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    Finally Dell confirms M11x refresh!

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by bushe777, May 21, 2010.

  1. NobodyFresh

    NobodyFresh Notebook Guru

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    This is good to hear! I pre-ordered my m11x and I am still satisfied. Maybe two years from now I'll have the option of upgrading my 1.7 (OC) dual core model to one with dual video cards and the works. O.O
     
    NobodyFresh, May 30, 2010
    #451
  2. lackofcheese

    lackofcheese Notebook Virtuoso

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    Saying "the bottleneck" as if there can be only one bottleneck in a computer is plainly silly. Which component is the bottleneck will depend on what you're doing with the computer, and quite often different components will be the bottleneck over the course of a single task. The consequence of this is that an SSD will make a big difference even on a netbook.

    Nonetheless, it would definitely be easier just to get an 80GB Intel drive rather than two (presumably) Kingston-rebranded 40GB Intel drives in RAID 0, and go to all the effort of changing the battery. Sure, you'd get higher throughput with the RAID configuration - SATA II @ 3Gbps = 375MB/s which still has a good margin over single SSDs, but is it worth the effort?
     
    lackofcheese, May 30, 2010
    #452
  3. Cpt.Zero

    Cpt.Zero Notebook Consultant

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    having a raid 0 ssd would not yet bottleneck the 3Gbps sata 2.

    it is not 2 40gb kingston intel x25-m but it is 2 kingston 160gb ntel x25-m.
     
    Cpt.Zero, May 30, 2010
    #453
  4. Karmond

    Karmond Notebook Enthusiast

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    Have you tried connecting it all up (sticking out of the case) and tested it?
    That's theoretical speeds btw, a Micron RealSSD does around 375MB/s reads on SATA 6Gb/s but only around 260MB/s on SATA 3Gb/s. Most of the top end Sata 3Gb/s SSDs are close to hitting the limit.
     
    Karmond, May 30, 2010
    #454
  5. lackofcheese

    lackofcheese Notebook Virtuoso

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    Well, 2x160GB makes sense since you can't get 320GB of SSD otherwise, though you could still settle for a solid 256GB SSD. Still, we're talking about something like $900 worth of SSD in an M11x - I'd probably rather buy a Sony VAIO Z if I was spending that kind of money. Sure, its graphics card is weaker, but it's a nicer laptop in a number of other ways.
    You're right. That fact is demonstrated quite clearly here. Nonetheless, only sequential throughput will be bottlenecked; you'd still see solid improvement in random reads and writes.

    I hadn't known that SATA II uses 8b/10b encoding, which means only 80% of the bandwidth can be used and so the theoretical maximum is actually 300MB/s and not 375MB/s. Still, it would seem that bottlenecking issues start to hit at 260MB/s or so.
     
    lackofcheese, May 30, 2010
    #455
  6. DrGoodvibes

    DrGoodvibes Notebook Deity

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    The M11x does support two monitors via DisplayPort and HDMI.
    I just extended _two_ IPS 24" monitors into one display.
    Have a USB switch which connects the wireless keyboard to this and other systems.

    Bashing away, you can easily forget you're working on an 11.6" notebook.
     
    DrGoodvibes, May 30, 2010
    #456
  7. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Or just get the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB and save yourself the trouble and money. No its not quite as fast as an SSD, but it's darn near close a velociraptor 600GB, for about $140 shipped, and in a standard 9.5mm 2.5" form.

    Newegg.com - Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ Solid State Hybrid Drive -Bare Drive

    Seagate's Momentus XT Reviewed, Finally a Good Hybrid HDD - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

    Seagate Momentus XT (250GB) Hard Drive reviews - CNET Reviews

    Momentus XT | 7200 RPM | Seagate
     
    HTWingNut, May 30, 2010
    #457
  8. Cpt.Zero

    Cpt.Zero Notebook Consultant

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    omg those hybrid is not the next thing to go, if you laptop can house 2 hard drive might as well get a 40gb intel v and a 1t hd.
     
    Cpt.Zero, May 30, 2010
    #458
  9. Karmond

    Karmond Notebook Enthusiast

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    But it can't house two hard drives.

    1tb HDDs are only 5400rpm anyway, and putting a SATA mini-card SSD in the WWAN slot is unlikely to work either with the BIOS lock.
     
    Karmond, May 30, 2010
    #459
  10. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    The 1TB drives are 5400RPM but seek times are supposed to be really good beause of platter density. Either way I think that mod is a little out there for the M11x. You have much better, cheaper, and easier existing alternatives. Now a smaller but same capacity battery that would allow housing of another hard drive, I'd be all for. Have a 40GB SSD boot and hard drive storage. That would take some significant design however as to how you'd hook both hard drive and SSD to the SATA port.
     
