*OFFICIAL* Alienware M11x Owners Lounge - Part 2

Agreed, answer to clarify this would be nice.

I know.I hope not.

Again I agree, Ive never heard of HDMI connection limited to 720p but please don't hurt me
Darkhan has a very,very good rep around these parts and has my respect for answering everything we ask him so maybe he can ask one of the heads there to give us a more definitive answer.

 

I kinda feel the same way, it's like either go with Intel 160gb or stick with conventional HD's. SSD is one area where you can't mess around because you really do get what you pay for and if you go cheap you likely will get a drive that is similiar in performance to a conventional platter HD.

I put the 160gb Intel in my desktop because it is a beast, over 30k 3dmarks with Vantage single card close to world record (at the time that I built it) but I just don't really know if there would be as big of an advantage with something like the m11x. In a beast system the HD ends up being the biggest bottleneck but in more conventional systems the increase in performance is not as noticeable. In my desktops it will always be SSD from now on because it was a huge difference not just in boot time but in every application and game I run but in something like an 11" netbook i'm really not sure it's worth the investment as far as price to performance ratio goes.

Still haven't made up my mind because it's such a significant investment compared to the 700 pricetag of the m11x, I might just end up pulling my SSD from the desktop for a day and giving it a run in the m11x to see how the difference compares to my desktop but I definitely agree SSD is not something to plunge headfirst into without first researching and getting a better knowledge of what's available.

People tend to defend their purchases to the bitter end never able to admit it's fault's just because they are afraid of feeling faulted by not having purchased the best available so you have to take every bit of information you read on the internet with a grain of salt.

 

dude, I guess everyone is entitled to his own opinion but COME ON we're not even supposed to be receiving the first m11x till march. Long time before we can do anything even remotely useful to people who don't care about the side-topics, what are you hoping to read about in the thread anyway? Without the side topics this thread would be devoid of posts.

Not only that, with all the attention this thread gets you can tell just from the last 10 posts whether or not someone got an m11x yet. Then I guarantee all the side topics will die down as people who even care to discuss side topics in this thread will be just asking a billion questions to the lucky first owner.

 

Thank you for the reply.
Because I could not find the function key in the user manual, you mind telling me specifically which function key does so ?

 

It's all personal preference and perspective. For a gaming laptop where you need significant storage space, it makes sense to go with a 320GB or 500GB 7200RPM HDD. I can't see spending what amounts to half the cost of my notebook on a storage drive. Plus for gaming, the only difference it makes is with load times. So I have to wait a few more seconds, big deal. I'm not going to part with $400 just so I can boot my games faster.

 

cant remember, something like fn+f2. Why you wanna know, is that an m11x in your pocket?? HMMMM??

 

Ah not yet.
It came out of my curiosity x_x

 

You're not allowed to have curiosity here! >

 

as much as I like to stress the 4k randoms for fear people will not at least consider them before getting like a jmicron or samsung, some of the general benefits of SSDs convert really well to laptops.

For example, in my old dell e1505, putting in there the first SSD I got, a vertex, really opened my mind to SSDs. For the first time since having the e1505 it was whisper quiet half the time when the gpu fan wasnt running. It was rather amazing having a noiseless laptop even if it didnt last long as soon as you started using the gpu or cpu.

If you become aware of the dangers of moving running laptops because of traditional platter HDDs, this changes things too. You can basically get up from your desk and just yank the laptop and dash over to another place without thinking because the only thing that had mattered before was the HDD losing it's data. New laptops with HDDs even start off with either an annoying screech when the HDD is forcibly stopped when you move the laptop (like macbooks) or even go so far as a toshiba I have now that has a popup saying AHH THE HDD STOPPED TO PROTECT DATAS. No more with SSDs.

The you have the fact that you're almost guaranteed the drive wont fail in the first 5 years or so you own the SSD based on their estimates. Platter HDDs failing is always a terribly annoying thing to deal with and has happened to me surprisingly often.

Last but not least, when I tried an SSD in my 1000he netbook, I was amazed how on power saver and half brightness it was using a whopping....7 MWH of power. It listed something like 10-11 hours of battery life with that power drain. Then I plugged in the HDD that came with it, and unsurprisingly it wouldnt go below 10-11 MWH. That was the final nail in the coffin for my SSD tests that guaranteed I'd either almost always use whatever laptop had my SSD in it and I'd buy a laptop with two HDD slots in it to dual an SSD and HDD. Now I realized the m11x is so much cheaper it's time to splurge on a 160GB intel for $300 which is patiently waiting its m11x mate.

