Alienware m11x

I got my m11x refurb'ed on eBay for $649 -- C2D 1.3Ghz (oc'd to 1.7) 4GB 320GB 7200 RPM :p

This thing is seriously awesome -- the screen doesn't bother me too much.
 
MassiveOverkill said:
Don't forget us i5's
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My apologies! :p

Also, the newest Verde driverset for notebook computers is (finally) completely compatible and provides a decent boost for our 335m's.

Civ 5 still wont launch in DX10/11 mode on my machine though. :confused:
 
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snaggletooth said:
My apologies! :p

Also, the newest Verde driverset for notebook computers is (finally) completely compatible and provides a decent boost for our 335m's.

Civ 5 still wont launch in DX10/11 mode on my machine though. :confused:
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That's odd... works fine in mine...
 
So silly question here, configuring the color with Plasma Purple doesn't mean squat does it? There is an app to allow you to reconfigure it later?
 
jeremyshaw said:
I just ordered a m11x with the C2D :) Shipping (or building), now...:D
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Jeremyshaw,

Getting rid of the slimline eh? I'm kinda eying these m11x's too. I like the form factor and I like the power. The price is also sweet right now - a bit over $500 at Dell for the Core 2 Duo R1.
 
What will be the m11x replacement - I LOVE quad cores...I'm not sure I can stomach the idea of going back to a dual core after having so many fast quad systems over the last year.
 
Archaea said:
Jeremyshaw,

Getting rid of the slimline eh? I'm kinda eying these m11x's too. I like the form factor and I like the power. The price is also sweet right now - a bit over $500 at Dell for the Core 2 Duo R1.
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Lol, I got rid of the C2D unit about a month ago. It's now a m11x i7 640UM powered :D
Archaea said:
What will be the m11x replacement - I LOVE quad cores...I'm not sure I can stomach the idea of going back to a dual core after having so many fast quad systems over the last year.
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For a laptop, it's decentl'y powerful. However, I got a ssd in my unit... makes the world of difference. It makes my i7 930 desktop seem... sluggish, by comparison. Overall, with throttlestop and overclocking, the i7 variant has some serious oomph to it, and it has HyperThreading, too. :p


However, it's still slower in brute force. It's got nimbleness (SSD), but not raw power (i7 UM vs i7).


I still have my S3430f :) I'm on the border between replacing it's guts with an Phenom II X4 build using the ASUS AM3 mITX board and the Sparkle 300W, or just jumping ship to a second SG05 build (I never left the SSF realm... :)).


There is LOTs of speculation as to what the m11x R3 (we are at R2 - i7 UM/R1 - C2D) will have.

However, I recommend NOT getting a m11x without an extended warranty, due to the abhorrent lack of quality in the hinge system. :(
 
I hinge breaking thing doesn't bother me - because I take excellent care of my equipment and would likely never damage it at all, but what does unnerve me and kept me from pulling the trigger tonight on purchasing one was the couple posts I read about the screen being damaged/scuffed by the keyboard because there is no gap/tolerance when the lid is closed. I can't stand a screen that has the impression of the keyboard on it after a year. I don't like any blemishes or dead pixels on my monitors at all!!!!!!! BTW and off topic Jeremy --- My new PC is quite different from the slimline setup (which I still have as a HTPC)...I went to the opposite extreme. Bought a Cooler Master Cosmos 1010 case --- HUGE tower case. (37 lbs empty). My internmediate case between this one at the slimline was a mid/small sized cm360. I still fought space issues with the CM360 case and said screw it! I'm going all out when I bought a used I7 motherboard and processor off the forum here and pieced together an I7 rig as in my sig. The Cosmos 1010 case is ridiculously large.
 
The hinge itself is faulty - babying it won't help, :( It uses 4 small bolts (laptop base unit) tapped into 4 weak plastic sockets (screen). Worst part? The engineers at Dell drilled a hole through the metal structure of the screen to gain access to the plastic structure. Stupid Stupid Stupid :mad: The hinge works fine - if assembled correctly. If overtightened in the least bit, it's gonna pop the plastic.

It still breaks, and I've followed NBR's mega thread on that for a while (the braindead mod there, BatBoy, keeps on closing and never merging the 4-5 threads each week that pop up from new users on the hinges).

