Alienware M11x Review Discussion

The new Alienware M11x is the latest gaming laptop from Dell's Alienware team and might be the best thing to happen to PC gaming this year. This impressive little box is the first ultraportable gaming notebook with an 11-inch screen and a weight of less than five pounds. If that's not enough to get you interested, you might like to know that it costs $799 ... almost the same price as less-powerful 11-inch notebooks with the newest Intel low-voltage processors.

Read the full content of this Article: Alienware M11x Review

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Hey Jerry
Nice comprehensive review...This is one very unique/cool laptop!

 

It seems like Alienware has a winner in their hands. This is a very compelling product. I agree with your recommendation of sticking with SU4100 and spend the money on ram or HD upgrade.
Kudos to Alienware for this product and NBR for this excellent review.

 

Is this the longest review yet? 4 pages...lol

BTW Thanks alot for the review

 

Interesting to say the least. It should appeal to a lot of AW fans. I'm not a fan of the design myself, but the backlit keyboard is pretty neat, and the fact that it's durable according to the review. Looks like it runs fairly cool which is nice considering it's a lot of power packed into such a small notebook.

 

It started as a typical two-page review but I felt like this first-in-its-category machine warranted a bit more background and introduction ... and all those gaming benchmarks deserved an additional page as well.

I hate reviews that turn every paragraph into its own page, but it seemed like there was too much text here for just two pages.

 

I personally like this style. Expect same style from future reviews.

BTW after read your review my GF playing same ol disk continuously " Can I have One For MY B'Day"

 

A good read on a solid, compelling product. This thing's going to make it big for sure, especially at a surprisingly sensible price point. The only question is how long until it starts to get some competition?

 

Prefect computer for the road and dare I say it one of the first ultaportables that would be used as a primary computer and not be limited.

 

This is true innovation right here.

 

I started laughing when I got up to the complaint of the Restore DVD; that is rather stupid.

Other than that, its smaller than what I have and more powerful, but I could see that as a lot of people's main computer.

 

They needed something to complain about! But I think they included the restore DVD for good reason. Most people don't know how to boot from a flash drive, and even if they did, they might have problems restoring from the flash drive. Buying a cheap external DVD drive and restoring that way might be easier for the typical person.

 

I agree the M11x could easily be an average consumer's main computer (if they like to play current games from time to time) but I suspect the main target audience that Dell/Alienware is after are avid gamers who own gaming desktops but never bought gaming notebooks because they were too expensive and too bulky.

I don't have official sales numbers from Dell or Alienware, but from what I've been told the initial sales figures for the M11x have exceeded expectations. If that's the case then a lot of average consumers must be buying this notebook. I'm very curious to find out the official sales numbers ... or at least whatever Dell is willing to make public.

 

This must be a good review because it makes me want a M11x which is down right silly sense my idea of gaming is playing Bejeweled!

 

Well, I'm certainly not going to try to talk you out of buying the M11x because we gave it an Editor's Choice Award for a reason ... but if Bejeweled is the "only" type of game you play then any CULV notebook with Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics can get the job done.

The M11x is for those people who also want to shoot zombies and space robots in their spare time.

 

Wonderful work as always Jerry.

Nice to see reviews that give these expensive pucrhases the detailed write ups they deserve.

 

I must admit this is a very attractive offering from AW. There current lineup is looking very nice.

I have one question though? Why did they go with Nvidia graphics in this machine? ATI is getting twice the performance out of half the power/size/heat, and they are cheaper. It seems like it would be an obvious fit for this machine. They can always update...

 

Wow! The specs on that thing are amazing! I like my big gaming laptop, but recently I've been wanting something small, netbook-like, and still capable of delivering solid gaming performance on the go. This would have been a solid contender if it wasn't so ugly and if I hadn't already picked up an Asus 1201N. I'm sorry, but I just cannot stand the design of Alienware computers. They look like overstated kids' toys. However, I don't want to be too critical because I think machines like this one exemplify where I want to see notebook and netbook technology go. Smaller, faster, and more feature-filled. I completely reject what Intel and Microsoft think a small notebook or netbook should be! I am much more interested in what companies like Nvidia and now Alienware have in mind.

Great review and superb product.

