So I'm considering a M11x-R1

I want to use it for linux primarily, but windows as a HTPC as well when it's plugged in.

I can get a new M11x-R1 for $650 shipped.

I actually want a netbook but the amazingly good deal interested me. I hear the R1 get 7-8 hours of real life battery use on integrated graphics? I also heard the keyboard is full-sized?

I did a little research and found that on linux, optimus laptops only allow intel integrated graphics, which is why I'm considering the R1 instead of the R2 - so I can at least choose which card to use. Is this right?

Oh and this won't be my primary laptop of course, I have a 17".

 

its a good deal i suppose. full size keyboard yes but no side 10-key numpad.

it'd be a great linux but i don't think you want a strong laptop like this just to run linux. you can use this to carry around which is great cause its only 11" and really thin under 7 pounds.

good luck OP

 

You don't know what I'll be doing in linux...

But linux and as a HTPC pretty much.

 

I love my little beast. Not sure how linux would run on it but it's a pretty solid laptop.

 

I have a LOT of laptops, and my R1 has rocketed to the top on my usage meter. I just like the darned thing so much that its become my choice de jure for anything other than heavy video rendering.

Seer

 

For the past 3 months the only reason I crack open my MacBook Pro anymore is when I'm doing any color critical work on my photos. The M11x's LCD panel has an extremely narrow color gamut and the screen/resolution is too small for me to work in Lightroom's GUI for any length of time.

 

I'm extremely tempted now. How do you actually switch between integrated and discrete graphics? Is it a notification area thing where you right click the nvidia icon and select power saver or something? And how is the overclocking actually done on the M11xR1?

 

3 year warranty minimum suggested.

 

Achilles, you seem to be in a similar situation, with a powerful desktop replacement and a M11x. In what situations do you use your laptops?

I also heard that the M11x has a similar hinge problem to the original m15x, for which I had two hinges break on me. Is this true, or has it been fixed with recent shipments?

 

Manual switching is highly preferred to Optimess... The m11 is a neat little notebook. If you are a heavy gamer, you may want to grab the 15x with the 5850. Less optimization needed and more of a "Hey I just installed this new game blahblahblah and it worked great" kind of a notebook.

It's up to you... if you like tinkering and optimizing, sure the m11 is great. If you like installing and playing the game without having to fiddle with it then M15x.

Best Wishes, StevenX

 

M17x pretty much stays on my desk, and M11x for short trips, and hooked up to tv to watch vids. None work related x).

Both great machines, but does need a long Dell warranty to back it up. I'm considering extending M17x warranty until 2015 for 600 bucks right now. Tried to get lower quotes, but they aren't budging.

 

It does have a hinge problem.
Though even the basic warranty will cover it.

 

I don't need a M15x, I have a laptop that blows it out of the water already.

Achilles - why the long dell warranty? At $600, I'm $50 short of just buying a second M11x.

 

I know, and my m17x's warranty is expiring in Jan 2011, and 600 is how much it's going to cost me to extend it to June 2015. Warranty usually costs alot more when you add it after the purchase, so don't get hung up on initial price and make sure to add 3 year warranty when you purchase the laptop.

Yes, the warranty costs me heaps of money, but at the end, it's worth it since both my systems, M11x and M17x were replacement systems of M1330, and M1730.

 

Wouldn't that $600 be better spent towards a new laptop in two years? In 2013 the M17x is going to be ancient, much less 2015...

 

In 1-2 years, you're definately right, but the reason I'd go w/ longest warranty extention I can get are:

1. Shorter the term, it costs more per year. If I extend only 1-2 years, the cost is still well over 300 bucks, and longer the term, better bang for the buck per year.

2. I've purchased high end Dell laptops since XPS Gen 1, and chances are, it will break down w/ in a couple of years, and be replaced by a newer model, regardless of it's refurb or not.

The ONLY laptop that didn't go bad in 3 year is Dell's business side laptop, M90 btw. This thing is a tank, and the worst one, was the M1330, which mobo died 4 times w/in about 30 months period during my ownership.

 

The ONLY laptop I ever had severe problems with was the Everex XT5000T. Otherwise one helluva deal, some "green" bozo engineer decided that they needed to reduce the amount of lead...in the solder....Yes, you read the correctly...Now, can any of you budding science nerds divine thru logic what happened?

....

.....

Ok, you should have it by now... LOL. When laptops are powered up they go from room temp to very hot, when you turn them off , they go from very hot, to room temp. This cycling over time causes the solder on the board to expand and contract over time which is akin to taking a wire coat hanger and bending it back and forth until it breaks...The metal is essentially work hardening, resulting in crystallization and eventual fracture of the traces..

soooo, the two hottest components on the board, the cpu and gpu, start fracturing their soldered attachments causing them to break circuit and and poof, a laptop that powers right up, but won't boot.

Other than that one box I've yet to have a laptop go down, all the way to my first compaq luggable (which was still working last time I ran it before putting it into storage Been my experience that if its going to go down, its going to do it fairly soon, in which case, expensive extended warranties seem a bit over the top to me. The "square" series of warranties might be more reasonable.

In any event, its your money spend it the way you want.

As for the Everex, well it runs again- but I got to tell you, resoldering traces on a mboard is NOT for the impatient or faint of heart- very akin to microsopic eye surgery AND, given that the problem is with the solder, you're just prolonging the inevitable.

Buy the R1, at the price available for the R1's these days, it is a killer machine.
It's my current favorite 'all round' portable.
\
Seer