Asus M50VM Montevina, NV 9600M GS Review

CESAR zz where did you buy your notebook from?? and how much did it cost? If you are from Canada did you have extra charge if it was online?

WICKEDESTMAN what is the Newegg?? actually eBAY just linked me to this website 'll check it out

PLEASE ANYONE, if i live in TORONTO, CA where could i buy the Asus M50Vm A-1 series, would you buy from EBAY???????????????

 

Canada Computers stocks them. Visit their website for more information.

You really ought to read up about the keyboard lagging issues that many users are currently experiencing with this laptop before you make your final decision.

 

You are right man, thx for reply. 1 Reason chosing the asus is its really tough built, the look too black finished, but you think i should look at the DELL XPS too similar price 8600GT 265MB COMPARES with 9600 GS? btw this DELL compy has 2.53Ghz CPU.. so i duno only negative thing im thinking bout the asus is that keyboad lagg :////// neway i think asus RULES

SO ANYONE THINK eBAY is a guarantee even with return policy...cant really understand

 

Are GeForce 9600M GT-GS GPU's damaged also?

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4561

"Nvidia, PC makers not handling Nvidia GPU problems well

On July 3, Nvidia reported that large quantities of defective graphics chips were shipped. The packaging materials used for the graphics chips are being blamed as the cause of the problem. According to a Wall Street Journal article, critics are not satisfied with the way Nvidia and two notebook manufacturers, Dell and HP, are addressing the situation.

Both Dell and HP have said that they will not repair any notebooks with the potentially defective graphics cards until they fail. Nvidia, in its defense, said it cannot recall its customer's products.Nvidia has yet to announced a recall for the defective chips and has not disclosed which chips are defective.

Customers of Dell and HP are speaking out - it is not comforting to know that their notebooks could fail at any time. The BIOS updates released by the companies is not guarantee to fix the problem, only reduce the risk of failure.

This story is sourced from the Wall Street Journal on August 19, page B3. 'Chip Problems Haunt Nvidia, PC Makers CEO Defends Response' by Don Clark.
"

 

Hm.. something is accessing my hard drive every couple seconds even if I'm not doing anything... I'm using vista and I disabled indexing. What else could it be?

 

Hello, i bought a similar notebook and am having some wireless network issues.
My specs are:
ASUS M50 Series M50Vm-X1
Intel Core 2 Duo P8400(2.26GHz)
15.4" Wide XGA
4GB Memory
250GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS
Atheros AR928x Wireless Network Adapter.

My issue is that when i'm playing online games, such as WoW, I get intermittent lag spikes. They last anywhere from 2-5 seconds and during that time, if i spam a button, the server still registers it, and when the lag clears, my system plays 'catch-up' and i Fastforward through all the spammed abilities until i'm back to the non-lagged present.

Please help!

 

I'm in Canada and I ordered from NCIX. They pricematch other online store so take advantage of that to pay less. I got a good deal on my M50VM-B1 because of that. HTH

 

CRYTON please give more details. RLY APPRECIATE IT

The computer costs more there how much is shippin price?

How much did u get ur B1?

 

It can be many things, indexing, superfetch, defrag, virus scan, updates... I think it's better to live with it than trying to stop all the apps that might access the harddrive, you'll get much less functionality of Vista if you do.

 

*heavy sigh* Yay vista... lol.

Thanks again EBE

 

The issue actually comes from Vista. For some reason, Microsoft saw fit to have wireless cards scan for new routers every minute or so, and there's no clean way to turn it off. So basically that lag spike is your card stopping what it's doing to look for new networks.

The only fix I've found is to run a free program called WLAN Optimizer I believe (at work right now so I can't confirm). It's a simple enough program, but at times it can take about 100,000KB worth of memory.

And I put in an order for an A1 today through Gentechpc. This thread convinced me to do my business with them as opposed to Newegg. The price certainly helped, too.

 

What settings will the m50VM-A1 OR m50vm-x1 run these games?? I want at least 20-25 fps on all of these games?

Games:

Crysis -
doom 3 -
unreal tournament 3 -
cod 4 -
mass effect -
bioshock -
portal -
fear -
gears of war -

 

Basically just use shopbot.ca and/or pricecanada.com to search for the product you're looking for. Pricematch the lowest INSTOCK (they don't pricematch out of stock things) and voila. They're shipping was cheap, $30 express shipped (got it next day after ordering!) for everything I had ordered which was the laptop, a zalman laptop cooler and a few others bits and pieces I wanted from their site. Pricematched it all. They do have cheaper (although slower) shipping methods also. I've been dealing with NCIX for years and have never had any problems with their service but I was tempted to use some other stores because some stores offer free shipping and other incentives on top of better base prices (BestDirect, NXsource and DirectCanada are sister companies of NCIX, same warehouses. I didn't want to make a new account somewhere else to order though).

