Design
When HP was designing the dm3-1011tu, it's obvious the company had one goal in mind — to make an ultraportable as sleek as possible. Weighing in at 1.9kg and less than 1 inch thin with the lid closed, the dm3-1011tu is well suited if you're after an ultraportable notebook that has style to boot.
The 13.3-inch glossy widescreen LED supports a maximum resolution of 1366x768. The hinge of the screen, as well as the overall build quality of the notebook, is solid — a good sign for an ultraportable notebook.
The keyboard of the dm3-1011tu looks very similar to that found on Apple's range of MacBooks, where the keys are embedded into the casing of the notebook. Due to the size of the notebook, HP has dropped the in-built numpad, and the size of the up and down arrow keys has been split in half.
The mouse buttons aren't as soft to the touch as we would have liked, and does feel a tad sticky when in use. The multi-touch trackpad, coated in a fingerprint attracting glossy silver, can be frustrating to get used to if you aren't too familiar with the finger gestures to scroll and re-size windows. But to save your sanity, there's always the tried and true method of using your index fingers.
Features
The 32-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium Edition is the operating system of choice for the dm3-1011tu. HP has strangely decided to install 4GB of DDR3, meaning that 1GB will go to waste, as only 3GB will be detected.
In keeping with the ultraportable angle, an Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) SU7300 processor running at 1.3GHz is installed, while video processing is handled by Intel's GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics.
Due to space restrictions an optical drive is missing, but there are four USB ports should you feel the need to invest in an external optical drive. Other connectivity options come in the form of a multi-card reader, VGA connector, a HDMI connector, a 10/100Mb Ethernet port and Intel 5300 802.11n wireless LAN.
Unfortunately, HP's pre-installed trialware version of Norton Internet Security loves constantly letting you know that it's looking for a special place on the 320GB hard drive. Another annoying piece of software that's managed to find itself onto the dm3-1011tu is HP's Media Dock which sits on your Windows desktop. It functions similar to the media hotkeys found on many other notebooks and gives you quick access to your media, as well as HP's Advisor if you need help with configuring your system.
Performance
The battery lasted for just over a respectable three hours and 42 minutes while playing our XviD encoded test video on the Maximum Performance profile with brightness and volume pushed to the limit.
Running 3DMark06 on default settings resulted in a paltry score of just 792, which was really no surprise on a notebook such as this. The combination of the ULV processor and the integrated graphics restrict what you can do, but it's the price you pay for portability. PCMark05 sadly refused to run.
With a feature set that is aimed at maximising battery life and portability, the dm3-1011tu is a stylish and competent ultraportable for those constantly on the go. While it's not going to set the world on fire with its feature set, it's perfect for those that can't get enough of the brushed aluminium look.
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