Current M50VM Owners

I'm about to order mine (M50VM-A1), but wanted to get some opinions before.
Can you tell me if you get the keyboard lag issue and any other issues that are worth mentioning? Just any problems at all.
I was considering the HP dv5t but due to the thing getting up to 200 degrees and shoddy battery life I'm saying no thanks (but what do you think of the dv5t anyways?) and also are there other laptops that I should be considering?
The laptop will be for college next year, and thus far I'm leaning towards the M50VM because it has SPDIF out (which means I won't have to buy an X-Fi card for my speakers, which is good), I like the number pad, the battery life is pretty decent for its hardware (I plan on getting a 9 Cell battery as well), the standard warranty is pretty kickass and it seems like the asus support in the US is good.

I just want to make sure that I've considered all of my options in this class of laptops and that I won't regret my purchase. So if I could get any input at all I'd be thankful.

Basically...do you regret your purchase and would you recommend it or not?

 

I will be starting college in a few weeks as well, and I went with the m50vm-a1. I don't regret it so far, but as school hasn't started I can't really say if it is a good choice yet. The keyboard lag issue is resolvable mostly. I noticed it the first day, and fixing it was the first thing I did. Now I don't notice anything being missed. And the laptop has stayed fairly cool, and only is warm right outside of the fan exhaust.

 

Sounds good, any other issues or complaints?

 

i have the B1 and i got it for college and moderate gaming, planning for it to last 3 years, and so far it has been worth every penny i paid , $1399

I don't see how this laptop would not be good for college, it is simply awesome

It has everything you could need in a laptop.

 

IMHO the M50VM is the best laptop for university/college if you like to play some games. Good battery life and all the multimedia features you'll ever need. In terms of the A1 vs B1 debate, I don't think the extra MHz and shorter battery life is worth the extra money.

 

Thanks for the input guys, any others have comments on their impressions of it?

 

And does anybody have experience with ordering an M50 from xoticpc?

 

I'll have some more input tomorrow, UPS' plane broke down so my A1 is arriving tomorrow morning.

 

Heylo.

Just got my M50VM-A1 yesterday.

In general I am quite pleased with my purchase.

If you want to read about the good things about this laptop, there are tons of posts already about.

I just want to point out some things to watch out for before you make this purchase, however.

When I decided to go with this lappy, I was aware of all of the problems that other users are experiencing with this laptop. Problems include keyboard lag, screen bleeding from the bottom of the monitor, and faint hi-frequency humming sound while using headphones, when a USB device is inserted in the adjacent port (this is a very minor problem though). What I WASN'T counting on was all of the problems being present in my laptop. Yes. I am suffering from all the above mentioned issues.

In general, I really like this laptop just for its performance. However I am very dejected that ALL of the problems that I have read throughout this board about this laptop were present in my purchase. It makes me wonder how many other users are experiencing the same problems that I am.

The screen bleeding and the headphone issues are extremely minor, and don't really affect my overall enjoyment of this laptop. However, the keyboard lag is driving me pretty insane at the moment. I've probably had to rewrite several dozen words during the construction of this post alone. I've tried all the fixes but none have worked. I'm hoping that Asus will release a fix for this soon or I will consider returning this laptop.

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EDIT: Note that by asking for opinions on a board such as this, you're bound to encounter users who are currently experiencing problems with their laptops. If they weren't, they probably wouldn't have come here to begin with, asking for help and whatnot. The percentage of people here with problems with their laptops can't represent the whole population of laptop users in my opinion.

 

i use the b1 for vnc, remote desktop and of course a gateway and the thing runs awsome i image that the a1 is the same but a little slower and i hope this lasts 3 years becasue then i will be in university

 

i've got a b1 (moving over from a dell xps m1530) and it's a fantastic laptop. screen is much nicer and it's easier to type on (in my opinion) despite the smaller pitch and key size. i didn't notice any lag personally.

the only thing i don't like about it - the screen resolution. i have always had a high res screen and thought the wxga+ resolution would work for me but it's too low res. i actually just bought a b2 and i'll be selling my b1 soon. i bought it before asus released the b2 and while i regret that i'll probably lose some money on the transaction, i'm happy that the b1 showed me i can be happy with an asus notebook for a long time.

the thing runs amazingly quiet and cool for a notebook that packs a punch that it does.

 

How would you rank it against the M1530?

 

listen to my optical drive and be astonished. I'm contacting Asus to get it replaced.

(you might need to turn up your volume to really appreciate it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbd87fUf46o

 

WengAndrew wow man thats loud.. mine made some noise but not like that!

I say go for it man! its a great lappy!

 

Finally got my computer today after waiting anxiously at the door for the UPS guy.

Overall, i'm pretty pleased with the laptop although it is slightly bigger than i though it would be.

I'll talk about the accessories first. The bag that it comes with it is horrible. Most of the compartments aren't even covered with a zipper although i guess it's good enough to protect the computer if you're going to throw it in your backpack with your books. The mouse is alright, somewhere between a normal mouse and a mini mouse with 3 buttons and sidescrolling. I find it a bit too small to be comfortable and i don't have big hands.

The computer itself is rather impressive so far. I haven't had a change to put it through its paces yet though. I will say that I find the connection points to be in inconvenient places but that's mostly because my current setup grew around my old computer. I do miss my slot load DVD drive, which was quieter during startup and my USB port in the front.

The screen is excellent, as good if not better than my external monitor (Samsung 206bw) in terms of brightness and vividness. Going from a 1280x800 screen to this one is a major change. It provides enough real estate but on screen text is still large enough to be easily legible. I find the bezel around the screen to be a little large and the mirror finish doesn't really help.

The speakers, although rather good for laptop speakers, are quite soft and, of course, lack bass but do not sound tinny. Nevertheless they do point upwards which doesn't help the whole volume situation. I never use the built in speakers anyways so this doesn't bother me in the least. I haven't tested the headphone issue since i just sent them back to get repaired, but as WengAndrew said, it is a minor problem

The keyboard will take some getting used to: with the placement of the arrow keys and the unique layout of the number pad. I have not had any issues with keyboard lag either. The keyboard seems a little firmer than the one on my old asus (1694WLMi) but many of the function keys on the top row are quite small.

The touchpad is quite large and responsive but the matte finisheis rougher than my old touchpad but that could just be due to wear. The touchpad is slightly offset to the left of the computer which being a rightie i find mildly inconvenient but I'll probably be using a mouse most of the time. The multimedia mode is quite useful and can be fully customized using the synaptics driver.

All in all, its a great computer. Most of my issues are due to the migration from one computer to another and it'll take a while for me to get used to the new setup.