M11x trouble?

Ok so I'm a little new to these forums so I don't know if I'm violating any rules so please excuse me if I do but I have some trouble with my new m11x. I just got it on 3/16/10 ordered on the 3rd. During those 13 days I've been browsing these forums reading about problems and so forth. So as soon as my m11x arrived I set up everything and enabled overclock. So far so good. I got steam to get 3 games downloaded and have played BFBC 2, SF 4, and CAC4all very decently. My problems began today when i noticed that on brightness at 2 bars with balanced as my power profile I am only getting about 6 hrs tops. Thats with the basic graphics card on aka power saver. So I think i read somewhere that i should let my battery completely run out of juice then charge it back full which I've done. After checking i still only get 6hrs is that common? Also JUst recently the computer froze on me which I thought was odd and now the fan is i guess the term is hovercrafting. I was wondering what I should do call dell? The battery life at 6hrs is a slight let down as i wanted to have around 7 overclocked like other forum members. Also as for the computer freezing up I don't know if i should be worried or not. Also on my task management bar it says im using 28% physical memory is that bad? I have a few more questions but those are my main ones for now I guess. Ty for reading all this and hope to get good replys.

 

Everything you've stated is "normal" for the M11x - enjoy the system - and don't read too much into the issues - you have a typical system.\

 

k was just concerned btw when im hooked up to my monitor through hdmi i can play youtube videos through my laptop speakers but when im playing cc4 i dont hear anything how can i change that?

 

Did you go thru the optimization thread?
Maybe you should turn off some applications that you don't usually use.

 

i did go through the optimization thread i turned off most applications yet i can only get the most 6hrs battery which above poster said to be normal so i guess ill take that but i did want 7hrs with overclock as i heard other users had such. As for the freezing it hasnt occured again so im not gonna mind it anymore but the hdmi music output through games is a little troubling im trying to get it to work but it wont for some reason.

 

The fan issue is a problem with all M11xs so don't think its just your system. AW/Dell needs to fix this issue even though they say they can't reproduce the problem in the lab (yeah right).

 

It sounds about right to me, to squeeze the extra hour out switch to power saver profile and 2 bar brightness. You can get even more by turning off the lighting, and of course disabling wireless. All told I get 10+ hours on power saver, 2 bar brightness, wireless off, lighting off. About 6-8 hours with wireless on same settings as above. Keep in mind it will take several charge and discharge cycles for the computer to accurately predict the drain rate. Mine kept getting better life for about a week.

 

I just wanted to add, but ambient temperature is gonna play a role in battery life. Hotter the ambient temp the more the fans run to cool it.

 

you have to switch to the Power Saver profile if you want to tip the scale more towards 7+ hours.

I get almost 7 hours *using* the laptop on power saver for light browsing and text based stuff. You wont get over 7 hours on balanced or if you're watching movies or doing anything above word processing... The battery life that they advertise is really if you turn the system on in power saver with minimum brightness and never touch it once

 

ah ok ty for the clarifications and the help it takes a load of my mind.