Asus M50VM Montevina, NV 9600M GS Review

Well, shouldn't the more "souped up" one weigh more than the simpler one, as it has more complex and heavier parts to accommodate gaming and the stuff that comes on it?

And the Toshiba site said starting at 8.1 pounds, which I think means that it has a minimum weight of 8.1 and gets even heavier.... Ack.

 

personally the weight wont hurt me cause im not running a marathon with it it all comes down if i can get a good warranty/ its really reliable or else im getting the asus

 

since lots of you know laptops and gaming laptops, which one do you recommend for me? G1, G2, M70VM - B1? G2 has the T9300, and the m70vm has the p8400, which one would be better for gaming? as well as, which one do you recommend overall?

 

I honestly don't think there's any other company that can match Asus's warranty and customer service in North America (maybe Sager, but it's a hard call). I've had a Toshiba Tecra M2 (business line) before and although it was a very reliable notebook, customer service was absolutely horrendous. I also had a friend whom purchased the Toshiba satellite (consumer line) when I got my Tecra, and his lasted less than 2 years before many things started failing. So like many notebook companies, reliability and build quality varies between models, but at the end, I probably wouldn't want to go back with a Toshiba.

 

If gaming is your primary concern, I'd go with the G2Sg-A1 since that comes with the best GPU Asus currently offers (8700M GT). Although it doesn't have the new Montevina CPU, the T9300 is still very powerful.

Check out the gentech link below
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=G2SG-A1

If you have a $3000 budget, you could check out the G70S. It has dual SLI 8700M GT GPUs. This is Asus's ultimate gaming machine
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=G70S-A1

 

so the montevina is more powerful then the T9300?

 

so for gaming and portability, would you recommend the m70vm?

 

hmmm with the toshiba would the cpu be the bottle neck because its only 2.0 ghz for the cheaper one but it has a 9700m gts?......

 

Nah, I don't think the CPU would bottleneck it, really. Most GPUs are generally the Bottleneck today, and the 9700m GTS might be (The CPU is a more advanced one (Montevina Core 2 Duo) and could probably handle calculations just fine for gaming, but with intensive things like Photoshop, there would be a noticeable difference between CPU's). Look at that 17" Gateway gaming laptop that goes for less than $1350, the older Santa Rosa CPU doesn't affect the 8800 GTS in it really.

 

so you recommend the M70VM?

 

hm and since i dont do heavy photo shopping il be alright. il just see how things unfold (particularly how much cash i generate in the next month)

 

I don't recommend anything. I say that you should look at what you are requiring out of a laptop, and research which laptop you think will be exactly right for you. If you are just going to use it as a Desktop replacement and keep it on a desk with a little bit of moving around, the M70Vm may be right for you. If you want more portability, then M50 might be better, but if you need even more portability for if you are going to take your laptop around with you a few times a week, then it may be more practical for a 14" or smaller. I'm personally still debating over a 13-14" or 15", because of my body build (tall, but pretty thin) and I'm a college student.

 

Trust me I did loads of research, I'm trying to pick one, amd so far the M70VM is the best bet, im just trying to find out which is better for gaming, T9300 or the P8400

 

Oh, either one will be fine for gaming (very little if not any noticeable difference, it seems). Personally, I'm not entirely sure there will be too much of a difference, the P8400 might be slightly slower just based on the lower L2 Cache and the Ghz aren't quite as high, but the P8400 will give you a better battery life than the T9300.

 

thank you, i was just curious what you think ken for a laptop? G1, G2, or M70VM? for my needs?

 

It depends on which Montevina CPU you're comparing it to. eg P8400 (montevina) is weaker than the T9300 (Penryn). However, even if you compare with the same clock speeds, the montevina is only slightly faster than the Penryn and you can't really tell the difference during gaming. eg the difference between the T9400 montevina CPU and the T9300 penryn is 30mhz clock speed and 266mhz FSB

I'd still say the G2Sg-A1 would be better for gaming and recommend it over the M70VM unless you really want the altec lancing speakers and multimedia touchpad.

 

but what about portability? is the M70VM better for battery life? and what about the weight? isnt the G2 like 10 lbs?

 

is there a big difference between the p8400 and t9300 for gaming?

 

gaming is almost always bottlenecked by the gpu, not cpu.
either is fine.

 

Well, I guess you'll have to decide which is more important for you. The G2 is definately not as portable, but it's graphics is quite a bit better than the M70VM.

In gaming there will be little difference between the P8400 and T9300 and most likely not noticeable with the exception of a few CPU intensive games such as Flight Simulator.

