XPS15 to Alienware M11x

From XPS 15" to Alienware 11"....anybody experience this? what's your comment with the size difference?

Also, is there any heat issue with M11x or any problem that I need to know before buying this?

Still considering M15x though.

Your advise will be highly appreciated.

PS. I'm using this laptop mostly on browsing, chatting, games (not much), office work (excel sheet, other program), watching online.

 

If you're only going to browse the web, chat, do some casual gaming I would strongly suggest the M11x instead of the M15x. The M15x is rather large from what I've heard (literally thick as a brick).

Also in terms of price you'll save a couple of hundreds by going for the M11x!

 

$1,474 Good or Bad price?


PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 640UM (4M Cache, 1.2 GHZ with 2.266 GHz Max Turbo Frequency) - Overclockable edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit) edit
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHz edit
HARD DRIVE 500GB SATAII 7,200RPM edit
BLUETOOTH Bluetooth Module, 2.1+ Enhanced Data Rate edit
MOBILE CONNECTIVITY No Internal WWAN Antenna Installed edit
Personalize
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1 Year Basic Plan edit
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months edit
My Software & Accessories
SYSTEM COLOR Alienware M11x, Soft Touch Stealth Black edit
ALIENFX COLOR Quasar Blue edit
OS CUSTOMIZATION Alienhead 3D edit
PRE-INSTALLED GAMES Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed edit
My Accessories
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
VIDEO CARD 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M
LCD PANEL 11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED
SOUND OPTIONS Internal High-Definition Surround Sound Audio (5.1)
ADOBE READER Adobe Acrobat Reader
AC ADAPTER Alienware M11x 90W A/C Adapter
NETWORK CARD Integrated 10/100 Network Interface Card
AUTOMATIC UPDATES Automatic Updates: On
WEBCAM 1.3MP Web Cam
Standard Nameplate Trigger Standard Nameplate
WIRELESS CARDS Alienware M11x a/b/g/n 2x2 MIMO Wireless

 

It's probably as cheap as you can go. So I'd say it's a good price.

 

I'm surprised because M11x don't have DVD driver....

any major issue i need to know?

 

The only reason you should even consider the M11x is if you feel that your 15" laptop is too large. If you do not insist that you NEED a smaller laptop, or if you are merely thinking "Hey, it would be nice to have a smaller laptop", then I would reconsider the M11x.

The I moved from a Dell XPS M1330 to an Alienware M11x, and the laptop is pretty small. It could be my 30-year-old eyes, but I would not want to use the laptop as my primary machine. It is absolutely great as a mobile gaming laptop. But as a dedicated primary machine, it does not suit me.

As for your system config: I would downgrade the Core i7 --> i5, and the 8GB RAM --> 4GB RAM. For what you will be doing with that laptop, you will notice absolutely zero performance benefit with a Core i7 or 8GB of RAM. If you want better performance, then take the money you save with those downgrades and buy an aftermarket 128GB SSD. Or (better yet), put the money into an extended warranty for your machine.

 

I went from an xps 1730 to the m11x and haven't looked back. The 1730 was an obvious knee-crippler with all the portability of a small industrial estate.

I love my m11x, you can always get an external monitor for when you're stationary but so far the screen is acceptable to me. It's now my only machine.

 

there's no big difference between i7 and i5?.....i think i'll keep 8GB.

 

any recommended external DVD driver for M11x too?

 

If gaming isn't one of your top two reasons for your next notebook purchase, then why are you looking at an alienware at all?

 

That is correct. Benchmarks will repeatedly show that there is practically no benefit to a Core i7 CPU in real-world applications. The only exception to this case is if you are doing some sort of heavy video transcoding. So, save yourself the money and go with the Core i5.

As for the 8GB of RAM - it is definitely your decision on what to do. But I would still recommend that you go down to 4GB. In all likelihood, you won't even come close to using 4GB of RAM with this laptop (you probably don't use 4GB now). I say that if you want performance, your best place to spend your money is to get an OCZ Vertex 1 120GB SSD for $250. An SSD will absolutely show benefit to you, especially since you are using your laptop for general application use.

 

120GB SSD - capacity is too small. Btw, what kind of performance i will notice if i got this SSD?

If i buy 4GB, i can add another 4GB in the future right? M11x is capable of that?

 

yes, but you'll get 2x 2GB sticks. If you go for 6GB you'll get a a 4GB and 2GB stick ...cheaper to upgrade in the future

 

I would go stick with the i7 since you really cant upgrade that later on. Also the $300 premium Dell charges for 8 gigs is crazy. Most people here run 4 gigs and are fine. I upgraded to 8 gigs after the fact since mine came with 3gigs to start. I am using a Asus SDRW-08D1S-U BK for my external DVD. I works great and is very small and compact.

 

256GB SSD - Samsung Solid State Drive [Add $495.00 or $15.00/month1]

8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHz [Add $300.00 or $9.00/month1]


better go to SSD?

My only concern is 256GB capacity is not enough to me, that's why I'm looking to 500GB SATA. Any recommendation on this problem?

 

It is hard to describe the performance boost. The best way that I can describe it is this: Going from a mechanical hard drive to an SSD is like playing an online game from 300ms ping to 30ms ping. Everything you do with your computer just "feels" so much smoother and more responsive. And I have never heard of a single person who went from HDD to SSD and thought "meh, not worth it." That says a lot to me.

And if you get 4GB of RAM today, you can upgrade to 8GB in the future. However, the memory that comes with the machine is 2x2GB. In order to upgrade, you will need to remove those 2x2GB sticks, and replace them with 2x4GB sticks. You can then sell those 2x2GB sticks on eBay or whereever.

As for the CPU - I think that "you can't upgrade later on" isn't a good reason, unless there is something worthwhile for you to upgrade to. Core i5 --> i7 is merely a small bump in CPU speed. And if you look at *ANY* CPU benchmark published by any online review site in the past 15 years, they will all universally show that CPU speed is irrelevant to gaming performance or application performance once you are above a certain minimum threshold. The only people who I think should be getting a Core i7 are people that are specifically running a CPU-intensive application (like video encoding), or people who have the money and simply are willing to pay for "the best" just for the satisfaction of having "the best".

 

And if you go with a 4GB + 2GB stick, you lose dual channel memory mode.

 

SSD all the way. Drop down from a Core i7 --> Core i5, and you just covered the cost of that drive.

As for the storage capacity - use a high capacity external USB drive. If you really look at your usage, you probably don't really need to have all of your pics / music / videos / with you on your laptop at all times. In many cases, pulling out a portable USB drive when you need that content would be perfectly reasonable.

 

I'm with you re: SSD....now how about the capacity, 256GB is too small for me. any recommendation?

 

See previous post.

Or, consider getting the smallest hard drive offered by Dell to save money, and get a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB drive for about $150. Their speed is about halfway between an SSD and a 2.5" 7200rpm HDD - about the speed of a desktop Western Digital Velociraptor 10,000rpm drive.

 

$1,594 - i7, 4GB, 256SSD

preliminary shipping date is 8/26/2010 - is this true? +/- how many days accurate is this?

 

It's pretty accurate. Most people report the laptop will ship on-time, or earlier.

If you want it faster, then get the Fast Track system (which can be in your possession by Wednesday or Thursday). It is a system with Core i5, 4GB of RAM, 250GB mechanical HDD for about $1050 (-10% discount if you are a student or govt employee).

Then, order the SSD as an aftermarket part... I would recommend the OCZ Agility 2 240GB SSD for $490. Keep the 250GB mechanical hard drive that it comes with in a 2.5" external USB enclosure, and just use it as an external hard drive.