*OFFICIAL* M11x Owners Lounge - Part 3

To all the whiners over the 1.6 vs 1.73 OC, please hurry up and cancel your orders so others might get their m11x sooner, and then leave the thread since you will no longer be owners. Thanks.

 

samsung r480 comes with good specs and high ghz for those who wan 1.73ghz from ur aw m11x. you guys should consider samsung r480 ^^ specs better than m11x too.

 

The difference between Alienware and samsung = Build quality, Garantie,...!!

 

Just a curious question though, since the CPU would be the reason of FPS dips in CPU reliant games, won't that 300mhz/433mhz perhaps reduce or if possible eliminate the dip?

 

In some games it would. At some point in the game, that little differance can eliminate the dip, that is correct. Although, that is probably a rare ocassion. OCing the GPU would probably eliminate more dips, where there just isn't quite enough power

 

speaking about m11x and r480 specifically, r480 has better specs and high ghz. suitable for those who wants 1.73ghz and beyond.
but cooling system i would trust m11x.
you might be able to play cod mw2 for 2 hours with your m11x.
but with samsung, i think you should stop after 30 minutes of gaming. otherwise, you might get killed in an explosion.
correct me if im wrong.

 

No bad experience and multiple experience with samsung told me that alienware has better quality, on this post on each pages you can see one or more guy talking about their samsung R... and there it is the thread about M11x...

 

Not to mention it's 14", which some in an earlier discussion (Actually, it's probably a few hundred if not thousand post back, I can't remember) have been arguing that it's not a fair comparison due to the size, but I'll shut up before it leads to another discussion regarding that.

Now if only we can get a benchmark showing the difference in those games that are more CPU reliant

 

anyone played Dawn of War 2 or Company of Heros on this machine yet? or Batman?

 

Lol...

Once again the sheer size of every M11x thread continues to confuse me does anyone have this thing yet?

 

yeah, lotsa people have gotten theirs...
linky

 

Terminal, this is more of a chat room then it is a thread lol

 

Quite about that "other" laptop, we dont want to bring this thread into disrepute again, lets keep this M11X based.

 

Just to toss some more info in the pot I’ll give some info attained from Dell just after the M11x launch. I noticed it was advertised (in the U.S.) as containing DDR3@1066, but the custom options spec’d it @800MHz. I gave Dell a call and asked the sales rep what RAM it shipped with and at speed. I got an expected “which way did he go George?” answer, so I called tech support. The tech rep told me it shipped with DDR3 1066 clocked at 800MHz.

I asked why the RAM was down-clocked (I know the concept but was curious as it would be more cost efficient to stick in DDR3 only rated to 800MHz. Not much, but a few $$). He told me that Dell was still developing new features for the M11x and in the future it would ship with the memory clocked at 1066MHz. Obviously I flooded him with questions about how the FSB speed increase would be compensated. Will it have the same CPU running at a higher clock? Will it have a different CPU?

He did some research, spoke with someone else for a few minutes and provided me the following explanation. “At the current time units will be configured and shipped with memory running at 800MHz and he can confirm that in the future the memory will be running at the full 1066MHz capacity, but he can’t offer any further information.” He wouldn’t give me any info about the CPU, or an estimated date.
He did say that in the future the unit will ship with the memory running at 1066, which obviously means this CPU will either be stocked at a higher clock, or a different CPU will be added (Which I expect by next year anyway. Especially since Intel already announced plans to phase the core 2 duo’s completely out of new systems in a relatively short amount of time.)
Later I found the review on HH and came to the conclusion that Dell was seeking the 1.73GHz CPU clock in the near future, but released the system before they were happy with the performance at said clock.
Now seeing the possibility of a ceiling being placed on the multiplier and the core voltage being capped as well when trying an OC it points to a possible load problem that Dell hasn’t worked out yet.
It is what it is. I asked a few more questions; some here, some other places. Ultimately I decided it will do what I want for the life I expect of it. FYI I expect to replace a laptop every 18-24 months. I was really hoping for a MBP 13 refresh this time around but got tired of Mac “leak a little here, show a little there, and let the hype build!” marketing tactics. While the Sony Z’s are tempting, I hate Sony enough to not on a vaio if it were on fire. This time around I really wanted a little workhorse that I could game on while in transit, or on lunch breaks. I know it plays ME2 and Dragon Age with the little 1.3Gigy so I’m happy with it. Hopefully it will play Assassin’s Creed 2 as well.
Either way, I decided not to hold out because by the time the M11.2x drops there will be something else to wait for. So I will enjoy it until I replace it and pass it down. If it doesn’t get the job done at 1.3 or 1.6GHz, then I’ll just have to OC it the old fashioned way

 

Please leave, this is a M11X thread, not a promote crappy Samsung laptops thread. Fury already tried this, no one wants the Samsung, we want the M11X. Thanks for trying though.

