Alienware m11x

Honestly, the design of M11x is a lot less in-your-face than other AW machines. I didn't mind the stock colors it came in (blue-ish, in my config), but I ended up just keeping keyboard lights on (white color) and CAPS/Wi-Fi indicators (also white).

Well, the alien head logo on the lid also glows (lit by the screen, so can't turn off), but it's not bad. I showed off the laptop at work (professional office job) and people liked it :)

The screen is also not bad. Sure, maybe $2-3K Sony or Apple machines have better screens, but Dell's still better than average. And heck of a lot better than displays I am forced to use at the office.

Really, the main surprise for me was the weight of the laptop. It's very dense but I guess it's because it's very solidly built unlike most cheap stuff nowadays.
 
robbay686 said:
After reading a ton of reviews everywhere, and deciphering these Mx11 threads here and on other forums/reviews, IS there a general consensus that the UL30Jt is probably going to be one of the better "All Around / All Purpose" portable laptops on the market soon that's probably going to cost less then 1100/1200 bones???

Seems like people are saying to hold off on pulling the trigger on similar laptops in favor of the UL30Jt ? Is that fair to say ?

My general concern is that I want a speedy laptop / netbook (around the 13" mark) that won't be slow if you're multi taskin / loadin basic programs, one that that won't bog down in general daily tasks, one that that can be used to watch movies (various qualities, streamed and not) on a larger TV, one that can play various old/new games with decent overall performance (mainly older tho), and finally one that has a decent battery which will be able last ~6 hours (or longer) while traveling & watching movies. (b.c who games hardcore on the road?)

My concerns on some builds are that the screens have limited viewing angles, or are using older already outdated chips. I don't mind spending a couple of hundred bones on something now if it's going to last awhile. I just can't seem to decide which would be the better choice since it's been YEARS since I last researched buying a new comp, I'm so far behind w/ everything....

And I don't mean to jack this thread, I'm just trying to see if anyone can help somebody who has been out of the "new computer loop" make a somewhat educated decision.

Cheers
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For general purpose, yes, but in spite of the i7, it will still be slower for games than the M11x. If the UL30JT had at least a 330m in it, it would then be faster than the M11x for most games. The 310m in the JT is just a refresh of the slow 210m.

Please keep in mind that the 210/310m is a bottleneck even in a 1.3ghz cpu- complete waste with an i7 (for gaming).

So in short, if games are not a key factor, the JT may be a better fit for some people.
 
rushmore69 said:
For general purpose, yes, but in spite of the i7, it will still be slower for games than the M11x. If the UL30JT had at least a 330m in it, it would then be faster than the M11x for most games. The 310m in the JT is just a refresh of the slow 210m.

Please keep in mind that the 210/310m is a bottleneck even in a 1.3ghz cpu- complete waste with an i7 (for gaming).

So in short, if games are not a key factor, the JT may be a better fit for some people.
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To be honest the only computer gaming I really ever see myself doing is at most games such as counterstrike 1.6 and DOTA. So they are definitely old games, so I don't think the JT will struggle too much with those 2 titles. Right ?
 
robbay686 said:
To be honest the only computer gaming I really ever see myself doing is at most games such as counterstrike 1.6 and DOTA. So they are definitely old games, so I don't think the JT will struggle too much with those 2 titles. Right ?
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Yes, you are. The thing is you may be kicking yourself as games are released, since almost all new games now leverage the GPU heavily.

Heavy gamers should avoid the 30JT, but casual gamers will not notice.
 
Awesome!! Thanks for the advice, I sometimes find as if there's WAY too much information and too many opinions regarding computers/cameras/tv's or really anything these days.

Kind of hard to cycle through it all if you've been out of the loop.

I don't think I'll kick myself too much as far as new games are concerned, I switched from console to pc about 6 yrs ago, said I'd never 't switch back... and well I have.

