**Official Alienware M11x Owner's Lounge**

I like the M9750 design the best. The chassis is solid as a rock with out being overly heavy or bulky like the M17. The original m17x is a nice machine as well but its a bit plasticy and not as solid as the M9750 or M17. I also really prefer the rubberized finish on the M9750 over the others as well. I can't comment on the M17X as I have not recieved it yet. I will post a picture of the 2-M9750's as they are here with me but the m17x is on loan to my son at college but I will try to get him to take a pic with my name on a piece of paper on top. My daughter has the M17 for her college as well but its local so that should be no problem .

 

so it's official no bluetooth?! aw man I just got a razer orochi! =( the fact I could hook it up to my big screen and play with the mouse and a wireless keyboard was something I was looking forward to. If this is true, very much suck. I wonder if a dongle would work as responsively =T

 

A dongle would be as responsive. Internal bluetooth is still attached via a USB header on the motherboard - same connectivity.

And you do not have to take pictures to prove your ownership, some people here just cant understand having that much all at once lol

I found it interesting that you prefer the M9750 over the M17 though. But I have only had one of them, so I can't make that judgement

 

I hate to come with bad news guys but you got to see this video...

You can clearly see what processor uses ... I hope they redesign the motherboard and put a core i5 there .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGX6gmOGNkA&feature=related

BTW look at the fan it is HUGE .

 

I still will buy this, even with a su7300 lol

 

I dont really prefer to use the M9750 to the M17 as the M17 is a fair bit faster, I just prefer the design a bit more. Although they are pretty much the same overall design the M9750 is a good bit thinner and is about 2 pounds less. I know they needed to make the M17 thicker for better thermals but the M9750 at just 1.5" thick and 9 or so pounds is a marvel for a 17" notebook.

 

Same here !, Who knows.. there could be a way to OC it to at leas 1.8ghz or more .

 

I see, didn't realize the weight was so much different between the two. Knew the M9750 was thinner though. The way they shared the cooling for the CPU with a GPU was a shame though

 

Well the C2D su7300 seals the deal. Im gonna pass until it gets a processor refresh.

Never owned an alienware and my first purchase wont be on a last generation processor already outdated.

Alienware should stand for cutting edge not last generation crap. When this hits the market Asus will have its new UL30JT series on the market with i7 ulv processors.

 

My M17x is "last generation"...does not keep me from enjoying it any

 

just curious, you guys don't see lack of USB 3.0 as huge let down? I mean its the biggest hardware upgrade over the years. The speed difference is also huge between 2.0 and 3.0

It wont be that long before companies start to make products using USB 3.0. In fact WD already released a HDD that supports 3.0.

Again I know people have to prioritize their hardware features. But for me this is up there with Processor, GPU and connectivity.

 

Agreed. It did not overclock well at all. Still it paved the way for Flexronics/Arima to provide some very good chassis for Alienware/Dell. We all know that the Quanta built m15x and m17x didn't far as well as the M9750 and M17 in the build quality department. I just wish my two older kids hadn't stole my laptops . Ah well, they know they only have them on loan and need to be returned to Dad when they get there own notebooks.

As far as the M11X, I asked the wife tonight if she wanted one for college and she practically begged me to order it the day it comes out. She wasn't sold on Alienware notebooks at the time I bought her the M9750 but she will never own anything but an Alienware notebook from now on. I am gonna get one for myself as lugging the M9750 around gets a bit old after awhile. The M11X should fit the bill nicely as I use the notebooke in my work truck alot and the M9750 also takes up a good bit of space. I am looking forward to this release.

 

I see the M11x as being a hit personally. Going to get 3870s for either of those M9750s?

And no, could not care less about USB 3.0

my thumb drive and mouse won't care

 

sorry, but that video is old. I've seen it, and it's not news that the M11x at the show had the SU7300. It's a matter of whether the ones shipping in February will have the C2D ULV or something else. That's something we're all not sure of yet.