 

That's kind of mean. There was only one person who got legitimately upset and that's because he was screwed over by Dell/AW once before.

I think we should be able to discuss disappointment because Dell/AW gimped a processor (for whatever reason, be it battery life or stupidity).

 

BTW - in answering myself from an earlier thread about enabling/disabling the battery, it can be done in the BIOS, but also with the hotkey fn+f2. What i was missing before is you have to hit f2 AGAIN while the icon is on the screen to toggle the mode. If you hit it, then let the icon fade, then hit it again, you will just get the same "battery enabled" over and over.

 

I was reading a review about Samsung R480 and it should be similar to Sony Vaio VPC-CW2S1E/B (i found it today at less than 800€ here in Portugal).
But my last two laptops were 12.1'' and after holding Sony all i can say is M11x is the way to go.
Nvidia 330m with core i3/i5 doesn't seem to play much better than this su7300/335m. And those are a lot bigger and a little heavier, not to mention battery issues.
At present moment, nothing really compares to this Alienware, and i will buy it. Despite the OC issue, it really looks the best (or only) deal around.
I'll just wait for more benchmarks and a few more euros
We all know new products are always coming, but as i said, NOW this is the deal.
Ontopic again, you lucky owners have noticed any issues with the screen? Another user had a problem with it. Just to know if it has any build problems or it was just that one...

 

@ Bakareshii

Thank you for that, very interesting.

You could say all you want they went with the SU7300 because of battery life, but the reality is they went with it because Dell got some uberawesome deal on the chips, and selling it as a $100 upgrade over the Pentium will make them a lot of money.

Don't be naive; have some business sense.

It sounds likely a bios revision will be coming in the future, and even more likely we'll see the "real" CPU for this machine in the next year or so.

I hate to bring it up, but I will. Both Sony and Apple have proven that you can get good battery life out of a regular volted CPU, and the case is even more compelling when you consider just how small the dimensions of the Z actually are (ZOMG ITS GOT A SLIGHTLY BIGGER SCREEN U R WRONGZ).

By the way, you guys realize there's an SL9600 clocked at 2.1 GHZ also right? Let alone the SU9400. There were other options Dell could've considered for this computer in the same category (low voltage) to at least give as OPTIONAL upgrades to those WILLING to PAY MORE for better performance.

The fact that this isn't the case even further suggests Dell just got a tremendous deal on the 7300 and are looking to push them out the door, quickly.

Either way, I'm intrigued by the information you posted, and it will be interesting to see how they play this out in the coming months.

One more note: just because you're happy with the CPU underperforming doesn't mean everyone else has to be, I don't personally care what you do or do not find to be annoying, myself, RPG-XPS, and others have every right to voice our concerns and criticisms as you do to praise the butt cheeks of the m11x.

Even moreso because I already ordered this thing, which techinically means I'm an owner.

I'm not here for popularity, I'm here to debate, obtain information, help others see objectively, and also to help decide what decisions I myself will be making.

 

who said 5 frames per second doesnt matter? thats quite a bit...
from 27 to 32... or 25 to 30...
i would feel the difference indefinitely

 

What will irritate me is if dell puts an i3,i5 or i7 in this in a few months.

 

why is it flawgic ?! lol ! whats your logic behind your statement?

my logic came from having family who are lawyers and i know they get paid £500 an hour to make water tite contracts that will hold up in court thus i kept refering to the terms and conditions plus without any sort of factual reference to back up anybodies statement it was pure speculation in my opinion. although you could argue my opinion was also speculation due to the fact i did not have any factual reference!

Rule of thumb in law is if you want to return anything you have bought you have to supply the product back exactly as it was supplied to you in the first place otherwise they have no legal obligation to take it back. i was speculating oc'ing would count as a change meaning you would not be returning it as it was supplied to you.

anyway this is irrelevant becuase the dude with the Hal 9000 picture (apologies cant remember your name) quoted dell policy with other laptops so that basically confirmed we can oc the m11x.

 

This. +1

It's aggrivating more people don't realize this.

Based off early benchmarks, the m11x is right on the fence in several games being playable on medium/high with around 30FPS.

