Some more bipolar news – the keyboard is wonderful. Definitely one of the better ones of its class. It provides plenty of well-spaced keys for your fingers to bounce off, and allows for faster typing speeds with fewer mistakes. But these big keys come at the expense of the very shrunken arrow keys. Not so fun. Plus the keys are not backlit.

Unfortunately, the touchpad, simply put, sucks. The surface is simply too glassy, picking up smudges quickly. Despite its very glossy feel, the damn cursor was stuck every other second, and required many attempts to move it. It was more like battling for control of the cursor than using a touchpad. This is definitely a try-before-you-buy deal.

The HP Pavilion dm3t’s 13.3” glossy display has roughly the same amount of pixels as just about any other ultrathin around (1366 x 768). It provides a wonderful view when browsing the net and doing other day-to-day things, but I did have to tilt the screen back quite a bit when using it in my lap. It’s low-light performance is wonderful. The sound was nice, but the higher the volume goes, the more distorted the sound becomes. Not a good sign. However, the sound was plenty loud at only 3/4 the max volume. Songs play well, as do shows.

On the left side of this model, you can find the ethernet, power jack, HDMI, VA, 2 USBs, and a five in one memory card reader. Plus, let’s not forget, the headphone and mic jacks. Opposite of that, you’ll find the kensignton lock slot, 2 more USB ports, and a Wi-Fi off/on button (as well as the power switch). Quite a nice set up, I think.

All in all, I have to say my experience with the HP Pavilion dm3t was pretty nice. While it’s not my favorite, I wouldn’t mind owning one. They’re compact and function well. They’re pretty good little notebooks, and I would recommend them to a friend. They’re just also a notebook that I would strongly recommend you try before buying.