*OFFICIAL* NBR Alienware M11x Review Update

I know a lot of you are wondering when we're going to publish our official review of the Alienware M11x, so I wanted to post a quick update here.

If FedEx is to be believed then one of the two M11x review units (the $799 configuration that we purchased ourselves) will arrive today. If the M11x indeed shows up today we'll have at least some hands-on content up before the end of this week.

We're also expecting a high-end config of the M11x from Alienware's marketing team shortly, but we don't have an official delivery date yet.

We'll have an in-depth, multi-page review of the M11x (both CPU configs) with our typical review coverage, standard synthetic benchmarks, real-life gaming frame rates, and a look at what type of performance benefit you get with an SSD as soon as we can get all that work done in the lab.

Here is a "partial" list of the games we will benchmark in the lab ... which is another reason this review won't be finished in just 24 hours:

Mass Effect 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Resident Evil 5
Street Fighter IV
Fallout 3
Shattered Horizon
Civilization IV

Again, that's just a "partial" list of what we'll be benchmarking, so don't freak out yet if the game you want isn't on that list ... that includes you Modern Warfare 2 people.

We'll be keeping tabs on the forums to try to make sure we're answering as many questions as we can, but please forgive us if our editorial team can't answer every single question individually. After all, the Alienware forum has been hit by record traffic since the M11x ... and other companies have been making notebooks that we have to review as well.

Keep an eye out for our review coming SOON. In the meantime, our trusty Alienware forum moderator, BatBoy, will continue trying to answer questions while keeping the peace.

 

Awesome news, even though i've already purchased one it will be good to have a fully comprehensive review on the M11X (with plenty of game benchmarks!). I'm especially interested in seeing the differences between the base spec and the fully optioned version.

 

GTA IV pls. kthx.

 

dawn of war 2 please

looking forward to this review.

 

what he said

 

I loaded up DOW2 and got some decent playability. It is tough for me because I am going from a 23" to an 11.6" screen. The benchmarks ran a little slower but still averaged 20 FPS. I think that this game is a bit more CPU intensive than some of the other First Person titles. I may just stick with DOW Dark Crusade on the M11x and play DOW2 on my desktop. I am going to run another DOW2 benchmark and will come back with the results soon. Cheers. FWIW, I played Demigod and Sins of a Solar Empire and both ran very smoothly.

 

bioshock and the settlers please

 

That's awesome news, thanks for the update!

I was wondering if you'd be able to test out 3ds max and photoshop too? I think it may be useful for those of us wanting to use one of these for working when on the move!

 

+rep many thanks.

My memory may be vague but I thought under options there was a benchmark video to play (might be CoH that has this).

Would be good to know the settings also as by default it seems to pick high settings irrespective of your setup.

Cheers,
Neil.

 

Hello Neil,

Yes there is a built in Benchmark. The results are as follows.

DOW2 Benchmark Test:
1366x768
Shader Quality = High
Model Quality =High
AA = Off
Texture Detail = High
Shadows = Med
Reflections = High
Post Poc. = On
Physics = On
Terrain Detail = High
Effects Fidelity = High
Effects Density = High
Rain Detail = Med
Soft Particles = On

Min. FPS = 9.73
Avg. FPS = 22.85
Max FPS = 60.15

Not bad. This is also with tons of action on screen. I found the benchmark tool to be more stressful on the system than regular gaming. So I think DOW2 is totally playable with setting on High.

Cheers,

-Sanmanatoo

 

Fallout 3! Excellent, someone heard my prayers! A special thank you goes out to you Mr. Jackson!! Now I'll have something to read over and over while I wait another month for this puppy! C'mon APO.....

 

I applaud this choice as well! I'm a hopeless Fallout 3/achievement addict, so this is probably going to be my first purchase on Steam, so I hope it runs as nicely as possible.

 

haha Dude, its terrible isn't it? It's like the only game I give a crap about and I have yet to touch the GOTY edition or any expansions (previously playing the PS3 version) .... Ok, thread hi-jack over and done with!

 

Need some recent RTS games.

 

We just published the review! We ran all our tests with the SU4100 configuration since Alienware's marketing team hit a speed bump with the final review units that were supposed to be shipped out to the press here in the US.

Rather than wait we wanted to get this up on the site now.

We'll be following up with more ... specifically how performance changes when jumping from the 160GB hard drive to a SSD.

http://www.notebookreview.com/defau...=alienware+m11x+ultraportable+gaming+notebook

 

Excellent! Can you please test battery before and after SSD upgrades? I am trying to justify paying $200-$300 for SSD upgrade when the whole notebook price was $800

 

Good review I wish I really looked up the processors first.. and I could have saved $$

 

NBR review says that the case has magnesium alloy covers, can any1 confirm this? I thought it was plastic.

 

external shell seems all plastic to me.

 

Plastic. Alloy FRAME. Inside.

 

The left, right, front, palmrest, and display lid are plastic. The rear panel (heatsink vent and power plug side) is magnesium as well as the inner structure. The bottom access panel is steel.

 

AWESOME review and +rep for the dawn of war 2 info - can't wait to get mine!

 

Now that the review has been posted, this thread can be closed. To comment on the review, use Discuss link. Thanks to Jerry for a superb review.