*OFFICIAL* M11xR1 Owners Lounge - Part 4

i just order my skin will up some pics when i get it ... I love this laptop so much it's the best i've ever had ... if only it would come with at least an i3 and optimus it would be perfect!

EDIT: btw is there any configuration or whatever that when i close my m11x and has it plug in for charging and the alienhead or the grill pulse? or does anything along those line?

 

Unfortunately the alien head on the back cover of the lcd is only being lit up by the LCD LED backlighting of the LCD. So there are no options to change it in any aspect including pulses and colors.

 

okay but there is no doubt that each key can be each color.... so why couldnt someone write something, or just convert one of the other alienfx editors that have it to work on individual keys?

 

Becuase there is only 1 controller internally for the illumination. To change each key would require 1 controller per key. Besides, who want's a rainbow colored M11x keyboard? Well maybe hippies...

 

I bet even if they made it so customizable that you can control lighting on each individual key, someone would moan that he wants upper part of a key glowing red, lower part blue and a gradient in between on each key......

 

@unreal = well said.

 

What? no ultraviolet? or black light? maybe each key could respond with a diffrent or brighter color in time to music

 

The only thing that i could wish for was at least a 250-300 nit screen on this lappy.

Cpu,gpu,battery and small size are just perfect! Have you ever tried opening up a 17" laptop on a tray table in the cattle section of the airplane? If i could afford a Sony Z I would be sitting in the front of the plane where size or power requirements are not a problem.

 

In regards to the keys, I think it looks dumb with all the keys different. But I wouldnt mind seeing just the "wasd" keys have there own light zone.

 

I'd be weary of opening a laptop on the plane. Do it sitting next to some old lady and with all those wires and peices laying around, probably find out real quick where the Air Marshall is seated

 

Thankfully the old lady sitting next to me is usually my wife and she understands my need to be electronicly fed. Also use minimum wires with cheap IHOME wireless mouse and DYNEX usb cable to cd located in seatback pouch just long enough to start game.

 

I have taken tons of audiophile gear with me that when all hooked up together looks like a mini bomb. I have never been given issues in airport security or on a plane.

 

I just picked one of these up to replace my X61T for daily usage. I have just finished installing my requisite software and I have some rumblings & grumblings about the M11x....

1. The keyboard is garbage, coming from a thinkpad I am not sure if i can live with this keyboard... the tactile feedback and key travel is quite poor. I do like the keys being backlit though

2. The glossy screen is not as bad as I thought it would be. It is quite sharp, although black text/images look a bit washed out and grayish on my screen.

3. I bought this computer for mostly running productivity applications, creative suite, GIS software etc and I thought that the alienware customization software would be a useless gimmick, but I am really digging customizing the colors etc.

4. The trackpad is horrific, if i rest my wrist on the left side of the palm rest the trackpad becomes unresponsive to my queries. Ergonomically speaking I am not a fan of the snake skin type texture on the trackpad. I am really missing my trackpoint. I am going to get a mouse hopefully to get over this issue.

5. Fan noise is not as bad as I thought it would be


Overall im not as impressed by this computer as I thought I would be, I think this might be one of those deals where you warm up to it as time goes on.

 

^ if you're not in love with it now.. I dunno, you got a return period.. should do it.

 

Anyone have this issue on the m11x or on any other computer ever? I was not trying to create a new thread for this if possible. Thanks.

 

is there a way to even turn off the AlienFX upon restarting?

i already disable the AlienFX startup, and then i also go to dark mode before shutting down

but everytime i power it up, it lit up again while the AlienFX isn't running

plus, i have created a theme, but why does it always start with it;'s default blue color?

 

Im pretty much stuck having to pay a restocking fee if I return it, which will be like 150 bucks. I think i will keep it and just live with the shortcomings or connect a monitor and keyboard to it full time and use it as a desktop rig. I was very surprised by the keyboard, I thought it would be better.

 

Not if your in the 21 day window of invoice...

 

Is anyone having any problems with left 4 dead 2 since the recent update(the passing)? The game crashes on me once the map loads.

 

I got it from BB the moment you open the box you pay restocking (although my box wasn't sealed so I am not sure how they would determine that)

 

Whats the harm in trying?

 

are you a premier silver member? No restocking fee if you are. Plus 45 day return window.

 

Im just lazy right now i guess it took me all of yesterday installing all my programs settings etc. Im just going to wait it out and see if I warm up to it, which I am hoping I do......How do you guys like the keyboard? Is it me or does it feel kind of chintzy?

 

Also what SSD are you using?

 

256GB SSD is the stock Samsung. If performance is what your after go Intel X-25M 160 GB SSD. If space is your goal 256GB. The intel SSDs have better trim support and suffer less SSD degradation. The retain their stock speeds better.

 

I've gone through a quite a bit of this forum and have not found a problem being discussed like mine.