There's something about sittin back with your feet up on your leather couch playing ps3/360 on a 65" HD tv that makes me dread playing games on computers (despite pc's better gameplay in most cases)
 
nighthawk8k said:
Is 11" really big enough for gaming though? I don't know... I've got a 15.4" right now and sometimes feel like it's not big enough.
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That's a pretty personal call, ultimately it's dictated as much by the type of games you're gonna play as by what other uses you're gonna give the system imo. Personally I love this type of form factor for carrying it on a daily basis (11.6" or 12"), I can toss it in a lot of smaller book/travel bags that a larger laptop wouldn't fit into, and they're more comfortable to use in cramped airplane seats, while standing, etc.

Ultimately it'd be nice if they made several different models tho (11.6", 13", and 14" maybe), like ASUS does... And just give the choice, but even ASUS has an incomplete lineup (the 12" UL20 isn't available w/discrete graphics AFAIK). I suppose larger models do cannibalize the sales of more expensive systems to a larger extent tho.

jhhack said:
my m11x should arrive later today.

I'm wondering whats the best way to load play all my games that i have on dvd / not through steam. If i get an external drive, or even a dvd drive in a machine on my gigabit network, can i use some software to mount the dvd to the mx11 hard drive, install and play from that mounted image?

I'm really not keen on rebuying some games on steam that I already paid for, or having to have an external usb dvd connected just for drm sakes to play a game. Kind of takes the 'ultra' out of ultra portable
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Slysoft's Virtual CloneDrive works great for loading ISO and it's very lightweight... But for games that don't require the disc (or apps that you just need to install once), simply share the CD drive on your desktop across the network and have at it. Even over regular 100mbps ethernet it doesn't take long at all to install most programs, the CD drive is the bottleneck anyway (I think). Some games w/DRM might not work even off a mounted ISO, you'll have to go online to find a fix for those...
 
rushmore69 said:
3. Battery should last at least one hour longer than the UL (smaller display and larger relative battery compared to the 30vt) in non gpu mode.
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How's that? I thought the Dell had a 6-cell and the UL30 had an 8-cell... Most accounts/reviews seem to indicate the UL30 can go for 8-10 hours under light workloads whereas the Dell only seems to go for 6-7 hours (based on the posts in this thread, haven't really bothered to read many M11x reviews). I'm just curious... I agree that the M11x is a better value for anyone to whom gaming is the utmost priority tho.
 
just got back from a trip to San Diego for a tradeshow.. also my first road trip with my m11x.

some notes off the top of my head..

1. I can now fit my laptop, 3 cells, and ebook reader in one basket going through security. (other basket for shoes, belt, watch.) My old 17 xps would take a whole basket to itself.

2. perfectly fit into this while the m11x was in this. and I still had room for a notebook and nook ebook reader.

3. didn't even have to think about the battery the whole trip. Flipped into powersavings mode while sitting the airport for hours browsing the web and viewing slingbox.

4. small enough to drag around while running around town at night. used internet tethered from my sprint vision of my touch pro.

5. luckily had an lcd in my hotel room which allowed me to play some dvd rips off my hd via hdmi. I didn't think of it at first but there was an officemax that sold cables nearby. No longer will I have to settle for a laptop screen while sitting in bed. (even 17" is small from that distance)

6. I didn't get to play any games since I was pretty busy.. but as a travel laptop it was a perfect fit.

7. had a couple issues coming out of sleep mode. had to reboot. might have been a little impatient since I was in a hurry both times.

8. glare was a problem at points sitting near the windows at the airport.

9. had a little too many people ask me about it.. I didn't mind but was getting kinda old. hehe I turned on dark mode and it was a little more incognito.

10. two words. fingerprint magnet. don't even bother wiping it down while on a trip.. just wait till your back. (this is hard for me to say cause I'm a little ocd.)

At this point it's perfect for my needs.. games are just a bonus.
 
magnetik said:
just got back from a trip to San Diego for a tradeshow.. also my first road trip with my m11x.
...
At this point it's perfect for my needs.. games are just a bonus.
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Awesome, sounds like you're happy with it and its serving your needs, its always good to here stories like this just to let you know that people find these designs useful.
 
oh.. Just in case someone needs another AC adapter, I also picked up a Dell PA-12 DA65NS3-00 travel adapter off ebay. It's super slim and worked fine. It had the exact specs as the supplied PA-12.
 
magnetik said:
just got back from a trip to San Diego for a tradeshow.. also my first road trip with my m11x.

some notes off the top of my head..

