should i get the M6N?

Krychek-

I have the wxga model, and I love it. I have solved all of my problems with the exception of the power issue, for which Asus has acknowledged and supposedly has already shipped me a retro fix kit. Note that the severity of the issue, which seems o be a loose connect between the battery and notebook, varies from laptop to laptop. Some dont have it, some are very mild.

This is a new model, asus is stepping it up into the high quality market. Thus far I am very impressed with it.

I will write a thorough review, with pics, but I am waiting to fix this last problem before I do so.

Eric

I love mine. Only issue I have is the display gradient, which I've pretty much just gotten past because I'm too busy to worry about such things when I am using it to get actual work done. When I take a break to think about it, I do notice and it annoys me, not because it's so terribly bad, but more because it just shouldn't exist at all, especially on a machine billed as "multimedia entertainment gateway".

I've not experienced any of the other issues mentioned by Eric or Manny, nor, to my knowledge, have any of the folks I've resold them to. Did have one dead pixel issue on a WXGA unit.

Overall I think this is one of the best built notebooks I've ever seen. Looks very nice in a professional setting. Plenty fast enough for me with a 1.6GHz Bania. Love having that 1MB cache, especially when crunching source code. Can upgrade to Dothan when/if they ever come out and get 2MB of cache if you think you need even more speed. Supports up to 2GB RAM. Nice keyboard. Good battery life. Light enough to be easily portaged about, but not so light as to be flimsily constructed.

I still love mine. Have only experienced the flex issue once, but it was when i lifted it pretty carelessly.
I only have two things annoying me a little, and it´s not even bad.
It can´t change CPU speed on the fly, have to reboot to make the change. I have talked to Asus Denmark, and they say I can just send in the unit, and they will fix it. But I don´t want to miss it for 7 days for such a little thing.
The keys are a little transparent. I have a Targus usb light to place on top of the screen to light up the keyboard. If it points directly down on it, it can be a little hard to read the letters. This is fixed with pointing it a little off-axis.

With all the notebooks I have used in the past, this beats them all

Get it if you dont intend on using it on your lap (unless you buy one of them laploungers - http://www.thelaptopsite.com/Laplounger.cfm).

Get it if you dont move it around while its on (until that battery problem is fixed at least).

Get it if you dont mind the not so great screen.

Appart from that, its good value for money!!

Hi Krychek,
I can echo the sentiments of the previous posts, I've grown to love my M6N. The look is fantastic, the screen issue you get used to pretty quick. I find it more annoying when there is a lot of ambient outdoor light, but indoors the screen is pretty vibrant and sharp.
While I experinece the flex issue pretty bad, I'm confident that the piece Asus shipped to resolve the issue will work - using a temporary fix, has resolved the issue for me untill I receive the real fix.

Now that the problems are out of the way I can tell you some of the positives
Looks- sxga+ version is very sharp with the metal trim,and the slim form factor.
Screen - Even with the gradiant issue, its still much nicer then some other ones that I've seen.
Touch Pad - Fantastic Synaptics touchpad beats the pants off of other laptops I've tried
Keyboard - The keyboard is great for a laptop keyboard. I work on it all day long ( programming), and there is no flexing to speak of. Feels exceptionally solid, and definitely beats all the other laptops I've tried ( a dell, three toshibas)
Battery life - While this is probably common to most centrino laptops, the bettery life is very long. I can go pretty much the whole night, browsing, working on a single charge.
Asus utilities - I find their power setting application and system monitoring tools very useful.
Also there's a built in Mic. right under the keyboard ( i don't know if that's common or not, but i find it's nice to have)
Good luck with your eventual purchase

Although i think it´s ment pretty sarcastic, i will answer to it anyways

It get´s a little hot underneath, but as much as Dell´s. On those you could boil eggs if it´s doing hard work.

I move mine around all the time. Both in one hand and by grabbing it on both sites. Only experienced the flex issue once.

The screen is nothing less than brilliant (mine is the WXGA). It´s sparkling compared to manny other laptops. The problem with the SXGA+ versions should be solved with the new shipped computers.

Dell e.g. have moved to the Alps touchpads. I have never used a more annoying pointing device. It´s a struggle everytime you have to use it.

So yes it is good value for money

Comparing this screen to a desktop tft - its not so great. I guess thats a little unfair, but i've never had a laptop before so my basis for comparison is with desktops.

If you say that this screen is brilliant then I'll take your word for it.

Dont get me wrong, I am happy with this laptop but I was expecting more - which might be impossible (or at least very expensive).

I myself have never used a desktop tft, only laptops, so thats my basis. I compare it too what I have seen on other laptops, and this is really great and clear.

I would also love to have a laptop which had all my wishes granted, but since it´s a complete product I have no control of it except for a few things. With desktops it´s easier because you can choose all the parts yourself, including kabinet, fans, keys etc. So in my opinion a laptop is always some sort of a compromise, and in this instance this was the best, only a few nagging things.

Aliensub makes an excellent point here, and I think that in the M6N Asus has gotten much of it right. What would I change?? I'm a very detail oriented person and find myself really needing to reach to come up with things to list on the "con" side:

-- I'd import the WSGA+ into the US market and I'd fix the gradient issue on the SXGA+.

--There's a ledge around the front and 2 sides of the unit that leaves the eject button for the combo drive a bit recessed, which makes me have to search slightly more than I might otherwise. OTOH, it doesn't take long to get the location dialed in and having it recessed keeps me from bumping in accidentally.

--I sometime accidentally bump the buttons of the audio dj unit, but still would prefer them to be located where they are than like on some other machines where you have to open the cover to access them.

--I like having the USB ports and power cables in the rear rather than the sides, as it helps keep cables out of my work space. Some might argue having them on the sides makes it easier to plug and unlpug things.

--The unit gets a bit warm on the underside, but not on palm rests, and is comparable to other Centrinos I've used. Definitely significantly cooler than a client's Toshiba Satellite I was working on recently. If you were concerned abut this don't even think about a P4 machine. Maybe scale back to 1.4 GHz cpu and a 4200 RPM dirve.

These are all very nit picky and in the end a matter of personal preference. But once again, to summarize, overall this is an very fine machine that I like quite well.

The gradient problem:
Have you seen the rear projection TV's? The ones that I've seen looks dark unless you sit directly in front of it.

Poor quality lcd screens have this problem, especially the asus 15.1" version - which when viewed from dead center (at about a foot away) looks darker at the top and brighter at the bottom. If you moved your viewing position, the dark/light moves with you.

Other laptops probably have this problem too, but i dont know anything about that.

The screen thing isnt an issue with all models, I think mine looks fine.

The thing runs virtually silent for me, until the fan kicks in to high gear, which it only does occasionally when either playing a game, or doing some othe hard processing. And its way way quieter then my enermax "whisper" PS on my desktop, which is another story entirely.

If you are so concerned with these issues, make sure the reseller you go through checks your unit for them before it ships. Make sure they understand if it has an issue, you will just send it back. Shouldnt be too hard for them to properly QA the unit anyhow.

Eric
Eric