Q: Alienware M11X R3 and mSATA in WWAN port?

Hi guys,
I have been googling for days now..
Would msata SSD's work in the wwan port of an Alienware M11X R3?

On most site/forums people guess it would work but cant find any site where they have tested it.. Found numerous forums where its said that the Intel® QS67 Express Chipset supports it.

Would anyone be able to confirm or shed some sort of light on this.. Else my next step would be to buy a msata SSD and test this damn thing for myself. hehe

Anyone input? =)

 

The wwan port is set up as a usb port shaped like a mpci slot. There is a thread on here where we tested a bunch of stuff, the only thing we managed to get working was a dual micro sd card reader in there.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/595862-m11x-r1-mods-list.html

 

fork.. I read through there already.. =/ that sucks! =/

 

The big problem is that the WWAN port is connected through the USB controller on the motherboard chipset, and not directly to a SATA disk controller. That means anything you plug into that port would be, at best, running at USB 2.0 speeds (30MBps max).

So plugging an mSATA drive into there would be a waste, because you would never be able to achieve the speed benefits of an SSD. And on top of that, it would likely not be a bootable device, which means you could only use it for bulk storage.

We're ALMOST there, when it comes to getting SSD storage in an mSATA form factor for use as a boot device, or a drive cache using Intel SRT. But I don't think that it's going to happen with the current generation of Alienware M11x's that are out.

 

Big bump. I know this thread is so old but I'd rather follow up on this question than make another thread.

I see the point that WWAN slot is connected to USB controller but you haven't followed up directly on whether it's the case with R3 as well. I would've imagine that QS67 has well enough PCIE outputs to "deal" with this slot directly. Obviously device manager states that WLAN card is connected to PCI interface but that doesn't mean anything as it could be usb hub in between PCI output and WLAN. These mSATAs are extremely tempting at prices and performance very close to their full-sized counterparts: AnandTech | Plextor M5M (256GB) mSATA Review I simply would like to know whether someone tested that on R3 itself, because by the looks of the motherboard, there are certain design differences between it and older models.

 

Same deal on the R3. Can't be used for mSATA.