m11x: Impressions so far (R1)

So like many people I've kinda looked at the m11x as an oddity. It had a relatively high price for a "netbook" form factor, has some known issues (my version the right hinge already creeks) and seemed to be either loved or hated. I have a friend who's coworker wrote a glowing review of it claiming its still his "Daily" laptop so I figured I'd give it a go.

I go the refurb R1, SU7300, OC'd to 1.6 ghz, 4 GB ram, 250 GB 7200 RPM HD.

Initial impressions:

Screen: TN screen with mediocre viewing angles and too small. It's very pixel dense which leaves me squinting a bit and using the zoom function on websites/pages. I'm not impressed with viewing angels at all but the black levels are not as horrible as people expressed. Unfortunately if you've used an iPad or a HP Radiance display (or XPS 16 display) this isn't it. Very typical lower end quality laptop display with a pretty big border around it. Don't know why they didn't go with a 12" or 13" display, the case seems to fit it.

Keyboard: WOW. I'm amazed. It's smaller but somehow types REALLY nice. Has nice feedback and the button placement I like. The page up/down/home/delete keys I'm finding very useful and the backlighting is amazing. Blue looks the coolest but I find green to be the most useful (green tends to be the easiest color for humans to distinguish between and find it helps it produces right mix of contrast in low light) but it can be set to white for "professional" environments.

Touchpad: I like it. It's got a very matte texture and the buttons have a very soft press to them, no click. I really dislike clicky touchpads and tend to "tap" more often on my touchpads so this touchpad works nice for me. Surprisingly big for the size of this laptop.

Build Quality: This thing is shockingly heavy. It's not offensively heavy but it feels really dense. Power adapter is smaller but the plug end is the old style large 3 prong grounded adapter. I'd of loved to see a bit more compact.

Performance: The SU7300 seems pretty decent so far. I was initially worried about the performance thinking the i7 was needed but after playing WoW a bit, using office, playing bioshock and browing web I think it's a fine chip. Is it going to let you max out settings or plug in your 1920x1280 screen and game at that res? Nope. Is it letting you game at 1366x768 at medium settings? Without any issue. Boot time was reasonable and overall performance pretty good.

Battery Life: Gaming on discreet GPU was able to get bit over 2 1/2 hours playing WoW on high performance, integrated able to get over 5 hours browsing web with screen brightness on 80%. Pretty darn good.

Overall: So far I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10 and a "buy it if the price is right." I think the m11x is a good product but is hurt by a price that's too high. I paid 584 for my refurb after discounts/coupon and I wouldn't recommend this system over the ~700 dollar price. The HP Envy 13, Macbook and Envy 14 along with some of the asus ultra portables combine better processors, very good battery life, amazing screens and nice hardware build for ~900>1200 so as the price goes over 700 I'd say a few extra dollars get a HP. The other major reason the m11x loses points is the huge screen issues known and not fixed by dell. Buying a product that you know will break and having to invest in an extended accidental damage warranty immediately bothers me. It's a real shame dell hasn't come through here and made some positive changes.



Tim

 

By the way just wanted to add, Bioshock 2 plays at High settings 1366x768 so that's quite impressive. The one aspect the m11x doesn't fail on is reasonable gaming in a portable.

Tim

 

I think 12" would be perfect. Moreover, I would use a matte intead of a glossy screen. It is a portable machine that you should be able to use indoor, outdoor, anydoor independent of the light situation. People who are buying alienwares are not so concerned with their hair style, so they don't need a mirror all the time

Yeah, I love it, too.

The only problem for me it's the deep pressure you need to exert in order to activate the buttons. So annoying... Sometimes they don't work if I just exert a gentle/smooth press.

Ah, if only there was no hinge ghosts...

I would just add that SU7300 has a very good performance indeed. And I love to switch gpus manually.

 

matte screen in a 12.1 will be perfect, my wife got a 1201n from asus and the screen is by far better than my m11x that cost me triple more!

 

Hmmm, interesting analysis. Screen is undersized for the chassis but I have no problems with it. Not the best but fine, and if I'm doing an online shooter, I"m plugged into a 50 inch external. Wow on a 50 on nearly all ultra settings is beautiful.

I wear extra large gloves, ergo big hands, and still find the keyboard amazingly comfortable to type on. I've transferred my screenplay programs to the M11x and with the lit keyboard, makes it very easy to work in the dark in bed (when its quiet enough around here to lose yourself in a script

Lastly, on size considerations, weight is due mostly to the large battery..fair enough to me. Also, as to the 13's and 14's, well, yep screens are larger...soooo? If someone wants a 13 or a 14 or a 15 or a 16 or a 17...well, personal preference rules, to each his own. Alienware wanted the smallest gaming platform. Clearly they brought it in on target, especially when you consider that during the development of this thing, netbooks were all the rage and were surely a design consideration. Perhaps an 11.6" screen suggested a different competition than a 12" which would have immediately caused the tech press to compare the M11x to the high buck sony ultraportables etc.

In any event, since I'm older, I don't use a laptop without a good pair of reading glasses (you younger guys might try it btw, it appears to enlarge the screen and lets your young eyes focus sharply on the small text while substantially reducing eye strain which is a good thing). They are cheap get a pair or two for a few dollars and see if it doesn't improve your gaming experience .

I played around with the MSI offerings, both the original netbook, and the newer dual nano U230. Both great machines, but not in any way comparable to the M11x for gaming, or batt life, etc. Both are now sold.

I now rely on two principal lappies, my full boat Envy15, and the M11x.

