  The Chandra X-ray Observatory obtained a 50-ks observation of the central
region of M81 using the ACIS-S in imaging mode. The global properties of the 97
x-ray sources detected in the inner 8.3x8.3 arcmin field of M81 are examined.
Roughly half the sources are concentrated within the central bulge. The
remainder are distributed throughout the disk with the brightest disk sources
lying preferentially along spiral arms. The average hardness ratios of both
bulge and disk sources are consistent with power law spectra of index Gamma~1.6
indicative of a population of x-ray binaries. A group of much softer sources
are also present. The background source-subtracted logN-logS distribution of
the disk follows a power law of index ~ -0.5 with no change in slope over three
decades in flux. The logN-logS distribution of the bulge follows a similar
shape but with a steeper slope above ~4.0e+37 ergs/s. There is unresolved x-ray
flux from the bulge with a radial profile similar to that of the bulge sources.
This unresolved flux is softer than the average of the bulge sources and
extrapolating the bulge logN-logS distribution towards weaker sources can only
account for 20% of the unresolved flux. No strong time variability was observed
for any source with the exception of one bright, soft source.
