Hi, all!
I know there's a lot of M6 reviews out there but I figured I would add mine to the mix since everyone was so helpful in my decision making process.
What was I looking for:
I had a Dell Inspiron 5000e for the better part of 4 years. Starting getting LCD trouble so began my search for a new lappy. I thought about going with another dell but decided instead to do some research and come up with something different. I was satisfied with my Dell and Dell's complete care service was GREAT, so I'll use that as my benchmark for comparison.
I wanted something with a nice screen, decent performance, nice looks and not too heavy. I had several threads out there looking for suggestions and at the end of the day these became my requirements:
15.4 LCD
9600/64MB GPU
<7lbs
7K60 HDD
512 RAM
Wireless
Good Build
<$2400
It came down to 3 computers for me:
Mitac 8050 from ABSPC (Mayhem G2)
Asus M6BNe
Asus W1N
I couldn't get ABS to answer my emails and the lead time for building ruled them out. I loved the W1N looks wise, but the M6 was more bang for the buck. Having never seen either I decided to drive 90 miles northward to StarTech PC in Hermitage PA to see them in person. The guys there were very accomodating in getting the computer out and setting them up for display for me (more on Star in a few). My main issue with the W1N was the price and lack of Dothan. Truth be told for my purposes I probably wouldn't have noticed the difference between Banias and Dothan but it was the pricinple of the matter. I had a hard time justifying paying the price premium for the W1N for less of a machine. The other issue was the Asus warranty. Star would put in a Dothan and a 7K60 but the warranty on these parts would then be through Star. Asus would still warranty the other parts but only in the US. Star said they would back up Asus' warranty if there was a problem and agreed to put that in writing...
Thoughts on W1N vs. M6 in person....
W1N is one hot looking notebook. Very very solid. No flex, cool touchpad, amazing screen. Price how I wanted it was going to be about 2500 with tax (since I live in PA where star is). I was also considering buying the W1N from Proportable. Justin at PP offered a free Asus 500g wireless router with the W1N. He answered all of my questions right away....very cool guy. Highly recommended...
The M6 was better looking in person than I thought. It wasn't the W1N but it held it's own. Very nice screen, not too heavy--felt lighter than the W1N and the deciding factor? In the config I wanted it, the M6 was $1913 including tax. Wow! 500 dollars difference from the W1N. The M6 that I was looking at wasn't a display unit but rather a machine they were in the process of building for another customer. Turns out the config was very close, so they swapped out the HDD for the one I wanted (no OS) and I paid and took it with me out the door!! I couldn't resist the deal. 500 dollars less than a similarly configured W1N and it was ready to go on the spot...
One snag...the DVD-RW wasn't passing their tests and it was the only one in stock. So Bob gave me a CDRW to take with me and then I could come back and swap it out later in the week for no extra charge....
Startech....
As I mentioned my contact at Star was Bob Gregg. Very nice, very prompt in replying to all my questions. The store in Hermitage PA was very nice and professional looking with a courteous staff. They called me en route to make sure I was finding it alright and that they had the two computers set up for me to test. The configured M6 even with sales tax came out cheaper than the M6 from powernotebooks and other similar M6 resellers. I appreciated their honestly about the DVD-R not passing spec since I guess a lesser store might have not even tested it...
WHen the DVD-R was finally back in stock (Toshiba SD-R6372) then notified me and I drove out to Hermitage to swap it out. I got stuck in traffic and was n't going to make it before 5:30 closing time. I called and they said they would leave a box outside for me to drop off the old optical drive. When I got there turns out Chris from Startech had waited for me 20 minutes past closing time and swapped the drives out!!! WOW! I was extremely impressed. Obviously they didn't have to wait, but it was great cust service wise.
I give Startech PC an "A" for pricing, professionalism, and customer service.
THe Star M6 (asus m6bne)
Very impressive looking labtop. Pretty much solid throughout. Great screen with excellent horizontal viewing angles and decent verticle viewing angles. The screen blows my old Dell 5000e screen out of the water (14.1" SVGA+). No dead pixels that I've seen so far (2 weeks)
LCD - "A-" (not an A because I saw the W1N WSXGA
)
The sound is adequate, better than my old dell but nothing to write home about...
Sound "B"
Keyboard is okay. Not nearly as good as my old Dell, which had an amazing keyboard. There was a small bit of flex on the right hand side and the different button arangment keeps screwing me up. I didn't realize how used to my old Dell I was but I'm getting to like the Asus keyboard more and more. I also put some tape under the parts that flexed a bit and it's much better now. Keyboard removal was a snap and got to see the Corsair ram Star put in for me! Adding my other 512 of corsair was simple as could be. THere is already some wear on the space bar where my thumb hits it regularly...no biggee.
