M5N Fan Problem

Mine's a UK keyboard too for the M5N, but it sounds totally different to the one you're describing, so maybe you did get something different to what you ordered?

Mine has a double height enter key. The number keys and back space keys are the same size as the rest of the keys. The function keys are half heigh, as are the escape and delete keys, but that's OK. The space bar seems fairly good size to me, though I don't have much to compare it to. (it's a bit longer than 5 normal keys).

The only annoying this I have about the keyboard is that the control key is not a the far edge, so it's harder to do control+some other letter comfortably.

The keyboard is a bit smaller than my desktop keyboard, but once I got used to a few punctuation keys, it is fine, and I touch type.

It also doesn't wobble the screen when I type.

The palm rest and track pad are completely smooth.

The keys and palm rest get very shiny with little use, but that's about the only complaint I have with the keyboard.

So perhaps yours is an older version or something?? Mine is quite new. It's M5623N, with the DVD writer etc which sounds otherwise like yours.

(It does, however, still have the fan on 100% of the time!).

 

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

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Robyn The space bar seems fairly good size to me, though I don't have much to compare it to. (it's a bit longer than 5 normal keys).

It also doesn't wobble the screen when I type.

The keys and palm rest get very shiny with little use, but that's about the only complaint I have with the keyboard.
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

My space bar is only the width of just less than four letter keys, the screen does wobble with any normal amount of typing and the keys get shiny with use. Also what looks like the metal silver edge around the side of the machine gets worn through to black plastic after a while, on the left corner where my wrist rests on it, because it is actually plastic and not metal.

Please, please just give me a refund Asus and I will never ever deal with your company again.

 

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

My Enter key is definitely only the same height as the K or L key and my number keys are only the same half height as the F1, F2 keys in the row above them. It sounds to me like you have the NP model variant. When did you get your Asus and what processor and type of DVD player does it have? Is it the Centrino with the 1MB or the 2MB cache (Banias vs Dothan Centrino)? The number 3 key does have a pound sign on it on my machine. Your machine must be an M5NP and not an M5N? What model number does it have on the back (mine has M5200N) and when did you buy it? I bought mine on June 9th 2004.

I got it at MicroAnvika in December 2004. It's called M5623N-MH. I think it's 2Mb cache. The DVD is a Mat****a UJ-812, combo rewriter. On the back it says M5000. It could well be an NP version, I don't know. It certainly sounds like it's a preferable keyboard, at any rate!! But it does get very shiny keys, and the palm rests are also very shiny, though I haven't had any problem with the silver rim wearing off. The track pad got shiny within a couple of days, and I am finding it less response now, especially for the virtual scrolling.

Do you not find the fan completely intolerable in a quiet environment? After they took this machine apart and replaced the casing (but not the keyboard type or processor) Asus Probe now shows it running mainly at 30C instead of 40C and the fan mainly runs at 1300rpm rather than getting up to 1600/1700 rpm after it had been on while, as happened before. But it still has a maddening nnnnnnnnnnhhhhhhhhhh type whirring sound that goes on and on. Its not just a quiet shushing that is much less obtrusive (as in my mother's Pentium 4 Mobile 1.7ghz Samsung P10).

Yes, I do find the fan annoying!! Asus probe shows it running at about 40C when I'm doing pretty much nothing, and the fan is either 1300 or 1700, never less. It's quite loud in a quiet environment, louder than my desktop.

Are you really going to tell me that you have no issues with fan noise? If you had two totally silent notebooks before this one, as I did (Fujitsu P2020 Transmeta 600Mhz processor and Samsung X10 with 1.4ghz Centrino) then you would find issues with unacceptable fan noise on this machine.

I'm not telling you I have no issues with the fan noise!! I was commenting only on your description of the keyboard, wondering whether you somehow got somehting different than you had ordered, as it sounded so different from mine. But it seems that's explained by the different models.

