New guy - questions about buying the M11X

Hey Everyone-

I recently came across the mx11 and am thinking of replacing my macbook with this thing. I looked at the m15x and just don't think I want to go that high on price. I just liked that I can get this guy for a grand.

I like to play games and I like my computer to be moderately portable...I don't think any of them are terribly taxing on a computer system but I'm not too sure. Specifically...I like strategy/warfare types of games...not really into shooters that much. I'm looking to play Civ 5 and possibly some games from the Total War series (shogun 2 when it is released?). I also like to play MMORPGs from time to time like LOTRO and maybe the new Star Wars Old Republic game that is supposed to come out. I like the portability of this little guy and the fact that I can hook it up to my tv with an HDMI cable. Would it display images at a decent resolution on a 32" screen? What are your thoughts...does this sound like a good switch for me? Will I be able to play these types of games on this computer and not get frustrated by poor graphics or performance? I've read the the 8gb memory configuration is not really worth it...would it be better to go the cheaper route and just stick with the 4gb?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Adam

 

Yes you should be able to hook it up to your 32" TV no problem...LOTRO will run fine, noone really knows about The Old republic yet, but I figure it should run even if you have to turn settings down. I think 8gb is overkill, I would stick with 4. Its a good switch...the macbook is cool and all, but the only thing it has going for it is the portability. I prefer win7 over OSX anyway. The m11x is VERY portable, the m15x NOT so much.

 

You should be more than happy with the performance/portability of the M11x as long as you keep your expectations somewhat grounded. You should have no problems with the games you mentioned on medium/high settings as long as you're not expecting Crysis on ultra.

 

I find that the M11x plays most games on medium. Crysis is medium/low settings and I get 20-27 FPS which is pretty solid for that game. All this does depend on if you're gonna get the R1 (which is what I have) or the R2 which has the i series CPUs.

I love my laptop and whichever version you get, I'm sure you'll be happy. Just read the forums and become informed.

 

Get on Twitter Outlet and look for a 20% off coupon on the outlet for a refurb..You can get one of these guys pretty well equipt for less than $700 easily. The warranty is the same. If you have an issue with a new machine they will put refurb parts in anyway. Think of it as a glorified powerful Netbook. In that regard it is a beast. I absolutely love mine....and have always bought refurbs without EWs,

 

Pulled the trigger last night...too bad I didn't see your comment about the refurb At least I got free overnight shipping

 

1) Yes, if you want a portable gaming machine, then the Alienware M11x should be right at the very top of the list. It has a package of gaming power and portability that really can't be beat right now.

2) Games like Civ 5 and the Total War series are actually decently taxing on a system - and when I say "taxing", I mean that any old notebook will not suffice. You need a notebook with a dedicated GPU with enough power to run games. The GPU in the Alienware M11x isn't the fastest out there by any means, but it is hands down the fastest in its size/weight class of laptop, and will be more than enough for what you want to run.

3) Yes, you can display images just fine on a 32" HDTV via HDMI cable. If your HDTV is 1080p (1920x1080 native res), then you will suffer a hit in your framerates when you game, compared to the laptop's native display. However, everything should still be playable as long as you are willing to turn down graphics details. If your HDTV is an older 720p model (1366x768 native res), then you will not have this framerate hit.

4) You are correct, 8GB is not worth it. You will most likely never even use all 4GB of RAM, so a 4GB configuration will be more than enough for you. The only practical reason to go with 8GB is if you plan on editing large photos/videos on this laptop, or if you run a lot of virtual machines. Neither scenario applies to you, so you are fine.

5) Don't worry about not buying refurb. Sometimes it's nice to receive and open a brand new shiny toy.

 

Thanks for all the replies everyone...I haven't been this excited about a new computer purchase in a while.

I have to say that my experience working with Dell to get this thing together was absolutely atrocious. I ordered it last night and went for the 0% for 12 months deal. For some reason it never created a preferred dell account for me so I had to call in this morning. Long story short....It took almost 4 hours, 1 canceled order, 2 attempts to create a preferred account, and multiple phone calls in which I was being bounced back and forth between 5 different people and two continents (maybe 3...there were some strange accents out there) before they figured out how to help me and how get the correct pricing together (this was the hardest part...i actually had to email a link from alienware's website to one of the dell sales reps!!!).

If anyone out there is looking to buy an m11x in the next week...go off the alienware website. The Dell and Alienware websites have a price discrepancy on the i7 model and its almost $200! Something tells me Dell didn't do a very good job integrating Alienware into the fold when they acquired them...