Keyboard "B+"
Build was very nice. Much better than my 5000e. The front seem along the palmrest on the right side flexed a very small amt. Maybe less than 1mm--I'm sure within accepted tolerances but it happened to make loud creaking sounds when pressure was applied. I was probably being overly anal but this annoyed the sh*t out of me
I took out a bunch of screws that seemed to connect the the front palm rest to the silver bezel and stratigically placed masking tape underneath to reinforce it. After about 1hours worth of trial and error it's now 99% solid 
I really must stress that the flex was a tiny amount. If it weren't for the creaking then you wouldn't even notice it was moving. I could barely see any mov't, but I could here it. Oh well. Easy fix. The LCD case is solid. There is one point top center that if I press will distort the screen. I'm sure this where the Flex Cable attached to the LCD and pretty standard IMO.
Build "A-"
THe form factor is great. Everything is well thought out ergonomics wise. Lots of bells and whistles. 4 USB2, 1 firewire, 4 speakers, DJ function, nice LCD and Hot buttons, sleek and not too heavy. Battery life is outstanding. I can get about 5 hours with light use on battery with LCD at about 40% (still nice and bright). 4 hours with moderate use could be expected which is great for a widescreen with this configuration IMO. The "Star" stickers are pretty cool and I have no intention on changing them.
Form factor, battery, looks "A-" (not an A because the W1N is killer cool) although "A" for the battery.
Performance...
Excellent. I don't game but my stock 2001SE score was 10500 or thereabouts and I believe my 2003(?) score was 3000 and change I believe. I'm sure I could overclock and get much higher scores but I'm not too interested in that. Boot time is quick, 7K60 is awesome and I'm using my old 30GB HDD as an external storage devide via a slimline aluminum HDD USB2 adapter. No heat or fan noise issues whatsoever. Free bag was nice but nothing to brag about.
Performance - "A"
Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase and would recommend this computer to anyone. I got it for 1913 which allowed me to get a black logitech wireless optical mouse, another 512 of ram, a sandisk titanium 512 flash key, a very cool Acme Made labtop bag (www.acmemade.com), Netgear wireless router and an external HDD adapter all for less than the stock W1N...
Hope this is helpful!!! Thanks again guys....
Matt
I know there's a lot of M6 reviews out there but I figured I would add mine to the mix since everyone was so helpful in my decision making process.
What was I looking for:
I had a Dell Inspiron 5000e for the better part of 4 years. Starting getting LCD trouble so began my search for a new lappy. I thought about going with another dell but decided instead to do some research and come up with something different. I was satisfied with my Dell and Dell's complete care service was GREAT, so I'll use that as my benchmark for comparison.
I wanted something with a nice screen, decent performance, nice looks and not too heavy. I had several threads out there looking for suggestions and at the end of the day these became my requirements:
15.4 LCD
9600/64MB GPU
<7lbs
7K60 HDD
512 RAM
Wireless
Good Build
<$2400
It came down to 3 computers for me:
Mitac 8050 from ABSPC (Mayhem G2)
Asus M6BNe
Asus W1N
I couldn't get ABS to answer my emails and the lead time for building ruled them out. I loved the W1N looks wise, but the M6 was more bang for the buck. Having never seen either I decided to drive 90 miles northward to StarTech PC in Hermitage PA to see them in person. The guys there were very accomodating in getting the computer out and setting them up for display for me (more on Star in a few). My main issue with the W1N was the price and lack of Dothan. Truth be told for my purposes I probably wouldn't have noticed the difference between Banias and Dothan but it was the pricinple of the matter. I had a hard time justifying paying the price premium for the W1N for less of a machine. The other issue was the Asus warranty. Star would put in a Dothan and a 7K60 but the warranty on these parts would then be through Star. Asus would still warranty the other parts but only in the US. Star said they would back up Asus' warranty if there was a problem and agreed to put that in writing...
Thoughts on W1N vs. M6 in person....
W1N is one hot looking notebook. Very very solid. No flex, cool touchpad, amazing screen. Price how I wanted it was going to be about 2500 with tax (since I live in PA where star is). I was also considering buying the W1N from Proportable. Justin at PP offered a free Asus 500g wireless router with the W1N. He answered all of my questions right away....very cool guy. Highly recommended...
