M11x users- your advice needed!

[Sigi]

My poor laptop has seen better days- I am considering replacing it with the Dellienware M11x. I was considering the core 2 duo since I need to stick under 1k (including tax!) I would get the EPP discount through my company

I'd like some feedback from people who have that system, if it sucks, 12 inch screen too tiny, shit along those lines. I don't want to drop 1k on a system if I am going to absolutely despise it. (just as a for instance, my current system has lasted 4+ years, and is just now developing a bad LCD, and has had loose/bad USB ports)

Basically, at this point, I've already got an external DVD burner I can use as well as an USB bluetooth mini-dongle. I don't need the largest hard-drive nor would I go for more memory (since I can purchase better grade memory for cheaper from other vendors)

Thanks for any tips you can give

[Xaijin]

I used to own the R1 m11x with the su7300. Let me tell you... not worth it. The CPU seriously bottlenecks any gaming you could do. Dont expect to be able to run a 25 man raid on it. MW2 would run ok.

Shell out a couple hundred more and get a Acer 3820TG with the hd5650. Better graphics card than the 335m as well, and you're not limited by a ULV processor (it contains a full speed i5).

[SaviorSelf]

Gaming on a 12 inch screen...no thanks.

[Korietsu]

Don't buy from alienware, shit hardware design and heat displacement and their customer service is fail.

[Gredival]

I have an m11x and from my perspective this depends on what you are looking for.

Is this the best gaming laptop for price to performance? No. Is it a desktop replacement (for a hardcore gamer)? No.

This laptop is for someone who is highly mobile and doesn't want to carry around a 17" beast laptop, but still wants the capability to game when they have an hour or two of free time. The strength is in the compromise: it can handle most modern games right now on medium~ settings while maintaining a 6-7 hr battery life doing school/work/music/surfing.

I personally love mine. As a student who takes public transport, I stay on campus for the entire day because its inconvenient and inefficient to go back to my place between classes. When I can't deal with doing work during breaks I can sneak off to the library and play a few games of SC-II without a problem on medium settings. It's very light, which is good when you're lugging around giant text books.

To me the size is just fine for how much I use it... if you are gonna use it a lot more on the road for lots more gaming, then maybe a 17" is better for you. But I'm more than happy with the trade-off of screen real estate in return for the productivity/weight/battery life advantages. I got my i7 model for under $900 using EPP before tacking on the extra three year and a screen protector (mostly because I don't like glossy screens). Other laptops can beat this in price and performance, but no other laptop will offer this performance and the adapability at this price.

For the R1 vs. the R2, the R1 is better from a productivity and price standpoint while the R2 is more convenient and future proof tech wise. The R1's battery drain is a lot lower on idle, I don't really know why. But basically they get another hour or so on battery doing normal tasks. It's also a lot cheaper. The R2's technology is more gamer friendly because the graphics are handled by Optimus you can upgrade drivers separately without a Dell driver. R1 requires a driver to have to the integrated and discrete drivers packaged together for the switching function. If there's a driver problem with the R1 you have to wait for Dell or switch over fully to the discrete graphics, which will burn your battery life cause it disables your access to your integrated.

If you buy one, definitely spring for the three year plan. There is an issue with some units where the hinges for the LCD are slightly misaligned, and this can cause stress over time depending on the severity. A side effect is also if you have an affected unit the keys will touch the screen and can leave marks. Dell will provide warranty service for this if you have it. I've heard generally positive feedback for responses to these issues.

Dell/Alienware's always been pretty damn good customer service wise for me. I got my R1 two days before they announced the R2. I called in and asked about switching, they let me send the unit back without any restocking fee and sent me an i7 model with all my discounts intact (ended up being like $120 more to switch to the i7 basically). I know someone had a busted battery once (after three charge cycles the battery max charge went from 6hrs to 2hrs), and Dell sent him a new battery to use with return service to send back the old one.

Final note: Supposedly the R3 is coming out soon with a graphics refresh to the 435M or the 445M. If you want to wait, you could get a good price drop on an R1/R2

[Sigi]

Thanks- good tips!

Patience is a virtue, and I fully understand the warranty w/ Dell- I used to work for them!

[SaviorSelf]

From what I've read and understand, most new computer technology comes out in October, so around then is when you would want to be shopping for stuff. The new generation of things will be released like ATI HD 6000 series, which in turn will lower the price of the current generation.

[Isiolia]

From what I've read and understand, most new computer technology comes out in October, so around then is when you would want to be shopping for stuff. The new generation of things will be released like ATI HD 6000 series, which in turn will lower the price of the current generation.

New generation of Intel consumer CPUs is due out in Q1 2011. Kinda varies as to when things come out. The 6000 series is expected to have one option, a mainstream one, out this year, with the higher and lower end parts following next year. Logically speaking, sure, new generations come out in time for the holiday buying season...but on the flip side, that can also serve to deplete stocks of the old stuff.

