*OFFICIAL* M11x Owners Lounge - Part 3

Will do. I'm going to the gym for a bit first though, then I'll have time to do some pics

 

I'd agree that you should do a comparison pic. I'm using a 15.6 inch lappy too. And how's the keyboard on the thing? Cramped?

 

@tears

People have said the keyboard was actually quite nice, it's nearly 12" across as you can see it goes from edge to edge. Very comfortable it seems.

 

Where did Yoda go? I got all excited about that BIOS update (no matter how much of a rumor it might be). >_>;

If AW issues a BIOS update that gives a 1.73 OC, I'll get an alien head tattoo.

 

I'm gonna hold you to that.

 

YES! Mine shipped! will receive it tuesday!

 

Consider it marked on my phone.

 

The reason for your low score is because you are running it at native resolution. Everyone else is running it at 1280x768 including Alienware. Give it a go at 1280x768 and your scores should be similiar.

 

I'd doubt the difference from native to 1280x768 would add up to 2000+ 3DMarks, especially given the CPU bound nature of 06.

 

Don't believe this is true. I think it was chewie that actually ran at native resolution and even higher via external monitor and still got in the 5000's. 3000 is like on power saver mode or something lol

 

sweet, a review is coming!

Anyways, for those of you debating on the quality of the keyboard. I can say first hand that the keyboard is excellent. For a sub $800 (depending on config) laptop, you get one heck of a keyboard. It's big and comfy. Also, there is 0 flex.

 

Resolution makes a huge difference, not just in 3dmark06, in games, movies, pretty much anything as well. The more pixels you add the harder the CPU/GPU have to work.

 

No, you're right about that, but judging from chewie's 3Dmark06 scores, the resolution dropped his scores but never down into the 3000 range even at super high res. Go check out his post in the benchmark thread.

 

Yea, I just look at the benchmarks thread something seems fishy there LOL if you look at his pic: http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/8783/3dmark06oc1280x1024.jpg the 3dmark score reported is different than the one on the results behind it. One says 5670 the other one says 5716? I dunno...his score seem pretty high for 1280x1024 but if he's OC the GPU as well that will add a fair amount to the score, would like to see more for verification. The other guys 3800 does seem a bit low though as well. Hopefully more people start benching so we can get a broader spectrum of results to gather data from.

Edit: When I think about it though the result is possible because the higher the resolution the more gpu dependent the game becomes so it could be possible if it was really cpu bottlenecked to raise the resolution without as big a hit to the fps/score. So even though it seem like an anomally I guess it is entirely possible to have similiar scores on higher resolutions due to the cpu not being able to pump out enough frames to keep up with the gpu at lower resolutions.

 

Yeah something definately messed up with that 3800 score. I think people need to start going in more details about what settings they are benchmarking with (ie resolution, OC/nonOC, enabled/disabled settings, etc.).

I do find it strange though how people have been stating an extra 3-5 fps means nothing. It means everything when you are talking about gaming around 30 fps.

 

can i have the benchmark thread link please...

 

here: Benchmark thread

 

Has anyone tried converting HD video with Badaboom, yet? I want to see some CUDA video conversion performance!

Also, is this laptop capable of outputting on a dual-link dvi? I'd love to be able to watch 3D videos with my 3D Vision. (I've always wanted to take it to work and show people what's coming. My desktop is a behemoth.)

I can't wait to get my m11x, early this coming week!

 

It might gain 3-5 FPS if it was a CPU reliant game. though in reality it's probably going to be like what DR650SE said,

 

There's no DVI output, only HDMI, DisplayPort, and VGA.

Unfortunately, I can't confirm if HDMI is capable of dual link (though DisplayPort should), since my HDMI->DVI adapter is single link only (does a dual link one even exist anyways?), and I'm not sure the HDMI even supports > 1920x1200.

DisplayPort should work though

I'll check out Badaboom, but CUDA works just fine..

 

If I get the m11x with 2GB of memory, will it be 1 2gig stick or 2 1gig sticks?

Thanks!

