Asus M6Ne Laptop Review (pics, specs)

by A.Burgess

I purchased the Asus M6Ne laptop, a member of the Asus M6000N notebook series, to replace my large desktop (AMD XP1.6, 512Mb ram, 120 Gb HDD, ATI9600XT), so I was looking for a desktop replacement that was still portable with decent battery life, so that I could take it to work, friends houses on the odd occasion (to LAN). Other usages would be for watching movies/DVDs, playing games (Farcry, HL2 eventually), playing Mp3s, office and web surfing. Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Flash will be also be used. Thus I was looking for a high res widescreen notebook, that was around or less than 3kg, had greater than 3hr battery life, and had a decent GPU. I was considering a Dell 8600, Acer 2010 and ASUS W1N, before deciding on the M6Ne.

The main reasons for my choice were that it was available in store, which meant that I could play with it before I purchased, came with a 2yr international warranty, a great screen, reasonable weight (2.8kg), was packed with goodies, and was all at a great price (AUD$3700, NB: W1N is selling for 4000+).

Specs:

Following are the specs on the Asus M6Ne that I purchased:

• 15.4” WSXGA+ screen (1680X1050)


• 1.7 Pentium M CPU (1Mb L2)


• 512Mb DDR2700 Ram (1 Stick)


• 80 GB 5400 rpm HDD


• 64Mb ATI9700 GPU


• Intel 2200 Wireless G


• +/- DVD Burner 4x


• WinXPpro sp1 and all critical updates


• Omega Drivers 2.5.51


• Purchased for AUD$3650 from computer alliance in brisbane

Screen

I'll start with the best bit first. The screen is just brilliant. It's better than my old CTR (LG 17” 775FT). In comparison to my wife's ASUS M2N, the viewing angle, brightness and sharpness is far superior on the M6. I'll refer you to the pics as I think they will explain everything. As for gaming, I haven't seen any ghosting but then I'm not a super serious gamer and am not to concerned about this. There weren't any obvious dead pixels but I did find one the other day, so I'm super happy about that.

Heat

It's quite comfortable to use (this on your lap for general web surfing), but if your playing games it can get quite hot, especially on the back right where the CPU is (I think). Having said that the temp runs at around 45-55C most of the time, the fan rarely kicks in and is very quiet, especially compared to my old desktop.

Keyboard

I'm still getting used to the different key placements and am often hitting the wrong keys but the keyboard is responsive, has a nice bounce and I'm happy with it. There is a nice amount of room behind the keyboard which provides a comfortable palm rest.

General Layout & Features

The short cut buttons are very useful, especially the WiFi on/off button, although the icons could be a tiny bit bigger as my poor eye sight struggles to see which is which, but then 5 buttons isn't to much to learn. I'm a bit disappointed with the positioning of the USB ports, all 4 are on the back and all together. It would be really useful if one was on the right hand side for a mouse, especially considering the mouse included has a short lead that barely reaches from the ports to the right hand side. There is a mini firewire port on the back left which is a nice inclusion but it would be good if it was a full sized port, and I would prefer this on the back. Also the CD control buttons on the left side would be much better on the front. I'm always hitting them when I pick up the laptop. The other disappointing thing is that there are no dedicated buttons for volume, which would be really handy when I watch DVDs, although there is a function+F11 option, so it's not all that bad. There is a SD memory card slot just above the pcima slot which works well, and is handy, although it would be great if it took CF as well but you can't have anything. The construction of the laptop feels and looks solid, the screen does not creak when you open it although there is a fair bit of resistance and two hands are required to open the lid. The aesthetics of the notebook are a nice surprise, I got to play with a W1N in a store today and was actually a bit disappointed with its looks, don't get me wrong it's a great machine but it looked a lot better in the pics, so now I glad I got the M6Ne, especially as its $300+ cheaper. Otherwise everything else is great.

Touchpad

I'm really not a huge fan of touch pads, mainly because I am not very good at using them, but this one works. I haven't had too many problems (although it does seem to play up after my wife has been using it!) For some reason the scroll function doesn't always work with some web pages, this is very annoying, but not sure if it's a touchpad problem or webpage, this problem is yet to occur in other programs. Dirt does seem to get trapped around the edges a bit which is also disappointing, I guess that is why the touch pad on the W1N is being touted so much.

