**Official Alienware M11x Owner's Lounge**

Ummm... Whatever I get, I will have to carry by plane to New Zealand. So no desktops. Unless I earn my keep and buy one there.

 

Yea, thats why I dont want to buy a desktop either. Although I am open to desktop replacement and a netbook. But that seems to be expensive (although the dr may last longer than a single notebook), and not always the best hardware.

 

YES! I agree, 100%!!

 

I too have been a little disappointed at the cpu options with the m11x so I have been looking at what else is out there. What do you guys think about the new Lenovo Y460? It comes out next month with an i3 or i5 and a HD5740/HD5650 gpu in a "14?

http://www.slashgear.com/lenovo-ideapad-y460-and-y560-get-core-i3-i5-i7-options-0567530/

 

I still don't see anything that says it's only the 1.3ghz C2D... is this a known fact or just speculation?

 

I did the exact same thing as you and also found the Y460. The internals are amazing for the price and form factor, but I don't like how they look.

 

the Y460 looks pretty sweet actually. Wonder how those gfx cards are. Switchable graphics are a plus. Annoying see the i5/i3's releasing without the switchable graphics that have discrete as well

 

Notebookcheck has ranked a few steps higher than the 335m.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5650.23697.0.html

 

according to this site:

http://gdgt.com/lenovo/ideapad/y460/specs/

it has a 2.2kg wieght, compared to 1.81kg of the M11X

 

well it is much larger, looks like less cooling as well

 

Too big for me. Still m11x. Wistfully wishing I were 189cm tall and am built like athlete, then a 15 incher won't be a problem at all.

 

i'm sorry, but based on what do you say that? is there any info on M11X cooling?

 

ya, a huge fan with a big open intake

I do not see that on the Lenovo at all, the intakes are all through small slits spread around the bottom like some weak attempt to pass air over internal components

 

well, doing a fast comparative:

Y460:
* 14'' screen
* Far superior CPU (core i5) and superior GPU (HD5650 M - DirectX 11, performance equivalent to GT250 (GT335 is equivalent to GT240)), less heat and much less power consumption
* Built in Bluray combo
* Hybrid HD (regular HD with a flash drive)
* Docking Station (???)

M11X
* Iluminated keyboard
* Smaller
* A little lighter
* Better cooling (???)

 

I would think that the extra space in the 14 inch laptop would help with cooling issues. I'm alot more interested in the performance differences, especially in games.

 

Even if Dell doesn't have overclocking out the gates with this laptop as an "official" option, this CPU *CAN* be overclocked fairly easily. Thats the advantage (and maybe the reason?) to it being a C2D chip.

We could hope for OCs up to 1.8GHz since these are technically underclocked and undervolted chips.

 

There can be all the oppurtunities for cooling yet a machine will run hot....take the M17 for example...it has all the right ingredients but the fans are starved for airflow so the cooling fails

 

This is very true. Would this affect how badly it heats up, though?

 

Well a 15 inch Dell laptop has all the space in the world but no cooling. Under pressure, the thing will heat up. Its not built to game. I've had 2 Studios fail after overheating and one actually had a part of the bezel melt. And a Sony Z which basically fried itself up. Mobo was fried, sony tech told me. Powerful machines in their day, trust me.

 

Any pricing out for that yet?

 

I've been looking forward to the M11x ever since CES (and naturally I've been following the threads here), but I'm getting a bit frustrated because I need a new laptop for school ASAP, and while I feel like this is almost a perfect fit for me, it's becoming increasingly difficult to future-proof yourself when buying a laptop. I feel like, no matter what I get at this point, I'm going to feel like a chump in about 6 months, and I didn't feel like my current laptop (Asus G1) was at all outdated until rather recently.

Any ideas on how this will perform doing photoshop/CAD/etc...? I'd love for it to be able to play something like Mass Effect 2, but I'm having my doubts

 

I think it will be able to run mass effect 2. If it can run games like modern warfare 2, I do not see why it could not run mass effect, especially if your turn down some of the eye candy.

Modern Warfare 2's system requirements require at least a P4 at 3.2ghz, and this laptop is supposed to run it pretty nicely.


We will ultimatly just have to wait and see.

 

Since, I won't be able to buy the m11x right away, I'm planning on waiting and seeing what everyone thinks and look at the real world benchmarks. I need a laptop that will last at least a year or two as well and durability is important to me. I just hope it comes out soon so that some people will have theirs and get some reviews out before mid-month so I'll know whether to wait for the ul30jt or go ahead and get a m11x.

 

I suppose we will just have to wait and see! I'm not too too worried about gaming; I've already got a PS3 and desktop at my disposal for that, but it would be nice to be able to take a break from studying and fire up a game every now and then too. What I'm more worried about is running things like CAD, etc... which I'll need for school.

My only problem with a potential summer upgrade to the core iX series is that I need a new laptop NOW, or at the very latest within the next few months. But then again, if the C2D proves workable then I won't really regret it too much. What's the old saying again, "Buy when you need to, not when you want to"? Hahaha

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=205205

This thread has a discussion about GPU vs CPU in Photoshop. For newer versions, the graphics card is important but it's not as important as the CPU. If we can overclock the CD2 or if they offer the i5, this will be fine for Photoshop. Even without an overclock, it should be decent.

 

An atom works decently with photoshop (takes about half a minute to load, but no lag) so I can't see why a C2D wouldn't be able to.

 

CS3 can run good enough on an Intel Atom N270/integrated graphics.

 

Wondering if two people's words are enough to put to rest the fact that a gaming rig capable of running crysis is capable of running photoshop/autocad.

