*OFFICIAL* M11xR1 Owners Lounge - Part 4

You can use the latest drivers from nvidia if you disable the intel in BIOS and run the 335 exclusively.

 

slickie

is it worth it? been thinking of doing the same thing since i picked up the R1 last week.

do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? saw on here that you potentially lose the OSD or the ability to put system to sleep.

any info?

thanks in advance

 

hello there, this is my first post after reading on aw m11x thread about one week

i'm planning about buying m11x with i5/i7 spec. since i'm majoring interior design my desktop is familiar with 3d application (sketchup) and its rendering program.
1. would it be adequate to handle most of my work especially with rendering things?
2. is there a significant gap beetwen i5 & i7 performance in rendering 3d models? if it's not, i would take the cheaper one

i'm still thinking about getting m11x or a mbp. pls convince me to own a m11x if it's worth for me.

 

I just got my m11x in today and am going to try disabling intel and running the 260 drivers for the 335 exclusively.

I don't need the huge battery life as much, so I guess we'll see. The hybrid method seems kind of annoying and tedious.

 

It's worth it Fallout new vegas is playable on my m11x which I couldn't get fixed with the 197 drivers
But as you mentioned when you install the 260 drivers without any adjustments you'll lose the GPU (FN+F6) switch function.

This thread shows how to get that switching function back:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...1x-r1-260-99-hybrid-drivers-intel-2020-a.html

I like the switching ability, also because when on the GT335 my fan spinns a lot, even when doing simple browsing.
With the SSD the system doesn't make any noise at all below 41celcius, and the system is below that for 90% of the time in integrated GPU.

 

I thought about then when buying the m11x (my m1210 has the 2GHz processor). But the M11x cpu is 45nm with 800 MHz fsb (vs the 65nm and 667 MHz for the T7200) with 4gb ddr3 memory instead of 2 gb ddr2 since it's 64-bit. So I'm not at all worried about the windows rating for the cpu, and it honestly doesn't feel slower to me!

 

I ran on Discrete only for a few months (was running 32bit windows 7, as a test).
You still get 5 hours battery life, only real downside is the extra heat - and the games that run better under intel (Plants V Zombies, Transcendence, Arcanum).

@Pixelele: Can't speak for the i5 or i7 (this is the R1 thread after all), but I find the core2 a little anemic when running circuit simulations. The MBP has less graphics grunt though.
Your best bet is to try them all before buying.

 

Well working at Best Buy, we got a shipment of Razer Kabutos in. You know, the ultra thin mousepad/screen protector. Does anyone else use this? I though it would be great to protect the M11x screen since I used the original white sheet that came with the notebook. But it looks like it adds stress to the hinge. My last screen got keyboard scratches on it, so it looks like I might be sticking with a cloth since I already had the hinge issue once.

What are everyone elses thoughts/experiences with the Kabuto?

 

I used my Kabuto as a screen protector for about a week. In my opinion it's too thick and will stress the already questionable hinges. I then went back to the insert that came with the notebook for about 6 weeks, then got lazy about it and stopped using anything at all. As a result my screen has permanent scratches from the keys. I'll be having Dell replace that as I get closer to the end of my warranty or once they decide to let us know how/if they're going to handle the hinge issue.

 

It's funny to me, if they do indeed launch an M13x that is slim/light/good gaming and don't go to a new hinge design in the process they are crazy. Announcing some kind of mass recall to rework the laptops would be an expensive lesson, but one they need right now.

 

Out of curiousity, how long does it take for the hinges to break for most owners? It's only been less than a week since I started using my M11x so I want to be ready when the time comes.

 

No man knoweth the time, for the future is not written.

 

how would I go about reinstalling windows if I got a new hard drive and have the cd key on the bottom of my m11x but dont have the disc?

 

get an external dvd drive, or if you have an external hard drive, that would work too

ps. does anyone else experience issues when overclocking the cpu in bios to 1.7ghz? when i overclock it, after 10 minutes surfing the net etc, i get the blue screen of death, and it will always happen unless i go back to 1.3... is this normal or is something up with my cpu ?

