Just bought an m11x...my first laptop.

Well I needed a laptop for college so I jumped on the 200 off the R1 version with the 250GB 7200 HDD. I upgraded up to 4GB and got the 1 year adv warranty all for 866 dollars. Now I have to watch the calendar until October 4th. Anything I should know before It gets here?

 

Just one major thing:
Hinges break after 4-5 months of usage.
Besides that, you really don't need to know much more.
Oh yeah, make sure to update your drivers and Bios.

 

Yes, help research by describing the wing motion of a humming bird.
You'll be the only person for whom time will nearly have stopped due to waiting for your M11x to arrive.

You can always pass a bit of time by looking at external CD/DVD players as you'll need one of those.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/488425-alienware-m11x-external-cd-dvd-drive.html

True, hinges can be a weak point, but not all hinges will fail (hopefully). 1st of April 2010 and my M11xR1 hinges are still fine (touch wood...plastic). ... even after TWO drops with lid open (One 3' and the other 2'. Doh!!!!)

One of the big features of the SU7300 compared to the SU4100 is the SU7300 ability to use window virtual PC. This is a boon for Web Designers as it allows for two discrete environments for testing compatibility. A must have when testing IE6 and IE7. Pretty intense on the CPU though running a Virtual Machine.

An over clocked M11xR1 CPU is on a pare with an overclocked i3 330UM

Compare Intel SU7300, SU4100 and i3-330UM

 

You can overclock in Bios too, if you got faster CPU SU7300

 

LQTMS +10 char

 

Start reading up on what kind of mouse you want, and what kind of carrying case / sleeve / backpack you want. I promise you that once you get the laptop, those two accessories are going to quickly find their way on your wish list of items to buy.

If you're into audio gear, then you may also want to start looking into headphones as well. Do your research now, so you'll be ready when your new toy arrives.

There are plenty of threads on this forum that discuss those accessory categories at length.

 

Become informed. Browse this forum as there's a lot of people who know what they're talking about here. Good choice with the R1, you won't be disappointed.

 

Agree with Talon, Kent and the others. Lots to read. Bookmark all the posts that you can (from another computer) so you can quickly go back to it. If your a HC gamer here is what the list is...
1. Format HD and Clean install of windows 7 (only if your an elitist)
1.5 (optimize operating system settings)
2. Update all drivers (chipset, gpu, sound)
3. Install all utilties (gamebooster, evga precision, VLC, etc...)
4. Install games
5. play and have fun.. take it out to local mall or bookstore and make all the chitlins jealous!

BW, StevenX