Alienware m11x

Archaea said:
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
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Completely agree: of the 6-7 netbooks I've used, the m11x's is the best.

The screen, on the other hand, is garbage, one of the worst I've seen. For the guy thinking about trading a MBP for an m11x, save up for a laptop with a better screen and GPU, maybe an Envy (you should get a good amount for your MBP). You'll be sorely disappointed moving to an m11x due to thw screen.
 
Can you guys all download the Dungeons demo from steam on your m11x and enable "light fx" and tell me if it works? It changed all my lights to yellow when I enable it, and turns them back to normal when I disable it, but I'm not sure what else it is supposed to do if anything? The yellow lights don't ever seem to change in the game??? I'm not sure mine is working properly?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/57650/
 
Archaea said:
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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I jumped on this and just got my R2 (8 GBs RAM, BT module, stock 320 GB 7200 RPM drive) a couple days ago. I got it for $694 shipped :D.

Seems like a great laptop so far. I'm loving the portability, weight, and battery life so far. I'm used to having a 17" XPS that burns the shit out of my lap, gets 90 mins battery life and is still only half as fast as this. I'm not sure how much better the R1s are on battery, but I just killed mine last night and it clocked in at just over 5.5 hours with only browsing the internet and watching youtube vids. Certainly acceptable, IMO.

I'm about to try a few games out on it now. I'm on a crappy connection where it took all day to dl L4D2. I'm gonna try out New Vegas on it tonight too. I hope I can max it out mostly.

I've read all these complaints on the LCD, but I haven't had any issues with it other than being a tad too glossy. I'm used to using a 25.5" Asus 1920x1200 monitor on my desktop and this seems just as crisp as that monitor, I'm just missing the extra resolution on some pages, pictures and e-mail.

I have a Q though; how the hell do you have it auto-switch performance profiles when plugged in or on battery? I thought this was built into Windows at least, but I'm not seeing the option anywhere in the power options or in the Alien Fusion software (that's basically a prettier GUI for the standard Windows power options). It's gotta be staring me in the face somewhere, but I'm not seeing it :confused:.
 
Where can I go locally to see one of these???
I really want to order one so I can sell my X301, but I dont know if the form factor will be right for me (thick and a little heavy).
 
Modred189 said:
For everyone who has a m11x, and whose keyboard touches the screen when the lid is closed leaving annoying marks on the screen, the Razor Kabuto is perfect. It's almost exactly the same size as the unit itself, and fits in the closed laptop perfectly, with nothing sticking out.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Razer+-...18231417690&skuId=1183787&st=kabuto&cp=1&lp=1
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Hah, cool, good to know. I just kept the little paper/cloth thing that came with it new for that reason. If it lose it though, I'll look this up :).

I have a Q though; would you all suggest replacing the stock HDD (7200 RPM 320GB HDD - WD I believe) with a SSD? I was initially intent on doing this, but upon further research, I've found that SSDs, at least from other people claims that have switched, the power savings was negligible. But these seem to be with older SSDs, so I'm not sure if the newer ones show better results on power saving. I just want to squeeze as much life out of this thing as I can when I'm not gaming on it.

So what would you suggest? Upgrade? If so, then to what? I've found a nice deal on an X-25M G2 160GB SSD. Would that extend battery life considerably over the 7200 RPM HDD? Logic tells me yes, but Google isn't agreeing with me from what I've found.
 
Dell is fixing the hinges. Called today, told them I had a cracking hinge and they have ordered the part. Once it gets in they will call me to set up an in-house call to fix it. Sweet.
oh, and T4rd, I installed a Momentus XT 500gb. VERY fast on my most used apps. Outlook opens instantly, and I didn't think Chrome could get faster. i was wrong.
No real impact in games etc, but nonetheless, I'm happy.
 
They alraedy redesigned the hinges. There is a rapidly growing thread on NBR forums on the subject.
 
the one i have (wich is 2 weeks old) doesnt have any problem with the hinges
 
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Mine didn't have any problems with the hinges either.

