*OFFICIAL* M11x Owners Lounge - Part 3

boo that's poop to hear. I guess since it's a synaptic pad it wouldn't be too hard to find custom drivers. thanks !

 

G'day guys

Well I must say I am rather excited! I ordered my new m11x on the 10th feb.
I have been checking my order progress religiously! As I'm sure most of you have too.

As of today my baby has reached Australian soil!
I don't know what's going on with the rest of the world but the Australian m11x wasn't a preorder... Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
So I guessing I will get it in a few days...

Woooo!

Are there any other Aussies on here who are waiting for one?

 

wow ur so lucky remember to share ur initial thoughts and pictures with us

 

I will deffinately share my thoughts!
Can't wait!
I may even do my first unboxing vid!

 

Crazy, I ordered mine the first day and my edd is 8/3/10

 

@RAD23NOV

Is your m11x being delivered right now?

If it is this is big news, as you will be the first to get yours. We demand benchmarks and pictures lots of em. And an unboxing!!!

p.s. what upgrades did you get for your m11x. also do you know much about computers.

 

Ok so here are the details...

I couldn't be bothered writing it out so cut and paste

Alienware M11x
Cosmic Black Base, Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64bit (English) $ 1 $
Base Cosmic Black Base
[210-31087]
Processor Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor SU7300 (1.3GHz/800MHz FSB/3M Cache)
[213-11488]
Memory 4GB Dual Channel 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM (2 X 2GB)
[370-14143]
Keyboard AlienFX® Illuminated Keyboard(English)
[583-13507]
Video Card 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M
[490-12023]
Hard Drive 500GB 7200RPM P11 Hard Drive
[400-19781]
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64bit (English)
[619-19048]
[619-21522]
[620-11713]
[620-11718]
Sound Integrated High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
[510-10380]
Dell Services: Hardware Maintenance 2-Year Premier Service
[754-46177]
[754-46186]
[754-46195]
[754-46209]
[754-46217]
[754-46233]
[754-46235]
[754-50873]
[754-50881]
[754-50883]
[754-50885]
[754-50906]
Wallpaper Wallpaper - Alienhead 3D
[640-11776]
Wireless Network Card Dell™ Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini-Card
[555-12875]
Bluetooth Dell™ Wireless 365 Bluetooth 2.1
[555-12880]
Dell Services: Remarks Laptop Batteries Carry 1 Year Warranty Only From Invoice Date
Dell's Terms and Conditions apply
[883-12763]
[883-12958]
[754-46175]
[883-12959]
Primary Battery 8-cell Primary Battery
[451-11272]
Carrying Cases No Carrying Case
[460-11164]
Item included in the System CyberLink PowerDVD Software
WinRE software
Nero Software
Alienware Command Center Software
Steam Gaming Portal Software
System Resource Media
System Driver
Alienware Generic Nameplate
Directship Info Mod
Genuine Windows® 7 with Windows XP Mode installed
Tech Sheet (ANZ)
Mod Specs Info (Australia)
Internal 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
Power Cord (ANZ)
[640-11547]
[640-11065]
[640-11548]
[640-12092]
[640-11952]
[340-21241]
[340-21242]
[340-21243]
[340-21244]
[619-23540]
[799-11532]
[799-11521]
[340-18740]
[450-13874]
Security Software McAfee® Security Center™ 15 Month OEM
[650-12566]
Avatar Avatar - Alien Schematic
[640-11759]
System Documentation System Documentations (English)
[340-21245]
Colour Kits Cosmic Black back cover
[320-11206]
AlienFx Colour AlienFX BLUE
[640-11750]
Time Zone Time-Zone Updates (GMT+10:00) Vladivostok
[640-11786]
Adobe Reader Adobe Reader 9.0
[640-11054]
Label Options Intel® Core™2 Duo Label
[340-19008]
HD display 11.6" WideHD 720p WLED (1366x768) Display Integrated 1.3 mega pixel web cam
[230-11328]
[640-11564]
Delivery Requirements Standard Delivery: Delivery 9am-5pm - Monday to Friday (excl. public holidays)
[990-15559]
Freights NB-OS-CTO Handling&Insurance charges(Australia)
[990-16106]
Software DataSafe Local 2.0 Basic
[640-11799]
Automatic Update Automatic Updates On
[640-11748]
Power Options 65W Primary AC Adapter
[450-14522]


Alienware TactX™ Mouse $ 1 $

External DVD-ROM Drive , 8x Max Speed, USB Connection for Ms 2008 R2 $ 1 $
Sub Total(s): $1,884.64
GST: $188.46
Total Price: $2,073.10



You will notice the price I am sure.... Sucks to be Australia if you are technology....

