M50Sv: Review & Owners' Lounge

The optical drive is an LG (model: GSA-T20N). The vista drivers that came with your laptop should work on XP too.

 

I agree. I'll definitely do that. Thank you.

 

Thanks. I was referring to the three folder name that is in the Asus driver CD. Maybe LG is the one that I'm forgetting...

 

I think I've made up my mind and choosing this model for my first laptop. My only question is: is a laptop cooler required?

I know I'll be playing games or doing heavy graphics related work on it and heat is a concern.

 

Hi ilovemy_e34,
May I ask where did you download the ITE driver for XP? I tried all of them on Asus website but non of them works on XP so can you please tell where you found the driver? thanks a lot in advance.

Probably don't need it, M50SV is one of the coolest and quietest Asus notebook.

 

I already asked Ken if they will carry the M50SA at GentechPC because I much much prefer to buy from a reseller like Ken where if the unit ever has any problems I know I am taken care of (especially since the M50Sa right now has like no real life information other than specs so we have no idea how hot it runs, noise ect) but you missed another fact about the M50Sa is that it also has a higher screen resolution, that is the main reason I would want that one over the M50SV, you can always upgrade ram or the HDD if it was important enough but the screen your pretty much stuck with.

The higher M70 model will be coming with a full 1920x1200 resolution! HD goodness.

 

Ahh... how can i miss that! Yes, the 1650x1050 screen will surely make the extra $150 worth while for those needing more screen real estate and larger HDD. I also agree with getting any Asus laptop through a reputable reseller like gentech.

 

Why doesn't anyone buy M50SV-B1?? am I the only one? I sacrificed the processor speed for blue ray drive because I wanted to experience "HD" to catch up with modern tech. hahaha.. and blue ray won the format war.. and M50 comes with HDMI cable so I can hook it up to a HD TV in the future.. when I have a real job.

did any one try blue ray on M50sv-b1? how's the quality? i'm wondering its quality vs regular dvds. BTW I'm getting mine tomorrow from Ken and Gentechpc.

 

At this site you can have a choice of upgrading the resolution from WXGA+ to WSXGA+ or WUXGA.

I don't know how thats possible, can someone care to explain?

It looks like a sweet upgrade though, I'm considering getting it.

 

I bought the a1 because of the processor, and am planning on just buying an external blu-ray drive. That way I can use it on all my computers, and not just the laptop.

 

Update:

Within the CD Rom folder of the Asus Driver CD, there are 3 folders. One to MKE, one to Toshiba and one to Teac. Nothing regarding LG...

Seems like the computer will freeze most of the time when the Multi Drive spins up to read the information from the disc.

 

Well I'll be honest Id rather have the faster cpu since everything I do uses the cpu, while very rarley would I need blue-ray. I wont go spend the $$$ on movies and right now I think its still just as cheap to buy external hdd's for storage as it is to store it on a ray disk.

However there is bound to be somebody in your shoes and thats the whole reason they made the B2 model available. It will work very nice with HDMI to a HD TV or larger monitor.

 

They must have the materials and know-how to change out the stock display with a 3rd party one. I am almost 100% sure the replacement screen is not an Asus one because I looked at the site and it says Matte screens, while all of the Asus panels have been glossy for quite awhile now, plus they dont even make a 1920x1200 15" screen for any model that I am aware of (alienware does, but nobody likes it)

 

Hmm, I'd like to know more about the materials they use and if they are reliable. And yeah I seen that they were Matte screens too, and now I'm confused as to what I would like better >.<

 

I'm thinking along the same line. Since gaming performance is usually limited by the GPU. I wonder how much of a difference I'll see in games with the slower processor in the B1? If the difference is not that big, then I would probably get the B1 for the Blu-ray.

 

New questions for the retailers.

Is it easy to replace the optical drive on the M50? If so will any one be stocking Blu-ray drives as an upgrade for the A1 in the near future? If it can be easily done, I'll probably get the A1 now and then upgrade the optical drive to Blu-ray when I replace my current monitor with one that is HDCP (already have a PS3 on my HDTV).

