Asus M50Vm A1: Should I wait?

Hi everyone,

After much reading on these forums and all your fantastic help and advice, I've decided to go for an Asus M50Vm A1. However, given that I live in 'Rip-Off Britain', it would cost about £1000 here. Whereas if I imported it from America it would be around $1220 +shipping/import tax ( http://www.lagoom.com/ASUS_NB_M50Vm-A1_15.4_Intel_P8400/M50VM-A1/partinfo-id-583376.html#).

My question is; is it worth waiting for a price drop in the near future? For example, a new range Asus may bring it which means they lower the prices on their old stock? Just being hopeful I guess...

Perhaps I should look at the HP Dv5t which is cheaper. Though I'm not sure how the performance compares - all I know is that HP don't do the 2 years warranty like Asus (and no 8-second ExpressGate!).

Would love to hear anyone's advice

James

 

HP's DV5t packs a 9600m GT with DDR2 memory instead of DDR3. That makes a pretty big difference.

 

So you're saying I should go for the DDR3?

But if that's the only difference maybe I should go for the HP. How does it compare battery life-wise, sound-wise and build quality-wise?

Thanks for the quick response!

 

Not in any useful timerange. Usually in Europe ASUS notebooks don't drop in price unless they become EOL, and the retailers still have shelves full of the EOL notebooks.

 

Neither the Dv5t nor the M50Vm have DDR3 memory (nor can either be equipped with it).

The A1 gets 2 hours and 50 minutes on the standard battery (GentechPC's review), while the Dv5t "High-Capacity" 6-cell (not standard) gets 2 hours and 30 minutes (Chaz's review).

Both the systems use Altec Lansing speaker systems. Based on reviews here on NBR the M50VM has the better speaker system. (Asus lists the M50VM as having four speakers, but if you look at pictures you'll only see two near the keyboard).

Based on reviews both systems are well built.

 

I think they are referring to video ram, not system ram.

 

Both have DDR2 on both the video cards, and both have DDR2 for system RAM.

Chaz's stats showing DDR2 video RAM and system RAM on the Dv5t:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4555

GenTech's stats showing DDR2 video RAM and system RAM on the M50VM-A1:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=273404

 

I can only say that I've had my M50VM-A1 for about a week now (bought it from gentech) and I'm very happy with it. I use it to do basic things in addition to playing Everquest 2, and I'm impressed at how well it can handle things.

I think the A1's probably the best value on the market right now, at least for what I was going for. If you get one, you're getting a good laptop. I can assure you that. Hope you find a price/shipping arrangement that works for you.

 

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for all your input - this is exactly the kind of unbiased, knowledgeable advice you just don't get from your local high street retailer's assistant!

So given that the performance, build quality, and array of ports are pretty equal, how do the features compare? Obviously they both have webcams, but halorin do you find the Asus webcam to be bulky and unsightly?

Also, how do the screens compare? Quality, crispness, and brightness are important to me.

Finally there is the ExpressGate which - depending on whether the HP boots faster than the Asus (does it) - could save a lot of time.

You guys are so helpful - I'd be lost in this maze of laptop choices without you!! Thank you!

James

 

Windows boot time will mainly depend on a) the autostarting applications installed in Windows and b) HDD performance.

Be aware that the ExpressGate is a very limited OS with only basic web connectivity applications (skype, browsing, mailing, etc).

As to webcams... I find all of them unsightly. So you won't get a useful opinion from me there.

 

Well as I can't see any obvious advantage of the HP (infact, I'd rather not lose a year's warranty!) I'm going for the Asus M50Vm A1.

Any last minute things I should know to swing my decision?? lol

Thanks!

 

Hey,

I don't find it to be unsightly. It certainly doesn't have a low profile, but it's color scheme blends well with the rest of the laptop. I haven't used it to judge it's quality, but it does swivel around which I think is pretty cool.

I like the quality of the screen a lot, actually. The colors pop. I've had 3 laptops (a basic Compaq, a midrange Toshiba, and now this one), and I find this screen to be the best laptop screen I've had. I have no scientific studies or tests conducted to back that up, though so you may want to do some research on how bright it is and what not in a numeric sense. I will say that the image can be 'washed out' without tilting the screen to the proper angle, but I'd assume that's an issue you'll get with most any laptop. The screen tilts further back than I figured it would, so I've never had a real problem with it.

And for ExpressGate, I've used it a couple of times, and it'll get your basic browsing jobs done handily enough. I haven't played around with it too much, though. I think I'd be more prone to just load up Vista personally, but it's nice to have. I didn't find that it booted up so fast that I couldn't wait around the 20 seconds more it'd take to get into Vista. If you run a lot of bloatware that takes time to load up I could see the benefit of ExpressGate a little more. I don't know. Someone who might literally just want to check their e-mail might use it more. I usually sit down for a while when I get on my laptop, so it makes sense for me to just get into Vista.

Hope that helps, feel free to ask me or PM me more questions. I know I had a lot before I pulled the trigger, and the people around here were helpful to me, so.

 

So did u end up purchasing the M50Vm-A1? and how do u like it?

Cheers