Hi there, my name is Darren and I’m a nerd. I also happen to be invading your fine blog premises from HP’s thenextbench.com where they call me, “Blogger-in-Chief.” Nice to meet you! The AMD gang was kind enough to give a bit of Intertube bandwidth so that I can share with you a recent trip I undertook in the name of work.

You see, the new HP Pavilion dm1 test unit that I just “borrowed” from the HP labs is said to last around 10 hours on a single charge and has optional GPS built-in. It’s got a 250GB HDD and enough AMD Fusion horsepower on-board for me to get 1080p video on-the-go. It’s almost a nine hour drive to Vegas from HP’s Cupertino offices. I think you can see where I’m going with this.

Mark Budgell, My bloggy partner in crime, and I had a mission: See how much mileage we can get out of the dm1. It would be our portable entertainment center for the next 9-or-so-hours, barring odd roadside pit stops as we make the annual Mecca to Las Vegas for the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show. Or, as I like to call it, “Nerdvana” ™.

In the getaway car, along with the dm1, some additional techno-loot. We grabbed the newest Envy 17 3D (which sports an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 GPU). You know, in case I wanted to log onto World of Warcraft: Cataclysm for part of the drive. Pro Tip: Don’t raid and drive. It’s against the laws of Azeroth.

If you’re so inclined to read on about our (mis)adventures and experiences “field testing” the new dm1, by all means, click here and come along for the ride!

A total aside: While I am happily married to a non-geek, I’m more than a little curious to see if anyone will be following Leslie’s semi-accurate — but helpful — geek mating tips during Nerdvana 2011. (Leslie: What the heck is wrong with ironic T-shirts based on Tron? Answer: Nothing!)

Darren Gladstone (@GizmoGladstone) is the “Blogger-in-Chief” of HP’s TheNextBench.com. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.