M50Sv: Review & Owners' Lounge

Well....

1. Open the Asus Security Protect Manager (A GUI screen should open up displaying two columns)
2. Choose the Multifactor Authentication option (Another window will pop up)
3. Select the Policies Tab. It should default automatically to it anyway.
4. There should be a bunch of radial options for authentication. Select your choice.

I hope this helps you some what.

 

thank alot asianrage

sanchez, and as to how we turned off ambient light sensor, its Fn + A

 

Yup, found that out, but thanks a lot Halo! I pretty much didnt install everything form the driver cd, so I have a question for you guys. The only button at the top of the keyboard that functions for me is the Touchpad Disable/Enable (2nd button). Not sure what the 1st, 3rd, and 4th buttons do. Would you guys know and are those important?

 

second and fourth wrk for me, the fourth opens windows media center

 

weird, it doesnt work for me. Would anyone know how to set this up? When I press the mode and try pressing the hot key for media center it doesnt work as well....

 

it should be one of those drivers, i think it has the name media in it

 

installed the atk things, its working now. I also installed the splendid and p4g, just didnt want to leave any buttons not working. hehe. Im going to see how it performs and if I dont like it, i will just tweak the softwares

 

Nathan, you could have checked my Vista guide (see signature). But now it's a bit late. It's linked from the Info Booth, which it seems nobody ever checks... oh well.

Splendid is completely unnecessary.
P4G can be replaced by RMClock, which offers much better control. But it's up to you.

 

I did look into your guide. =) I just wanted to try the stuff first, I can always uninstall them if I dont want them. I didnt install the Power4phone and other stuff just like what was in your guide. I was just curious about the softwares so I decided to try those out a bit. Great guide by the way E.B.E

 

Thanks, sorry for chiding you without reason

Sure, try any of them out except Live Update and Norton AV.

 

yeah i got the same thing when i tried this. i called Ken though and he very patiently walked me through the important drivers i needed for a completely clean install of vista. now it's running beautifully and i don't have all the extra bloatware.

 

Well, I still installed the live update for the BIOS. I had a good experience with the Live Update with my F3KA laptop so I have no worries on that.

I cant believe how big of a difference this has speed wise comparing to my F3KA laptop! I went from X2 2.0 2gig ram to C2D 2.5 3gig and it was a big leap!

Im having fun right now.. Tinkering with the softwares and stuff. Do you guys use the Asus Security thing? Im thinking if it is really useful or not...

 

Oh thats nice.... Ken also sent me a PM and he did indicate there that there was a similar problem this morning, thats probably you...

I dont think I will be doing a clean install anytime soon, Im too lazy to do everything all over again...

 

Hello guys, I registered an account for the express purpose of asking an advice here.

First of all, I live in Germany and I initially plan to buy the proven M1530 until I came to this thread. Right now, there's a special offer going on and combined with an Einkaufgutschein coupon (I think it's similar to the E-code you guys use in the US), I can get it at circa 970 Euro or equivalent to 1500 USD. The specification includes T9300, 4GB RAM, 320GB 5.4k RPM HDD, 1440x900 screen and 8600GT DDR3. I'm also interested in the M50sv but this model is not available here in Europe so if I were to buy one, I have to import.

Now the main question. With all the hassles of importing including the shipping cost and possible customs, is it still reasonable to buy the M50sv or would it be a better idea to just get the M1530? On another note, do the laptops from Dell Europe also suffer from the grainy screen problem you guys seem to face?

Thanks in advance.

 

Nathan, I really recommend against ASUS Live Update... it has memory leaks and in general is quite buggy. I especially don't trust it for BIOS updates, I like to do those myself. I want to be entirely in control of what happens during a BIOS update, since it's a critical operation (critical as in it can brick your laptop if it fails).

I don't think it ever updates anything else...

 

It did update my bios for the F3KA. Let me read through some forums about it, thanks for warning me! =)

 

Hey guys I updated my videocard driver. I used laptopvideo2go.com s driver. You guys updated anything else?

 

i updated everything from asus besides the video drivers for my ati, i used driver heaven, running Crysis at 1280x800 all high except shaders and shadows with decent frames

 

Although you don't have access to the M50Sv-A1, you should have access to other similarly configured M50 models from Asus. Check out this link from a British review:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=1678

 

I'm not sure. We do have the variants of the M51 models here but they cost circa 1000 Euro and they come with T8300. The M50 model available here comes with Blu-Ray and HD3650 and costs circa 1400 Euro.

