How durable / versatile is the M11X?

Basically my question is can I actually use the M11X as a laptop or does it need to be treated gingerly and remain on a desk most of the time.
I'm looking to replace a macbook (ya I know) I've had for three years. While I've grown to loathe everything mac related there are some things I have enjoyed about my macbook. The macbook is extremely durable and the build quality is second to none. After having it for so many years I've become pretty abusive with it. I often throw it on my bed or couch or slam the lid shut and this thing hasn't taken any visible damage at all. While I don't look to do that to an M11X I'm wondering if you guys close the lid on your laptop when you're done using it or just leave it open? I've only heard horror stories on the hinges and that kind of worries me. The trackpad on macs are also the best and I actually prefer them to using a mouse. Haven't heard great things on the M11X but are they usable or unbearable? Also I often use the macbook on my lap or throw it on my bed and use it there. I think nothing of it since there's no vents on the bottom but I realize there are on the M11X. Will I be able to use it on my lap or on anything other than a hard surface or will that block the vent?

Thanks for your time

 

I've got a 2009 MBP and no, the build quality isn't even close, but I don't think anyone's holding it up to those standards. Having said that, the M11x is still solidly built. The plastic used in palm rest is rugged as is the fit and trim of most of the rest of the body. The soft-touch finish is really great looking, easy to clean, but should be treated with care nonetheless. It's a little thicker than some of the ThinkPads I've owned, which is good.

So let's look at the hinge/lid without bringing the potential for failure into it (yet). I still would consider them to be a weak point in the overall design due to the stiffness and overall feel of the motion as you open/close the lid, which I think contributes to the persistent squeakiness people report. It doesn't glide like you see in better hinge designs. The lid also tends to wiggle more than I like when you pick it up and move it around due to the use of some amount of rubber in the hinge design. To me, it detracts a little bit from the otherwise great fit and trim. That's just my thoughts on the lid and hinge quality.

Having said that, hinges are still holding out after a little over 6 months of 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, 12 to 24 openings/closings a day. I don't baby it, but do care for it like I have all of my other laptops. No abuse beyond bagging it 4 or 5 times a day in my corduroy lined messenger bag as it travels with me at work. If the hinges fail under this very common level of treatment then shame on Dell.

The protective screen is also another detractor. It's susceptible to scratches from the keys. If you can, it would be wise to use some sort of thin insert in order to prevent this from happening. A lot of people are using the felt insert that ships with it.

 

Well, I currently have an R1, so perhaps I can offer a few thoughts.

One, your truly comparing Apples (no pun intended) and oranges. The Macbook is a general purpose-built system intended for doing just what you did, use it like a college student doing papers, music, video, , etc while sitting on the sofa.

The M11x is a devoted game system, hence the need to "breathe", so you DO have to be more careful from that point of view. You undoubtedly have heard of the hinge problem, if you haven't now's the time to read up. So, is it something you can throw around like a Macbook? Not quite, but it is sturdier than most other laptops, and outperforms anything in it's class save the Sony Vaio Z. How does it do everything else? Very well, it's a backup to my M17x-R2 and even when i don't need to I grab the M11x (only an R1 mind you) because its so darn handy and fun to use and has sufficient power for most tasks. If you like to abuse laptops, stick with the Macbook, if you want a pocket rocket that requires some care, get the M11x. I use mine on my lap, but careful to NOT game with it then and always to let it get air.

The touchpad is fair to middling, but for serious work I would get a mouse. The other consideration is the bezel is relatively easy to scratch, but cost/weight they didn't go for gorilla glass...

 

The hinge mountings are the only weak point I know of with many people reporting problems beyond what would be considered acceptable.
Thus the rest of this comment will exclude any further mention of hinges and it is taken as read, that the hinge mountings 'could' be a weak point looking forward.

caveat - Hinge mountings will 'most probably' fail at some stage.

The M11x is built like a tank...with flashing lights.

I've dropped mine twice from approx 2' to 3' with screen open and nothing happened. OK, it did 'squeak' in shock both times, so I'm thinking the M11x doesn't enjoy being dropped. The second time it froze in terror (HDD protection) and had to be restarted... "CLEAR!!!!"...

Spilt coffee into the keyboard and after a strip-down and blow dry, all was forgiven, not even a splutter.

