 Juice box |
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| HP Pavilion dm4-3090se | Average watts per hour | ||
| Off (60 percent) | 0.45 | ||
| Sleep (10 percent) | 0.86 | ||
| Idle (25 percent) | 6.86 | ||
| Load (5 percent) | 48.62 | ||
| Raw kWh | 39.44 | ||
| Annual power consumption cost | $4.48 | ||
Battery life on the HP dm4 Beats Edition was average. In our video playback battery drain test, the system ran for 4 hours and 17 minutes. That's certainly acceptable for a midsize laptop, but many other laptops in the category ran 30 to 60 minutes longer.
HP includes a one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the Pavilion dm4 (Envy laptops start with a two-year plan). There are, of course, many upgrade options available, from $229 for two years of in-home service and accidental damage protection to $329 for three years of the same. HP's service and support tools are perfectly navigable, and product manuals and software and driver downloads were easy to find. The 24-7 toll-free number can be tricky to spot, however. It's 800-474-6836.
The HP Pavilion dm4-3090se Beats Edition is an impressive-looking laptop with features you can't find in other midprice, midsize systems. But the additional investment to trade up the higher-end Envy line is between $150 and $200, which includes all-metal construction, discrete graphics, and even double the warranty coverage, making it a tough call unless you're very intent on making a smaller initial investment.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Find out more about how we test laptops.
System configurations
HP Pavilion dm4-3090se
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-2450M; 6GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 3000; 520GB Intel 7,200rpm
Dell Inspiron N411z
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 3000; 750GB Western Digital 7,200rpm
Samsung QX411-W01
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-2430M; 6GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated) Intel GMA HD; 640GB Seagate 5,400rpm
Gateway ID47H02u
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated) Intel GMA HD; 500GB Western Digital 5,400rpm
Lenovo Essential B470
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce 410M; 500GB Seagate 5,400rpm
