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Alienware M11X instead of the MBP13?

the R2 M11x's are nice but they get around 4-5 hours for i7 ULV. I have the M11xR1 and with an SSD I can get 8 hours of web browsing tested a couple times using battery bar. It games very well, I've found more games use GPU than CPU so the SU7300 1.7Ghz OC'd is more than enough for many games. I am now debating on going back to a MBP 13" though with the 320m lol. I don't find myself playing as much games lately and might be starting grad school again. But the m11x itself is a great portable machine, solid build quality. It does gaming very well.

the people above (Hisdem & sadcamper) saying it will only get 1hr of battery life, lol that's if you're on discrete graphics and gaming on battery - even then you can get 2 hours.. Not sure where you two are getting your information, maybe from M15x/M17x. My R1 has manual switching graphics to HD4500 and it gets superb battery life. Anyway, what you want to ask yourself is how important is gaming to you? I left my 2008 UMB for PC's to game and I almost feel like I might come back since gaming now isn't as big to me.

it's true about Dell, you'll be on the phone a lot if you have issues, which sucks but hey they've sent me a replacement M11x just the other day I'm selling. Typing on my current M11x now, just have to package it back up and mail it back all free of cost.

The 11.6" isn't really bad for me, nothing is too small and there is more pixels at this resolution than at 1280x800. Only bummer is the 16:9 makes web pages "shorter".

*edit* man I keep having to edit my posts after re-reading through some of this. A lot of misinformation. The 335m is absolutely better than the 330m on all accounts. it has 72 shader cores vs 48. 1Gbvram and higher clocked. It definitely destroys the 320m. The i7-640UM although is a ULV CPU it's pretty damn good. If you follow passmark scores it gets 2000 on bios overclock. That's about as good as P8800 2.66Ghz processor. I know that's just synthetic benchmarking but it does have 2c/4threads. The P8800 can still beat the i7ULV on a lot of things but it's a very good CPU. Even the SU7300 is great which I have.
 
Get the Alienware from the sound of it that's what you want. You only get a Mac if you want OSX and from the sound of things you really don't care what OS you are running.

I have to warn you though for that price you could do much better for gaming. Envy 14, Various Asus models all come in mind. 11 inch is nice but not a very comfortable screen size when you consider the fact that you will most likely want to play the PC exclusives (MMOs, RTS, etc) And there's also the fact that the m11x weights almost as much as most 15" laptops.

Also, avoid low voltage CPUs like a friggen plague. I don't care what people say they are friggen awful. And in moderate tasks (light photoshop, having many tabs open) they will slow down.
 
It depends on what you see as a dealbreaker. If you want to game, get the Alienware. If you absolutely must use Mac OS X, then get the MacBook Pro. Alienwares are made for gaming, and that's what you're looking for, right? I personally wouldn't go for the Alienware, because I'm not a gamer and I consider Windows a dealbreaker, but different strokes for different folks. Good luck.
 
i'm hardly a gamer, least of all on the pc. I do use photo and videoediting software though so a good graphics card and cpu do help in that area.

Neither Windows nor OSX would be dealbreakers for me. I am no die hard gamer so the M11X wouldn't be for that specifically, it just seems like more bang for my buck. I have been looking at the MBP15 instead of the MBP13 since it seems to offer more value for money, so i already placed it in my basket ... but then i noticed that it would set me back near €2000,- for the HR AG with sleeve .... ouch. the M11x (or asus u35) seem to offer those specs for half that money, also in alu casing.

The only thing missing then would be OSX and design of the case.

I don't really like the look of the M11x (the asus u35 or toshiba r700 seem a lot nicer), but i am looking for something fast and durable in a compact size (ie <15") for a reasonable price. the m11x refresh seemed to fit that nicely since it is in fact a 12" laptop....
 
SnowLeopard2008 said:
If all you do is game (not light but hard/serious) then Alienware. If you want to use the computer for more than just wasting time, then 13" MBP.
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I love the fact, that you call gaming "a waste of time" yet have a twitter link in your signature. Dumbest crap I have ever read.



stefan1975 said:
i'm hardly a gamer, least of all on the pc. I do use photo and videoediting software though so a good graphics card and cpu do help in that area.

