Talk to me about the m11x....

Long time netbook/Alienware browser, first time possible buyer.

I'm heavily looking at the m11x but I have a few questions.

1. Is the overclock thing a feature or just something that wasn't disabled in BIOS?
2. If I order it with 2GB ram can I replace it with the 4GB DDR3 1066MHz from my Macbook in it? or does it use faster memory?
3. Does it use a normal Laptop sized HDD? IE can I put my MacBooks 320GB 7200RPM sata drive in it?
4. I plan to install Windows 7 from a USB drive and reinstall any needed software/drivers, would this cause any issues?
5. The only option I'm looking at is the Processor upgrade. Is it worth it or do benchmarks prove otherwise?


Thanks!!!

 

1. Feature, but not widely advertised and probably unsupported
2. Yes, you can
3. Yes, you can
4. No issues
5. It's about 5% faster and seems to be more stable under OC.

--neg

 

neg2led's are correct

In support for question 5, the I also believe the SU7300 is worth the upgrade, despite it's small boost in benchmarks. I don't really have a good explanation to support the upgrade, so I'll leave it at that.

 

did any1 actually posted OCed lower end processor of M11x other than 7300?? every1 seemed to buy that in order to get EPP discount.
and maybe be better resale value in the future.
Performance wise.. nothing major shud u notice.. but It seems overclocked 7300 is pretty good.
I personally am goin with 7300 as i want to OC my rig.

 

theres a chance that the mac and alienware's rams are incompatible,(i dont know what both systems use but usually different laptops have different pins on their rams)

 

What the hell are you talking about? I haven't seen that in 17yrs of computer support.

 

nah the latest apple computers use intel stuff now.. so macs now a days are pretty much the same thing inside when it comes to PC's.. just WINDOWS and OSX make it different.. (and the way they're built if you wanna be an apple person)

 

also i think apple uses open firmware instead of a bios so theres a difference there. i think thats what its called but i could be wrong since i hate apple.

 

They used OpenFirmware for PowerPC, it's EFI on intel macs (which is an intel standard and more and more PCs are using it)

The RAM is 100% compatible, it's just a DDR3-SODIMM.

--neg

 

Laptop RAM should be fine. OC feature is supported under the warranty as long as you only OC via the on/off option in BIOS. Dell will NOT cover the laptop should you damage it through other means of overclocking.

 

On dells website it states ddr3 @ 800 mhz?? whats up with that

 

Where is the proof that the 7300 overclocks better then the 4100? People with the 4100 can overclock to 1.6ghz just as the 7300 so I don't understand where people get this information....

 

Dude, Its just Mo Betta. C'mon... It has a higher number, duh.

 

oh my bad, its a 7300... 7300 is 78% higher then 4100, damn i wish i got the 7300 lol

 

I'm not a compugeek, so don't hurt me, but from what I understand the memory can go faster but it is limited to 800 mhz by the chipset.

 

I think it is the processor that limits the ram in this machine. When OCing the processor through the bios the RAM will go up to the 1066 (i think it was).

 

When you overclock the M11x, you don't overclock the CPU or the RAM directly. You overclock the front side bus (FSB) which in turn runs both the CPU and RAM at the higher bus speeds.

In standard mode, the RAM runs at a speed of 800MHz. In OC mode, the RAM runs at a speed of 1066MHz. (The RAM in the M11x is capable of running at both speeds safely)

The CPU speed is determined by a simple calculation; CPU multiplier x base bus speed.

Hope this helps.

 

Please please please let's not throw around false information sheesh! (i.e. 7300 is 78% faster than 4100, those are just model numbers)

Ok, to honestly answer your questions:

(1) Overclock is a feature in the BIOS supported by Alienware. It's identified in the M11x manual as a feature. It bumps the Front Side Bus from 800MHz to 1066MHz, which in turn overclocks the RAM and everything else in the machine. But since the RAM is rated for 1066MHz it won't be an issue.

(2) M11x uses DDR3 1066MHz laptop RAM. All laptop DDR3 is 204 pin, and compatible. You should have no issues using your 4GB module in the M11x.

(3) Yes, it does use a regular laptop sized HDD (2.5", 12mm height). You can install your own, although it's not a simple process to updgrade RAM or HDD in the M11x. You have to remove the entire bottom plate. See my sig for M11x manual as it explains how to do it.

(4) You can install from USB drive. All drivers are available at Dell's website. However, the pre-installed Windows is pretty much free of crapware. I usually do my own fresh install, but no need this time around unless you want to buy with stock Home Premium and install your own Pro or Ultimate. Just make sure to make your system restore DVD's (or flash drive) before installing. Not sure if it'll mess up the restore partition on the hard drive.

(5) SU4100 vs SU7300. They are nearly identical. SU4100 is called a dual core Pentium, SU7300 is called Core 2 Duo, but they are the same architecture.

Biggest differences are that SU4100 has 2MB L2 Cache, and SU7300 has 3MB L2 cache. SU7300 supports virtualization if that's important to you, SU4100 does not. Both will overclock via BIOS. You really shouldn't see much of a difference in gaming performance. 3DMark06 scores are only about 30-50 points different between SU4100 and SU7300.

Check out the detailed comparison here:

http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=43568,42791,

 

I was being sarcastic when I said SU7300 is 78% faster then SU4100

 

Ok, good. You just never know. With new members some people are clueless, which is fine, but I've seen some really poor assumptions made that turns other less informed visitors the wrong direction.

 

Sorry htwingnut, I was egging him on.

 

Well with the issues that the fan/keyboards seem to have I"ll hold off till least there is a new BIOS version out to see what happens.