@b_g
I am confident enough with computers.
But may need advise when it comes to benchmarking the thing.
yes it is being delivered the sales rep says a shall get a call in a day or two confirm delivery.

 

Damn assusie dude you need to do a major review of the machine!

 

aussie´s rock !

bench it to the limit, mate

 

"Power Cord (ANZ)".

You didnt need to select that you wanted a power chord did you? haha im lookin at my email and im not seein that on my order i dont think they would send the laptop without a chord would they? if so im screwed....

-- System Color --
-- Alienware M11x, Cosmic Black
-----------------------
-- Processor --
-- Intel® Core™2 Duo SU7300 1.3GHz (3MB Cache)
-----------------------
-- Memory --
-- 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHz
-----------------------
-- Wallpapers --
-- Alienhead 3D
-----------------------
-- LCD --
-- 11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED
-----------------------
-- Video Card --
-- 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M
-----------------------
-- Hard Drive --
-- 500GB SATAII 7,200RPM
-----------------------
-- Nameplate --
-- Personalized Nameplate (NJR)
-----------------------
-- AlienFX --
-- Terra Green
-----------------------
-- Operating System --
-- Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
-----------------------
-- Avatar --
-- Alienhead 3D
-- [421-1573]
-----------------------
-- Integrated NIC --
-- Integrated 10/100 Network Interface Card
-----------------------
-- Adobe Reader --
-- Adobe Acrobat Reader
-----------------------
-- Sound --
-- Internal High-Definition Surround Sound Audio (5.1)
-----------------------
-- Automatic Updates --
-- Automatic Updates: On
-----------------------
-- Webcam --
-- 1.3MP Web Cam
-----------------------
-- Office Software Bundles --
-- Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 - English
-----------------------
-- Security Software --
-- McAfee® VirusScan Plus – 15-Month Subscription
-----------------------
-- Service --
-- 1 Year Basic Plan
-----------------------
-- Pre-Installed Games --
-- Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed
-----------------------
-- WWAN --
-- No Internal WWAN Antenna Installed
-----------------------
-- Bluetooth --
-- Bluetooth Module, 2.1+ Enhanced Data Rate
-----------------------
-- Standard Nameplate Trigger --
-- Thank you for Purchasing Alienware
-----------------------

 

@Rad23nov

Awesome your really going to be getting it soon eh, you need to do a major review of this thing. btw, ur post is a little big you can at least delete the item numbers, lol.

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews.php?reviewid=924&pageid=1

If you haven't seen the hardwareheaven review go check it out so you know what to skip, we want to see some new things that this monster can do. I personally want to see GTA 4 on it as well as some other games. Also i want a unboxing vid more than anything. : )

also why would they put the c2d sticker on the m11x, you would think AW would flaunt the nvidia gpu, who knows.

 

i wonder why they put the sticker there in the first place. the older systems had no sticker but the M15x also has the intel sticker for some reason. Well another thing to do when starting up the m11x for the first time. remove that sticker...

 

yep i was gonna remove the sticker to. lol i should remove a quad core sticker and put it on my m11x, it would be pretty funny.

 

Yeah i apolagise about the length of that post. I'm at work and didn't have the time to trim it down.

The power pack wasn't an option but that list is just everything it's coming with.

The sticker is soooo coming off!

 

I'm gonna put a Naked Juice sticker on mine just cause I like the juice and my alienware is so good it makes me wanna.. drink Naked o_o

 

A user review soon
Awesome!
You are one lucky dude.

 

You know what they say about counting your chickens before they hatch...
I just hope all my debts to good old karma have been payed.

I will do an unboxing dedicated to this wonderfull forum!

