New m11x owner looking for advice

Hey guys. Sorry in advance if this is a lengthy post. Been lurking here for over the past 2 weeks trying to get a lot of info on the m11x and ive decided to purchase it (tommorow) and make an account here. I just have some questions I hope you guys could help me with. BTW this is my first laptop evar!!!!

Im getting the i7 processor, 8gb RAM, 256gbSSD, black stealth, with 3yr advanced coverage and some accesories (maybe).

1)Is it worth getting the screen cover they offer for $20? I see a lot of complaints about glare and was wondering if this thing is easy to put on and if its worth it.

2)Is it worth it to get windows 7 ultimate? (the best OS i got is Vista on my desktop here). Im in college and plan on getting Office for $80 and was wondering if windows 7 ultimate can compliment this in any way.

3)What should i do asap after opening up the box when it arrives? Do i need to manually look for drivers or is it system up to date out of the box? (sorry if this is a silly question). And if so wut drivers are very necesary to update.

4)Lastly, is AVG and malwarebytes good enough protection? Thats all i use on my desktop here and i see alot of positive feedback about avast? would it be good to get that instead? Also, i use IE now as my browser (lol ik) but plan on not using it on my m11x because i hear firefox, and Chrome are safer. When i download firefox and chrome is there anything else i need to download to improve safety?

Again, i apologize if some of this info is already here somewhere, i tried to look for some but couldnt really find any. Thanks in advance to all replies and I must say I cant wait to get my hands on this beauty.

 

Congrats on the soon to be m11x! I will try to be of help, especially since half your questions are general computer based questions, not directly regarding the m11x. Anywho, seems like you are going all out since money is not an issue, I would just like to point out that it seems very likely we have the m11x r3 coming out around the corner, so if you don't mind waiting you may want to pick up the r3 instead. All right lemme try to answer the questions.

1) The screen will def. help with glare when you are outside/ under bright lights. It is quite difficult to get on you may get air bubbles/ dust stuck between the screen and the glass. It's only worth the trouble if you plan on using the laptop outdoors very often. Get the NEOPREENE SLEEVE IT PWNS !!!!!

2) Nah, it's not like you will be running a business. Stick with the basic and you will be good to go.

3) It absolutely needs to be updated. On this forum should be links to the dell site that give all the update drviers. Problem is they haven't given us any updates for months now which sucks. But update what is there, whitelist games, and everything should work out fine.

4)Honestly, I find AVG a pain in the ___ and pointless. Waste of space on teh hard disk. I use only microsoft security essentials, and this software picks up any suspicious content. First time micrsoft ever did anything right. But hey. if you want to add on AVG, go ahead man it's all the better.

5) Hope I helped somewhat, enjoy your future m11x!

 

Glare is in the eye of the beholder...
Home Premium should do well enough for you unless going corporate...
Do a backup...
AVG is ok but I prefer MSE now....

 

I doubt we will be seeing the R3 for quite a few months, imo most likely at CES next year.
1. I havnt worried about a screen protector, glare is not an issue inside, although if you plan to be using ur m11x outside then it might b an idea to buy one.
2. Definitely dont worry about updating windows 7, basic will serve you fine and will have no advantages with office.
3. Most likely you will need to update bios, and graphics drivers (expecially if you intend to play games which use punkbuster).
4. imo MSE works as a better virus protection than AVG (google it for tests, MSE generally comes out as the best). Mcafee (comes pre-loaded) is just trash

 

Thanks for the reply guys, btw what is whitelisting a game and BIOS?

Also what do you guys think a good safe browser is? chrome or firefox? I want to protect this baby as much as possible. I hear firefox is safer with addons like noscript. Does anyone here use it? Is it really that good to have?

 

See here for whitelisting YouTube - Nvidia Optimus Feature on the Alienware M11x- R2
All it is is adding the executable for your games to nVidia's driver so when that game runs the driver automatically switches to your Gt 335 GPU.

As for a good browser, I'm a long time advocate of Opera. Loads of excellent features, fast, small footprint and very customisable if you want too.

BIOS stands for basic input/output system. It is basically your computers firmware (like software but stored on a chip on your motherboard) It controls your hardware and how it interacts with the OS. There are loads of things it's useful for like changing the boot order, enabling and disabling certain hardware like wireless and bluetooth and overclocking you lappy. Updates to the BIOS are occasionally released for many different reasons (stability, fan speed ramping, compatability etc) It's a good idea to update to the latest version released to keep everything nice and stable. You'll find it on Dell's M11x drivers page.

 

sweet thanks for the info. what driver would u guys recomend for the nvidia once it arrives? i see a lot of mixed feelings about the 266 version, so should i just only update to the 200?