M11x for gaming on the go?

So I've never been a big fan of Alienware, but the M11x really caught my eye.

I've wanted a netbook for awhile, so I wouldn't have to lug my Sager around for short trips, but I never expected to be able to play games on one. I read a few reviews, and it sounds like it can play every game out there right now, and on good settings.

I'm posting this here instead of the alienware forum because I want an unbiased opinion of what the rest of the forum thinks on this piece of hardware.

 

Most powerful piece of equipment for its size, but if you're spoiled by 15/17" desktop replacement notebooks then you'll be disappointed with the actual performance.

 

That's a tough one, I've been eyeing off the m11x as well. What games do you plan on playing? The one thing putting me off is it's processor. If you're after playing games that rely on GPU, you should be ok. If you're after playing CPU intensive games such as Supreme commander, you'll be out of luck. If it had i3/i5 I'd be sold.

 

The CPU sucks ([email protected] ?)...other than that this Lappy RULEZ all NETbooks out there!!

If only Core i5/i3 was possible this would be EPIC

But still for the price range it cool for an alienware lappy...

 

cpu us su4100 or su7300
if they use i5/i3 the price would not be under 1k (more like sont TT)and the battery will be gone with in an hour or so when play game =)

 

Yes, but you have to sacrifice battery for gaming capabilities. And it's impossible to find another laptop such as m11x in this size range.

 

I'm in the exact same boat as you are. I've loved the idea of netbooks since their inception but I have held off buying one because I cannot stand using a slow computer. The extra milliseconds or seconds of lag kill me for some reason, even though the battery life and the 9lbs of my gateway keep me from browsing the web on the couch or traveling with it (been using my ipod/phone when traveling and making do with the terrible screen sizes).

When Asus launched their UL line with the 210m and the overclocked su7300 I almost bit, but the price combined with the fact that I didn't need a computer immediately kept me from buying one.

I'm not an Alienware fanboy, I have never owned one of their products, and have always considered them for people with more money than shopping savy and more concerned with their image than having a non boutique computer (I consider mac fanboys in the same boat but at least with the case of macs they may be buying one for the OS although most don't).

Then I saw the M11x. It has alienware coolness (backlight keyboard and sleek looking), the absolute best gpu for the size ever made, and a reasonable starting price for the specs (almost the same as the UL series trading battery life for the gpu). Needless to say I already have one pre-ordered.

I will not game on it often but since it has the capability I will never have to travel with my gateway again and will be more likely toss it in my bag for short trips since it doesn't weigh 10lbs and more likely to couch surf since the battery lasts more than 1.5hrs.

 

I bought one (estimate delivery March 5). Visit the Alienware forums for tons of info and debate on this rig. Looks like if you jumped on the initial bandwagon you get a really good deal. Mine well equipped, taxes, shipped was ~$830 with SU7300, 4GB DDR3 1066, 320GB 7200RPM, Bluetooth.

Everyone dogs the processor for some reason. First of all, the BIOS supports overclock of 1.7GHz. Secondly, a starting price of $799 is probably close to the border of what its audience will tolerate for pricing. Add an i3 or an i5 you kick that price up a good $200 at least. Not to mention that that i3 isn't that much more powerful and both i3 and i5 CPU's have a higher thermal footprint than the C2D's, so that was probably a consideration as well.

I don't doubt that down the road in 6-9 months there will be an i3 or i5 refresh. That only makes sense, but after time has passed to do some thermal engineering plus get the hardware at a reduced cost. For once Alienware is assembling an affordable yet powerful laptop.

It will play 99% of games out there currently maxed out considering its 1366x768 native resolution. And most likely play pretty much any game released this year with medium-high to high detail. It's not meant to be a primary gaming machine either. But it would fare well as someone's only laptop if they have a decent desktop because it is gaming capable.

 

it will not run gta 4 almost at all, as well as most of the cpu demanding games
but for that size, it's indeed the best one you can get
i would enjoy owning that thing, very portable and able to run pretty much all the games, not to mention that i can always hook it up to an external monitor when im home

 

I really like the M11x and find it very interesting. However, for the added portability and ease of transportation or storage in a rucksack bag etc, the reduced performance and lack of screen real estate you will get is too much of a compromise for some one like me who has been completely spoilt by the 15'' gaming laptops. If they had released this a few years ago before I tried 15'' gaming laptops, I would have got one immediately.

