**M11xR2 Discussion Thread

Yoda The difference between the I5 and I7 in the R2 is 200MHZ and thats it! IMO the I5 is the better deal.

 

Architecturally they are the same. The only difference is the speed, you are right.

 

200Mhz? how come the wprime bench of the i7 is like 30seconds and the i5 was shown to be ~55seconds

 

Cache?

 

I guess we'll see more benchmarks to see. I know that i7 was OC'd to get that time.. posted in another thread. the i5 wasn't oc'd but yeah still..

 

10k on an R2? I'm not buying it. Sorry. Ima need some screen shots.

 

Sarcasm. He was being sarcastic. No-one is claiming to have hit 10k lol.

 

phew thank you, I almost had an aneurysm.

 

How does the battery life compare to the R1? It's probably been asked but anyway...

 

no one knows yet, some people say "oh no i7, the rep said 5.5 so that means less than 3 in real life" and other people say "oh, look, it's clocked the same as the SU when not oc'd, so it should draw the same power, thus giving similar battery life (like 6ish)"

Honestly I have no clue what to expect.

 

I don't know since I have an R1 and am not buying an R2, but I saw several people doing EPP, plus some $100 off coupon, plus free overnight shipping, which together is like $150 off.

It is a bit bigger, the i7 turbo boosts and overclocks significantly higher. None of it is huge, but you will notice the jump between the i5 and i7. Certainly more of a jump than between the SU4100 and 7300, which many people got tricked into paying $100+ to upgrade and we later all find out the SU4100 is EXACTLY the same performance wise and sometimes even faster. Talk about jipped....

Should be about 30 minutes less.

 

Here's hoping

lol, so bored waiting for onlive to go live and refreshing the m11x becnhmark thread to see gta iv becnhmarks.

 

"So why the big switch to the i Core processors? Battery Life. The Core i models. 7 – 7.5 hours vs 5 – 5.5 hours on the older ULV models."

Alienware M11x with i Core Processors vs CULV Version | Netbooknews - Netbooks, Netbook Reviews, Smartbooks and more

 

Wait, so battery life is better with the i processors?? AWESOME!

Edit: Looks like the i7 doesn't have optimus after all. "The Core i3 and i5 models will come with NVIDIA Optimus however." That sucks..

 

The Core i models. 7 – 7.5 hours vs 5 – 5.5 hours on the older ULV models.

I have 8 hours on c2d...

 

From that link:

"So why the big switch to the i Core processors? Battery Life. The Core i models. 7 – 7.5 hours vs 5 – 5.5 hours on the older ULV models. To learn more here is a video from the Dell rep talking about the new Alienware M11x:"

Are you guys stupid or what? Seriously?

 

Any reports about the fan behavior on the R2 yet?

 

I really doubt you have obtained 8 hours. Go read just about every review on the internet and not a single one of them got 8 hours...

 

Yeah. I'm no writer myself but those are two very poorly written paragraphs.

 

No it is NOT. I'm typing on the i7 here. I think 4.5 is the max you'll get out of this, vs ~6 on the R1. I'm talking actual use here, not the marketing numbers.

The R2 is way more responsive in everyday use than the R1. It feels like a regular CPU not a CULV, comparable to an XPS1340 I had with a P8600. It is very noticeable when doing things like reopening Firefox with many big tabs saved. This new found responsiveness is going to cost battery life.

 

I'm saying 1 Dell rep says it will last longer, the other it will say shorter. Haven't you learned the first rule of the fight club: do not trust dell reps.

Just test the battery yourself... set it to hibernate at something low like 3-4%, go to sleep and check the windows event viewer (somewhere in System) it should say when it shut down.

 

Alright, I've been trying to keep up with all these posts on the i7 R2. So from what I can gather, the i7 R2 does not support optimus and certain games don't see the 335 graphics chip while using the dell drivers. Someone found some beta drivers that will make those games work with the 335 graphics chip. Is this correct?

 

Absolutely not true.

 

The i7 model has optimus.

 

Ok cool. Thanks for the info.

 

Optimus sucks. I prefer manual switching even before I got my hands on the R2. Now even more so. I want the manual switching back! You really don't know what it's doing. Windows Aero feels extremely sluggish at all times, WEI graphics scores are lower than R1 (3.4/6.2 vs 6.5/6.5 on the R1). When it feels like the 335 is off, the 335 still shows in CPUID hardware monitor at 50c degrees. The only way to make the 335 disappear from hardware monitor is to disable it in the device manager, but then after I did that Windows' estimated runtime on an 80% charge dropped from 3:20 to 2:20, go figure.

Optimus sucks!

 

My SSD does this very well too. Nearly instant. Wonder how SSD + i7UM will do.. hmmm ponders.

 

It's very clear the alienware rep in the video says the i7's are the one's with 5.5 hours of battery and the older ones got 7.5. Bummer. He said the batter life went down because the processors are faster... this isn't really true when the i7 isn't overclocked. Seeing somewhere around a 30-45 min difference is probably more likely.

 

I can't say I noticed ANY difference in Firefox on R1 vs m17x. That's on i7 620M. But I never have more than 10-12 tabs.

 

yeah and I've never had anything less than the SSD installed the M11x, so I can't say that it wouldn't be like that with a standard HDD and SU7300/SU4100.

 

Yep. No idea how can that be anyway, since the CPU doesn't get used nowhere near 100% if you're just goofing around windows.

I was playing a little bit on a Dell Latitude with SSD and wow yeah that's fast. Everything is loading so fast. In some other thread (can't find it now) someone replied to me they are buying i7 because it will work faster when you're not gaming. I LOL'd. The problem is that in general usage your hard drive is generally the bottleneck and not the CPU. There's no chance whatsoever anything with reg HD will give you that much boost as SSD.