If you are totally happy with your machine then why are you reading these web pages?

There are several things I am not happy with. The keyboard was not generally one of them though. I am not happy with the fan noise, although I don't find it intolerable. I have some problems with the CD drive not reading all the CDs. I have some problems with it randomly hibernating while I'm in the middle of doing something. I'm not impressed with the paint wearing off within a week on the palm rests and spoiling the look. I wish the DVD drive was not one of these ones that's impossible to make region-free. I wish the battery lasted longer.
But I am on the whole happy with the size of the keys, and the stability of the screen.

Do you only use this machine in very noisy places like in offices, on trains, or in aeroplanes? Obviously in those environments the fan would not present the same problems. But used anywhere quiet it is really maddeing.
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Yes, agreed.

 

Yesterday (Sunday February 20th) I visited the MicroAnvika PC outlet situated in the basement of Selfridges London, Oxford St, store.

On display were a number of Asus notebook models including the updated M5NP model which I saw had a keyboard with a full size Return key, full size number keys and wider space bar. However overall the size of the unit and its design appeared much the same as the Asus M5N.

I spent some considerable time picking these Asus units up and placing their fan outlet grilles next to my ear and then also carried out the same exercise with other subnotebooks on display such as the Sony Vaio S2HP, HP Pavilion dv 1049, Fujitsu Lifebook P7010 and Toshiba Portege A200. I also compared the Asus M5NP directly against their new Asus W3N lightweight Centrino widescreen notebook and the even lighter weight Aus W5A.

This revealed that the only Asus that produced this intensely irritating whine from its fan was the Asus M5N. The Asus W3N and Asus W5A did make a low level shushing noise sound but it was not an irritating high pitched whine as the Asus M5N/NP exhibits.

Other subnotebooks like the Lifebook P7010 and Sony Vaio S2HP do not seem to even have enormous outlet grilles where fans whirring at high revolutions must vent. The Vaio S2HP makes some fan noise but it just appears to be the merest shushing compared to the Asus M5N's vile nnnnnnnhhhhhhhhhhhhh on and on and on.

In conclusion as I knew was the case Asus chose to screw me over my depriving me of my notebook for three days to "repair" it, on a machine that they know does have a design fault that cannot be repaired. Also although they replaced the entire outside casing of my unit (in their failed efforts to make it run quieter) they did not even swap it out for M5NP casing and M5NP keyboard so as to overcome my complaints about the poor keyboard design. They also did not even admit to me that there was an M5NP model variant. I have actually had to find that out for myself.

In summary this is a rogue badly designed product that cannot be "repaired" and I expect Asus to refund me in full or at least to swap me out to the Asus W3N which appears to not have the same fan noise issues and have a better keyboard and non wobbling screen back.

I will keep you posted on how I get on with Asus.

 

Good luck with that....... If Asus gave you a W5, I'd be surprised.... They certainly won't give you a W3.... it's a different model and much bigger and better. They will think you're trying to step up for no cost.

Also, you must have looked ridiculous putting the fan up to your ear... if that is how you've been judging your problem, I can understand why. Before you jump to the conclusion that this is a bad design..... there are two things you can take care of yourself. The fan in the M5 is a standard size and you could replace it with a lower rpm fan. Also, you could and should compare the performance of the M5 with a similiar set up against another 12" system with the same specs...... that M5 is going to run cooler, giving better performance numbers. So, before you say it's a horrible design, consider how horrible notebooks of this size are that can't stay cool.

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

 

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

 

W5a in probably 3 weeks..... those were ordered 2 weeks ago by Asus US...

The S5/M5 are supposed to be turned over in April to the Sonoma platform. I would say with the arrival of the W5, the M5 might hit the dust..... but for some very good reasons, it'll be sticking around. #1 would be the 12" widescreen that is on the W5.. more width, less height.. still not a hit with everyone. Also, the W5's camera is honestly going to be hit or miss with some people. Some won't need it, others will hate it, some will love it.. you never know. Plus, the Asus ordered the W5a in the pearl finish, like the S5..... although they could have ordered the charcoal. This is most likely to give people more of a reason to stick with the M5 as more of a different model.