With a 15'' W860CU (mobile i7 + 285M), I get something mildly portable, although it takes much more effort to travel with, once I am actually at my destination, I get a large enough screen and enough power to play GTA IV and many other games at high settings at a high res.

With the M11x, it is much easier to travel with but once I am at my destination I get a cramped screen, lower res, less gaming power, less gaming potential and for me it is just not worth while. I do like the switchable graphics though.

People say it will be used for gaming on the go but I would never pull out something like that on a bus, train or anywhere in public (without a weapon). Too risky, even old crap gets stolen nowadays.

I saw a youtube clip of the M11x performance in L4D2 and the lady was stating 30 fps but it was clear to see the frames dropped to -20 fps any time there were lots of zombies on screen. I guess the more zombies the more CPU intensive that game becomes. It was interesting how the camera zoomed out at exactly the point of the low frames occurrence too.

 

Don't worry, I'll do my normal gamut of benchmarking. I'm curious to see how well it really performs, especially with CPU o/c'd to 1.7GHz. I don't think o/c'ing the GPU will matter so much. I just wish it wasn't a month wait to get it.

 

Glad to see the input on both sides. I've definitely been spoiled with my Sager, but after having hauled this thing all over Iraq (it's over 15lbs with my Pelican Case) I'll never do that again.

If I get it it won't be until after the release date, so we can see how it actually performs for the consumer. However, it seems there's nothing else on the market that I can fit in my ACU pockets and can still play decent games.

 

I don't really consider the M11x a netbook considering it weighs 4.5lbs... Just because it has an 11" screen doesn't mean it's going to be as portable as the typical netbook.

Another thing is I've played games on a 13.3" screen with my Vaio SZ and it's not even enjoyable when I've been spoiled by "only" a 19" desktop screen.

 

I have to say, that is exactly why I had to resist getting a 17'' NP9262, it weighs a lot more than the NP8662 and the W860CU (that I should have by the end of next week). The 15'' W860CU weighs about 7 lbs and with a good rucksack it isn't too much bother to travel with. Apparently the M11x weighs about 4.5 lbs according to reports.

 

Some of these arguments, I don't understand. I think it's perfectly fine to game on a 10'' or 11''. Damn, even an Iphone screen is enough for many people these days.

For one, 15'' is small as well, and what's the point on playing on that when a 24'' monitor is cheap, or that you can get a 42'' LCD HDTV for cheap? You can always say you have been spoiled by something bigger.


For me personally, 15'' is way way way to big to carry around. heavy, large footprint and bulky... I would keep it mostly at home, and at home I would always prefer to game on my main pc/console with big nice screen.
If I had to game on the go, I would get a small powerful machine I could actually take with me.



What worries me about the M11X as others have mentioned is the CPU. Source games and MMOs and other games with large open areas and many objects and enemies(GTA for example) are highly CPU dependant. It's great that you can disable the powerful 310 based GPU, but its power seems to be bottlenecked by the CPU?

The weight is also a bit on the extreme side. My 13'' is under 4 lbs... an 11'' that is 4,5 lbs?

The battery seems great, but I am not sure I would call it a netbook. the footprint looks big with that big benzel... But I guess the Asus N10 had the same problem.


The Anti glare, and poor viewing angels and glossy display is also a downside to the M11X. And the fact that its Alienware with such an extreme pimped out LED backlights everywhere attention freakshow, makes me think its to flashy and makes me not want to use it as a tool.


I dont understand the whole thing about parading the brand. The reason why I like PC gaming over console gaming over Console gaming in the first place is the customization, and the ability to customize it, instead of having stupid logos everywhere.

 

The LG P310 is another option if you want to sacrifice some graphical power for raw processing power. It has a 13.3" screen however.

 

Coupons and discount codes. First few days it was launched they had a number of discounts. Actually I think you can still get the $50 off coupon for signing up for their newsletter.

