M11x i3-330UM available in New Zealand

Dell New Zealand has added the M11x i3-330UM to it's range of available M11x notebooks.

Dell New Zealand M11x

The Dell New Zealand M11x systems now consist of:

M11xR1 SU4100
M11xR1 SU7300

M11xR2 i3-330UM
M11xR2 i5-520UM
M11xR2 i7-640UM​

With the introduction of the M11xR2 i3-330UM system you can upgrade to an i7-640UM processor and save NZD181 compared to selecting the M11xR2 i7-640UM system.

Or you can save NZD234(USD161) by opting for the 320GB HDD and then with the savings put it towards an SSD.

Dell I love the way you think.

 

i wonder how the i3 will compare to the i5 and i7 in terms of performance and battery life

 

according to intel

Processor Number i3-330UM
# of Cores 2
# of Threads 4
Clock Speed 1.2 GHz
Intel® Smart Cache 3 MB
Intel® Turbo NO
Intel® Hyper-Threading Yes

interesting specs, no turbo but you could overclock.

 

looks like an improved c2d with HT added to me.

 

i3 costs 1313 USD..wow!

 

Yes, I have a i3 330UM - an insurance replacement for a toasted M1210 that I picked up about a week ago. At the time it wasn't listed for sale on the Dell NZ website, but was available pre-configured from JB Hifi with the following specs:

SYSTEM COLOR
Alienware M11x, Soft Touch Stealth Black
PROCESSOR
Intel® Core™ i3 330UM 1.2GHz
OPERATING SYSTEM
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
WARRANTY AND SERVICE
1 Year Basic Plan
MEMORY
4GB Dual Channel DDR3
HARD DRIVE
500GB SATAII 7,200RPM
BLUETOOTH
Bluetooth Module, 2.1+ Enhanced Data Rate
WIRELESS CARDS
Alienware M11x a/b/g/n 2x2 MIMO Wireless
LCD PANEL
11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED
VIDEO CARD
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M
SOUND OPTIONS
Internal High-Definition Surround Sound Audio (5.1)
AC ADAPTER
Alienware M11x 90W A/C Adapter
NETWORK CARD
Integrated 10/100 Network Interface Card
WEBCAM
1.3MP Web Cam

RRP $1999 through JB - not sure how long they have had it in stock, can't say I really paid attention to the M11X until the insurance company said "will this one do?".

Can't say the battery life is fantastic, but getting ~5 hours which I suppose isn't terrible (and much better than the M1210). My frame of reference is probably a bit skewed as my most recent daily portable has been an ASUS 1001HA (NZ$288 from Harvey Norman during their boxing day sale) which had an immense battery life of >8 hours. Couldn't play Crysis, mind you

 

Great! Im eager to find out how does the Core i3-330UM perform againts the Core i5-520UM and Core i7-640UM.

 

i saw the i3 at jbhifi and it has a sticker on it saying great battery life or something.. i wonder what is the max battery life it can do with i3.. coz the core2duo can do around 8 hrs... and i guess i5 and i7 would have worst battery life than i3..

if i3 is like core2duo then i will get i3

 

i wonder too especially battery life... as well as compared to its predecessor core2duo m11x

 

I take it the i3/i5/i7 UM models are all the same chip.
They all have the same base clock.
i3 has TB disabled and 1MB of cache disabled/removed/never installed
i5 has TB enabled and 1MB of cache disabled/removed/never installed
i7 has TB enabled + a few more mulitpliers and all 4MB of cache.

You can probably simulate the i3's battery life by just turning off TB on your i5 or i7 since the base clocks are all the same. I don't think its going to be much closer to the C2D's 8 hours of battery life. Performance can probably be simulated this way as well, atleast with an i5.

 

The price of the whole M11x range just went up by NZD100 in NZ (15 months McAfee????)

The M11x i3-330UM at NZD2099 is NZD200 more than the M11xR1 in the same configuration.

I wonder what the wPrime benchmark for an i3-330UM would be?

My M11x SU7300 OC'd gives me 55sec on the 32M test and I'm guessing the i3-330UM would be in the same ball park if not slightly faster due to HT.

 

My i3-330UM OC'd to 160 FSB gives me 51s on the 32M test. Battery life seems comparable to the i5/i7 at this stage - I'm getting 5-5 1/2 hours on minimum backlight, wifi on, BT off.

 

Cool. Thank you for that KevinL, there's not much known about the M11x i3-330UM in the real world as it's only available in a limited market.

I'm guessing due to current price placement and performance most people would opt for an SU7300, i5-520UM or an i7-640UM.

Could I be cheeky and ask what an i3-330UM would get on the Microsoft WEI and the overall and CPU mark of 3DMark06.

I note Intel reports it's processor performance using Cinebench..

@KevinL, Hope you're enjoying your M11xR2 especially when it was an insurance replacement and not a considered choice like most.

 

WEI:
Processor 5.0
RAM 5.6
Graphics 3.8
Gaming 6.4
HDD 5.9

Redownloading 3DMark06 and will post some results sometime - orb website was down last time I tried and must have uninstalled in anger.

 

3DMark 06 run - balanced power settings, i3-330UM OC'd to 160, GPU stock.

Re: satisfaction, I'm fairly happy with the i3-330UM as a replacement for my Dell M1210 (actually had been using an Asus EEE 1001HA more recently so a decent step up albeit with slightly less battery life). Possibly would have sprung for the faster processor if I'd purchased for myself, but realistically I don't think I could have justified the additional expense for my secondary PC (would probably have been an additional NZ$900 more for the i7 model if I'd taken a cash settlement).

 

@KevinL - Thank you for all that info.

In quiet reflection the M11x i3-330UM sounds like a good little performer.

Bit surprised as I wasn't expecting anything much above an OC'd M11x SU7300.

3DMark06 (as a performance indicator only) points to a system that will hold it's own with most games and processing tasks.

The WEI processor mark of 5.0 is very respectable and on paper makes the device look very usable.

The Hyper-Threading on the M11x i3-330UM will always give it an edge over the M11x SU7300.

At NZD2,461(24-JUL-2010) the M11x i7-640UM is going to be a VERY considered buy for anyone in NZ anyway.

Using US price with NZ configuration for M11x i7-640UM plus NZ GST we get NZD2,130 so the Dell NZ listed price is not the end of the world.