*OFFICIAL* M11xR1 Owners Lounge - Part 4

@kaslysm = install the drivers from Dell.

 

So, I was fiddling around in my m11x wireless card settings, the DW1520, found a feature called, afterburner. I looked it up and it said that it boosts the performance of the wireless card, or something like that. Anyone ever use this? Does it actually do anything?

 

And ofcourse, replacement unit has arrived, everything is perfect.

BUT, ofcourse there is a but, i have freaking 10 dead pixels on the right side of my screen! Called Dell asap and now there going to replace my screen. Godamn always something whats not in order. Aaah well atleast the hings are placed correctly, keyboard is fixed. It was a easy replacement.

Just replace the harddrive and voila everything is the same again.

 

Where did you find it at?

 

Wanted to order this week but there are literally no deals to be had in the UK any more. It's now £749 inc. delivery for the base model or £809 inc. for the ESL model with 4GB RAM. Considering what's been available since launch it's really poor, no discounts (bar EPP), no free upgrades or gifts. I've even given Dell a ring direct and they#ve refused to budge.

Anyone else in the UK having the same issues? Or have some people managed to secure decent deals in the past week?

 

I wasn't able to get any deals at all. £1169 for me as EPP didn't work!

 

To keep the functionality between switching between the Intel and Nvidia GPUs, you must use either the Dell drivers (there are currently a new set based on Nvidia 197.x on Dell as of a week or 2 ago) or hack your own drivers.

Attempting to install with the drivers at Nvidia.com atm will result in problems. Besides loosing the ability to switch GPUs with either the notification icon and FN+F6 hotkey in Win 7(which is confirmed), it will keep both graphic cards on at same time (confirmed) among other things.

 

Does anyone here use Badaboom with their M11x? I just purchased it and when transcoding a Video_TS folder, it takes me almost 2 hours to transcode and I am getting only 20 fps. I am converting to a PS3 file format at 2400 kps, yet it seems so slow compared to how I have heard it should be working, since it uses the GPU with CUDA. The the only thing I am thinking is that I am using the original stock Nvidia drivers and running the cpu at the factory settings. Does anyone who uses this program find success in getting a large Video_TS folder to transcode much faster on the M11x?

 

Run it in OC mode and update the drivers. I saw a huge boost in BADABOOM when i did this.

 

I was in device manager, clicked on the wireless card and opened the properties. It's under the "Advanced" tab.

 

Cool, I just turned it on and wow my signal went up!!

In my office at work I usually only get 1 bar, with afterburner on I get 4 bars...oh wait, no it went back down to 1 bar

 

LOL . nice one.

 

I definately wouldn't want a rainbow-colored keyboard. But for gaming purposes it would be nice to color-differentiate the WASD keys and such.

 

You might be able to do something like that by wiring just the leds under the wasd keys to one of the other zones... like the wifi/caps lock lights.

 

Well... considering I purchased a 4 year replacement warranty, I'm not about to void that.

 

dang, GTA episodes are on sale on steam 25% off but not sure if I wanna get it risking choppiness on the m11x.. hmmm

 

You can order the whole rockstar gampack for like 45 bucks right now I am trying sooo hard not to order it.

 

yeah I know it's only $20 more for everytihng,but really only things that caught my eye is GTA IV stuff (but I've played that on PS3 50% through) and the classic GTA's I've played prior. So yeah only the episodes is new to me.. why spend extra on stuff I won't play even though it's a good deal.. I just gotta convince myself that I'd play the Episodes and hope they play well on the M11x.

 

I have both new episodes of GTA4. Let me know if you want benches with any particular settings. Looks playable to me with on medium-ish settings.

 

This is unreal! Just followed the advice on this thread last night about the wireless card about enableing Badaboom in the advanced properties tab and can't belive the faster web surfing with a bad signal.

I am in my van about 600ft from the Mcdonalds that has attwifi and i have one bar and still getting as speedy a connection as I usually have inside the food shop.

 

^ lol confused me for a second. it's called afterburner for the wifi thing

badaboom is a GPU encoder.

@unreal25 - glad to hear it. I just bought it but it's a 16GB download!! haha so yeah, what resolution are you playing at? I like native res at least and could prob turn down most tihngs to get at least 20FPS which to me is playable =)

 

I am playing on 1440x900 on 19" ext. screen. Used automatic settings, then went easy on shadows, view distance and such. It works ok, but I can't stand the fact that the camera doesn't follow "forward direction" but I have to turn it manually (?!)

 

I would be curious to know what kind of FPS you are getting.

I can't get more than 22fps on GTAIV, and my settings are pretty low.

 

If your router supports it - it'll support higher speeds, etc. (i.e. a speedboost). I'm pretty sure it's any wifi router with a broadcom adapter that will support the boost (i.e. with my router it bumps up the speed to close to 270 Mbps whereas it was much lower before I enabled it).

