$700 M11x a good buy?

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I may get a new laptop soon, and for a while, I've been looking for something good to replace my Samsung Go N310. I liked its small size and good battery life (~8 hours per charge with how I use it), but among its characteristics I want to avoid dealing with again were the tiny resolution (1024x600 FTL) and the Atom processor.

When I started my laptop search, I decided I wanted something in the 11-13" size range, with better screen DPI, but still stylish and with a decent battery. I wanted something that could be described as a 'subnotebook,' rather than a netbook. After much navigation of the interwebs, I identified a scant 2 contenders that I thought I might like: the HP dm1z and the Lenovo x120e. Initially, the dual-core M11x was also a consideration, but it quickly disappeared from the Alienware site. Both the HP and the Lenovo were/are adequate, I suppose, but they didn't jump out at me as excellent or interesting (with the exception of the x120e's matte screen).

Yesterday, I looked on the Alienware site again and noticed that a new version of the M11x with an i3 processor was for sale for $700, more affordable than the $1000-minimum one previously available. Does the i3 version have a reasonable price, or is it a trap? I am aware that there may be an 'Alienware tax,' but I'm ok with that if it isn't too egregious and doesn't make the laptop a complete waste of money.

I plan on using it for school (I'm a rising senior in high school) more than actual gaming, but the ability to play some things at 60 frames per second would be nice to have. What kind of performance could I expect from this laptop? For instance, how well might Minecraft, Team Fortress 2, Unreal Tournament 3, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 2, Portal 1/2, or Trackmania United run (just to name a few examples)? I also have a gaming desktop computer, so it's not at all like this laptop would be what I usually play my games on.

Furthermore, for any M11x owners out there, are there any deal-breakers about the M11x's general construction that I should know about? Things like unbearable speakers, hard-to-type-on keyboard, strange keyboard configuration (lack of certain useful buttons you'd normally take for granted), high-friction/unpleasant touchpad, etc.?

Important specs from clicking the "Build Yours" button:
- 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHz
- Intel® Core™ i3 330UM (3M Cache, 1.2 GHz) - Overclockable
- 11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED
- 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M

Thanks for any replies; I appreciate all of it Please tell me if there's any information you need to give me a better response.

 

get a m18x!

 

That's definitely not what I'm looking for; I want a portable <$800 subnotebook, not a desktop replacement, silly

 

If you want to save $100 there is also this configuration. The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

Your config has an i3 processor, while the cheaper config has the u5400 processor. There isn't much difference between the processors, except the u5400 doesn't have hyperthreading and SSE instructions.

 

These posts really get annoying. The OP is looking for a LAPTOP........

NOT a oversized tanktop.

 

The Pentium 5400 is a smidgeon slower than the SU7300 in the original R1, and the i3 is faster:

CPU / Passmark / 3DMark06 / PCMark 05
U5400 / 926 / 1126 / 2641
SU7600 / 978 / 1169 / 2819
i3-330um / 1190 / 1310 / ??

Having just replaced my EeePC 1000H with a M11x R1 (SU7300), I would strongly recommend it.

I run mine overclocked (1.3 -> 1.6 GHz) all the time, and it reduces the "office" battery life from about 7 to about 6.5 hours. Great for school / uni

It runs Portal 1 no worries ! It can also run Crysis at native resolution ("mainstream" quality) and it still looks and plays great

Speakers: very good;
Keyboard: great ! Better than my work Latitude !
Touchpad: good, with nifty gestures.

Only bad things:

1. Screen: it's very reflective, so get yourself a Photodon anti-glare screen protector, and carefully read the posts in this forum about putting one on.
2. The dreaded "hinge" (actually plastic bezel) problem with R2s - which is now fully covered.

 

If you can live with the thermal throttling issue the Acer 3830TG has, it represents much more bang-per-buck

$770 13" Acer 3830TG i5-2410M 2.3 4GB 500GB GT540M 4.11lbs (1.87kgs). 1.14" thick. GT540M. Poor cooling.
11.6" Alienware m11xR3 4.40lbs (2.00kgs). 1.29" thick. GT540M.
14" Lenovo Y470 4.85lbs (2.20kgs). 1.29" thick. GT550M. mSATA. Quad-core option. 900P LCD swapout.

The Y470 has deals on like Lenovo IdeaPad Y470, i5-2410M or i7-2630QM, Nvidia GT 550m, 14" Screen, Blu Ray, 750gb HDD, USB 3.0 - $764 or $850 AC + Tax + FS @ Lenovo.com - Slickdeals.net Remove the optical drive and your at 2.05kgs, or 50gms more than a m11xR3.

 

@Chemware: Thanks, that's helpful. Would such a hinge issue be a problem with a new laptop? I assume the i3 version is R3.

@nando4: I'm generally not a fan of Acer, and the throttling issue you mentioned sounds like trouble I wouldn't want to have to put up with. The ~12-hour battery is interesting, though. As for the Lenovo, $1000 is a little too expensive for me, and it apparently doesn't have the battery life I'd like.

Maybe not immediately, I might consider replacing the stock hard drive with an SSD. Anything I should know about that? Any recommendations?

 

well I have a m11x r1 and runs almost every game, great!
Really well built laptop, solid, nice temps, nice performance, mine is overclockable to 1.6Ghz but that's enough to play some games like crysis 2, mass effect 2, batman AA and many others.

Since the i3 seems to have the nvidia 335 it could be categorized as a r1 or r2 I dunno, but the performance that chemware put above seems a nice performance (above the su7300)


If you want the backlit keyboard, the alienware design, the power to play games, nice cooling, and portability, seems like the i3 is more than enough.

Also the acer and the lenovo above are not 11 inch or 11'9 so they can be compared but the size it's not the same, I used to take a 15' to the university and it was heavy and bulky, and now I take the m11x to the university is more comfortable and battery life is awesome.

The 11 inch screen is not that bad, and the keyboard is comfortable to write, the touchpad is very nice, and the right and left click are very nice. The speakers are below the laptop so when you're on a hard surface they are fine they got muffled if you put the laptop over something soft like a bed or something.

Since you have a gaming desktop, maybe you can consider having something else for university, but if you want to sometimes have the power to run a game without problems the m11x is ready for the job.

I hope this helps to answer something

 

Does it have Optimus technology, and how about overclocking the CPU?

 

Yes and yes. Overclocking the cpu is done by increasing the bus speed in the bios or using a program like SetPLL.

 

Hey alls! I have a few more questions...

1. How are the function keys? Is it easy to, say, change the volume and screen brightness? Is there a way to make the f1-f12 keys always perform hardware functions like that without having to hold down "fn" or something?

2. Is it loud at all during normal use? (Web browser / word processor type stuff)

3. Is the built-in mic/webcam decent?

4. Do you think I ought to wait and see if a slightly larger version (12-13") or a matte screen option become available? Or is that wishful thinking?

 

1. Brightness etc is easy to change, just fn + corresponding button. Don't know if there's a way to make the F buttons always perform hw functions like you suggest though.

2. When running integrated graphics, and not running intensive applications, the fan is either off, or low. Not very noisy, pretty much standard IMO. It ramps up to quite loud when you switch to the Nvidia chip and play games, but assuming you like sound in your games it won't be noticable until you pause. Plus, I'd rather have a cool laptop with a noisy fan rather than risk problems down the line.

3. Webcam is average

4. Unlikely to be a different size version, Alienware seems to have all bases covered in terms of size already, with the M11, M14 etc.