J

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

 

Well, i for one love my m5n, despite the debilitating wirrrring of the fan. I dont want to change it, and i cant even if i wanted to. I'm just gona put a resistor in series with the fan to slow it down, unless i figure out soem way to mess up the bios.....working on it . Bios programming is kinda tricky.
Only problem with these ideas is the warranty...cant even take the heatsink out without breaking the warranty seal.

It's actually in the shop at the moment getting the fan checked out to see if they can make it quieter (doubt it).
Every1 is complaining so much, but we really should have tested these laptops before buying them...it just comes down to that.

 

Capvermell,

I'm not a salesman. I'm an owner of a company who builds notebooks and has more experience with Asus' notebooks then the rest of the forum combined. I was asked to be in the forum to assist with questions from other consumers. Also, we've found no better built systems that those that Asus makes. I'm personally so sure of their quality that we sell ONLY Asus products. However, I'm not afraid to make the call not to sell a certain model of notebook, pocket pc, wireless device that does not meet our expectations. I've done it in the past and I'll do it in the future. Everything they make can't be perfect, eventhough most of it is very good. However, the calls I've made in the past have been related to lowered end models that they have made which were intended on competing with Dell and other lower end systems. We cater to the high end market and would not sacrifice our integrity to sell a piece of junk.

The UK isn't our territory and I can understand your pain. However you are being totally unreasonable and I was just trying to point out two things that would make your request hard to believe. Now that I think about it, I have a third.... if you're so unhappy with Asus, why ask for another system... why not just push for your money back.

Also, while we're on the topic -- you had both a siemens and samsung machine... you talk about silent, but you can't produce performance differences. The samsung you owned was a 14" system... they have bigger fans and the larger the fan, the lower the rmp needed to more the same air. The Siemens used a Transmeta Cursoe CPU which is a piece of junk for anything but maybe word processing..... They started using those in Tablet PCs back when Microsoft said a Tablet PC couldn't have a fan. So, that explains why it was quite... it didn't even need a fan.. and that thing ran at 633mhz... WOW, lets talk about heat consumption! Unless you can level the playing field and compare apples to apples, you are just complaining. If you can prove to Asus that their product is inferior and back it up, you'll get what you want and I'll be very happy for you. It's too bad you feel taken and have no other way to deal with your problem. Common among people in your situation. If I haven't used an M5 for more than a year, with the most decked out configuration, and had a different view on this situation... I wouldn't be commenting.

The bottom line is.... whether or not the fan is on all the time, is a matter of heat... The matter of the fan whinning is a different story. The fan in the M5 is tiny and the smaller the fan, the higher the rpm needed to keep the system cool. The higher the rmp, the noisier it gets. However, at NO point should your fan be whinning which is why I pointed out long ago that maybe your fan is defective and should be replaced.

J

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

 

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

 

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

 

Cocky, but indeed justifiable [ ]
Keep up the great work Justin [ ]

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, Tohiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

I've been called worse, but one can look at my personal customer satisfaction record (for our business over at reseller ratings) and my knowledge of these systems and should be able to understand I don't just "sell" them, but live them.

I understand people would be afraid to take any new computer apart, however I have the chance to build these systems up from motherboard and lcd screen, right up to a finished product..... and back apart when someone two year old pushes their computer off a night stand... I've seen plenty of crazy things on and in these systems. If that fan isn't bad, something else is wrong. I've found everything from pieces of wood splinters to paper shreds to finger nails stuck in fans to coffee that leaked throughout a system, including into the fan housing....... usually the fan will end up burnt out, but most of the time the customer will just complain the system seems to get a little hotter than it used to and it makes more noise. None of them actually thought something could be going wrong....... So when you've seen that and you've had people bad mouth products you sell for something they did, and worse off.... probably don't even know it's their fault... you watch out and try to HELP others who might have a problem.