 

Perhaps you'd understand the concept better if it were described this way: Imagine that all the keys are lit by ONE color-changing light. They are lit by several LEDs but they are controlled together and can only be controlled together. Each key is not lit by it's own color-changing light, much less one that can be specifically adjusted on a per-key basis.

 

The only settings that I found that influence FPS are Shadows and Water Quality if it's higher. Other than that, might as well just leave everything else on High, I couldn't get any decent extra FPS.

Statistics
Average FPS: 19.37
Duration: 36.54 sec
CPU Usage: 95%
System memory usage: 74%
Video memory usage: 70%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1440 x 900 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: High
Shadow Quality: Off
Reflection Resolution: High
Water Quality: Medium
Texture Filter Quality: Anisotropic x4
Night Shadows: Off
View Distance: 22
Detail Distance: 11

Hardware
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M
Video Driver version: 197.12
Audio Adapter: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Genuine Intel(R) CPU U4100 @ 1.30GHz

 

Thanks for the info.

I think I'll pick it up. I have all the other ones, seems a shame not to.

 

Mabe it's just me who is confused. I was just so suprised to get such a good response from a low 1 bar signal

 

I see that the m11x is now available at a Best Buy near me. I would use this as my main pc - some gaming, developing in visual studio, sql server, etc. Bad idea? Square peg in a round hole? What are your thoughts?

 

unsuitable for what you have intented if no external monitor is being use with. M11x's LCD isn't as quality as you would expected as a DELL.

 

Disappointing to hear but not surprised. I'm use to 15" screens so going to 11.6" would be an adjustment.

Any others want to chime in?

 

I'll disagree with that. As a 11.6" screen goes, I think it's quite good. Maybe not for a primary/only PC, but still very good IMHO.

 

Joining the owners lounge today

 

I agree, I think the screen is fine. The only issue I have with it at times, is the glare. That's mostly when I am using it on the bus. Luckily I live in Seattle. The sun only pokes its head out a few times a month.

When I bought my M11x I didn't plan on it being my main computer. But, since I've had it, my other computers have been collecting dust. It's great at multi-tasking, I can plug it into my 42" TV, and I get to play games like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect 2 while I am commuting back and forth to work.

 

No dust here, but I'm kind of neat. I like the screen as well (apart from glare but ok) quite an improvement from xps m1330.

 

The screen is fine. I currently use mine as my main computer and i'm on it all day. It's just fine.

Edit: also, regarding the glossy.. alot of people have complained about it, but i honestly prefer it over a matte screen. Just personal preference, i know.

 

I would like to see pics of the screen from dell you guys got. I saw the M11x at best buy today eh its alright, its just really cheap... lol You guys have a LG screen right? The AUO screen was so washed out and horrible i hated! I do see what you guys mean as the problem with the hinges and the gap between it, i don't like it, the lid seemed to flimsy and also like the latitudes again bad rubber bumper support.

 

Anyone else using Norton Internet Security... and having it block switching graphics modes?

Edit: @Freedom Thanks, so i guess it isn't just the m11x...

I spent two hours w/ Norton Tech support last night on this issue. The best we could do is prevent norton from starting @ startup. Switch graphics, then launch norton.Then if you want to switch again, you have to reboot. bleh...

 

Yeah that is what Norton does, i think the sony vaio z previous model also suffered through the same thing.

 

I'm gushing sweat right now. it's 12:15 A.M. Pacific Time and I just left a note beside my dads bed asking him if I could buy the M11x. Gawd, I'm so nervous.

If you're wondering why I'm posting this in the "owner's" lounge and not the "wannabe owners" lounge, is because I'm pretty confident he'll cave-in and say "yes".

 

lol hr9 - good luck dude. Hoping you need a M11x or laptop for school or something else too

 

Guys,

Didn't Intel release new chipset drivers that support TRIM for windows 7?

I can only seem to find RAID Trim supporting drivers, not just single ssd ones.

I'm still using the stock MS AHCI driver, I'd like to use Intel's that support trim, i thought i saw some news about that having come out but I can't seem to find it.

Thanks

 

I think those are the same nickbarbs. 9.6.0.1014

 

Yes - they did about a month ago - I've been using them ever since.. No issues - forgot the direct link (basically went to Intel's site) and auto-detected it ( Intel® Driver Update Utility)

 

google "Microsoft Security Essentials" - un-install Norton - install MSE - enjoy..

 

Yeah, Microsoft Security Essentials is great. The first thing I did when I got my M11x was uninstall Mcafee and download MSE.

I don't touch Mcafee or Norton. They are both as bad as a virus, as far as I'm concerned.

 

Question, and this has probably been answered - Did Dell ever work out the on-the-fly-battery-charging switching? I hate having to go into the bios and switch the charging on and off, especially since I usually recharge over night and the thing finishes charging long before I'm awake.

 

I use Norton 360 V4 ... no issues with m11x

 

I had MSE. No prbolems, but there was norton availible lol... i thought it would work lol... i'll prob go back though.

 

I use Symantec Endpoint and it runs great. I have no problems so far.