 

Can the color of the alien on the front be changed? I could not find any option for that in Alien FX.
I am not a pc gamer and this is my first pc game, I want to run flight simulator on this laptop, which setting should i run it on?
Thanks in advance

 

@basehitter = Two 1gb sticks.

 

Rofl. Whats the EDD for your actual unit?

 

Yea, OCing your GPU will have a better impact on games. OCing the GPU will show a greater increase in frame rates than OCing the CPU.

 

Will OCing the GPU help with my... Excel spreadsheets?

 

Depends if you enable AF and/or AA in Excel

 

Depends on how fast your scrolling and how pretty you made them.

Also, where are these rumors coming from that there is a BIOS update coming?? Just saw it in the bench thread

 

Yeah YodaGoneMad posted something about hearing that Dell is going to send out a BIOS update they were supposed to flash in the first place but wasn't ready. It's just a rumor, though.

 

That really depends on the game and how it was coded more than anything. Left 4 dead 2 and most RTSs would get substantial increases increasing the cpu than the graphics. But need for speed and other more mainstream titles probably rely on the graphics horsepower.

 

Those scores in the background were previous runs at different settings. I'd have to close 3dMark06 to leave the back as N/A.

Nothing fishy here. You're just digging for what isn't there. Fact is, 2000 points below is way too low - what's likely is that he left his GPU on Balanced setting (which is downclocked to 405 core and lower on the other clocks) instead of the standard 450 core / 790 memory.

The fact that he hasn't provided photos is even more fishy and isn't helping us trying to fix his issue

 

Some more pics for you guys, as requested. This includes comparisons with the Acer Aspire AS5740G-6395 15.6 notebook as well as the Acer Aspire One 8.9" netbook.




I'm thinking about compiling a review

 

Wow thanks for the pics Chewie, very nice.

 

Did anyone reformat yet? Im planning on putting in an SSD when it comes in.

 

@chewie = Holy snap, thats a whole nation's worth of thumbprints on that acer of yours. Nice pics BTW.

 

Yeah, one of the many con's of having black notebooks. True fingerprint magnets (it doesn't help that it's over 1.5 years old too, and I beat the netbook up pretty bad)

 

I'm not going to reformat, but I'm going to clone to an SSD, and then change drivers and all that. Hope it's not a headache.

 

Is it wise to reformat. I was planning of putting windows 7 ultimate 64 and reinstalling drivers etc from scratch.

 

If you can get the AlienFX software and stuff back on it, it's fine.

This actually came with next to no bloatware. And I like their facial recognition software to login without passwords

 

well good news it says my ship date is 3/4 but they shipped it today so there is hope! i just checked my email and i had to take a double look haha wait this cant be right and sure enough its coming tuesday tho the sales rep did say she would expidite it for me

 

I think they have those on their site. I just don't know where to find the gpu drivers since there's nothing on nvidia's site.

 

Alienware is good about keeping bloatware to a minimum. It shouldn't have any. So a reformat is not neccessary, but it's all personal preferance. By the time you install AlienFX, drivers, OS, you pretty much have a mirror of what was already there. Thats why I'm just pulling the HDD and cloning it to the SSD with another computer

 

How long do ssd's last on average. I'm quite new to ssd's, low capacities but I really like their speed.

 

Acronis True Image usually does a fantastic job of cloning drives.

I recently cloned my WD VelociRaptor onto my GSkill Falcon SSD with no problems, running smoothly, will probably do the same with my m11x and the second SSD I just picked up.

 

I'm thinking about writing a review thread with a collection of my pictures and benchmarks for people to mull over... should i?

 

@chewie = Lol the acer really looks beat up, and I know how much a magnet those glossy back covers are, I spend my days in the tech store cleaning those covers after customers have had their "touchy time" and the site is still down... Gaaah... Review? Ask batboy.

 

please do my edd is on friday

 

Please do mate it would be really appreciated , you can try and beat me to my review when i get mine on Tuesday haha.

 

so this means that u can only enable your battery if u use fn+f2, whereas for disabling, you have to do it in the BIOS?
is that what you mean? or you can actually enable and disable your battery using fn+f2 in windows?

 

and guys, can i still extend my warranty after i made payment and placed the order? or i have to cancel my order and re-order a new unit again?