ASUS M3000-N

Hello,

Im considering buying this notebook. I have read a bunch of reviews online etc. but have not been able to find many reviews written by people who own one of these. I would like someones opinion on this notebook and its dvd playback. I have heard that it can tend to stammer through a dvd and not provide smooth playback due to the not so great integrated video.

Any info appreciated.

The Trendwhore

 

i just recently built one laptop using this.

Here's the price breakdown

Barebone m3000n - $540 (no cpu, hdd, ram, wifi, but comes with a combo drive)
pentium-m 1.3ghz -$88 pulled from a dell machine
512mb ddr pc2700 -$69
40g 5400rpm hdd - $120
total is around usd817

i still have time to really play with it, however, i did run a superpi test, for 1M, it finished at 1 minute 13 second, which is quite good (of course can't compare with my OC'ed mobile barton @ 2.4ghz)

however, i'm still trying to figure out how to remove the keyboard so that i can locate the 2nd memory slot and also the mini pci slot.

i'll post some pics after completely built it.

 

That would be great if you could post some picures of it. Where did you purchase all the components from? Looks like you got a really good deal.

 

mostly from newegg.com and the processor was from ebay. Sorry i still havent' have time to post the pic but will do it hopefully by next week

 

hey i would like to know if the asus line of laptops
excluding m6n, the m5n, the m3n, whether the intel extreme graphics 855 embedded graphics cards allows dual indepednatn display?

(laptop display + external display lcd)

 

From the Intel web site, here are the Intel® Extreme Graphics 2 Specifications !
http://www.intel.com/design/graphics2/
DirectShow*/DirectVA*
Hardware motion compensation support for DVD playback
4x2 overlay filter
350 MHz DAC frequency
Maximum DVO pixel rate of up to 330MP/s
Flat panel monitors and TV-out support via AGP Digital Display (ADD) cards
350 MHz DAC for 1800x1440 @ 85Hz max CRT resolution or 2048x1536@60Hz max FP resolution
Synchronous display for dual monitor capabilities
350MHz RAMDAC for up to QXGA analog monitor support
Dual DVO ports for up to QXGA digital display support
Multiple display types (LVDS, DVI, TV-out, CRT)

From this and my experiance this is possible to have dual display, but I've only ever done this in clone mode (eg when giving presentations), but I assume that extended mode would also be possible.
Hope this is what you were after!
a
[ ]

 

yehhh but clone mode in which computer.. yeh i want the extended mode just like how u can do it with the radeon 9xxx series cards on the otehr laptops
just need a confirmation for that for the m5n /


it shoudl be dual view.. otehrwise it woudl suck!

 

??? clone mode means same display on lappie and your secondary monitor??? So I'm not quite sure what your asking here.

As for extendend mode I will check on my M2N once I get a chance to kick my wife of it.

a

 

Just tested and yes extended mode is possible with Intel Extreme graphics 2. That is you can extend the desktop to a second monitor.
a
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like u know how radeon or matrox cards do extended mode
just basic multimonitoring

so intel graphics chip acts as dual independant extended display (windows recognize "two cards")

anyhow pretty sure it's good extended mode not one long stretched desktop

anyhow does your M2N, or does anbyody know if the M3N, M5Nhave tv out?
it doens't say on the spec,, so i'ts probably not there.. What's up with that!!!!> TV out is so importanT!!! and the INtel chipset graphics says it supports it!

Is there anywayto access this or make it possible
aside from buyin a scan conveter (vga to tv)??

 

There is no tv out.
Yes the display's are independent, ie two sperate cards.
From my quick tests it works as well as my desktop ATI 9600XT.
a

 

I build my own M3N with 1.4G, one 512M of DDR, a 40G Fujitsu 5400, and a 802.11b card pulled from a broken Sony Vaio (Never buy a Vaio again). The machine is quiet in normal use, and surprisingly MBM works on M3N although with only CPU and HD Temp reading, the CPU temp reading is quite jumpy as well (35C - 70C). The fan is dead quiet most of the time but will roar during heavy load (over 65C or so).

Another glitch that maybe a seperate case of mine is the headphone jack will not mute the onboard speakers instantly if I plugin a headphone, but actually mute after 5 secs - 3 mins after. Asus tech.support told me to bring it back to service, but I am too lazy to do so and the service centers are pretty remote in Canada.

I have some pictures of my M3N here:
http://www.pbase.com/trogman/asus_m3n/