Asus M70Sa Review

M70SA Review

Introduction:
The M70SA is the now top of the line multimedia notebook with 17" size, it would be an upgrade from the G2S and its pretty much the big brother of the very popular M50.

Being 17" is a trade-off, it has much more performance options available because the size of the laptop itself allows for higher performance parts and even a 2nd Hard Drive in this case, but you have to carry around more weight and have more desk space to use it. Serious gamers wont let the extra size bother them or professionals who can justify the extra power and options for the space. The M70 is all about max performance and high versatility.

The M-series is officially tagged as Media notebooks thus what the “M” stands for but they are also great gaming machines and the new M50 and now the M70 are both better than the older G series notebooks which are the Gaming tagged notebooks plus personally I think they look much better with a more neutral professional look instead of that flashy look.

Build Quality and Physical Specs
The build for the M70 is the bigger/better M50, the quality seems very good but as with any new model the only true test of build quality will come from users after they have had the product hands on for an extended about of time. The Specs vary greatly depending on what model you choose from. The video card and built-in ATSC TV tuner are pretty much the only consistent part between the different models, while the others will have changes to screen resolution, HDD size, RAM, CPU and so on.

M70Sa-C1 and M50Sv-A1 Video:




Specifications:

M70SA-A1
17" WXGA+ 1440x900
ATI HD3650 1GB DX 10.1
T5500 1.83GHz 2MB 533FSB
320GB X1
3GB RAM
Built-in Digital ATSC TV Tuner
Super-Multi

M70SA-B1
17" WXGA+ 1440x900
ATI HD3650 1GB DX 10.1
T8300 2.4GHz 3MB 800FSB
500GB (250GB X2)
4GB RAM
Built-in Digital ATSC TV Tuner
Super-Multi

M70SA-C1
17" WUXGA 1920x1200 Full HD
ATI HD3650 1GB DX 10.1
T9300 2.5GHz 6MB 800FSB
1000 GB (500X2)
4GB RAM
Built-in Digital ATSC TV Tuner
Blue-Ray reader/DVDRW

Device Manager:



Package includes:
- Carrying case
- 90W AC adapter
- 8 cell battery
- TV Antenna
- AV in cable
- Phone cord for fax modem
- USB Optical Mouse
- User manual
- Asus Windows Vista Recovery DVD
- M70Sa Drivers DVD
- Nero 7
- Dust cloth











M70Sa-C1 Blue-Ray movie:




ATSC TV Tuner:




Note: there is no remote control for the TV tuner.
Also the ATSC does not work with Media Center out of the box, download and install Vista Codec Package is required before setup ATSC signal on Media Center.



Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard has a full numeric keypad on the right, and also has some backlight media hot keys inside the touchpad that you can use in media mode. Its a 17" model so you get a full sized keyboard that is very easy to type on, and very accurate.


Audio
Like the M50 again a lot of similarities, but instead of just 2 upgraded speakers you get 4 of them plus a sub! The audio for the M70 is the best you can get for a laptop currently and very enjoyable.


Heat and Noise
The larger notebook chassis allows the M70 to deal with heat very well, so while under normal use its very quiet and not audible over any kind of room noise or sounds from the laptop speakers.



Performance and Benchmarks




3DMark06 4139 @1024x768, stock drivers no overclock:


3DMark06 3329 @1280x1024, stock drivers no overclock:


M70Sa-C1 Game Video:

T9300 2.5GHz 6MB 800FSB
ATI HD3650 1GB VRAM DDR2, stock driver no overclock
3GB DDR2 667 (4GB physical RAM)
Windows Vista Home Premium 32


Crysis Demo:





Call of Duty 4 Demo:





Reason to buy
The reason to get the M70 is pretty clear, just like the G1S and G2S being the best 15” & 17” notebooks at the time when they came out, the choice is happening all over again with the M series. If you were already interested in the M50, now the M70 is here to increase your options. Pretty much lets just go over the big differences and why you would buy the M70.

First and mainly it has a 17” screen instead of a 15” screen this alone was the reason many went for a G2S instead of a G1S, it makes viewing easier and more enjoyable especially when watching movies, Photoshop or playing games.