 

not to mention lots of places mentioned it as an optional core 2 duo ulv, and there are three i series chips that have a max tdp of 18, the core i5 520um, core i7 620um, and core i7 640um. most likely going to be the i5 520um if anything though.

 

or you can get a celeron and opt upto the su7300.....much more likely given those use the same socket

 

the optimist in me hopes the optional su7300 means upgrade to Ci5, the reality of it will most likely be the su7300 is the high end option with the celeron being the other option

 

Afraid it is just not likely that there will be 2 different motherboards for that option to be possible

 

I don't see why more than one motherboard could be an option? Dell has the SXPS 164x models with C2D, and then didn't they have the i7 available for like 1645? Same laptop, just different MB wasn't it? Also since gfx cards are soldered in the 1640's there were 3670 and 4670 options, I dunno if different MB's were used or either card was swappable. Either way, I can see two MB an option.. but then again wishful thinking. Do i3/i5/i7 all use the same chipset?

 

yes they all can use the same chipsets (more than one)

 

I am on the fence about this "netbook" My desktop gets over 30,000 3dmarks and my current netbook gets close to 2k 3dmarks and it cost me 500 bucks so we double the price and arrive at 6k 3dmarks what games will this be able to play that my current netbook can't?

I mean if 30k 3dmarks is required to play the most graphic intensive new releases 6k obviously isn't going to cut it anymore than 2k does. So the main thing i'm wondering is what games become playable with the jump from 2k 3dmarks to 6k 3dmarks?

I will definitely be taking a look at it and probably will end up buying it regardless but for the extra size/weight the bulkiness and guadiness of it I am not sure I will end up keeping it.

I might end up keeping the 1201n I have which weighs much less looks much smaller from the pics at least and will most likely play the same games albeit with some lowered settings. Gaming is not my first priority but I do enjoy a game every now and then so in order for this to be a keeper it is going to have to make games playable that currently are not on the 1201n. 2k to 6kmarks might seem like alot in the benchmark world but as far as it relates to actual game playability it doesn't seem to me that it's going to equate to much difference in which games are actually playable on these netbooks.

 

I used to have a system that did ~2k in 3DMark06 and sure it played the same games that my ~4k system could, but the ~4k system could play them all at much higher settings and higher res. so ~6k shouuld be pretty decent jump, especially at a lower 1366x768.

Have you played any games on your 1201n? Try CoDMW2 if you have it and see what kind of FPS you're getting at native res and high settings AA off. THat seems to be what's surely known the M11x can handle. I've seen a SFIV video with FPS near avg 73, but unsure of the gfx settings. Benchmark that too if you want a comparison =)

 

It's very possible that they will create two mainboards for this system and use them (or use them as a template at least) for other smaller 12-13" notebooks.

The Studio XPS 13" has yet to have a refresh, I definatly could see them using the motherboard from the m11x (if it really does have an i3/i5 version) in the refresh of the studio XPS 13... that would be cost effective. Since Dell owns Alienware it wouldn't be all that surprising to see motherboards used cross-brand like that on this type of system.

 

Yea that is mainly what got me wondering, SF IV plays like crazy on 1201n at native resolution, I don't know the exact FPS but there is no slowdown, I've heard other people say they get 60fps easy but I never checked because it runs fine. I don't have COD MW2 but have seen videos of it playing on the 1201n on youtube and it just seems strange to me that Dell chose these games to showoff thier system because they generally seem to run good on the ion notebooks.

I would have expected them to show some games that can't run on the ion. That's why I am now wondering if this thing will really be worth it, I don't mind spending the money and like I say most likely will buy it because I always seem to buy the latest and greatest new gadgets even when I know I shouldn't but I really hope it plays games other than SF and COD that the cheaper and smaller netbooks can already play.

 

They did say something about Crysis too. I'm not too sure about it but it's still worth mentioning.

 

I went ahead and did some research for my own benefit. Great review article here at: Asus Eee PC 1201n review

here's what they had to say about SFIV and MW2

Judging SFIV at min details and SD resolutions, it's not really comparable. MW2 is also interesting set at "medium" so this is hard to say what is medium since in MW2, there is no low/med/high but rather on/off various settings. Also at lower resolution in offline mode it still dipped down to teens. Still looks like the M11x can game much better, now it's up to you to decide if it's worth it or a big enough jump.