To get this straight, this person lives an ocean away... I have tried to help and make suggestions on my time... they didn't buy a system from us and even if so, assistance after hours and on the weekend certainly seems like just the "nice guy" thing to do.

If you want cocky, I'll give you cocky.... Anyone who wants to take an assembled M5, open it up and take it all apart, right down to the final screw on the motherboard and the last antenna wire in the lid (without breaking any parts), and then put it back together in under 45 minutes........ I'd be willing to go one on one, lol.. I know these systems like the back of my hand and that is all I'm cocky about.

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

 

Haha... right on.
I just wish I had the money to buy an M5... I've been getting into ultraportables quite a lot recently. Still though, this "fan issue" I keep hearing about is making me skeptical.
Maybe I'll wait for the W3 to come to Canada...
Again, keep up the great work Justin; your input is always helpful.

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, Tohiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

Thanks... The W3 is hardly an ultraportable...... 14" widescreen? Are you thinking about the W5 12" widescreen?

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

 

Well, no... the only ultraportable I was thinking about was the M5... but since it seems to have this "fan problem", I was thinking of getting the W3.
I'm not a huge fan of that camera that comes with the W5... so I feel like opting for the next lightest thing that looks like a dream [ ]

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, Tohiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

right... gotcha... The W5 has slightly different dimensions than the M5... and I honestly think if you look at pictures of the M5 and W5 side by side.. it makes the camera look way too big.. I don't think it really comes off that way though.

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

 

Let's hope not.
If the W5 looks good in person, I will undoubtedly purchase it!
I'm slowly becoming fond of the reflective screens...

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, Tohiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

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

 

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

 

I for one am very glad Justin is here, helping us all out...should I ever get in a cock fight I would want Justin in my corner lol.
Keep up the great posts the forum needs more experts like yourself.

On the M5 fan issue I would also have to fully agree with Justin's conclusions. The issue of noise is always tricky one different people have different expectations, which can compound problems. What I expect may differ from what someone else expects or what ASUS intended. But replacing the fan would be the best choice. The northbridge fan on my old ASUS m/b went v.whinny after a few months, I replaced it with different high quality fan and issue was solved...The northbridge fans are similar in size to those found in laptops, and thus when the bearings start to go etc they can make a racket, best thing to do is to get it replaced.

a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

Where do you start with trying to get a fin repaired? The shop you bought it from, or do it come under the asus warranty then?

I am basically happy with my M5, but the fan does seem too noisy, and I am not using anything excessive - it's a standard set up 1.6 centrino etc. I am not running any programs at all, just having it sit in the corner, but it's still noisy enough that people comment on it when they are in my house.

Whether it's a design fault or just the way these little notebooks work, I don't really care - but I wouldn't like to find out whether mine is really extra noisy or just normal for this particular model. But I expect if I just take it back to the shop, they'll say that it's perfectly normal without really understanding anything about the issues with this model.

I like the notebook otherwise, and if they could replace the fan with one slightly quieter, I'd be happy with it. It just sounds like there's a disk in it all the time.

 

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

 

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

 

OK lets see...... yes I started this company 5 years ago on my own importing Asus notebooks out of Tiawan before they were ever in the states. You'd be hard pressed to find someone else in the states as well versed in all of these notebooks as I am. Yes, I still take some sales calls and answer tech questions, but as I found it's the best way to keep in the game. Everyone here does everything, from sales, to tech to building, repairing, testing. I am the first to handle new things coming in and the last to handle most every package on the way out and do plenty in between. If I were to talk over marketing and more of the straight business side our company would lose a valuable asset. What I know is hard to teach (trust me).