10½ months and the relationship is going from strength to strength.

I have a couple of cia 1998 Toshiba netbooks and grab them by the monitor lids when open and throw them around, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that with an M11x. Also the weight of the base of the M11x, excluding lid is approx. 1.7kg and wouldn't support the stresses of such misadventure. Total weight is 2Kg.

So for an 11.6" 'notebook' it's not light.

However at 11.6" and 2Kg it's still small enough to tuck in a bag and easily portable. Just not in the realm of a 10" netbook though.

As the M11x supports HDMI, DisplayPort(VGA with adapter), (VGA M11xR1), WLAN, Bluetooth, WWAN(Optional with embeded screen wiring) and three USB there is enough connectivity for most external monitor connections (can have two extended external monitors) and external media, which include Blu-ray and DVD support.
10/100 Ethernet completes the picture.

The LCD display quality is acceptable for a 720p resolution with physical adjustments for best viewing angles.

As it's primary role is as a small gaming notebook, the GPU is beefed up with a GT335M. This is good for most games on meduim to high settings.
Future DX11 games will still run in DX10.1 mode, but maybe wont give you the advance graphics features, but then the M11x display/screen is not designed to complete with an IPS monitor or superior quality screen.

I'm not a gamer as such. My M11xR1 is supporting MySQL server and Apache Web server along with a raft of programing languages.
Haven't migrated any Adobe graphics packages to the M11x as I don't think the screen size and quailty supports these fields.

So, caveat aside, I see myself still using an M11x in five years and I don't see there being any problems other than general wear and tear.

You'll always get people, that bang on about Gigabit Ethernet, DX11 GPU, USB 3.0 and etc, but if you're buying the M11x for it's diminutive size, then fear not, there is currently nothing the same size or smaller with the versatility and punch of the M11x (04/01/2011).

 

How durable? Lets look at the M11x forum...

Keyboard melts onto screen:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/544609-you-guys-gonna-think-i-am-crazy.html

List of 142 people, so far, that have had their hinges break:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...11x-have-hinges-damaged-repaired-already.html

Short answer, not very durable.

 

"Yes, those words describe that problem perfectly."- that is the response a 4 year old would get from me had one said that.

 

Okay - lets get one thing straight on this - the keyboard doesn't "melt" onto the screen, it's oil from people's hands getting on the screen where the keys touch the screen sometimes and the keys are oily.... hence the common movement keys of WASD. My M17x-R2 does this occasionally... and it's the same keys plus one or two others... same thing on the M11x...

As a victim of the hinge design, even I can say this is NOT a reason to not get one of these (I am THIS close to pulling the trigger on an R2 depending on what we see at the CES), as your warranty covers it, IF it happens, at worst a 1 in 3 chance if the poll here is accurate. Scratchy plastic screen? Yes, also a weak point. However, the rest of the design is quite solid as DrGoodVibes attested to, with heat being your only other real enemy IF you don't give it "breathing room". From what the NBR review described, the structure while not quite as strong as the Thinkpad's is, is within spitting distance.

 

Thanks for the honest reviews guys. Honestly if it wasn't for such a weak hinge design I probably would have bought one by now, that's the only thing that really has me on the fence. I'm not sure if I'm looking to replace the role of my macbook but I was just home for two weeks away from my desktop and was completely gimped with nothing to do on my macbook. Aside from gaming I'm mainly going to use this for mobile djing (virtual DJ which I've read on this forum runs pretty well on it) picture and video editing.

Also what's this about the keys hitting the screen when the lid is shut. Is this a common occurrence? I haven't read too much of that on this board but I have seen it in a few threads.

Edit: Looks like my question was answered before I even posted.

 

lol. I stopped reading that thread the other day when it was still "liquid is rollin down mah screen!". I guess they've moved on now and its smudge marks.

 

And to be fair, but 13" MBP also gets finger oil on its screen from some of the keys. I think that's simply a fact of life for most notebooks when they're bagged with other things (books, camera, whatever). That's how people use notebooks. The difference is that screen is actually glass and does not scratch.

 

That's rubbish.

I couldn't reply to that thread cause I'd have to stop laughing first.