 

that's true.

a friend of mine, and designer as me, uses a Asus Eeepc 1005ha to work.
I dunno how it will handle large files for instance, since we both work for web, so much smaller images =]

 

Interesting! Looks like RAM is a priority too, so perhaps I'll have to max it out in the customization phase

 

No such thing as too much RAM. Although 8 gigs is usually too expensive (at the time of this writing) to justify.

But if you've got extra room in your budget, more RAM is always a good thing.

 

opnickc, I was looking at your name.. just a wild guess, are you from Overland Park, KC area? I see OP and KC in your name so I dunno haha

 

Quite insightful, I'm impressed.

That is indeed where the name "opnickc" came from, but I no longer live there. I use opnickc as a screen name since it's easy to remember and usually isn't in use, although I've had to use different names here and there.

When I'm gaming I tell people it stands for special-op, lol.

And, on-topic, special-op nick is really wishing dell would launch the darn order page! He had no idea how addicted he was to his laptop until he didn't have one for the past week, and now is finding it very hard to wait for a new one!

At least I've got my trusty ol' desktop here!

 

tell me about it. The next couple days are gonna go by SOOO slowly, then when it hits, it's gonna be nuts.. then after the order is finalized... more agonizing wait. BUT I'll hope during that wait we'll see reviews come in as well as benchmarks (hoping not to make us have buyer's remorse).

Yeah I graduated from KU in 2008, now I'm in FL. But my name is old too, referencing the 316 area code (Wichita) from which I was born and raised.

 

if a refresh with the i processors were to come later down the line, when would be the most realistic time window to expect them? what do you guys think?

 

This first model isn't even out yet. We don't even have a base line to form a guess as to that answer. The only possible answer is:

"When it's released."

 

True, you can never have too much I've noticed a bit of chugging with larger file sizes in PS CS4 on a machine with 2 gigs, so I'll definitely upgrade to get as much as I can, haha

 

I'm staying up 'til midnight tonight on the off chance they put up the order page tonight. I'm betting it'll be tuesday, 9am (which is unfortunate because I'm in class ) but I'll try tomorrow night as well.

Waiting wont be so bad once I have an estimated ship date (although I'm hoping for a sooner rather than later date!).

Yeah, lived in KC from 93-99 if I remember correctly. I was only in 6th grade when my family left in 99 so I don't remember specifics. I do remember spending a week at the KU teaching hospital in third grade though. Strep infection in my kidneys (forget the exact name). Was born in Michigan and moved back in 99, have been here since . Graduated in December and just started graduate school (not like I'm going to find a job right now anyway ).

 

Awesome to hear man. I was in grad school for a year, last year but dropped out. Now I'm studying for the mcat. Was premed in undergrad.

Anyway yeah tmr night I'll prob stay up. I noticed the contest ends at midnight central time so that means I'll be staying up til 1am to see if it posts starting tmr night. If nothing then it'll be refresh all morning Tuesday.

 

Well, looks like a bust for tonight.

After all this anticipation, I don't know what I'm going to do if this thing doesn't come out tuesday lol.

 

In case any one cares, as of 12:18 am est, no m11x on dell order page or any new info.

 

I really thought the order page would go up tonight. Although I'm not sold on the unit I really want to play around with the customizer and see what the final maxxed specs would be. I think I customized 100 m17x R2's before I ordered one.

 

That's exactly what I want to do and I just want to know what the final specs are.

I also see you have the ul30vt on your sig. How do you like it?

 

I love it. For what I use it for it's absolutely perfect. I'm still in college and for taking notes and writing papers all day, it absolutely couldn't be a better laptop. The reason I purchased it is because it still has enough horsepower to play some of the "on the go" games I love such as WoW and Torchlight. It was a no brainer.

The SU7300 is no all star, but it gets the job done. I wouldn't ever replace my ASUS with the m11x, if I were to pick one up it'd be for days where I know I'll want to game more than work .

 

Thanks for the info. The ul30vt and ul30jt are two others I am considering also with the m11x. I just don't know when the ul30jt is coming out. I'm not in a big hurry but I also don't have much patience.

 

Still nothing on the m11x site.

 

Well as much as I love my 30vt, it's more or less a dead model. There is absolutely not a single reason to purchase one of these now with the far superior 30jt on the horizon. If I had heard about it before I bought mine, I would've never made the purchase.

In my opinion, the 30vt shouldn't even be on your radar anymore unless there's a significant difference in price between the 30vt and 30jt which I can't really see happening.

 

Oh dear, 9am PST would be... 1 am my time. Oh dear indeed. T_T

 

Yeah, the possible price drop is the only real reason I keep on thinking about the 30vt and the fact that it is still available. I've heard that it may be until end of March before the 30jt will be out and I don't know if I want to wait that long. Oh well. If the reviews of the m11x are great, then maybe I'll just head in that direction.

 

Nope, no M11x yet on the Dell site yet.
Since when did this turn into a " not sure if the M11x is good enough" thread.
OK yeah it was a little dissapointing that there is no i cpu's at launch but this is going to still be the most powerful 11.6" laptop out for a while.
People keep on comparing the M11x to bigger laptops, yeah it's a liitle thick but you need that for cooling.
You want a bigger screen get a 13"/14" laptop,you want I core CPU's, wait for a refresh(Q2/Q3 who knows?) but you will not find anything else that performs better in this small a form factor.
OK that was not really intended for anyone in particular but to members who are having second thoughts about this laptop just wait(if you can) for some reviews and benchmarks.
No laptop is truely future proof so do some research to see if this laptop is right for you.
Pesonaly I can't wait to get one, I know what I'm getting and it's exactly what I want, a 11.6" laptop that will play most of today's games, looks great at a pretty decent price.