A few q's

Hey all, new here, and I have a few questions to ask.

I'm not very savvy, so bare with me here...

I am looking at getting an m11x r2 with the icore 7 and 4 gigs of ram. I'm wondering if I will be able to upgrade the ram to 8 g's after purchase? What about if I want to slip in an ssd?

My next question is kind of vague. I really like to play mmo's and am wondering if this laptop is a safe purchase for future titles? Like Guild Wars 2, Tera, the Secret World, etc. None of these have released system specs, so I guess I'm just asking opinions. My interpretation of graphics is "Game A is more purty than Game B, there for B must be able to run just fine". But I know that's not how it works...

One last question. I'm Canadian, and it looks like I have to buy mine off Dell.ca Now when I pick the m11x with the options I listed above, it looks like I can't select the soft touch black finish. It's locked for some reason. Any clues there? Probably something simple.

Think that covers it, sorry for the wall, and thanks for any help!

 

I ordered my m11x today and I really wanted the bluetooth option, but it wasn't available for mine. I talked to the guy and he said that on that specific setup(with the $214 discount) they aren't allowing it as an option.

If it's locked on yours... then you may be able to call and ask them to apply it. But if it's not even an option, then there's a chance they won't just allow it(depending how well you persuade them).

I also don't think you can change your order once they start producing it, but I do know that there's a way you can push for faster shipping.

I'm new to all this stuff anyways haha.. so that's all i can say.

And the m11x will probably handle those games just fine. You should have faith in your system, and enjoy it! And even if it doesn't play on "high", you can at least find a way to "make it work".

 

I'm pretty sure this laptop will be able to handle those games. You may not be able to set everything at High but I'm sure it will be playable. Besides, if you're looking for a true gaming PC, get a desktop.

 

Yes, you can upgrade your RAM from 4GB --> 8GB using aftermarket RAM that you buy and install yourself. You do not need to specifically buy memory from Dell... memory from any major memory manufacturer (Crucial, Corsair, Kingston, Mushkin, etc) will all work fine, as long as you buy the correct memory type. Crucial.com has a nice web-based app that tells you exactly the memory spec that you need to buy.

However, 4GB will be more than enough RAM for anything that you will do with your laptop. It is more than enough for any game or application you are running. The only case where I can see why you need more than 4GB of RAM is if you are running a large photos/videos, or if you are running virtual machines on your laptop. If you're just running games and applications, 4GB will be more than enough.

The same situation applies with the SSD. You can easily replace the hard drive that comes with your laptop with another storage drive. In fact, upgrading your M11x from the included 7200rpm hard drive to either an SSD or a Seagate Momentus XT drive are two of the most popular topics of discussion on this forum.

Nobody knows for sure what is going to happen in the future, but you will most likely be ok.

The thing to remember is this: The Alienware M11x is not a hardcore gaming system. It is not even a good bang-for-your-buck system. In terms of gaming systems, it is a little underpowered. In terms of *highly portable* gaming systems, it is fantastic. If portability is in your top 3 criteria when selecting a laptop, then the M11x would be a great choice. Otherwise, you'd be happier with a larger laptop with more graphics horsepower.

The M11x R2 (the models with the Core i5/i7 CPUs) only come in soft touch black.

 

As far as Bluetooth, here is a $1.80 option,

DealExtreme: $1.80 Super Mini Bluetooth 2.0 Adapter Dongle (Vista Compatible)

I have it on my M17X, never use it. I bought two of these last year for my desktop, plug and play.

 

that blue-tooth dongle is only good for mouse and keyboards, if you need A2DP for blue-tooth headsets you may pick a Dell 365 module from Ebay for afew quids.

 

Basically what Talo said.
I honestly would not consider the M11x a true gaming computer.
It's more like a hybrid between regular computer, and gaming computer.
Doesn't give you true gaming computer performance, but it does give you the portability and price of a regular computer.

 

That is very true, but we have also seen in recent years that the heavy multi-platform focus and fixed console hardware has changed up the natural one-upping progression.

For a while Crysis was the 'video card metric of choice'. Personally I moved to Gothic 3, as it was an unoptimized resource pig (though a good game once patched). This fall we are getting ArcaniA: Gothic 4, which has recently seen some rumblings that it will need more than a Core2Duo to run! So definitely pay attention - particularly with PC-only games.

This! You really need to check your assumptions before buying this laptop. I knew JUST what I wanted - and the m11x met my needs perfectly. But I honestly see it as a niche product that will be too much $ for too little product for most.