Second is storage space, the M70 managed to make room for 2 hard drives! Something both major gamers and multimedia users have in common is they run out of space fast. A game these days can take nearly 10gigs of space easy, and by the time you install a few of your favorite games and add your personal files to your computer you start to run out of space and have to constantly delete files or uninstall games your not playing at the time. If you’re a multimedia person, music while a MP3 file is small it adds up over time when you start to get a large collection. Other formats that are take up a lot more space, mainly tho the extra space would be good for movies. The M70 would pretty much let you have your whole movie collection on the go, so a great traveling companion. On the more professional side of things video editing takes tons of space and they can benefit from this greatly as well.

Third is that the M70 is the first notebook besides W2 series in a long time to feature a built in Digital TV tuner, many people are forced to go buy 3rd party tuners to use this function but now its all already built in and ready to use.

Conclusion
In conclusion I say the M70 is another great addition to the Asus lineup. The M series is the best thing available right now when it comes to performance at a low cost, and still manages to add a lot of extras that you wouldn’t expect to find in this price range. It’s a first in a long while to feature upgraded speakers for quality sound without headphones or external speakers to lug around. It has the new multimedia touchpad with backlight. All of the models come generously equipped with a large amount of ram and big hard drives. Right out of the box it can please even some of the most picky laptop enthusiast.

 

The built in 4.1 channel subwoofer make it a pretty impressive lappy!!

 

Another great review Ken!!

 

Yes the subwoofer makes big difference, I'll try record a video with BD movie later today.

Thanks.

 

From the 3dmark06 benchmark, it looks like the 8600m GT GDDR3 card performs slightly better than the ATI HD3650. I'm also assuming the ATI HD3650 uses DDR2, am I correct?

 

Yes it's DDR2, 8600M GT GDDR3 perform better:
G1S-A1 3DMark06 at 1280X1024 Score: 3630

 

Good review.. Am looking forward to some game benchmarks on the HD 3650..

 

Yes I'll upload some game videos and now I have Assassin's Creed.

 

Nice review Ken, Too bad they opt for a DDR2 version of the card but I think performance can still go up with new drivers.

I like the huge HDD space and the speakers. That would save me 2 things that I take with me when I want to watch movies. My external hdd, and my external speakers.

 

Thanks Vicious.

Yeah I was hoping they put GDDR3 on all of their new models. The stock driver always slower so I'll try some other drivers.

 

please tell us the device number of the lcd monitor

 

MS_0000 is all it says:

 

can you use everest

 

It is the latest Everest.

But it does looks exactly like the one on G2S, even the refresh rate says 62Hz just like G2S.

 

How much flex is there for parts of the M70 like the keyboard, palm rests, etc?

 

no flex at all at palm rest, the only small flex areas are at upper left of keyboard on ESC, F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, and on the right hand side of / and * keys at number pad.

 

Are they shipping now? Do I get to do the happy dance?

 

Yes.



M70Sa-C1 Blue-Ray movie:




ATSC TV Tuner:




Note: there is no remote control for the TV tuner.
Also the ATSC does not work with Media Center out of the box, download and install Vista Codec Package is required before setup ATSC signal on Media Center.

 

Are those 500gb hdd's in the notebook the 9.5 or 12.5mm size?

 

Wow, that 3DMark score is very disappointing, especially considering it's not run at 1920x1200. I don't know if I could do with that.

I wonder how the M70 compares with the Sager NP5793 in build quality and physical looks? So hard to assess through electrons in a wire.

What about the 1920x1200 screen? Does it have Asus' clarity technology? Whassa battery life?

Tone of the review was quite tepid. He must not have been as impressed, as with some other notebook or other. NP5793?

 

In the blu-ray video, was that all the notebooks speakers and the camcorders mic? It sounded pretty good and impressive. I can only imagine how it sounds in person.