 

I think the R1 OC is hit or miss. I just OC'd mine and it's been running that way for a couple of weeks now without issues including several hours in Guild Wars and COD4 at a stretch.

I might see about a reinstall or driver update first, and if nothing else you might have an R1 that just doesn't take well to being overclocked--so perhaps Dell can swap out your board. I don't know if they're doing that or not for machines that have issues while OC'd.

 

My M11xR1 has been over-clocked CPU wise for the last 8 months.
No problems at all.

Not sure if BIOS upgrade/downgrade can assist with OC-ing.

Think Dell is a bit cagey on the OC front, but if you're good at the old chat one never knows. Any tests they do is without OCing and thus you may find they think everything is fine.

If one is in the first few days/week of purchase I guess one could just return the M11x and say no thank-you.

 

Mine was going bad on 3 weeks, and I am *very* gentle with computers and electronics. In my case I had the alignment problem from the word go as the left hinge creaked a tad and only continued to get worse.

 

Has anybody who purchased the system in Decemer noted hinge issues yet? It seems costy to buy the three year warranty. For the price you could sell your M11x at the end of the year and use the money you were going to pay to get a new model . I guess it might make some sense to do that, as long as whoever buys it doesn't encounter the problem for at least a few weeks.

 

Hinges take a while to fail. There have been only one or two reports of people seeing it inside of a month. 3 months and more is the norm.

 

Took about 4 months for my hinges to go.

Spiff

 

I'm less than a month when I started to hear a cracking noise coming from my left hinge when I open the laptop. I still have most of my 1yr. warranty so I'll just hang on until there's a new model to upgrade. It will be interesting to see what happens when the first units start to go out of warranty though.

edit to say mine is working perfectly still though-- just the faint clicking noise at this point and I really don't open/close it much at all. Not like I travel with it daily or anything. It mainly just stays open on the desktop.

 

Here's to mine having no hinge problems. I know from my Dell XPS desktop that the Dell tech support in my area sucks. Actually, Dell's support is just bad overall.

Let's get some trendy Alienware retail stores with "Alien Geniuses" that fix computers/replace them!

Edit: By the way, I said I would never buy a Dell again after my expensive XPS 720 desktop had three separate hardware issues. I wouldn't. I've always wanted an Alienware, so I don't have much choice but to hope Dell gives them more consistent quality control and superior support.

 

I just got really excited after looking at Alienware's site again - after deciding to get a MacBook Pro over the first-generation m15x that I really liked in every aspect (which is a decision I don't regret, I do regret that I was close to buying the m15x, though because I love Mac OS). I've wanted the Alienware flare and "experience" for years, and tomorrow I will finally have an Alienware system, the M11x! Sleek, agressive "gamer's design," AlienFX, even the unique unboxing, and of course it being the 11.6" powerhouse that it is make me giddy with excitement !

 

I'm in the same boat as you, i still love my Mac, and I use it daily for work, but I'm using my m11x for more and more (of course 100% for gaming.) The m11 is a very nice machine, and if it weren't for a few quality issues it would be near perfect for the job-- being portable, good battery life and great gaming.

I'm seriously considering getting the m15x as well now that i've had the AW experience (and knowing that there are issues with that model as well) since the m11 has been a great experience so far and with even more power and screen size I might be able to get even more out of it for tasks that aren't Mac-specific.

 

I've had my screen replaced in order to fix the hinge issue. That was like 3 months ago.

Its clicking again.
God dammit.

 

When you talk to support ask them when they plan on fixing this properly and keep going up the chain until you get very detailed answers. Let them know that you feel that replacing the LCD assembly with one that is just as likely to fail is /not acceptable/.

I'd be interested in continuing to hear what they're telling owners put them to the question. So far we're seeing support and sales actively telling owners and buyers that it is already fixed and we know that isn't true.

 

I'm wondering if my screen will go bad too, I haven't had anything happen- yet.