 

m11x with SSDs:

did you guys notice a weight difference or is it the same?

 

If anyone is curious, it seems all the AsiaPac Dell websites are showing the M11x color choice to be either Lunar Shadow or Stealth Black like the US website for the R2 i.e. the Cosmic Black colour is gone. In fact on the NZ website it only has the Stealth Black option for the R2.

Seems as though they are getting rid of the Lunar Shadow and Cosmic Black options (maybe excess stock?). Question is whether I want to cancel/change my order (which just entered Work in Progress Phase), to have stealth black instead of Cosmic Black or just leave it. Stealth Black would have been my favoured option had it been available, but now that Cosmic Black has disappeared, it gives the computer a unique-ness factor in being one of the few M11xR2 with a Cosmic Black cover? Better resale value? Who knows.

 

You'll notice a difference if you were to hold an ssd in one hand and hdd in another but inside a laptop no, you won't feel the weight difference.

 

Well over here in Mexico when I was ordering it, they didn't had the opton for Stealth Black, they just had cosmic black. But once I entered the tracking system this is what I got:

1 262-6831 AW M11x R2, Stealth Black SP
1 313-8792 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
1 313-9774 Overclockable Intel Core i7 640UM
1 313-9856 Integrated 10/100NIC
1 313-9958 Internal High-Definition Surro
1 317-4700 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHz
1 320-1467 11.6-in WHD1366x768(720p) WLED, no WWAN
1 320-9857 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M

So I guess that the sites were not updated, but who knows here Im hopping that It is Stealth Black

 

I'm not sure that makes sense.

 

He means you can tell the difference in weight between the bare drives but when they are included with the weight of the whole notebook the difference is not noticable.

 

Yeah I understood that but...I guess it makes sense since if something weighs 1 pound and another weighs 2 and you add those to two 10 pound items, then comparing the 11 pounds and 12 you can't tell the difference, since they're both heavy. But if comparing 1 pound and 2 alone then you can tell the difference since the weight is minimal. Or is it the other way around?

 

As a comarison this website gives the weight of a SSD at 81 grams and this on gives the weight of an average SATA HDD as 112 grams. You wouldn't notices that your notebook is 31 grams lighter with an SSD but you could probably tell the difference if you were holding both the drives in each of your hands.

Those weights aren't standards, just what I could find relatively quickly online.

 

Thanks for clarifying what I meant. We're not talking about a difference in pounds here, just grams as stated. So a few grams difference in a 4lb laptop is not really noticeable. But when physically handling the drive by itself you can feel the weight difference.

 

Interesting. My specific order shows Cosmic Black, not Stealth black, so I'm expected the shiney black cover. Personally I would have hoped for stealth black, but I have a deadline that I need the machine by, so I can't afford any changes. Besides, as long as I keep it in good condition, it might be a blessing in disguise - sell it off as a 'special edition' M11xR2. But we'll see when it arrives.

 

i got a lot of thinkpad from IBM in my company with the same finish kinda ruberry... and believe me, after 6 months they start to look old and get marks easily. i personally prefer the m11x r1 finish than the new one.

 

i got a friend from Brazil that wants a r1 used, msg me.

 

One of my clients use Lenovo laptops exclusively and I've had good luck cleaning them with a small amount mild dish soap and sponge. It's worked great on the R2.

There's also this thread for additional cleaning tips.

 

I totally agree with that. I have a thinkpad T400 for work and it does get scratched up pretty easily (then again, I am rough with it). The rubber stuff gets "rubbed" off the edges and corners over time. And definitely don't put anything on top of it cuz it will leave a mark.

That said, I still like the rubbery feel and this one seems a lot thicker compared to the thinkpad which just feels like a thin coating. Only time will tell.

 

Now that you mention it, maybe the cosmic black is the better option after all (provided I keep it spick and span. and in scratch-free condition). I have also seen first hand the wearing down of the rubbery finish on a number of Lenovo's. I guess I had different expectations, having owned a Latitude 2100 netbook, I expected a similar surface to that. I think that was the best thing about that netbook - it had a thick rubber layer around it (not just a rubber finish), to make it a bit more shock proof since it's designed for the kids. It meant that I could throw it in a bag, and it would repel any scratches and still come off looking brand new. Too bad for the slow atom processor, which put me off netbooks and atom processors in general.

Nevertheless time will tell which was the better option. I tend to take extreme care of my computers, because scratches just break my heart (and hurt resale value). I own a Adamo XPS, and it's the most useless computer ever in terms of practicality, but it looks damn good. If I were to scratch the Adamo machine the entire purpose of the machine would be gone. So I figure I'll apply the same care-concept to the M11x.

 

If i have these two components on the orderlist does that mean its half stealth black and half cosmic black?
210-32601 Alienware M11x Stealth Black Base
320-11210 Cosmic Black back cover

 

Haha, mutant M11X.

Post pics if it turns out to be a strange half-breed mutant machine.

 

Hi guys, have a quick question here since you guys are on the SSD vs HDD topic.

Dell's price for a HDD swap to a SSD is pretty ridiculous. And if we were to buy the SSD and do the swap ourself, wouldn't it break the warranty?

Or do you guys get the SSD straight from Dell?

 

Alohasu: I pondered this for a while before ordering my m11x this morning, trying to find a comparable 256GB SSD drive on newegg.com and Amazon.com that was cheaper then Dell's SSD which would make it worth getting a smaller 7,200 HDD from Dell and then just swapping it out, but all the 256GB SSD drives were either the same cost as Dell's, only a little cheaper, or more.

So since I wanted a minimum 256GB SSD HDD and was doing the DPA deal, Dell's SSD was the better option at the time, at least for me.