Which is while I am happy with my laptop, I'm not "overjoyed" as I was when I got my first desktop (after having nothing but laptops for my entire computer life).
 
Archaea said:
I hinge breaking thing doesn't bother me - because I take excellent care of my equipment and would likely never damage it at all...
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Eh :confused::confused:

The hinge-breaking has absolutely nothing to do with the user's behaviour ! I suggest you do some more research - they break because the screws simply tear free from their plastic mounts...
 
Did anyone buy one of these m11x at the recent $600 Dell sale and decide they didn't want it afterall? I might be interested in purchasing one off someone who decided they wish they hadn't bought one.
 
Damn you guys got it good there in the US. I bought one as a staff purchase for my desktop Tech the other day, i7,4GB and 500GB HDD and it was $1200 Canadian. I was gonna pull the trigger too, but it deviates so far from my HPJunkie - ness that I waffled and decided to wait and see if the 14 inch envy might get a blu-ray refresh this year.
 
Archaea said:
My new PC is quite different from the slimline setup (which I still have as a HTPC)...I went to the opposite extreme. Bought a Cooler Master Cosmos 1010 case --- HUGE tower case. (37 lbs empty). My internmediate case between this one at the slimline was a mid/small sized cm360. I still fought space issues with the CM360 case and said screw it! I'm going all out when I bought a used I7 motherboard and processor off the forum here and pieced together an I7 rig as in my sig. The Cosmos 1010 case is ridiculously large.
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lol, and I thought the largest mATX case of all time - the P180m - was already being rebellious :eek:


As for the m11x deal, check out NBR forums every once in a while. Most R1 units go for about 550usd to 700usd. I sold my M11xR1 for 500usd, shipped, on NBR (to cleverpseudonym). I've seen a R1 a bit back on [H] for 500usd, shipped. NBR forums has a lot more laptops for sale, and a rather atonishing amount of powerful Alienware laptops (the new stuff, not the old skullcaps) for extremely cheap on there :eek: [if 1600 for a m15x loaded with an i7 920xm and HD5870 + 1080p screen among others doesn't count... I don't know what else would...]).
 
Ok so I have a question for you all.

I currently have a macbook pro 13' late 2010. I love apple, and I love my macbook. But, I am becoming much more a of a PC gamer and really dont console anymore at all.

In regards to work with it, all I do is word processing and some imovie video editing. Not much more. I dual boot in windows to do my gaming, and find the majority of my time on the computer is web browsing and gaming.

Would it be worth replacing my mbp for one of these babies with a core i5 m11x?
My current specs are Intel C2D, 250GB HD and NVIDIA 320m graphics.

A buddy of mine has had one for a while now and has regretted it for a second. What do you all think?
 
I think the mac book pro is similar enough in specs that you wouldn't notice much improvements for gaming. The mac book pro lcd is of higher quality too. I wouldn't swap if I were you. Use boot camp and boot an XP or Win7 image for gaming.

I am the current owner of a m11x and a 15" macbook pro as my work machine.
 
Archaea said:
I think the mac book pro is similar enough in specs that you wouldn't notice much improvements for gaming. The mac book pro lcd is of higher quality too. I wouldn't swap if I were you. Use boot camp and boot an XP or Win7 image for gaming.

I am the current owner of a m11x and a 15" macbook pro as my work machine.
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You don't think the core i5 and graphics boost will make a difference from a C2D machine with a lesser graphics card?
 
ranviper said:
You don't think the core i5 and graphics boost will make a difference from a C2D machine with a lesser graphics card?
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I do think it'll make a difference, just not enough of a difference to be worth the hassle and loss of LCD clarity that those mac books have. Like Apple or hate em - most will freely admit they use some darn nice screens on their equipment. The m11x screen quality/contrast isn't that great. If you've seen the m11x and aren't bothered by the lesser screen then by all means - go for it. The m11x is a sturdy boxy laptop, the macbook you are using is a sleek slim unit. Both are sexy units, just different styling. The Macbook is overpriced when compared to the m11x at msrp of 800 and certaintly compared to the m11x at $600. But the macbookpro is still a very nice unit!
 
Heh, the m11x AUO screen I have (there are AUO, LG and Sammy screens that Dell sources from for the m11x r1 and r2) hurt my eyes after a while, IMO. At least compared to my U2311h...
 