 

i feel like when you got your R1 may affect your chances of a failed hinge; i got my R1 after the R2 release; presumably they were produced afterwards and not ALL left overs, indicating a slight chassis revision

 

All M11x on the market today, have the same chance of hinge mounting failure until the new mooted replacement monitor cira March 2011 arrives.

Not all M11x hinge mounts have failed. However, this is not to say they wont fail.

At least the client and Dell are in a happier place with the mooted M11x hinge mount redesign to be released some time after March 2011.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/550314-dell-released-update-hinge-issue-m11x-01-24-11-a.html

 

We've been told number a times by different Dell representatives who would know that there has never been a change to the hinge/lid design. The one they've semi-officially announced for March(ish) is the first.

 

could some one please tell me why the m11x "powered by i series" is cheaper than the "ships fast" even though the "i series" has the bigger harddrive? is just because it ships fast? thers a difference of around 80$

 

you are correct, that is why its more money.

fyi: the M11x you are refering to is the R2 version. this is the R1 lounge.

 

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone knows a definitive answer to whether leaving the m11x R1 plugged in after reaching full charge would harm battery.

I've heard conflicting explanations ranging from you should definitely unplug, to "it won't hurt to unplug", to no need to unplug.
I've read that modern day batteries have protection against it and stop charging once it detects full charge.

But my work computer which i got 1 yr ago, Lenovo T400, which due to company regulations require mandatory leaving it plugged and locked down for my full 8 hrs of work, battery has gone bonkers already..
i might get 15 mins battery life if i'm lucky... it goes from the last 30% to 0 in the matter of 45 seconds lol..

i'd rather this not happen to my own m11x R1. so far i've been unplugging it everytime i reach full charge.

 

if you disable batttery charging in the bios it should not matter if its pluged in 24/7 or not.

One way to check is run the battery down to say like 50%. then plug the laptop in and restart and go into thebios and set it to disable charging. check back an hour later and see if it has charged at all.

 

Yes, what some guy, somewhere once said.

BIOS is good, but not good enough. BIOS doesn't hold the setting after your next reboot and disabling battery charging in the BIOS on each reboot becomes a pain.

There is a Dell battery monitor app that allows battery charging to be disabled after you've fired up Win7. Not sure if it can be included in the startup to disable battery charging automatically.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/518585-fn-f2-dsable-battery-charging-works.html

So @ some guy, How's the M11xR1 coming along?

Read there were issuses with stability. Bummer.

Last I read you'd backed out due to requiring the M11x to be stable and usable.

I'm just chatting here, cause I don't want to mess up a good technical flow on a very informative M11xR1 mod'd thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/547341-how-pinmod-further-overclock-m11x-r1-slg-hardmod-only-22.html

 

yea... although im not completely sure i completed the volt mod correctly. so i may open this thing back up tonight and try again...

im so torn. i dont want to brick my week old laptop, but the speed difference was VERY noticeable!

with the BUS speed set to 333mhz in non-OC mode i was running clocks 20% faster across the board.

2.0ghz CPU vs 1.6ghz stock
1000mhz RAM vs 800mhz stock
1333mhz FSB vs 1066mhz stock

 

For those using Fn+F6 (Graphics switching) on an M11xR1 who are not able to enable/disable Nvidia discrete GPU because an application is running which needs to be shutdown, there is an answer.

On an M11xR1 there is a whitelist too. Yes that is correct.

NBR member utrillalm was the one who brought this to my attention, however it may have been posted elsewhere before.

By entering the Microsoft registry Editor (regedit) and selecting the following path, you are then able to edit (right click, modify) the whitelist of applications which do not require to be shut-down when enabling/disabling Nvidia discrete GPU. Just enter for example: Safari.exe, Chrome.exe, Opera.exe

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/NVIDIA Corporation/Global/Hybrid

You may have to use this service with some knowledge as Firefox 4.0 and IE 9.0 both use GPU acceleration, which MAY mean a reset of those apps to take advantage of GPU functionality. Unknown by me at this time.

If this info help, please give a rep to utrillalm.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/549819-help-r1-wont-let-me-change-nvidia-intel-graphics-because-mcfee.html#post7083186

 

thats pretty cool!

btw i love your new avatar DR.

