New M11X r2 owner and thoughts so far

Hi folks!

After a long wait of 13 days(!), my M11X R2 i5 finally arrived at my door in chilly Norway. After opening the box and taking a good look at the machine it didn't take long before I started touching her, aaaaaaall over. What a beautiful masterpiece. It was everything I was looking for and more. I was kind of worried about the screen after reading about it, but it looks awesome in my opinion, and it beeing reflective doesn't bother me at all. Brilliant.

I was planning on using the machine for school + some gaming around campus. Perfect. I was also worried about the fan noise while gaming, but it was not loud at all, and I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet it was compared to the M17X for example.

I noticed that the fan would turn on and off every 2 minutes while surfing the web, and I thought it was a bit annoying. Then I went into the power plans and found an option that said to decrease CPU speed to avoid turning on the fan. BRILLIANT.

The build quality of the machine seems really good, no flex in the keyboard and overall SUPERB.

The gaming performance was also a bit better than I expected, which is good, right? So to be able to play games on the go with fans that doesn't really go that high either, is just EXCELLENT.

Overall I'm so extremely happy with this machine. It does everything I want it to do and more. M11X = Awesomeness. True Story.

 

Thank god! a positive comment of the model. I'm also thinking about getting one but i've been put off by this forum, appears to be lots of problems, hinge, screen, uneven keyboard..................

not sure if i should "pull the trigger" and get one? I have a apple macbook pro at the moment but fancy a small gaming laptop to replace it.

 

People with little to no problems hardly ever post. Just a fact of forum life.

 

Think this is bad, you should of seen the forums when all these problems were fresh. However since then, the Hinge has got a revamp and on the road to being sorted, Optimus is a lot better than people make out on these forums- there are a few games which may cause a bit of grief, but the majority work. I've never had problem with the screen size/ reflective-ness of it and the uneven keyboard is not that common.

People come to these forums mainly to rage with their laptop problems, so you will see a lot of negative posts, even though a large number of users love their m11x's <3.

Don't be put off by the negative posts, the fact that a lot of these problems are being thinned out anyway should at least give you some piece of mind that there getting fixed.

Imo, M11x R2 > Macbook Pro.

 

And a smile returns . I think i may just go ahead and get one......knowing my luck the new one will no doubt be out just as mine arrives!

 

Yea Norway! my Brethren! - and yes the m11x is awesome.

i dont live there, nor never visited, but am norwegian and want to get out there.

 

Don't be afraid to pull the trigger. I honestly couldn't be happier. Long story but when I ordered I was sent an R1 and an R2 through no fault of my own and I actually decided to keep both. R1 for my general use and the R2 for more gaming use.

I am a very happy owner. It's also good to know that these forums are around, they've already helped me learn to overclock the CPU and also how to get Homefront working properly on the R2.

Awesome!

 

there are more happy owners here than i thought! the silent majority i hope.....I will no doubt pull the trigger in the next couple of weeks once i've raised the cash, who knows by then the R3 might be out

 

buying this machine is not a mistake even if they do bring out a newer veriosn it wont be much of an improvement im sure.. I've had mine for like 6 weeks now.. no problems at all... I know sometimes these formums can get pretty negative but like afro said, people with no problems dont complain.
I love mine and i love that here in CZ its still so unknown that when ever i take it out it gets noticed and in my classes my students ask where and how they can get one lol so now i have a specialy customised english lesson discussing alienware lol

 

Yes, the R1 makes a fine general machine with it's battery life, and decent gaming, the R2 is just all the sweeter for gaming, especially once it's overclocked along with Throttlestop and oc'd GPU....

As I've stated many times, the small form factor has me reaching for my M11x's more frequently than my M17x-R2 unless I want a down and dirty gaming marathon. Despite some flaws, it's still a great platform and fun to use.

 

Yup it is exactly how you guys have said it, the people who are happy with their m11x dont create threads to talk about how awesome this little laptop is. The only threads people are making are ones to tell us about a flaw in theirs. Makes it seem like these laptops are mostly flawed. I guarentee you that the majority of m11x owners are 100% happy with this product. How could you not be?

 

I just pulled the trigger a couple of nights ago. I couldn't wait any longer as I need to get this puppy in shape for travelling by mid-April. I balked, at first, after reading all of the negative posts, but if you lurk here long enough, you get the general feel that most M11x owners are very happy campers.

I called the Alienware 800 number and got a really nice sales rep. I asked about the hinge problem and if they knew whether or not the new builds would incorporate the improved hinge design. She checked with her manager and he said that the issue was supposedly resolved. I'll wait and see about that. Otherwise, the buying experience was smooth and pleasant. I got an extra $50.00 off for using the Dell 12-month no-interest financing, to boot.

Hopefully, I'll be one of the quiet majority of happy owners. I'll let everyone know if there are any problems OR if everything is perfect.

 

If you end up with a crap sandwhich you can always return it. Dell frequently offers a $100 credit for you to keep your machine if you are unsatisfied. You're pretty well covered as long as you keep an eye on your return end date.

 

I too am disheartened to read all the negative things that people seem to say about the Alienware M11x R2. I can't get enough of this laptop, to be honest... and it's by far the best laptop that I've ever used.

I think what people need to understand when buying this laptop is that this is not a Macbook. If you're looking for something that's just gonna turn on, have no issues, and go... this might not be the laptop for you. This is a tweakers laptop. If you're the kind of person that understands overclocking, switching drivers, and is computer literate... then you may enjoy this laptop. It never ceases to amaze me much oomph this little laptop has for playing games. It's fun to see how far you can push it, and what high-end games you can get to run. I imagine that could frustrate a lot of people, and I guess that's understandable.