I've fully tweaked the Envy now, and it can pretty much do everything anyone would ever want to do with a laptop. I haven't even begun tweaking the M11x but my initial one shot foray into o'clocking got me a fully stable 3dmark06 of 6990 which is an amazing score for a 7300 R1. I suspect that after disabling the tme I'll get at least the 1.9 the asus guys have gotten out of the su7300, and more likely closer to 2 to 2.1. It's a well built mboard and the components appear to be top shelf. We will see.

Anyway, throw in the thermal overhead designed into the unit and I think Alienware/Compal did a darned good job on this thing, excepting the hinges

Seer

 

I get a max of 6:40 on integrated on battery. There's threads around here that can help you optimize it even further.

I'd much rather have my R1 than get the i series ones and have to deal with Optimus.

 

@Seer - Good luck with the TME... A whole thread on the pll and so forth. We had someone else looking at the bios too. The challenge will be 2 fold.. Disabling TME and Increasing voltage at least back to stock while Oc is enabled.. or.. switching to OC Disabled to ge the higher voltage and then see what happens when you manually utilize setFSB to 266 or higher. I have many email exchanges with ABO from setFSB. If you disable the TME then you will be the first.

BW, StevenX

 

My sentiments exactly......For $700 IF there were no nagging issues this machine would be a monster. Not sure about the Envy goes. However I recently returned an HP Netbook to Costco and HP customer service called me and has been calling me for a few days asking for my input. I spoke with the supervisor and they had a meeting concerning my complaints....(which was non upgradeable memory on Costco units while offering it on the HP site)

If you have to add a $200-$300 warranty to this (or any computer)....I'd pass and spend another few hundred and buy a Asus G53 or the coming higher powered $500 netbooks for less (WITH a 2 year Warranty and an accidental warranty included). I am very disappointed in Dell regarding the hinge issue......This is the only reason I likely won;t keep my refurb when it gets here. I don't "baby" my machines. MOre than once my E1705 has sever as a repository for my dinner dish while watching TV LOL..I routine brush crumbs from the keyboard.....LOL Scratches look like brushed plastic, But it has been flawless. Never needed anything from Dell. Thats why I am a refurb believer and still am (the hinges are not a refurb issue) They are a NEW issue as well. When you look at hoe many of these guys ARE on the refurb sight it made me a little hesitant as well. But I wanted a powerful netbook for $700 and thats what I got coming.....Too bad I have to worry about crap like hinges on an 11" notebook....My 17 inch wobbles a bit but it has been a rock.

 

The thread about the TME mentioned by StevenX.
I can't help with the TME, but I can at least help showing the way for people interested in trying that. A near 2.0 SU7300 would be awesome and would make the R2 a kind of pointless upgrade (no wonder the TME is locked... )

 

Good write up. I just ordered from the Dell outlet "Previously ORDERED NEW" with the 20% off coupon so hopefully it ends up being pretty good. I got it for less than 800 bucks with the Core 2 duo, 320gb sata drive, 4gb ram and a bunch of extras (like the bluetooth, 2 years of antivirus, all the DVD's and re-image cd etc). . So I am quite happy with that. I really wanted to buy an R2 but Im not sure I need THAT Processor with the limited video card in this. I just sold my M15x because I never used it to its full potential, so I figure this would be perfect for me, AND Portable (more portable than my 11 pound m15x).

I reccomend if anyone is looking into buying one of these, order from Dell outlet and use the 20% off coupon, it expires today.

 

That's one of my main pros vs. cons I had when I got my R1 m11x: I wanted something light. It's supposed to be "laptop," not "lapcrush"

 

I actually like the weight of the M11x. It's the same way I feel about my cameras - they need to have that element of heft and solidity in handling in order for me to feel comfortable using them.

 

I paid 850.00 for my M11xR1 and would happily pay the same price again. The system was new. It runs everything that I want it to run and well and I have absolutely no problem with the screen. BTW, mine overclocks to 1.73. I also like the weight, no problem for me there.

 

I have to agree with Slickie here... Weight = Durability.

I handle a lot of netbooks at my job... and super light weight asus or (insert brand here) models just feel like cheap toys. The super light weight ones feel like they'll break if you open them the wrong way, or hold them with one hand on a corner. (those who've tried that on other netbooks are familiar with the creaking sound of the plastic under stress)

I would much rather have +2 pounds of durability... besides, if 4.5 pounds crushes your lap, you need to visit a gym.

 

lolz, before m11x I had one of those lap-crushers (a giant 16" inches Acer 8.5 pounds with 1 hour battery life)

 

i've had a string of Gateway NX /FX 17 inchers for gamers (killer bang for buck) and they are ALL still running just as well as they day I pulled em out of the box, which makes me wince abit every time I try to mentally justify another upgrade LOL. Not a 'laptop' laptop tho, HEAVY...but damned stoutly built.

As far as WOW performance, check my guild's video of our most recent event last weekend here:
Warcraft Hunters Union: WoW Hunter Blog with Hunter Guides, Gear Guides, and Assorted Chaos. Warcraft Hunters Union - A gathering place for hunters who have paid their dues

You can count for yourself how many peeps on the screen at once, 3 to 400 at any given moment, at sometimes another 100 on top of that...and during the whole thing my R1 pulled a minimun of 27fps.. Tons of peeps were complaining that with all the pets (everyone is a hunter) not to mention vanity pets...they were getting 5 to 7 fps during the most intense moments...

I'm a solid "THUMBS UP" on this M11x, at the current prices available with coupons and the dell outlet sales...its a no brainer. It's in the process of kicking all my other laptops to the curb for almost everything I do.

seer