 

Must say, you guys (and not just some guy) are very brave.

You're boldly going where no other M11xR1 owner has gone before AND you're the first of the first of the SLG breed. I doff my cap to you sir, and Nano and DavyGT and abo and everyone else.

In the old days, you'd be the guys in wooden sailing ships, sailing off to the edge of the world to discover bright shiny somethings, while us others, would be sitting at home combing ticks out of our powered wigs and grumbling because someone hasn't invented mobile phones yet.

 

As much as I didn't want to say this, I'm about 95% sure I'm going to sell my M11x (less than a month old). Why? A gaming PC really didn't make me more of a hardcore gamer, my MacBook Pro is just fine with comparable performance. Mac OS is also a better fit for me, and I prefer pocketable devices to carry around (such as the really cool 3DS and amazingly-everything PSP2 NGP). I'll probably have a thread up in the buy/sell/trade forum soon, selling this pristine system for about $700.

Maybe I'll come back for the R3, but for now I'm better off keeping the cash. Well, it's been a fun ride finally being able to try an Alienware system , and they are really the best PC brand in my opinion. Yeah, I will miss this, but it doesn't seem logical for me to keep it. I could go for buying an Alienware-designed watch or something.

I wonder if this would be worth less in a month .

 

why thank you sir. i must admit that i am pretty stupid for modding a week old laptop the way i did... but building/modding PCs is a hobby for me. with gaming coming in a close 2nd. so its kinda what i do...

please understand tho that without nando4 and DavyGT i would not have been able to atempt this mod. now that they have shown me the way i get whats going on (for the most part) but they are still the one that should get the credit. i was just the guy who risked my laptop for the greatter good of M11x SLG owners in the name of more POWER!!!

now dont let my donation go to waste and go get modding!

 

Quick update - Amazon is going to let me return my M11x and get a full refund, so I won't be selling it. I wasn't expecting them to do that (obviously why I was going to sell it, I know I wouldnt profit selling the used system), but I guess Amazon is just really cool. A cool gaming laptop didn't make me enjoy PC gaming anymore, I'll admit my interest in games has dwindled more and more, so I figured it's a good idea to get rid of this for now.

 

It could be useful to update the first post with proper R1 hardware specs, for those looking for manufacturer drivers. I just got one and have been scouring for xp drivers.

Identifiable Hardware:
Chipset: Intel Gs45 (intel.com)
Lan: Atheros Ar8132 (atheros.cz)
Wlan: Broadcom 4353 (br0 from driverpacks.net)
Audio: Realtek Alc665 (realtek.com.tw)
Video1: Intel 4500Mhd (intel.com)
Video2: Nvidia Gt335m (nvidia.com)
Firewire / Card Reader: Jmicron Jmb380 (jmicron.com)
Accelerometer: StMicro De351dl (I think these were the win7-64 drivers from dell, although they worked fine for xp-32)

Unidentifiable Hardware:
Compal Embedded System Control (I had to download 3-4 different versions of this before it would install, properly)
Direct Launch Application Button (I found it with Driver Identifier)

Now for a few problems that maybe you guys could help me out with. Please recall that I'm using windows xp (32-bit).
1: I haven't been able to get OSD working. The key combinations work fine (brightness and sound, at least), but there're no visual indications.
2: It refuses to resume from suspend (at least when closing the lid and then opening the lid). When I open the lid, all the alienfx lights come on, but the screen doesn't.
Edit...
I read this on another thread.

3: Driverpacks.net drivers aren't working, correctly, with this laptop. I've been making custom xp installation discs for a couple of years, now, and I've never had this much trouble. It's almost like things are 1/2 installing (especially with the nvidia drivers). Also, I think the newest wlan pack is breaking the wireless card. I've tried making 2 different discs and both of them make the broadcom disappear. It doesn't not install the drivers. The card no longer shows up in device manager. It worked just fine with the drivers from last October.