 

i really hope that m11x can be config with a corei5.. well we shall see when the time has come

*sigh* damm no bluetooth =( cnnt use my orochi as well.. looks like i'd either gonna get the steelseries Xai or the razer salmosa for this monster

 

I am getting more interested in one of these the more I think about it. I have a question that someone may be able to help with.

Not being big on netbooks as I am only interested in gaming, I have never even looked at one. These things appear to have no disc drive as far as I can tell. What would be the process of watching a movie and/or getting games installed on one of these?

 

I'm probably getting one for the heck of it. It's cute and it got juice !!!

 

well you could get an extenal drive, but i think many serious gamers use steam and try not to buy pc games at a store, it's quicker, you always have it and can use it on any new systems u purchase as opposed to some games which may have an install limit. there's also direct 2 drive and some other services, plus through steam u get some amazing deals, and sometimes exclusive or free stuff (like games or perks) that you wouldn't get otherwise. like right now if you preorder bioshock 2 on steam you get it for 45.00 and a free copy of the first bioshock.

 

After reading the first sentence I feel like a huge noob. I should have thought of that myself. I will be getting steam soon as I was unaware of the great offers.

 

yeah check it out man, u can get some wicked deals on new games, and they have specials all the time, where u can buy like 3 or more games for a really discounted price, or like a whole series of games for a stupid low price, though depending on the age of the game u might be better off buying it at a store and then making an iso of the disc on a thumb drive to install, there's guides on how to do this.

 

There might be a mistake at the chinese site

the i5 520m would burn this toy down, so obviously it´s the i5 520 um

 

As much as I can understand this guy, I bought my M17 knowing it was last generation technology GPUs and that it wouldn't be on market much longer. But I bought it because of a brilliant price, and also because dual 3870s are plenty for me.

It's the same story with the ULV C2D. I really don't need more, I'd be satisfied with that, the vast majority of games will NOT be bottlenecked by it.

 

That's strange, I play it at native or 1280x forget which but that's what I play all games at and I leave all the details on thier auto settings. I am overclocked to 2ghz but I wouldn't think it would make that big of difference. Heres a vid of someone else playing MW SF4 AC and some other games on it all seem to run fine as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdUaebbB27w Although I notice he also runs sfiv at 720x480.

If this thing comes with i5 though that will be a different story, I would definitely rather have i5 than atom. Guess we have to wait and see. Most likely either way i'm going to buy it LOL Will just have to see which one to keep.

Edit: Forgot to mention also have 4g of ram, maybe that also makes a difference because the ion shares the ram.

 

Yeah, steam is a terrific service. I have ALL my games on steam. Except for maybe one or two like MMORPG's although I'm not playing them currently. Steam is run by Valve, I hope you're familiar with them for the Half-Life Series, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2 etc. Also for new Alienware systems, Steam comes pre-installed (not that it's hard to go to www.steampowered.com and install the client) but it also comes with Portal - an awesome puzzle game. But yeah if you haven't already check out the steam store page at the link above. I go through computers a lot and steam just makes it so easy to get my games back all in one place. Plus I have all my games backed up onto an external HDD so I do not have to re-d/l every single one =D

 

Only reason I don't like to use STEAM is because my Internet connection sucks and takes forever to download any games.
But they do have some great deals!
And comparing a ION with Culv CPU and 335m it's not even close, the ION would get crushed.
Not that the ION is bad it's just not as good.
I did a lot of research and the ATOM is holding it back.
Saying all that I was about to purchase the ASUS 1201n till I seen the AW.

