Asus M50Vn opinions

Hi,

I've been looking around for a laptop and I'm seriously considering the Asus M50Vn, but I was hoping you guys could sort out a few worries for me.

Firstly I've heard a lot of ruckus about the video card being only ddr2, will this card (9650gt) still preform okay in modern games? I'm not a heavy gamer at all, but I would really like to play some new games occasionally.

Secondly I read in some of the other M50 model reviews that these laptops have pretty poor battery life, what kind times should I be expecting if I'm just browsing the web ect?

If anyone had any other suggestions for laptops then I'd be keen to hear them, but the main limiting factor is that I live in NZ, so the range of choice here is much more limit to that of overseas.

Thanks alot, and sorry If I've posted this in the wrong place.

 

If you're running under Battery Saving mode, I'd say you could probably squeeze 2.5 hours with wifi on and the screen dimmed to the lowest setting.

The DDR2 video memory should be fine if you're not a demanding gamer (ie running on low-medium resolutions and details should be fine)

 

I can only speak as an M50VM user, which has a 9600GS (basically an underclocked GT core). It runs modern games without a problem, depending on detail settings, so I'd imagine the 9650 would perform a little better. But still, this won't be a notebook you'll want to play Crysis with everything on ultra-high, because it just isn't going to happen. But other highly-optimized games can play near-flawlessly. The Orange Box, GTA: San Andreas, Battlefield 2, FEAR, etc. can be played on highest settings with playable framerates.

What do you consider 'poor battery life'? I can get nearly 3 hours after optimization with a 6-cell battery, which is decent (at least when you compare it to the original M50SV models).

 

Thanks for the replies

Well I had read less than 2 hours which seemed a bit poor, but 2.5-3 is pretty reasonable in my books.

I'm not fussed about high setting ect, otherwise I'd probably buying a desktop. Just for a point of comparison how would this perform relative to a 8600gt DDR3, this is really the only other laptop video card I have any experience with as I've got friends with macbook pros.

Overall how do you like your laptop Will1989? I'm finding it pretty hard to buy a laptop, having never owned one before. It's hard to know what kind of things will and won't get on your nerves.

Thanks again

 

I think the M50SV model ran less than 2 hours, but the lower power consumption of the Montevina platform helped ASUS make significant improvements with battery life on their refresh "V" models.

I'm very happy with my laptop, even though the price on my model dropped significantly after I bought it. I'm a college student and only have enough time for casual gaming, and it's been able to tear through every game I throw at it. Build quality is solid and its light enough for me to carry it across campus for class, and it's powerful enough to be considered a desktop replacement. The only problem I had with it was the infamous keyboard lag (which seems to plague nearly all new ASUS models), but it has since been fixed with a recent BIOS and driver update.

 

Okay thanks for filling me in.

I've decided to go for it. Do you think anyone would be interested in some quick impressions once I get it?

 

Have you looked at the newer "N" model laptops, such as the N80VN-GP011C, N80VN-B1, or N50Vn-B1B? These laptops have better specs and are priced only slightly higher than the older M models. Check out newegg or xoticpc.

Unbeknownst to me, I purchased a M50Vm-X1 on the same day the newer N50Vn-B1B was released. At that time last week the newer model was only $100 more. The spec differences are below. I was pissed.

M50Vm-X1
CPU Type: Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26G
Screen: 15.4" WXGA
Memory Size: 4GB DDR2
Hard Disk: 250GB
Optical Drive: DVD Super Multi
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS 1024MB

N50Vn-B1B
CPU Type: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4G
Screen: 15.4" WXGA+
Memory Size: 4GB DDR2
Hard Disk: 320GB
Optical Drive: DVD Super Multi
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9650M GT 1024MB

 

Hey, thanks for pointing that out.

Actually I had a look for the N50Vn here in NZ, but they don't seem to be anywhere. I guess they'll turn up eventually.. but older models tend to stick around for a while here.

I would order from the states.. but our dollar recently tumbled against that currency.

The M50Vn I'm looking at actually has very similar specs to the N50vn, but i would have liked the 14 inch N model.

 

Doh, sorry for posting resellers that are located in the US. I should have noticed your username.

Anyways, happy hunting for a new laptop!

 

The N50Vn isn't newer than the M50Vn. They were both released at about the same time, hence why their specs are similar. Likewise, the N50 line isn't a replacement to the M50 line.

 

Okay so I just got my Asus m50vn

So far mostly pleased, it's a little more plastically than I had expected, but not too bad. Screen is awesome and overall the notebook feels well built.