I put the laptop in a new backpack (which puts the laptop right between my back and the SLR) and after wearing it through the airport one time I started noticing little lines on the display...turns out just that one time was enough to tweak the hinges slightly so that they don't make noise, but the front does't close all the way and the bottom of the display is now touching the top and second rows of keys.

Need to wait for my warranty to transfer over then I'll get it replaced. It's not the end of the world, but it seems like the oils from my skins are rubbing off on the display, leaving very noticeable shiny lines everytime I close and open the display.

I also almost sold the unit because Starcraft was running way worse then I expected, but I see now that theres just a bunch of driver issues with the video card. Will have to spend this weekend installing and tweaking and seeing if I can get back the performance I expected.
 
Dell support doesn't care if there are oily lines on your screen. I called about that issue on mine saying that those lines were indication that a future scratch on the screen would occur. Dell support stated that this is normal for any laptop and that this issue was not covered by warranty. My screen is not scratched yet and when I heard this I made little spacers myself that keep the screen lifted slightly using some stick on rubber bumpers I got with something else.
 
T4rd said:
I have a Q though; would you all suggest replacing the stock HDD (7200 RPM 320GB HDD - WD I believe) with a SSD? ... I've found that SSDs ... that have switched, the power savings was negligible.

I've found a nice deal on an X-25M G2 160GB SSD. Would that extend battery life considerably over the 7200 RPM HDD? Logic tells me yes, but Google isn't agreeing with me from what I've found.
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The power savings when moving from a 2.5" mechanical drive to an SSD are miniscule - http://techreport.com/articles.x/20255/9 - it won't have any noticeable effect on your battery life.
 
My left hinge broke on my 2 month old M11x. I've been nothing but extremely careful with this laptop since I bought it! I even have the actual orion carrying case that I bought from Dell that is custom made for the m11x. I've only used it about twice because that's all I've taken it out of the house. I'm really disapointed my hinge broke because I thought it would be only from abuse not normal light use. I called support and they gave me no trouble. They are sending a tech in two days to replace the LCD and hinge -- no real questions asked. So Dell's service is good, but their product is leaving me a bit skeptical about their Q&A process.

I bought two m11x's one I sent back for a refund because of so many lockups related soley to the video card. The second one I kept despite the fact it had the alienware logo light wire disconnected and I had to fix that myself. Now the hinge breaks on this second one with honestly -- nothing but light use!

hmmm -- 3 issues on 2 new laptops in less than 2 months?
 
Mine is returning back to dell for a full refund.

Random chirping noise (fan or HD i dont know), screen get all greasy from the touches, ac adapter brick overheating to a point i cant hold it.

all those problems scream for a refund.
 
Archaea said:
My left hinge broke on my 2 month old M11x. I've been nothing but extremely careful with this laptop since I bought it! I even have the actual orion carrying case that I bought from Dell that is custom made for the m11x. I've only used it about twice because that's all I've taken it out of the house. I'm really disapointed my hinge broke because I thought it would be only from abuse not normal light use. I called support and they gave me no trouble. They are sending a tech in two days to replace the LCD and hinge -- no real questions asked. So Dell's service is good, but their product is leaving me a bit skeptical about their Q&A process.

I bought two m11x's one I sent back for a refund because of so many lockups related soley to the video card. The second one I kept despite the fact it had the alienware logo light wire disconnected and I had to fix that myself. Now the hinge breaks on this second one with honestly -- nothing but light use!

hmmm -- 3 issues on 2 new laptops in less than 2 months?
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well, they already redesigned the hinges, so catch on NBR for the info. But seriously, I don't think a single person responded to your initial question about the hinges with enthusiasm :(
 
yes you guys were right a few pages back! Judging by my light use and no abuse -- those hinges have absolutely NO validity in their failure. Dell should just recall every single M11X and take care of the issue instead of waiting until it breaks and alienating their customers ---Pun intended.
 
I would expect the R3 to just have an updated variant of the current card so probably something like the 540M.