Interesting. Well I have an external 22 HD monitor I would do a lot of my gaming on, unless Im traveling, and I need the portability for classes and the like. And I'd make about 100 bucks outta the deal too.
 
ranviper said:
Ok so I have a question for you all.

I currently have a macbook pro 13' late 2010. I love apple, and I love my macbook. But, I am becoming much more a of a PC gamer and really dont console anymore at all.

In regards to work with it, all I do is word processing and some imovie video editing. Not much more. I dual boot in windows to do my gaming, and find the majority of my time on the computer is web browsing and gaming.

Would it be worth replacing my mbp for one of these babies with a core i5 m11x?
My current specs are Intel C2D, 250GB HD and NVIDIA 320m graphics.

A buddy of mine has had one for a while now and has regretted it for a second. What do you all think?
Click to expand...


The M11x R2 will be much faster for gaming than a MBP 13. The M11x has GT335M which is a dedicated graphics card. The 320M is an integrated graphics chipset, the GT320M is a dedicated card. Whether you should switch is really up to you.
 
JohnleMVP said:
The M11x R2 will be much faster for gaming than a MBP 13. The M11x has GT335M which is a dedicated graphics card. The 320M is an integrated graphics chipset, the GT320M is a dedicated card. Whether you should switch is really up to you.
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K thats really what I was looking for, to know. I figured the dedicated chip would be faster.

Thanks, if I get a good buyer I'll probably do it, and purchase a mac mini or older macbook for classes n the like.
 
Hey Jeremy,

I did pick up one of the m11x's through my brother's military aafes access. He bought it and I paid him back. It was $600 for the a basic new m11x model with the 2gb ram and the 160gb hd. No tax, free shipping. It's about as good a deal as I've seen if you wanted a new unit cause of the lack of tax and free shipping. I immediately upgraded the RAM to 8gb and the hard-drive to a Seagate XT hybrid 500GB 7,200 RPM drive. (has a 4GB SSD built in and is half way between SSD and rotating drive in preformance metrics)

I must admit to being a bit disappointed with the lcd. It's not bad - per say, but is very mediocre. It reminds me of a IBM thinkpad screen from six or eight years ago. My 15" Macbook pro has a much better panel, and my M-PVA Soyo 24" is absolutely nicer - despite them both being several years older than this m11x unit. The contrast on the m11x is pretty weak. The m11x LCD is passable, but not delightfull :p Most of the guys at the Notebook forums agree. Apparently there is quite a bit of panel talk, because there are three different panels shipping with these things as you stated. Some say samsungs are better than AOU, most say the LG are impossible to get and not any better than the rest of them. Many say there is a bunch of differences in the samsung panel quality. A few said they liked the AOU better. I can tell you that I currently have two of these units (one I bought as a refurb to resell) The screens are absolutely identical. I put them side by side and the both looked exactly alike. I suppose they are probably both the same panel, though before today I didn't realize there were different panels in them and so didn't even try to look to see which panels I have. Some people say their panels look fantastic, some say not so much. I fall in the not so much camp. I wonder how much of that discussion is just from lack of seeing/using a higher quality monitor and having that exp. to compare it to? Are you pleased with your panel? Have you considered getting it replaced if it hurts your eyes? I won't say mine hurts my eyes (at least not yet), but I wish it was a superior panel!

I'm just getting started on the m11x train ;P
 
my alienware m11x locks up in continous loops of 3dmark06 with an overclocked CPU. It does not lock up in continous prime95 running with a overclocked cpu for about 4 hours, so it must be graphics card related. I had it lock up in Company of Heroes yesterday so I figured I'd better check my stability with these two programs.

I get a 3dmark06 score of 6445 - so that seems right on target. I have not manipulated anything of the GPU settings.

I began looping 3dmark06 last night and when I woke up this morning discovered my laptop had rebooted and a error has been encountered message greeted me at the desktop. I'm going to try again with a loop at a non overclock and see if it crashes. If it does then I will be asking Dell to send a replacement unit or fix something cause while I've read in som cases they won't guarantee the CPU overclock --- it sure seems to be the GPU in this instance and they should warranty that part!
 