I've found some personal annoyances with this laptop. I can't do anything about them, but it's still a little frustrating. Some have been mentioned before.
1: The left windows key is too far right. It's only a few centimeters, but it's enough that I hit it more times than not (when trying to alt-d to the address bar).
2: There is no turn off display key combination. I tried doing it within the intel video drivers, there is an Enable Display option, but it doesn't shut it off.
3: Every time I unplug the laptop, the bios switches back to enable battery charging. It's really quite annoying. I'm using a05.
4: The 2-finger scrolling isn't quite as fluid as I was expecting it to be. I'm using synaptics v15.2.7c. The fingers need to be quite far apart (maybe an inch) and the scrolling is way too fast. I'm actually finding it more difficult to do it, so I just end up going back to holding the left mouse button and using the scroll bar. It's really unfortunate, as that was one of the features that I was looking forward to the most.

I haven't been able to, properly, install both the intel and nvidia drivers, yet. I assume that I'm just not doing it correctly. I haven't read all the threads about it, yet. I have the video as dedicated when doing the xp install. When I enable switching in bios, I BSOD and the laptop just reboots. I tried it with switching during the install and then changing to dedicated later. If I remember correctly, it kept reverting my theme settings with each reboot. I just use Adjust For Best Performance, which loads the Classic theme. When I reboot, it goes back to the normal, colorful, xp theme.

I think that's it, for now. This is a really cool little machine. All in all, I think it's worth every bit of the <$600 I paid for it. There are some definite oddities about it, though.
JJ

 

Why on earth are you trying to use Windows XP ?

The rest of your post is meaningless - all your software problems would be gone if you'd stuck with Windows 7.

 

FTL...
Children, these days, have no sense of adventure.
There was a time when "computer people" wanted to know the internal specs of their computers. There was a time when people sought after very particular ram chips and the like. There was a time when you downloaded the most recent manufacturer driver for your device, as the oem driver was 2 years old.
These days of consumer operating systems are making idiots out of people, all the while making them think they are computer savvy. I'm not directly referring to you, but a whole generation that couldn't care less about the inner workings of things. Too many people are getting "book smart" and have no "street smart".
There are a myriad of reasons why xp is better than 7. I'm certainly not saying that everyone should use xp and no one should use 7, but please don't try and make people believe that 7 is God's gift to the computer world. It's a very functional operating system that works for the common denominator.
Oh, btw...
I'm dual-booting xp and linux (eek!!!).
Hehehe...
JJ

 

i still don't understand why ppl gotta hate when someone wants to run Xp. does it really matter why they want to run Xp? its fun, to them for some reason you dont get. or even sometimes necessary for certain software compatibility.

stop the hate...

 

I have two netbooks whos life stops at WinXP and they're fine. They work just great within their own limitations.

Was surprised to see people installing WinXP on an M11x though, but understand there is requirements to do so due to software compatible.

If you have dual boot what's the biggie?

People have even install Ubuntu on their M11x. Oh, that'll be me then.

 

As someone who been knee deep inside every computer he's ever owned since the early 80s I gotta say you've got a serious case of "old man" syndrome going on. Windows 7 isn't preventing people from learning a single thing. That's a completely different phenomenon that really has nothing to do hardware or software or the merits of one OS over another.

 

Unless you have a very specific need for XP (ie, the tiny chance that you absolutely must use some piece of legacy hardware or software that won't work with virtualization) then that statement is categorically untrue.

There's no "hate" for someone wanting to run XP - I specifically asked why he was trying to do so ! It's very likely that there's a workaround for whatever piece of legacy gear is causing the problem, but without knowing what that is, we can't progress...

 

Im planning to swap the 500gb of my r1 with an old 160gb of my sony vaio fz, this is because i dont have a case for it and i want to recover some information i have in this hdd, of course when i backup this info im planning to mount the 500gb disk again. But i have two dudes:

1.- Will i lose the access to the recovery partition? befor i tried to install ubuntu on my fz and i lose this access due MBR overwrite. I dont know if i swap hdd's for a moment will do the same.

2.- Will i lose the 1year warranty if i do this?????

thanks.

sorry for my english.