Should I buy a m11x R2?

I'm sorry if this is not the right place to post this.

I would really like to know if it is even worth the effort to put an order in for this laptop because of specific problems like the Hinge problem, a fan problem, some optimus issues, etc. I don't want to invest 1000 dollars into a laptop that I will inevitably have to send in for repairs after 3 months because of hinges breaking or fans being faulty or whatever the case may be.

I have only read negative things about this laptop on this forum and the complete opposite everywhere else (everywhere else being review sites and the like)

So, is it worth putting in an order for this laptop? Or is it a waste of money as of now because of the hinge problem that dell hasn't fixed yet or just the overall flaws that this laptop has in general. I honestly really don't want to send in my laptop 3 months later just for hinges, because I do not think there are alienware service techs in my vicinity (I live in Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba) or for any other silly flaw.

 

Personal choice my friend...

I was in the same position when i got to order my M11x... all reviews i saw everywhere only praised that laptop, and especially the R2...

Once i found this forum, i was discouraged with the hinge problem, but, hey... the only thing i realized is that you can buy a longer warranty and your problem is solved.

That's what i did after i found out about the hinge... Frankly, you will hardly find a small and really powerful laptop elsewhere. The M11x is powerful, small, can play mostly all shelf games we have now, and has very long battery life if you configure it properly.

I think that if you stop yourself on negative reviews or opinion you have to balance it with pros... and in my case, there was more things on the pros side, than on the cons side...

 

I'm not sure if you factored this in, but Dell contracts out fixes under warranty to 3rd parties, so there might be a tech in your area.

I agree with Rassal that if price is a concern, you should consider what it will be with a warranty as long as you plan to keep it, and then judge if it's worth it from that sum.

 

The other thing you need to take into account that no one has mentioned is that 90% of people that post(other than people like benchmarkers) are going to be posting about a problem. The people that are happy don't post about it as often. It's kind of like the old business saying that a happy customer may tell 1 or 2 people, an unhappy customer is going to tell everyone they know. I had the m11xr1 which has the same hinge issues and as long as you don't beat it they're fine, a bit weaker than others maybe but they will still do the job. On the optimus, you're going to have to give it a bit of time and it will be golden, but there are workarounds like adding .exe files to the whitelist in the mean time. As for a bad fan I think that's kind of a luck of the draw situation, and if all else fails then that's where the warranty comes in. Dell's reps may be difficult to deal with at times, but the warranty is 2nd to none and in the event that something does happen stick to your guns and they'll make it right.

 

You should ask yourself this: "How important is portability and battery life to me?"

if its high, then yes, get the m11x. if not, don't get it, because that's essentially what you're paying for. Yes it's a powerful 11 inch, but don't expect to be running all games on ultra settings at 60fps constantly. If you're looking for pure power, look elsewhere. Expect a balance between portability, battery life and power all into one.

 

Ive got my m11xr2 for about a month now, and if i had to make the choice again i would buy it without hesitating. I really like it, and i would recommend it to everyone!

 

Less than a month ago I'm also concerned re: M11x R2 issue (hinges, screen touching key pad, etc.) But still I decided to buy....I'm here right now enjoying this excellent machine. Though my initial problem of weak wireless signal is fixed by changing the encryption password to my router and upgrade to the latest firmware.

I think the hinges really is weak but I dont fvck my laptop that hard that's why this will last long. This is the same hinges that I have with my Toshiba R100 and it last 5years without any problem.

 

same here if given the opportunity to go back to July i would definitely purchase the m11x again. it is a very good laptop, a great mixture of portability and power. it is in a class of its own.

 

I pulled the trigger about 3 weeks ago and have been as happy as a pig in poo. I can game in bed with a laptop tray, I can game on the road with my sprint overdrive, its awesome!

Now that I have sufficently sucked up to alienware let me tell you what annoys me. I like to play BFBC2 but I also like to push the little guy to the limit so I tend to try out new demos and try new Nvidia drivers that the community here mods. I have to bounce around between new drivers and back to 189.88 MOD drivers to play BFBC2 because of the PB issue. Now this is not an alienware issue though its a PB / Nvidia issue.

Pull the trigger, buy a microfiber cloth (to keep the screen clean. It likes fingerprints) and enjoy this little beast!

 

Piece of advise to all gamers who always installing latest or new NVDIA driver, games, or any other software to your M11x - Please google Rollback Rx from Horizon Data.

Once you have corrupted NVIDIA driver installed or update you update to latest version and it didn't work or after installing the games it end up corrupted (same with other software) or if you experience BSOD after you install something on your laptop - you can Rollback your system to your previous clean system, it's the same as system restore but Rollback Rx works more efficient. Price is $69 but they have promo until Sept 5 ($39) today.