Hope that helps!

 

htwnzlil1, bro, run COD4, go in settings, "optimized settings" and that should give you the max settings... a lot of stuff on high and normal.. game runs perfect and TBH i think its the max available by COD4...

all older games just max it out lol like fear and doom 3. Im not sure about the rest like bioshock and mass

 

wut about crysis? cuz i dont got my laptop yet

 

Hello,

I just ordored the M50vm A1, the specs looked quite amasing for the price. I was wondering if I will be able to run World of Warcraft very smoothly? What kind of FPS will I be looking at?

Also, will I be able to use video screen capture programs such as Fraps, Gamecam without experiencing ridiculous amounts of lag?

Thanks a lot

 

WoW is not a new game, I'm pretty sure it'd run smoothly. I can't tell you numbers though, others will surely know.

 

hey i got a question, whats the speed of the firewire on the m50vm-b1???
400? 800? anyone know?

 

if you're in canada in the toronto area i would suggest www.swiftgamers.com they operate as a home-business. i bought some stuff from them and the customer service is awesome. also, they'll accept RETURNS up to 14 days after purchase (which is non existant in other stores). and any waranty issues for the 1st year can be dealt with them directly. so you dunt need to go through the whole asus thing.

also, there is leverage for their prices....you can talk to them about that... i got my b1 for 1330CDN fyi

 

i was skeptical at first about the company as a whole but when i arrived at their head office, they were very welcoming and treated me as a guest. that felt awesome. how a company can do that for their customers.

 

power4gear is stating to annoy me...

when I go from battery saving back to extreme performance, my sidebar does not come back. In addition it disables vista aero because it changes my graphic settings to 16bit colour instead of 32bit. What the heck? Anyone have better alternatives to power4gear?

 

How do you index vista? is it automatic or manual?

 

I will buy this laptop with Gentech (M50VM-A1), but i really want the vista 64 bits for getting the 4GB.

If i choose the option with 64bits, come along with a package from vista or goes installed to the laptop? This will void the Asus warranty?

Also thinking later on buying the 9-cell battery, could i get it later on from same reseller or should i check in another part?

 

Hey guys... with the noise you hear in headphones that you get when you use the mouse in the USB port next to the headphone jack... I don't get it when I'm charging my mp3 player from that port.

Anyone know why? I'm curious.

 

omg i disabled my fingerprint reading for logging in. i dunno if it was one of the services i disabled or the latest nvidia driver updates.
I got the driver from laptopvideo2go : 177.89 vista 32bit.

edit: nevemrind fixed it

 

hrmmm not here bro.. everything is great.. and i have done that in both 32bit and now 64bit...

i only use power4gear.. i find that it is actually quite a cool util.
You can also try a program in "flamenco's guide."

Let EBE tell you abuot it

 

I suggest the following combo for Vista power management:

First, remove Power4Gear.
Then, install RMClock, and setup two profiles: Power Saving, and Performance on Demand (there's no need for Max Performance, PoD will work just fine for controlling the CPU speed under load).
Install Vista Battery Saver and use it to control Aero and the Sidebar on battery and AC power.

For details on how to setup RMClock, see my Tips and Tricks (under the "save power with my CPU" question). For details on Vista Batt Saver, my Vista guide.

As I already said on another thread, because different devices generate different types of interference, and the audio is only sensitive to some. I may be e.g. a question of frequency, or of noise power.

 

I am playing Mass Effect with Everything Maxed out and plays wonderfully, the textures look awesome, bit of lag when having big explosions, but everything looks sharp and videos play perfectly. I would give a 9/10 because of some minor lags, but its a game I wanted to play on hi-res. I got Windows XP SP3 with few apps running on the background.

 

I tried crysis... Game after pressing "optimize settings according to hardware" made everything on high and 1024x768 and game was pretty playable.... However on higher res there were lags. Can't tell much about fps, coz didn't have fraps than, but in my opinion it is 6-7/10

 

I have a new problem lol. not sure if its a program i uninstalled. But everytime i reboot vista my wireless doesnt work. I can use windows to diagnose and repair it and i select "start windows wireless service" and then i toggle the wireless off and on. After that it works but i dont want to have to do this all the time. Any advice? thx in advance

 

You can just go to power4gear battery mode and disable the battery saving desktop.

