New to Alienware and need advice.

HiHi!

I am new to Alienware. I decided to look into getting a decent pc or laptop for personal use, school, gaming, etc. I found a site that suggested the M11x, from what I read it sounded good. Almost too good. So I came to this forum and registered to ask users here a few questions before I buy one of these.

1. What are some of the higher end games you personally run on your M11x?

2. Have you had any problems with the laptop? If so what?

3. If you are willing, can you post your specs, it would help this alienware newbie out. *smiles*

4. Also what's this about it not having a cd/dvd player? Is the external one in the config what I should buy?

Thank you for any help/reply. ^^

 

Hey

intel i7
4gb
320gb hd

cost me 1208.66

just got mine the first week of sept. i knew from reading in the forums that i might encounter hinge issues and 2 weeks later i notice the hinge on the right side is out of line and the lid does not close evenly...not a big issue for me i called dell up and a tech will come to fix the "assembly issue" as they are calling it this week...i also noticed that my keyboard sinks in near the middle so all this should be fixed soon...

you need to buy an external dvd drive if you need one. you can chose one from the config at the dell wesite or buy one on ebay! good times!

i still love this lappy ive played batman with phyx on normal aa on 2x with very high setting and it plays pretty nicely i can notice some studder with those settings but it still plays batman super easy...im happy with my buy just have to get these issues fixed.

 

I have the M11xR1 Core 2 Duo overclocked to 1.73

1. What are some of the higher end games you personally run on your M11x?

Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Dead Space, Dragon Age Origins

2. Have you had any problems with the laptop? If so what? No problems. I don't have hinge problems like some have reported. I don't have an issue with the reflective screen. I had a Dell inspirion 11Z before the M11x so I was prepared for it.

3. If you are willing, can you post your specs, it would help this alienware newbie out. *smiles*

C2D 7300 clocked to 1.73, it came with a 250 gig hard drive which I replaced with a 500 gig hard drive, same 335M gpu as everyone else.

4. Also what's this about it not having a cd/dvd player? Is the external one in the config what I should buy?

I download games from steam but because I had the Inspiron, I do have an external dvd. It was about 40.00 on ebay.

 

Thanks you all. This is exactly what I needed to know, most of all about the games run.

It's good to know they can handle more recent games which was my main concern. If they can handle mass effect 2, I don't think I need to worry.

Awesome! ^^

 

I think it should be said.. so I will say it. Systems like the m11x take a bit of "tweaking" to really get them to shine. I guess you could say that about any system but it seems to be very evident with the m11. If you purchase an I7 (true quad) system with a 5850 or 5870 card, it's so powerful that you dont really have to optimize or tweak. Does this make sense?

Some folks buy this system and complain about performance. It could be that they have not spent the time, to learn about it's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and custimizations to make it fit your needs.

Keep asking questions... utilize the search and let us know when you need help.

Bw, StevenX

 

1. What are some of the higher end games you personally run on your M11x?

Crysis/Crysis Warhead

2. Have you had any problems with the laptop? If so what?

Adjusting to Windows 7 from being a diehard XP Professional user. The keyboard takes a bit getting used to since it's a bit smaller.


3. If you are willing, can you post your specs, it would help this alienware newbie out. *smiles*

Check the signature.


4. Also what's this about it not having a cd/dvd player? Is the external one in the config what I should buy?

I haven't had a reason to get one yet but I'm sure you could find one on eBay for 20$.

 

This all helps me out immensely also. However, I don't want to start a new thread and clog up the forum to ask questions. These answer pretty much everything I needed to know, EXCEPT now I went to the Dell site to configure the laptop, and a few new concerns came up. These are probably newb common sense questions, but I just wanted to make sure, especially since the tweaking topic was brought up.

It was made clear that I would need to purchase a DVD/cd drive, I understand that, but should I go ahead and spend extra money on their wireless mouse and keyboards? Honestly they seem over priced, and as much as I would like to, just so I could have everything as alienware, I don't see why I should pay that much money. Could I just buy say, a wireless logitech mouse and keyboard instead? Sorry if this is foggy or complicated. Trying to explain as best I can.

The only other thing I was curious about, is am I "doing it wrong" or is what's on the Dell site basically all you can configure your options as? Or is there another site? I would prefer a little bit higher of a processor, but I don't see an option on the site, or am I basically just going to have to use the one on the configure site, unless I want to start dissecting the thing and what not? Because I will not do that. Too scared to mess with it, lol.

Anyways, again sorry if these are dumb/obvious concerns. I am new to alienware and already I see things that scare me (like the no dvd thing) but hey we worked that out eh?

I am glad people have been posting their games that they can run with it, since most of the games I plan on using with it are around the same age as these listed, some older, some newer.

Thanks!

 

I'd recommend a nice mouse, wired or wireless your choice, but I feel the keyboard would be useless. I'm pretty sure Dell is the only seller of Alienware as Dell bought them a couple years ago from what I hear. Sadly, the options are as is as that's how the M11x was designed.

 

TalonH: Thank you, now I understand, eh I figured I'd have to basically order it from them, but that's okay, and I'll just get a wireless mouse elsewhere and skip on the keyboard, I think you just saved me 50 bucks or so, lol.

Again thank you. xD