The oils from your fingers build up on the keyboard keys.
When the monitor lid is closed without any protective cloth separation, the oil is transmitted onto the screen. (mostly on the left side of the screen)
When the monitor reaches operating temperatures these oilie finger prints transmitted from the keyboard are visible.

This does not impact durability but does illustrate a lack of quality.

Anything to do with extreme overheating impacting the screen would be ohhhh about one person in all M11x built and the poster does invite us to consider his current state of mind.

Of more concern is, as slickie88 mentioned, scratch marks left from screen to key-button contact. Talk to the rabbit with TWO carrots as he was one of the first to mention this.

Point taken.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/493140-m11x-hinge-screen-touching-keyboard-discussion-r1-r2.html

Dell are 'work-shopping' this known issue in a chat-fest.
Dell tells us this will have an out-come.... month after month after month...

February next month and probably the first M11x will potentially be out of warranty if not renewed.

 

LOL I heard the same thing with my M15x. Alienware has a few reps on this forum and they swore they were working on a hinge fix. They were also working on a fix for the keyboard lag and going to have people beta testing new keyboards. Then they claimed the hinge issue should no longer be a problem (they claimed this one shortly before I bought my M15x).

They never fixed the hinges even after the updated the M15x. And they never fixed the keyboard lag issue, although someone on this forum figured out a fix for it. Oh, and it had nothing to do with the physical keyboard itself, it was a polling problem on the trackpad.. An issue of too much data going across a slow bus. But according to the Alienware reps it was going to be fixed with the new keyboard they were working on!

Yes, I'm a bit bitter about the situation. The worst part? Alienware copied that exact same setup - metal nuts held on by weak molded plastic - on the M11x and.. amazingly!.. it suffers from the same issue. Which means the message never got to the right people that the hinges were a flawed design (AKA the AW reps on this forum lied to us). Or worse, the message did get to the right people and they shrugged it off as they'd rather sell a flawed product and make milllions than spend a little more R&D time and have a better product.

/rant

 

Made my day!

 

By all means you can use the M11x as a laptop. Apart from the hinges, the M11x is very solid and reliable - the bottom is metal, the palm rest is sturdy, and the keyboard has no flex at all (at least mine doesn't have any).

I mostly keep the lid open - but I don't have no problem closing it anytime - my hinges seem to be fine, so the lid closes quite smooth.

My vote goes for unbearable and unusable - but then it might be just me. If you have a possibility to try it out in some outlet before you buy it - that would give you the best impression of the touchpad.

I used the M11x on my lap, as well as on the bed - didn't have no problem with either usage. On the other hand, the laptop is a bit on the heavy side still, so I am far more comfortable using my Vaio Tx on my lap - which is perfectly normal - cause the only thing I do on my lap is writing stuff - and I don't need the M11x for that.

Also - as you had stated below - you got bored with your macbook in two weeks' time. Well if that's the case - you don't have that much choice - as far as I know there are no more than three gaming ultraportables - namely the M11x, Acer TimelineX and Sony Z. The Sony laptop is by far more expensive, while the one by Acer seems to have its own drawbacks, I won't choose it over the Alienware if I were you.

 

We've seen this same pattern with the M11x hinge issue as well. Dell and AW representatives making claims that the hinge was fixed in late June, only to have that statement retracted a day or two later. Semi-frequent statements that, yes they're aware and are discussing it for the next couple of months. Then we get an "official" statement that they know about it and are discussing it with the right teams. Now unofficial hints from Dell reps that perhaps they're working with Flextronics on some sort of fix?

Then there are all of the claims from sales and support staff to buyers and owners that "Yes! The hinges have most assuredly been fixed!" which in each and every case were proven to be untrue.

 

Until you give us how many m11x has Dell sold, that number is irrelevant, let´s say (example) 400,000 m11x around the world, and only (another example) 142 with hinge problems, I would say is a good number, other computers have higher problems rate with screens, keyboards, batteries, etc.

But if is 142 hinge problems with 10,000 m11x sold, that would be a BIG problem....

Like I said, until you give a % or better numbers, is irrelevant, is like my Xbox 360 has been RROD like 6 times in a year topics in the videogames forums

 

That's a valid point. No one should be taking the list here as any sort of indication of the real numbers either which way. It's safe to say that the list of owners with failed hinges here is also a only fraction of the owners who have had failures too. Dell is the only one with accurate data and we're never going to be privy to that information. The big concern is how soon failures happen and the number of owners who have had repeated failures. Those two things speak to this being more than just some fluky defect than anything else we know about problem.

