M11X R1 owner's, please look at the positives:

Sure, we got the 4100 and 7300 cpu's, but look at the positives, from a portable gamer's perspective (me), using R1:

1. Battery lasts longer (kind of a main point of the device)
2. I prefer manual switching for 3D graphics, since their are plenty of lower resource 3D games that play fine using the built in chipset- this saves battery too.
3. R1 costs less
4. VGA is handy- especially for me, since my M11X will one day become part of a MAME cabinet.
5. So far, there is not a huge difference for games, unless you burn battery at a much higher rate. Defeats the premise of the device, IMO. If you correlate gains in performance in relation to battery use, there is a rather significant diminished return with the R2's.
6. For game emulators, there is not as much of a performance improvement as you would expect.
7. Bottleneck for most games is still the GPU.

As far as an update from R1, seems the sweet spot will be the i3, since a more logical chipset replacement for the 4100 and 7300. Reason being the cost and battery use is more in line with the R1 and you do not lose much performance from the i3's higher model family.

Added: Come to think of it, why is the i3 not part of the options for the US?

 

Totally agree with you, I'm still very happy with my R1 and will not upgrade for a while

 

I thought the r1 couldn't handle MAME games very well?

 

At 1.6ghz, the M11X plays just as good as my Q4 desktop, except for some 3D games. 98-99%% of MAME plays perfect on the M11X (sans some 3D games). I am a big MAME fan, so appreciate this issue. 3D games are mainly using the CPU, so even some 3D games are slow on a desktop. Gauntlet 3D is an example.

M11X plays all emulators perfectly, except PCSX2, when compared to my desktop. For PCSX2, most shooters play well and some fighters also. In fact, PCSX2 plays much better than I thought it would (but I had low expectations to begin with).

Example for the M11X goodness is the DC emulator. It is like having a portable Dreamcast and some games actually play smoother than the Dreamcast. I own a Dreamcast and have played the heck out of the games for many years I went on a game buying spree when the Dreamcast went on clearance

 

Ah, was just wondering. I love playing oldschool arcade games on WolfMAME

 

m11x r1 is a great machine, but also r2 is. I love my r1, is perfect for all my needs, is just a beautiful machine.

P.D. Can anyone tell me with what version of MAME, I can perfectly play Tekken Tag Tournament in m11x r1??

 

R2 is really good at cpu intensive games, left4dead2 for example. more benchs will show soon. wait and see.

to many of us here, it's all about cost. you may end up paying at least $400 or more for some extra 5 to 15 frames per seconds. people with R1 that thinking of getting R2 needs to really think again, are your games cpu dependent or gpu dependent.

if you have to have a R2. wait for huge discounts events, and then sell your R1 to minimize the lost.

 

R2 Positives:
1) You have 3-5 months before you have to make a list to make yourself feel better about your purchase...

 

I agree there are some advantages for the R1, but I've seen a lot of videos where you can choose which chipset you want an application to run on using Optimus by right-clicking it and also the profile options. Is this not the case?

 

Exactly. R3 is coming, and then R4 will replace that.



I don't think anything good will come out of needing the latest and greatest. Technology is outdated before it hits consumer streets. I think the best you can do, is buy something for what you need here and now. Buying something to be future-proof is such a difficult discussion, that I think we should talk about it elsewhere.


It's like with the Iphone. You can't let yourself get bought into buying another one every year, when they update it. The improvements are substantial, but you have to ask yourself - Do I really need this bit more of power or this bit of new bundled features and technology?

Coming to think of it - The electronic devices that I have used the most, and lasted the longest, and that I cared for the most, where usually not state of the art, or particularly ground breaking.
For me? a 24'' Aluminium Imac... A Nokia 3210... A Ipod Shuffle Clip-On... A pair of Harmon Kardon Speakers... A logitech G5 mouse...

haha.. Devices get their own nostalgia when they grow old and outdated. I love the classic Ipod design much more than the the new focus on Slimness!
It's a bit like that with the M11X. it's a very fat and bulky computer.. yet it gives it some strange personality, and a feeling of it being a product.

I really wish, I could have gotten a personal faceplate here in my country. But like Sony, they don't offer that here.
I have had a engraved Ipod Touch, that really became much more personal with a memorable quote attatched to it.. Gave it this weird sense of it belonging to me and being uniqe.
It's a materialistic consumer trick, but I can that up raw. In bulks

 

i agree with the post... but i rather have i7

 

Bleh. I am usually a bleeding edge buyer, since I do not like paying premiums for new tech that will be old tech in a few months. Got the M11x due to a great discount deal and fit portable needs well. i3 version of this would rock, but I would lose the VGA and my rationale of using it for a MAME cabinet next year.

BTW, all of my points were valid, hence the list. My main use is emulators and Unreal 2004 with tons of mods. 7300 is fine for those functions

As far as Optimus switching manually, I believe it does have the option... oh well, there goes one point from the list

 

According to the posts i've seen on the benchmark thread there are lots of problems with the optimus tech. Even if u assign a exe to be included it doesn't work when it's just a redirect.

 

Yea right now Optimus is pretty messed up, not working with many games, no manual switch, and then a thread a minute ago about slight frame lag.

 

There is not a manual option to switch to either graphics mode with Optimus? If so, I can add that back to my positive R1 points

 

Nope, that was something they were raging about in the M11X Optimus problems thread. Simply no way to always be on dedicated, and Optimus failing to kick in when needed.

 

Or, kick-in when not needed. Surprised there is not a manual option, so I prefer the R1's method. More control with two simple button presses.

 

This was another of my points. If you have the M11x plugged in a wall- no problem, but the additional power needed to get the extra performance tends to defeat the premise of the device being portable.

I suggest the battery to performance curve has a sharper downward slope to it, in regards to battery power.