I've gone through Dell hell before so it's very hard to put that many complements in a message about a Dell product...

 

I agree......I built my current desktop a little over a year ago expressly for gaming. Have followed the roll out of various gaming notebooks with interest, but as you said, they've always been too big and/or too expensive for me to consider.

The M11x is the first one I've actually considered and the only machine thus far, that has the power to possibly dissuade me from my future MBP purchase

 

I've always felt Alienware to be too gaudy for my tastes, but the combination of hardware inside this small chassis is pretty amazing - the port selection is great, and the performance is very impressive, all without sacrificing battery life. I'm really glad they decided to leave out the optical drive, and I really hope larger laptops start moving in that direction as well (like the Envy 15).

Great review Jerry!

 

I know I'm considered biased, but great review, enjoyed the detail, good read.

Just have to say, being able to play Modern Warefare 2 and Dirt 2, etc on battery for a couple hours randomly while on the go is just awesome to me... just right now, I'm sitting here playing Dirt 2 at native resolution and beautiful graphics in a full race on battery while waiting for a sub contractor to show up. I've never been able to do that before.

Great machine, and impressive build quality on top of the performance.

 

I have SU7300 in my M11X and am quite happy with it. One of the items I'd like to see in the review is the overview of 335 OC capability. I used EVGA's utility and easily pushed it close to 6900 in 3DMark06 (7300/4GB/250GB).

Really, the main issue is CUDA acceleration. I need to find a few hours to read through NBR's Alienware forum to find out if someone figured how to install drivers that both work with hybrid switchable graphics and allow CUDA use for CoreAVC, Flash 10.1 beta, etc.

 

Great review, great machine. My only only question - I may have missed it, or maybe it was kind of implied - but how comfortable is the keyboard for gaming/typing? I mean, it's an 11 inch, so I'm assuming the keyboard is compressed a little bit.

 

it is compressed a bit, but not by much. I am picky when it comes to keyboards, since I'm a fast typist and have average sized hands, but it is tons better than any other netbook. I can move along quite nicely.

 

How about a comparison between M11x(SU4100) vs M11x(SU7300) ? lol..

Its kinda weird to see [email protected](On the Alienware M11x) score better than [email protected](On the Asus UL50Vf) in PCMark05 .. hmm

 

Great review.
Never thought I would want a AW but this is pretty neat package, small,powerful and handles most of the latest games.
Great features and not too sad it has no optical drive.
I would have loved to see some CRYSIS benchmarks,just to see how it handles it.

 

nice review...

the only two reasons I personally would never buy this is:
-crappy CPU
-11.6inch screen for games? really, I'd stick with the m15x for that.

 

The picture that exposes the innards of the M11x says a lot about the design of this laptop... it really pushes the limits. Way to go, Dell/Alienware!

 

This notebook is alsmot perfect for my needs.

To BAD is WAY to pricy here in Sweden.. Starta at about ~1400$ and you can't get built in 3G

 

great review!

 

Great review! I will say that i hear a few people complain about the screen size. You would have to use it to realize how little difference it makes. I can see every detail on the small screen. This it one prefectly sculpted system in my eyes. Trust me you will enjoy it.

 

Great review! I am insanely tempted on pulling the trigger on this. I would use it for light gaming and doing design/video editing work on the go with a nice HDMI output. I'm torn between this and the Asus UL30Vt-A1.

One question though, how does this fare when using it as a "couch" netbook. Will this sear my flesh and hair while its not overclocked and set to balanced for basic web browsing tasks on my lap for extended periods of time?

 

Wish the M11x had an option for a 1600x900 resolution screen. That would make it near perfect in my book.

 

If you use the M11x for video editing you will want to make absolutely certain that the video editing software you use takes advantage of Nvidia CUDA acceleration. The low-voltage processor makes encoding HD video files a SLOW process unless you're using software that uses the graphics card to speed things up.

As far as using this as a "couch" laptop, you should be fine as long as you don't block the fan intake on the bottom of the M11x. Yes, it gets warm/toasty after you've been gaming for a while, but it's NOT painful or "flesh searing."

 

Thanks for the information, very nice laptop, thanks a lot

 

If you squeeze 1600x900 on an 11-inch screen everything will be VERY small in the regular Windows environment when you're trying to read file names or read content on the web.