It will save your precious time of uninstalling or browsing the internet for fixing your newly installed crappy software & drivers (NVIDIA, games, etc) or fixing BSOD, etc. Enjoy your kids and family instead of browsing the internet of finding the problem to your crappy software/driver - try Rollback Rx to your M11x.

Enjoy you M11x !!

 

don't be discouraged with the problems that are posted here about the m11x. because people with problems will most likely post their concerns rather that those that has none and just want to post how satisfied they are. so naturally the problems of the m11x will be more noticeable.

As for the problems themselves they are minimal at best not all m11x suffer from the same prob consistently like my m11x my biggest prob was the optimus but a driver that i got here that was posted a while ago fix it. almost all of the prob of the m11x can be fix they are not like the "death grip" on the iphone 4.


So if you want a powerful yet small laptop then you wont find any other laptop that can compete with the m11x on the power to size ratio. its the reason i bought mine. just wish i ordered the m11x sleeve instead of the portfolio case.

just buy it with an i5 and i7 because core duo will be obsolete in a couple of years ahehehehe.

 

Buy a warranty when you place your order on line for 3 years accidental for $230 and your problems are solved. They raise the price ENORMOUSLY after the point of sale on those warranties and you will have a great laptop and peace of mind. (Wish I had done this...they are now quoting $400 for that same warranty for me even BEFORE I had received the laptop!!)

 

whats happen when the warranty runs out and u need a fix say for the hinges? Does it cost so much more?

 

so if you get the accidental warranty and a new M11x came out, can you intentionally run over it or drop it from a building and Dell would send the latest m11x to you?

 

That's a pretty stupid question but if you lied to them and told them it was accidental and you have no 'enemies' that witnessed it then I guess yes, but why would you do that?

 

Is it better to wait for the R3 coming Oct ?
or get this R2 model

Thanks

 

There is no R3

 

Yep, this R3 thing is becoming annoying. It is valid to talk about improvements for a future portable gaming notebook, but for god's sake, there is no R3 in the near future.

For those thinking about buying a M11x, my only advice is to prepare the spirit for a hinge lottery. Your hinge may last months, maybe forever (?), but may also break again and again and again...

The rest is fine.

 

Hi all,

I'm newly registered to the forum but have read parts of the site here and there over the years and have always found it to be a pretty helpful place so I'm hoping I could get some input with this query

Having seen the Alienware M11xs advertised and talked about (in a positive fashion) here and there for several months I couldn't help but be tempted. Through a couple of slightly awkward circumstances (awkward as in, inheritance as opposed to say, drug-running) I ended up in a position where I could actually afford one of these little powerhouses.

I spent a few days reading a whole host of reviews and a number of threads on this forum as well. From the reviews I saw nothing but "awesome" and other such superlatives and on this forum I saw a variety of BIOS & driver quirks but generally extremely favourable talk of performance etc. Somehow I didn't really see or take onboard the massive thread about the hinge-related problem...

I placed my order for the M11x (via a tip I'd seen suggesting I use the ESL website) on the 30th of November and it was scheduled for delivery today; it didn't arrive but the UK is having problems with the weather at the moment so I'm not fussed about that.

What I am slightly fussed about is having now discovered it I have spent the past 2-3 days reading the entire "M11x hinge alignment" thread and I'm feeling a bit confused as to what I should do from here.

I'm pleased to see that Dell are pretty on the ball with getting fixes sorted and even though I'm in a fairly remote part of the UK I imagine they would help solve a broken hinge regardless but I can't help but think it's pretty unpleasant of them to keep churning out machines that they know are faulty.

Well anyway, here is the 'dilemma'. In the UK we have the "distance buying regulations" which, in a nutshell, mean that if you buy something online you are legally allowed to arrange for the item to be returned and refunded within seven days of taking delivery of it. There doesn't need to be a fault or problem present there and then, instead these seven days are seen as a "cooling off" period to compensate for the consumer having not had the chance to see the product in person before entering the contract of sale and basically I'm wondering whether I should take advantage of this law and save myself hassle down the line.

So... Having read through the multitude of horror-stories about failing hinges I'm hoping some of you could give me your opinion; If you could turn back time and were forearmed with the knowledge of the faulty hinges would you still place your order, or would you try and find an alternative?

There are two factors that are affecting my means to make this decision, one for keeping it, one against keeping.

For keeping it; I have problems with my health, in particular pain and discomfort. This played a big part in me being pulled toward the M11x; it's small, it's light and there aren't many (any?) direct competitors that I can see.

