M11x Pre-Order Configuration Questions... Ask HERE

I am upgrading my laptop and decided to go for the m11x. I do gaming although not a huge ton, web surfing, and word processing. I went on the website and configured one to my needs but I still have a couple of questions. Here are the specs:
PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ i5 2467M 1.6GHz (2.3GHz w/Turbo Boost, 3MB Cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
MEMORY: 6GB DDR3 at 1333MHz
HARD DRIVE : 256GB Solid State Drive SATA 3Gb/s
SOUND OPTIONS: Internal High-Definition Surround Sound Audio (5.1)
WIRELESS CARDS: Intel® Centrino® Advanced–N + WiMAX 6250 a/g/n 2x2
1) is the i7 worth paying the extra money? Does it make a lot of a difference speed wise?
2) I decided to go for the ssd because I like to use my computer on my lap and I've heard it makes it less it less hot. Is that true?
3) Should I upgrade the wireless card to the bigfoot card? I have heard the intel cards are slow.

 

For 1) you can check this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/622663-m11x-r3-good-purchase.html . There is some difference, as you can expect, but not a big one, if you want to see how big, you can check out notebookcheck.com on mobile processor benchmarks, they have these exact two models tested in different benchmarks.

On 3) i think it's a good ideea to upgrade it, don't know if you should do it with the last option, someone said the second one is good, that it offers 40% better range, don't know much about the other ones.

I also have a question on this thread. I'm thinking about getting the upgraded sound card. What is that about, has anyone here got it ? I understand it's a software upgrade. But like how does that work ? What hardware does it have , because i know the X-Fi is a sound card made by Creative ?

 

Hi guys. I was wondering if the deal $1099 deal for the m11x worth it. basically these are the specs

Intel® Core™ i5 2467M 1.6GHz (2.3GHz w/Turbo Boost, 3MB Cache)
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
NVIDIA®GeForce® GT540M graphics with 1.0GB VideoMemoryandOptimus
Hard Drive 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Wireless Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 6205 a/g/n 2x2
Hardware Support Services 2 Year Basic Plan

Basically I just added the 6205 wireless for $25

with -$50 coupon its $1,074.

I plan to use this for Diablo3, SC2, BF and COD.
any suggestions as which is the best value setup?

thanks in advance!

 

I just ordered almost the exact same thing, but I would also recomend shelling out the $20 for bluetooth 3.0. Its a good investment if you plan on getting a good bluetooth mouse, keyboard, or headphones (don't expect much from the speakers).
Also all of those games should be playable on high settings, Diablo hasn't been tested on the m11x, but the system requirements are out, and they should be a piece of cake for this machine.

 

Thanks you sir! i don't plan on using any Bluetooth devices though.
Anyways about the price, can i still do something to lower it? I've read the thread about haggling etc but i'm not from US. I was hoping on coupons and other good deals. Anyone?

 

Go for 6GB ram and save another 60$.
Later on, if you really need it, you can sell the 2GB sodimm and purchase a 4GB one, ending up with lower price than getting 8GB from Dell.

 

Never buy any RAM from Dell, they will rob you blind! I got my R3 last week with the basic 2GB and bought a 4GB kit from Crucial. Replaced it before I even turned the laptop on.

If I could have ordered my M11x without RAM I would have done that

 

Speaking of RAM , is it true that if you get the one with 6GB you get 2+2 running in dual channel and another 2 running single channel

What would you choose between upgrading the RAM form 6 to 8 and upgrading the HDD from 320 to 500 ?

 

This is impossible as all M11x only have 2 SODIMM slots so it's probable that you'd have a 2 + 4 = 6GB RAM. Personally I think 6GB is a bit weird, I'm of the school of equal pairs, as in 2 + 2 = 4GB or 4 + 4 = 8GB

 

1. half of the 4GB stick plus the 2GB stick running in dualchannel, the rest running in single - aka Intel Flex memory mode

2. none, save all you can and get a ssd

 

Or maybe a Momentus XT ? I like having more storage. From what i just read, they are pretty good especially after they "learn" what you do, the speed increases significantly, boot time also. They are far from SSD performance in some cases, but they have more storage

 

I don't like hybrids, on my m11 i will go for a 160-256GB ssd (most probably a samsung 830 256GB, but i'm still debating with myself) and the ex-internal 750gb hdd will go in an external usb3.0 cage.