 

True. Unfortunately that number is near impossible to calculate unless you work for AW. In addition you have to account for how many people with M11x's have registered here, and then the percentage of those people who have actually posted that there hinges have broken. Plus an error rate for people who are lying or don't know what they are talking about or not wanting to report broken hinges because they are fanboys (lol).

So how many people with M11x's do you think there are on this forum? 500? 1000? And 142 of them have had hinge problems, some have had them replaced multiple times (some even up to 5 times) already. Theres no way even 10,000 M11x owners are registered on this forum so I would assume the % of hinge failures is pretty high.

Then you also have to take into account that people tend to try to find solutions to problems and there will be a higher rate of people with broken hinges registered on this forum and asking for help than there will be of people with perfectly fine laptops registered on this forum..

But, I still think the percentage is quite high. But thats just my opinion.

 

Also, most people go to forums (like this one) when they need help or have a problem with the machine, because if there are people who has hinge problems, but they are not into forums, there should also be people with no hing problems out there, that have never needed a forum because no problems...

I don´t deny the hinge problem, is there, but how much it is, how often, or if is gonna be present in the 100% of the m11x laptops, is another story...

 

Remember, the main reason people come onto this forum is because they have problems with their M11x. Sometimes we forget about all the people taht have had great experiences with it. I have never had a hinge problem or a keyboard touching screen problem. It is pretty rare for these thing to happen

 

But also, you don't go to all the other sections of this forum and see the same hinge problems rampantly reported with other manufacturers. So this isn't as rare as you might think.. this is an actual structural design flaw.

 

I agree, like someone said, the problem is how many people post while the people who are totally content never do is always a question.

To the credit of the posters and the lurkers who do take part in polls at NBR, the majority have either owned another laptop, or own multiple now without problems, so I tend to give the results of polls here pretty good credence. Add to that Dell is well aware of the problem, other forums have posters complaining and even articles have been run in some other blogs, etc, so it's not limited to here. Check out the number of YouTube videos on the matter....

The M11x though is not the first laptop with a hinge issue, but its uniqueness and user base brings the problem out more on the web; it's just annoying that when the matter was clear Dell sort of just ignored it for so long, and when an R2 appeared AFTER the problem first appeared with the M15x and R1 it was repeated again.... open one up if you dare, you will be amazed at how little is holding that screen on.

Still, given all that I'd recommend one to anyone as long as they know what might happen and just be prepared.

 

So... buying the dell extended warranty is pretty much a must right?

 

Well. I take this like NewEgg reviews. yeah, take them with a grain of salt. But if a large amount of the reviews start stating the product will break within a year of usage (please note: the M11x R1 isn't even one year old, yet), then something is up. Yeah, not everybody goes to post their system is working, but not everybody posts when their system is dead, either. The number of people who have posted they joined this site due to hinge issues isn't significant, and NBR isn't the center of the mobile world for most people out there, I can be rather sure of that, simply from the registered user count (not even the smaller active user count).

Note, there are no hinge issue threads in the Sony Z, ASUS, or even the other three Alienware forums. But there are three main threads, plus whatever amount of threads the mods closed without merging, and countless associated threads like this one, in the m11x section. Something is afoot, and it isn't simply because the m11x moves a lot of units and the rate of failure is simply being magnified by volume.

 

I would - my M17x is like three years I think, I would get two on the M11x, Complete Care IMHO, but I am paranoid. With luck it will die one week before it expires and I will get an R3 with dual 6000M GPUS

What I can't get over is how much I enjoy just generally working with an R1 even compared to my M17x... then when I do get back on the big rig it feels gigantic....

 

I take my m11x everywhere and I literally beat the crap out of it all day everyday and it still looks like new. Granted Ive only had it for a month, I dont foresee this laptop having any issues with being on the go and going through some rough paces.

 

I'm one of the first person in this forum to have got the machine (R1 of course), and I've call the assistance twice. One is for the hinge, got a new Samsung LCD the next day; the other is my SD/fireware failure, changed the motherboard. While it IS an amazing machine, I can't say it's very durable. I've bought a 3 yrs garantee extension.