 

This thread is fine for now... We'll get to part 3 when its needed. Owner's Lounges are a broad discussion thread as far as I'm concerned. We want to keep the 'topic at the moment' somewhat related to the actual lounge (i.e. M11x).

You think this thread is moving now? Wait until the Benchmark thread is created. I am very interested to see the results once you all have your systems in hand and I open the thread up.

----------------------------

On a side note, I would love it if folks would make use of the order status thread more. Its a great alternative to posting here.

Official Alienware M11x Pre-Order/Order Status
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=456131

 

I'm gonna be the first guy there benchmarking the bejeezus out of this thing and comparing to the dv7t quad. I probably won't need to fudge the numbers in the m11x's favor too much either :-D

I always found it kinda weird it's an owners lounge when nobody has it though hehe

 

El oh el. Its a pre-owner's lounge? LOL. Any malaysians with an ETA yet?

 

should get a ETA by Mon or Tues. among the first to order on Wed morning when M11x was up on the site on midnight and still stuck in 'order received'.

 

Well, where else are we going to be posting? The debut thread? lol

It was time for one (actually, part 2 since you all maxed the first) - I am just shocked at how quickly you all have been posting. Its been tough to keep up with it.

 

Have you called / emailed to check up on your order? If it is still infact in their system and such and not in "order purgatory?"

 

Sorry Batboy for maxxing out the thread so quickly.

@wingzee = let us know how that goes ay? If you get stuck waiting, that just might be me holding up the line bargaining with the sales rep.

 

This laptop is really something and nothing we have ever seen before at such a small size.
DELL/AW hit a grandslam with all the heat generated by this,it looks great, should perform really well and it's relatively affordable.
Everyones really excited about the M11x

 

Well I just ordered one. I have to admit I didn't want one at first when I saw the only processor option was the SU7300, but when I really sat and thought about the fact that there's essentially NO other laptop in this size category with a better processor and especially not one even close to having a better video card, I was sold.

My Asus also doesn't have keyboard backlighting, which I absolutely find essential on laptops these days. Off to ebay with you, ul30vt!

And I did go for the DELL/Samsung SSD. I understand it's not the best, but at least it's better than the platter drive.

 

O'rah! A convert!

 

tell me about it, this thing came outta left field and they had every deserved right to charge $1000 for the base and it was $800.

flabbergasted.

 

I was so close to getting the UL30vt-a1 and then someone on the amazon page posted about the M11x. I casually clicked on it and was floored.

It was exactly what I was searching for (awesome for games, backlit keyboard, small). I was ready to spend $1100 on it but I got it down to $901 and I'm so happy.

 

I saw it on Engadget when they announced it at CES, was actually waiting to see if the MBP was getting refreshed Arrandale cores and what do yah know, that little buggah showed up at Dell's keynote and I said "Stuff the Mac, I'm going alien."

 

yeah i did and i was told that my credit card payment only got cleared on Friday.

nuke, i would spam here till you get off the line. i have a personal contact working in Dell's customer care so i would hope to get things expedited anyway.

i was waiting for Stevie J to announce the refreshed MBP after the iPad keynote (his "one more thing"), obviously disappointed and told myself "screw Jobs, i am going from A(Apple) to A(Alienware)".

still rumors going on that the new Arrandale MBP will be out by end of Feb though, which then i would have probably got my M11x.

 

Ooooohhh, then I would know I'm doing a good enough job to inspire a bout of spamming lol. Nah, by then I would be grinning at my gunmetal silver M11x whenever I set it next to a laptop at the store.

 

haha. so it will be Lunar Shadow Grey for you eh?

*will be doing the same too. what kinda surprise i would bring if i decided to bring the M11x to work? bet the manager would be amused and ask me where on earth did this little beast came from. "it's from Mars, sir. see the Alienhead?" (i am not working at a tech/computer store)

 

Yeaaaap. Grey all the way. I'ma gonna pull it out every odd hour just to watch the customers oggle it. I'ma gonna say "Its from awesomeland, see the awesomeness? Is yours as awesome? No? Awww... I win. "

 

Awesomeland....lol
That's priceless
March is to far away! Everyday I log on this thread explodes by 40/50 pages.
It's going to be a while and this thread is gonna be huge by then.

