Asus M70VM nVidia 9600M GS Montevina Mobile Platform review

M70Vm-B1



M70VM-B1 and F8VA-B1 Video:



Introducing:
M70Vm is another refresh model for the new Intel Montevina Mobile Platform, it replace the discontinued M70VA series, the new platform featuring some major upgrades
- Intel PM45 Chipset
- 1066MHz CPU FSB
- DDR-2 800 MHz
- ICH9-M SATA Controller.
- nVidia GeForce 9600M GS 512MB DDR2



The chassi is the exactly same as the M70SA including all the ports, what’s missing on M70VM is the TV Tuner, we’ll have to wait for the M70VM-C1 for TV Tuner.

Both M70VM-A1 and B1 only comes with single hard drive unlike the M70VA-B1 and C1 all has dual hard drive.

Since everything looks the same as M70SA so I’ll just focus on performance review, Here is the previous review for the M70SA with videos and photos:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=245113


M70VM comes with two models for now, the new M70VM-C1 will have higher specs and MSRP which is not yet available:

Specification:

M70VM-A1:
MSRP: $1299
17" 1440X900 WXGA+
Chipset: Intel PM45 Montevina Mobile Platform
Southbridge: ICH9-M SATA Controller
GPU: GeForce 9600M GS 512MB DDR2
CPU T5750 2.0 Ghz 2MB 800 FSB
4GB DDR2 800MHz
320GB 5400RPM SATA
Intel Wireless 4965 N
DVDRW Super Multi
1.3MB Swivel webcam
Fingerprint Scanner
Windows Vista Home Premium 32



M70VM-B1:
MSRP: $1549
17" 1440X900 WXGA+
Chipset: Intel PM45 Montevina Mobile Platform
Southbridge: ICH9-M SATA Controller
GPU: GeForce 9600M GS 512MB DDR2
CPU P8400 2.26 Ghz 3MB 1066 FSB
4GB DDR2 800MHz
320GB 5400RPM SATA
Intel Wireless 4965 N
Blu-Ray/DVDRW Super Multi
1.3MB Swivel webcam
Fingerprint Scanner
Windows Vista Home Premium 32

The only differences between A1 and B1 is the CPU and optical drive.


Device Manager:



Battery life: 3 Hours 20 minutes




the new battery saving mode will change windows scheme to basic, also the desktop will be disable, it's only a white background with Asus logo:



Performance:

PCMark05:



3Dmark06:


1024X768: 4606
1280X720: 4316
1280X768: 4196
1280X800: 4122
1440X900: 3690

Overclocking seem disable by VGA BIOS, I’ve tried different drivers but not able to overclock the GPU, the 3Dmark06 scores the same with or without overclock.

1024X768


1280X720


1280X768


1280X800


1440X900




Game Video:

Crysis



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Windows XP:

Go to Advanced>IDE Configuration>SATA Operating mode> change from Enhance to Compatible, press F10 to save the settings and exit.

If you know how to slipstream the SATA driver then download the driver here:
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/16759/eng/f6flpy32_85.zip

Both iaAHCI.inf and iaStor.inf worked since M70VM does not have RAID controller.

Most the drivers you can be find on drivers CD:

XP Drivers
Below is the drivers you can findfrom drivers DVD:

Intel Chipset: Always install chipset first.
D:\Software\INFupdate\Setup.exe

D:\DRIVER\ATK0100\VISTA32\2KSETUP.EXE
D:\DRIVER\KB_FILTER\Vista32\2KSETUP.EXE

D:\SOFTWARE\ATKHOTKEY\SETUP.EXE
D:\SOFTWARE\ATKMEDIA\SETUP.EXE
D:\SOFTWARE\ATKOSD2\SETUP.EXE

D:\SOFTWARE\RICOH\SETUP.EXE (Card Reader)
D:\Software\BLUETOOTH\WIN32\BRCM\DPINST.EXE
D:\SOFTWARE\EXPRESSGATE\SETUP.EXE
D:\SOFTWARE\TOUCHPAD\Setup.exe
D:\SOFTWARE\WCONSOLE\SETUP.EXE
D:\SOFTWARE\MODEM\Vista32\SETUP.EXE
D:\SOFTWARE\TUNER\YUAN\MC570\VISTA32 (TV Tuner for C1 and C2 only, install the driver from Device Manager)
D:\SOFTWARE\FINGERPRINTS\VISTA32_64\SETUPIAM.EXE

