refreshed as the outside has been rubberized and has more a black look over the original's silver. The click pad has been replaced with separate mouse buttons and Beats Audio is included. HP also eliminated programs from the startup menu to speed up boot times.

Incredibly the updated dm1z does not come with wireless N that supports a 5Ghz channel. It's still only compatible up to a 2.4Ghz channel. WTF HP?

The price for a comparable model to what I purchased is more but by less than 10% and the free RAM upgrade is now to 4GB (was 3GB). The 320GB 7200 RPM option does not seem to be available anymore so the cheapest 7200 rpm option is the 500GB drive. There is a 320GB 5400 rpm drive option that you can choose and save $45. The Intel CPU option seems to not be available on the shopping.hp.com HP site but I've read that the Intel option adds $100 or more to the price.

The unit I priced out was $469.99. I went with the "Recommended configuration" from the shopping.hp.com site but I chose the 450 processor (the HP recommended configuration had the 300 for some reason). I applied coupon code SAVE25HP to save $25 and got the price to $444.99. With NY tax that would be $484.48. Free standard shipping is still included. I paid $458 for my dm1z-3000 unit almost a year ago. For less than $30 additional you get largely the same unit but with 1GB more RAM, more disk, and a CPU performance boost (albeit fairly negligible) among a couple other enhancements, not too bad.

Some reviews of the dm1z refresh:

• Hands On: HP Pavilion dm1z (E-450) [PCMag.com]
• HP refreshes the Pavilion dm1 with a new design, optional Intel ULV Core i3 CPU (video) [engadget.com]
• HP Pavilion dm1z (fall 2011) [CNET.com]
• HP Pavilion dm1 hands-on (late 2011) (picture gallery) [engadget.com]

YouTube dm1z refresh video "Hands-On: New HP Pavilion dm1 with AMD E-450 APU":