1. I can now fit my laptop, 3 cells, and ebook reader in one basket going through security. (other basket for shoes, belt, watch.) My old 17 xps would take a whole basket to itself.

2. perfectly fit into this while the m11x was in this. and I still had room for a notebook and nook ebook reader.

3. didn't even have to think about the battery the whole trip. Flipped into powersavings mode while sitting the airport for hours browsing the web and viewing slingbox.

4. small enough to drag around while running around town at night. used internet tethered from my sprint vision of my touch pro.

5. luckily had an lcd in my hotel room which allowed me to play some dvd rips off my hd via hdmi. I didn't think of it at first but there was an officemax that sold cables nearby. No longer will I have to settle for a laptop screen while sitting in bed. (even 17" is small from that distance)

6. I didn't get to play any games since I was pretty busy.. but as a travel laptop it was a perfect fit.

7. had a couple issues coming out of sleep mode. had to reboot. might have been a little impatient since I was in a hurry both times.

8. glare was a problem at points sitting near the windows at the airport.

9. had a little too many people ask me about it.. I didn't mind but was getting kinda old. hehe I turned on dark mode and it was a little more incognito.

10. two words. fingerprint magnet. don't even bother wiping it down while on a trip.. just wait till your back. (this is hard for me to say cause I'm a little ocd.)

At this point it's perfect for my needs.. games are just a bonus.
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Those are some great bullet-points magnetik. Looks like this may be the one to get for increase mobility. Too bad there's no place that I can try this out, even as a floor model.
 
Finally returned home after traveling and unpacked my M11x.

So far so good! Damn this thing is small!
 
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magnetik said:
10. two words. fingerprint magnet. don't even bother wiping it down while on a trip.. just wait till your back. (this is hard for me to say cause I'm a little ocd.)

At this point it's perfect for my needs.. games are just a bonus.
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I grabbed an M15x last month, and I have to agree, the fingerprints are everywhere. That's definitely one negative in the Alienware column. Otherwise, I absolutely love it.
 
so I did a fresh install of Win7Pro on my SSD and everything is perfect so far EXCEPT I cannot load the wifi drivers onto this thing. It keeps telling my my hardware is not supported.

I've ran the exe, manual (have disk) blah blah, and nothing. Anyone have a working driver/plan of attack they used?
 
How is this notebook working out for the owners after extended usage? I have one loaded with the c2duo 4gb and bluetooth for $980. Soo tempted but I would rather wait and see if they do an i5 in it for a respin or a faster c2duo
 
A re-spin w/a faster C2D would be pointless, it'd kill battery life and that's one of the things that the market this is aimed at actually appreciates... It'd be hard to deal w/the thermals on such a small format too. A CULV i5 refresh would be interesting tho, and it's probably inevitable, dunno if it'll be within the same exact design or if it'll require a complete re-working tho.
 
so..i was one step before buy m11x..but a new competitor coming...asus N82JQ

i7,14",GeForce GT 335M,and almost the same weight 2,3kg

i believe its a better buy..also the gaming at 14" will be more comfort than 11.6"
plus the powerful cpu..
 
gbak said:
so..i was one step before buy m11x..but a new competitor coming...asus N82JQ

i7,14",GeForce GT 335M,and almost the same weight 2,3kg

i believe its a better buy..also the gaming at 14" will be more comfort than 11.6"
plus the powerful cpu..
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All that is nice, but is the price close? I'd be surprised...
 
Finally saw this at Best buy. Keyboard felt fine.
Overall look and feel felt like a perfect balance between a laptop and a netbook.

All other things aside I would just say that the screen did not seem as nice as some other lappys or macbooks.

Doesn't look as queer as I thought!
 
Where did you see the m11x at best buy? I don't think they carry it...
 
Mine's en route. QUESTION: the WWAN pci-e slot, can it be used for any card? Like a PCI-E SSD?
 