    HTWingNut, May 30, 2010
    #460
  11. Vaio Z Power

    Vaio Z Power Notebook Consultant

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    I had purchased the new version if they become the standard i7, it's the killer Z, but with this ulv, I will ignore this option and wait acer or envy14, z or maybe a new xps13...
     
    Vaio Z Power, May 30, 2010
    #461
  12. Cpt.Zero

    Cpt.Zero Notebook Consultant

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    i am really amazed with the sony guys for their sony Z series... just imagine an inch wider than the m11x but it can house up to 4 SSD Sata OMG and it have a i5 core series cpu (not the ULV icore) and a gt 310M GPU... wow i am considering getting this for my wife... and by the time i make 4 intel ssd on it... wow wat a performance laptop would it be hehehe
     
    Cpt.Zero, May 30, 2010
    #462
  13. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Now I do give Sony lots of credit for cramming that much stuff in their Z11 machine considering its size. And it comes with a GT 330M not a 310M, so even more spectacular. Too bad the price is so high. However it seems they sacrificed cooling in order to cram that much stuff in there.
     
    HTWingNut, May 30, 2010
    #463
  14. Rhodan

    Rhodan NBR Expert of Nothing

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    The Sony Z uses proprietary SSD Drives. It has 2 slots that can host SSD drives which are double sided. So the basic system with 128GB SDD is actually 2 64GB in RAID 0.

    Proprietary hardware is a big no no in my book, main reason I would not go with a Z at this time. The other reason is RAID 0 which is an oxymoron as there is no redundancy in RAID 0...
     
    Rhodan, May 30, 2010
    #464
  15. Jayayess1190

    Jayayess1190 Waiting on Intel Cannonlake

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    You know you can swap those out for your own hdd/ssd's right?
     
    Jayayess1190, May 30, 2010
    #465
  16. Rhodan

    Rhodan NBR Expert of Nothing

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    Then you need to mod the system as the connectors and space aren't standard. And what's the point of paying $2k to trash the included SSDs and install new ones...
     
    Rhodan, May 30, 2010
    #466
  17. Cpt.Zero

    Cpt.Zero Notebook Consultant

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    hmmm so the ssd being inserted insice the sonz z is not same dimension like the intel x25-m?
     
    Cpt.Zero, May 31, 2010
    #467
  18. Rhodan

    Rhodan NBR Expert of Nothing

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    Rhodan, May 31, 2010
    #468
  19. freedom16

    freedom16 Notebook Deity

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    Yeah sucks with that, it should have been a bit thicker, the cooling is not always that good.
     
    freedom16, May 31, 2010
    #469
  20. _Josh

    _Josh Notebook Consultant

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    Are they keeping the 335m in the M11x? How far are we possibly looking for the refresh? I was thinking of buying one of these for my girlfriend. Wait or buy now?
     
    _Josh, May 31, 2010
    #470
  21. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Depends on what you're willing to spend. For $899 get SU7300, 4GB RAM, 250GB HDD. Go with SU4100 instead and it's only $799. The i5 ULV option is sure to be more expensive. I'm sure they'll keep the 335M unless they have something up their sleeve to add something more powerful. In that case its a whole new ballgame. Do you think AW would dump nVidia in favor of an ATI GPU (like HD 5650?).
     
    HTWingNut, May 31, 2010
    #471
  22. Mackan

    Mackan Notebook Evangelist

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    They will probably stay with Nvidia 335M and use Optimus. I am not sure if AMD has a similar graphics switching capability? Anyways, will be an interesting update.
     
    Mackan, May 31, 2010
    #472
  23. Cpt.Zero

    Cpt.Zero Notebook Consultant

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    pls when will be this upgrade?

    computex is around the corner, no word yet?
     
    Cpt.Zero, May 31, 2010
    #473
  24. Eidorian

    Eidorian Notebook Geek

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    All signs point to some time in later June.

    We have Computex and E3 coming up.
     
    Eidorian, May 31, 2010
    #474
  25. Mister Chief

    Mister Chief Notebook Enthusiast

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    Dell/Alienware are not on the exhibitors list of Computex.

    Alienware is however on the E3 exhibitors list.
     
    Mister Chief, May 31, 2010
    #475
  26. tears

    tears Notebook Evangelist

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    I thought NVIDIA graphics is incompatible with the latest Intel stuff because of a pending lawsuit?
     
    tears, May 31, 2010
    #476
  27. FusionZ06

    FusionZ06 Notebook Consultant

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    Interested to see how this turns out. I'm thinking the M11x will be nice a upgrade to my M1330.
     