 

I'm pretty mean when it comes to rubbing it in, but I get my fair share of rub-ins anyway so LOL. Cannot wait to unbox my awesome.

 

Damn right! Since so many of us are in "build" do you think the laptops will ship out sooner than expected?

 

Well the drive wasn't really an issue as the space is just handy. My reason for the 4100 is that there are a lot more knowlegdeable people than me on here such as "Eggs.." who made a very good case for the 4100. What strikes me is that everybody seems to be more concerned about overclocking whereas for me I just wanted a netbook type size that could play games.

Originally I was over the moon when I found out about the ION range as they were groundbreaking last year. Then I started looking at the ASUS ul30xx range but these haven't materialised in the UK with the discrete graphics. Now this bad boy turns up and what's more surprising is actually available and compared to the others will be warp speed games wise.The main problem for everyone I feel is that we will never be satisfied hence why technology moves on so quick. The thread is interesting in that the underlying tone certainly where the CPU is concerned is that they just want more. For me this laptop is fantastic and I'm happy to embrace it.

 

Sorry forgot to add I believe it's Feb 25th also, that's the date the DELL guy quoted.

 

Might. Might not. When I bought my Studio 15, ETA was 2nd Jan but I got it on Xmas eve.... So its too close to call.

 

The thing I need to know 100% before pulling the trigger is will this thing perform better the my 2.53 2CD with 9600gt ang 4gb of ram? Afew people have said yes but I'm really worried as the CPU is low spec compaired. I will be playing star trek online, l4d and boarderlands etc. I mean I know things like gta4 go more from CPU is this the case alot?

 

Giggles. Dell's said it can handle a lot of games at a steady 30fps and GTA4 is one of them. It does ME2 on max and native resolution at a steady 50fps. It might or might not best the rig you have (too early to tell, we need eggs to uberbenchmark his when he gets his to have some hard numbers), but as a secondary rig, it would totally pwn. And as I've read from some posters earlier, mostly RTS's are CPU heavy, the rest are more reliant on the GPU.

 

The only rts I still play is Age of Empire II lol.

 

Anyone in UK at build stage yet???

 

actually nuke the hardwareheaven review benchmark for ME2 was on med settings and it only just avg above 30fps with it dropping below 30fps some of the time.

 

Hmmm. Sure its not MW2? Mass Effect 2 mate IGN tested that, Hardwareheaven tested Modern Warfare 2.

 

Yeah I was waiting for an MBP myself but the refresh is still a month out since they are due to be refreshed on 3/10/2010. But this Alienware after all the coupons was cheaper than the MBP and has better performance and may even be able to run OSX once someone makes a guide.

 

OMG HOW DO YOU KNOW?!

 

I have a source who told me 3/10 from an Apple District Rep.

 

Hey does anyone have any idea how well the M11x will handle Empire total war?

My ETA is 25th of Feb....can wait

 

bought and waiting. browsing accessories meanwhile and this mouse seems like the m11x's soul mate.
http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Orochi-Bluetooth-Notebook-Gaming/dp/B002JTWODG

 

Thats so far away. It just hardened my resolve to squeeze every last cent out of that poor rep tomorrow. I'd like to have some insider info myself

 

Yeah he told me that they couldn't announce the new MBP's at the Ipad event because they need to make tweaks to OSX for the i3 processors to be compatible(I was asking about the 13" MBP's) and what do you know the event came around and they never announced anything so he was right. Then I had my friend ask him again when the refresh is coming so he said 3/10.

 

Apologies,you are correct. i was still in bed recovering from a night out when i read and replied... *he says sheepishly*

 

is anybody planning to test the m11x on the Starcraft2 beta ?

 

Don't think to many people are in the SC2 beta yet.

 

well, if that's the exact launch date of the revised MBP, i am glad i did not hold on to my purchase and wait for it. March 10th is simply too far away. glad i had pulled the trigger on M11x.

btw, i3 for MBP 13" is pretty disappointing, many is looking for at least a i5 420m. unless it came with a good dedicated graphics (GT 330m?) and higher resolution (1440x900).

 

Oooohhh... Thats too far off for me too. So m11x it is.

Looool. Cheers. XP

All too true mate.