Against keeping it; other aspects of my health problems make verbal communication extremely difficult (verging on impossible) at times. The fact that Dell are replacing these parts without quibble is brilliant but frankly, at the risk of sounding like a six year old, I would find contacting support via telephone extremely difficult and have not read a single instance of "I sorted out my replacement via email". As silly as it sounds, if the hinge is likely to fail this problem of mine is a real consideration.

There's also the slight fact that the MSI GX660R is more powerful and £90 cheaper - but substantially larger and heavier.

So if anyone could stick their opinion in I'd really appreciate it, thanks in advance.

Voi

 

I contact and arrange repairs via chat @ support.dell.com nearly weekly (not for my Alienware, but one of the hundreds of servers at work). Does the UK support site allow you to chat online for support? It's a real time saver for me, as I'm on conference calls from the late morning into the mid afternoon most days.

 

My opinion based on my circumstances was that I knew about the hinge issue and had no qualms with ordering a refurb r2 from the Dell outlet while they had their 25% off coupon.

Now as per your situation I can't really comment since I really have no idea how Dell tech support is over in the UK. Any time I've had to contact tech support in the US I've used the phone and have had favorable experiences with both an Indian call center (to get the correct power adapter), and a domestic one (to replace a failed hard drive on an old Inspiron).

Maybe some UK m11x owners could share their experiences and maybe make your decision a little easier to make.

 

Well i've postet about my problems this laptop before, but hoping this will help u, i'll try to summarise. I bought my r2 refurb and after less than 3 weeks ,my left hinge started going out of allignament, creeking, the screen wobbles and so on. Costumer suport was helpfull but it took a lot of calls to eventually leting me return it for a full refund. The thing is I still love the r2 and even now I am still undecided about what to do with it. Not sure if ill keep it and get it repaired, or just return it. Its a very nice little pc that satisffies my needs (games like fifa 11, bf2, snipper, mw2, blops, dirt 2, and hd moovies on the road) I travel a lot and that is why a need a portable pc.
if u dont get out much, depending on ur condition, u could probablly get a laeger pc with better config and performance for the same monney or even less. The r2 is relatively small, but not so light. Considering the hinge problems, u might want to look somewhere else. My advice is to wait to get it, use it for a little while and than make a decision. The thing is I did like u did. I ordered it, and only after that, I found out about the hinge issues. If I had known about it before I would have stayed away. Now that I have it in my posession, and got to use it i like it and am uncertain of what I want. This thing is so cool that I think it cloudes my jujment if that makes any sense....

 

Yes I'd still order mine, as I've had no sort of hinge issues.

I managed to once even smash my forearm off the tip of the screen once accidentally, and all that happened was that my arm ended up hurting quite a bit.

 

The m11x does have some competition, but I don't think the warranty service of other companies can hold a candle to Dell's.

Acer has the 3820/4820TG if you're willing to buy from a company that makes you mail your laptop to them for service (and pay for some of the shipping cost).

 

Welcome to the AW Forum. I have merged your thread with an existing thread posing the same question. There are also a couple of other threads along the same topic - "Should I Buy?".

Please take a moment and review the forum rules since you are new. If you wish to compare models/systems (example: M11x vs. MSI vs. Acer, etc.), please do so here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/
(See the sticky thread for the form to fill out when posting)

Also, try the forum search feature - it works and you'd be amazed at how many posts ask the same question(s) you raised.

For further hinge related discussion, please post in the hinge thread.

Thanks.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the merging the threads. I did use the search feature but my query was specifically related to the situation of having already ordered it and now, hearing about these problems, being able to return the laptop without question under British law regardless of any problem or not. I read several "should I" threads but I couldn't see anything particularly along the lines of what I was wondering, seeing as I have already paid for it.

Voi

Edit: The initial end of this post was supposed to be in the hinge thread - I'm tired

Second edit: I just realised that paragraph sounds a bit 'off', I didn't mean it like that, sorry! To the folk who've answered so far, I'll digest it properly and answer in the morning. I really appreciate the input!

 

I'm not sure whether this is supposed to be a joke or what. Because that's what Dell warranty is - a complete and not even funny joke.

Paying extra for the extended 2-3 year warranty just locks you into dealing with these utter idiots every time there's something wrong. While on the surface the build quality looks great (and actually feels great) the physical build quality of the inner components is terrible. It's actually pretty interesting how easy it is to break anything on this laptop, starting from rubber feet, hinges, up to bottom panel and even the whole chassis assembly.

As to the comment about 90% of the NBR people coming here and posting about problems, please take a look at the forum topics.

I can't in my right mind recommend anyone to get m11x, or pretty much anything from Dell (I guess except maybe m17x) unless you find yourself enjoying talking to mentally every once in a while when something breaks.