*OFFICIAL* M11x Owners Lounge - Part 3

@nuke
It's not bad, the sound is just kind of strange. Anyways, it's a European school, so I will have to go overseas lol Which means that, if I go there, I will have to sell pretty much everything

 

@jonjonk = EVERYTHING? Why? Lol.... Alright. Only clicking sound I get working in the tech store is from a dead/dying hard disk... Touch wood. :S

 

Well, mostly just the electronics, because, when I get back, they will be outdated. Anyways, the screen is kind of a bother, too. It's soo shinny and mirror like that it's kind of difficult to use, even indoors.

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I think I might wait till next week and order it.

Badaboom uses CUDA, which means the code runs on the nVidia GPU - So it needs you to have the discrete graphics enabled. High performance will speed up the GPU and make you transcode faster.

As for the performance - it depends on your power settings. If you set your battery to high performance, there won't be any difference between mains and battery. Your battery will just drain faster.

 

Alrightey, I'm taking all my gizmos to uni (except the PSP). No game consoles tho so no worries about those going out of date. Huh? You're probably the first to complain about it being hard to use indoors... Anyone got a matte screen protector?

 

I also ordered the Razer Orochi and portable mouse pad damn I've made this laptop price go up with all the accessories I've been ordering lol

 

@kahi
That's where they make the money lol accessories.

 

@jonjonk = Thats what my boss told me last week... Something about best way to earn money is to sell accessories cause you don't have to provide as much tech support compared to the rest of the tech stuff. Have you run L4D2 on the rig? Cause thats going to be my main on mine

 

Thanks! I'm really excited, first alienware system for me!

 

same for me as well

 

First here too. Just got out of build purgatory.

 

Yea, the only reason why I got this was because the price. I just couldn't afford the other Alienware laptops. Speaking of l4d2, I'll give it a try when I get home. Can't really play games during work lol

edit: a notice on battery life, I started using it when it was at 75%. Right now, an hr and a half has passed and it's at 53
%. So around 22% an hr and a half with wireless on and screen brightness at 2 bars. That's around 7hrs of battery. But then again, I'm only using MS word and surfing this forum.

 

jonjonk, u oced ur alienware to 1.73ghz right? so far any problem? any overheat issue? any sudden hang ?

 

I have mine OCed and never felt it get anything more than warm after 20 min of benching

 

Anyone else who have an Alienware M11x getting the same problem as h0M3bReW3r ? Blue screen when overclocked etc...?

 

@michael
yea, it's oced. No problems so far.

 

@tux
the bluescreen was probably a result of low voltage.

 

@ jonjonk = I got it for the form factor. A 15 inch laptop was something I never wanted to carry around again for the rest of my life... Thanks for trying the game 13 hours?!?! ROFL.

 

@Jon

Low voltage ? don't understand ^^

 

@nuke
negative lol I made some corrections to the post. Did some horrible math. It's around 7hrs.

 

okay thanks for the information
did u overclock it at bios or using the software provided by dell website?

 

I placed my order on the 22nd of this month, i'm really excited as well to get it which is why i paid for overnight shipping

Does anybody know if this thing will be able to handle SC2 and Diablo3, specifically Diablo3 when it comes out?

 

@jonjonk = You'll make a great doc one day. Number 1 optimist. I've added 6 with 9 to get 54 in a test once so all is forgiven. BTW: Is the win7 login animation different from the stock one?

 

@michael
over bios.

@everyone else
What the heck, I'm trying to undervolt the cpu using rmclock. It's not letting me. Also, rmclock says that this thing only has one multiplier, x6.

 

It will handle it for sure, the new engine Blizzard is using for SC2 and Diablo 3 is very low spec friendly. I would say the M11X will run on all high/ultra for both of those games no problem.

 

If it is already overclocked you can't undervolt it anymore because it is already undervolted .1 of a volt.

 

Wha??? Strange...

 

Maybe that was home's problem... They undervolted during overclock it to save on battery but his specific processor needed more voltage? Either way, glad he's sending it back.

 

I wonder if it'd be possible to get a m11x sent to the channel islands and then forwarded to my address in the uk VAT free. hmm..

 

He just got a bunk machine, happens with any computer. We have seen like 20+ other people get theirs now with no problems, even OCing both the CPU and GPU (I got my GPU at 575 Mhz, over 100 Mhz faster than stock).

 

@yoda
How much will ocing the gpu hurt the battery life? Also, can the oc be auto adjusted between the discrete and the integrated?

 

I am thinking of getting one of these to replace my M17x, but a got a few questions:

1. How does it run StarCraft II? Counter-Stirke Source?
2. How will it perform with encoding video files (say with ConvertXtoDVD)
3. How will it perform when unraring files?
4. 8gb worth it for playing some games, making dvds, unraring files, and maybe a lil Photoshop and C++ programming?

I dont expect it to be fast as my quadcore M17x but if it is at least faster than my P4 desktop, then I should be fine.

 

It shouldn't really hurt the battery life hardly at all, especially the CPU OC since Alienware is automatically undervolting when you do it. I don't really think the GPU overclock will have much effect either, just cause you pump up the clock it doesn't draw more voltage, so it is the same draw just running faster.