 

Sorry guys... I've been making a lot of threads but I'm still on the fence. Like I've stated before I'm not looking to use this as a main gaming machine so the fact that it can't game at ultra high settings is no issue for me. What's drawing me in is the super low price that's dangerously close to netbook prices. Do you think the M11X would do an adequate job replacing a netbook? I realize it will be heavier and slightly bigger but it's still ultra portable from what I've seen. Most reviews focus heavily on gaming but what is the overall user experience like? Does windows 7 run smoothly? what about internet browsing? Opening applications? Are there any lag spikes or does it all just flow? I'm not too concerned about how it runs compared to the r2 because I don't want to pay more than 700 for a small notebook, I just want to know how it runs in general. Thanks again for all your input (of course in the e-form of rep as well).

 

I owned an eee pc right when they came out and compared to that my m11x R1 is a freaking ferrari. The ability to do anything I could do on my desktop is a real plus for me since I don't even have my desktop at my current apartment due to space issues and having a perfectly acceptable laptop. My eeepc had constant slowdowns and compatibility issues (yay linux). I'm sure more modern netbooks are better but having a real computer has its advantages.

Slowdowns are not an issue on the m11x, everything is perfectly snappy.

 

There is no point to compare a netbook with tne M11x, only the size but nothing more. With the M11x you can do more things, do more multitasking than a netbook that in a lot of cases comes with windows 7 basic!! or windows xp and you feel slow the OS.

 

Compared to my Dell Mini 9, well, there's no comparison. This is one surprisingly capable little machine. The weight is the only thing that it really loses out by comparison, though it's still lighter than my old M1210.

 

How can you even compare the two - apples and oranges. Don't let the physical size of the M11x fool you, this is way more than a netbook. It will handle anything a netbook can, and more. The M11x offers versatility and flexibility by allowing you to use programs that you would not be able to use on a regular netbook. Example: Installed Office 2010 on my Asus netbook and it was slow loading up; installed in M11x and was much smoother and faster upon load up. In the end, the M11x will also be more relevant in 2-3 years, whereas as the netbook may not.

 

i still have my asus n10JC, the asus gaming netbook with the switchable nvidia graphics card, and it pales in comparison to my m11x

 

m11x is not a netbook period. it is a laptop that can easily be use as a primary computer if you dont have something better than that. netbooks are just pathetic and can hardly run some flash games properly at times.

 

I also have a netbook myself (MSI WindU 100), and now M11x R1
netbook and M11x are no comparison
M11x is so much better

My netbook is 10 inch screen, with 1024x600 resolution. there has been more than one instance where apps run at a minimum of 1024x768, so you missed a tiny bit of the apps on the bottom

Other than weight (M11x is heavier, but still luggable), battery run time (netbook might run longer on battery), and the glossy M11x screen, M11x wins in every other way

 

What are you people like?

The M11x is NOT a netbook!!!!

For a start, the M11x runs a full OS.

Think about it. Its not like 100MB of memory using Windows XP, it's not like using Windows 7 starter.... it's NOT a netbook.

It just happens to be 11" wide, that's all.

 

Lol I realize it's not a netbook. I was just wondering how it performs on daily tasks and running apps (everyday use) rather than gaming.

 

comparison m11xr1 and a net book ok here it goes...
M11xR1

Netbook

 

As for daily applications beyond gaming, the M11x will handle everything with ease. I also have an Envy 14 with an i7, and I can't see any practical difference with the way my i5 M11x R2 and the Envy run common applications (Internet, music, Office 2010, movies, etc.). It's a heavy machine and the power brick and cables are ridiculously bulky, but it truly is versatile and can be used as a main computer without a problem. The same can't really be said for a netbook, and as everyone else said a comparison between the two isn't really fair because they are in entirely different classes.

 

My R1 is overclocked to 1.73(on), 8GIG DDR3, 80GB Intel SSD,
Office launches instantly,
It boots in 15 sec.
I code apps in eclipse on it for Android and its flying. It's the most portable desktop replacement I have ever seen and mine cost me 600 bucks before the ram and ssd which were both christmas presents.

 

I have a $250 netbook (Acer Aspire One- see my sig). I added a 12 cell battery that cost $35 on ebay so it would regularly last over 10 hours. This could not be beat.