Got a couple of questions though, hopefully someone can help me.
1) What are the best video drivers for the 9650 gt ? The newest ones don't seem to be compatible.
2) How do you turn the media touchpad on? I know you press mode, but that doesn't seem to do anything, is there something I have to enable.
- oops it works fine, was just too bright to see it sorry

Thanks

(Btw if anyone has any questions about the notebook I'd be happy to answers them)

 

How well does it run Red Alert 3?

What frame rates do you get with HL2 (on max res and graphics)?

Are the speakers loud and clear?

Does it squeak when you squeze it, does it feel cheap or solid?

How clear is the tv with the tuner?

Thanks.

 

I don't have red alert 3 sorry so I can't test that. I'm currently downloading my steam files again, so I'll give an update on HL2 later.

The speakers are pretty good. When at high volumes they don't sound very good, but at low volumes they seem nice and clear to me.

Not quite sure what you mean by squeak, but as far as I can tell no. The case feels almost everywhere except just around the trackpad, where it's still fine, but feels like it has a tiny bit of flex.

Having said that, the case does feel a little bit cheap because it seems so plastic. But I'm not at all worried about damaging it. The screen hinge is nice and solid.

This is a bit embarrasing, but I can't figure out how to use the tv tuner.. so if someone can fill me in I'll let you know what its like.

One thing I find a bit irritating is the fan. It's quiet, and even under reasonable load it remains relatively quiet. However not quite quiet enough, at completely idle you can hear it if there is no background noise.

 

But it definitely has a tv tuner/antenna?

Which version of the m50vn did you get?

 

yes it seems to definitely have one.. it came with a little mini aerial thing. Any idea how to watch tv with it? haha

Not sure on what the exact model is but its one with a tv tuner, 350gb hard drive, 4 gig ram, 9650 gt. No blue ray driver on this model.

Still a bit lost on this driver thing, any suggestions?

Just noticed that there is wine coming from the headphone jack. Is this a known problem, or is there a fix?

 

If you're using any USB devices such as a mouse, try moving them to port(s) farther away from the audio jack.

 

Ok thanks that worked perfectly.

I'm still having trouble with other noises though. The fan never goes silent and is always reasonably loud in a quiet room, am I just expecting too much? But also there is a high pitched buzz that comes from the computer, its only really obvious when I'm close to it, but I can still hear it.

For the poster who asked about HL2 performance: I'm not sure if fps is limited to 60, but with everything set to absolute maximum it sits constantly at 60. The only other game I've tried is left for dead, that i get around 30-40 fps most of the time with all settings max and native res, except with AA off.

 

I guess so The computer has high-performance components, so it needs to be cooled down, there's no way around that.

I don't know about this... could be some sort of interference, like the headphone issue.

 

Heh yeah I guess thats right, should have really gone with a smaller laptop haha, oh well.

I guess ill have a play around to try eliminate the high pitched sound, but if anyone else has noticed this I would be keen to know.

 

Hello to everyone,

I am also owner of a new Asus M50-VN and have similar observations of high pitched sound. For me this is really annoyance, because everything else on this laptop is superb. I tried to play with different Power4gear settings under power schemes but nothing helped. Only occasion when i'm not hearing this high pitched sound is shortly after turning it on when on batteries. But 3-4 minutes after entering windows in that case i'm hearing it again. It seems that fan when spinning fully, produces this sound. Any idea how this could be avoide for non intensive work under windows? It's obvious that for gaming this can't be avoided.Probably sort of thermal control within bios update would help, but this is probably question for Asus support. Any ideas?

 

This is strange guys... I have also just recently acquired this laptop, but I've never had any sort of high pitched noise. Even when the fan spins up while gaming it doesn't get noisy at all, in fact it is barely audible.

Have you installed the latest BIOS? 207 had a thermal policy update... otherwise I have no idea. I'm really happy with this notebook, especially now I've reinstalled vista x64.

 

I even updated to 209 bios but no luck either. I agree that fan doesn't get noisy at all but at the same time it produces fine high frequency whineing-sounds apsurd but that's the way it is.
Another forum member (KingOfNewZealand) also noticed this...maybe two of us have too sensitive hearing
Anyway, other aspects of this model are perfect-mine is wsxga+ model with P8600, 4gb ram and 320gb hdd and just this small annoyance that spoils everything. I'm not a gamer but a more of CAD and office user so quiet environment is desirable for me.

 

My fans are well above audible, which is a bit annoying but I can live with it. But I'm fairly sure me and guest99 are talking about the same noise. Is there anyway to check the fan speeds by the way?

This topic seems to be spread out across a number of threads, maybe we should stick to discussing it here, or create a new thread with a more accurate title.

