Work performance of the M11x R3

Hi all. I am currently considering my options within the 11"-13" range notebooks that can satisfy my medium gaming needs (such as Diablo III, Sims 3 and Ragnarok Online II at medium to high settings), my heavy Excel processing and .Net programming needs, it has to be portable and has at least 6 hours of battery life.

I am positive that the GT540m should handle the above stated games reasonably well, but I am a little concerned about the M11x R3 CPU's power in handling large excel files that requires heavy calculations. My current desktop with a i3 3.1Ghz CPU+4GB RAM handles excel files that I work with without any noticable waiting times, but trying to work with the same file in an X220(i) i3 2.1Ghz+4GB RAM has resulted in annoying calculation waiting times. The fact that my deskop uses Excel 2007 (which supports hyperthreading and 1GB RAM limit) while the X220(i) was using Excel 2003 might be a factor to the annoying waiting times, I don't have enough expertise to judge whether it was the CPU or the Excel versions that significantly contributed to this performance difference.

I therefore, would like to hear M11x R3 users opinions concerning:

1. How do your M11x R3 handle large, calulation heavy excel files?

2. Is the keyboard comfortable for typing and whether it is sustainable to heavy typing?

3. Is it comfortable to work with the glossy screen under long hours?

4. If you believe there are better laptops that might better suit my needs, please suggest a recommendation to me.

Thanks.

 

1. i doubt it would have any difficulties with excel, even the most demanding ones as I5 is really powerful for a laptop, not to talk about I7.

2.Keyboard is lovely when you get used to the slightly smaller keyboard than desktop.

3.It depends, if you're indoors without the sun shining through the window its lovely, if you're outside, starbucks or whatever, it is usable at max brightness - but far far from ideal and what you would like. everything but the screen is in another league in the size range on the m11x

4.Not if you want to play diablo at native resolution keepin' it lookin' good while getting nearly all day of battery life when you need it.

 

i bought my m11x for similar reasons as you, mainly something new for when diablo 3 comes out but also for school which i do alot of typing as well, games wise im pretty sure you can run everything out now i have battlefield 3 and it runs on medium real nice.

i dont know about HEAVY calculation but i do use excel alot for my statistics and methods class where i got to input alot of data and some calculations and it runs without and hickups. on a side note you must remember it does not have a numpad so if you are use to that for excel almost every small notebook does not have that

i also do alot of typing in word and the keyboard is in a word AWSOME. it is really comfortable ,really responsive and ive heard no complaints about it. for typing long essays i like it alot and the palm rest has a nice feel to it. but like i said no numpad for excel which may be a big deal for some people.

if by work you mean excel and word then the screen is fine, even outdoors. i find the glare to be reduced to a minimum or tolerable when using white/light backgrounds and since word/excel use white backgrounds and black text it is good. i find the screen to be more of a preference of what someone will find annoying or not so kind of user to user based.

in the end its an awsome machine that i would recommend in your situation. depending on how intensive those excel calculations are and since your most demanding game will probably be diablo 3, you may be able to get by with something cheaper in the size range but if you want a versatile and powerful machine that would last the investment is worth it.

 

1. How do your M11x R3 handle large, calulation heavy excel files?
n/a i have an r1, but it works fine with my molecular bio programs

2. Is the keyboard comfortable for typing and whether it is sustainable to heavy typing?
yea, i love the keyboard honestly, feels really nice and smooth

3. Is it comfortable to work with the glossy screen under long hours?
yep, i used mine for about 8 hours a day non stop without any issue

4. If you believe there are better laptops that might better suit my needs, please suggest a recommendation to me.
the bat computer

 

1. well, my wife manages to put to its knees an i5-430m in her acer 4820tg while doing heavy excel calculations
R3 cpu's are ULVs ranging from 1.4/2.3Ghz to 1.5/2.6Ghz so i bet they can be forced to beg for mercy too

3. you can resort to a matte screen protector to cut reflections if you work in an environment where reflections are an issue. I intend to do so.

4. at its size (under 29cm width) R3 has no competition, but if you don't mind extra 4-5cm width there are laptops with similar GPU's out there

 

Since I dont think heavy excel calcs are a new thing I'm quite sure you should have no issue with the current crop of avail processors.