What the new M11x needs and what it doesn't

Just decided to write a post quick of some opinions and possibly get feedback.

The Wants:

1) New GPU. Although the GPU does still tear through some games, its showing its age when it comes down to processing power. 3 things missing from some of my games to keep my 335M healthy (Shadows, AA and Shaders).

2) CPU, indeed the i7s and i5s are what the m11x should've been but with the power draw of the Core2duo. Seeing as MLAA is showing its face around the world, we prob need a powerfully cpu with threads/cores to spare. Although I do see some draw backs to increasing CPU core is to also increase wattage, we could probably settle for more threads or SPUs. Also being able to integrate the CPU/Intel GPU is almost upon us and it would be nice to have it in our Laptops

3) Removable Battery and convenient upgradeable Hardware. Yes its a pain in the to remove the Ram and HDD, the screws on mine where so tightly screwed they actually made the plastic strain. And believe it or not the battery is right there, too. Although I do appreciate the size (yes its very small) I'd rather have a slightly bigger and replaceable battery that I can carry with me without having to take apart my laptop or possibly ruin the batter in the process.

4)Higher Contrast ratio and Response time, Although the screen can look great at times, I expected to see richer and deeper colors, with more response.

5) Everyone's favorite adventure, the Hinge. Very "reliable" and "quiet" part of the laptop. Yes Sarcasm is needed because I do have to point out Alienware's nonprofessional approach with its 1000$ base price product. And I would like to Thank the Forumers and users out there that went through the trouble of helping out in fixing/countering this problem.

6) The Touch pad. I'm not sure if anyone ran into this problem or not, but if your in class for a while and your fingers are sometimes oily or getting a little moist from holding a pencil/scratching ur hair or w.e it may be, the touch pad doesn't seem to like responding to that. It does sound stupid but I can assure you that there are mouse pads out there that have better finger registry

7ish) I just decided to add this for myself more, I personally don't need the Dell input on the side, I would've rather exchange it for Esata, firewire or USB and also the card readers, if your going to take up a slot with them, at least make them next gen compatible, I almost got my Duo Stuck!!!!

Things I want to see return:

1) HDMI/VGA (granted I would appreciate a DVI out, but frankly grabbing a converter isn't that big a deal compared to the other issues.

2) Dual Headphone outputs. I absolutely loved this, it was great sitting in the library with my friend's/gf watching movies/TV shows. A very welcomed treat.

3) The Sleek Design. Very well designed, and the keyboard layout is perfect for my fingers. The colors and art of the Alienware are spaced out well and are definitely a treat for the eyes and our hands.

4) Budget Options. I would like to see them keep a Budget line much like they have been doing, instead of completely phasing out old models or customers.

5) The Matt finish on the keys and the inside of the Laptop where ur hands get busy . I hate smudges, and thats 1 reason why I hate the design of the psp slim 2000/3000 . The reflections look great at first, but after a week of usage and 3 weeks of smudge cleaning its a down right pain.

6) The Resolution, I think 720p is a great resolution for this laptop. nothing is pixelated everything is clear and works very well. Which also means that we do not need a heavily overpowered GPU, although we do still need more power that goes without saying.

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Conclusion:

Now u might look at these comparisons and wonder alright so its a crappy laptop? On the contrary, these are merely upgrade suggestions and possible realistic outcomes. I am sure we could go on and keep adding features but at the same time we do have to keep in mind that its still a very portable laptop, and some of the suggested (or some of the future suggested ) ideas might be slight out of reach but I do believe it could be done in 2011 Q2. And although the needs and the doesn't needs seem to be unbalanced, remember that if you look closely the needs seem to be more hardware while the keeps seem to be design, which means it scores big because design and comfort is the hardest part of a laptop Hardware is a big OBVIOUSLY.

This Laptop is a great machine, and has been a great for my day to day uses, but I think we could squeeze more than just a CPU upgrade out of them

Tell me what you think and if You want to add or remove from it.

Thanks!

 

You realize there are at least 1-2 threads like this popping out every week?

Do we really have to go through it again...? ^^ I agree with most things, except resolution. The text is a little too small. 12.1" or 13.37" would work better. (Again, as already mentioned gazillion times in all previous threads.)

 

My apologies then I just thought I would express my opinion as well

 

L1qu1d I think it's great to hear opinions for the next revision. Your ideas sound very good, as long as they could manage to keep its decent battery life, those upgrades would make it a clear winner over any competition.

Maybe, just maybe, the Alienware engineers will read through these forums to get some ideas from the people. We can only hope...

 

.........tl;dr.

 

also reinforced bracketed hinge

 

Np, good ideas though. If you go through the other threads, you'll see others also have interesting suggestions. But who knows what will come next. Maybe in this case its appropriate to say what my boss would say often when I come up with a new research idea "Ahh we can always dream about things!"

 

Somebody sticky one of these topics so people will see it and then not post new threads, but add to the stickyed one

 

TL;DR version: No matter what you do, someone on the internet will always complain.

People will never stop until they can say "You know, company XYZ really created the perfect product. I really can't imagine any possible way for this product to get better. All competitors to company XYZ can just stop trying to innovate, shut their doors, and declare bankruptcy, because there is just no possible way to improve on this product."

 

I'd be good with a reinforced hinge. As for the graphical complaints, shadows and anti aliasing have always put a hard strain on graphics cards. I think people see "Alienware" and assume it can play any game at maxed out resolution. I've played a couple games already where I have to drop almost everything down to low just to get it to run smoothly. On the flip side, it also plays some games where I can set everything to high and it doesn't hitch at all.

Point is, if you're looking for an actual gaming computer, get a desktop. I love my R1 because it's portable and can play Crysis at high with little tweaking. If I was going to get a serious gaming computer, I'd either build one myself or pick up an Aurora.

 

There needs to be a new gpu option, i would love to have a Nvidia(fermi) option and a ATI(6000 series). i dont know why alienware isnt doing something that simple because there sales would be even higher

 

what about a full system recovery disk. like any other brand gives you with there laptops. not just bare windows 7 with no drivers. or better yet since this has no optical drive, do what apple does with their macbook air's, they give you a recovery usb drive. so people like me that has a corrupted recovery partition can reformat easier.

my hinges work perfect but my hdd does'nt. not sure which i would rather have working more. DELLIENWARE!!!!

 

Reinforced hinges would be top priority in my opinion. I wouldn't have to worry about my laptop breaking each day I use it, even though I have no issues with the hinges... yet.