 

I'd do the same but most likely there are atleast 10+ people in this forum who will get it before me ..so I guess I'd only post pictures if not alot do.

If anything mad benchmarking

 

Gentlemen.

Two questions:

1) I noticed most of the discussions revolve around the SU7300. Will the SU4100 OC to 1.7ghz too? From what I've read there's very little real-world difference between the two processors. Here in Canada there's a $100 difference between them so I don't think it's worth upgrading.

2) I've also read about a lot of people being unhappy with Alienware products, particularly Dell support. A lot of people are complaining about dead pixels and failing hardware components (or maybe I just visited the wrong forums). Is it worth it to get accidental damage warranty? The Dell rep told me it would cover things like spills and hardware failures due to overheating.

 

Thanks for the heads up ! i use Daemon tools lite so would have been pulling my hair out ! were there any reasons for the ISO not working on Daemon but on PowerISO that you know of ?

 

Bookmark it while you can....

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=459834

I will be unlocking the thread as we approach first arrival here on NBR - I believe we are looking at a min. of 1 more week?

 

Anyone with any specific requests of what you would like to see in the M11X Benchmark thread please let me know. I will try and format it in an easy to read/navigate fashion. If you are going to PM me with details, try and keep it consolidated to one PM as I don't want to sort through tons of PMs. Note that not everything may make it to the final version, and it will be a growing and everchanging thread. I will try and include the most popular requests, but will not be able to fill every single request. Thanks and enjoy. Have fun!

 

NO WAY?!?! (frst pst lolz)

I am a fellow Aussie and ordered mine on the 8th of Feb and I spoke to big Sam (the customer service guy) and he was like "yeah.. it'll probably take 20 days BUT I'LL MAKE IT 12 FOR YOU" (he spoke on the phone in capitals at the end there). So I was like "cheers Sam, cool." trying to calm him down and also my manhood (GF was jealous and probably thought I had a hard on for Sam, she was like ).

So anyway i've looked at every review, forum and video every single day since I ordered it. I've also been checking the Dell site 5 times a day like an absolute lunatic and get this... Now I have had a couple more upgrades done to mine than yours... But get this... Wait...

It's still on 'order received' at the Dell site. It has not advanced at all. So either Dell is playing a cruel joke or you are the luckiest bugger in the world right now. OR maybe both our systems are here in Aussieland and they were just like "screw that guy, he constantly checks for updates like an absolute lunatic. Let's not update his status".

 

Word. Its going to be like the special olympics compared to the M17x benchmarker's thread

I'm game though, looking forward to contributing!

 

I just purchased my M11x on the 13th of February, and I wont be receiving it until March 17th!!!

It doesn't release until March 1st over here in the USA. I really wanted to get that Solid State Hard Drive but it was too expensive! Here are my specs:

Quantity Item Number Description Unit Price

1 224-9556 Alienware M11x, Lunar Shadow $913.09
1 313-9589 Intel Core2 Duo SU7300 1.3GHz (3MB Cache, 800MHz FSB) $0.00
1 317-8954 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz $0.00
1 421-1591 Alienhead 3D $0.00
1 320-9887 11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED $0.00
1 320-9857 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M $0.00
1 342-8744 500GB SATAII 7,200RPM $0.00
1 330-9552 Personalized Nameplate $0.00
1 330-6106 Personalized Nameplate Trigger $0.00
1 313-8792 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue $0.00
1 421-8558 Alienware Command Center, M11x $0.00
1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English $0.00
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp 2.0 Basic $0.00
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp $0.00
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG $0.00
1 421-1573 Alienhead 3D $0.00
1 313-9856 Integrated 10/100 Network Interface Card $0.00
1 410-1883 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE $0.00
1 313-9958 Integrated High-Definition Surround Sound Audio (5.1) $0.00
1 430-3796 M11x Wireless INFO MOD $0.00
1 330-6348 Automatic Updates: On $0.00
1 330-8995 1.3 Megapixel Webcam $0.00
1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty $0.00
1 908-3647 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year $0.00
1 922-7060 Third Party At Home Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year $0.00
1 950-9797 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3 $0.00
1 421-1721 Soft Contracts,Banktec Care,Alienware $0.00
1 994-3730 Warranty Support,Initial Year $0.00
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks $0.00
1 421-1360 Steam and Portal Factory Installed $0.00
1 430-3773 No Internal WWAN Antenna Installed $0.00
1 430-8555 Optional Bluetooth Module, 2.1+ Enhanced Data Rate $15.68
1 330-5090 Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare $0.00
1 600-0039 State Environmental Fee for display less than 15 inches $8

 

Congrats on the purchase!