I have an issue with the battery not being recognized. I called tech support for Alienware and they were actually pretty helpful. They told me to remove the bottom of the m11x and remove the battery. Then press and hold the power button for a minute to drain whatever power is left. Then re-attach everything and boot up.. problem solved. At least so I thought.. still having the same issue. Anyone have any experience with this issue?

 

Yes, there is something wrong with it, a few people in this forumare having the "white weapons" and crashing thing with L4d2, hopping Valve solve this quickly.

 

Keyboard feels fine to me, and I'm banging out all my schoolwork assignments on it. It gets kinda cramped during gaming however, but it isn't a big issue.

 

hey all! just picked up this little guy from BB today and have to say that I am more than pleased with its performance! I just sold my G51, and this is such a relief to go to because of its size! I installed CODMW2, ran it on high without a hiccup, which was pretty cool to see on a laptop this small.

So I had a SSD in my other laptop, but I know that the times are changing. In your guys' opinion, what would be the best SSD to go with nowadays. I know that the intel ones are really nice, but also expensive. I was thinking of going with 128GB. Any thoughts or suggestions would be great!

 

any tips on calibrating the screen? I never had to do it. But Ive noticed the colors are a little off on this.

 

I have the OCZ Agility 120 GB in mine - fabulous drive for the price. Not quite as performant as the Intel - but *really* close.. - MUCH faster than the 7200 RPM HDD it replaced..

 

Have you entered the BIOS/CMOS setup and checked the battery charging Enabled/Disabled setting? Press F2 repeatedly at boot up until you see the menu.

 

F12,not F2. Sure the BIOS will ask if you are trying to boot from USB, but it also gives the option to enter setup on the bottom. Less effort too.

 

F12.... Nah it's f2 definately!

 

why F12? F2 takes you directly to BIOS instead of boot options

 

Last week I got my Intel 5300-W-Lan-Card and an aditional W-Lan-Antenna.
Both are inserted into my M11x and it works fine.

I have a higher range by using 5GHz-W-Lan in my Bedroom. With the original Dell-Card I got not a reliable connection. On the new Card it is possible to watch Videos over the Air (from my NAS).

I made a picture how I put the Antenna to - but it is not a good position cause the backside is metall - so another position would be much better ..... but there is no room in that small Laptop. So if there is anyone who found a better "hole" to plug the antenna to, please tell me. It works fine - but maybe it could be better ;-)

Andy

 

is that a heatsink on your memory? Tyco?

 

Is the extra antenna pluged into the Tyco piece? you might be able to pull the motherboard out and run it on the otherside of the frame. Then run it around the laptop. Lot more work though.

 

Hi. This is my first post so hopefully I did it right. I tweaked around with the settings and found I can work around this problem with L4D2 crashing since they added "The Passing" by reducing my shader settings (in the advanced graphics menu) to Medium or Low. High or Very High will crash it instantly, like you said. It sucks, because it used to run high with all settings maxed out but that's how I have to play it for now.

 

Welcome!!!, and yes, you are correct, in Valve forums they also say that reducing to "medium" the shaders the game does not crash at all, even if you have the rest specs in "high".

 

The white line .... with the Tyco-Thing is the antenna....
Picture below (black one - longer cable was in the delivered bag too)

Andy

 

I am looking to do it for ease of use, not for any aesthetic reasons. I would love to be able to see the different keys easier thats all. thanks for all the comments tho! I appreciate.

 

Awesome! but isnt the 6300 better? or is it more expensive?

 

I've been in the BIOS to check on this and it is enabled.

 

oh and also, all your comments make no sense. CLEARLY, EVERY key can be EVERY color. So SOMEONE could write something, or MOD one of the ALIENFX editors from the other models, and work it into the 11'...

 

Yes, every key can be every color, but there is only one controller to control the signal output to the LED's. There fore there is no way to make each key a seperate color silmutaniously. M17x has four controllers... Thats why it has four color zones.

 

Actually 5 controllers if we count the wifi light. It's just that we have to scroll down all the time to change it that we forget it's there

 

Hi everyone. New M11X owner and first time posting here. I'm having a problem. I have been installing Office, Kaspersky, and the drivers directly from NVIDIA, but when I restarted the computer after these installations, the resolution changed to 800x600, and when I tried accessing the NVIDIA control panel, it told me "You are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU". It also won't let me push FN+F6 to change between performance modes. What do I do? Sorry if this has been asked before.

 

Those drivers should have worked for you though they are for discrete mode only, I recommend the new beta drivers on Dell's site. They work pretty nice and you will still have switching ability...

 

I must say that I am pleased by the replacement laptop that Dell sent. The first one had a LCD gap issue and the keyboard did not sit in the laptop body correctly.

There were a few rough spots during the replacemt process, at one point for some still unkown reason Dell cancled my replacement, but the Dell rep who follows these forums was able to help out. A special thanks to erawneila for his/her help and support!

The new one is perfect except for a too bright led on the right front panel light but not a big enough defect to ask for repair or replacement. Sent the old one back to Dell today.