*OFFICIAL* M11x Owners Lounge - Part 3

i see so according to intel the su4100 is not as good as the core 2 duo su7300

 

what about centrino?

 

Yah but the 7300 has VT which is very very useful, especially for students or sad geeks like me.

 

yes, the su7300 is better. Unfortunately, i've only heard by about 5% or so.

edit: as far as VT goes, don't you also have to have win7 ultimate?

 

ahanslot, what we are trying to get at is that, for the measly performance boast of 5%, the upgrade from the su4100 to su7300 is NOT worth $100 or £40. Especially if you do not use VT (a feature that I have and will NEVER use), the su7300 isn't worth the extra $100. Alienware didn't post the option for $100 because it's THAT much better, it's because they almost always overprice their upgrades.

 

$100 no. $90 yes.

 

sorry for the trouble but what is vt?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_VT#Intel_Virtualization_Technology_for_x86_.28Intel_VT-x.29

intel's technology to enable xp under win7

AMD's called AMD-V

 

i see if you have win 7 profesional

thanks

 

VT is not just used for Windows 7's XP mode, it's used for any virtualization program. For example, I got the SU7300 because I use VMWare Workstation to have a virtualized Linux environment within my Windows installation (for those times where I just need to use Linux for something).

 

Centrino used to be Intel's branding for the combination of an Intel chipset, a Core 2 Duo processor, and one of their wireless chipsets. It's not a type of processor.

 

Would that bag also fit a small mouse, like an Orochi or an MX Anywhere?

 

I picked one up yesterday at Microcenter. I like the size of it, but I haven't gotten my m11x yet so I'm not sure how well it will fit. The flap is held closed by magnets. It looks like it has enough room for an external drive, the power supply, and a mouse, but I won't know for sure until I get the laptop in.

 

My fellow posters alrady said its a technology to allow - or rather enhance - virtualisation, which means you can run a virtual pc within our pc.
So you could for instance run windows 7 and some linux at the same time, or windows 7 and windows xp - for the latter there is integrated support for windows 7 professional and ultimate to make things easier.

You can still run many virtual machines such as vm ware without that technology, so on the SU4100, but it will work better and quicker with hardware support. For the version that comes with windows 7 you need this support however.

 

Guys i'm interested in buying one of these but i don't wanna go over the £800 mark atm so what i'd like to do is get it with 2gb of RAM atm and then upgrade it in the future when i feel its worthwhile.

This cons me into feeling i've spent less and gives me something to look forward to in the future and upgrading ^^

So my question is 2 parts:

1. What kind of RAM would i be looking for, i know it should be laptop RAM but what are the specs that would work? Could someone gimme a link of a decent 4gb set of RAM so i can see the specs and price.

2. Can i buy 2gb of RAM at a time and use it with the exisiting 1gb to make 3gb or can't you use different brands together?

Thanks for your help

 

Here you go mate:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160981

You can buy one at a time but I would recommend you get both the same brand.

And yes you can buy a 2gb and use it with one of your 1gb sticks

 

Cheers buddy much appreciated

 

How many ram slots does the m11x have?

Also what is the webcam like for msn?

Is it 2MP?

Has anyone tested the webcam?

 

2 rams slots

1.3 mp camera

 

I just want to point out that if you wait and get the ram later you are gonna spend twice as much to get a matched 4 gig set. In this instance I would say it is a MUCH better deal to upgrade to the 4 gig from the factory, as the extra ram is integral to system performance and the upgrade is costly later since you basically have to discard your 2 gigs and totally replace it.

 

VERY subjective, since depends on what you value. For me it is worth it due to:

1. 5% faster on average
2. SSE 4 (Makes about 10% difference with PCSX2 and the extra resources are needed)

For the extra 5% on an already clock challenged chipset, $90 (discount) is OK with me

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

I also thought this was interesting in terms of gaming and some application benches and increased cache size which the SU7300 has 1MB more L2 cache. The review is a little older but the CPU's are still closer to what we have in the M11x though so relevent IMO.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cache-size-matter,1709-5.html

I guess we need more definitive gaming benchmarks to compare outside of 3Dmark06

 

Can you clarify this a bit? The Kingston 2GB RAM that was linked is £39.99 ok i'm gonna be paying the extra shipping costs so i guess it might make it ~ £10 more if i brought them both separately. But the Dell upgrade to 4gb is £80. So in total i'll only be spending like £90 and that'll be split up (am a poor student!).

Also the linked RAM is called value RAM will Dell be using superior RAM? Sorry i'm a complete nub when it comes to hardware. And finally will there be much difference in performance with 3gb vs 4gb?

Cheers

 

In the UK they have somehow managed to charge us £80 for the extra 2 gig of RAM though! Compared to the US $50 this is laughably high, well I would laugh if it wasn't so shocking. I have no idea whether to just stump up for the extra RAM or not. I am tempted to leave the whole thing, it seems everytime I consider the discrepancy between the US and UK price the less I like DELL

 

I actually didn't realize it was that high in the UK, I was going off US prices. However, even at the same price I think it is worth it to get the ram from the factory. First, you get a matched set of a ram for duel channel use (which won't work if you for instance you get a 2 gig and put it alongside your 1 gig). Second, you get ram that will work with the laptop and board guaranteed and is covered by the warranty. Finally, I think the ram adds by far the largest increase in performance for this computer, and 2 gig is gonna be very low.

However, if you simply don't have the money I suppose getting it later is as good a plan as any, since the UK ram upgrade is so expensive.

 

2 great reasons for spending the extra cash now, i'm not sure whether to thank you or not tho

I'm gonna be predominantly playing WoW, i know this is supposed to be much more of a CPU than GPU intensive game how would it fair with 2gb vs 4gb of ram? Would you see an increase in FPS?