Battery Life

Unfortunately I have not done any detailed testing of the battery, for one I don't have a stopwatch and two I've been too busy/lazy to do these time consuming tests. But I can say that I get 3.5-4h off one charge when running general web surfing/office applications (with WiFi on, battery saving mode). 2.5-3h when playing DVDs (DVD mode), and around 1.5-2h playing games (game mode).

I'm quite happy with this.

Weight/Size

I'm really pleased with the size of the notebook, it is quite slim line and compact especially compared to my wife's M2N (see pictures). The weight is around 2.8kg, but when you add in the power adapter and case etc, the travelling weight is closer to 3.5kg. This is fine for the odd travelling, but I'm glad that I don't have to take this to work everyday. If you're planning on buying this notebook for everyday travel then you may want to reconsider.

DVD Burner

I had a MSI 8X DVD burner in my desktop which burnt really well, but it was picky with low quality media CD/DVD media that was burnt on other burners. It just refused to read some CDs. I have not had any such problems with reading these same CDs in the notebook burner. As for its burning performance, it does a full DVD- disc a 4X speed in around 15min, which is pretty good. I have had no problem backing up a few DVDs, and these play well in every player so far, so I'm more than happy with its performance. On the downside it does make a few loud seeking noises at times, but then maybe it's just that the rest of the notebook is so quite that these seem more noticeable.

Sound

There are 4 speakers two at the front, and two at the bottom of the screen. While the sound is much louder and ricer than the M2N, it is still disappointing when watching DVDs or listening to MP3s, but then I'm yet to hear laptop sound that is as good as a pair of small powered external speakers. On the upside the soundcard is not to bad at all, it sounds as good as my old Soundblaster 5.1DE.

Wi-Fi

Works really well, and at a rough estimate I have around twice the range of my wife's M2N, while connection speed to my wireless router ranges from 36-54Mbps, which I am happy with.

Performance

I am going to let the following benchmarks speak for the specific performance of this machine. But I will say that I am very happy with the performance, in general it is faster than my old desktop in running applications and games. I'm sure a 7200HDD would also help bump up performance even more, which I may consider getting later, and I also plan on getting an extra 512Mb of RAM when I get some spare cash.

For the benchmarks I used BenchemAll v2.58 to run the benchmarks except for PC Mark and 3DMark 2001, which I ran separately. I used the default settings for all tests. The GPU was not over clocked with the default settings of 390 for the core and 210 for the memory.

SUMMARY (4.5/5 Stars)

Good:

• The high res screen


• Great performance


• Reasonable weight


• Good battery life


• Good looks and solid construction


• Packed full of features

Bad:

• Poor button and USB placement


• Track pad does gather a bit of dirt


• Sound is a bit weak; you'll need some speakers or headphones


• DVD drive could be a bit quieter

Pictures

All pictures were taken with a Canon Powershot pro1, edited with Photoshop7 and resized with the Windows XP image resizer powertoy.
The spectacular desktop images shown are of paintings by my wife VR Morrison ©2004 (A shameless plug) (Click on pics to enlarge)

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>

</BLOCKQUOTE>[/span]

 

...drool....

 

damn nice review... cept my m6ne is from canada so i'm getting the
ordinary screen with sxga+ instead of the wsxga... sigh lucky aussies

 

is a green dot a dead pixel... cuz i know i have one...

 

diabolical check out www.etccomputer.ca they have the wsxga

-----
Taylor
-----

 

Sorry here are the missing benchmarks !
Note that the settings for Farcry were set to maximum/high in BenchemAll, I'm not quite sure how this translates to the specific quality setting in the game, however Farcry does run well when set to medium/high at 1024X768.
If you have any questions about this review please ask me,
Thanks
a
[ ]
PCMARK 2004


3DMark2003


3DMark2001SE


FARCRY v1


Call of Duty


UT2003

 

Taylor, can you provide the URL on etccomputer for the M6N with WSXGA? I see they have the W1N with WSXGA, but otherwise they have the M6N and M6BNe with WXGA.

Not that it matters a whole lot to me now, I've just ordered an M6Ne from Geared2Play...

 

damn they took it off, guess they sold out or something

-----
Taylor
-----

 

hey... is this laptop available in the US ?? if so, for how much and whose selling them ( retail stores ) ???

 

whats that weight in pounds?

 

approx 5.6 pounds

 

Hey Wazzup!