 

It's 12.5mm:
HITACHI Travelstar 5K500 (HTS545050KTA300)500GB 2.5", 8.0MB cache, 5400 Rpm, 12.5mm, SATA II 3.0Gb/s

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/592ABEC6BCD5359A862573BE00822ECF/$file/5K500_datasheet.pdf

I'll test battery life later.

The screen is a glossy display, it looks exactly like the one on G2S.

The sound quality is very good, yes the audio was recorded from camcorder and playback using your speaker.

 

M70Sa-C1 and M50Sv-A1 Video:

 

Oh wow! Great video Ken!
This is a great comparison of size. The audio sounds really really awesome too

 

Yes the audio quality is really good, and I thought M50Sv is big.

 

When are you going to put the M70 on sale in your store Ken? I am intrested in seeing what a 1TB 17" beast cost these days. I almost had a heart attack when I saw the new Alienware 17" model cost like over 7000$ With the only real big difference in my opinion being the better video card(s)

 

So they want $7K? The M70 IT IS on sale then.

 

The M70 looks and sounds really nice, thanks for that video. It's so big though, too big for my likes. If I was in the market for a 17" notebook I'd definitely consider it as a media notebook, but since I just bought me M50Sa I am content I still can't believe how big it looks in comparison to the M50.

 

Well, the video card performance just makes this notebook no good for me.

What could they have been thinking, putting an HD3650 in a 17" with 1200 lines? And at this price?

DOH!

 

The "top" model is now for sale and in stock in Norway:

M70SA-7U011G http://www.ps.no/ArtDtl.aspx?i=138488

T9300
HD 3650 1Gb
4Gb RAM
2 x 500Gb HDD
BluRay
TV-Tuner with remote
17" TFT 1920 x 1280 ( WUXGA )

And it cost almost double the M50SA, which is too much in my opinion for this PC.

 

GenTechPC nice review. Windows XP works for this one like the M50?

 

I'll test XP soon.

 

A1 and B1 models are still somewhat attractive for the price. The C1 model of the M70 has been discontinued by ASUS. Resellers will be on the lookout for the Montevina platform in Q3.

 

1,200 lines is discontinued already... obviously because the price was too high.

Nah, the A1 and B1 underperform even the 7800 GTX. It is a pretty notebook, but can not come close to competing with the Sager in horsepower for a similar price. The GPU is the one thing that is not upgradable on this model; and it is weak. What were they thinking?

Meh, I was looking forward to the M70Sa-C1. Looking at the Clevo/Sager now. Maybe buy the most basic model or even barebones, and upgrade as time goes on. The X9000, 8800M GTX and BluRay will each be half the price in six months.

 

M70Sa-C1 Game Video:

T9300 2.5GHz 6MB 800FSB
ATI HD3650 1GB VRAM DDR2, stock driver no overclock
3GB DDR2 667 (4GB physical RAM)
Windows Vista Home Premium 32


Crysis Demo:





Call of Duty 4 Demo:

 

The C1 is going to be expensive because it has not one but 2 of the 500gb hdd's and since that is the largest you can get they are of a high cost, and of course blue-ray is expensive too. If those are things you want then its priced right, but if its something you could do without you may feel your paying more than you have too. But thats why they have the A & B models.

Personally I would like the C1 without the blue-ray. I am all for the large storage and high resolution.

 

to ken: hi ken, please do me a favor and give me an advice. I would like to buy the M50 model and I want it for gaming too. My only problem is that i dont know which GPU is better. there is a configuration with 9500GS with 512 MB (M50sv) and ATI 3650 with 1Gb of ram(M50sa). I know that the the performance is quite the same, but you have the real experience with testing these two cards. So could you give me a short review of these? (diferences in overclocking, drivers and overall performances) i would be grateful. which model would you prefer? cao and thanx

 

3DMark is very close on both cards, but I think 9500M GS is still better on real world gaming, you can checkout the game video on both M50Sv and M51Sn and compare with game video on M70Sa:

M50SV:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=229282

M51Sn:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=222056

 

Boy, those are pretty dismal 3DMark06 scores.

 

Thank you.

I already tried the latest Catalyst 8.4, makes no difference.

