Asus M6800n *56k warning* - Page 10

If you are able to get onto messenger, why don't you just download everything you need from

http://usa.asus.com/support/download...6N&Type=Latest

Hi guys, first time poster :]

I'm really diggin this M6N, and plan on saving $$$ by buying the parts seperately and assembling the unit myself. Some questions that go along with that though-

1. How does that affect Asus' global 2yr warranty? Like, does the warranty cover just the chassis, or chassis + other things, or what? And would my assembly of it or b/c the components may not be what typically ships with complete units have any effect?

2. What components are 'standard' things I can safely buy elsewhere, and what needs to be model-specific. Please correct any of the following if I'm off or should have additional info.

I'm pretty confident the CPU, HDD, and memory are standard things; just shop seperately for a Pentium M CPU, 2.5" (9.5mm) notebook harddrive (does a 7200RPM drive work ok?), and 200-pin PC2700 SO-DIMMS, great. :]

Not so sure about the minipci module; I've read some reports of other notebooks' status lights not working properly unless the 'official' centrino minipci module is used- anyone have or heard of that with this model?

Very iffy on the optical drive, at least aesthetically; from what I can see from the pics here the model-specific optical drive has a silver band that runs across it to make it integrate seamlessly with the chassis. Not that I'm planning on ruining my M6N's good looks with a mismatched drive, but does anyone know, just for my info, if the optical drive is 'standard' as far as function? Or MUST it be the model-specific drive to even fit in the chassis?


Changing tack, any recent N. American buyers of the 15.1 SXGA+ have the wonky LCD issue?

Thanks in advance for answers and please help me fast- my dinosaur lappy is driving me insane! ;p

P.S. I'm proficient at building PC's but this is new territory- anyone know a good reference/guide for assembly of this model? Or a similar model at least, thanks again!

P.P.S. A tentative search for components gets me:

15.1 SXGA+ model chassis $859 http://www.abestpc.com/laptop/centri...config-m6n.htm
1.4 Pentium M CPU $217 http://www.pricewatch.com/
256MB PC2700 $40 http://www.pricewatch.com/
20GB 5400RPM HDD $85 http://www.pricewatch.com/
model-specific DVD/CD-RW $109 http://www.abestpc.com/laptop/centri...config-m6n.htm
b + g 'official' centrino WLAN $59 http://www.abestpc.com/laptop/centri...config-m6n.htm

for $1369 US. Maybe less b/c the chassis seller won't be assembling anything, or if I can catch a break outside pricewatch. If anyone knows of better deals please post em! :]

Hello Phairest

I don't know if it is worth it to you but you might be able to get that notebook fully assembled with 1.5 centrino 512 mb 40 hd dvd-cdr 15.4 wxga and 2200 card for about 150 more then you were looking to spend... essential computers in new york had a great special on it.. i got mine 1.7, 768mb 60 hd 5400 rpm 802.11g for 1749 including shipping.. I think that is a great deal.. they might cut a deal for you too... hope this helps.. I can't wait to get my hands on mine.. by the way they went up on the price this past monday but let them know what i told you...

Thanks for the ref- turns out their special was only on certain in-stock models though, so they can't go so low anymore. The guy I talked to seemed to remember you BTW, if your first name begins with a P and you live in TX (he said you got the last one!)

In other news, it seems that Asus' warranty is voided by disassembly by end-user (it didn't specifically also say 'assembly' but I'm betting that's also a no-no. Wrote an email to confirm); so much for building it myself :[

Haggling with abestpc.com and rjtech.com now for a similar assembled config; either way I'm gonna come in under $1500 XD

well, for one i wont have the easy to use menu that the driver cd has, and two, i cant use the recovery cd unless i have the driver cd as it requires it to recover.

Oh I feel so bad! I put abestpc through a bit of trouble and used their quote to get better prices elsewhere- wouldn't be so bad if I'd bought it from them but as it turns out they have ZERO reseller rating anywhere! And I can't live with that, so the well-rated rjtech wins at $1469 landed.