 

@rad = I know how aussies get shafted when it comes to pricing "points at ps3 slim" . Nice to see the blokes down under getting a nice caveat for once.

 

So just to keep conversations going. What is the minimum frames per sec that you would be prepared to endure on your m11x. As I am excited as everyone, I know sometimes when playing some games it's going to get low. But How low will you go? Will this also depend on the type of game you will be playing? Like is it easier to play an RTS with lower framerate than it is to play a shooter?

 

I've got a couple of Q's I dont think have been asked yet, so any help would be great.

Firstly I play a lot of old school PC games (Alone In The Dark, Doom, Quake, Age Of Empires, Diablo...etc) will these games play fine on the integrated GFX? Or will I have to switch to the dedicated card?

Second question is do Alienware do any sort of deals when you purchase a model and they update it 6 months down the track? Like say towards the end of the year they throw the new i3/5/7 processors in, do they offer anything to all of us who purchased the first model?

 

Should play those old games fine on integrated, heck I play a few of those on my Atom with Integrated graphics netbook.

Nope, no deals, it is just part of technology. A refresh is a minimum 6-8 months down the line (as confirmed a few thousand posts ago) which as far as this sort of thing goes is pretty reasonable. The thing is, after the CPU refresh then it will probably just be a few more months for a GPU (Nvidia Fermi and all that) refresh, and then a few more months for some other part to refresh. Honestly, if you want one, get it now, because there will ALWAYS be a refresh 6-12 months away. You could wait years and still buy it and there be a new one out in less than a year.

On the bright side the ULV ix processors aren't a lot faster than what is in there now. General consensus seems to be between 20 and 50% faster than the stock SU7300. However, you can overclock the SU7300 for more than a 20% boost, so most likely looking at perhaps a 30% speed increase in the best case. That is not gonna be much, maybe like sub-10 fps boost, or load into a game a few seconds faster. My guess is that if you used one with the SU7300 and one with the ix processor side by side you would be hard pressed to find the difference in most tasks.

 

The reasoning i am unsure of actually. I just know this was the case as I googled it and came across a rather large thread regarding the issue. Of course it was on a forum for game piracy lol but they figured out the issue. Some reason it'll load up as if the game is in the drive for PowerISO and that's the only one that worked. And this was a large thread too of people testing it haha and yeah it was of the full ISO too like I had ripped.

 

LOL you're first post made me laugh. But yeah I forgot about that one article saying it would be available pretty soon like shipping Feb. 3rd in Australia, so maybe that's why he's receiving it early. You should try calling in Dell for further order status update maybe. I'm glad someone else is going to get it soon so we can bug him with questions.

 

Cheers for the answers, exactly what I was after!

Yeah i've already purchased mine, a week ago now. I'm very happy with the purchase and it will suit my needs perfectly, the OC is also a huge bonus. A 5-10 FPS boost can mean the difference between a game being playable and not, plus the frame dips won't be as severe.

Lets just hope they don't put in an awesome processor and make it nebula red 6 months down the track... Haha nah i'm extremely happy with my purchase and will be even moreso when it's sitting in my hands (probably throw it out the window by accident yelling "YOU BEAUTY!!! WHAT A RIPPER!!!").

 

One week!
Fantastic, I bet your fighting with other reviewers to see who does the review.
Man I can't wait

 

Anyone know what's going on with Blutooth on the Canadian orders? I don't want to cancel my order at this point as the line-up is pretty long. Blu-tooth is still not an option on the Canadian site... will it automagically be included on all m11x orders? Or is it simply not available?

 

i think i read canada gets blue tooth for free but they dont get the customized nameplate option at all

 

Needs GTA IV added to list.