Archaea said:
Hey Jeremy,

I did pick up one of the m11x's through my brother's military aafes access. He bought it and I paid him back. It was $600 for the a basic new m11x model with the 2gb ram and the 160gb hd. No tax, free shipping. It's about as good a deal as I've seen if you wanted a new unit cause of the lack of tax and free shipping. I immediately upgraded the RAM to 8gb and the hard-drive to a Seagate XT hybrid 500GB 7,200 RPM drive. (has a 4GB SSD built in and is half way between SSD and rotating drive in preformance metrics)

I must admit to being a bit disappointed with the lcd. It's not bad - per say, but is very mediocre. It reminds me of a IBM thinkpad screen from six or eight years ago. My 15" Macbook pro has a much better panel, and my M-PVA Soyo 24" is absolutely nicer - despite them both being several years older than this m11x unit. The contrast on the m11x is pretty weak. The m11x LCD is passable, but not delightfull :p Most of the guys at the Notebook forums agree. Apparently there is quite a bit of panel talk, because there are three different panels shipping with these things as you stated. Some say samsungs are better than AOU, most say the LG are impossible to get and not any better than the rest of them. Many say there is a bunch of differences in the samsung panel quality. A few said they liked the AOU better. I can tell you that I currently have two of these units (one I bought as a refurb to resell) The screens are absolutely identical. I put them side by side and the both looked exactly alike. I suppose they are probably both the same panel, though before today I didn't realize there were different panels in them and so didn't even try to look to see which panels I have. Some people say their panels look fantastic, some say not so much. I fall in the not so much camp. I wonder how much of that discussion is just from lack of seeing/using a higher quality monitor and having that exp. to compare it to? Are you pleased with your panel? Have you considered getting it replaced if it hurts your eyes? I won't say mine hurts my eyes (at least not yet), but I wish it was a superior panel!

I'm just getting started on the m11x train ;P
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There's an LCD calibration profile on NBR for the R2 screens if you wanted to try that to help with your LCD quality issue

I personally have an R1 with the Samsung screen. I used to have the R2 but traded it for an M15x. The R1 was a better buy for me since I paid $550 shipped for it, instead of the $1k+ for the R2 (got it first week it was out). Very little performance difference, despite what other people may say. SC2 gets like maybe 5 less fps
 
Picked mine up after finding this thread. Got it in the mail last friday, I'm loving it. This is my third alienware purchase, I needed something more portable then my 17" m9700.

Core2duo, 2gb, 160gb refurb for $549, after coupon I walked away paying $460.
 
danyune said:
There's an LCD calibration profile on NBR for the R2 screens if you wanted to try that to help with your LCD quality issue

I personally have an R1 with the Samsung screen. I used to have the R2 but traded it for an M15x. The R1 was a better buy for me since I paid $550 shipped for it, instead of the $1k+ for the R2 (got it first week it was out). Very little performance difference, despite what other people may say. SC2 gets like maybe 5 less fps
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In Korea, 5 fps more in SC2 is worth a life.
 
jeremyshaw said:
Heh, the m11x AUO screen I have (there are AUO, LG and Sammy screens that Dell sources from for the m11x r1 and r2) hurt my eyes after a while, IMO. At least compared to my U2311h...
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Yeah. I borrowed a friend's m11x for a week and the main thing I took away is that the idea is sound (tiny display + mediocre CPU + good enough GPU on that low res display = run most games fast), but the physical components are crap.

Crap keyboard, crap screen, sad face. :(
 
Serpico said:
Yeah. I borrowed a friend's m11x for a week and the main thing I took away is that the idea is sound (tiny display + mediocre CPU + good enough GPU on that low res display = run most games fast), but the physical components are crap.

Crap keyboard, crap screen, sad face. :(
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crap keyboard?

its a awesome keyboard! why didnt you like it? ill not disagree with you on the lcd screen. overal, though,l i really like my m11x
 
Slickdeals has a new r2 I5 m11x with 8GB Ram and a 320GB, 7,200RPM drive for $700 today. That's as cheap as I've ever seen them.

Disadvantages to R2: Optimus (can be wonky in trying to decide if auto on or not), no VGA output, shortened battery life compared to c2d (sometimes by as much as half), some older games preform worse than C2D (but at frame rates over 100 which don't really matter)

Disadvantages to R1: Worse black external finish, some games preform worse than I5/i7, no optimus (fewer driver updates)
 
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