Considering m11x for School Use

Hey there, m11x users.

I currently own a Alienware m15x, and it's fantastic. However it's 5kg have proven too much to carry around at university campus - especially since I nearly dropped it down a staircase when I was carrying it with my books.

Now, I've gotten an Acer Aspire Netbook to try and replace it, but it's weak processor and small keyboard is driving me to the brink of murderous rampage. I'm studying software engineering, and I type constantly on it and use applications like Eclipse and Visual Studio, which didn't make an Atom CPU more pleasant. It was naive to even think a system like that was usable for anything but Facebook.

Gaming performance isn't the point of it, I've got my m15x for that - I'm thinking an i7 and 6 gigs of ram will give me an experience that can nearly match what I was used to on my m15x.

I'm looking for what you guys think about the m11x in terms of:
1) Weight for carrying it around for a day and the resilience of the lid/hinge (opened and closed up to 30-40 times a day).

2) Battery life when it's used for stuff like I do. My apps doesn't load the CPU to 100% for long periods of times. It comes in spikes whenever I compile boot a Virtual machine. I'm not expecting 6 hours of battery life when working hard on it, but I'm hoping for something like 4. How fast does the machine charge from say 15% to 100%?

3) Typing on it for prolonged periods of time. I can't get a feel for the keys size from pictures.

4) If anyone has experience with it, how well does Linux work with this system? I'm thinking if there are any hardware components in that that just refuse to work with Ubuntu.

 

Quite honestly if it wasn't for gaming I would consider the Alienware a really lousy value.

We bought my wife an i5 Sony 14" Vaio, and it is a wonderful laptop that costs much less, even with 4GB RAM, 500GB HD, discrete (low end) graphics, and so on. It is somewhat larger than the m11x, but has a better keyboard and is actually lighter!

 

It should be fine, just make sure to have accidental warranty just in case.

Hinge break is covered with standard warranty, but if I'm the one who is carrying it around in a backpack w/ bunch of books, I'd definately add the accidental warranty to it.

 

charge time is about 1.4hrs
i carry mine around from class to class and it is fine for me

 

For everything you said, I would look elsewhere for the following reasons:

-- Weight. It's about 2kg, which is certainly lighter than your m15x, but it's not the lightest notebook ever, either. You could definitely manage, but my point is you don't have to.

-- Battery life. First, you should go with the R1 because it has better battery life than the R2 with similar power. The battery life on the R1 *most* people seem to be able to use in the realm of 6 hours in regular use (I say most because some people say they get more). That's not bad, but there is better. There are some Lenovo laptops (and Asus also I think--but I'm less sure of that info without looking it up) that are rated for over 10 hours, and they have the same power as the M11x but with a bigger battery and a bit more efficient system. An example is the Thinkpad X301, but there are more. Perhaps 6 hours is good for you, in which case the battery life of the R1 isn't a reason not to get it.

-- Hinge. This may or may not be a problem for you. The hinge on the M11x breaks after what seems like a month to six months, so potentially while you're in school it will break, and you potentially won't be able to bring it to class until it's fixed. Worse, it will keep doing this every 1-6 months. When it's out of warranty, you're in trouble (so get a long one). The fact that you're opening and closing it a lot each day may or may not matter because it seems even people who open it very few times have the hinge break on them. There's a theory going around that it's the heat getting blown out of the side that's causing the trouble with the hinge, which explains why it's only the side with the fan that breaks (but, again, it's just a theory).

-- Typing. The keyboard takes time to get used to. My last HP laptop's keyboard is 1/2" less wide as the M11x's keyboard, yet its keys are much larger because Alienware decided to stick the delete, home, pgup, and pgdown keys in a row of their own on the right, forcing every key to be smaller than needed. This may or may not bother you. It bothered be for about the first week of use, and now it's alright. Another thing is the keyboard is only screwed down on the right side, so it ramps up on the left. That has bothered more than some, though I don't find it to affect my typing.

-- Linux. I don't have the R1, but I believe it works with Ubuntu completely now. The R2 is not so lucky. There is no version of Optimus for Linux yet. There is one planned called Prime along with a proof of concept that someone made, but so far nothing has materialized. Overall, hybrid video cards on Linux right now is trouble. What this means is with the R2, you will be able to get maybe 3 hours of battery life at most with Linux because the 335m GPU never powers off. Here are good threads on Linux on the M11x:
[ubuntu] Linux on alienware-m11x? - Ubuntu Forums
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/464127-linux-m11x.html


edit: One more thing comes to mind. Recently someone had their M11x in a backpack with a book, and when they took it out, the screen was cracked right across from the Alienware head. There has only been the one report of this, but potentially it means there's a weak spot right there at the logo, and it could happen to you, since you'll have it in a bag with books and notebooks, I presume.