 

Optical drive is very easy to replace, just remove 2 screws from the bottom of the notebook and you can pull out the drive, also replace optical drive does not void Asus warranty.

 

Im disappointed they didnt opt for a slot load. Im rapidly coming to the conclusion that pop out drives are rickety ugly things, and something of an anachronism amongst all the style. Id have expected them to be the laptop equivalent of wired controllers on a console, just so last gen.

 

Slot load is fun until you need to stick in a 3" disc. (like from a Disc based camcorder).

 

Thanks for the info, Looks like the A1 will be the way to go and then I can swap in a BD drive later. Wonder if any retailer will be carrying the BD drive as acessory or knows how much the BD unit in the B1 will cost if you order it as a replacement from ASUS?

 

Could anyone compare the screen from the MS50SV with the screen from the F3's?

The F3SG is the only Asus Ive been able to get my hands on in a store and would like to know if thats representative, or better than whats used on this one.

 

Asus has one, it's a Blue-Ray burner for C90S but it'll also work for M50SV and any other notebooks using slim drive except the notebooks that has ultra slim drive slot. But the one Asus selling is very expensive, I suggest you wait for the price drop by the end of this year.

 

Is there microphones on both the inside and outside of the M50Sv? Because I'm seeing a hole on the cover next to the camera but I can't find anyone mention it, this would be a good design choice btw with recording in classes and such.

 

Hey Bunsie. i've been reading the threads n i understand you'll be going for the M50sv. May i know where you will be buying your's from? I'm currently based in Sgpore but will be going to back to Perth this June. Would you happen to know if they sell the M50sv there in Perth? if yes, how much does it cost there?

 

Well I'm not too sure of who I will buy it off, but it will have to be from Australia. The prices don't vary that much here, they are all around ~$1800 give or take around $50. I'm still looking for the better deal, try and search in staticICE, its a really comprehensive tech search basing all results from Australian sellers. Just look for a seller tagged with WA and see if they are in Perth, being the capital of WA I'm guessing they would have a nice number of sellers so good luck with your search! And tell me if you happen to find the better deal ok. ^_^

What are the prices in Singapore btw? I'm not to educated with the laptop market over there.

 

It's way overpriced here in Sgpore. for example the F8sn with the T9300 processor is being sold at around the SG$2400-2500 which is around AUS$1935 or US$1800. They don't sell the M50sv model here in Singapore which is why i have to resolve to buying it overseas. I checked the site you mentioned and the cheapest M50sv in WA seems to be priced at AUS$1871. Its still cheaper than the F8sn sold in Sgpore. I mailed a few of the US online stores like excaliberpc to check with them

 

You see, my original plan was to buy from EXcaliberPC, though I didn't take in account the duty fees and stuff that you have to pay upon importation. The price after all those fees where accounted for was around $100+ upon what I would pay here in Australia. I was like DAMNIT!!

Buying from the US, I would have had to get a power plug adapter also, from US -> AUS, and that would have been troublesome for me so buying locally will be ultimately better for me. Oh the M50Sv's here all come with Vista Ultimate which is cool.

Oh you should check with your customs fees for Singapore, they might be considerably less than Australia's so the option to buy from the US online could be cheaper for you. You can usually find the customs jargon somewhere on your governments public site.

 

if you're in the nyc area jandr will have the M50 in stock soon, it says coming soon on their site, then you can compare to the other asus and other newer laptops, then order from an online retailer

 

So I installed XP with SP3 slipstreamed. Everything went fine EXCEPT i can't seem to get the sound card drivers to install. I downloaded Realtek 1.9, rebooted, then picked out the PCI device from device manager. When I tell windows to install the driver automatically, it instantly tells me "cannot Install this Hardware" "The hardware was not installed because the wizard cannot find the necessary software".