If your hinges haven't failed yet just open and close the screen 10 times, I'm sure by then it will have failed. :eek:
 
my new screen is a samsung verses the AOC screen I had before. The samsung is brighter, but seems to have less contrast. Still not a good panel when compared to my 2008 15" macbook pro right next to it.

I asked the technician if I was getting a new screen with the hinge problem fixed. He didn't know, and as best I could see it looked like the same hinge going in --- as what was coming out.

uncool.

The screen was/is brand new though. He had to take the protective plastic off everywhere and the little sticky protectant off the alienhead logo on the cover as well. So we shall see.
 
my alienware r2 is gone back to dell for a refund.

I felt it wasnt worth the price for the performance i had.
 
MassiveOverkill said:
Choose some free benchmark/demos that we can both run and then post our results. We'll let the numbers speak for themselves.
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Anand has a comparison of the two here.

They do note that the R1 they're using is overclocked, while the R2 isn't (but apparently the turbo boost does a better job at that then actually overclocking, but again I don't know).

I don't own either, but have been considering getting one for a while now. I'll probably wait for R3 to come out and see what it's got under the hood. If I were to buy right now, I'd probably go for an R1 just for the apparent gain in battery life, considering the minimal differences in game performance (outside of BC2)

The big thing is that the CPU tops out every time in those comparisons, which should be obvious considering it's C2D vs i5/i7.

Since I'd probably buy this for gaming on the go, I think I'd choose to save ~$400 and throw in my own 4gb with an R1.

They're both pretty awesome, just depends on exactly what you need. For my on the go gaming I don't need to [H] it out that much so an R1 would be just fine.
 
anand's review is before TurboStop for the i5/i7 models, so it's i5/i7 data is on the slower side of things, and it's OC data is irrevelent, now.
 
How much of an effect on gaming is that going to have though? It's clearly superior in terms of processor tasks and what not, but does that actually translate into real world gaming differences? Does it justify the $400 premium for i5?

Curious because when my tax refund gets here, I could very well impulse buy an R1 or R2 (knowing my spending habits...).
 
R2 isn't worth it in my opinion.

You loose battery life, and VGA out. You gain minimally faster framerates in nearly everything except a couple games. The core 2 quad is quite snappy as it is.
 
Bomo said:
Anand has a comparison of the two here.

They do note that the R1 they're using is overclocked, while the R2 isn't (but apparently the turbo boost does a better job at that then actually overclocking, but again I don't know).

I don't own either, but have been considering getting one for a while now. I'll probably wait for R3 to come out and see what it's got under the hood. If I were to buy right now, I'd probably go for an R1 just for the apparent gain in battery life, considering the minimal differences in game performance (outside of BC2)

The big thing is that the CPU tops out every time in those comparisons, which should be obvious considering it's C2D vs i5/i7.

Since I'd probably buy this for gaming on the go, I think I'd choose to save ~$400 and throw in my own 4gb with an R1.

They're both pretty awesome, just depends on exactly what you need. For my on the go gaming I don't need to [H] it out that much so an R1 would be just fine.
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jeremyshaw said:
anand's review is before TurboStop for the i5/i7 models, so it's i5/i7 data is on the slower side of things, and it's OC data is irrevelent, now.
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Thanks Jeremy...........any previous review/comparison done without Throttlestop is moot/irrelevant:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/524257-how-supercharge-m11x-core-i5-i7-um-cpus.html

My OC isn't even great compared to others that have the i5/i7:

http://3dmark.com/3dm06/14868973
 
MassiveOverkill said:
Thanks Jeremy...........any previous review/comparison done without Throttlestop is moot/irrelevant:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/524257-how-supercharge-m11x-core-i5-i7-um-cpus.html

My OC isn't even great compared to others that have the i5/i7:

http://3dmark.com/3dm06/14868973
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Saying it's moot doesn't answer the question though. Does it perform better than an R1 to justify the $200-$400 more it'd end up costing someone?