Neither Windows nor OSX would be dealbreakers for me. I am no die hard gamer so the M11X wouldn't be for that specifically, it just seems like more bang for my buck. I have been looking at the MBP15 instead of the MBP13 since it seems to offer more value for money, so i already placed it in my basket ... but then i noticed that it would set me back near €2000,- for the HR AG with sleeve .... ouch. the M11x (or asus u35) seem to offer those specs for half that money, also in alu casing.

The only thing missing then would be OSX and design of the case.

I don't really like the look of the M11x (the asus u35 or toshiba r700 seem a lot nicer), but i am looking for something fast and durable in a compact size (ie <15") for a reasonable price. the m11x refresh seemed to fit that nicely since it is in fact a 12" laptop....
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Look, your contradicting yourself, shifting back and forward on what you want.

You want power and speed, in something than less than 15'' and you want good value for money?


Both Alienware and Apple are premium brands. Many people feel that you pay extra money for the brand. I won't comment on this, but if you want sheer performance for your money in a light package, check out the Acer 3820.

i7 core (a full i core processor. Not a much weaker ULV like in m11x which means you can do real video editing!)
4 GB Ram (you can put 8 in later if you want)
ATI 5650 (superior to even the Nvidia 330m in the MBP 15)
13'' screen (same resolution as m11x)
No optical drive(extra heatsink)
1.8 kilo (its thinner and lighter than m11x even though it has a +2 inch screen)
6-8 hours battery life on integrated

some people broke 9990 in 3dmark 06. thanks to the cold temperatures of the awesome 5650 and because, the machine has an extra heatsink, the machine is a overclocker dream. check the thread in the acer forum on forum.notebookreview.com .


the downside? In many peoples opinion Acer has problem with many of their notebooks. bad build quality, problems all around.

But you cant denie that you get insane power. but its no nonsense laptop. no backlit keyboard, no great screen, no dvd drive, flex on keyboard. it's a fairly average looking laptop too, but it boosts the power.

if I just needed to get as much power out of my money in a <15'' notebook, you can not find a better choice than that.




Another thing you need to know which has not been covered in this thread is that if you wanted to game in Windows on your MBP13 or MBP15, the battery life would be significantly worsened. you dont get those 10 hours of battery life in win 7, that's for sure.



The question is, what you want. I think your asking to much. Asking for both portability(couch surfing, long battery) and being powerful is a crazy demand that already limits you to 3-4 laptops in the world. If you also want to get most for your money, then obviously it makes things impossible.



m11x has a great graphics card. it performs excellent in GPU intensive games, but struggles more in CPU intensive games.
 
yeah i know i am probably contradicting myself a lot here. That's mainly because i am still unsure about what to do. My heart is set upon a MBP, preferably a MBP15's specs in a MBP13 body.

My mind and wallet however don't really want to spend €1880 on a MBP15 HR AG or €1150 on a MBP13 C2D.

So that is why i am shopping around for alternatives. And your summary seems about right, a small laptop with decent specs for a slightly above average price is indeed what i am looking for (envy and vaio are above my budget and i'd get a MBP instead for that money).

battery, longevity, service without a 3 year contract, nice backlit keyboard, >= 1366 screen are things important here, not gaming at all.

the alienware is also a "premium" brand with a design tax, but at €999 i think it is overseeable compared to the MBP15.

Is the i7 ULV really that bad? i heard it overclocks to 2.66ghz?
 
Download iAtkos S3 and hackintosh it to the latest snow lepoard build, faster than any MBP for a hell of a lot cheaper.
 
Macsavvytech said:
If you've Used Windows (any version) then you will have experienced Fragmented drives, over large caches, corrupt files, etc. I wouldn't have a computer without Windows, I do prefer OSX however i am not biased. I simply give my view on your problem ratio compared to a Mac and if you discredit it then go try Using A Windows Computer for 13 years.