I don't know of any retail stores in the U.S. So far, it is available online only as far as I can tell. Here are the specifications and price I paid for mine, and a link for the company. I have also included a link for a review on them. They are also as a listed direct ASUS Reseller.

Good luck,

Jack

http://www.proportable.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=2
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller5631.html
http://usa.asus.com/wheretobuy/WTB_Notebook.htm


These products will be shipped to the above address:
1. Product ID: ACIM6BNE
Product Name: PROPortable M6BNE Centrino Notebook
Attributes (if any): Hard Drives 2.5" ATA100 - Hitachi Travelstar 60GB 7200 RPM w/ 8MB Buffer EE Intel® Pentium® M Processor w/ 2MB Cache - 735 - 1.7GHz; 400MHz FSB; 90nm Dothan w/ 2MB Cache Kingston DDR333 so-Dimm - 512 ddr333 (512mb x 1 dimm) - Performance RAM M Wireless Card - Intel PRO/2200 Wireless 802.11b/g MiniPCI Operating Systems - Microsoft Windows XP Professional w/ SP1 Optical Drive - Combo Drive (DVD/CD-RW) 24x/24x/8x/24x -Standard Warranties - 3 years parts & labor / Lifetime email - Standard
Price: $2,098.65
Quantity: 1

“We either make ourselves happy or miserable,
The amount of work is the same”
(Carlos Castaneda)

 

Where did you get the WSXGA+ screen?

 

What is the other machine in the picture?
Which is the M6Ne?

 

arg! i cant find one with wsxga anywhere!!

 

On Wednesday I picked up a M6000Ne for Computer Alliance for $3599 AUD. I was going to get it from Umart Sydney for $3366 but they didn't have any in stock and apparently Asus are not making anymore because the W1N is replacing the M6N series, or at least that's what I heard from a person who is a reseller of Asus notebooks.

The main problem I don't like is that with my one, when i plug my stereo into the headphone jack on the left side of the notebook, I can hear alot of electic background noise created from my notebook. I know it's from my notebook because when I maximize or minimize a window, as the window is maxminimizing it makes a electric background noise like that of a Dot-Matrix printer. This does become tiresome after a while, especially as even if I'm are not doing anything (eg. not using the system, but watching a DVD) and have the sound running through my stereo, I can still hear the background noise.

If anyone else has this problem, please post.

Regards,

Plazma

 

The other notebook is my wife's ASUS M2N !
The M6Ne is the larger of the two.
I have heard that the WSXGA screen is not being shiped in the US, thus this maybe why people are having trouble getting hold of one.
As for the noise, I haven't noticed it. I use mine in a similar fashion, ie plugged into my stereo, to watch DVDs and listen to music, but haven't noticed this at all. Maybe the headphone jack is a bit screwy on yours ??? Try geting a replacement from comp. alliance. There normally pretty good with these matters.

a

 

Some thoughts on my new M6Ne ... the fan is definitely very loud when it kicks in. Running in maximum performance mode, this happens a lot.

There's no specific driver/INF file for the LCD display. I had one on my VAIO, basically it defined the screen resolution and also provided a colormap file for calibrating the display colors. Does any usable file exist for the Asus LCD displays?

 

just got my m6ne, this truly is the happiest day of my life
just staring at it right now, ill have my review up in a few days


-----
Taylor
-----

 

I am waiting for my Asus M6BN to arrive on August 4th. This will be my first laptop ever. Oh... damn UPS.[ ]

e-Machines laptops rock

 

Noob...please be nice.

Nice review. I have been looking at this model as a desktop replacement and it seems to be better than the TV Tuner model expecially the 64MB 9700 graphics card.

Not that I am a serious gamer, but how do you find it really for playing games like UT2004, Enemy Territory, C&C Generals etc?

Do you have the expansion port? I would have been overjoyed if the expansion port could be used for allowing external sound output too. Then I could just dock my laptop next to my TV and Amp and have the ultimate media machine

How are ASUS for quality?