It's like it doesn't even search, it just gives me this error. When I tell the wizard to install from a specific location (C:\Program Files\Realtek\Audio\InstallShield) then it tells me the same thing.

Someone help!!! I want to watch Bluerays!!!

 

also, has anybody gotten the media mode to work for the touchpad under xp??

 

Yes, it works perfectly. Make sure you use the drivers from the CD (ie Vista drivers). Ironically, XP drivers from the synaptics website won't work. After you install the driver, go to your mouse settings in your control panel and select the Device Settings tab -> Settings -> Tapping -> enable tapping and enable tap zones.

Yes, there's a microphone on the immediate left of the camera and a microphone input jack on the right of the laptop. It's quite effective and convenient, especially when you're video chatting.

 

Hmmm.. how does this thing perform as a Blu-ray disc player when hooked up to a big screen?

 

Just install the provided Asus DVD (Win DVD) software and play the movie.

 

Is this a good notebook to take to class - is it quiet? And how much is the battery life?

Thanks

 

Hey good question! People say its one of the quietest ASUS laptops around!

 

I take mine to class, and you wouldn't even know it was on, unless you were looking at my screen. The only noise I ever hear from it is when I am using the dvd drive, and even then, you have to be really close to the laptop to hear that.

 

Battery life is probably pretty bad like all newer ASUS notebooks, but I'm sure that's been mentioned before.

 

According to mine in battery saving mode, with a 9 cell, it says I have 3 hours and 45 minutes. I usually get about 3 hours and 15 minutes avg. I also have the 6 cell as backup, so I can go over 5 hours if needs be.

 

That would mean roughly 2:30 out of a 6-cell, which is pretty much the ASUS standard.

 

hey ken - did you see my previous post about the sound card? i put up a big picture - see page 33. could there be a problem with pci driver???

 

The PCI device may not be the sound card, how about Bluetooth? is Bluetooth already installed?

Just right click that PCI Device and click properties and then click Details tab, select hardware ID to find out what that is.

 

I love mine. It's quiet and I've, so far, played Call of Duty 4 for 2 hours straight and it hasn't run hot one bit.

I'm VERY impressed.

I'd have to say the best thing about this notebook is the lack of lag when I open Photoshop! Zomg! No lag when creating art is great!

 

hey ken - hardware id says:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_284B&SUBSYS_17631043&REV_03
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_284B&SUBSYS_17631043
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_284B&CC_040300
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_284B&CC_0403

I have the bluetooth installed already. this is the same thing i emailed you about (from [email protected])

 

So you try to install the driver from the device manager, it probably won't work that way since the UAA driver needs to be install first. try run the setup file from the Realtec Audio driver and it'll install UAA first then install the driver.

 

Make sure when you uninstall the driver from your device manager, AND uninstall the synaptics program from your add/remove programs folder too. Then you should install the driver on the CD. Try reinstalling it again to see if this will work
There isn't a hotkey that will activate the multimedia mode.
Btw, what version is your driver on the CD? I have the 10.1.6ver.

 

hey kids the newbie figured it out! had to install hotfix KB835221 due to SP3

 

thanks man - that worked. using 10.1.6 as well - just had to uninstall the program file and the driver. that was a little tricky navigating after the reboot with no touchpad - hehe had to use the ol brain's memory card for that one.

now if only i could get the fingerprint reader and IR to work... anybody get the fingerprint reader to work under xp???

 

i get about 2:10 out of mine under normal / non gaming use with the standard 6 cell. this laptop is pretty sweet for those looking. plus the numeric keypad rocks esp. if you're a poker player. all of these shortcut keys are a great bonus as well.

and be sure to order from ken with gentech (1toppc.com) his price is the lowest and their service is unparalleled. they actually answer their phones and will help you with all questions before and after your purchase!!

 

can't wait to get my M50sv-A1. i ordered from Excaliberpc.com. Just hope the fact that mine is an international order to Singapore won't give much problem. Plus does anyone happen to know anything about custom/tax fees etc for importing notebooks into Singapore?