Now, you're making this worse for you, you really are...... a ULV centrino system actually could be powered without for a while as long as there was some airflow. However, most ULV systems, like the old S5ne, had the same fan that was in the M5..... however when it ran it ran at much lower RPMs...... the reason why you wouldn't hear it. I don't know what configuration you have in you M5, but I assure you that my M5 is more high end than yours and I don't have the problems you do, although my battery sucks (but that is due to the configuration and I'd laugh at anyone who claims they can do what I can do on my M5 on another system that could get 2-3 times the life)........ thats because it's impossible. However I could get that life if I used the configuration most all 12" systems on the planet come in........ a 1.5ghz or below, 40gb/4200rpm hdd...

Also, sorry.... you wouldn't get a "fin" replaced, you'd replace the whole fan for about $5-10....

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

 

I don't know if I'd call that the higher end just yet....... a 1.6ghz cpu gives you with in a minute or two of the battery life of a 1.5... and just about the same heat..... 1.8 and up is high end.

As far as the hard drive is concerned 60gb means nothing to me... it could be a 250gb drive for all I care...... it's the speed that is important to performance and unfortunately important to battery life as well. Asus only uses a max of 5400rpm drives, which is still going to eat more battery life than a 4200rpm drive, but for some reason it certainly doesn't create that much more heat. A 7200rpm drive gets much hotter and uses much more battery life.

Asus replaced the top and bottom case... and claimed that was going to take care of the noise? Either the screw holes that the fan is screwed into were stripped, causing extra vibration, or someone isn't telling the truth. Thats the dumbest idea to help solve that problem.

If there is one thing I know, it is that Asus' notebooks for 5 years have started thier design around the thermal envelope. They use the best fans that will get the job done and their systems will always be protected against excess heat which they know hampers performance and slowly kills components. There isn't another company who acknowledges that fact and works around around it. I've seen many designs scraped because they couldn't do that. So, the bottom line is, if the fan has to be on 24/7 to keep up with the heat the system is producing, so be it. However, they aren't using bottom of the barrel fans.. they have access to the best components on the market and if there is one thing I've seen in all of my systems is good fans. A fan that might be a $1 or $2 more than a crap fan that dell or someone might use...... they use them because of their life and quality..... ball bearings help quiet the whine and give longer life... the shape of the fins dictate the cfm it moves and the db's it produces. I wish there was a good way to compare the db's everyone's fans are making. I just think there is no good way to verify everyone is testing the same way.

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

 

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

 

We sell Asus based systems because we feel they have been the best for quite some time now..... If Asus wasn't an option... I'd probably suggest some of the models Asus has made for other companies... some of apple's powerbooks.... some of the smaller sony vaios... sharp's entire line... nothing much else. Asus builds a lot of things for a lot of different companys.. they are afterall an ODM..... However, the other companies they build for have to worry about a bottom line a lot more than Asus does. Asus builds their notebooks as almost a hobby it seems.. They put more into their systems and make less on them. Hence making them a better value. Even though they build for other companies, it doesn't mean those computers are as good as theirs. Often the other companies want certain things dropped from a design that might cost too much and therefore may hurt their bottom line. Well, often these things are smaller ram, hard drives... cheaper fans... hinges.. who knows. What is important is that if they can save $5 on parts and still sell the product for a certain price, that is $5 times how ever many notebooks they make that goes into someone else' pocket.

This is often the complaint with say.... video cards and tv out or something that wouldn't cost much.. We've all seen this on Desktops.. wondering why they didn't just put a slightly better card in the system... well it's all about the bottom line.

I know thats off topic a bit, but it's the truth and it's sort of a trick question. If I felt anything else was worthy, we'd be selling those too. However at this time I don't feel that offering something we might not be able to trust would confuse the customer base we already have. We've stressed Asus' quality for years now and people are recognizing us for that. If we got and start using another brand we'll be saying this notebook is just as good as what we've been selling. The fact is, we have our time in with Asus. We all know how they hold up, how their parts are to import and replace and so forth... that takes time and even if something sparked out interest now, I doubt we'd sell it before we started to see multiple models and have had time to feel a new company out.

