What would you like to see in the next M11x?

Real rubber feet for the base of the laptop. Worried about the tiny ones on this one falling off

 

Carbon Fiber would be AMAZING!!! Well worth the extra $750 it would add in terms of cool factor.

I like the Magneisum Alloy too, nice and strong. But it just doesn't compare to the strength of high carbon steel. Steel would make the system near invinceable. Your right about the hinges. They need to be better.

 

The M11x's battery is more than a pound IIRC, and feel free to keep the stock clockspeed and undervolt the CPU for your 12hours. As is, the M11x gets similar battery life to most netbooks (without an extended battery) so I really dont see much of a need for that upgrade.

 

Thinking about it some more, I wouldn't mind a decent sleeve than the one they provided, It looks good for sure, but I find it too troublesome to remove/insert every time a bit of padding would make it feel that much more secure while in the bag a little bonus more of an ugprade thou.

 

I agree the sleeve is very slippery isn't it? Also the "screen protector" thing doesn't protect it. I see traces of poop on the screen when it's pressed against the keyboard.

 

I'm personally torn between pulling the trigger now and accepting the weak SU4100 or holding out for an i3/5/7 R2 variant.
My hunch is the processor upgrade alone would prob. jump the 3DMark06 score up past 9,000. This theory is based on year old Gateway FX p7808u reviews. That laptop has a 9800 GTS 1GB which from what I've researched is a VERY close performer to our beloved GT 335m. Furthermore the screen res is similar too. Anandtech has a good review up with a ton of real-world performance benchmarks if you are interested.
However if you look at Crysis scores the extra Q9000 processor will only buy you around 10 extra fps on medium (low 40's) than the current m11x.
Still won't be enough juice to play at High settings 30 fps which is my goal.

In general I'm really impressed with the m11x as is. It would be a tough trade off to give up 8 hour battery life for a few extra frames. Maybe intel will release a new i7 CULV that maintains the current TDP but adds all the hyperthreaded turbo boostin' goodness? We'll see!

 

To be honest... we all know that Alienware will most likely not going to use the regular Core i5/i7 mobile processor because of the much higher TDP than the CULV chip... so assuming if the Corei5/i7 version of the CULV will be used... than the performance gain over the SU7300 will not be that significant... so the big question will be, is it worth the extra cost? I think Alienware want to target the price below $1000 price range, so I personally do not think the Core i5/i7 CULV chip will be used until the price comes down to an acceptable level. Just my two cents...

As for what I want to see next... maybe just increase the screen size by a little (without increasing the size of the laptop) OR offer a slightly higher quality screen... Also it will be nice if Alienware include a carrying case... A even smaller power adapter will be nice... I still find it a tad too big (even though I know it is already very small)...

 

i3 or i5, and a 128-bit GPU with GDDR5 memory. Maybe GTS 250M.

NO, the 335M isn't even close to a 9800M's performance. There's no comparison.

 

Not sure what point you are making Kevin_Jack (335M faster or slower than 9800M), but here are two links to back-up my claim:

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/26424-current-nvidia-gpus-compared/

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Graphic-Cards.130.0.html

Both put the 335M just slightly below the 9800M GTS.

Apologies for the slight digression.

 

I just enjoy accuracy. With an i7 720QM, the GT 335M scores just 7700 in 3DMark06. The 98gts is over 9000 with any decent C2D.

Charts aside, there's no competition.

Back on topic, I believe a 5830 would fit easily within the machine's thermal envelope.

 

1600x900 screen or higher.

 

Kevin_Jack which machine has an i7 and a 335M? I'm curious to check it out for myself.

 

5830m in m11x, no! I say go with 5650 or 5750 and ulv i7.
I believe 5650 would give more performance while using less energy. I for one would like to see a bit more battery life out of gaming on battery.
And maybe some lowvoltage ddr3.

ati 5650
http://www.amd.com/US/PRODUCTS/NOTEBOOK/GRAPHICS/ATI-MOBILITY-HD-5700/Pages/hd-5650-specs.aspx

i7ulv
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=47700&processor=i7-640UM&spec-codes=SLBMM

edit:
for fun compare the i7 and core 2 and there chipsets
http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=35547,42791,47700,43183,35505,

 

dual sli 5850s, 1 terabyte ssd harddrive raid 0 configuration, 12 gigs of 1333mhz ram, i7 processor overclocked, nitrogen cooling, 1900x1200 OLED 12.5inch touchscreen display (capable of 3d and comes with appropriate glasses), wireless output to external display, double grill speaker lights, free lifetime warranty and 24/7 customer service, 13 megapixel webcam that is detachable and functions as a standalone digital camera, subwoofer on bottom, speakers on side, tweeters built into lid, comes installed with counter strike source and undetectable aimbot hacks, a level 99 wow character of your choice, function f2 disables battery charging, nvidia optimus, same form factor and max price under $1,200, razer mamba, logitech headset, dell online backup 1 year, McAfee antivirus lifetime subscription, can be added for $99 total.

 

1920 x 1200 on a 12.5 inch screen?

you would need a microscope to see the task bar and texts. you couldn't even read two word documents side by side on something that small. everything else is ok though

 

Quite true...