 

It will certainly help if you like add-ons. Addons can be memory hogs and 4GB will do you a world of good for no lagging.

Yoda basically explains why it's better to just upgrade from Dell. It's a good price (fair price) you don't have to worry about buying and installing it yourself for nearly the same price. The cost in difference is marginal enough to balance out the warranty, wait in shipping and minor labor =)

 

Ram is incredibly important to WoW, on a laptop I had a few years ago I played WoW with 2 Gigs but would have problems in raids or in town with lots of people. Jumped it up to 4 gig and it probably doubled my FPS in areas with big crowds.

 

ok thanks for your help guys, i'll check my finances again and see if i can get that 2gig extra!

 

The Dell UK Prices are a crime.. I understand there are different costs to warranty, VAT, cost of labor for the region, but some of the prices are way out there, like 1.5 times with a weak pound

 

any luck with SetFSB anyone? 1.6ghz isn't gonna cut it for me I'm afraid, I might have to wait for the Arrandale/Optimus version.

 

I actually wouldnt give dell the extra £80 out of principal! the m11x is already expensicve enough over here. Also you could sell the original 2gb and make some money back

And the ram will have a warranty of its own so no big deal there. I always go with the dell base config and upgrade myself, works out way cheaper.

Also Ebuyer had OCZ and corsair chips for a similar price.

 

Even with SetFSB it isn't ever gonna go much beyond 2 Ghz. If 1.6 won't work for you then 2 won't either, as that is only gonna be a very small performance increase. If you need that much power maybe check a different form factor or be prepared to wait a year or more.

 

thanks for the info dude let me know on the pre order status thread when yours is shipped

thanks

 

Quick question for those who know quite a bit more than I do.
From a Non Gaming standpoint running programs such as word, excel, web browsing, and so forth. How much of an improvement will I see with my SU7300, 4GB RAM, M11X compared to my ASUS Atom N270, 1GB RAM?
The ASUS works OK, just really seems to lag sometimes, was really hoping that I could get a big improvement in that area since that will be the main use for that computer, I will do some gaming, but not much, mostly Madden 08 or Modern Warfare 2.

 

I may sound crazy, but I am confident I made a good decision:

I'd buy a few upgrades from Dell directly. Bluetooth, 4GB ram, and a 7,200 rpm hard drive. Why? Because I got a four year warranty and all of these parts will be covered by it. This doesn't allow Dell's tech support to scapegoat the non-factory installed hardware. They will be responsible for fixing any hardware failure.

Bluetooth problems? They can't send me to the store to buy a different dongle.

Computer won't move past POST? They can't tell me to put the original hard drive back in. They can't tell me the hard drive is my problem and that replacing the $100 part will solve my issues.

Computer BSOD's randomly? They can't tell me to swap the original ram back in and spend hours trying to make the error occur again. Also, no compatibility issues that

Regarding the 250GB 7,200 RPM hard drive, by the time I really need an upgrade, I'll be able to buy a better performing 7200rpm 500gb drive for less than the $100 Dell wanted on top of the 250gb drive. Only games are going on the internal drive, anyhow. All media, with the exception of ten gigabytes of music, will be loaded to an external eSATA enclosure. I doubt I'm going to need 500gb any time soon.

Of course, if you didn't get an extended warranty, then only buy the ram upgrade directly from Dell. The hard drive and bluetooth are easy and cheap additions.

 

it will multi task significantly better. It will be night and day.

 

@the villiage
you're going to see a HUGE improvement due to the core 2 duo being 10x more powerful than the n270

 

I didn't think this had an eSATA port? does it?

 

If only the Alienware M11xR1 had an eSATA port.

 

It doesn't have an eSata port.

Edit: Heh. too many people lurking the thread when 3 people comment on someone's poor esata dreams.

 

I cannot tell you from exact experience, however you will notice everything to work snappier. The Atom N280 only has a single core (though some hyperthreading adds another virtual core to spread the load better), but the SU7300 (and also SU4100) has two cores, which means that it will work better in general but especially for multitasking. Also just one core of the SU7300 is faster than the one of the atom.
The SU7300 is roughly 3 times faster than that Atom N270.

On the bottom line: you will be able to use office and browse the web on both, but on the SU7300 it will feel snappier.
You should keep in mind that the ram amount does play a role here too, the typical 1 gb of ram for netbooks can hold back the system compared to the 2 or 4 gb with the M11x.

I have purchased the new Dell Mini 10 with the new Atom N450, and while it basically works and battery time is really good, it got on my nerves somewhat that it did often not feel smooth to work. Thats part of why I even purchased the M11x - to operate the pc more smoothly, to have a somewhat larger keyboard - that is backlit (very important for me in the dark) - and to actually be able to play games casually.

So:
If you do not want to spend much money but have a tiny computer with you often and only do light tasks a netbook will usually do.
But if you want more and the price does not scare you away and want an actual small notebook to do real tasks and even gaming, this is a good option.

 

You will see a huge improvement over the atom netbook. I was using the Asus UL30VT, and it felt as fast as my i7 for regular tasks.

My gf has a netbook, and it's slooooow.

 

http://www.tech21.uk.com/products-netbook-10-impactwrap.html

anyone know if this fit the M11? I'm guessing not.

 

Best to look for one for a 13".

 

Does anyone know which Zeroshock to get?

 

I am really thinking of getting one for these, but I wonder how well it can handle StarCraft II.

 

I don't mean to double post but I think this was lost in a flurry of new posts earlier!

 

Few questions for people who know what they're talking about

-I will be upgrading the HDD on the m11x later this year. When I do, do I need to get a 1.8 inch SSD or a 2.5 inch SSD?

-When I do this, will I be able to use the existing 500GB HDD as an external USB drive?