5 FPS is a significant number when you're talking about the difference between frames in the 20's and 30's.

 

@SaosinEngaged

It was obvious from day 1 why Dell went with the su7300. Dell has been working closely with Intel for quite some time. So closely that it was an issue with the AMD v. Intel lawsuit. Dell got these processors at a great discount. I'm quite sure they are more than happy to move the processor at a $100 premium. However, it is the better processor of the two offered.

The post was an FYI. I never implied that anyone should be happy with the processor. I simply stated that from what I see so far it appears to be doing what I was hoping for, ergo I am happy with that. If I was hoping for more I would not have placed my order.

 

using the car analogy i would call using the oc feature going under the bonnet of your VW and switching a turbo button as unles your a pc enthusiast you would never go near the bios. and usually there would be big print in the terms and conditions saying use this feature at your own risk. i was assuming (yes assumption is mother of all $%&* ups!) that it simply stated somewhere in the terms that oc'ing was to be used at the users own risk.

 

Just for clarification's sake, my post was not at all directed towards yourself. The part where I was speaking to you personally stopped at the "Thanks for that information, very interesting" part.

I was speaking my mind to the other posters here.

At any rate, enjoy your system.

 

Could I posibly be the first golden ticket winner who have received their machine. Mine arrived yesterday morning and I'm currently typing this on it.

First impressions are ok but not staggered. Screen is a bugger, like a mirror and difficult to see during the day.

Sat with it on my lap and its going to help keep me warm during the winter. Thought I'd read somewhere this had some cooling on the base with fans....

Not quite as snappy as I'd hoped, bringing up a browser takes a good couple of seconds but this is just my first impressions.

Bought a samsung usb drive and a nice little targus xs rucksack so I'm good to go. Who'd have thought the UK would get their's so quick.

 

your not the first, but one of the first.
and a couple seconds to open a browser? which one?
it takes half a second to open chrome on my netbook with 900mhz celeron.
this cant be true.. spyware....?

 

oh j1ngles.. how many people envy you and the rest who received .. especially us who hath ordered the 3rd of February .. not only, but stuck in Dell's "build" Purgatory..jealousy and spite

 

Try downloading Chrome or Opera, as these seem to be very optimized for lower-spec'd processors. Also try playing a movie or downloading a torrent, as these could help kick in the cooling system.

Also hop on over to the arrival thread so I can bug you about benchmarks and testing.

 

Except it won't be 5 FPS in every game, it will be 5 FPS in the very best case. Plus, you are not going to see more FPS if the reason it is low is because you are running it in all high, that is a GPU limit not CPU.

 

Just ordered this:

I'll test it out for you guys when my M11x gets here. I know that there is more glass around the edges of the screen, but I don't really care. The site says this thing is easy-on, easy-off so if I want to get another I can.

 

for info and will probably some people off, I ordered mine on the 6th Feb and got told it would be the 25th so nice surprise.

The browser was explorer 8 but I'll look into the chrome option. I'm a bit peeved that they've sent me this with McAfee as I explicitly stated no so that's getting dumped as soon as I have a bit more time. As I've got a USB drive I'll put 3dMark06 on tomorrow and give you a true reading. For info I got 4gb of RAM and the 4100 due to eggscrambled excellent case for not paying the extra £40 for the 7300. I did find another website which did a direct comparison of the chips and it is very marginal for the 7300.

Sorry but I'm probably not the right person to ask ifyou want full breakdowns and benchmarks etc,(married with very young demanding baby) but I'll do what I can.

 

those of you that are comparing the Z or Apple are saying normal volted CPU's and GPUs can still achieve good battery but those are not the only components that affect battery life. Maybe the M11x needed a ULV b/c it draws a lot of power for cooling (probably the case) as well as the higher TDP for the 335m. Sure the Sony CW27 has an i5/330m but that gets ~3hours battery AND have you seen the fan on that thing? Tiny, the cooling comes from the larger size. I'd rather have a very cool running machine than one that gets warm yet still gets the same battery life. I had a unibody MB and those are great, but even with the aluminum and fan running 24/7 while playing WoW, the palmrests got warm and made me sweaty and that annoyed me. We don't know for sure how cool the Z stays either, there has to be sacrifice somewhere. AW's sacrifice is a ULV and some added weight for improved battery life and superb cooling, sacrifices in which I can live with. Not anyone can though which is why there is arguments, and why this is probably not the system for you.

@jingles all I ask is a SU4100 overclocked 3Dmark06 run =)

 

I'm getting the impression that most people on here thinks that this is supposed to be the "end all, beat all" laptop. Stop having expectations higher than the Himalayas. It's a ~$800 laptop! imo this is one of the BEST laptops I have had in a LOOOOONG time. I also think that this is much better than the entry Apple laptops.