 

Its the same in europe. bluetooth is integrated with no additional charge, however no customized nameplate and no option for Gobi/WWAN to get umts/hsdpa connection (I hear WWAN cables should be there though in europe, so you should be able to add a WWAN card yourself).

 

What's your EDD if you don't mind me asking?
I'm a crazy canuck as well.

 

No problem at all... order date 2/2/2010.... edd 3/8/2010. I believe it's stayed the same since the day I ordered.

Sigh... it's a long wait.

 

I just want to confirm for anyone that has done Windows 7 installation via USB flash drive if these instructions are accurate?

Win 7 USB boot

A 4gb flash drive will work? Also those of you that have done this, are you just keeping a 4gb flash drive simply for the Windows 7 re-installation and storing it or just make one as you need it? Reason I ask is I have a 4gb flash drive but use it often, so wondering if I should just buy an extra 4gb usb and make the bootable ISO on it and just store it with my manuals and discs.

 

USB sticks are dirt cheap nowadays, id deffo do what you said and buy a usb stick and keep the bootable ISO on it.

 

Buy an extra USB drive there dirt cheap.
Staples had a special a while back 2 4GB flash drives for $20.

 

I prefer to install windows from usb nowadays - its even faster than from cd.
Since I do not install regularly, I just put windows on when I need it, and otherwise use it for other data. But as already said, usb flash drives are cheap, so if you want to avoid having to prepare it every time, just get one exclusively for windows install.

The link to the instructions seemes ok, but I do it simpler:
- if you still need to format: start windows button, type "harddisk", select "create and format hard disk partitions" select the usb stick and format it.
- if usb partition is not active yet, in the same tool select partition and choose "Mark Partition as Active"
- copy the contents of the windows dvd (or the iso) onto the usb stick

 

Hey everyone, just found this forum through google. I've been going nuts the past two weeks waiting for this thing, I ordered on the 2nd and my EDD is the 5th.

I've got a quick question, that I think has partially been answered before. I understand that at least with the core 2 duo processor you are able to overclock it through the bios menu. What I would like to know, is other than the slight temperature increase, what are any other negative effects from running the laptop in OC mode? Im sure you wont get the same battery life from a full charge as you would running in 1.3ghz, but could running it in Oc mode wear down the cycles of your battery faster?


Thanks in advance, only another 3 weeks to go

 

@exbee, welcome. To answer your question, theoretically yes, because it would cause more charge/discharge cycles, but the differance would probably be negligible. And if the battery dies early, it should be covered in the warranty since it's a non removable part. But pending any design flaws, running OCed will not have any negative impact, otherwise dell would not have included it as a feature.

 

@Morkeleb thanks, so it's just a simple drag from dvd over to USB flash? no extra prep besides the format? I was wondering on that link if I had to make the USB bootable or whatever.. but your way of formatting will make it ready yes? Also the filesystem on the USB drive will just look like the Win7 DVD right? thanks a lot +rep

 

Thanks for the quick reply dr650se, thats what I was hoping for. I think what confused me was trying to find some sort of "catch" with overclocking the m11x. I'm just trying to figure out why you wouldn't just run it OCed all the time.


Edit- For everyone trying to figure out making a flash drive bootable, I may have another solution. I'm not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but I tried something I saw online the other day.

Even though its a big "IF", but if you have an external hard drive enclosure lying around, and also an extra dvd drive for a computer, you can actually hook up the disc drive where the hard drive would go in the hard drive enclosure, and this, at least for me, worked with windows 7 x86. As soon as I plugged it in it detected it as a cd/dvd drive and worked perfectly.

 

Here's a couple good articles on formatting and installing from Flash drive:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_to_install_windows_7_beta_a_usb_key

http://www.thinkcomputers.org/install-windows-7-from-a-usb-flash-drive/

Except when it comes to formatting you should be able to use the tag "quick" added on to the command line they show. Just will save you some time, because a full format, depending on the speed of your USB drive, can take a long time.

 

For those of you wanting a straight forward approach to making a Windows 7 USB loader.

http://kmwoley.com/blog/?p=345

I have used this before and it is very simple to do.