3Dmark Scores are great and all, but how does that translate into when I want to play Batman: AA in my hotel room? Would it be worth it to buy the R2 because the experience is just so much better? Or is it marginal?

Not looking for a main rig replacement here, which I think the m11x would be pretty piss poor at. But something that means I don't have to lug my G73 onto a flight/over night stay just to have a few of my games.

I don't understand why doing a review without Throttlestop would be moot or irrelevant. Isn't that an external program? I'm more curious how it performs at stock, since I probably won't do a whole lot of messing around (outside of 4gb and maybe a SSD).
 
At this point I wouldn't consider the R1 or R2 because it seems clear that the R3 would be on the way within a few months.

They were clearing out the R2 i5's for $599 a few weeks ago, so you can assume they want to unload all that back stock and the prices will drop further once the new units come out.

Plus the game experience really probably depends on the game and how CPU hungry it is.
 
If they come out with a 13.3" -- m13x I'll be selling my m11x to upgrade. The 11.6 is just a smidge to small for perfect! Otherwise I'm mostly enjoying the machine!

In the meantime. I found this on meritline. I just bought one in hopes of preserving my newly replaced LCD screen (hinge problems forced replacement) from the keyboard lines due to no tolerance between screen and keyboard on these m11x units. It is a 12" silicone keyboard protector for $2.50 shipped. It has a five star rating out of two reviews. $2.50 shipped? Sure why not.
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http://www.meritline.com/silicone-keyboard-protector-skin---p-36561.aspx
 
Hey guys - in case you didn't know Dell has a new Nvidia driver for the m11x R1 on their site. It is dated 3/16/11. This is the first video card update for the m11x r1 in a long time. 150mb - downloading now.
 
Had the dell repair man (actually a local Unisys guy) out today. Replaced the screen in about 30 minutes. Was a really nice guy, clearly knew what he was doing, and was pleasant to chat with.

The new screen is in an working well. Seems like a better screen, though that might be a placebo effect, tbh.

Turns out that warranty was worth it.
 
Archaea said:
If they come out with a 13.3" -- m13x I'll be selling my m11x to upgrade. The 11.6 is just a smidge to small for perfect! Otherwise I'm mostly enjoying the machine!

In the meantime. I found this on meritline. I just bought one in hopes of preserving my newly replaced LCD screen (hinge problems forced replacement) from the keyboard lines due to no tolerance between screen and keyboard on these m11x units. It is a 12" silicone keyboard protector for $2.50 shipped. It has a five star rating out of two reviews. $2.50 shipped? Sure why not.
204-097.jpg

http://www.meritline.com/silicone-keyboard-protector-skin---p-36561.aspx
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I think buying a screen protector would be smarter if you looking to prevent the keyboard from scratching the screen. This way the keys don't feel any different.
 
JohnleMVP said:
I think buying a screen protector would be smarter if you looking to prevent the keyboard from scratching the screen. This way the keys don't feel any different.
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I didn't think it had adhesive. I just figured I'd remove each time I use the laptop and it would protect the screen from keyboard lines and damage during transit.
 
Archaea said:
my new screen is a samsung verses the AOC screen I had before. The samsung is brighter, but seems to have less contrast. Still not a good panel when compared to my 2008 15" macbook pro right next to it.

I asked the technician if I was getting a new screen with the hinge problem fixed. He didn't know, and as best I could see it looked like the same hinge going in --- as what was coming out.

uncool.

The screen was/is brand new though. He had to take the protective plastic off everywhere and the little sticky protectant off the alienhead logo on the cover as well. So we shall see.
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After using the Samsung for some time now - it is the better screen in my opinion over the AOC. The AOC has a better sweet spot where everything looks better, but the Samsung has more forgiveness if you move 1" off the sweet vertical viewing angle of the AOC it looks like crap. The samsung has a taller/shoter viewing angle forgiveness factor where it is still reasonable to look at in my opinion. Still not a very impressive screen - but at least tolerable where the AOC was driving me to consider selling this lappy.
 
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