It's a personal preference tho.

 

So I gona be hitting buy on a M11x r3 within the next week or two. The config is

i5,4GB ram, Killer wireless n, Bluetooth, 320GB HDD and the GT540m of course. All this for about 720 euro delivered.

Now there's just two things.
1. I live in Ireland but am gona buy from dell uk (same model here cost 250 more), and use a courier to get it to me. Can anyone see any problems with this? I assume my warranty will still be ok?

2. There is another model with 2GB more ram for 50 euro more. But I figure I can always upgrade that later for cheaper right? Can anyone show me a site where I could buy the ram? To get it up to 6 or 8 GB?

Thanks in advance.

 

^^^^

Change to the above. Actually gona but from Ireland as it turns out cheaper. 680 euro.

Any suggest any changes to that config?

 

Ok so I'm gona be getting one of these bad boys soon. Thing is I have 3 options.

1. For 640 euro. Alienware m11x r3 with.
-i5
-4GB ram
-250GB HDD
-Intel 1000 wireless card

2. For 680 euro
-i5
-4GB ram
-320GB HDD
-Killer wireless N-1013

3. For 720 euro
-i5
-6GB ram
-500GB HDD
-Killer wireless n

Everything else is the same on all.

I've had a 320GB HDD in my current laptop for a year and have only filled it to 140GB even with OS etc. So basically is it worth the money for an upgrade to,HDD, ram or wireless card at this price? Taking into account money is a little tight?

Thanks.

 

I'm not nearly as experienced as some other people on this forum. However, personally I find massive hard drives to be a waste (for me at least). Unless you have loads of movies/games that you want to keep on your HDD at all times, I find 120gb to be more than sufficient.

My m11x just came with 4gb of RAM and I recently purchased 8gb from Newegg for 40$ shipped, so I would personally put my money towards GPU/CPU upgrades if you're wanting to game a lot with your m11x. However if you aren't focused on playing hardware intensive games then, that's a different story.

Goodluck!

 

Go with second one, unless you don't mind to buy a different WIFI card and upgrade later - in that case get the first setup, as it will be cheaper.

 

option 1 bro..and save your cash. You only put 140gigs on your harddrive, and the killerN isn't a huge upgrade to the intel wireless. I have the intel wireless card and i game all the time without lags etc

 

What if your internet connection isn't the greatest? Does it help at all then?

 

Get the lowest memory you can, and buy your own sticks. Don't ever buy memory from Alienware they'll charge you hundreds for something you can buy for 40 bucks on newegg.

 

Won't help much if your connection is crap. I suppose killer wireless doesn't drop connection every hour or so from certain routers, or don't even acknowledge others.

But yeah, best is to go with option 1 and just upgrade yourself. Unless you have 2 legs for hands... Then just go with second.

 

the wireless card only helps from your computer to the wireless router. If you have a crappy internet connection (that is, from your wireless router to your internet service provider), nothing you do will help you.

 

Ok thanks for the replies guys. So the consensus is option one or two?

If its a choice between these two is it really not worth 40 euro, the wireless card and extra 120GB of space?

Or better to save the 40 and upgrade later when needed?

Oh one more thing is the neoprene sleeve worth 23 euro? I'll need one anyway, but is this a good one for the price?

 

i got the sleeve, but i am carrying it always in my backpack so it isn't that useful, since m11x came in a sort of protective(though weak) sleeve thing, though enough for a backpack, unless its one of those potato bag deals.

and No, it isn't worth the extra 40quid, better save up. But it depends if you are capable to open the laptop and unscrew few things and replace it

 

Bigfoot is overkill, but the Intel 1000 is absolute crap. I would go for the first option, and upgrade the WiFi card to the Intel 6205, for me the upgrade was only $25 USD but VERY worth it.

 

Crap in terms of what? My biggest concern is signal range. As I said my internet connection is only about 4mb/s so.....