nVidia GeForce Driver:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=18823
1: Download driver from the driver link
2: Extract driver into a folder
3: download Modded INF
4: Copy and paste INF file into the extracted driver folder before run setup.exe
5: Run Setup.exe

WiFi:
for M70Vm-B1:
Atheros AR928X Wireless lan (use update driver from Device Manger to install):
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14858

for M70Vm-A1, C1 and C2:
Intel WiFi Link 5100:
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/17228/eng/12.2.0.0_X_Drivers.zip
unzip and click dpinst32.exe to install.



Realtek Audio Driver:
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

nVidia HDMI Audio Driver:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/win/144542


Realtek Lan Driver (Unzip and click setup.exe to install):
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...d=5&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

Power4Gear:
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/10891/eng/P4G_V1.16_Generic.zip

If you have C1 and C2 the TV remote controller will not work since there is no IR driver for Windows XP, some people in the forum said they got it to worked so you might need to search the forum to see if people can help you with IR driver.

 

Is that Crysis at 9 frames per second on high? That's amaz-

Oh, wait. Right.

 

High on everything but medium on shaders and shadows.

 

It's pretty good for a midrange laptop card.

What settings do you need to run to get a steady 30 frames per second?

 

If you want to get 30 FPS on Crysis you will need to set shader and shadows to low with resolution at 1280X720.

 

Could you get a GPUz screenshot, please?

Thanks.

 

GPU-Z:

 

Aww, it's not in their database yet.

Thanks Ken.

 

I was actually going to ask the same question
Guess we'll have to wait for a new version of GPUZ!

 

Yeah that's the latest version they have.

 

M70VM also features Express Gate instant on:

 

Does the M50VM?

 

I am sure it will have it.

Using Splashtop for browsing:




Browsing YouTube using Splashtop, my favorite song:

 

Hey Ken, you mentioned that the M70VM comes with one HDD, but does it have an extra empty slot to put a second hard drive in? Thx!

Lol~ that song cracks me up all the time

 

Any info on improvement in battery life with the new platform? Is there an option on a 1900x1200 higher resolution screen?

 

It does have extra slot but it doesn't comes with hard drive mounting kit.

I'll test the battery life.
The C1 will have 1920X1200 resolution but it won't be release till end of August.

 

Slightly off topic: do all in the M70 line require a mounting kit, like the M70Sa-A1? Can this kit be bought anywhere for a reasonable price? Is the kit just a peice of metal with mounting screws, or does it contain electronics, like some silly useless adapter board that, say, moves the sata connected over by 1 cm?

 

It's just a bracket with screws to secure the drive, no electronics.



M70VM battery life: 3 Hours 20 minutes




the new battery saving mode will change windows scheme to basic, also the desktop will be disable, it's only a white background with Asus logo:

 

Wow! 3 hours 20min? That's a huge improvement!

 

Yeah it's pretty good, tonight I'll test the "EeePC Mode" to see how's the battery life.

 

ya that's amazingly good for an asus 17"

now curious about the new m50's battery life

 

It's running coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool lol

 

Great news on battery life - as I recall it used to be around 2 hours for the previous M70sa b model. Just out of curiosity what do you run when you test the battery life?

 

Ken - do you have suggested retail price and configuration info for the C1 as yet? Thanks!

 

Any news on the EeePC mode? I'm interested in what this mode actually does

 

Not yet, we won't see the C1 model anytime soon.

Yes I'll post the result soon.

 

Do you think Asus can supply these if we ask for them?

 

Currently they don't have it in stock, many M70SA customers already asked, if they do have it available it'll be on Asus online eStore in the future.