3dMark06

GT 335M - 6715

9800 GTX - 10,292

 

I think abused has the best setup so far. Although I'd like to see an unlocked BIOS with it and maybe an optical drive. Something like 32X blu-ray burner

 

Not claiming the 335M is close to the 9800 GTX, but the gap would be smaller if the 335M wasn't so bottlenecked by an ULV CPU. The 335M can do a good job OCing. But it makes little differance due to the CPU. I'd like to see how a 9800 GTX would perform in the M11x. Would be a good indicator of how they compare. These types of comparisons are really only good if you can use the same hardware to test differant GPUs.

 

All I know about it is this, and that Notebookcheck benched it at 1366x768.

 

Yeah, but i honestly believe that the 335M is more in line with the 8800M GT. Perhaps we'll find out soon as larger laptops with more powerful processors adopt the 335M.

 

You forgot liquid cooling.

 

Yeah, I know the 5830 is asking too much from an 11" chassis. I guess then what I really want is an M13x.

 

Intel have already done this, months ago. People keep seem to be forgetting that Intel have moved the IGP from the chipset to the CPU die. So the TDP of a ULV Core i5/i7 (no one should be talking about i3's - they're 3x the TDP) and chipset is actually less than the TDP of a ULV C2D and chipset.

I want a i7-660UM in the M11xR2 and if the GT335M remains, a chance to use the latest drivers (if this means Optimus, then that's what I want, if not, Dell need to get their act together). I'd also like the RAM to be running at the max speed advertised and what it's capable of, not 25% less.

 

Gigabit Ethernet. Seriously, I didn't even *know* you could get 100mbps LAN chips these days. That, and lose the glossy misery. I don't like looking at my reflection all day...

 

Now this sounds exactly like what I want!

 

I don't see myself *ever* plugging a cord into the ethernet so I dont see the need for gigabit. It could be 10base for all I care lol.

 

Yeah, lol. I hate being reminded how bald I am when the screen goes black for whatever reason.

 

24.5tdp combined for core 2 ulv vs. 21.5 tdp i7 ulv 13% less tdp.

Although I rather have amd llano aka fusion in m11x, quad core and 480shaders ati gpu with tdp of 25!

 

Yes, but one missing component of that is price. I wouldn't be surprised if C2D is half cost of the i7 option.

 

What, no nuclear missle launcher? Or dual CPU's?

 

I would love a big red button that starts the m11x

I would DEFINITELY buy that in a heartbeat if that was an option; altho it should be standard on the next m11x
http://www.japanprobe.com/july06/nuke/buttons.jpg

 

The M11x needs:

1. New Intel CPUs
2. Nvidia's Optimus Technology
3. Higher resolution screen

I'll consider buying one if these conditions are met.

 

Why higher resolution? I could vote for a larger screen. A 12.1" should fit no problem, maybe even a 13.3" with some slight redesign, and keep it roughly the same size. But it's that 1366x768 native resolution that helps keep gaming at decent performance level. A higher resolution would be a squint fest especially if they keep the 11.6" screen. People have issues with the 1600x900 on the Vaio Z and that's 13.3".

 

I'd rather get a keyboard with good old L-shaped big Enter key. I could happily live with small "\" key instead.

 

Do you think they could but a 13.37 inch screen in there?

 

Not until 2012.

 

Yeah, lol, and it'd have to be a 1337x1337 resolution too.

 

lol by the time you guys get your i5/i7 refresh wish, Intel will have newer CPUs available for high performance mobile markets.

The point of using the chips they used is to keep costs, in addition to heat, minimized. I see this CPU, maybe the 2GHz iteration (cannot remember the model, SU9600???) used clear till the end of the year at least.

The SU9600 will probably be what powers the M11x R2 because it will be cheap and easy to engineer.

 

The ULV variants of the i5/i7 are only out four months. The only thing Intel are likely to do is release CPU's using the exact same technology, but clocked higher. The i7-660UM coming later this year is a good example. New CPU's, yes, new technology, no.

The SU9600 is basically a SU7300 chip with a higher CPU multiplier (8x vs 6.5x). An overclocked SU7300 at 1.6GHz will perform exactly the same as the SU9600 in standard form. As it's the same chip, there's no extra overclocking potential with the SU9600, so it's overclock ceiling is the exact same. With all this in mind, it's safe to say that we'll never see a SU9600 in the M11x.

It's similar to the i7-920 (2.66GHz) in the desktop market. You can buy a i7-960 for 4x the amount clocked at 3.2GHz, but both chips will only reach about 4.4GHz OC'd.

 

I totally agree better processors mainly i5 and i7, fingerprint reader and bluetooth as standard. With no price increases, this was what made the XPS line the XPS when I was buying my XPS these things were pretty standard.

 

You will get all of that except for screen resolution.

 

AWESOME darkhan!

any approximate idea as to when the intel core "i" series and nvidia optimus will be arriving?

 

Estimate by End of June mid July

 

now THAT'S some super sweet news!!!

 

Sweet! Do you know if Optimus will be backwards compatible with today's M11x?

 

Is that like June/July as in "5870's coming soon" terms?

 

Could we have a source confirming this?

If this is true then I can hold off for a bit.

 

Darkhan has inside links with Alienware.

 

Really? Because I need a laptop for school by September so if they refresh it in June/July I could get one, and if not........ I'll get one anyway

 

- 13" OLED Display (or at least an LCD as good as a 13" macbookpro)
- smudge and scratch resistant lid
- i7
- faster GPU

For me, the screen is the only big issue.