Modred189 said:
Mine's en route. QUESTION: the WWAN pci-e slot, can it be used for any card? Like a PCI-E SSD?
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From what I have seen on notebookreview.com you can use the WWAN slot for an SSD. I don't know any more details than that, sorry.

Mine is coming on the 24th, hopefully sooner. Don't forget to post about which SSD you get and how it works! I will also have that slot free and am considering SSD (once I test out the performance on the 7200rpm).
 
Yea, mine was supposed to ship next week, and arrive the 26th. Instead, it shipped TODAY! Hooray!
 
I just dumped mine on ebay because I could not take the screen, it was just too much glare, I also have big hands and I was constantly having to retype emails, or chats because my fingers were hitting two keys at once. I would say that I did get lucky, mine was perfect when i got it, some people had gaps in the screen, some bsod problems, but I was impressed with the build. It ultimately came down to just being too small for me to game on. MW2 was not bad, it ran fine, but the screen was way too small. Bad Company 2 was just about unplayable, you had to set all settings on low to get good FPS out of it. It ended up being a net book for me, just using it to browse the internet, so that is why I sold it on ebay, I was lucky to have a coupon when i ordered it and saved $300 on it. I made that up when I sold it on ebay :) But like somebody said earlier, its a personal choice, you will love it or hate it. If you did not like it like me, its hard to consider keeping a $1000 netbook.
 
This is retarded. I just bought a 17" gaming laptop that realistically I won't use after my deployment is over, and I'm halfway tempted to get an M11x as well. :p
 
just picked mine up at bestbuy today to replace my acer 1401 netbook/laptop.

main reason i bought this was to play sc2 at my gf house since my acer was struggling on all low setting.

so after playing sc2 with it for 4 hrs on all high settings. the only con i have for the unit is it is hot. anyone else thinks the same?

i had this thing plugged into a coolermaster laptop cooler and my palm were still cooking. my acer was always cool to touch but then it was not as much of a power house as the alienware. this is with the cpu overclocked and nvidia graphics turned on.

i'm having mixed feelings on this one. i love the customizable led keyboard and logos but hate the heat it generates on my hand when gaming.
 
Yup the physical unit gets hot, but everything inside of mine doesn't go past 50C, which is pretty amazing.

But yeah since basically 3 processors and ram units are underneath your palms........it gets hot.
 
gbak said:
so..i was one step before buy m11x..but a new competitor coming...asus N82JQ

i7,14",GeForce GT 335M,and almost the same weight 2,3kg

i believe its a better buy..also the gaming at 14" will be more comfort than 11.6"
plus the powerful cpu..
Click to expand...

Its not exactly a competitor, seeing as the M11x is a totally different beast, 14 inch is a little smaller then standard size, while 11 inch is super portable
 
^^ did a search for the laptop and the gaming performance is maybe 2-5 fps higher than the M11x, that's with the quad i7.

Damn. Maybe the 335m isn't all that after all.
 
Modred189 said:
For those that have an m11x, what bags/ cases are you using?
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I guess I can kinda answer this...as my M11x won't be here for about another week, EDD is the 27th but hoping it comes before. I bought a Timbuk2 Q Backpack for my M11x and have been using it for books so far. I carried around my gf's mac thingy (13") and there was plenty of room in the bag and it felt comfy. The bag is really well made and all the construction on it feels like they didn't cut corners. Happy with it so far and will post more when I actually carry around the m11x in it.

Order Date: 4/12
EDD: 4/27
 
Just got my m11x today! Traded my PC locally for this, and I love it! Anyone else recommend a cheaper backpack for this? And a laptop stand or cooler? More laptop sleeves like the one above would be nice to look at if anyone has cooler ones.
 
in spite of my past comments on not buying this, lately I find myself looking at it harder because I think it'd be a great compromise between a full size laptop and the portability of this netbook.

Mostly wanting to use it to take to college and work and maybe get some of my studies done instead of having to carry a goddamn full size laptop and that heavy ass power brick.

How do you guys like having to carry this thing everywhere?
 
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