Just purchased an M11x R3, do I need to know anything important?

I'm a Journalist who has been through at least half a dozen netbooks in the past 2 years. I needed something small to type with on the go, that was fast and could multitask with the internet/chat programs along with my Foobar2000. I had hoped it would be able to handle the internet + Wasapi 24bit audio via my Dac.

I got this r3 for only $600 at the Alienware outlet and wanted to know if there happens to be anything I should tweak immediately upon booting up for the first time. Any specific things or recommendations I should enable, remove, possible overclock the GPU? I have not received it yet but wanted to be ready to do anything I needed to do as soon as I get it. Id also like to know if the wireless card is suited for 24mb dsl. Should I purchase a separate USB wireless card?

I was worried about this because I did plan to game with it but only after I purchased it, I found out that it is not well suited to play moderately demanding games at higher resolutions via the hdmi out. This was a real bummer. The rep really did not tell me any of the negatives about this laptop. The Gpu potentially not being the 550m and instead being a 540m, not being up to the task in handling higher resolutions, Optimus causing problems and being very annoying, ect ect. The specs were as follows.

Alienware M11x R3 Laptop
-- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
-- Software
-- 90W AC Adapter
-- Certified Refurbished
-- Information
-- Software
-- Information
-- 8 Cell Primary Battery
-- Label
-- Dell Support Center 64 Bit 2.0
-- Documentation
-- Command Center
-- Information
-- Processor: Intel Core i3 2357M Dual Core Processor (1.3GHz, 3MB Cache)
-- 11.6 inch High Definition WLED Display (1366x768) with Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
-- Stealth Black with Soft Touch Finish
-- AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
-- Alienware AVATAR 1
-- Software
-- Shipping Material
-- Software
-- Service Software
-- NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M 1GB graphics with Optimus
-- 125V Power Cord
-- 320 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) 3Gb/s
-- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Operating System DVD
-- 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
-- Information
-- Documentation
-- Image Restore Software
-- 64BIT Operating System
-- Intel Wireless-N WiFi Link 1000 a/g/n 1x2
-- Alienware M11x-R3: 1 Yr Ltd Warranty, In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis (Included In Price)

 

well your machine is a good one, even with no added options, don't worry.
The weak spot would be the i3 processor, that will not let you play the most recent games in confortable conditions, but if you stay reasonable and play older games it should be ok even on an external screen/TV.
The GT540M is not as bad as you think actually, and it can overclock quite a bit.
My recommendation would be:
- do a restore disk/usb drive right away and keep it safe for future reinstallations (just use the program already installed, alienrestore I think, it works fine and it's simple).
- download and install all the latest drivers from Dell, you can skip Nvidia video drivers.
- download the latest nvidia drivers for your GPU
- overclock your GPU with MSI afterburner or NVinspector, you will find plenty posts about this.

I am not too informed about i3 processor overclocking for the R3, maybe someone else could help

This is the basic stuff that comes to my mind when receiving a brand new M11x.
Other thoughts people?

 

The GT540M is a good GPU, you will be impressed. It can handle certain games at 1080P with no sweat.

So far I am yet to have a problem with Optimus.

I believe you will do fine with the Intel WiFi.

Don't forget to update to the latest bios which is version A04.

Cheers!

 

Thats great. I felt safe with the I3 as I would not really be multitasking too much. The problem is running my music at 24bit as well as playing an older game like Star Wars Battlefront 2 online, portal 1 and 2, maybe Skyrim
( watched many videos of the same machine as mine playing skyrim on medium with no FPS loss at 30+ frames. )

But ya, I hope I enjoy it thanks!

 

dunno about 24bit but my .FLAC sounds wonderful via headphones or speakers, the little sound card really is up for anything

Both portal games run beautifully, so does skyrim. I was playing skyrim at pretty much max settings even without OC(AA 4x antistrophic x4 as well, can't really see much difference after 4x and it really hits the FPS)... got bored of it after all the sidemissions done(well most of them). Never played any of the star wars games apart from jedi outcast, but i am sure you'll be fine.

What does come to mind is setting up steam and changing keyboard color + turning off the ALIENWARE glowing sign just under the LCD, cause it makes my eyes bleed when watching a movie in the dark.

plus what buddha said.

