Asus M6N 15.4" vs 15.1" and final ruminations

Pretty well think I am going to buy this machine. Since I usually only buy a new machine every 4+ years I like to soup things up a bit so I don't have to spend all this time debating on the merits of other machines[xx(]. From what I am reading on the forums it seems most people are going for the 15.4" 1280X800 vs the 15.1" 1400X1050. Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't the 15.1" have more overall windows real estate. And for wide screen DVD's it should be better anyway since there is a higher resolution in the 15.1" (not that the 720X480 of DVD isn't already amplified either way). Even if you enable anaphoric mode there isn't any advantage. Also the 15.1 can be just set letterbox with the black bands top and bottom. So I can't see any advantage from using getting the 15.4" screen unless someone can enlighten me!

Is there also a large difference between 7200RPM vs 5400RPM? I am debating over 60Gig 7200RPM vs 80GIG 5400RPM. The rest of my specs are high end, 1.8GHz w/ 2Meg cache, Radeon 9700 and 1 Gig memory as I will be doing some video editing and getting an external PVR box for tv viewing and some PVRing so I have legitmet needs for large size and fast drive.

One of the retailers I am considering in Canada, etccomputers.com (since so many of the US ones don't take international CC)is only offering a a slower 80Gig drive or the fast 60Gig so I might try to source a OEM drive especially since I am going down to Oregon (land of no sales tax) to visit a friend.

 

You are right about the screens. It really depends what you are gonna need the laptop for. I got mine with 15.4 (more DVD playing) but the 15.1 is also great for any task, the smaller should also give you slightly better battery life, I guess. As far as the screen size goes, get the one you feel comfortable with don't ask other people because this is entirely up to you - I like the wide screen 15.4 you may not like it and prefer the 15.1 - again the screen size is a question of taste and preference, not performance.
As for the 7200 vs 5400 the perrformance of the 7200 is SLIGHTLY better because the slower rpms of the 5400 are to some extent cancelled by its higher density which will result in less drive spinning to get to some chunk of info on it. The truth is that performancewise the 7200 will boot-up 4-5 sec faster than a 5400 which I doubt will change your life that much. Also 5400 has faster read times than 7200 while 7200 has faster write times than the 5400 - so the game is pretty even here. My advise is to get the 60GB 7200 if you think that 60GB will be enough for you. Otherwise, if you think you may need more space on your drive, get the 80GB. In both cases the performance will be pretty much the same, especially if you get more RAM like 1GB or 1.5GB. By adding more ram you will limit the number of HD accesses and thus eliminate the significance of the 7200 being faster than the 5400.
I got my Asus M6BN with 7200 only becasue I have read that the 80GB 5400 sometimes makes clicking noises when writing on HD, also I have read that the 7200 Hitachi runs slightly, but just sightly cooler and quiter. What I am trying to say is that I didn't choose the 7200 over 5400 with better performance in mind.
Also if I had any doubts that 60GB may not be enough I would have taken the 5400 without any concerns - do not think that it is a worse drive just because I mentioned some clicking noises above, the Hitachi or Toshiba 5400s are great drives and 1GB of ram will make them feel as 7200.
Hope this helps.
Good luck.

e-Machines laptops rock

 

There's nothing to debate about the screen, 1400 all the way for graphics / video. 1280x800 just won't cut it .

As for the HD, you're spending a lot on the system so don't bottleneck things with a 5400 drive. If the extra 20GB isn't a necessary, get the 7200 for sure I say. There are a few comparisons on the web that show 7200 drives offering improved performance. Hitachi doesn't make an 80GB 7200 drive, but maybe someone else does?

As for purchasing, remember you could always get all of the parts through a local parts retailer (including the Asus barebones kit) and either get them to assemble everything or do it yourself (that's what I'm doing). You may save money doing it that way as opposed to through etccomputers. I priced out the exact same system I ordered locally on etccomputers and the same setup was $200 more on etccomputers - not to mention the shipping.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the differing tips on the drives. I am leaning towards more space because I might use part of the drive to PVR. Since I will also be getting a 40Gig iPod (it's Me day!) I might not be putting all my mp3's on the drive so that will free up 30 or so gigs so maybe the 60 Gig will be alright. I haven't found a 7200 80 gig drive yet and we know that 100gig drives are sampling now. Even if I found one it would be prohibitively expensive on a gig/$ basis since even now 60Gig 7200 drives are about the same cost as 80 gig 5400 drives.

On purchasing locally I figure since I live in BC and etccomputers is in Ontario, on a $3000 system, what I save locally, I lose out on the PST I would have to pay versus only GST on the out of province mail order. I could try to source out all the parts in Oregon but I haven't been able to find computer suppliers like frontierpc.com or ncix.com in that town. Seattle maybe but in Portland I think I am stuck with the big box companies like compusa or Staples.

 

Heh, your situation sounds similar to mine. I'm also in BC and ended up ordering everything from A-Power (Richmond, Burnaby) mostly because I buy a fair bit of stuff there so I get a discount, and I also trust them to get things right. I recently had to make a trip down to Seattle (girlfriend likes shopping @ Elliot Bay Book Co. ), so I looked into picking up the parts there. But, a) I couldn't find many stores and b) many parts were 1-2 week special orders. In the end, I decided to buy locally for safety & convenience reasons. If anything goes wrong with any of the parts I know I have 30 day warranty from the store and I don't have to drive hours to get there or mail anything back. The biggest delay is getting the barebones kit, about 1 week order.

 

That's the nice thing about the lower mainland. All the "mom and pop" computer stores stock to the rafters with stuff and a city with a culture of moding their computers and getting the best deal. These stores live by their reputation and honesty, I bough a good clone a few years back from one.

The american market is either dominated by big box stores or internet discounters especially if you are out of the big cities like San francisco. Even Seattle doesn't seem to have a lot of those little computer stores if you go by the ads in their freebee computer mags (Boy I miss "The Computer Paper", "Hub" sucks). You can sometimes get great deals in the big box with rebates and no tax or via internet stores like ecost.com

I am now thinking of going with the 60gig 7200rpm drive just for performance sakes since I am getting an ipod. That would leave me 2 extra drives of 30 and 40 gigs which I have external enclosures lying around from my old computer and mp3 player. I haven't even filled my desktop 160 gig unit yet. In a few years I can upgrade to a 80 or 100 gig 7200 drive at a more reasonable price. Seagate is going to come out with a 80 and 100gig 7200rpm in the fall but I bet the price would be a lot more. I can always re rip my cd collection at a lower bit rate with higher quality codec.