To The Thread Starter Games are going to OSX and a Computer is a combination of both Software and Hardware, find your Combination and enjoy bliss. I simply believe you will not find bliss with the Alienware M11X. A 11" screen is unusable for me and i advice you to try a 13" model, go for apple or go for Origin ( The new Alienware without Dell: Seriously the Founder of Alienware owns Origin, he started it after quiting during the merge of Dell and Alienware)
http://www.originpc.com/
Click to expand...


So much ignorance in that post.
I do not see what you are talking about with file corruption. I read your post and it screams the standard BS Apple fan spit out. The drive fragmentation really is a HUGE red flag.

All hard drives become fragments no matter what the OS or hard drive format. They become fragment from how hard drives are written 2. If there are not enough sectors in a row to put the file in a single place it breaks it up.

Fill fragmentation does not cause the corruption. The worse it does is slow down the performance of the drive as it takes longer to get all the piece of the file.

Either way you are full of the standard Apple Fanboy bs bashing windows.
 
If I'm not mistaken it does not have an optical drive? Now don't most PC games require you to have the disc in an optical drive to play the games? (I don't ever play PC games) Last I would want is to plug in an optical drive and play games, not it definitely takes up more room than the MBP and has the risk of getting damaged/falling off. Plus 11" is very small screen for gaming. I don't see why you would want to game on that, even for web surfing that's small.

I don't see why an 11" gaming rig appeals to most people. the M15X I could see people wanting but again only you can really define your needs/wants.

I say stick with the MBP.
 
I am a big steam user, which is all digital downloads which I like. Nothing a second machine + ISO's haven't been able to do, plus I prefer no ODD. If I had a MB, I would remove the ODD and slap in a HDD.

M15x is not a good option if you're looking at portability. That thing is 10pounds!
 
Scorecard said:
I don't see why an 11" gaming rig appeals to most people.
Click to expand...

well i wouldn't be playing games on it so that doesnt matter too much. the 1366x768 res seems nice .... and actually it is 11.6" :D

they currently have a promo here with €270 discount making the i7 version with 500gb "just" €1040 and free shipping.
 
Personally, as long as the 13" MBP has the low 1280x800 resolution and that damn Glossy screen I can't recommend it to anyone.
 
DesmoPilot said:
Personally, as long as the 13" MBP has the low 1280x800 resolution and that damn Glossy screen I can't recommend it to anyone.
Click to expand...

yup, a HR AG i5 MBP13 would be awesome and a no-brainer for me, I would even pay €250 more for those options alone.

i just found this link giving a big big discount on the M11x:

http://configure2.euro.dell.com/del...nl&m_30=322839&oc=N00W1X04&rbc=N00W1X04&s=dhs

i noticed that on top of that i can add a 5% discount voucher and that until 15/7 they have a free shipping promo.

that would be a savings of almost €300, would that make the i7 m11x at €1000 a good deal?

wish i could see it beforehand though to see if it isn't too small and what the keyboard is like and how it handles heat and the color saturation of the LED.
 
Yeah, because the first few pages of this forum aren't riddled with almost exaaaactly those problems huh.
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In fact, they are not.

Furthermore, even the couple threads on the first pages of this forum regarding problems appear to be only isolated incidents. They are typically 1 person complaining about an issue and most do not span more than a few posts. On the Alienware M11x forums you have threads that are dozens of pages long with each owner expressing their dissatisfaction with the same sloppy build quality along with cosmetic and functional abnormalities.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/493140-m11x-hinge-discussion-r1-r2.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/492051-m11x-r2-nvidia-optimus-issues.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/462447-m11x-fan-always-stuck-behavior-discussion.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/496720-m11x-throttling-issues.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/497113-m11x-horror-story.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/483821-m11x-literally-falling-apart.html

There is nothing in this forum that even comes close to that cornucopia of complaints in the Alienware M11x forum (The many complaints about other Dell machines are in separate sections by the way). Additionally, in the past several years Dell has also consistently scored poorly in reliability and customer service metrics from publications like PC World and Laptop Magazine. Apple on the other hand seems to be reviewed favorably on a consistent basis.

I stand by my advice.
 
