"In January 2010 at the CES, Alienware announced the M11x gaming laptop. So light and compact, but still so powerful. I had to have one."

Chuck "Magnum" Ankenbauer reviews the latest offering from Alienware.

http://www.simhq.com/_technology2/technology_089a.html

Great review!

And I'll double your vouch for tech support at Alienware. When my desktop fried, they didn't quibble, emailed me a UPS certificate for shipping back to them, replaced pretty much everything in it, and had it back to me in less than a week. They actually rebuilt it the day they got it! Since my video cards were soooo last year, they upgraded them from their stocks, no charge.

After the warranty ran out, they still went out of their way to help me update the BIOS; again, no quibbling or "we can't help you" crap.

And yes, the price was only 200 USD over what I could have built the system myself for.

Laptops that run sims. We truly are living in the future.

How long does the battery last?

Thx Dart... ya, guess I should of mentioned that... the batteries for regular use lasted over 8 hours... but once you started playing a game, a high energy game, they did seem to eat alot of battery time... in 2 hours of constant gaming I was at 50 percent power... so I would guess 4 hours give or take.

BTW, be advised that a few of the videos uploaded were corrupt, and also be advised that recording with fraps does drop the frames in half... and the ArmA2 benchmark is unfair IMO, as you rarely see that much action at once playing a normal mission.

But you get the point with the article and videos.

Thx to Doug for making me look more intelligence then I really am with this stuff. he walked me through it. lol

Interesting review, Magnum. Thanks for reporting on it.

Have you tried any non-gaming applications with the M11x, such as MS Office Word/Excel/Powerpoint, e-mail, photo or video editing software? I am seriously thinking about buying one of these, as like you my gaming laptop is far too big and heavy to be truly portable.

But when I go on the road, I don't want to bring two laptops - I'd need this one to do some legitimate work in between my play time!

Yes, I use M$ office have my police presentations on it, works well... like i said, keyboard is kinda small but do-able.

I've captured HD video on my flip camera, it connects, and uploads just fine... you can either use the flip editing software that it auto installs, or movie maker.

Have also used the built in camera to capture footage and edit...poor quality but do-able for video conferencing.

Alienware is the most price bloated computer maker out there. You can get the same thing for half the price from Ibuypower.

was... I don't believe that is true today... JMO based on what I see and read.

Richardg,

As someone a month or so away from a purchase, I am interested in your assertion. Can you point out which Ibuypower model(s) you think would be in the same competitive category to the M11x?

Update: I just checked out the Ibuypower website. Looking at their laptop selection, I don't see any 11" ultra-portable laptops, nor any with 1 GB vid cards as standard. Their systems all seem to start at over $1000. Is there another page of products I am overlooking? Right now, for what I am looking for, comparing the M11x specifically to Ibuypower's lineup seems a bit apples-and-oranges.

Thanks, Magnum. I'd be packing a wireless keyboard and mouse in my luggage for in-hotel work, so the small keyboard would only be an issue when doing business on travel or at the airport/airplane. But I see the 8x11 size and long battery life (on internal video) to be a big plus in those situations.

You've really got me interested in Alienware. I have an XPS and I know I pay more for a full system from Dell, but the lack of trouble and support is well worth it - and that was with my XPS system. Interested to see how Alienware improves that experience.

About the M17x. I know both you and Chunx have one. Do you really use that for your gaming or do you guys also have desktop rigs that handle most of your gaming. I'm still stuck in the past so the thought that a laptop can handle gaming is still a bit of a foreign concept to me. Just looking at my options.

What were the graphics settings used for DCS Black Shark in this review and what resolution were you running? How was the performance in heavy action or over cities?

Thanks,
T-Bone

Thanks for the review! Fun read, piqued my interest from day one when Alienware announced this. How'd they do that with such a low clocked proc?

I am also interested in the unit. DId you always use the default laptop screen res? I'd assume you did.

I'm a very happy M17 owner. Got mine after the M17x, since the M17's dropped in price, got mine with dual 4850's and VERY happy so far with the performance and 'portability' compared to a desktop.

Yes, Corsair8x, I do all my gaming on mine, no desktop here at all, but it's not as powerful as say a new 4890. I run all my games at 1900 x 1200 widescreen monitor--I doubt this little booger could handle that res!

All games were ran at MAX at the default 1033x768x32...(minus BS which had to be ran at low settings, there are limitations afterall, lol) Since i didn't hook up my flight stick I didn't play BS on this laptop just did the demo videos.