The netbook ran my daily use software fine. This is webmail, surfing with Chrome and Internet Explorer, movie files and Open Office applications. It ran all of this stuff without any problems. It was a 10" screen, with a decent resolution of 1024x600. I was OK with the physical size of the screen (10"), but there was just not enough vertical room on there for a lot of web pages since it was only 600 lines of pixels, once you consider banner ads and headers. Then I loaded a multitouch touchpad driver, I was able to zoom out the webpages. This felt better since I could see more of the pages, but it made web page text look blurry.

It was great on airplanes and was extremely light. The problem was games. I could barely play anything from the last decade. Nothing that was 3D or a FPS. I was stuck playing casual games (peggle, bejeweled, machinarium - they worked great), adventure games with 2D graphics, or stuff from the 90's (fallout 1&2, Planescape Torment, the original Monkey Island games). If you stuck to those kinds of games it would be fine, but I was always getting frustrated when I would try to load up a newer game that would seem tame enough, but it would not work. anything that required more than 600 vertical lines of resolution would not work either. Even a seek-and-find game that required 1024x768 was too much for the netbook - really, a seek-and-find game chokes it?.

One day I was fed up, typed in "netbook, backlit keyboard, games" in google. I found the M11x right as the R2 was being released. A couple of days later I bought it and never looked back. It does everything I want and plays anything. Battery life on long plane rides is still enough if you do not use the Nvidia graphics, but then once you plug in at the hotel, you have a full gaming machine.

Since I got the M11x, I have only used my old netbook a handful of times, and usually to carry around my house and stream music. You will not be disappointed with the performance difference the M11x brings you, but you do pay $$$ for that performance. To me it was EASILY worth it.

Cheers,
Stain

 

i got my m11x and gave my Acer Aspire One to my 5 year old lol he says its too slow lmao no BS.

 

I got a Dell Mini 9 about a year ago and thought that it would be a fun little toy. It cost me $300 total and while I have had some fun with it, I hackintoshed it, could play Warcraft III on it, but for the most part it left me wanting something more.

I ordered the M11x expecting a computer that could game but at a reasonable quality. What I actually got literally blew me away. I got my R1 for about $500 refurbished and it only has 2 gigs of RAM. However, it plays everything I throw at it. I play wow and can tank an entire heroic on battery and still have some power left, that's like 2 hours of straight gaming.

I put Civ 5 on there becuase I knew it was somewhat CPU limited. I'v played for hours in the Direct X 9 mode at the highest settings and after the game initially loads the map there is really no slowdown.

Now getting back on track, the M11x has performed beyond my expectation and well beyond that of what netbook level performance. I seemlessly switch between gaming and surfing the web and the whole experience is just fantastic. So much so that I havnt gamed on the gaming desktop I built since I got it about 2-3 weeks ago.

Like other people have said, it's about the size of a netbook but it's performance is in another league.

 

Blows netbooks out of the water. Even the dual core netbooks pale in comparison and thats just the r1. The r2 can handle up to 4 threads and makes the gap even larger. I can see how people compare these to netbooks as they are the intermediary between netbooks and full laptops due to the CULV CPU. But when OC'd the r1 competes with full notebooks and the r2 actually competes or even surpasses some full notebooks.

 

M11x isn't a laptop. it gives you more......

 

Performs like a dual-core desktop. Nuff said.

 

I am one of those people that uses the R1 as a main machine.

Mine was a dell refurb, 4gb, 500gb7200 drive, bluetooth, sU7300 proc. Cost £575, and I really could not tell it from a new one.

I use it 10 hours a day at least, at work and home.

It's been on my travels in europe stuffed in my rucksack a few times, no hinge problems whatsoever(yet).

Keyboard feel and quality is better than any netbook i have ever seen.

I don't use it to game, although I have need for speed HP, and L4D2 installed. Both run awesomely however. I am more of a console gamer(360) and I installed these just to get some sort of comparison.

I just use it as a super quick, super portable laptop. Dual boots 7 premium and XP(for some work apps).

I have had it since august, and have no complaints whatsoever. Just praise.

As for battery, mine lasts 8 hours, all day at work with wifi off, but however using a 3G dongle. It's OC permanantly, and its fast. Screen is great too.

