HP dm1z: Taking Fusion on the Road
by Dustin Sklavos on February 21, 2011 7:00 PM ESTAnother Mediocre Netbook Screen
Subjectively at least, the screen on the HP dm1z is usable if uninspiring. 1366x768 should really be the minimum resolution at this point to get any kind of work done, and it at least looks reasonable on an 11.6" screen (as opposed to feeling borderline inexcusable on anything from about 14" on up). That said, HP had to cut a corner somewhere on the dm1z's otherwise excellent design, so we present to you: The Cut Corner.
Well, that's unfortunate. The screen is reasonably bright, but everything else is pretty poor. Our reigning champion of "worst screen we've reviewed recently" is probably still the Gateway ID49C, but the dm1z gives it a run for its money. If there's one silver lining here, it's that viewing angles for the dm1z are at least decent: there isn't a massive fight to try and find the sweet spot as there can be on larger screens.
Viewing angle photos can be problematic, but hopefully this gives you a reasonable idea of what you can expect from the dm1z's screen. In general use it shouldn't be a problem and the hinges HP employs allow a very healthy amount of tilt (the screen can actually go back nearly 180 degrees), so you're really just left with mediocre color and contrast.
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ganeshts - Monday, February 21, 2011 - link
Not only is AMD late to the party, it is trying to come in after closing time!With the tablet craze about to take off following the year of the iPad, I am not even sure people want to throw away their money on anything so anaemic and running Windows...
JarredWalton - Monday, February 21, 2011 - link
Boo! Down with the naysayers! I'm honestly not really interested in tablets. They're fun gadgets to show things to people, but typing on them sucks. Add a separate keyboard, and now you're lugging around a laptop equivalent (that's still slower than any netbook, only with a somewhat optimized OS).Brazos finally makes netbooks viable as an overall computing platform. 7+ hours of battery life, performance that's substantially better than Atom (particular Atom on its own), and a reasonable cost. Maybe you'll get some decent HTPC setups with Brazos now... though honestly, I think for serious HTPC stuff like you test, you'll need something clocked quite a bit higher than the E-350's 1.6GHz.
StevoLincolnite - Monday, February 21, 2011 - link
I concur, I'm not interested in tablets running a mobile OS and ARM either.I've actually got myself a convertible netbook running Windows 7, I use it more in a laptop mode than a tablet mode.
I've got friends with an iPad and they say crazy things like: "It's changed my life!" (Really? It's just an over-sized iPod.)
The annoying part about Tablets I find is how bloody awkward they are to hold when you are sitting at something like a table where they can't hold themselves up and typing is well... Slow.
I say bring on Fusion, more performance at the low end is a good thing, just wish these manufacturers would start putting decent screens in mobile PC's.
mgl888 - Monday, February 21, 2011 - link
+1Tablets feel more like amusement devices at the moment. Without a keyboard and your standard applications, you really can't get much "work" done.
Rick83 - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
A 5 inch tablet is so much more carryable and hence useable than a netbook, it's not even funny. The only netbook that really is worth any consideration is the insanely priced sony Z/V/P? series...the one with the 1600x768 screen.Cheap computing isn't really worth the trouble...
And as long as I need a separate bag to carry my on-the-go computer, it's really a no-go.
Visual - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
Eh? A 5 inch tablet is almost insignificantly more usable than my 4 inch phone. It is redundant.Rick83 - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
Actually, 5 inch is quite a bit larger than the 4" phone. It is the largest universally pocketable size I found, and I actually have a non-smart-phone (S40 based) so that some software issue won't shut me out from telephony (bodged firmware update still did exactly that even on the S40....) and so that I wont have to hold a giant screen thing to my ear, and have access to my organizer/internet while on the phone....Plus, my 5" tablet has suport for keyboard via bluetooth or usb, it has a mini-hdmi output which goes up to 720p, all of which is quite hard to find on a 4" phone.
And the screen surface is almost 50% larger. (20% in the diagonal should be 44% of the area) This makes reading much more comfortable. Also, the relaxed size and lack of 3G allow a higher power envelope for the SoC resulting in better performance.
acsa - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
Amusement? It is very annoying to hold a tablet all the time during playing, movie watching, browsing, reading while sitting on any comfortable furniture. Even a 5 lbs brick on the lap is better. But even for sharing anything with others (also working thogether), while sitting at a desktop, a "standing-up" netbook/notebook is still much more comfortable. Of course, the are specific areas where the interface itself is very useful but at recent stage of software services I don't see many. And partial it is useful for portability if you have a lot of other luggage always carrying with you by foot. But that's again rare. Maybe where lack of cars and public transport is significant ;)FunBunny2 - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
Until "pickable" apps are written for tablets, they won't really do much. The issue is whether developers will figure out how to data model "pickable" apps. RDBMS will do that, but most developers aren't smart enough.Powerlurker - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
That's probably true, but I don't see how that's too big of a problem. Most consumers don't go home and type reports in their free time.