Should I exchange my Alienware m11x?

Ok so on March 7th my new Alienware m11x R2 came to my house. It has an i7 processor; a 500gb harddrive; and 8gb memmory. To say the least I love this computer..
However one thing bothers me. The horror story of hinge problems. Now supposedly this was fixed on the R2 but I still hear about them; and that scares me.
But now down to the main point of this topic. As most readers of this will know the Alienware m17x R3 just came out, and the Alienware m14x is coming out.
The m17x R3 is only 200$ more base price than the one i paid for (I paid 1285$ for my computer). So should I send it back and get the new m17x insted? Or would it need alot of upgrades? Or should I just wait for the m14x.
(P.S. Or should I send it back and get a falcon northwest I O (first gen.) insted for only 500$? (it would be new))
Thanks for any help you can give me!

 

This question is impossible to answer without more info from you. What do you want from your computer? I love my m11x for very specific reasons. Those include its portability and battery life as well as other things, because I need those in a laptop. What do you want to do with it? Do you want it to be portable or do you only care about pure computing and gaming power. Do you want to be able to watch movies on a bigger screen or do you like the 11x's screen size and portability factor. Questions like these are what you need to associate with what you actually do with the computer so we can help you decide what to do.

 

keep your m11x. if anything happens to your hinges just have dell come fix it. very simple.

 

Well I love the portabillity of the m11x; and as far as battery it dosent natter because I use it for gaming, and gaming generally kills every laptop quickly.
But I do need high power as I am an artest (it's my legit job) so I need a very powerful machine for editing and process; not only just pictures, photos, videos, and music. I don't know when I'll need to move my laptop somewhere so I don't know how that would effect the m17x because I know it's like 8 pounds but idk. I also don't have any money to pay for upgrades to the m17x R3 if I went that route. Plus I'm probebly getting a ibuypower desktop soon so idk if I would need the m17x then.

 

the m17x is over 10 pounds lol. and the m11x with the i7 should be enough for what you want it to do, and just get that ibuypower desktop for your really high use.

 

Alright! Thanks for the help!

 

yep no problem man

 

Wait, the m11x r2 hinges are fixed now?

I just received my m11x r2 about 2 weeks ago and am now worried about hinges after finding this forum. When I close the lid on a 4" piece of paper that is over the keyboard I cannot freely side it from side to side so it looks like the lid is on my keyboard. 2 months ago I bought a m15x and testing it with the paper suggests that may have an issue as well.

So now I am really confused- has the issue been solved? is the breaking\cracking hinges a different problem than the lid on the keys?

 

dell has fixed the hinges but they havent installed the new hinges from the factory, if you want the new ones have dell come and replace the ones you have with the new ones

 

I wouldn't buy an I/O IMO. Especially a first gen which I presume has C2D. I used to be a big fan of boutique brands but now since Alienware systems are actually reasonably priced, VoodooPC is dead (And the HP Envy lineup downright sucks in comparison) and the rest are just overpriced Clevo derivatives with fancy paint, it's not as worthwhile to pick up a boutique product.

Anyway stick with the M11x. Save for the Vaio S, there's really no notebook around under 15" that can game as well as the M11x can.

 

^ This. And...

I second the notion to keep the m11x.

Why? The R2 is a great computer for its form factor. You will not get something better for at least a year if not more (if the R3 ever comes out). If you are looking for more power then go for the 17x of course but remember it is HUGE in comparison. I love my little guy, wouldn't trade him in for anything.

As for the hinge problem, they have announced that if your laptop has the hinge problem they will soon have the newer more durable hinge available to replace the faulty ones free of charge and without worry on whether you still have warranty or not.

All together, if there was a button to click "Keep the m11x r2" then I would be all for it. I have the R1 and R2 (R1 passed down to my little bro for now) but I LOVE them both and find them to be perfect for gaming, graphic design, working, and rendering. I'd highly suggest keeping them unless you do not want the portability because that is the purpose of this little beast.

 

Paying almost $1300 for an m11x r2 is just too much for a super glossy mirror like screen, middle class gaming gt 335m card and not so light @ 4.5-5lbs portable on the go notebook.

However if you need a powerful lil notebook with at least 4-5 hours of battery that has middle class gaming card and you are on the go then m11x is fine. (R1 @ $599 could've been more practical) Adding almost $700 bucks just to get Optimus and i7 is.......

My recommendation however is to returned the m11x r2 because you could've gotten a real 15" to 17" gaming laptop for $1200-1300 with a real top of the line card and full powered core i7 cpu like the base M17x r3 or grab a G53JW or G73. Then just grab yourself a nice lil 11.6-12" netbook ( not the atom ones) like the new AMD Fusion thinkpad x120e/hp dm1z/Asus 1215b for under $450.

 

Alright I'm likeing where this discussion is going, I'm getting alot of good thoughts and replies going.
To me it seems like a battle of portability or power; or the ballence inbetween.
Another problem for me is I like the alienware m15x but all the builds are so very expensive!
I really love the m11x r2 but I think I might need the extra two inches.

So yeah more replies would help.

 

So you're looking for a more powerful 13' ultraportable?

 

Yeah pretty much.





(as for the situation with the Falcon Northwest I O I pretty much dropped the idea as from lack of support; it seemed like there were no reviews, or anything at all. Tottally werid.)

 

Okay - clearly the M11x in your eyes is not a "real gaming laptop"

The point of the M11x IS it's a good gaming machine, I have to wonder if you have even used an R2? I have an M17x-R2 and with the exception of running some higher graphic settings, my M11x-R2 at its max res gives every good a performance compared to a laptop that is almost three times the price that is full i7 with dual graphic cards.

I won't even go into details about how many people complain about ASUS service and reliability but your analysis is contrary to almost every owner and reviewer out there, even those who were a bit uninspired by the concept of the M11x.

You may be put off by the size and price, but the truth is the M11x-R1/R2 is a pretty darn good gaming platform that gives very good gaming on the go.

 

The only thing about the alienware m11x is I wish I got the lunar shadow color; I got the stealth black :\


Ah well. So all other options aside I think I'm going to stick with the alienware m11x; because the same build on the m15x is like 2k, and the alienware m17 r3 seems to be experencing problems.

(p.s. The bottom of my m11x case seems to not be put together right because the light shines through on one side.)

 

mine shines on 1 side too, its couse i had to take 1 of the screws from the inside of the m11x and use it for the backplate couse i stripped a screw.

 

So my build isn't too expensive?
I'm going to keep a m11x but if I should return it and go for a cheaper build than I will. Because I look around at m11x owners on this fourm and I don't see
many other i7, 8gb ram, and 500gb hardrive users.
So what's should I do about that?

 

The 8GB RAM and the HDD can be found cheaper on Newegg than the price that Dell will charge you for the upgrade. And you will likely get better RAM in the process.

And you CAN still exchange the laptop for a Lunar Shadow if you really wanted to. I'd recommend it, I like my Lunar Shadow M11x.

 

I loved the Lunar shadow M15x-R2 and the Lunar Silver M17x-R2, but having the Lunar Shadow M11x-R2 I wish I had gotten the Soft-touch stealth black. The color is just an enamel on plastic and can wear easily, I think the black is better in this case.

 

The poll should have an option of none of the above. Pff....