    FusionZ06, May 31, 2010
    #477
  28. ghegde

    ghegde Notebook Evangelist

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    ghegde, Jun 1, 2010
    #478
  29. Wiggy Fuzz

    Wiggy Fuzz Notebook Consultant

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    i won't be impressed with anything intel does that's graphically related. from a technical standpoint the 335m gt is capable of 3d, and it alone would be more powerful when rendering 3d than the intel HD graphics rendering standard 2d.
     
    Wiggy Fuzz, Jun 1, 2010
    #479
  30. Cpt.Zero

    Cpt.Zero Notebook Consultant

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    e3? when will be the event e3?
     
    Cpt.Zero, Jun 1, 2010
    #480
  31. ejohnson

    ejohnson Is that lemon zest?

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    ejohnson, Jun 1, 2010
    #481
  32. ben24502

    ben24502 Notebook Enthusiast

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    LOL: First time seeing that!
     
    ben24502, Jun 1, 2010
    #482
  33. oZEPPELINo

    oZEPPELINo Notebook Consultant

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    lol at

    so apparantly the letters "l m g t f y" put together are blocked. Sorry about the off topic, just thought it was weird. E3 seems so far away.
     
    oZEPPELINo, Jun 1, 2010
    #483
  34. gplanet

    gplanet Newbie

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    Does anybody know the date?
    Everybody is talking about June but maybe there are more details?

    thanks
    g :rolleyes:
     
    gplanet, Jun 2, 2010
    #484
  35. FusionZ06

    FusionZ06 Notebook Consultant

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    June 11th... ;)

    Yeah...I have no idea.
     
    FusionZ06, Jun 2, 2010
    #485
  36. oZEPPELINo

    oZEPPELINo Notebook Consultant

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    June 15th, just google E3 2010
     
    oZEPPELINo, Jun 2, 2010
    #486
  37. FusionZ06

    FusionZ06 Notebook Consultant

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    Sweet. I hope.
     
    FusionZ06, Jun 2, 2010
    #487
  38. oZEPPELINo

    oZEPPELINo Notebook Consultant

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    lol, what else could they possibly showcase at E3???
     
    oZEPPELINo, Jun 2, 2010
    #488
  39. SparhawkJC

    SparhawkJC Notebook Evangelist

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    Dual screens?
     
    SparhawkJC, Jun 2, 2010
    #489
  40. oZEPPELINo

    oZEPPELINo Notebook Consultant

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    Dual KEYBOARDS!!!
     
    oZEPPELINo, Jun 2, 2010
    #490
  41. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Dual TRACKPADS!
     
    HTWingNut, Jun 2, 2010
    #491
  42. Laggy7

    Laggy7 Notebook Guru

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    Quad Sli!!
     
    Laggy7, Jun 3, 2010
    #492
  43. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Dual Quad SLI!
     
    HTWingNut, Jun 3, 2010
    #493
  44. BatBoy

    BatBoy Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    BatBoy, Jun 3, 2010
    #494
  45. Wiggy Fuzz

    Wiggy Fuzz Notebook Consultant

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    i want a built in microsoft gaming receiver!!!1!

    my modded one isn't going so well, i can't even get it to power on, let alone try and fit it in the chassis
     
    Wiggy Fuzz, Jun 3, 2010
    #495
  46. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Excellent idea! I think Microsoft should make a USB dongle like the Logitech Nano VX. Small and discrete. Although why not just make it BLUETOOTH? Gee, novel idea.
     
    HTWingNut, Jun 3, 2010
    #496
  47. ebondefender

    ebondefender Notebook Evangelist

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    ISA-e (ISA Express!) :3
    Dos Server 2010
     
    ebondefender, Jun 3, 2010
    #497
  48. Cpt.Zero

    Cpt.Zero Notebook Consultant

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    hmmm m11x r2 is not being launch until 2 yrs from now.... :p
     
    Cpt.Zero, Jun 3, 2010
    #498
  49. DrGoodvibes

    DrGoodvibes Notebook Deity

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    I'm just popping out for a beer, I might be a while.

    I don't do waiting.... wake me when the M11x has an ULV i7 and full HDMI.
     
    DrGoodvibes, Jun 3, 2010
    #499
  50. zaidbaby

    zaidbaby Notebook Consultant

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    I feel its comin'
     
    zaidbaby, Jun 3, 2010
    #500
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