 

Press FN + A

 

I used 175.70 and it upped my Vista index to 5.0.

 

Question for anyone who has an external monitor.

I"ll be getting a 24"+ external monitor for this laptop. The max resolution for this screen size is often 1900X1200. So, even though the max res for the laptop is 1440x900, would it be possible to use the max resolution of the external monitor when I switch to it?

Thank you.

 

Yes. The resolutions on the internal LCD and the external monitor are two different things, that can have different values.

 

With that size look for for a screen with a PVA panel or you are going to have viewing angle problems and light bleed.

 

Has anyone tried Ubuntu on their M50 yet?

 

Go to http://www.linlap.com/wiki/Asus+M50SV

It isn't Ubuntu specific but it does tell you if the drivers are compatible with the Linux kernel. ;]

 

Will have to try that, thanks. I ran the live CD and the webcam and ACPI module didn't work. The ACPI driver is an easy fix, but I wasn't sure about the webcam.

 

Had to ask again... Do you guys think that the Asus Security Thing is worth the hassle?

 

I have a few fairly simple questions... I think. I understand that this laptop will run all current games (not necessarily at the highest settings). My question is, how long will this laptop be viable? Will games soon outperform this video card? Also, is the keyboard any smaller to fit that num-pad on the side? I really think this is the laptop I'm going to get, but I don't want it to be worthless in 2-3 years. Does the 9cell batter pertrude out? And is it worth it to get the "Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi 7.1 Xtreme Audio Notebook Express Card" for $119? And if this laptop is mostly for school and the occasional games, 5400rpm will be good enough right? The 7200rpm isn't THAT much better for most uses? Finally, anyone know of the cheepest place to order one of these? As of now, the two cheapest sites I can find (customizable) are xoticpc.com and btotech.com.

Edit: Unrelated, but I wasn't sure where to post this. What is the best anti-virus/spyware programs to get? I was thinking Shield Deluxe 2008 or Kaspersky.

 

with updates drivers it will run crysis at 1280x800 with settings on high excpet shaders and shadows, shadows low and shaders medoum, looks nice. It will play UT3 high and call of duty 4 on medium. So it can play todays latest games decently. As for duture games, it depends on what games, some games coming out later this year will be less demanding and some more. It should last 2 years for decent gaming on medium and then low as time progresses. If your getting the 9500m gs you should overclock to get better performance, if you get the 1GB ati hd3650 like i did then overclocking will be possible but more challenging.

 

No. See here for the reasons: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=112643&page=17, last few pages.

5400 good enough, almost as good as 7200 RPM, much better if you factor in the higher capacity. Stick with 5400.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...906,1881,1882,1911,1877,1854,1851,1897,1908,,
2.5" Hard Drive Charts - Tom's Hardware

Check the Windows forum, there is a sticky about this stuff.

 

The X-Fi is not worth it, I returned my desktop one. Driver hell and bloatware ahead if you do get it. This isn't 1995, DirectX has standardized everything.

 

directcanada.com has these for $1360 and free shipping if you live in Canada.

 

Thanks, I have one more question. The other laptop I was debating getting is the G2Sg. However, the only difference is the 8700(something, don't remember) and the price is quite a bit different. I like the style of the G2Sg more, but I'm 95% sure if I were to get a laptop with a better graphics card, I should go Sager (comes with one of the 8800__). So basically, G2Sg isn't worth it, right?

 

I'm currently considering the 24" Dell UltraSharp model. Just waiting for the price to drop again. Or perhaps the Samsung 2693HM. I don't think either of those use PVA panels.

 

I figured as much. Thank you for the clarification.

 

I'd look for the Samsung 245T...

 

Oooh, I was looking up any review for the Samsung 245T and found that and the one for the Dell panel (2408WFP) I was looking at. Seems like they both use S-PVA panels. I'll have to wait until either model get a price drop.

 

Hi guys,

After looking around for awhile, I decided to buy this laptop. I've had it about 3 days now, so far so good!