 

I also use Steam but I really don't like it. The fact that you can't sell old games or even lend newer ones to friends is a real drawback for me. I like to share my games with people, especially when I'm trying to convince them to buy a particular title or whatever... Not to mention the fact that all your games must be run through your Steam account (this caused a lot of problems for me during my first post-Steam travelling experience... got stuck without games for about 2 days while I was isolated from an internet connection). There is an offline mode but I was unaware of this and hadn't configured it at the time. Thats generally my main gripe with Steam, oh yeah and I got my account hijacked, including bank details and it took them 3 days to actually respond to my initial email and a further 3 days to do anything about it. Thankfully I had next to nothing in my account at the time. You don't even own the game when you buy from Steam! You pay for the rights to use the game (or something like that) and not the actual game itself, which irks a great deal of people... "I should be able to do what I want with my games!". Steam response "You do not own the game. Merely the rights, so NO you CAN'T do what you want with it.". Sure its helping to beat piracy etc which does make a serious impact on the gaming industry. Sure they offer some great deals on games on a fairly regular basis. Sure they put a lot into online multiplayer for many games. I just don't like it. I can see why many people do like Steam but I will always prefer to OWN a game and have a hard copy that I can do with as I please.

Just so you know, I use Steam for a lot of games, I'm not just ranting about it because I don't use it and don't like it. As many, many people will tell you, all DRD companies are annoying and their systems are far from perfect. Steam is less annoying than all the others but I don't think thats a good logic for making a choice...

 

I think a good reason why you cannot resell some of the games is b/c of the ridiculous sale prices they have on some games. The Christmas sale was a good example of this. If this happened in retail, then people would just horde them and resell via eBay or whatever. It's worth getting a game 50% or 75% off and just keeping it rather than paying retail or retail sales of 10-20% and then reselling. And believe me, I'm a huge reseller of games seeing as a large portion my ebay feedback is from reselling games I bought fro 360 etc. But I understand your gripes, but steam offers many more advantages to me than any other digital distribution and wayyy over retail (for PC games). Discs just aren't any good to me.

 

Yeah, I can fully understand why so many people prefer it. It's really the whole "you don't own the game" thing that makes me feel uncomfortable. That and the fact that they just don't seem very supportive of their customers... Although (I hope) that is probably a fairly unique experience. They really ought to give up on discs and start putting games on SD cards or something, especially considering you can fit 16GB on some of them!

With regards to the re-sale issue you raised, there are easy workarounds. How about selling the "rights" back to Steam themselves? They could pay a fixed percentage of the original price perhaps. I dunno, like I said before I do use Steam for quite a few games. It just feels to me like Steam (the retailer) have all the power and control and I (the customer) must live under their law in their oppressive, facist regime, which is not how such things should be. At least thats how I see it. I know I'm probably a bit more extreme in my views than is rational but I can't help it and I mean nothing by it! I would not discourage anybody from using Steam but I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

 

No doubt the 335m will be faster but the processor is the real bottleneck in these little lappies. If this thing comes with an option for an i5 it will be pretty sweet. If it's just another 1.3 ghz culv or whatever the graphics card isn't going to make much difference. That's why i'm still really curious about the games they chose to play on the thing at CES they are games that are already playable plenty fine on 1201n, mini 311 etc... These games don't really need any horsepower to run.

For this thing to be worth the price of admission it's going to have to make games playable that are not previously playable on any netbook. Like if we can actually play current released games like ME 2 then it's a no brainer this thing will be mine and every update to it for years to come. But if it can only play these games that 1201n and others already play then it kind of just seems a waste of money. 1201n 450 bucks, mini 311 400 bucks, m11x 1000 bucks...

I really hope it does come with an i5 that would definitely make it worth purchasing even for more than just games we could use it for photoshop and other imaging software on the go.

Oh and Thumbs up for Steam here too, it's a great setup, I always lose my game disks and since buying from steam it's great to be able to log in and install a game I bought 5-10 years ago that otherwise would have been lost who knows where. that is the biggest advantage to me.

 

when does this come out? will it come out in canada the same day as in the states..north america release?

 

I hate to be pedantic but technically they're not your games. Never were. Never will be...