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

 

I finally sent my M5N back to my dealer yesterday for a refund. It will not be a full refund because I had it for more than 15 days but the whining fan noise made it unuseable. Nobody wanted to make it work more than I. Lesson learned.

I do feel that I should be made whole and that ASUS should reimburse the dealer for his loss. Dream on...

Thanks for all the notes. ASUS has lost a customer.

Bob

 

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

 

(yeah, all the "fin" stuff was just a typo for "fan". I haven't yet worked out a way to go back and edit my posts! I wasn't meaning to just repair a bit of it, but to get the whole fan replaced, if it's really making more of a noise than it should be. But like others have said, I don't really know how to tell. It's certainly annoying! But maybe that's just normal.)

 

i hope that star spangled banner comment wasnt directed at me...there are other people in these forums other than americans...im not american...

The fan in the m5n is not big...the heatsink is, but not the fan. The problem with it is that the fins are so small and they arent angled properly for suction from underneath the laptop, therefore needs to spin at a high speed to dissapate the same amount of heat.
Putting a resistor in to slow down the fan, will not effect the temperature of cpu too much, its mainly used to cool it down AFTER its gotten hot. Its designed to cool it down, not to stop it getting hot. you dont need to much airflow for that. and you dont really need to be an electritian, all you need to do is open the cover and pull the plug on the heatsink basically. Dont modify the lead, just make an extention, ive heard that 33ohm resistor on the red wire will do it (dont know if that was from this forum or not).

There are obvious flaws with the design, just as there are with any other ultraportable laptop. It's kinda hard to fit so much stuff in a small space with nothing going wrong. Again, im not saying that this is not just sucky design that could have easily been avoided.
As for the screen wobbling, i havent noticed it at all, maybe its just a few buggered ones

 

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

 

No offense to Robyn and the like..

it's on like donkey kong

You can say what you want about me or the notebook you bought (not from me) but you cross the line when you attack my country and our business tactics, I may not agree with the majority of how business is run in the US, and I think we've set ourselves apart from the likes of the Dells and Gateways, and so forth. But the bottom line is as a whole it's my right to talk smack about American business practices and not yours... I'm starting to realize why our ancestors really wanted to get away from the Britsh. We weren't getting taxed on the tea, infact the story must be all wrong.... the Britsh must have been trying to return it and we just said screw it and dumped it.

If you want to beleive my mind is clouded because I sell these notebooks, or you want to twist this stuff I say around and feed me back some BS, go right ahead. I'm starting to beleive you don't even have an Asus notebook and are just here to bash them. Your problem seems solvable and you're going through waaaaaaaay too much of a hassle for something that seems like a cut and dry case. If you didn't like the laptop, return it and deal with whatever rules you have to in order to solve your problem. If the notebook is acting like every other M5 they sell, and you don't like how that is... I take it you purchased this at a place where you could pick it up and use it and notice this "whinning of the fan". If you've had it for over the return period or this place has a restocking fee, you have to pay it. If those are their rules and you neglected to do anything about this whinning before the return period was up... it's your fault and I don't think anyone but you will disagree with me on that. If it was 15 days you had, and this whinning was present from the get go.... you're insane for letting the period pass. If I were you and this is what happened to me, I'd feel burnt too.... but take some of the blame.



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

 

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

 

they dont offer a solution becuase they obviously dont think its profitable to ease the needs of the few. Lots of people have bought this laptop, and until a larger number of them complain, nothing will be done.
It may not seem very nice, but that is the way business is done. You cant change something for .5% of the buying population. The only really feesable thing to do would be release a bios update for the 20 degree fan problem. And even that will be unlikely to happen, bucuase it will most probably decrease CPU life, which will cost them money.
Ha, you think they would release something to slow their fan? thats a laugh. I was saying if you want the thing to shut up so badly, the resistor thing is a do somthing about it yourself kinda fix. IT WILL VOID your warranty.....if they find out about it (which is why i would recomend not altering the cable, but extending it.

