choosing between M15 and M11 (Alienware).

Planning to buy new alienware. I have question re: M11 and M15 size.

I have XPS15 and not sure what will be the big difference if I go down to 11" size.

Normally I used my laptop browsing the internet, chatting with family online, doing some excel sheet, etc.....

do you think 15" is worth it or settle with 11"?

need advise. thank you.

 

Will you be doing gaming?

 

Yes...........

 

m11x = more mobility + you build up your hinge fixing expertise
m15x = more performance

If you plan to carry it around a lot, it would make sense to get a small/lighter one.

 

It almost seems the 15 inch model is lacking something any more. Theres IPS displays out now with the HP line up, SLI/XF for 17 inch models. They could add some xtras to make the 15 inch model more enticing. It used to be my favorite model out of all the laptops but any more there is just to many good points of the m11x and other laptops that I dont see me wanting the m15x as much as I used to. Mayee if they added a 120 hertz screen or an ips panel or something like that for the m15x exclusively it would be more justifiable. Them not making it all aluminum-metals like the m17x was kinda a downer too in some thought. Maybee they could throw in a nvidia 480m gtx in there or something that would make it enticing.

 

With the M11x I believe you're stuck with what you buy. The M15x fully upgradeable, within laptop limits of course.

 

yup, everything in the M11x is embeded, in their defense that's really the only solution for formactors that small. Unreal has it figured though. The only question you should be asking is if you acutally are using it to replace a desktop as a gaming computer, or if you need a netbook that can play a game or two. The second question would be a less relevent one, and that's if you plan on upgrading major components, in which case the M15x has the clear advantage because of reasons previously stated.

 

If your wondering how heavy the M15x is..... Its only 9 pounds.... Thats less than what my cat weighs... Its not as bulky as it seems (check out the unboxing in my sig).

 

now the real question comes is your cat overweight or your laptop not that much

 

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6 months later no hinge fixing required (still working great)

 

"Only 9 pounds" is a lot of weight. As someone who leads a highly mobile lifestyle (I travel for work a lot), I can tell you that even a fraction of a pound makes a huge difference when you're running around and carrying your laptop.


Unreal25 had it right when he said:
m11x = more mobility
m15x = more performance


If you need to move your laptop more than twice a week, then I would get the M11x. The portability is a major benefit, as is the increased battery life. And although the M15x has more power and performance, remember that it is also driving a larger higher-res screen. So even though it has a more powerful GPU, that GPU also needs to work harder to fill more pixels.

 

a lot of people that have seen M15 and M17x laptops sideby side say the difference between the two isn't a whole lot. 9lbs is still pretty heavy for a laptop. My CF-29 doesn't even weigh 8lbs..

 

that might be a little over kill i move my m17 around about 2-3 times a week and it,s not that bad (how ever seeing my friend's m17x i would not do it with that thing)


i can get my m17 to wight 9 to lbs if i take out 1 hdd 1 gpu and don't bring the psu ......

 

The lack of a built-in drive would make the M11x quite crippling to me. Even if it is mobile. Also, if I were to go with the M15x, I would probably just opt for the M17x since the size is practically the same, just the M17x has a larger screen. 15" laptop isn't much smaller in size than the M17x.

 

I believe the M17x is considerably bigger, you cant have a bigger screen without a bigger base.

 

You realize there are external usb powered optical drives right?

I have one that weighs like 12oz, and fits nicely in my bag although I barely ever use it.

 

About m11x hinges, well it seems like quite a lot of people are affected by it. Mine lasted 4-4.5 months and even tho I was careful, m11x was and still used quite extensively (every day). Performance-wise, it is an extremely powerful laptop for its category.

When you think about carrying m17x around keep in mind that you need to carry an AC adapter too (which is also pretty bulky, 240 W, at least on crossfire systems) and an external mouse.

I was also thinking about m15x at some point, but didn't see much use of it - since m17x is bigger but not THAT bigger... + I rarely carry it somewhere. Laptop itself is pretty heavy, you generally need a big backpack to carry it around - even some standard 17" laptop backpacks I tried were too small for it (I think I tried Swissgear @ best buy). Add to that a charger, a mouse and besides... you'll probably want to put more stuff in your bag. It can easily get really really heavy. It may not seem like that if you just put on your back for a minute, but try actually walking around or carry it for 30-60mins and you'll see what I mean.

If 11.6" is too small, maybe some 13" is fine - I think there are Asus or Acer 13" laptops with decent gaming performance (even tho they are probably worse in build quality than m11x). Anything larger than that isn't that portable... If you can give up 'gaming' there are way more options - and much better than alienware (like MacbookPro).

 

I would use the carry word lightly as well, it's a 11.68 lb laptop, and it's very wide, I have fairly big arms and don't feel confident carrying it very far.

 

I don't know about you, but an optical drive is pretty much obsolete for me now. I haven't touched an optical disc in about 6 months.

All software I need is copied and installed over a network connection. All games I have are digitally downloaded (mostly through Steam). All movies, music, and videos that I have are already in a digital format. I even install Windows 7 through a bootable USB thumb drive.

 

The difference between your cat and your laptop is that the laptop is dead weight. That makes a big difference.