I haven't really tested it yet though, so I could be wrong.

You can only OC the discrete GPU, you do it with software in Windows so when you switch to internal the OC will go away.

 

I can answer one of these. Ran Count Strike Source last night all high settings, like 2X AA/AF, got 60+ all the time, boosting to as much as 90, don't think I ever saw it much below 60, maybe a 55 FPS here or there. These results were also without my GPU overclocked, so you could probably OC the GPU to add another 10-20 FPS.

 

@yoda
thanks for the information! also, is there a dummies guide on this forum on how to safely oc a gpu? If there isn't one, you can make one

@everyone else
there are already a few m11x benchmarks on notebookcheck. Just google 335m and you will get the benchmarks. Also, another note on battery life...this thing is sweet!!! even on oc, I can still get around 7hr of battery life with wifi on, 2bar brightness, ms word, and web surfing. Also pretty sweet how a protective soft cover is included.

 

Is it just me but I find it strange that if overclocking the cpu' only affects the temps by 1 degree and has no other neglible affects then why don't Dell just set it that way as standard and take all the doubt issues people have about overclocking in the first place. I mean 99% of people will probably do this within the first hour of getting their machine and never change it back. Just my opinion.

 

j1ngles, probably because all the doubts come from forum users like us. There's a vast majority of people that also don't either care or don't follow this information too closely. Dell sells a 1.3Ghz processor so that's what they'll give you. More headaches if some reason consumers look at their comp and see 1.73/1.6 and etc etc.

 

@aznguyen
don't forget fewer lawsuits.

 

From my limited knowledge:

1. According to other posters, SC2 is low-spec friendly. CS:S is old so it will be awesome.
2. If you use something like badaboom, you'll have no problem.
3. Shouldn't be too bad. If you overclock it, you'll only notice a small difference.
4. No. Get 4GB. You can always wait and buy two 4GB sticks later if you *really* need it, but I doubt you ever will in this machine.

 

@ j1ngles: the reason the OC runs so cool is due mostly to how they OCed it... they have it setup to raise the MHz while undervolting it and reducing the multiplier. the reason its not set by default is because thats not the processors natural state. It was manufactured to run at stock, its your choice if you want it any other way.

 

Sup guys so I am getting my machine in the next couple of weeks and was wondering one thing... When I put in a larger HDD in place of the 160GB one the M11X comes with, should I just boot Windows 7 from the 16GB SDHC card that I have the ISO image in currently? If so, is there a BIOS option to boot from SD in the M11X? Thanks in advance.

 

Just got mine, good luck to everyone out there waiting.

 

New review.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/23/alienware-m11x-review/

 

Can anyone comment on the fan noise? I left mine on all night last night..

with integrated graphic on and the fan noise was driving me nuts,while it doesnt sound like a jet engine, it is loud enough to prevent me from sleeping while I lay it 4 feet away from me........! My M15x made NO sound under the same condition and with GTX 260M engaged.

 

I think dell will need to release new software that controls the fanspeed. It seems to me there is no gradual increase in fanspeed but simply a "run at highspeed once it pass x degrees". These should easily be fixed if Dell chooses to.


edit: Probably the mentioned bios update...

 

If CPU is not overclocked, than speedstep is enabled and CPU autoadjusts multiplier.
If CPU is with OC, than speedstep is disabled and multiplier is locked to 6.0x. CPU will always be running @ 1.6GHz.

Did i get it right?

 

Too bad they didn't OC in the engadget review.

 

At least it's not dell getting the money on the accessories, Amazon and Timbuk2 scored a nice little profit off me on that one

 

Kind of flame bait IMO. The review is fair, but the fanboys may yelp

A particular irony and killer is for portable gaming being touted, since the battery lasts about 2hrs 3D gaming and the battery is not practical to remove when travelling (just TRY changing the battery on a plane- you will be jumped). Ironic, considering the pound heavier CW27FX lasts about the same during travel and the battery is easy to replace Not to mention it is faster.

Yes, we all knew about the battery, but NOW it is out in the "mainstream" with a review by Engadget.

Still, Mini-Me is so cute Also, MAME will be my main portable gaming and I do not need the 335m for that, so will leave off You can NOT turn the card off with the CW

 

Okay so I've been using mine for about 2 hours now. Sitting in a coffee shop with the box next to me. Lots of comments from people in the shop about how sexy it looks. Firefox and all my addons are installed. And have just been messing with stuff since. I am rocking a Green and Pink lighting scheme lol. I can not recommend the g35 7.1 surround sound headphones from logitech enough either. Listening to Last.fm right now with them and they sound fantastic, do not have to blare them, and sounds around me are blocked out . Trying to decide what game I want to load on here first from Steam. Will wait until I go home for that though as the internet at this coffee shop is killer slow, 3mb DSL being split by about 5 people on laptops right now. 30mb at home will be much faster ... Anyways purchase regret is hovering around ZERO as we speak Machine is just so nice and small!!