 

I wish ASUS would slap an nVIDIA 8800 series card on there

 

Judging by the lack of rapid-fire postings here... I get the sense that perhaps the M70sa is not as great a value as the runaway M50sv (-A1: a ~$1300 15.4" laptop w 2.5GHz Penryn C2D processor, NVidia 9500 GS graphics card)...

While the M70sa is formidable, the -C1 model has a fairly high price tag, the -B1 model is a better deal... (2.4Ghz Penryn C2D, 500GB HD, TVTuner, great sound), but with the same resolution (1440x900 @ 17") as the 15.4" M50sv, and ~$1650 price tag... but not as great a deal as the M50sv...

Does the much better sound sytem, a 2nd HD and a TVTuner make the M70sa worth putting out the extra ~$350 above the M50sv? What do you guys who are reading this forum think?

I did see here and at another website that the -C1 model is discontinued, i wonder what the chances are that they might either discount the -B1, or sell -B1-equivalent models with the higher resolution (1920x1280) -C1 screens?

Something about the M70sa series makes me pause and not run out to buy it... perhaps the configuration could be tweaked to make it the ideal pricepoint for what "people" (in this case me ) want?

 

I tend to agree. I'm not a heavy gamer, but I do want the most bang for my buck. I want to really like this model but the price point seems out of wack compared to the M50. I like the 17" display, but was dissappointed by the video review of the ATI. On Crysis it did pause under stress unlike the M50 - which reminded me of my laptop now.

I find it odd the C1 is already discontinued and it hasn't even arrived in Canadian stores yet! The suggested pricing for the A1 is $1236 and B1 at $1523. I think the A1 is a great price if I can upgrade the Video Card and the CPU at a later date. Are these things possible?

 

I have been using my m70c1 since Friday, and I really like the system. Well built thin and light, great screen, Ken from Gentech was helpfull, so no regrets. I wanted and needed the hdd space, so I was glad to see the 1tb. I knew going in the gpu was going to be underpowered. I was going to get a Gateway px series but all the upgrading it would take put me off, monitor, hdd's, ram. It would be nice if the gpu is upgradeable, but can't you have everything.

One thing that has become a pain is the "mode" button in the mouse pad. I hit it all the time when trying to scroll through pages.

I'm looking at this as a 2 year computer so the price was reasonable, in my opinion. I had a Dell with less going on but paid more for it, then all it had were problems so it went home.

If the price point is wrong then they will not be selling many of them, and things will have to change. I'm happy with the price and package. More power is always good but it has costs assoicated size, weight power consumption, heat. I just hope I don't run out of hdd space, I have a few boxes of cd's to finish ripping through.

 

Go to your mouse properties in your control panel. Device settings -> settings -> Tapping -> Dual Mode -> uncheck "Switch to button mode by tapping in the upper-right corner"

Try that, it worked on the M50

 

Hmm...

Interesting... I was looking over at Newegg.com a few minutes ago and just out of curiosity I put in "Asus m70sa" and guess what showed up:

ASUS M70SA-X2

2.5GHz Intel C2D Penryn T9300
4GB RAM
500GB HD
17" WUXGA (1920x1200) LCD
ATI HD 3650 w 1GB VRAM
Multi DVD (non-Blu-Ray)


~$1800.

(doesn't mention the 4.1 sound or TV Tuner... but... on pictures looks like the 4 speakers are there, but the TV Tuner spot is filled in/gone)

Interesting. So it looks like the 'compromise model' between the B1 and the (now discontinued) C1 model is here, at least at Newegg .

 

Your are right there is not TV-tuner. Also theres is only 2 x 250GB HD and not hte 2 x 500GB HD.

A M70 without Tv-tuner is not a M70 and is a loose of money. Better get the M50.

 

Interesting 3DMark06 results on Windows XP, the scores is no different than in Windows Vista:

Windows XP Pro
Driver: ATI Catalyst 8.4


1024x768: 4157




1280x1024: 3297

 

Miserable scores.

 

Hey Ken,

Is it possible for you to test the difference between 3650 1Gb VRAM and 3650 512 VRAM? Is there a way to disable half the VRAM through BIOS?