 

Thank you for all your help, greatly appreciated, Leaning toward the M70, but the G2 still lingers in my mind

 

Again, the only thing I can respond to in terms of if there is a big difference between the P8400 and the T9300 is probably not.

Let me try to state why. Now, we all know the difference between the M50Vm-A1 and B1 is the Processor, right? They will both have nearly if not just about identical performance with gaming. Everything is the same but the CPU. The only thing limiting the Graphics on the M50Vm is the 9600 GS DDR2, most likely an 8600 GT DDR3 would definitely perform better than the 9600 GS DDR2.

So, I think that with gaming, you won't notice the difference between the processors. Even with normal types of activity (Music, Internet, Videos, etc, the P8400 is extremely great for that.)

Video Conversion takes more CPU power to be faster, but it will only be so much faster (minimally somewhat faster, not an extreme difference, most likely).

Look at those 3D Prime scores, the P8400 scores only about 3 seconds slower than the T9400, which has about .3 Ghz more or so, and has 3 MB L2 Cache difference.

The T9300 will be faster technically, and would be noticeable only for extremely intense CPU programs, and some games like The Sims or others that require a lot of calculation (more so than most games).

 

Would there be a big difference between the 9600 and the 8600? like a $500 difference?

 

hmm i need money cause euros arnt at the best rate right now. lol il end up blowing all my money in spain and then i wont be able to get a laptop and

 

$500 difference? What do you mean by that?

I don't think the cost is quite that much off, really. (It shouldn't be that big of a difference, that's for sure.)

I mean, even that 8800M GTX (not SLI) I think goes for $500-650 or something like that itself (maybe less now, I don't know).

A big factor of GPU performance is what kind of memory it uses. DDR2 is not quite as powerful as DDR3, and it shows. The 8600M GT DDR3 is ranked higher in the Performance Class GPU category compared to the 9500M GS and 9600M GS which both use DDR2. I don't know if there will be an incredible increase in terms of how many FPS you will get in games though. (My GPU knowledge isn't quite as good as CPU, I'm afraid.)

 

the M70Vm is $1 500 and the G2SG - A1 is $2 000. Which one is the best bang for buck? because the cpu's are basically the same, the GPU is what matters. Is the G2 worth that extra 500 for that CPU and GPU?

 

Don't forget the screen resolution and Vista 64bit. The screen is probably the most expensive component in the G2Sg-A1.

 

so you think the G2 is worth the $2 000. Even because of its battery life?

 

Personally, I wonder if Asus will come out with a "refresh" version of the G series anytime in the next couple of months or so. I would want to wait for that if I could, but who knows if they will.

With the G2Sg-A1, there won't be as good of speakers, but there are nicer things on it, and a better graphics card by far.

If battery life isn't horridly crucial to you, then it would probably be worth it. Of course, you can't really expect to have any gaming portability on any laptop, for that matter (Play games for more than a little bit of time on the battery). The GPU would absolutely eat the battery life in performance mode.

 

So do you think the G2 is worth the $2 000? despite its battery life?

 

again, it depends on your need and preferences.
Go for the M70VM if you want a good, well-balanced notebook that has better battery life and good graphics power
Go for the G2Sg-A1 if your primary concern is gaming at high resolutions and high detail.
I suspect you'll choose the M70VM at the end because you've mentioned a portability and battery life a few time and clearly are concerned with that issue. That's what I'd go with too if I were you. The 9500M GS by all means doesn't suck and will play current and future games at med-high res with a decent amount of detail.

 

well thank you very much, emporium, and for ILoveMoogles, I'll probably go with that, thank you

 

Ah, well, you are welcome. Sorry I'm not quite as informative as Emporium, but I hope that you make the right choice and love which laptop you end up buying. (I personally wish I could get one of those, but I can't afford it nor could I manage to carry them with me.)

I'm going to have continuous research into what I am going to buy though, especially into early August, as there might be more to choose from for Montevina.

 

You're welcome

 

dang this is so complicated. the toshiba will outperform the asus but at that price with the warranty i could add an extra 100 and get the np8660 that will perform even better! ugh i hate this im guess the warranty to be around 200-300...

 

True about the Toshiba, but not all Toshibas are built to last, nor do they seem all that great anymore. I know a few people that have had many problems with their Toshibas even in the first week of owning them. (One had the CDRW/DVDRW drive break within a week and not their fault, others have had other weird problems with recent Toshibas.)

True about the warranty, it will be expensive, and Asus just seems to have a nice deal with warranty at a decent cost.