 

Well Said. If I had to buy a new small notebook all over again, I'd buy the exact same thing. My M11x R2 ROCKS!

 

I went from last years 13' macpro to my R2 and could not be happier - best tech decision I ever made - I get even more odd looks in starbucks now

 

I'm also enjoying my R2 i5. It's a nice little machine. My keyboard is slightly uneven (seems to have a bit of a dip right at the g and h keys) but it's not that bad.

 

I am VERY satisfied with my m11xr2.

 

Yes, the Starbucks Mac fiends always look a little befuddled when they see an M11x... I take my R1 with me in work... always gets a look.

 

Awesome! It's great to hear some positive reports from the satisfied M11x owners. It makes me even more impatient to get mine delivered now.

 

Like the other poster said - the vocal ones are the ones with problems.

I've had no trouble with my M11x R2, and if eventually it does start to break then I'll make full use of the warranty and demand a replacement. It's a fantastic machine and the freedom it brings with it to game anywhere, and even get work done, is unparralleled. It's so good I sold my M15 the week I got the m11. I now have an Aurora desktop for hardcore nailed to a desk gaming and the M11 for everything else. They both see equal duty.

 

Here's a good one.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/556989-new-owner-shocked-quality.html

 

I must say i am extremely happy with my M11x R2. and it has by far surpassed all my expectations! iv had mine for about a week and am absolutely LOVING IT! it plays everything... even arma 2 multiplayer smooth as on medium settings which i was quite stunned at and very pleased cos arma 2 is one of my favourite games to play online and was very worried about it. and i must say because of the large resolution on such a small screen there is not much need for AA on games at all. most games 2x AA will look like 16x AA on my dektop machine. this is the best 1200 iv spent on a laptop fullstop. DONT BE AFRAID TO GET ONE

 

I've had mine since Monday - i5, 8GB RAM, 320GB HDD -so I'm still getting acclimated. Aesthetically, I love it. Functionally, as another poster mentioned, it is quite the little fireplug. I am by no means computer illiterate, but I've never had machine that encouraged it. As such, I almost get discouraged at the sheer breadth of tweaks that can be applied, and I'm taking it slow in terms of applying said tweaks for optimal performance, but it is fun trying to determine what's going to work for me.

Love this thing, Good times.

 

Spent the last few hours customizing my new M11xR2 and I have to say, I am completely impressed. It not only feels very solid in construction, but it also looks amazing. Only because it is human nature to always see the negative or find a flaw in something that is perceived to be perfect, I will appease all of the pessimists out there and say that my only complaint is that the screen bezel is comparatively large.

This is not to say that it is huge or overly noticeable in any way, but seeing the 1" of bezel at the bottom of the screen will take some getting used to it will take some time for me, coming from an XPS M1710. Though I am quite certainly not missing the miniature desktop that the XPS was with regard to weight.

The first thing I did after I unboxed it, was remove the RAM that came with the M11x and put in the 8GB of Crucial DDR3 1333 I got off of Newegg. I know Dell uses Hynix memory, and while its not 'no name' memory, its not much better in my opinion.

Second thing I did was load up my jumpdrive with all the drivers and customizations found on this forum for when you reload the OS. My system is now screaming fast, even compared to what it was when I first turned it on.

Going to spend the next few days doing some testing at what overclock speed is most stable but also provides me with some fairly decent battery life. One day a week I need exceptional battery life, bare minimum. The other 6 days I can get by with average. Will look into what software solutions are around for managing that, so if anyone has any suggestions, please drop me a PM.

Gaming, the M11x has impressed me, and honestly that is not easy to do. My expectations were high to begin with because of the hardware. It pushes easily through the games I play, but we will see in time as I add more virtual machines, work necessary programs, and games. I doubt my needs are as unique as I would like to think, so if anyone uses VirtualBox with Kubuntu, Fedora, or Server 2k8 on the M11xR2, let me know. Would love to hear any performance enhancements done.

Well, enough rambling. If anyone is still on the fence and is concerned about quality or something not working, don't be. I am very cynical about my hardware and expect the very best when I purchase a product. Thus far, it has been worth it.

 

Thanks for the newbie owner tips. I'll hopefully be getting mine delivered some day next week!

 

The only real problem of this model were the hinges, but now that is solved...

 

I looove my M11xR2 Got it last summer, almost no issues so far. Wish NVidia did a better job with the Optimus drivers but... No issues with games so far (maybe except Civ 5)

 

Awesome laptop and support makes me smile even more *snicker*

 

I too love and am mightily impressed with my 2 week old R2.I got in on one of the outlet deals and for just under $700 shipped snagged an i5,4gb,250gb model.I promplty yanked the Hynix and dropped in 8gb of Gskill,replaced the 1520 with an Intel 6300 and will soon be adding a 500gb Momentus XT Hybrid drive.I am an avid gamer and hardware enthusiast and I love the customibility(new word?) of this thing.Ive been neglecting my i7,480GTX SLI desktop and loving the R2 since Ive had it..Best lappy Ive owned imo.My prior lappy ws an XPS M1330 which was nice,but not but not even remotely in my R2s league..Enjoy!

 

wow, you think macbooks don't have problems? you don't hear about mac problems because they have brick and mortar stores, and when people have problems, they don't post and whine on message board forums. they go to an apple store and get it taken care of there.

IIRC, the macbook air had a huge hinge problem itself.

 

It's all about magnitude. Apple hasn't in it's history ever released a computer with as many significant faults as the r2 upon it's debut.

The m11x is a fine computer now, but it's been a bumpy road to get here. Of course, todays destinatin is all that's important for new buyers and that's probably the way it should be.

 

Yea I know, apple just had problems with batteries frying, monitor displays dying prematurely, iphone antenna problems (made a really big fuss, forgot about that one?)