Is there any driver to get that "new mail light" to work?

Hi Batas,
Check to see that you have the Asus CheckMail utility installed. The default path for it is "C:\Program Files\Asus\Asus ChkMail\ChkMail.exe"
To have the mail light work, a shortcut to this executable needs to be in your startup folder, or the path of the executable needs to be in the registry at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

I removed this from my startup, as I didn't really see the point. Outlook already places a little icon in the Icon tray...( however, it did work with outlook...I don't know about Outlook Express or other mail clients)

For those in Canada, I found this notebook for an incredibly low price: $1799 CDN (about $1,371 USD). This includes a Centrino 1.5G, 512MB, 40GB 5400rpm, DVD/CDRW drive, Radeon 9600 Pro, LAN, and 15.1" display (15.4" available for $59 more). I've never dealt with them before, but they're called CanadaSys and have 3 retail locations in Toronto (but apparently ship Canada-wide).

You can find the system here: http://www.canadasys.com/laptop.htm

Unfortunately, from what little info I've found on the Net about their quality of service, the results are mixed:

Good rating, but only 1 submission so far:
http://www.pricenetwork.ca/review-re...i=vendors&v=52

Mixed ratings, but poor feedback for the North York location:
http://www.torontopcstores.com/index...;viewResults=1

Has anyone here done business with them before?

Hey Manny-

Nice work figuring out that util. I discovered that the hotkeys on top only run the default programs. IE< my internet explorer button now runs mozilla, and my email button opens pegasus email. I will check it out if that checkmail util works with my pegasus email.

Eric

I think I´m facing a problem... Just a minut ago, the temperature alarme started, and I saw in the Asus probe that the CPU temperatura was above 80ºC, and the fan was not running! I restarted and yhe fan started.
What can I do?

Batas, don't sweat it, that's happened to me a few times ( allthough not recently). Nothing untorwards has seem to come of it.

Thanks Manny! I was getting worried... Do you know what is the nominal temperature for the CPU?

With a 1.6, I'm usually in the 45-55 c range. When game playing, that shoots up to ~65 - 75 c. While plugged in to AC, my fan is usually cycling on/off regularly, but hen the CPU is throttled down ( on DC), the fan barely goes on at all.

I read somewhere that the max junction temp for the PM is 100c ( also I believe that the chip also have some thermal protection built in...)

Cool, the same temperature at wich mine runs. 1.5GHz

Headfones...

I´m thinking on buying a set of headfones for this laptop... Do you guys think that I should get a good quality ones, or does this laptop have a not so good sound to begin with?

Sony MDR-V700DJ headphones. They go for $130 or so.

I would personally reccomend these.

http://www.shure.com/earphones/eseries_e2c.asp

They have an incredibly flat response and very good isolation from outside sound (Watching a DVD on a plane...noisy kids...etc...). I ordered my M6N last week I'm planning on doing a big review with benchmarks and such. I'll let you know how these boys sound on the laptop watching movies and music... The only downside to them, is that they might take a little while to learn how to wear 'em, and some people find them uncomfortable. I personally love 'em and for 100$, they're just great.

edit: And oh, my brother bought a pair of these.

http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite...transid=004590

The Sennheiser's have incredible sound reproduction also. My only thing I don't like, is that they 'leak' sound. The 'open air' design creates....simply incredible sound, but you might annoy the people around you. For instance, my brothers on his computer listening to mp3's or watching movies...and you can hear what he's listening to downstairs. They're loud when you're not wearing them. And then theres that 270$ (US) price tag that scares people away...

edit: Ohhh, and one more thing, the sennheiser's are niiiice and comfy as hell. They're great to wear. You can wear 'em for hours on end, and they are padded so well, you'll barely recognize you're wearing them.

Sony : MDR - 7506 here,

They sound really good - but I find the output signal is very loud from the speaker jack. Most of the time I keep the volume almost all the way to the bottom.