As for the M11x, I helped my brother find a laptop for school this past semester, and we settled on the i5 (quick ship option) M11x due to battery life more than anything. It's actually in the ballpark pricewise for a decent CULV laptop in general, it just has a better GPU than most. Personally, I haven't used it much - he's been pleased with it though. From what I've seen it has decent fit n' finish. I still made sure he had 3 years of Complete Care on it though - I work in IT, and see waaaay too much accidental damage on laptops to not get that. Having worked with several company's support lines, Dell still tends to be one of the easiest to deal with.

[Krandor]

Final note: Supposedly the R3 is coming out soon with a graphics refresh to the 435M or the 445M. If you want to wait, you could get a good price drop on an R1/R2

A change in graphics card =/= improvement. Until you actually see solid benchmark numbers with a laptop graphics card, you honestly have no idea how it will perform (case in point, a 8800m GTX outperforms the entire 300 card line).

That being said, I love my m11x. It cannot and will not give you punishing performance, but for the size and price it's an excellent system. Even though I also own an Asus G73JH now too, I still use the m11x on a decent basis since it's portability and battery life is a huge factor.

If you think you might have complaints about the screen size, Best Buy and Fry's both carry the m11x, so you can go and try one out to see how it feels/looks.

[Sigi]

Thanks for the head's up Krandor- unfortunately for me (well, fortunate for my wallet at least!) there is no Fry's, however I intend to make a shopping run to Best Buy in the next few weeks. I wanted to get honest opinions since the reviews are pretty good (Maximum PC specifically), specs are nice- price is kinda in the right area, but I'd prefer cheaper if possible. As far as the difference between I5 and I7- is the I7 overkill on this system? Most of my usage other than FF11 is programming in Visual Studio (08, haven't downloaded 10 yet... same for Office), light 3d rendering, Photoshop, and some database and web authoring. Is there that much of a performance boost between going to quad- or would the money be better invested in more memory?

[Gredival]

Wasn't recommending an R3 as much as saying prices will drop on the R2 (and R1 if they still exist, Dell seems to be trying to push them out atm) because of the new release.

The i7 in the m11x isn't a true quad -- Intel's i-core naming scheme isn't really as clear as it was supposed to make it. It's got two cores and four threads, along with OC capability and speed step. The i7 QM's, like in the Asus that Krandor has, are the true mobile quads.

Depending on just how much rendering you do I'd recommend stepping to the i7 though. This isn't the ideal machine for CPU intensive tasks, but the i7 will definitely be an improvement over the i3/i5 for those purposes. But on the other hand if it's not much as all maybe it's worth dealing with a little bit of slowness for an extra 100-200 in your pocket.

As for FFXI, there's currently a problem with newer nVidia drivers and FFXI that causes crappy FPS. You can find a topic about it here on BG Tech. Unfortunately Optimus requires newer drivers to have the switching technology, so you'll be stuck with subpar FPS until nVidia gets it shit together. It's been 6 months and we've seen baby step improvement so hopefully it will be fixed soon. I get around 20 FPS with a bunch of mobs, down to 7-9 in extremely crowded areas with players. No shadows, no weather, no forced registry oversampling. This is about a 80% improvement over the last few drivers. This is a big reason to go with the R2 because you aren't tied both nVidia fixing it AND THEN waiting on Dell to package a linked driver for the R1

[Boyiee]

I do love my G73JH for taking it to work, and gaming on it when I get chances to at work...

However sometimes I wished I had something smaller for class, I'm afraid to bring and open up my gigantic laptop in a small 30person classroom.

Does anyone here use their g73 for class? It's godly for gaming and all but its so big...

[Xaijin]

Thanks for the head's up Krandor- unfortunately for me (well, fortunate for my wallet at least!) there is no Fry's, however I intend to make a shopping run to Best Buy in the next few weeks. I wanted to get honest opinions since the reviews are pretty good (Maximum PC specifically), specs are nice- price is kinda in the right area, but I'd prefer cheaper if possible. As far as the difference between I5 and I7- is the I7 overkill on this system? Most of my usage other than FF11 is programming in Visual Studio (08, haven't downloaded 10 yet... same for Office), light 3d rendering, Photoshop, and some database and web authoring. Is there that much of a performance boost between going to quad- or would the money be better invested in more memory?

Not a true i7. It's a ULV. It's worse than a regular full speed i3.

However, it will be fine for the tasks you mentioned.

[Gredival]

Not a true i7. It's a ULV. It's worse than a regular full speed i3.

However, it will be fine for the tasks you mentioned.

Well in terms of pure clock speed alone the mobile i3's go from 2.13 to 2.26 which is better than "true" mobile i7's which go from 1.6 to 2.0. What kills the i3's is the lack of turbo boost, which is what lets the ULV i7's match them and the true i7's to surpass them.

With just TurboBoost on I can hit 2.0+ speeds on my i7 m11x. It is a very aggressive TurboBoost when you have the AC plugged in. With OC I can reach 2.5+ but it won't stay there for very long usually. If it weren't possible to reach these speeds though, most would have gone with the Core2Duo for the 1.73 OC clock over the i-core model.

But for CPU intensive activities I agree the machine is underpowered. It games well because most games bottle neck at the GPU before the CPU.