Question about Performance for Use

I have been reading a lot of the posts here, trying to figure out the answers to my questions. Please forgive me if I have missed something already covered, or beaten dead!

First: I'm looking at the i7, and buying RAM separately making it 8GB

My primary use would be everyday work, including running an os or two in a VM
Sometimes I might virtualize XP from within Windows, but mostly Linux Distro's.
I can't see myself running more than 2 VM's at a time.

Also, I play more on the MMO side - so WoW/EQ2 etc.. would be more my style.

From your use and opinion, do you feel the M11X would be a good choice?
I know I can buy a larger more expensive laptop to do this, but I love the look and size of the M11X. My main concern is the processing power, even from the i7.

Also, I noticed in a video review that Windows 7 was kinda lagging a bit.. is this an issue anyone has a lot of?

Once again, please forgive any repeats.. and I appreciate all your help.

 

Speaking on the performance of the VM's and the host OS only, as I have not run WoW or EQ2 on it.

I can run all of my VM's simultaneously and still have the resources to play DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online) or Prototype for PC (still haven't beat it yet).

Finding anything in this form factor that has this much punch is a futile search, I promise you. I looked for 4 months for something that compared to the M11x when it came to raw power. I needed the 11.6" size because of the portability.

I can take her with me (named her Shodan, yes I know I'm weird and my GF knows it) when we go out to eat while I am on call. Instead of having to clear the table if I get paged, I can use a small corner. If we go away for the weekend, I can still game on it AND run my secure connection over a VM.

While it does have its limits, for the form factor you will be impressed. If you need a more full fledged CPU for actual work, I would recommend moving up to a 15". There you will find better CPU's and GPU's. If you simply must have the 11.6" then its the best game in town, IMO.

 

You probably want to look into another laptop for VM and Linux stuff. M11x has an i7 Ultra low voltage version, so you'll probably want a stronger cpu. The 11 inch screen is a bit too small to run an OS within an OS don't you think?

Search for m11x linux so see if there are any compatibility issues with that laptop, depending on which distro you use.

Win7 does not lag. Most people just don't know how to configure their laptops correctly, which is why you see slow boot ups or windows lag and what not. Win7 is very responsive on the m11x. Mine boots up to the login screen in about 30 seconds, with a 7200rpm hdd. No lag opening windows running applications, etc. Don't worry about that.

 

Thank you both for your responses!

Like you nocypher, I am looking for that added portability. To hear you can do that with yours makes me feel much better.
Also, you aren't weird in my book, Shodan is an awesome name.. I loved System Shock!

To M11xuser: It is a bit harder to run it on such a small screen, however it seems easier to carry around than at 6 to 7 lb laptop. With the current discounts it seems pretty sweet too.

In this instance, is the i5 or dual core more powerful than the i7 ?
Hardware has never really been a strong area of mine, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. =}

 

I've got the R1 and I dual boot Windows 7/Ubuntu, and haven't had any issues with either one when it comes to speed. Ubuntu boots up in about 1 minute, while Windows is roughly 1:45 - 2:00. Just my 2 cents

 

if you get the I7 be sure to overclock it and use a program called ThrottleStop. you can find a guide on how to do that on these forums. you will have no performance issues, if you get an ssd. also, the screen is 11.6 inches, which is closer to 12 then 11. so i dont know why people refer to it as "11. its sufficient for running anything you listed. i use mine for EVERYTHING, and wouldnt trade it for any other computer.

 

I've got 6 different VMs that I run on my i7. No problems regularly running 2 or 3 at a time.

 

Thanks everyone for your replies, and especially the info about the VM's and overclocking I just ordered it!

Now, I can join the ranks of the "waiting to receive" owners

Thanks again for all your help!

-DV

 

awesome news im sure you will be very happy with it.

 

Just my opinion but you shouldn't really even need to worry about overclocking it - why increase the battery discharge rate? I run VM's for development on mine and as long as you enable the virtualization extensions in virtual box then it will make full use of the i7's built in support for virtualization and you'll notice very little of a performance hit.

The only thing I would highly recommend, and you know this already if you do a lot of virtualization, is upgrade the memory to around 8gig.

 

this is true, but there is barely any difference in battery life after overclocking. the cpu voltage is staying the same.

 

This is very true. First couple of days I had mine, I wanted to see how much of a difference the overclock made in battery life. Charged the battery to full, then watched 2 movies, started a third but only made it about a third of the way through.

Then overclocked to 166 in the BIOS and did the same thing. This time, I made it about 25% into the third movie. While it was a difference, it was so negligible that it could have been a fluke. I might do it again after a few cycles and see if it has changed but I would tend to agree.

 

One other thing, buy yourself a good hdmi cable. If you're traveling a lot, you're staying in business hotels and even the cheap ones have mostly flat screens in them, many with hdmi inputs. The m11x R1 I have will drive WOW, Rift etc. at 1080p which makes for nutz fun gaming. Even if you clock down to 1280/720 for a few extra frames per second, the 335M makes for beautiful HDMI experience in wow, and in Rift, it ROX!!! Oh, and if you MUST work on your M11x (heheh) 1080p gives you a bunch of screen real estate to play, er work, with

Seer
btw I'm writing this sitting in a hotel room with hdmi hooked up to 42" flat screen. Gaming on the 'big screen' is SWEEEEET!!!