The M6 was better looking in person than I thought. It wasn't the W1N but it held it's own. Very nice screen, not too heavy--felt lighter than the W1N and the deciding factor? In the config I wanted it, the M6 was $1913 including tax. Wow! 500 dollars difference from the W1N. The M6 that I was looking at wasn't a display unit but rather a machine they were in the process of building for another customer. Turns out the config was very close, so they swapped out the HDD for the one I wanted (no OS) and I paid and took it with me out the door!! I couldn't resist the deal. 500 dollars less than a similarly configured W1N and it was ready to go on the spot...
One snag...the DVD-RW wasn't passing their tests and it was the only one in stock. So Bob gave me a CDRW to take with me and then I could come back and swap it out later in the week for no extra charge....
Startech....
As I mentioned my contact at Star was Bob Gregg. Very nice, very prompt in replying to all my questions. The store in Hermitage PA was very nice and professional looking with a courteous staff. They called me en route to make sure I was finding it alright and that they had the two computers set up for me to test. The configured M6 even with sales tax came out cheaper than the M6 from powernotebooks and other similar M6 resellers. I appreciated their honestly about the DVD-R not passing spec since I guess a lesser store might have not even tested it...
WHen the DVD-R was finally back in stock (Toshiba SD-R6372) then notified me and I drove out to Hermitage to swap it out. I got stuck in traffic and was n't going to make it before 5:30 closing time. I called and they said they would leave a box outside for me to drop off the old optical drive. When I got there turns out Chris from Startech had waited for me 20 minutes past closing time and swapped the drives out!!! WOW! I was extremely impressed. Obviously they didn't have to wait, but it was great cust service wise.
I give Startech PC an "A" for pricing, professionalism, and customer service.
THe Star M6 (asus m6bne)
Very impressive looking labtop. Pretty much solid throughout. Great screen with excellent horizontal viewing angles and decent verticle viewing angles. The screen blows my old Dell 5000e screen out of the water (14.1" SVGA+). No dead pixels that I've seen so far (2 weeks)
LCD - "A-" (not an A because I saw the W1N WSXGA
)The sound is adequate, better than my old dell but nothing to write home about...
Sound "B"
Keyboard is okay. Not nearly as good as my old Dell, which had an amazing keyboard. There was a small bit of flex on the right hand side and the different button arangment keeps screwing me up. I didn't realize how used to my old Dell I was but I'm getting to like the Asus keyboard more and more. I also put some tape under the parts that flexed a bit and it's much better now. Keyboard removal was a snap and got to see the Corsair ram Star put in for me! Adding my other 512 of corsair was simple as could be. THere is already some wear on the space bar where my thumb hits it regularly...no biggee.
Keyboard "B+"
Build was very nice. Much better than my 5000e. The front seem along the palmrest on the right side flexed a very small amt. Maybe less than 1mm--I'm sure within accepted tolerances but it happened to make loud creaking sounds when pressure was applied. I was probably being overly anal but this annoyed the sh*t out of me
I took out a bunch of screws that seemed to connect the the front palm rest to the silver bezel and stratigically placed masking tape underneath to reinforce it. After about 1hours worth of trial and error it's now 99% solid I really must stress that the flex was a tiny amount. If it weren't for the creaking then you wouldn't even notice it was moving. I could barely see any mov't, but I could here it. Oh well. Easy fix. The LCD case is solid. There is one point top center that if I press will distort the screen. I'm sure this where the Flex Cable attached to the LCD and pretty standard IMO.Build "A-"
THe form factor is great. Everything is well thought out ergonomics wise. Lots of bells and whistles. 4 USB2, 1 firewire, 4 speakers, DJ function, nice LCD and Hot buttons, sleek and not too heavy. Battery life is outstanding. I can get about 5 hours with light use on battery with LCD at about 40% (still nice and bright). 4 hours with moderate use could be expected which is great for a widescreen with this configuration IMO. The "Star" stickers are pretty cool and I have no intention on changing them.
Form factor, battery, looks "A-" (not an A because the W1N is killer cool) although "A" for the battery.
Performance...
Excellent. I don't game but my stock 2001SE score was 10500 or thereabouts and I believe my 2003(?) score was 3000 and change I believe. I'm sure I could overclock and get much higher scores but I'm not too interested in that. Boot time is quick, 7K60 is awesome and I'm using my old 30GB HDD as an external storage devide via a slimline aluminum HDD USB2 adapter. No heat or fan noise issues whatsoever. Free bag was nice but nothing to brag about.
Performance - "A"
Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase and would recommend this computer to anyone. I got it for 1913 which allowed me to get a black logitech wireless optical mouse, another 512 of ram, a sandisk titanium 512 flash key, a very cool Acme Made labtop bag (www.acmemade.com), Netgear wireless router and an external HDD adapter all for less than the stock W1N...
Hope this is helpful!!! Thanks again guys....
Matt
