Dell Unveils Powerful 11-inch Alienware M11x Gaming Laptop Discussion

Let's begin with a cliche: big things come in small packages. Rarely has that statement been so fitting when it comes to Dell's crazy new 11-inch gaming laptop. Pulling from the design of its bigger and beefier brothers, the M15x and M17x, the Alienware M11x packs a lot of power into a little box. Read on for our first impressions.

Read the full content of this Article: Dell Unveils Powerful 11-inch Alienware M11x Gaming Laptop

Related Articles:

• Alienware m15x Review
• Alienware m17x Review
• CES 2010: The Countdown Begins
• Alienware M11x Review

 

Bezel is too thick should have made it a 12in screen.

 

Pretty neat. Never thought anyone could put a shrinkray to the gaming notebooks. I used to think 14" was pushing it, 13" was barely doable for low settings, and 12" is absolutely asinine. Now we have a 11" gaming notebook. Oh where have we gone?

 

IT looks good, i'm not really feeling the Lid though. This looks awesome in black the silverish one that was shown wasn't really nice at all. Im thinking its 1280 x 720, also they are claiming 6-7000 3dmark which will be pretty amazing if true. Hopefully the cooling and everything is in tact.

 

i think the 335m has 72 shaders and a 128bit bus. not bad.
i agree that they could have fitted a 12 inch screen.

 

Once the M11x is available in Canada, it is mine.

I have spoken.

 

I am looking forward to getting one of these as my sidekick! (the M17x is just too big for that role most of the time)

 

Chaz - what CPU is Dell planning on using?

 

I will also very likely get this little beast!
All depends on what Apple does with the 13" MBP.
I'm betting on Core i5 with at least an ATi 5470 or NVidia 330M.
They wouldn't give it just Intel IGP, considering it's a Pro machine.

 

Right there with you. I'm lugging mine back and forth to work for the down time when theres nothing to do

 

I thinking the same thing too.
is the 11 inch screen an artifact of 16:9 ?

 

That's J.R. not Chaz.


And for those that haven't read the AW forums CNet is reporting a CULV SU7300.

 

I would not want to game on an 11 inch screen.

 

that is where the hdmi output comes in handy

 

That's not really the point.

 

Wow...I saw the press release saying low-voltage, but CULV CPU was a little bit surprising. Coupled with the thick and boxy casing, which is needed for thermal management, but it's also cheaper to make, it explains how Alienware can keep this one under $1000.

I still like the new Sony Z better for a more balanced ultra-portable powerhouse, but for non-CPU demanding games like flight simulations M11X should performance better.

 

lol...you'd be surprised how many people out there DO want a tiny notebook to play heavy games. I never understood having a laptop that tiny for ANY of my needs even note taking but I do not doubt the sheer demand out there right now. My friends all went gaga over it after they saw that video of it playing CODMW2

 

This would be perfect for a gaming desktop - laptop combination, though a 13" would have been more preferable; heat might be a problem with this laptop..

 

Damn 1,000 is expensive! But whatever its Alienware and your not going to find something like this elsewhere unless you go to a single core atom!

 

I am interested to see pictures of one taken apart so I can see the layout and cooling

 

I think this might be the "netbook" of my dreams, right here.

Now excuse me while I wipe the drool off of my keyboard...

 

that sucks. they should have put a low voltage arrandale in there.

 

I am not a big fan of Alienware design. Too flashy imo. But the specs are certainly good and the price even better. Wish they stuffed a 12" display in however.

 

Heat concerns me alot with this machine. Im hoping the ulv cpu will help lower the temps in the M11x to have it run ok without auto shutting down.

can anyone tell me what this machines gpu compares too? im not familiar with it at all.

 

Pity, I would've gotten this in a heartbeat if it was a 13-incher. 11 is way too small for my gaming tastes.

 

Why in the name of Dell did they put an OLD generation low voltage core 2 duo in this thing? Why not a new Core i3/i5 lower voltage model? I can't figure out who designs these things and says: "Lets do something new and groundbreaking with this size laptop! Lets tout its performance! Lets put a middle-high end GPU in a tiny little chassis" and then decides on a weak, ancient, underperforming CPU, especially if the chassis is said to be a little more bulky than other ultrathin ultraportables. I really hope there's an option for a proper processor. Asinine!