It is possible to play those intense games but it seemed you had to drop down to medium settings... even low settings for NFS Shift and CMSF for a smooth ride.

NO, I don't really use this laptop as my gaming device, just nice to know i can... I use it more for internet and presentations (our work internet blocks most gaming sites and i teach classes) but I have used VBS2 to demonstrate tactical traffic stops and searches to my class and this little laptop does that well, plus internet golf and the old school Combat Mission games run great.

For my main gaming I have a Dell XPS 720 and an M17 laptop.

If you think you'll buy this M11x as a primary gaming platform, the processor is the best they offer and the weakest link. IMO... but do better with a more bigger, powerful laptop.

and BTW, I know that Alienware and the Dell XPS systems are a little higher then the norm, but you get what you paid for, excellent components, hand built with care, tuned and supported very well.

Magnum,
Thanks for the great review, I have always thought that laptops could not perform well enough for gaming, boy was I wrong, tech changes.

I too have been converted to a laptop gamer as I picked up a Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q712.

* Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P7350
* Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (SP1, 64/32-bit)
* 4GB DDR3 memory
* 320GB hard drive (7200rpm)
* NVIDIA® GeForce 9700M graphics (512MB)
* 10/100/1000 Ethernet
* Integrated webcam & FM tuner

Plays everything at maxxed out settings at higher than 30 FPS, only Crysis slows it down to 25 fps, lol.

I was looking to replace my laptop with a cheap sub $650.00 unit, this one was on sale for $800.00, what drew me too it is that it has 4 Harmon Kardon speakers WITH a Subwoofer, WTF!!!

My main complaint with laptops is their crappy speakers, this one sounds freakin awesome.

Three major downsides to this BEAST,
One like you experienced with your other Alienware is size and weight, its huge and heavy, 9.5 pounds by itself, 18.5 pounds when packed up in its laptop bag. You could kill a man with the powerbrick.

Two batterie life, with the huge screen and GPU fans it sucks up the juice, maybe 45 minutes on performance setting, first thing I bought was a spare battery.

Three heat, this thing will actually burn you, and if you are not careful it can overheat under load and shut down. If you are going to game for any extended period of time you have to use a cooler, I bought an Targus Cooler Mat, works great.

I am running 32 bit Vista right now, but will install 32 bit 7 when I pick up a new HD, 500 gig.

Fritze Out

Corsair8X, I don't have an M17x, or any other Alienware product for that matter. For the past 3 years I've done my gaming on a Dell XPS M1710 Red 17" laptop. Core2 Duo CPU, Nv 7950 GTX GPU, 2 GB of RAM, 1900x1200 native screen res. It's been a faithful and reliable rig for me. The only issue was a DVD burner that came bad from the factory, and I got that replaced without hassle. No problems since (knock on wood).

So, while I don't use an AW system, I do game on a laptop. The games I've played on the laptop include Rainbow Six: Vegas, Call of Duty 4, rFactor(with scores of mods), GTR2 (lots of mods again), GPL and RBR (plus the RSRBR makeover). I don't run any of those games at max settings, but I scale them so that I can use 4x AA, 4x AF, and some other tweaks from the Nvidia drivers. I strive for 30-80 fps, and get it with the above games with good looking graphics.

So yes, laptops can now be used to play games. Their issues:
1. Very, very hard to upgrade later in their life. It's not a simple matter of opening the case and plopping in a new GPU, etc.
2. They're not as portable as regular laptops. My M1710 is massive and weighs quite a bit, making it a hassle to tote on airline flights, etc. I think of it as a "portable desktop".
3. They get hot during gameplay. Real hot. After gaming I always let mine run for a half hour or so to allow the fans to purge the hot air from inside that tiny space inside the laptop chassis.

Hope that helps.

Youtube darkened it up a bit, also degraded details.

Will try and upload a better version.

wet work cleaner version

I am amazed at the processor speed and running of black shark.

http://ark.intel.com/

The link will show you all the mobile processors for Intel and how they stack-up next to each other.

I'm thinking about the Sager NP2180 for $1200 USD
http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=263075

Display: 15.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080)
ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 5650 Graphics with 1GB GDDR3 Memory
Intel Core i7-720QM Processor
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Edition
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 2 X 2GB
Hard Disk Drive: 320GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive
8X DVD±R/RW/4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
Network Card: Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module

I love the Alienware but I want something with an ATI video card and DirectX 11.

they also have the HD 5870 mobility at Sager!