A brief review/opinion on my part:
This was my first notebook and, so far, I'm pleased with it. The awesome specs and price were definitely the selling point for me.
I've read through this topic and can respond to some of the concerns:
- Keyboard issues - I dunno what "keyboard flex" is, but the keyboards been fine to me, feels nice and the keys strike well. Numpad is awesome too.
- Screen - I've had some issues with the resolution and brightness- the 1440x900 resolution is tough on my eyes (small text size and icons) without configuring anything, so I usually up the text sizes to make things readable. Brightness is also an issue - the ambient light sensor tends to make things less bright than they should be, so I just turn it off and turn brightness on max. - Viewing angles are tricky - vertical definitely sucks. I've got mine at about 110 degrees or so and its alright. , So far I haven't witnessed or been bothered at all by the light bleeding at the bottom, so its probably not much of an issue.
- Speakers - no bass at all, but good besides that.
- Touchpad - nice, I like the media stuff.
- Fingerprint scanner - useless. Unless you're a government agent or something, there's no point wasting your time trying to scan your finger properly 5 times when you could just type in your password..
- Bloatware - lots of it, and is bad. Be sure to remove it all and also turn off lots of the unnecessary Vista junk.

The only other concerns at this time are the core 2 duo whine that's been annoying me (haven't attempted to fix it yet. The guide link from pg. 45 looks useful, but doesn't give very detailed instructions for a n00b like me), and whether I should update my nvidia driver with one of those laptopvideo2go ones (any feedback on that? i don't know much about it).

That's all for now!

 

The main difference is that the M50 is 15.4, the G2 is a 17" (and an unusually large 17", at that).

You can check my Vista optimization guide, maybe there's some bloatware that you missed.

See the ASUS_FAQ, in the Info Booth (link in signature).

 

how come the chipset drivers are from 2006 according to the device manager? like for the memory controllers and usb, the drivers are from 2006, is this normal? i cant find any chipset drivers from asus, just an INF update thing

 

A lot latest drivers are not available at Asus's download page, however, you can always get the latest driver from it's manufacturer, for chipset driver you would want to download it from Intel's website:

Ver: 8.3.1.1009 date: 9/24/2007
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=816

 

thanks alot! i downloaded and ran them and it just instantly says that the update has finished, like it didnt do anything no reboot required either, ill assume im ok then.

 

ok, got a quick question for anyone who knows about HD signals. I'm going to get an hdmi to avi cable so i can hook this thing up to my lcd monitor in hd and i'm getting some conflicting information. can signal quality be degraded in any HD feed? So will the $120 monster cable be significantly better than the 50 dynex cable? or am i just buying the name?

 

I also have a quick question.

I'm looking for a notebook with an S-video output, but have manufacturers started to drift away from putting S-video outputs on their notebooks now that everything is going HD? Becuase I don't see one in any of the pictures (maybe I'm blind?). I know I still like to hook my PC up to my older TVs that only have S-Video, and since I'm looking at this as a desktop replacement, it would be necessary.

Or is it just easier to get some sort of VGA -> S-video adapter for cheap somewhere to compensate for this?

-Doop

 

I don't know about the adapters, but I understand the need of the manufacturers to economize on the ports... they can't keep all the ports for indefinite periods (VGA, HDMI, and SVideo are already 3 ports that do basically the same thing-- and that's a bit much).

I think even VGA is still here only for the benefit of business users which need to do presentations etc. on hardware that may not yet have digital inputs.

 

You mean and HDMI to DVI cable? There should be no signal degradation as long as the length is no greater and 2-3 meters. Don't waste money on brand name cable as it's just a waste of money. Get one from here:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231

For normal length, just a 24 awg one will do perfectly fine.

 

Yeah man, you can either get a VGA > S-Video or VGA > RCA
I'm used to using S-Video also but I will have purchase a VGA > YEAHBOI when I get this awesome laptop!

Cheers

 

Had this Laptop a few days now, excellent so far, just getting used to Vista as its my first experience with it.

Has anyone tried hooking up any 5.1 HEADPHONES to this and do they work well? I am thinking of buying a pair, but want to know if the sound software that this laptop comes with actually supports the 5.1 surround thing, or would i be spending more $ for headphones that doesn't even utilize the 5.1 capabilities i would be paying the extra $ for as opposed to a non 5.1 pair of headphones. Any feedback is appretiated, thanks.