That said, I'm glad someone has decided to put some thought into a performance-level 11-13 notebook. Does anyone know if the chassis is cheap plastic, or metal? Multitouch trackpad? Also, this proves one final thing... if Alienware can shoehorn a backlit keyboard; a multicolor LED emitter backlit keyboard at that, into an 11", there is NO BLOODY EXCUSE why ANY mid-grade through high end laptop should do without it.

 

this is a demo model, it will most likely ship with the low wattage i5 parts

 

I can tell you why they didn't put a U/LV i3 in there....there ain't any. ;þ

 

I couldn't justify buying one, 11" is way to small for gaming imo anyways. The only practical use would be hooking this up to a tv but then could the specs handle playing a game at 1080p? I doubt it.

 

I can imagine my eyes squinting from trying to game on that rig.

 

I wonder if Apples Islate is going to be as powerfull..

its going to prob have about the same size screen.

 

Arg, bezel! That is one huge bezel! I think I would stick with new VaioZ, if I am in for gaming portable. The idea of playing HoI3 on 11inch LCD makes my eyes hurt, too.

 

I could game on a 13 inch but I dont know about a 11 inch.

 

Battery is apparently non removable according to Gizmodo which means more wear. Bad move? http://gizmodo.com/5442786/alienware-m11x-hands+on-fast-ride-in-a-short-machine

 

Not going to happen. Not without improving the GPU in the larger machines as well, which would be a very surprising thing for Apple to do.

 

O crap. That's one of the reasons I'd never buy a Mac. Bad move Dell.

 

Fixed for ya.

 

Same thing.

 

I'll take that bet. Prepare to be disappointed.

 

It won't be even close - the M11x will eat it. The tablet doesn't need to be this powerful. In fact it needs to be vastly less powerful so you don't have to charge it everyday.

Horses for courses.

 

Yeah, I could not live w/o my 20" PSP and 15" DS Lite.

 

Hmmm sorry to be so sceptical but what can a 335M card really do? When you look at mobile gaming video cards, they are already underperforming compared to desktop cards. I really doubt the 335M can perform all that well with the likes of Flight Simulator X and other 3D intensive games.

 

the term gaming laptop is relative. it's certainly better than an igp.

 

Put it in the range of the 4670.

 

Another reason to spend your hard earned cash on a depreciating asset... this is a seriously tempting machine.... i already asked my friend to buy me a M17x from USA.... it looks like he will come back with two Alienware laptop for me when he returns to Australia.

 

I could see this selling well. I have always been a fan of powerful machines in small packages. If I was a gamer I would get one in an instant to be able to game on the fly.

Albeit not a gaming machine with its Intel 4500 graphics, even my ThinkPad X200 is a very powerful ultraportable for its purpose (P8600, 1066 MHz RAM, 128GB SSD).

 

I mentioned this earlier somewhere but who do you guys think will be the NEXT company to try this? My guess is Asus. Maybe a 5730 could fit in a 11" notebook? The Asus that is using that currently is REALLY thin so maybe they could do it. I like it though, i like to see advances like this in notebooks.

 

it would be very difficult.
to make it that thin, you need to lay out the components flat out. hdd, cd drive, mobo expansion, card slots et cetera. you can't stack anything. which is why the m11x has a huge bezel. more powerful graphics card need bigger pcb.

 

Well, as mentioned, the new Sony Z is 13.1", at 3lb, 1" thin, has GT330M and has option for standard voltage i7-620M, so in terms of packing the same computing power it has already been done by another company. Sony will probably not do a gaming rig, especially one that deliberately use low voltage CPU to make head room for the heat from a more powerful GPU, but you already have a choice -- an expensive one, no doubt, but also has other benefits.

I think it's not hard technically for another company to come in somewhere in between, it just how big this market really is so that there is pie left for another company to decide to jump in since high-end and low-end are already occupied. A differentiating product will probably have to adopt AW's low voltage CPU and more powerful GPU combo, but go for a 12-14" screen with thinner design while making the weight about the same (at least on the per screen inch basis) as M11X (whatever it turns out to be) and take advantage the larger base to ensure good cooling. Imagine a shrunk HP Envy 15 and replace its i7 with low voltage i5 and put GT335M in.

 

Not too shabby.