Hey Prole, do you think Sacred 2 would run well enough on the DM1Z?
I never did talk about the Pavilion DM1Z. Got it last Tuesday and spent most of the "setup" time removing HP's wide array of bloatware. They really pack their PCs full of crap, although there are supposed to be a few things that work well. Fences has gotten some praise, but I see no reason to use it with everything I need pinned to the taskbar and in the Start menu. There's also HP's media suite, which I am going to try first, but will likely end up ditching too.
For about a year now, I was using an HP Mini 311 as my sole computer. I don't need a lot power and am very much a casual PC user. It was a powerful netbook when it came out, and did just about everything I wanted it to, but I felt like I needed an upgrade; running multiple applications at once was definitely slowing things down. I thought about saving up more and getting an Alienware MX11 (one of the quad core models, not the older dual core version), but decided to wait since I have read that there is a bad hinge issue with the current models. I have owned an Alienware laptop in the past, and did not have the most favorable experience with their customer support after they were bought out by Dell, so no thanks. The MacBook Airs are very slick, but I didn't want to spend that much for Apple's version of a netbook.
So I looked to HP again. The Pavilion DM1Z has been getting a ton of favorable reviews, and has been said to pack a lot of power for a machine with its size/specs. HP had a deal going for $100 off order from their site, plus there was an additional coupon code I found for another $30 off. I opted to pay for the faster two-day shipping ($40!), so including that and another $40 for tax, the configuration I got came out to around $530. The only thing I changed from the base model was bumping the RAM up from 3GB to 4GB. It's the same compact size as the Mini 311, but twice as powerful, if not more so. It has the same 1366x768 screen, HDMI-out, and three USB 2.0 ports. I don't know if this is part of a deal that was going on, but the stock HD is 320GB 7200 RPM, up from the Mini 311's 120GB HD. The keyboard is MUCH better now, and the trackpad has been improved a bit, too.
I still need to mess around with the laptop some more before laying down
final judgment. Plus due to a STEAM screw-up, I had to reformat and start over again yesterday...when STEAM says that an update to the GPU is available, don't take it. Lesson learned!
I'm having no problems multitasking. Applications are loading up faster. The Mini 311 would sometimes freeze up for a minute when I was doing a lot of stuff on it, and that hasn't happened on the DM1Z.
Games definitely run better on here...Dragon Age wasn't playable on the Mini 311 (too choppy, although I was running Win7 on it, and you do get better performance with XP+overclocking), but it runs smoothly enough at low settings on the DM1Z, and is even playable at higher settings, albeit at a low frame rate. Doesn't seem to matter much in this game though, and I find it playable enough that I'm going to play it on PC over the 360 version (I prefer the PC version's controls/interface and overhead camera). I'm not much of a PC gamer, but I also tried CoD4 and it ran extremely well on lower settings, although I was unable to try it out online...there's some issue with playing the game from Steam and using Punkbuster. I tried some of the workarounds, but was unable to get any servers to come up.
I also tried Monday Night Combat, which was playable, but a bit choppy at times. I'm also going to load Fallout 3 GOTY Edition on here...it was playable on the Mini 311, so I expect to be able to run it at a higher framerate and with more detail. The only other game I tried was Outrun 2006 Coast2Coast, which ran perfectly.
I'm not much of a PC gamer, but it is nice to be able to play more-recent games on this thing. I suspect I will really just end up using MAME and maybe GGPO, since consoles and handhelds are enough for me.
The only disappointment with the DM1Z I have found is with 1080P video. I typically just watch 720P anyway, but the DM1Z is touted as being able to play 1080P smoothly. I tried a blu-ray rip (.MKV) and found that it stuttered every minute or so. Maybe there's an update I still need to try. Youtube 1080P was buttery-smooth, but the Mini 311 could handle that too.
Oh, and I have had to install Dragon-Age FOUR times now.
That's 100GB downloaded in just a few days! I kept getting an issue with the Ultimate Edition DLC not being recognized, followed the steps to patch it, and then the patches would screw the game up and I'd have to reinstall. It finally worked on the third try, but then I had to reformat, so I had to download it again last night. Hope it's okay this time too!
Left = Mini 311, Right = DM1Z
