ASUS M51 Series M51Ta-X1 NoteBook AMD Turion 64 X2 RM-70(2.00GHz) 15.4" Wide XGA 3GB Memory 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 - Retail

Reviewed By: D. Kim on 8/28/2008

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: First and foremost, this laptop is beautiful. The highly glossy exterior and great layout really satisfied me; there is a clean, minimalist design on the exterior that is tastefully designed and implemented (don't worry if you can't see it in the pictures provided, it's there). Secondly, you get quite a lot of 'bang for the buck' so to speak; this laptop incorporates features normally found within laptops in a much higher price range. The AMD Turion CPU found within this chip is more than adequate for this laptop; the 3gb of RAM works well with this setup and as expected, is user-upgradable later on. The screen is very bright and vivid (too bright sometimes), and the dedicated buttons for choosing the screen brightness and the power management modes are also a very nice touch. The touchpad is very responsive and easy to use. Adequate amount of USB ports, integrated HDMI port. Stays relatively cool but gets warm as expected with a laptop with this type of video card. Excellent buy.

Cons: The highly attractive glossy cover is also a double-edged sword in this case; it is a finger-print magnet like no other. Also, the gloss is not limited to the exterior; the touchpad is also glossy, as is the screen (the glossy touchpad might pose a problem if you're picky/tend to have sweaty fingers, the glossy screen if you plan to work outdoors). The superb drive gets rather loud at times as does the fan (not terribly distracting though). And of course, like any other laptop manufacturer there is some bloatware that comes with this laptop (although it isn't nearly as bad as say, Sony or HP). Vista can be listed as another con... yes, it is very pretty with the Aero feature and all, but even after a year or so (and a service pack!) it's still not up to par with what I expected from it. I'm just nit-picking here so these aren't serious complaints, just minor inconveniences that hardly detract from product itself.

Other Thoughts: Overall, this is an excellent buy. There are many alternatives (e.g. the HP laptops that are also very nice) but I am extremely satisfied with my purchase. Solid build quality, great features, excellent standard warranty - these are all the things that will bring me back to ASUS for my next laptop. Also, a few more things that I couldn't fit up there - this laptop's integrated webcam has a feature similar to the new Mac computers (the silly frames and special effects), so if you're into that sort of thing this is a great buy for you. Secondly- and I cannot stress this enough- do not let the fact that this comes with an AMD CPU make you look for something else. This unreasonable bias that everyone has towards AMD gets rather annoying; the cpu that comes with this laptop might be *slightly* slower in benchmarks compared to similar Intel CPUs, but the real-world difference will be close to nil for 80%+ of people (if not more).

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Definitely a choice for the GAMER!

Reviewed By: Dowling on 8/15/2008

Tech Level: high - Ownership: less than 1 day

Pros: It has an actual video card. HDMI. Quick disconnect VGA. 2.0GHz Dual Core. This machine is capable of running CRYSIS on Medium 16xAA 1280x800 with about 70FPS.

Cons: 3GB of RAM. Go for 4GB, it will give you dual channel.

Other Thoughts: You can always upgrade the ram.

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Unexpected. Awesome.

Reviewed By: nycspiderdan on 3/17/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Dedicated Video, Sleek design, and more than enough features for me. It also comes with minimal bloatware.

Cons: Even though it has a Super video card for a laptop, it still won't play all your high end games as well as a desktop. (Don't know if this is a con) 64-bit with more ram will be a needed upgrade at some point if you are using this for gaming or programming like me. Still a cheap upgrade though.

Other Thoughts: I was very surprised. The gloss black finish is awesome, but as mentioned before attracts fingerprints like a moth to a flame. If you are OCD (like me) that could be a con, but it cleans up nicely. I don't think you will find a comparable machine for this price any time soon. Two year guarantee and one year accidental damage replacement with registration? Why wouldn't you buy it?

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great laptop for the price

Reviewed By: Dirk on 1/12/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: It's a great looking laptop as others have said. it has a nice glossy finish that really looks good when clean. the keyboard is large and has a number pad which is good for some. the screen is huge and bright and looks awesome. games look great and with an HDMI port (that can do sound and video) you can hook it up to your favorite HDTV for some high def goodness.

I bought this because it is a low level gaming laptop and it does exactly what I expected of it. I can play all of the latest games (left 4 dead, fallout 3, company of heroes, tf2, bioshock) on medium levels and can get 30+fps. the 3 gigs of ram helps a ton during gaming and the processor is adequate although load times can be kind of long in some games (COH especially). but for $800 (now $750) this laptop is a steal. I am considering upgrading with a gig of ram and to a 64 bit OS which I feel should have included.

lets see what else. lots of USB ports, DVD multi burner, 512 mb vid card, awesome computer!

Cons: the laptop when latched down does not latch down nearly as securely or easily as my old thinkpad did (takes a bit of jimmying to get it to click and lock right). very minor flaw.

no dedicated volume buttons as far as I can tell which is annoying because using the Fn key + f11 and f12 to adjust volume is cumbersome and interrupts programs like games and causes them to minimize sometimes.

Other Thoughts: very solidly built laptop. I love it! great for gaming at mid range levels at an unbeatable price.

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ASUS Quality Notebook

Reviewed By: ProComputer on 1/7/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: The no nonsense glossy black exterior has sleek look and feel although the finish requires frequent cleaning to remove smudges. The large glossy LCD display has no dead spots and is pleasing assuming I angle it away from bright light. The large keyboard layout with handy number pad allows plenty of room to type. The touchpad and nice firm buttons works well. The built-in wireless card has better reception and performance than old PC card. Nice implementation of ASUS function keys. Good performance despite the Little Shop of Horrors Vista OS. FEEEEED ME! High CPU + graphics games look and perform well using the ATI 3650 GPU as long I shut down other hungry applications. Frankly I would attach a big monitor for games; or use a desktop.

Cons: A minor inconvenience is the screen/lid locks don’t work properly and get stuck open. Often the lid must be opened and reclosed to get the locks to grab. Also the lock hooks are delicate and could easily be broken. The battery locks are similar and don’t work smoothly but again a minor problem. The graphics card manager occasionally gets confused and the screen goes dead. I tried the LCD/Ext function buttons etc. but nothing but full reboot restores the display. The issue is probably OS related. Vista takes a long time to get started and I can do without the fancy shmancy stuff that serves no purpose and adds yet more MS bloat. What a company, eh?

Other Thoughts: HINT: Fn+A (blue function key + ‘A’ key) enables/disables ambient light auto adjust. Did anyone else have problem discovering that? HINT-2: you may not need the graphics features of this notebook. A $600 notebook with single GPU would work fine if you only use Internet browsers and common non-gamer applications. This is my second notebook so other reviewers can offer better information on comparables.

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