 

Yeah I tried that, but in the end I think there was some conflict between power4gear and vista battery saver program, so I uninstalled the later and re-instaled power4gear, now everything works fine.

 

irEric, something similar like that happened with me. I was diggin in the 32bit version of vista that came with mine and i did the flamenco's tricks and mine disappeared, ie, showed no network. and when i rebooted, it still showed no network then i switched the hardware button on and off, via the Fn+(F2??) and it worked since. Well, since then i havent dug in my 64bit install because everything is working and i cant afford to mess anything up lol

 

hi guyz i m having M50VC series

Intel Centrino processor technology
-Core 2 Duo P8600(2.4G, 3M L2, 1066MHz)
-Intel PRO/ Wireless 3965 ABGN network connection
-320GB-5400rpm HDD
-3GB RAM
-15.4 WXGA+Color shine
-Nvidia 9300M GS 512MB 512+1280 MB (Turbo cache) Max 512+1792 MB with 4GB RAM
-Bluethooth, Integrated 56k modem & 10/100 Mbps LAN
-1.3M webcam, 8x super multi-Dual drive, 8 in 1 card reader.

Where i can get XP drivers for this model ?
i searched cant find
the most i need is SATA drivers?

Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI controller

 

Maybe you could use some of the M50Vm drivers given in the main post of this thread (the ones that match). Then use laptopvideo2go for the GPU. And for the rest, component manufacturer's websites, etc.

 

the rest i got it from the main page but i really need HDD driver cuz i m not going remove vista until i install XP n get all the drivers n until its stable.

 

Do you mean the SATA driver? There are guides around on how to slipstream that on the WinXP CD. So that shouldn't be a problem.

An easier solution is to switch the HDD into Compatible mode from the BIOS. Only do that if you plan to give up Vista, switching the HDD mode doesn't play well with an already installed OS.

 

yes i mean SATA drivers.. and i know to create a cd for XP with sata drivers , just i need the drivers, and i know that i can disable from BIOS but i dont want, i want to use SATA if i dont use is not worth for me
n i m going to use 2 OS vista n XP

 

Hm... so I hear clicks, but at random times (not a constant clicking)... so do I just have one of those hard drives with the click? From what I know, I'm only at risk if the clicking is constant (i.e the head is scratching the plate or something)

 

HDDs will click when the heads are being parked/released. This is a known issue, which is normal, ever since Vista came out and manages the HDD differently from XP; this is what's causing the random clicks you're hearing.

 

Fun stuff... just means I'll have to keep music on to drown out the annoying hdd noises Thanks ClearSkies.

 

It depends on the type of clicks, and their frequency. If they are indeed RW head parks, and they happen too often, then it may shorten the life of the HDD. Some Seagate HDDs had this issue (including one that I have and that has become a backup HDD partly for this reason). If it is that type of issue, then in at least some instances it was solvable by a tweak in the power management settings of the HDD. Look for it on the web, sorry I can't be more precise than that.

Are you sure it's not the HDD just working? (which is more of an intermittent "purring" sort of sound, not "clicking" -- wow I marvel at the technicality of the explanation above ).

 

Yeah I'm guessing it's just the HDD working normally. It's not that frequent, just like when writing/accessing small files (I hear it sometimes when browsing the web) but when I transfer large files there's no clicking at all, which I assume because the HDD is going at full gear the head's not stopping.

 

Yeah, if it's correlated with small files it's more likely that it's the normal RW noise.

 

how can i find this models in chicago would you help me ?

 

Please, do not double post. People have answered on your separate thread created for this question.

 

can any1 find the HDD SATA drives ?

 

Of what? SATA HDDs are everywhere. If you're talking about the one in the m50vm-b1 they are currenty shipping with a WDC Scorpio Blue 320GB 5400RPM, model WD3200BEVT

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=377

 

yes but i m having M50Vc the HDD is same as m50vm
where every where dude?

i need this driver
Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI controller

 

You mean driver. That's a different thing from drive. The last "d" in HDD stands for "drive": HDD = Hard Disk Drive. That's what caused the confusion.

I don't know where the SATA driver is found. One option is to just put the HDD into compatibility mode from the BIOS before you install Windows XP. There isn't much of a performance hit, supposedly, although I haven't tested that. Only do that if you plan to wipe the current Vista OS on the HDD.