 

oh yeah.....screen wabbling? its paper thin and as light as hell...honestly, what would you expect? Metal trusses to keep it from wabbling? its probably the whole laptop thats wabbling from you smashing the tiny keyboard while 2 finger typing.

 

OK, now we're back on the level.....

First, as I said before Asus has made some notebooks (about 1-2) every year that we just won't sell.... whether it doesn't fit with the quality of the rest of the line up, or the features and performance just don't match up...... I've refused to sell them because of those reasons... so yes I love what Asus makes.. from cpu coolers to phones to servers... everything they make is quality, well designed, great performance, for a reasonable price. I can honestly say that about everything they sell. However, sometimes they want to attract a lower end group of people and those are not who we want to attract..... so we just stay away from some stuff. But I would say 95% of what they make is really good.

I'm surprised your dealer has a 25% restocking fee. We have a 15%, but it involves more of credit card charges and the fact that we don't sell anything that has been returned... so the few things that are returned we sell internally or give to a charity... but if something was returned because the customer decided he just didn't like it and came up with excuses like the keyboard was this and the screen was this and the fan was this... If I took a look at the notebook and it was just like the notebook I had been using for a year and I know this not to be true, then I would be pissed someone couldn't tell me the truth. Unless something is seriously wrong Asus won't take the system back and understandably. Your dealer may have had the notebook for more than 30 days and if there is a problem to the dealer they have to notify Asus within 30 days of them buying it to get a new system swapped out. Makes it very hard to keep inventory. Now, aside from that, Asus' Tiawan office is their main office, but the offices in every other country act on their own. They purchase from Tiawan like they were consumers. They run this company in that country as seperate entities built upon the Asus name. Coming in this forum and *****ing about the product is one thing, but coming into a US based site, and making a blanket statement about Asus and their products is uncalled for. You have experience with one Asus notebook and one of the smallest Asus branches, which is in the UK. Also, I doubt they have a fan option... but for instance... a notebook sold here might have different specs than that sold in the UK..... not just video card and so forth... but often times lcds screens and batteries and things of that nature. Meaning that maybe a high end screen doesn't fit what they are selling in one country, but it will in another... So someone can come on here and say their screen sucks, but it's not what they use in the US or somewhere else and that person can turn everyone off to an entire company.

Also, our company exists because of the bad business practices of other companies we grew up with....... so yes we understand. But please tell me when you see Michael Dell sitting in a forum helping someone who bought a computer from a competitor and sending them replacement parts out of their pocket.

Take it easy..

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

 

The screen wooble thing I still don't understand... even after a year my s5's/m5's don't wooble when I type.. the hings are pretty nice... even if they started to after some wear, I'd just replace them for a couple bucks and they'd be good again... I'm not buying that one.

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

 

I wouldn't be suprised if Asus does or doesn't alter the Bios for the fan...at this point anything could happen (but yeah, if they change it the M5n will be a lot warmer, so that's the trade off, period. Pesonally, I'm fine with fan.)

The dealer I bought my M5np said the same thing Justin did: they sell hundreds of those models all the time and they had not had any complaints about the "fan noise", so there is a clear minority here.

Incidently, I played with my friend's iBook and we know Mac's never cut corners (hence the crazy price tags, ahem) and you know what? Right where my palms rested it was all warm and toasty...oh sure, it was quiet, but warm--much warmer then the M5 (and it was a Mac [xx(] ).

I guess I could see how using the M5n for "7 to 8 hours" the fan could irritating in a quiet environemnt. Then again, using any 12" lappy for 7 to 8 hours a day would also piss me off--I mean, I love using it for editing a paper, checking email or the 'net, but that is an awful long time to spend on *any* 12" IMO--I love coming home to my 17" LCD, but I wouldn't expect any 12" out there to completely replace a desktop.

