Replacement for M6Ne

Hi everyone,

My M6Ne notebook still seems to be fine, but as I've had it since 2004 and it's now almost 2008, I want to get a decent idea of what ASUS has out there that might be a suitable replacement should it decide to give up the ghost (as laptops often do after a few years), or should I feel compelled to upgrade to Vista within the next year.

The M6Ne is essentially a middle generation machine between the original M6N, and the z70v. The final machine in the line, if I understand correctly, was the z70va. The main difference seems to have been video cards and screen resolutions, with the M6N have a Radeon Mobility 9600, the M6Ne having a 9700, the z70v having an x600, and the z70va having a x700. There were also upgrades to bluetooth, etc.

What I like about the M6N/z70v line is that, despite being pretty thin and light, it was a relatively powerful system for its time, even for gaming. The black carbon fibre chassis is very sturdy, elegant, light, and thin. The laptop runs fairly cool and never had any heat related problems. Display quality is excellent. However, more recent ASUS notebooks/laptops I have seen in stores seem bulkier, heavier, and less aesthetically pleasing - but no one has the full lineup on display. I was wondering if there is any consensus on whether there is a true "spiritual successor" to the M6N/z70v line?

My current system is:
15.4 inch widescreen
Radeon 9700
1 GB RAM
1.7 ghz Centrino processor
80GB 7200rpm Hitachi HDD (this was an upgrade in 2006 from the smaller, slower drive I originally had in 2004).

This is fine for as long as it lasts/as long as I keep running Windows XP, but I'm wondering about a system with a 15.4 inch screen that would not run too hot/noisy and not weigh too much, but still be a good upgrade with Vista capability.

 

Hi,

You're in for a couple of nasty surprises, I'm afraid.

1. ASUS no longer makes notebooks of the quality of the M6BNe, Z70Va, or its cousins V6V, V6J, W3J. They have slowly slided into an area of the market characterized by fast, somewhat cheaper and not-quite-so-well-built notebooks, and have started cutting corners w.r.t. the quality of the machines (especially in the firmware programming and stability, if not too much in the hardware)

2. There is a tendency in the notebook market currently towards fast-CPU, strong-GPU notebooks with poor battery life and thermal properties. ASUS is fully following this trend, and this is apparent even in its business sector (the V series) which used to focus more on portability.

As a result, most ASUS notebooks nowadays have problems keeping heat at reasonable levels, and have quite poor battery life (on battery saving profiles typical life under 3 hours, with under 2 hours not unheard of).

That being said, the closest successor to the M6BNe is the V1S. 15.4 incher, it's somewhat ligher, much faster with the Santa Rosa CPU and the 8600 video card. However, it has problems. The main issue is the fact that the modular battery kills the main battery,in every known instance. Other issues reported by some users are large amounts of flex in the chassis (while other users are happy with the build quality), instability (related to drivers). And, of course, the life on the main battery is under 3 hours, I believe.

I think the only current ASUS model that stands a chance of being a worthy successor to their older business models is the U6 -- better battery life, seemingly good quality and surely good looks. But that's an ultraportable, and not everyone will like the small screen. Furthemore, the quality is still waiting for the test of time -- the notebook is very new.

Other than that, a mass of F-series and G-series models have innundated the ASUS lineup. F-series are budget notebooks characterized by not-quite-business-quality, and other compromises in some cases (crippled video cards, for instance). G-series notebooks are gamer notebooks, which in my opinion look gaudy and over-done. Certainly not a business laptop.

I suggest you read more on the V1S, and if you like it, go for it -- while being aware of its issues. Otherwise, maybe give some time to the U6S, and if you don't like that either, just go for a different brand like Lenovo or HP Compaq.

 

I'm working on replacing my 3.5 yr old M6BNe. It has been a great computer. Still strong running XP actually. I've pretty much given up looking to replace it with an Asus. My leading contender now is the Dell XPS M1530, though I'm waiting for the WSXGA+ screen to become available. Penryn will probably be standard by that time (Feb-Mar). That will help battery life and temps to some degree... hopefully.

The Sager NP2090 / Compal IFL90 is worth looking at as well.

 

This is sad news for me
I am looking to replace my M6Ne since it was stolen in October and was looking soley at ASUS because the M6N was so great and really high in quality compared to all over laptops I had seen in the same class.
I am currently trying to decide between a U3S and F8P/Sv