Thanks for your help,
Dave

 

Hi everyone,

Earlier in this topic someone asked where he could buy this notebook in Canada. Well I just got mine (M6BNe) at Sigmawave, a computer store in Montreal. They sell whitebooks and notebooks, there's even a very nice system configurator on their website. Check it out :

http://www.sigmawave.com

Later,

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by bruf
Earlier in this topic someone asked where he could buy this notebook in Canada. Well I just got mine (M6BNe) at Sigmawave, ........
http://www.sigmawave.com<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>Unfortunately, it's not the WSXGA+


........Peter

---

On the way..............
Asus M6BNe 1.7GB Dothan w/Arctic Silver
15.4" WXGA, Radeon 9700 w/64MB
2 x 512MB Corsair PC2700 DDR333
Hitachi 60GB 7,200 RPM Harddrive
Combo 4X +/- DVD R/RW-CD R/RW
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 b/g LAN card
Windows XP Professional
3 yr warranty, 1 yr no dead pixel policy
from Powernotebooks.com

 

i recently purchased an asus m6bn, 1.5G/512M/40G
When i check the system information, this is what's being displayed under computer:
Intel Pentium M, 1.5Ghz 600Mhz, 512mb of Ram

can somebody tell me what the 600Mhz means? did i get duped into buying a 600 mhz processor, thanks

 

Its probably the speed the CPU is running at. PM reduce their speed depending on the work load. Thus if ya running on batteries and surfing the internet then is will slow down to 600Mhz to save power. Thats one of the reasons you get longer battery life compared to a regular P4.
a



ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 512Mb RAM

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by kuchkuch

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by plazma

...when i plug my stereo into the headphone jack on the left side of the notebook, I can hear alot of electic background noise created from my notebook...

Plazma
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

 

Sorry...

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by plazma

...when i plug my stereo into the headphone jack on the left side of the notebook, I can hear alot of electic background noise created from my notebook...

Plazma
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Do you get the noise when running on batteries, or only when the computer is plugged in? Mine made a lot of background noise, but only when it was plugged in. Then I plugged it in to an adapter that 'lifted' the ground connector on the power plug, and the noise went away.

 

Thanks underpantman.. just like u said at first i thought it was a feature of centrino to save battery life. But the cpu speed remain the same nomatter what apps i am running, and even while plugged. I ran this cpu test by cpu-z, and it displayed this info:
Cpu specs: 1.5 Ghz
Clock: core speed 600Mhz
multiplier x 6.0

there are lot of other figures. i thought the one's i provided might be relevent.

does this info give any indications. any suggestions.
thanx

 

I'm by no means an expert on this, but I did have some problems getting real time readings on the CPU. Most of the programs I tried would only give one reading, and would then get stuck. For eg set your machine to Super performance, then reboot, take a look at ASUS probe etc and it should say 1.6 or what ever your max CPU speed is. Then un plug and cycle down to battery saving mode. It will still say 1.6, but if ya reboot it will then say 600.
See this thread for more info.
http://www.notebookreview.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4560&SearchTerms=CPU,speed

Hope this helps
a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 512Mb RAM

 

i did all kinda test, including asus probe, cpuid, and Intel processor frequency Id. But the max speed doesn't go beyond 600Mhz even @ the superperformance mode. Infact the processor runs at 450, 300 and 150 Mhz respectively when i change the mode. the results of the tests are below.
fsb: 100 Mhz
multiplier: x 6.0
bus speed: 400 Mhz.
ca

how can i change the fsb/multiplier to may be increase speed. and what would be an appropiate setting?

specs: 1.5Ghz/40G/512mb Dothan 2Mb cache
thanx

 

i finally got my problem sorted out. Apparently my m6ne had an older version of bios installed that wasn't able to detect the optimal cpu speed, and so forth. just flashed my bios with the 2004 version, and volla!! now running at 1500 mhz. thanx for those provided suggestions.

 

[ ] you have to update the bois with dothan cpu's

 

I have ASUS M6800NE, It`s Ferrari among notebooks.
When I press Wireless LAN Instany Key, I receive the message:
"Unable to load the INTEL Sebring API, please install Proset Utility."
I have Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG and I install driver and Proset Utility.
BIOS Version 0205.
What is the problem?

Dusan Macura, B.Sc.E.E.

 

reinstall the ATK0100 Utility..... That should take care of it.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Underpantman
http://www.pbus-167.com/chc.htm

nice util to control centrino CPU modes


Still no luck with ATK0100. "Unable to load the INTEL Sebring API, please install Proset Utility.". WTF!

 

Old thread I know, but I have this laptop with a problem.. the video out ports have suddenly stopped working. S-Video out won't work, even an external monitor doesn't get a signal! Very weird.

Anyone had this problem? I've looked in BIOS, tried display settings, Fn-F8 key, no luck... any help appreciated!