By Craig Simms, CNET.com.au
22/09/2008
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/notebooks/0,39050488,43949998p,00.htm

The Asus M50 series is part of the Taiwanese maker's entertainment lineup. As such, it incorporates a variety of multimedia features such as Altec Lansing speakers, high-end graphics card and Blu-ray combo drive. But what we did not expect for a laptop at this price range is the huge 500GB of storage capacity, face recognition Webcam and the ExpressGate technology.

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com.au. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

Asus' M50Vm comes from the same genus as its M51Vr, featuring a similar half tone, faded wave design on its lid, silver interior and full-sized numberpad, bundled with a 1,680 x 1,050, 15.4-inch screen.

However, there are differences that go beyond different patterns on the interior--the most notable is its featured multimedia touchpad, that at a press of a button, changes the touchpad into a series of quick access buttons for media functions. It's a good idea, although the switch to turn on the multimedia button is on the trackpad itself above the scroll area, and during our testing it was turned on accidentally many, many times. Unlike the M51Vr, it also doesn't require a button to be pushed to open the lid, only force is required. The M50Vm also packs Altec Lansing speakers (with the always hilarious Dolby certification), which as far as laptop speakers go aren't terrible--but they are laptop speakers, and so you'll want to hook up headphones to get decent results.

At the top left of the keyboard are four quick access buttons, which allow switching of power profiles, disabling the touchpad, cycling through "Splendid" modes (Asus' monitor presets), and accessing the Asus' "ExpressGate", a quick load operating system based on the embedded Linux "Splashtop" system, giving fast access to music, Web, photos, online games, chat and Skype.

A fingerprint reader is situated between the two mouse buttons, and an ambient light sensor sits just below the screen, dynamically altering screen brightness depending on the light level of your surroundings.

A Webcam at the top of the screen, which supports Asus' SmartLogon, allows you to log in to Windows using only your face. The implementation is a little different from Lenovo's--for a start, the preview sits at the top right of the log-on screen and doesn't overlap the user list, and it also allows different levels of security, altering how stringent it is on the facial check before it will log you in.

It is also next to useless. Apart from taking longer to log you in than the traditional method, it can easily be fooled by a low resolution, black and white print of the same person's face who's logged in.

Features

On the hardware front, the M50Vm is well equipped, with a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo T9400, 2GB RAM, and a GeForce 9600M GS with 1GB of dedicated memory. While it's not the fastest graphics card around, it should certainly be able to handle the likes of Spore.

On the right-hand side are three USB ports, dual heaphone jacks (one of which doubles as an SPDIF jack), a microphone and the Blu-ray combo drive. The left gets the eSATA and HDMI ports, MMC/SD/MS card reader, FireWire, USB and VGA out. The rear is spartan by comparison, holding the modem and Ethernet jacks. The exhaust vent has been unfortunately placed on the left-hand side, and since our review unit put out quite a bit of heat during testing, our left hand got a small roasting sitting next to it.

On the extras front, a well manufactured carry bag is included, as is an external mouse, and the usual manuals.

Performance And Battery Life

Thanks to the video card, the M50Vm gave a strong showing in 3DMark06, bringing back a score of 4,411. Things were quite good in PCMark05 as well, netting a score of 5,839. This puts the M50Vm in a good position for entertainment, gaming and office work.

Turning off all the power-saving features and setting screen brightness and volume to maximum, we played back a DVD to test battery life under the most strenuous of conditions. The Asus did as expected, managing to playback 1 hour 44 minutes and 39 seconds of the movie before shutting down.

Service And Support

Asus offers a two-year limited global warranty with all its notebooks. Should a problem occur with the unit, you can send it to any Asus service center around the world for the first two years and get it repaired using the warranty card. Issues during the third year of coverage can only be resolved in Singapore service centers. For users who travel overseas often, having a global warranty is important. However, the Asus service overseas centers should be checked for accessibility. Asus Web site provides software support and updates as well as a telephone hotline number.