 

This is just my opinion but I just received mine like 4 days ago and the first thought was this would have been awesome for when I was in collage. Plus hell man it is an Alienware you will have girls all over you wanting to see the X-mass lights you can show them. LOL Also you will not believe the build quality. I was very impressed

 

@OP

If you need a better CPU, maybe ULV is not the best solution. But if you're not into gaming, there isn't that much incentive to get Alienware. Except that it looks damn good. Except for the hinge, the build quality is pretty good considering it's not all metal like Mac.

But again what are the alternatives? It seems no one except Apple *sigh* can really make a good laptop. Envy13 comes close, but I read it's not as solid and trackpad is crap. And ok on m17x desktop replacement I could almost tolerate it as most people use mice... but on 13" laptop? Uh.

Same goes for business class laptops - most just don't cut it in terms of build quality.

 

These are some good points. Thanks for the inputs.

The main draw of the m11x is it's design and it's build quality - besides the hinge issue and keyboard only being screwed down on the right side. These points worry me.

Also, another reason, but not the biggest deal: I'm going to throw Starcraft 2 on it for quick showdowns whenever e-peen measurement is required.

As long as it keeps battery power for 4 hours I'm golden. I'm never out of range of a power outlet for more than 4 hours anyway.

I got a Lenovo w500 issued at work I use during the day (I'm getting a Bachelors degree during the evening. It's free and I've got the time for it, so why not), and I've seen a bunch of Lenovo X-models at work and their screen seemed horrible. But I wouldn't be surprised if the screens in the ones we bought at work are budget ones. I think I'll borrow a X301 for a few days and see how I feel about it.

I'm probably going to see if I can get my hands on one in person, to get a feel for the keyboard "issue". I tend to be annoyed by stuff like that - so I need to see in person how bad it actually is.

 

I personally like the keyboard, and LOVE the touch pad on M11x.

 

Yea, this is my reasoning for considering this model as well.
I hate plastic laptops with a passion.

The trackpad on my m15x is positively retarded - though it did help to uninstall the driver Dell supplies. I can live with it now, but boy do I envy the Trackpads on Macs.

 

I'd look at the u30jc if you don't need as powerful a gpu. It's a bit bigger, weighs just a tiny bit more, bigger screen, more powerful cpu, lots more battery life, cheaper...

 

Well I would have suggested a Dell 11z with that AMD Neo processor, but the 11z is essentially a crippled and less capable M11x. The M11x is great, assuming that you will put the graphics card to good use. If not, then why buy this PC over some HP/Dell/Asus/etc that will likely cost half as much?

 

I am using the M11x for college right now and I'm majoring in criminal justice.

Its size and weight make it easy to carry around campus. I use a neoprene sleeve to protect it while it's in my backpack, and the backpack itself has adequate padding to keep it protected.

Personally when I'm in public with it I like to either change the AlienFX to all white or turn it off, as that makes it look a little more professional, less geeky, and it attracts slightly less attention.

Whenever I use this laptop in my dorm I have it connected to a 22" LCDTV via HDMI and I bought a cheap $20 keyboard from Logitech so I could have a standard sized keyboard for prolonged typing when I'm in my dorm. Typing on the laptop itself does take some getting used to but once you get the hang of it, it's fairly easy.

This is Gizmodo.com's description of the keyboard that I completely agree with:

If you're going to be opening the hinge that much, you might want to consider getting a warranty from SquareTrade. A lot of people on this site buy from them. Dell's extended warranties are very expensive.

But... I'm going to chime in with the other people who say that this may not be the best option if you don't plan on gaming because you're paying for components (the high-end graphics card) that you don't really need. Not only that, but if you buy another laptop you won't need to worry about the hinge that you'll be opening so much.

 

I have an m17x as my main laptop and just picked up an m11x r2 as my portable computer for school. Loving it so far! The battery life, weight, and overall form factor is awesome. Haven't had any issues with the keyboard being too small either. I'm going on my first trip with it on Saturday (for a week) so that will be the true test for me.