 

I have been considering buying the Asus M70VM laptop. I was also thinking of adding a second HD so I could have it setup for a 2 boot system as I gotta have XP to run some of my software. Is the mounting kit for the second drive available from anyone yet?

 

Thank you for the review, it was added to the Info Booth sticky.

 

It comes with just a empty slot for 2nd HDD, no mounting kit:

 

I got the part about the unit doesn't come with the hardware. Is the hardware available from sources other than Asus at this time? Can a second HD be mounted securely without the hardware? I have little knowledge of laptops, or pc's in general for that matter, so I rely on what I read in the forum for information to make decisions on purchases.
Thanks

 

Does anyone know if the built in wireless n is dual band (2.4 and 5 ghz) capable?
Is there an option for which version of windows vista os you can get?

 

anyone know?

 

Just FYI, you do not need 2 hard drives to have 2 operating systems, you can simply partition a single drive into as many drives as you want.

My Asus C90 is is actually triple boot

>Windows XP Home x86
>Windows Vista Home Premium X86
>Windows Vista Ultimate X64

With a 320gb HDD you have more than adequate space to do this and do not need the 2nd HDD.

 

Asus is "bien algarete" with their models. They take out the TV Tuner in this update and the 2nd drive. This model now have only different from the M50 the 4.1 Speakers and the Blu-ray.

I was looking Newegg it looks they have thier custom version of the M70VM call M70Vm-X1. The difference is that it has better CPU and 1920 x 1200 Display, but it does not have Blue-Ray.

 

I think there is a max number of partitions you can have on a hard drive. I've tried doing it before on XP and couldn't get more than 4 primary partitions

 

That's true that you can get at most 4 primary partitions. But you can always make one of those an extended partition, and then you can have practically as many logical partitions in the extended, as you want.

And you can also boot from them, no problem.

 

Ahhh....

 

Hello,

I was just wondering if I had this laptop :
M70VM, Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.40GHz, 3MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB,
4 Gig Ram, NVIDIA Geforce 9600M GS w/512MB, and Vista Home Premium Edition 64 Bits.

Would I be able to play games like Age of Empire 3 (min spec: PC with 1.4 GHz equivalent or higher processor, 256 MB of system RAM, 2 GB available hard disk space, 64 MB video card with support for hardware transformation and lighting required) and Civ IV (min spec: 1.2 GHz Processor, 256 MB RAM, 64 MB video card w/ Hardware T&L + Pixel shader, sound card) smoothly? Any idea about what FPS I could get?

Thanks for your help!

 

3Dmark06 scores about the same as M50Vm-B1 with T9400:

1024X768: 4606
1280X720: 4316
1280X768: 4196
1280X800: 4122
1440X900: 3690

Have not test Age of Empire 3 yet but you can check out the game video I made on M50Vm, that'll somehow give you a idea of how it can perform:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=273404

 

Update - I just noticed the Gentech.com website now has an option for you to choose which version of VISTA you get....

 

They always let you the option of buying a another of Vista for the full price.

 

I am hoping to get this and put Windows Server 2008 on it before using it to virtualize XP32, XP64, and Vista Ultimate. Anyone know why this wouldn't work?

Also, does anyone know if the chipset / board can take 2 4GB chips when they eventually come down in price?

Thanks,

B

 

If you have Server 2008, you don't need to virtualize Vista on it. Pretty much everything work

 

True but I do need to virtualize it to test for development.

B

 

Would this hard drive mounting bracket work on the second HDD drive on the Asus M70VM-X1?

http://estore.asus.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=4316

Name:
M70SV-1A HDD BRKT ASSY
Item#:
13GNFU1AM030-1
Price/ea.
$18.50

 

Yup, it should. I would e-mail the Asus estore to confirm

 

It looks like the real Centrino 2 CPUs are not available with the M70VM
They also come with a built-in TV tuner + remote! The 1TB hard drive is also back
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=M70VM-C1&Category_Code=
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=M70VM-C2&Category_Code=

 

You mean are "now" available?