I mean right now I got an Atheros AR9285 in my laptop. How does it compare to that?

 

I personally would go with the first option but I'm not really into the wireless card thing, like I don't know how beneficial it would be, plus my internet sucks and my current laptop probably have that same card and is operating fine on campus.

You can save the money and upgrade later if it's too crappy. On the other hand you can't downgrade and save your money.

 

Well from what i've heard from others, the 1000 has issues with dropping out and range. I had that on my R2 before i returned it and got my R3, and experienced both of those issues.

The range on the 6205 is excellent, supports more bands than the 1000 does, has wireless display, and you can even broadcast your own network and share your internet over your own WiFi. VERY handy to have, i've had to use that on countless occasions.

 

Thanks for the advice.

See that last paragraph, I don't know what wireless display is or how broadcasting your own network works/what it does. I've never looked in wireless cards before this.

 

Wow, Dell have hiked up the prices of the M11x R3 Intel Core i7 2637M to £335 additional cost on the configuration pages! SOB!

 

ouch @price!!1
It was about time to phase the i7-2617m which was being slightly ashamed by i5-2467m

 

Well they are still rockin the i5-2467m Maybe the i7-2637M is a step closer to the R4!

 

Hey guys, I found this lovely cross section of nerdiness and taste while pricing out a new laptop.

Man, the last time I looked @ Alienware was when they were their own company.

I'm pretty much maxing out all the components, but I have two config questions for y'all:

1) So, SATA > SSD? I've heard terrible things about the writing performance for gaming, but the OS boots faster

2) Advanced Dell Care package - worth the $$? I have a macbook where they basically replaced the laptop over its lifetime. Anyone else taking the same route?

 

Ok so now I have looked into it a bit. I just have 2 more questions.

Will I manage with the intel 1000 card for a while or will I constantly be let down?

Where can I buy the intel 6205 card? (I'm in Ireland) The dell site wont let me put it into the build as its an offer they have going.

 

I got an R1 with the basic stuff (I thought I had bought one without bluetooth, but it found one after a couple reboots, go figure), and upgraded it all myself later, for cheaper. I upped the RAM for the reasons the other guys told you: it's cheaper BY FAR and easy. I swapped out my Hard Drive as well. I even temporarily swapped out my wifi. They are all super easy.

 

Jaafa10, I dropped a 6200 in my R1 which works flawlessly. Think I got it from dabs.com for round about £15. Try there. Part code is 622AN.HMWWB

 

Option one

 

I say option 2. My experience with wireless gaming from all different sorts of places e.g. Starbucks, local coffee shops, boba shops, wifi hot spots, bookstores, friend's internet. The intel card suffers from distance. The farther away from the router the weaker or more spotty your connection will be. If you travel a lot then upgrade to option 2. If it's for a desktop replacement go with option 1 but a bigger hdd

 

Just ordered the M11XR3

Intel® Core™ i7 2637M 1.7GHz (2.8GHz w/Turbo Boost, 4MB Cache)
2GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M
2GIG RAM (just ordered 8GIG from crucial.co.uk for £34)

Skimping on the RAM saved me £200 so grand total came to £796.89

Chuffed to bits.

 

Damn Dell have excluded the M11x from their latest 15% off coupon. Looks like I'm gona have to wait it out. Probably won't be till after Christmas before they bring it back.

 

Weird i used a 15% off coupon yesterday.

 

Yeah it got replaced today.

 

Hi everyone. First time poster here from India.
I need help in choosin the processor.
Should i go in for an i5 2537 or i7 2617?
4 or 8 gb ram?
1 or 2 gb graphics?
Wat will be the difference in performance n battery life for each?

 

Hi everyone. I'm considering buying a refurbished M11x as a portable gamer (i'd get new but my finances really don't allow it). Anyway I can get following laptop for $1000 AU. My problem is essentially that it has no warranty beyond the sellers 7 day return policy.