Well, hopefully everything is working out for people here--just remember to do your homework. I found plenty of "reviews" before I bought my M5 where the "fan always on" was mentioned...

 

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

 

The machine basically always runs externally as being freezing cold as long as its standing in a full ventilation situation (i.e. not sitting on top of a duvet on a bed) so I would say that with their M5N Bios Asus have gone too heavily in the direction of cooling at the expense of acceptable fan noise.

As for processor burn out I have yet to hear of a notebook where this happened. Crashed hard drives yes and screen failures yes but processor burnouts?? Where and when exactly has anyone ever experienced one of these events?

 

To go up the line here...

P4 chasis' all the time....... yes a P4 isn't meant for a notebook and they are always under cooled... but we're talking burning out... not short life. The closer to room temp you can run a cpu and an entire computer for that matter, the longer it'll last. You could have owned 10 notebooks and never seen anything happen to yours, but after years of extensive heat, you'll have problems.

About the Screen...... it's more a matter of length times width times thickness.... I'm sure your 8" screen was more of a widescreen (thats usually how those work)... either way, the S5/M5 has an awfully tall screen compared to width and thickness.... I'm sitting here right now pounding away on the keyboard and my screen is going no where..... I am at a table, but I can see how the whole thing can wooble if you're on your legs.

You're never seen a small notebook with only one expansion slot? Show me a notebook that is as tightly packed as the S5/M5 and tell me where they put the memory. Asus doesn't "weld" a stick of 256mb on the system... the memory chips are soldered in a convienent space tucked up under the board in a place you couldn't reach without taking the notebook completely apart. If you're ever seen the inside of an M5, you'd know there isn't much space. On Both the S5/M5, weight and size were a huge issue. Don't do any tell me a memory stick doesn't weigh a lot of take up much room... because it really does. If you have to have a socketed slot, you need room for that and it'll an once or something to the overall weight.

Usually on a 8 / 10 / 12 / 13" notebook.. they build some memory on the board for both size and because most notebooks of that size aren't going to need to upgrade to 2gb of ram.. true the S5/M5 is only upgradable to 768mb but thats only because thats as big as they make microdimms right now.. This is not an issue, Asus isn't the only one who does this and I'd love to know notebooks that are this small and I mean this small or SMALLER that have two free slots. If you're going to compare to the M5, I would like to see a comparison with a notebook with a built in drive and removable cpu. If the did this to a notebook like the M6/W1.. I could see a problem.

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

 

yup, its true about that memory thing. All 12" laps i looked at before buying m5n had only one slot available. Dell x300 has 128mb INTEGRATED and only one slot available i believe.
Dont take me for a die hard asus fan. im just saying that the laptop is very good except for the fan issue. Im not sure i would have been as happy with any other 12" (cept maybe the s5 )

 

Have you guys tried this?

http://www.pbus-167.com/sam_p35c.htm

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, Tohiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

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

 

You can turn the Fan off. I put up a page with a description.
http://www2.badenstrasse.de/m5fan/

 

well, i'm no expert at this, but i think intel says 100C is the max. temperatur for a pantium-m 4 60C shouldn't be too bad for the CPU itself, but maybe the other components inside the laptop get too hot because there's no air circulation and so on ...
i was surfing the internet and made the website you were probably looking at while the fan was off, maybe for an hour and a half i think, and 60-61C was the highest temp. i got ... all the time at 600MHz of course.
strange thing is, datt my old HP laptop with 650MHz celeron has 40C all the time without the help of fans. also a friend's dell laptop the same CPU as the asus (1.8GHz) is not getting warmer than about 40C with passive cooling.
i don't really know about how to configure this speedfan properly, maybe its possible to just rise the trip point, at which the fan kicks in or to get the fan run slower. maybe someone here can find that out [ ]

 

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