I love 1920x1080 displays, but when I'm using an ultraportable I don't want that kind of resolution in that small of a footprint.

 

@Jerry Jackson I'm using Adobe CS4 for all my design work which theoretically uses CUDA. Also what kind of output res will the m11 comfortable run on say a 22" lcd. Just curious if I can dock this thing at work and use it on for non fun things.

Every comment makes me want this thing more and more. Darn...

 

CS4 should be fine, but there may be other CUDA-accelerated applications that are even faster for encoding video ... I don't know enough about all the various CUDA-capable apps out there.

As for the external display you shouldn't have any problem running CS4 with a 1920x1080 external display connected to the M11x ... though you might not want to run all games at that resolution since the hardware in the M11x is optimized for playing games at 1366x768 (or lower) resolution.

 

@Jerry Jackson

Very nice review. Makes me really want to pick up an M11x now.

A few questions. First, do you think there is any difference between the SU4100 and the SU7300 regarding battery life? Second, can you give any estimates on battery life when playing dvds off of an external dvd drive? It would be nice to know whether I can play movies while on a cross-country flight and still make it on one charge.

Finally, the additional 1MB cache in the SU7300 does not translate to much of a performance boost when playing games like Dragon Age: Origins?

Thanks for your time.

 

I can't provide a definitive answer on the SU4100 vs SU7300 because our official review unit from Alienware with the SU7300 was delayed due to a shipping error (I completed this review with the SU4100 unit that I personally ordered).

That said, my personal experience with multiple notebooks that use the SU4100 and SU7300 is that there is VERY little difference between these two processors. There "might" be a situation where that extra 1MB of cache makes a difference of a few FPS in a game, but it's highly unlikely.

On the bright side, this makes it very easy to determine what games are playable on the M11x ... since both processors are almost identical you can rest assured that anything that one M11x can play another M11x can play as well.

In terms of battery life with an external DVD drive, this will vary based on the power draw of the external drive, but you should have no problem watching a normal length feature film on battery power using an external drive if you're using the Intel integrated graphics mode.

As for Dragon Age: Origins, I haven't had a chance to play it on the M11x but I think I recall someone talking about playing it on the M11x over on the Alienware discussion forums on this site.

 

Interesting how this review says there are no peers like I personally felt yet some peeps were seriously comparing a laptop with a 13.3" footprint claiming "it's a peer". Puh-lease.

 

I may have missed it, but I thought we had been told that over clocking the CPU via bios was NOT covered by the warranty?

 

I'm pretty sure that OC'ing via the BIOS OC selection is covered, but if you OC in any other manner, i.e. playing with voltages, FSB, etc., are not.

 

Overclocking the CPU using the option in the BIOS (as described in the user manual) is 100 percent covered under warranty by Dell. This has now been confirmed by multiple Dell representatives.

There was apparently some confusion with a few of the Dell Customer Care phone representatives who told consumers that overclocking was not covered, but Dell/Alienware representatives assure me that this has been taken care of.

If you use the BIOS option then it's 100 percent covered under warranty.

That said, if you use "alternative" methods to overclock your CPU or GPU then that is NOT covered under warranty. The only overclocking method that is covered is using the BIOS setting.

I hope that clarifies any confusion.

 

Thanks, I knew I must have been incorrect if it made it into the review, but I wanted to be sure.

 

Thanks Jerry, your review and all the info in this thread have sold me. Just ordered my very own, ship date 4/1/10

 

Agreed, but being the resolution junky I am it would make it spot on. Think about the 1600x900 on the sony viao p, that makes it perfect in my book. Granted I could see this as being a problem for alot of people, but having the option would be nice for those of use that utilize alot of screen real estate. Heck I have a tough time working on my thinkpad due to the small amounts of apps I can have up without overlapping (application overlap drives me crazy when working).

 

It sounds like you need a ThinkPad W700ds:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4820&review=lenovo+thinkpad+w700ds

 

If I had the money and it supported windows 7 properly I would be all over it. But yeah that would be the ideal laptop for me .

 

Now all they need is to throw in a 3rd screen to the left, add in dual ATi cards and use Eyefinity to call win.