 

I tried to check fan speed with Everest 4.20 but only 2-3 minutes after turning on laptop when everything was still cold, Everest showed 100 rpm. But at the same moment as annoying sound started, Everest measurement dissapeared and no rpm's was showed-obviously when fan started spinning fully. This was more obvious when started laptop on battery. First few minutes no bad sound (everest shows rpm), then sound appeared (no more rmps in Everest).Then i left laptop doing nothing for few minutes and strange high sound missed with Everest showing rpms again-first 400 rpm and moment after that initial 100 rpm with no high pitch noise. For me that was definitely confirmation of fan related problem which is probably OK, but at the same lousy designed. Sort of better regulation would probably solve this.
I must underline again that we aren't talking about phenomena which happens under full load (games or something like that), but in average office and everyday work (surfing...).
I agree with you we should stick to discussing it here from now. Let us know if asus support answered to you. I'll try to contact them also.

 

Could it be not an Asus problem, but an Intel one? Search the forums for "CPU whine" (a problem with high pitched noise due to CPU VRM.

 

Have played a little bit more today with different diagnostic software and among them tried Orthos to see what would happened under max. load (cpu stress test). Well findings were really interesting.
During 2-3 minutes after cpu stress started, little by little main fan started to speed up to its maximum and at the same time strange high frequency "squeek" started to fade. When fan reached its maximum there were no more unpleasant sound !
Fairly logicaly-main fan "humming" overwhelmed it. Considering prior findings in my prevous post (no strange sound while laptop is cold with very low fan rpm's for a few first moments after powering on) there can be concluded that it is fan related problem. Probably bad quality of fan construction in some series. This is happening inside "middle" range of fan's rpm- so most of time for average work in windows when fan is not spinning fully.
For some of us with good hearing, definitely bad luck!
Bios update wouldn't solve this but only complete change of fan probably.
Any other ideas or comments?

 

I had considered that initially, but like guest99 has been saying it seems to adjust as the fan speed adjusts.

I send an email to Asus, I'll let you know If I hear back. I'm pretty frustrated with my purchase right now.

 

Hm, thanks very much. I'll try to search this. Any instant advise how to avoid this?

 

I heard back from Asus support, but they just told me to send the laptop in for repair (very informative email...). I Can't do this immediately as I'm about to go overseas for a few months, so I guess I'll just have to do it when I get back.

This suggests that they've heard of similar problems before though.

 

That CPU problem can be avoided I think by using RMClock and configuring it to always run HALT instructions on the CPU when it's idle. Significant drawbacks exist, the CPU will always run on its highest speed etc. Not worth it in my opinion.

But all this is assuming that this is the CPU whine, which as far as I understand is not at all clear.

Does the whine change e.g., while scrolling through a webpage?

Not necessarily. "Send it to RMA" is I think their automatic "I don't want to think about this problem so I'll give the standard answer" reply.

 

In my case it is definitely fan. I determined this by disassembling back panel and watching what hapened with the fan. For first few minutes fan stayed off, but as soon as started rotating there was a constant high frequent noise coming from fan rotation (not kind of airflow but motor buzzing). So I have to live with that because i don't think this is good enough reason for RMA.

 

Since you have established the fan as the cause of the whining, then you may consider the following solution.

Don't send the entire computer in, but request a replacement fan to be sent (cross-shipped) to you. Replace the fan, send the old one to ASUS, and hope for the best.

 

I only noticed this high pitched sound after all these comments. I however only really notice it if I lift the laptop and listen closely near the back left underneath (where the fan is obviously). Maybe my hearing is not as good as yours so I don't really notice it and it doesn't bother me. Or it could also be that some models exhibit a slightly louder noise than others (just luck).

 

Hey guys,

@KingofNewZealand: Im from NZ too and currently looking to get a laptop, just a few questions, where did you get the M50VN from? I see that PlayTech playtech.co.nz/product.php?action=showdetail&id=6320 has it for roughly $2560. Would you still recommend people to get this particular laptop? Even though you still have the high pitch problem.

Cheers

 

Hey Dankin,

Not sure if you're still checking here, but I thought I'd reply anyway. Sorry I'm over in Aus for a scholarship over the summer and I only just got internet again.

The high pitched problem is annoying, but some people I've asked about it can't even hear it (some can!).

Overall though, no i would not recommend the laptop, but it kind of depends on your needs. Personally I really rather I had gone for a smaller laptop with more battery life, and although the idea of the extra power was attractive I don't need it at all. So personally I really regret the purchase.

However if you're totally sure thats what you want from a computer, it does that job quite well. It's pretty fast and the screen is nice.

Have you got the computer yet?

Oh and to guest99 if you're still around, I've had no luck whatsoever with the fan. I will try and send it in personally, but I can understand not doing it if you need your comp.