ALIENWARE M11X R3

CPU: I7-2537M, 1.6-2.3Ghz
RAM: 8gb DDR3
HDD: 500gb 7200rpm (will upgrade to SSD myself)
GPU: 1GB Nvidia 540m

I have two questions, the first being what people think of it for that price. The second one being is if anyone knows whether it's possible to have the machine recertified and buy a new warranty from Dell.

 

I've got the 1000 wireless card in my m11x, and it works perfectly. No signal issues, I can see the same number of neighbor's hotspots that I can see from other wireless devices in the house. The card works fine for online games like SWTOR.

Darin

 

Hey guys, previous R1 launch owner here, most importantly has the screen changed at all? I know it's still at same res, but is it still the same quality screen, poor vertical viewing angles?

 

So I joined here seeing a lot of people have the M11x on this forum. It's intrigued me for as long as I've heard about the little 11" laptop that can game and I am now seriously considering buying one. My current 16" laptop can't keep up with the games I play anymore and isn't very portable as it adds some weight to my backpack. A highly portable (but powerful) machine sounds like the best thing for me when I have weekends away from my gaming desktop or need bring a pc to my media classes and don't want to lug around my 7-9lb beast.

I've read up a bit on some of your threads so I don't waste your time with needless questions. I'm a little bit budget concerned and want my best bang for my buck and hopefully something that lasts. From my understanding the i5 2467 seems much more ideal then the present i7 and 2GB GT540m won't give me much of a boost that I will visibly see. Going light on other components also seems a trend to save cash, most likely going with 4GB of RAM and upgrading on my own to save cash and going with the 500GB HDD to save a little coin as well. The present "deal" on Alienware's site has a i5/4GB/500GB with Killer Wireless N kicked as part of a promotion. From my understanding I should tack on the Blue tooth for the $20 as well.

The main question I have revolves around 2 things. 1 this deal seems to exclude the ability to add the xi-fi sound option. Is there a big difference with or without? 2nd is if the screen glare is prominent enough (as some reviews have pointed out) that getting the anti-glare screen protector they offer worth investing in?

Lastly, just for asking for a touch of advice, since the unit is essentially only $1020 with the Blue tooth added, I have considered a few different options for adding things. Would getting the Razer Orochi mouse be smart since I have the blue tooth and is the Neoprene sleeve a good idea for a light covering while keeping it in my backpack? I have a $50 off coupon and am considering if I should keep it as low as possibly priced so that I can use that savings to upgrade the RAM or just do that in addition to since I can get the peripheral addons for cheap with that coupon bonus?


Long post, hopefully it was easy to follow and that I can get at least an opinion on the matter! Thanks for any input!

 

Hi, I will soon sell my M14x to buy a M11x, I don't really use my M14x at full power so I think M11x is a better choice.

I will use it for school and to play a few games such as league of legends and indie games / emulators / some steam games like L4D / L4D2, ect...

So I'll start:

1. The config: I was looking at the config, is there a real reason to take the i7 instead of the i5? Is there a big difference? Is it worth it? Because the i5 seems to be a good choice.
For the ram I think 4gb is enough, I have 4gb on my M14x and it's ok I don't think I need more.
For the video card I assume 1gb is enough and 2gb is useless right?
Finally for the wireless is the stock card good or should I upgrade?

2. About the system itself: So I'd like to know what are the pros and the cons of this system, is it good for gaming? How is the fan noise? The heat? From a M14x I think the fan noise can't be worst :q I hope the heat is ok, I never had real problems with my M14 and it's my biggest fear.

Thanks in advances and if you have other advices please tell me!

 

1. I5, 4gb ram, 1gb gpu and should be more than fine for the games you mentioned. It will be a step down from any M14x but unless your really looking for performance I wouldn't waste $ upgrading it beyond those specs.

2. It's certainly capable of gaming, the fans are pretty quiet and it runs pretty cool. I only have an M11x R1 which is a good deal slower than a new R3 and still love it. Though in my case I think I would rather have an M14x. I like that the M11x is small and has the battery life but honestly it never leaves my house I'd rather have a bit more power for the newest most graphically intense games.

 

Yes for sure M14x is better for home but I'll use M11x at school so I'll have to carry it everyday with me, and the battery life is a big + for me.