 

... wish i would've had the money that day that's a really nice deal...

 

Wish I did too. I already had a Dell Preferred Account, so put it on that. I won't have money until tax return in a few weeks.

 

ya i need to get my self a dell preferred...

ony thing is holding me back is they need too have state id or drivers licenses which i don't have yet.. lol

 

The games I play will kill the M11x. The screen is too small to get any work done. 13.3" would have been great.

 

And what games are those?

 

I'm looking forward to it, curious myself to see how some flight sims play on it. FSX is very CPU dependant, but I'm thinking the CPU overclocked via the bios to ~1.73 (or maybe 1.6, I see conflicting reports) should be enough... it is still a Core2Duo after all.

Do love the battery life, and curious to see the actual final size once it comes. Currently have the G51, an Aspire One 10", and a HP 12" Tablet. Curious what it's closest to size wise, I'm thinking the Tablet, but hopefully noticeably smaller than the G51, as it's a machine I love, just not quite portable enough for daily travel.

Can't wait, 3/3/10 ETA they say at the moment for mine.

EDIT: And by no means am I an Alienware fanboy, always thought they were flashy and overpiced in the past. But, you can turn all those lights off, and this is a fantastic price for the power of this machine... should be a homerun in my book for sure.

And screensize wise, should be totally acceptable, I gamed for a year on the 12" Tablet screen in total happiness, and the Acer's 10" screen is great, just wish it was a full 768 pix tall, as some stuff gets cut off.... not to mention actual video performance is utter crap ha... have a ball with older dos and windows games though, so screen size is not an issue IMHO

 

You and me Big Daddy! I never cared for Alienware either, but couldn't pass this one up. In the M11X manual (linked to by someone in that billion page thread in Alienware forums) confirms it is 266MHz FSB overclock x 6.5 = 1729MHz. Manual Link:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/Alw_lp_M11x/



I've been through so many netbooks I could be considered a netbook hooker. In hindsight I wish I had benched and documented everything I did with them because I'd probably have a website that made a few bucks.

Anyhow, I'm not concerned about its power. I also don't think Alienware would put out something that was questionable gaming-wise. As a matter of fact I have a couple friends that still run current games using their Athlon64 X2 CPU's and 7900 GT's. They are fine sacrificing some detail and resolution but it works for them, and this is probably as good as if not better than those machines especially considering the new tech in the 335m.

 

Edit: Moved.

 

it's most likely more portable than the majority of netbooks out there, however, it is less mobile than netbooks. but at 4.5lbs, considering my last laptop weighed in over 9 pounds... i feel people should be able to manage this.

 

Games like Supreme Commander, ARMA2, Op Flashpoint.

 

haha, yea I don't see those working on here. Thankfully I'm not a big fan of any of those games. I'm currently playing Eve Online, MW2, Global Agenda, and Heroes of Newerth, so they're mostly all gpu dependant games.

 

not bad for a netbook, even though it's a super sized one.
1.7ghz c2d is not that great. i have a similar cpu, and i would get significant slowdowns in source games regardless of settings, if i play on a highly populated server.

 

I ordered one a few days ago. Got a good deal too. I'll leave out my opinions because I'm biased towards alienware. Anyone else considering it, I suggest reading the ordering thread that's linked to my sig. I put it together based on my experiences. Theres some helpful advice there.

 

Great advice. Unfortunately it relies on your haggling skills which I (1) hate and (2) am terrible at. The reason I hate it is because I think the price should be the price, not dependant on the person's haggling skills. So I stick with coupons and considering I got over $250 off, I don't think was such a bad deal.

 

Add GTA IV and Empire Total War to that list in my case.

 

But if the M11X gets the Core i7 upgrade in August with a 20% CPU boost... Well, then that might bring games like GTA4 up in the realm of playable.

But let's be honest here. GTA4 is stupidly retarded optimized. I will go as far as saying that it's the biggest console port travesty in recent memory. The game is HORRIBLE.
With the LC episodes(360 exclusive content) announced for PC, I think they should bundle it with GTA4, optimzie the entire thing and resell it, similiar to Witcher Enhanced Edition. Current GTA4 owners deserve the upgrade as well.

