Questions regarding M11x R?

Purchased this for my son a few years ago. I have no idea if it is a R1 or R2 (certainly not an R3). It has the Duo Core U7300 1.3 GHz processor and came with a 250GB hard drive. What I am finding through the Alienware website contradicts what I read elsewhere. Specifically, the Alienware site states the Duo Cores were only in the R2 but everything else I read states the R1's had the Duo Cores, but a 320GB hard drive. So I guess my first question is what do I have, R1 or R2? Using the service tag is worthless, especially since the first thing it states is this device was shipped on 12/3/11. I wish that were true but my son received it on his birthday in May 2011 (yes, I am absolutely sure of the date).

I replaced the 250GB hard drive around the end of 2012 and installed a 750GB drive (Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid) because his Steam games were filling the 250 up quickly. I still have the original 250GB though. To date, the system runs fine with no major issues.

We are getting him a desktop gaming computer for Christmas and would like some opinions on what to do with this laptop. I have considered throwing the original hard drive back in, take it back to factory settings, and sell it but doubt it would be worth much considering its age and specs. Another idea, and one I am leaning more towards, is installing a 250GB SSD and keeping it for myself just for general use. If I spend the money on the SSD, I am not selling it because I do not think I will get back what I put into it. I also will not spend more than is needed for a 250GB SSD for a three year old computer (I will not be using it for gaming – much).

So I guess my questions are:

1. Do I have an R1 or R2?

2. What would you do with this machine at this point if you were replacing it with a desktop?

3. This machine came with a Windows 7 installation CD but I also needed to create a recovery disk set. What was the purpose of the installation CD since it states it is not to be used to re-install programs or drivers? If I wanted to do a fresh install, do I use it or the recovery discs I created?

All opinions appreciated.

 

1. You have an R1. The Core 2 Duo processors only shipped with the R1, as far as I can tell.

2. Keep it if you want a small portable machine for travel or school, otherwise you could probably sell it for 300 or 400 dollars.

3. I never made recovery discs for my R3 , but then again, I didn't have to do a fresh install on it. I did reinstall Windows 7 on my R2, though. The only real difference between the recovery discs and a clean copy of W7 is that the recovery discs will also have all drivers, Dell software, and any other Alienware themed goodies on it, while the clean disc will only have Windows, and you will need to get all drivers and software yourself (this isn't be too hard to do if you know how to reinstall an OS and look for drivers).

 

Pretty much that. ^^ It's good to use the recovery media because you can get everything the way you had it from factory. The OS disc is normally used for troubleshooting purposes. We may ask you to use it while we are on the phone helping out with an issue.

 

If your selling cheap I'd like to buy it. I'm from Canada though.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

I would also like to add, for everyone that does not know what revision of the M11x they own, there is a very easy way to check.

When you look at the bottom of the computer, with the rear exhaust and AC port pointed toward you, look at the bits of text to the right of the bottom exhaust fan mesh. There will be a bunch of information there that isn't all that useful to you, but one of the lines should also say something along the lines of "M11x RX" where X denotes the revision number.