 

lol i like how you say its not the end all, beat all yet you praise it as one of the best laptops you've had ..
but I agree alot of people have waay too high of expectations.

I just really wanted something light, portable and that can game poquito when i'm not at home

 

@dark
I'm just saying. This is one heck of a good laptop for ~$800. I was going to get the ul30vt but stopped due to the built quality. ppl this thing is built very solid. The built quality rivals even the Thinkpad! Did I also mention that this is one of the BEST looking 11inch laptops in the market (waaay better looking than a Thinkpad, too). It might not look like much in the pictures, but, when you see it irl, this is one sexy beast.

Bingo! This is THE laptop for you

 

I was looking at the UL30vt too until I saw a thread on its amazon.com page about the M11x. Luckily I did! I was put-off by the 30's mouse button (one solid button and cheap plastic) and its trackpad (little bumps).

 

@ceol
I put off the ul30vt also because there was a ul50 in my local bestbuy. The keyboard flexed like crazy! Cheap!

 

Hey ive really been on the fence about getting this laptop or maybe throwing down some extra for the m15x. I must say this recent processor back and forth certainly has'nt helped because this was my main concern with the laptop. I am currently sporting a 4 yr old E1505 inspiron with the T2400 duo 1.87 intel chip and 1 GB of RAM. I must say i do hate being able to outhink my lappy. Just now i was running an update and searching through my music and google chrome was nearly unbearably slow. So i would feel great if you guys would say this processor will blow that old 4 yr tech out of the water, im sure the 4 gb of RAM would certainly help as well. On another note if i went with the m15x which im really leaning away from, that 240 base gard is crap am i right?

Thanks

 

Just as an aside from all this, I kinda think I'm finished with all the worries and wondering about different parts, as well as the need for more information and pictures, this side of my anticipation has been filled. I will still read these threads very often and post too, but now I just wanna get and start using this laptop.

 

Well see the M15x is like a buff guy who is high on testosterone and cannot be stopped (runs of full dedicated GPU constantly). The M17x is a tall buff guy who can think and stop to read a book (switch between integrated and dedicated GPU) but beat the crap out of 18 people at once (like Batman and SLI/CrossfireX). The M11x is like a smallish guy, big for his age, but can handle his own with the local bullies (335m GT) but has lots of hardships to overcome and learn in order to harness that power (SU7300, or a young Bruce Wayne). That's how I like to think about it.

M11x: Young Bruce Wayne
M15x: Bruce in training
M17x: Batman

Pick the best laptop that fits your needs.

 

wow .. very extensive metaphor LOL

 

hey guys whats the number to find out what stage Ur build is at? :S (U.S btw)

 

I have used several ULV lappies (SU7300) and none have been slow with Firefox, so not sure what problem the OP is having here. Most apps run more than fine and just as good as a desktop for most purposes (video decoding would be one task best for other cpu's). Like posted before, the SU7300 runs some heavy MAME games smoothly at 1.3ghz, so Firefox is nuttin' compared to that

 

Same here. Not sure about it being "slow"

Mine is extremely snappy. Chrome launches instantly. Very very smooth and fast

 

Just ran it.

And it's only adding to the confusion. It correctly identifies it as being stock 1.3GHz with a FSB of 800.

However, it identifies the processor running at 1.600 GHz (correct)... but the FSB at 984, which means 984/4 = 246. 246 x 6.5 = 1.600GHz!

So the PIU is identifying it as 6.5x multiplier, and not 6x.



There is something seriously bugged with how the software is reading the settings.

We have Everest and 3dMark06 reading the CPU as 1.73GHz (6.5 x 266).

We have the Intel PIU reading the CPU as 1.600 GHz (6.5 x 246)

We have CoreTemp and CPU-Z reading the CPU as 1.600GHz (6 x 266).

Hmm...

 

Lol is there a definitive way to figure it out? One that win answer this question once and for all.

 

It's quite simple. As been stated before, there is a reason why overclockers only use CPU-Z to verify the CPU speed. It's running at 1.6GHz with a multiplier of 6x (6 x 266). PIU is not reading the multiplier directly, it's obviously taking the data from the stock settings of the CPU. Thanks for the info chewie.

 

The biggest problem with your current laptop is most likely the 1gb of ram.

Not sure the exact performance of the 240m (looks mid-range at best especially considering the high res of the m15x and will be your new bottleneck) but the only reason to pay for big bucks for a gaming laptop is to max out the gpu so I would not buy m15x without the 260m, unless you don't game.