GTA4 is such an ENOURMOUS missed chance. The 32 player multiplayer, had it been tweaked, tested and tight, could have been so much fun. Create your own character and almost RPG evolve yourself through the world.

Now let's see if APB can do what Crimecraft and GTA4 Online couldn't!

 

Left 4 Dead is an extremely cpu dependent game. It will keep a Core 2 Duo T5750 pinned at 100%.

Edit: This will be the case with any modern Source game.

 

Yeah, I saw that Dell Youtube clip as well and was kind of disappointed. To be fair, there were times that it looked like the frame rate jumped into the 70s when nothing was going on ... so I suppose we should be grateful they didn't say 70fps in the video. 30fps is probably the "average" for the game if you combine the times the frame rate drops because of lots of zombies and the times frame rates spike because of no enemies on the screen.

 

But was that at stock CPU speed or overclocked? If stock then it can only get better, probably a good 3-5fps better.

 

It needs an i7-620UE....

 

Availability, cost, thermals, power

 

No the 11" screen doesn't make it a netbook, but............10+lbs or 4.5 lbs??
FOR ME, who plays maybe 1 or 2 games religiously, I'll take the one under 5lbs in a heartbeat!

 

yup my old t5550 struggled with all source games. with my x9000 my minimum frame rate doubled, if not more.

 

What are the closest competitors to the m11x?

HP Envy? Asus UL80vt? Sony Z?

And I guess I would define competition as a laptop with a screen less than 15" that has hybrid graphics (selectable without reboot) and the dedicated GPU is a performance/enthusiast grade GPU...

 

With the dedicated 335M, there really is nothing that close to the M11x in that size category. I suppose the Asus EeePC 1201N is a step in that direction with the ION graphics (based on the 9400M GT), and even its Atom CPU is a dual-core model, and overclocks pretty easily with OCTuner.

 

That's the problem. There's not really any competitors if you take into account price especially. That's why the M11x will probably sell well.

(1) Asus 1201n Atom 330 dual-core CPU + ION 12.1" ~ $450
(2) Acer Aspire One 532G Atom N450 single core CPU + ION 2 10.1" No pricing yet but probably ~ $500
(3) Asus UL30VT-X1 SU7300 + G 210M ~$800
(4) Sony Vaio Z Core i5 + GT 330M ~ $1900

 

I don't know if it's the same one, but...

BestBuy.com has a Sony Vaio Z with the i5 (4GB RAM), GT 330M (512MB), 500GB HDD, and a BluRay for $950...laptop is slightly larger than the m11x, but has a 14" 1600x900 screen...

From customer reviews, it appears that the laptops have shipped. Some colors are currently on backorder.

And of your list (thank you...that's what I was hoping someone knew...I'm in the final stages of decision, and having never looked at ultra(?)-portables before, I really have no idea what's out there), it looks like the Sony is closest to the m11x...

 

I think price is a bigger factor here than you're indicating. The M11x starts at what, $700? For someone with a budget of $500, that's pretty significantly over, while the 1201N or 532G are within the allotment.

It's cheaper than a full-size gaming notebook,, and in the ballpark of some ultra-portables, but it's not quite down to netbook levels, which is an advantage that the Asus and Acer models still have.

 

The Sony model on BestBuy.com is actually the CW...that's the reason for the price discrepancy...similar features, but the Z is smaller and lighter...I doubt that the CW has hybrid graphics capability...

 

If the performance of the 335M and SU7300 was any less than double the performance of the 9400M and Dual Atom (and it's probably more than that), you may have been on to something.

 

I wasn't really looking at the question generically...I'm deciding on a laptop purchase...my m1710 (as much as I love it) is getting old and tired...

When I bought the m1710, I was actually trying to replace my 15" Toshiba 5205 with another 15" gaming laptop...but the original Alienware 15" had a few issues...

Now, it looks like you can game with laptops even smaller than 15"...

And since the tax return just arrived, my available budget will accomodate a CW (maybe not a Z) or an m11x...

 

I would be willing to pay a grand for the M11x if it had a low voltage i5 (which has been delayed, but near release). As it is, it's a wait-and-see.