And yeah, download portal, also you get(or at least used to get) free portal, so if you wanna give it to a mate, login with his steam account first. I think it gifts it to the first steam account that you login with. i already had portal

Oh and also, plan to upgrade to an SSD + better wifi card. the stock intel 1000 wifi card... is a pain in the bum, and SSD just makes it feel so effortlessly quick, like you open any folder, and it does it instantly, zero wait. awesome that.

 

Got the laptop today and it arrived busted. Windows loaded up for a few minutes, downloaded Chrome and some other apps then the screen went glitchy. Rebooted, 30 seconds after windows loads the desktop the screen goes white noise, like a normal tv on the fritz.

Epic...should have expected as much from a dell

 

its not reallys dell's fault ive bought my sisters dells before they come in mint condition u just had one bad one man just send it in or ask for another one trust me these alienwares are built right

 

This is certainly Dells fault. It can happen with any of the brands though. If you are by location able to return it just do so... and get the i5 or better. Since you now want to game and it looks like you really might do some multitasking the better processors will serve you well.

That said, if you are burning through laptops this quickly it probably does not matter what spec it has.

 

Burned through netbooks, nothing with decent specs anywhere near the m11xs level. I am not sure what the problem is but i got a few hours use out of it last night after rebooting it a few times, came back on the last time working normally. Attempted to roll back the bios, updated the gpu drivers, seemed fine but as I came back a while later the screen went back to static.

Needs to be returned asap. Very sad, not sure why this is happening.

 

if you are in the return window (21days?) or have the option do so... skip the repair route.

I would also skip the GPU overclock. Unlikely something you will "need". After familiar with system if OverClocking is your thing then go for it. Note that not all can OC or do so at the same levels.

 

Agree with ^, if it within the return window then do so, get your money back, and get one with the i5. I saw elsewhere that the newer models will have refreshed chips (i7-2637 comes to mid?) with extra cycles, so consider a faster i5, which will help with office tasks as well as gaming. I went for one with the i7 last year as I need to run databases on mine, which are CPU intensive but i5 should do everything needed.

 

I just got it yesterday, so its still covered, it was also filthy dirty like someone were eating super oily bacon and rubbed their hands all over it. Dell will not give me credit to purchase another unit nor will they replace it because it was an outlet item and want me to wait 30 days for my refund.

Seriously...they mess up and I get to pay for it. Sounds just like how Dell has operated in the past. Man....I'm going to get fired without a doubt, lol. If I walk into the office mid week without a laptop, I'm out of the job. Thanks dell!

 

in the mean time run out to best buy or something and grab a 150$ netbook.

 

Heh ^ I'm with you on that I need to literally run somewhere and get anything i can haha. In the meantime, I managed to actually get a solid boot from it, first since early last night when the problems started and was able to uninstall some things. I just uninstalled the gpu update and rebooted, it seems to be ok! booted normally with no problems, been running for about 15 minutes. Time will tell, I will leave it on and see if it goes bad again. Last night it did this and lasted about an hour before the screen went static and it auto rebooted itself repeatedly. *prays to the pc gods

 

Nope! lasted a few hours this time and the static came right back. Gee, you'd think a computer company would make it easy to restore back to factory when they don't include a dvd drive!

What the hell can be causing this? The screen turns into exactly what a TV looks like when there are no channels to play, looks like the guy from Poltergeist is going to fly out of the screen. The unit boots fine when it wants to and lasts however long it wants, sometimes a minute, sometimes an hour, this last time it got a few hours before it suddenly went static. I rolled the GPU drivers and bios, this actually is what made it usable for a short time as right after that it booted normally. What the ef?

 

At this point I would think of nothink else but a refund, you shouldn't be trying to fix it from the start, it has to boot properly, if not don't waste your time, save yourself some frustration.

 

1) stop blaming Dell for whatever issues you may have at work
2) stop messing with this system. If it boots remove your data and box it up.

If you want to find issues by brand I'm telling you they ALL suck on some level. If you are certain your issues are brand based then save yourself the stress and move toward refund.

Tip: many brands have waiting periods and restocking fees etc. Check the fine print or you will find yourself saying "typical ______"