Oh and I agree with you on the M11x front... They said "available under $1000" or something along those lines. A full spec one will probably cost a great deal more than that, lets face it AW simply don't make affordable systems. People are always saying "theres no point in a gaming laptop, people who buy them are r-tards" (usually because they don't have the disposable income and/or they are jealous), generally I would disagree with such a statement but this lil' thing... I dunno, seems like a bit of a novelty than anything else.

 

Actually there are tons of games out there that will play fine on a C2D ULV, even very very good looking ones. They say that Crysis plays at 50fps on it, and even if that's on low at whatever resolution, there's no other netbook that can do that.

The processor may slightly bottleneck some games however the FPS drop won't be massive, and the 335M is massively more powerful than what's in any other netbook.

And for the vast, vast majority of games, it's the graphics card that makes nearly all the difference.

 

True, but it sure does seem like they are, moreso than the 1000's of dollars worth of games that i've bought in the past and have lost, misplaced and or destroyed the discs for It really is nice to be able to log in and download any game i've ever purchased, that otherwise I would have had to purchase again.

Here's the new Crysis on 1201n: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31KtbRULFZg

It works fine...for me the 11x is going to have to make games playable that previously were not especially for the money they will be asking and the fact that the thing is so guady and coming in close to 5 lbs as well seems to be twice as thick as 1201n.

I don't know maybe I am just trying to talk myself out of buying it...but it sure does seem to me I would rather play the same games on a much more svelte 1201n that I am more likely to carry with me all the time rather than a 12" brick of an 11x. The thing looks twice as thick as the 1201n and it's hard to judge from the pictures but looks much more square than a 1201n so it's probably an inch and a half or so bigger as well and portability is my main concern if I can play the same games on a smaller package that means more to me than being able to crank up the settings on the same games on a bigger package that i'm less likely to take with me. However if I can play games on the 11x that I can't on the 1201n then it might warrant the extra size/weight.

I dont mean to sound like i'm trashing the 11x, i really don't mean to, honestly I will most likely buy one regardless just to try for myself. I'm just sort of talking to myself out loud here...trying to figure out if it's really worth it to me.

 

that's cool that it runs on the 1201n, but I can almost bet the M11x can run it at a much better, playable framerate with probably even some settings up or res. I had a 9400m that ran Crysis Warhead at peaks of 30fps with settings on low and lower res but that still wasn't good enough for me. Just because it could run didn't give me the satisfaction of enjoying it. I've noticed more games can be run or launched on lower systems but still doesn't mean it's that playable or "meant to be played" that way. Crysis is one of those games where I couldn't enjoy it as much as I did on my Sager. My Dell Inspiron 1501 launches a lot of games but playing them is a different matter haha

I totally understand where you're coming from though since you've already purchased the 1201n. But for me knowing the M11x is just around the corner, it's going to be a no brainer in terms of gaming albeit prob not hardcore settings, yet still have the battery/portability of an ultra portable.

 

Not worried about the 1201n, I can return it easily or give to my nephew for school if I actually like the 11x better. I am just concerned if it will play any games the 1201n can't, and for me the 1201n is the perfect size not to big not too small so i'm also wondering about the size of the 11x. From what it looks it's much bigger than the 1201n.

Like I say it looks more like a square than a rectangle so if it's really that much bigger than why not just get a 13" laptop just as powerful and with a bigger screen. I would rather have that extra inch and a half go out the side of the computer and see a bigger screen rather than see them extend it out the front and put a smaller screen just so they can throw it in the netbook category and say it's the most powerful 11" ever...

But who knows, once it's released and we have the actual dimensions/weight and specs we will have a better idea so until then can't really say. I will say though I am really hoping it turns out to be very similiar sizewise to 1201n with more power and able to play more/better games if so it would seem too good to be true and I will definitely own one!

 

yeah the form factor is definitely larger than any other 10-12" netbooks, and it does look more square hehe. problem is, what 13" laptop out there is as graphically powerful? I would be interested in that route as well, but I haven't seen any, especially around $1000.

 

it has already been proven that the 11" in it is the largest screen possible....

 

Nice. Saved me the response. This should be added to the first post.