 

i mean the sager configures at 1800 is just too much. the toshiba alone at 1500 is something i could swallow but add a warranty onto that and its too much. the asus is something i could buy though.

 

Just temporary sold out, new shipment coming next week.

I recommend GeForce video cards for gaming, not ATI HD3650 is a bad card, it's just the 9600M GS performs better.

Should be DX10 but I am not sure, it didn't give me a choice to choose.

It sees 4GB since the Windows has SP1 but it will only use 3GB.

If the notebook is mainly for gaming then I'll go for G2SG if money is not the problem since G2SG cost a lot more.

But consider the M70VM is the whole new platform.

 

SO hands down, the 9600m GS beat the 8600mGT DDR3, right? im thinking of getting this notebook for my cousin (since i will be ordering the m860TU from xotic), the price is good and reasonable, plus the performance is superb. Is the GPU Memory REALLY 1GB?? its hard to believe with the 128bit...

the price is really really perfect!!!! i just check it with the blu-ray disc option and its only $2042!!

 

They perform the same. It's 1GB but only marketing, it's like having 256MB

 

i guess with my budget il have to stay with the asus. but the toshiba does have a built in gps :'(

 

is there a site that lets me customize it so it has like 2-3GB DDR2 ... 4 GB is to much for me considering im just gonna be using a 32-bit OS...

or are there only 4 GB....gosh if it could let me go to like 2 GB it would be hella cheaper..

 

The most you would save is like $30-$40...

 

this isn't a macbook where ram and a cd-rw will save you a lot of money

 

Couldn't you always just purchase 64-bit Vista separately and install that on the M50Vm?

 

I just want to share my sorrow for those who are really confused on what to buy ... =) There are a lot of laptops that are coming out with decent to impressive specs at prices that are not hard to swallow. I think the best way to help you decide is to list your reasons for buying a laptop and set that as your reference for buying notebooks. You could choose toshiba if you are a gamer but are you really willing to carry something that bulky. and many say that toshiba has a bas rep for their build quality. And it is one chunky beast (looks as thick as a spam to me hehe). You could choose the new sager with the 9600m gt but it lacks the functionality and the classy appearance (its kinda plain in my opinion)

If you ask me, i chose ASUS because of their warranty and I think that the m50sv-a1(this is what i purchase) is in at the dead center of functionality and leisure(gaming movies etc). Warranty is so important to me because i am in the Philippines and purchasing a notebook doesn't happen to me annually or even every two years or so. So i want to get a product that could last a hell longer that anything else. So i chose this. It WILL definitely be unable to play games in the future but hey.. i may be a millionaire by then and i could have the ability to purchase a laptop with 8 cores and quad SLI but is 1 inch thick =)

 

DOes the M50vm have a modular vidcard , Upgradable ? with MCX connector, or does any of the latest laps from asus?

 

I definitely agree with you, Mumar. It is a pretty hard choice, especially when you have certain criterion that are felt as necessary to the laptop buyer.

I have the problem of not being sure if I could manage the 15" laptop, but it's not too much more of a laptop than the F8 series, really. (Even with comparison shots, the weight and the size are only marginal I think.) Now, weight, graphics and speakers are the big things for me... I love listening to music, playing games, and I am a thinner person, with not too much muscle (Enough to carry a 50 pound bag, but only for so long).

Augh, choices, choices.

Da- I don't think that you can upgrade the video card, it is specifically modified and made for Asus laptops, and anything you buy online will not fit the specifications that Asus laptops require of GPU's.

 

They say that this laptop(most of the laptops with dedecated gpu) has the MXM slot for the gpu. In theory you could upgrade it. The problem is that no one is really a "PRO" in this category and there are a no available videocards that can be bought individually.

 

Also , you would want to consider if the model you chose has the newest technology that is out in the market (for at least 6 months or so). You have a lot of researching to do. This happened to me when i bought the M50sv-a1 after sleepless nights of researching (i'm kinda vain in purchasing anything) but i missed out on the fact that there are a bunch of laptops (even the m50vm) that would come out mid july. But then again. who could really cope up would technology right? It's as if technology has a v12 engine and the search engines of the internet has only a 3 cylinder sub 100horsepower engine( this is a luxury you know, fuel prices are off the charts hehe).

As for me, i would love my asus m50sv-a1 =) If you think of technology too much (especially if you want to cope with it) then you would just find yourself at the corner of your room looking at your pc/laptop monitor from a distance while tears flow down your cheeks hehe =p