On power saving mode, and intergrated graphics the temp (coretemp) never rises above 34C.

On mains power, discrete graphics, and all power saving stuff off, I have never seen the tempreture rise above 45C.

The fan is very inobtrusive.

Fully booted to win 7 in 40 seconds, could probably be faster with more mucking about and optimisation. Full boot into XP is 30 sec, again could be faster if I desired probably.

With the front lights and alienware logo off and the keyboard lit white, it looks like a very smart computer. White at work, red at home!

When I use it at home, more often its on mains power, and with all power saving features disabled. Thats when my R1 turns from a great computer into a fantastic computer.

I got a bargain, and knowing what I know now, I would have been happy to pay full RRP for the machine.

Then there is residual value to consider of course. I will replace this with the latest model (R4?) approaching christmas 2011. I would wager anybody that I will get in excess of £350.00 returned when I come to sell.... Therefore the cost of ownership is very low indeed.

As you can see, I cannot praise this machine enough. Every single one of my colleagues loves it too!! Sure beats a gov provided £4k HP lappy hands down which is what most of my colleagues have. No benchmarking required!!!

My Mrs has a netbook, an Asus 1001HA (i think). Comparing the two is like chalk and cheese. The Asus has the same screen res as the R1 but that is where it ends. The Asus will not even play iplayer (low res!!!) smoothly when hooked up to the TV via VGA.

Weight wise, the R1 is definatly worth the extra 700 gramms or so!

I have had a computers for 25 years now, and this is the first laptop that has truely blown me away with all round amazement, considering price paid, residuals, power, size, weight, sturdiness and connectivity.

Get one, and don't listen to the bad stuff. That's what a warranty is to take care off.

 

Why did a mod merge the "How does the M11X R1 perform in place of a netbook?" and "How durable / versatile is the M11X?" threads? That didn't make any sense .

 

^Lol, to get it back on track...

So I've had FIVE of these laptops. Four replacements. I'm in the market right now for a MBP, and am on my girlfriend's 15" MBP right now because I can't even bear to use the m11x I have right now (and is in the process of being returned and refunded as soon as this Dell tech will get back to me - he fails at answering e-mail) unless I really have to open up Visual Studios.

Just my thoughts after seeing five iterations, four being R1's and one R2.

- Hinge, duh. Freaking weak and designed horribly. Not only does it break on the swivel but if assembled incorrectly, the wires covered by the panel that goes over the power button can actually become unfurled and push up on said panel. Not only have I had the original hinge crack problem, but I also have had the pleasure of seeing the top part of my current m11x bulge up like an anthill because of the wires on the top right hand corner of the keyboard area.

- The two little rubber stoppers leave a sticky mark on the (already horrible and cheap) LCD. ALWAYS. All along, the keyboard also manages to leave marks on the LCD even though there are rubber stoppers to prevent that. I can buy one of those ShaggyMacs, but it's a damn shame that this wasn't seen as a design flaw and it had passed Alienware QA.

- Spacebar on the keyboard gave me trouble on 4/5 m11x's I owned - the right side of the spacebar wouldn't register. I think I've met every technician in my immediate area just through the replacements of my keyboard, and it's the worst. One over-the-phone tech even told me, verbatim, "they're cheaply made, so it's not a problem we haven't seen before". REALLY?!

I have so many more problems I could bring up, but the last three points has gotten me so upset along with the fact that the tech in charge of my refund doesn't know the first thing about answering e-mails. I think the m11x R1 has the perfect specs in the perfect form factor. Screw the R2 because battery life gets cut in half (six hours working non-stop on my old R1's is gdlk, Turbo Boost and Optimus can kiss my ). Only if the design and quality control were more stringently controlled...

/rant

 

That's bad luck and fussyness!!!

1) had no problems with the hinge, although it is certainly a weak point.

2) those two little rubber strips, and the accompanying marks have never bothered me at all. Would a case mod be possible to remove them and seal the holes or smooth it over??

3) no probs with the space bar at all. was not even aware this was a common fault?

4) Dell phone monkeys are like all other phone monkeys i would imagine, I have never dealt with them. I usually find maybe only 1 in 8 call centre workers are competant, keen to assist, able to assist and knowledgeable across pretty much all sectors....