^ I don't know. The polycarbonate MB issue is pretty widely known. Mine had the crack issues and my gf's new unibody polycarb one was sent in for hinge and cracks.. not saying the M11x is perfect since I had the hinge issue as well, but I've experienced both sides of the major issues. Next my UMB had the keys touch the screen leaving grease marks like my M11x too.
 
stefan1975 said:
Hi,

i have been thinking about what to get instead of the 2010 MBP13 for some time now. For some reason I have just been looking at bigger stuff and worrying it wouldn't fit the armrest of my sofa for light gaming and surfing the web (in particular the MBP15 base i5 HR AG at €1884, which is already in my basket at the apple store).

I just took a good look at the brand new Alienware M11x though and was *really* impressed. it gets unanimously raving reviews and has everything i was hoping for in the MBP13 .... in an even smaller case. even though it is slightly smaller (11.6") it still has a 1366x768 resolution and currently with a free i7 640M ulv upgrade.

SYSTEM COLOR Alienware M11x, Soft Touch Stealth Black edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 640UM
OPERATING S Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHZ
HARD DRIVE 320GB SATAII 7,200RPM edit
BLUETOOTH Bluetooth Module, 2.1+ Enhanced Data Rate
WIRLS CARDS Alienware M11x a/b/g/n 2x2 MIMO Wireless
LCD PANEL 11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED
VIDEO CARD 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M
SOUND OPTION Internal High-Definition Surround Sound Audio (5.1)
AC ADAPTER Alienware M11x 90W A/C Adapter
NETWORK CARD Integrated 10/100 Network Interface Card

for me it is cheaper then the MBP13, should run 7 hours on a charge with optimus and i know it runs M$ .... but Win7 isn't *that* bad.

it is kinda ugly though but has a nice backlit keyboard. so what is everyones opinion about this system for roughly €1000?

would the i7 640 be much of an improvement (worth €200) over the i5 520 if i can't get a free processor upgrade here?

thanks, stefan
Click to expand...

I was thinking the exact same thing and when it came to specs it was costing me £999 (GBP) for Macbook pro 13" and £1290 (GBP) for Ailienware M13x with more or less the same specs...
I went with Macbook Pro 13
:apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple:
 
I don't know. The polycarbonate MB issue is pretty widely known. Mine had the crack issues and my gf's new unibody polycarb one was sent in for hinge and cracks.. not saying the M11x is perfect since I had the hinge issue as well, but I've experienced both sides of the major issues. Next my UMB had the keys touch the screen leaving grease marks like my M11x too.
Click to expand...

Oh I absolutely agree with you; no company's products are going to be problem free. Apple of course included. My contention was simply to say that all the signs coming from both the user community and highly respected technology publications point to Dell being the far far greater of two evils.

I think that most would also agree that when dealing with a given problem with your computer, Apple is far more likely to take care of you well than Dell. Also, having a physical retail store REALLY helps with resolving issues promptly. Something Dell has not invested in.

p.s. I was more referring to the MacBook Pro forum/product and not MacBook forum/product anyway since that is what the OP is interested in. This is what made the polycarbonate MacBook cracking issue somewhat moot in my mind.
 
well we don't have official apple stores here, so if i buy directly from apple online i would have to use phone service for both apple and Dell. I owned a Dell precision which was pretty decent but when i did have an issue they came to fix it in my home with all parts in their van, so I didn't have to ship it to them.

I am not getting applecare so i don't know how great the service from the big A would be without it and if that makes a lot of difference.

costing me £999 (GBP) for Macbook pro 13" and £1290 (GBP) for Ailienware M13x with more or less the same specs...
Click to expand...

that's odd, I would be paying around €1000 for a maxed out i7 m11x (minus the SSD), €1150 for the C2D MBP13 and €1880 for the base MBP15 with AG.

and the MBP13 is out as it is, so it is either the MBP15 or the M11x (or other pc laptop).
 
The only Windows laptop that could pry me away from my Mac would be a loaded Sony Z i7. Now thats one awesome notebook!
 
M11x

Rodimus Prime said:
So much ignorance in that post.
I do not see what you are talking about with file corruption. I read your post and it screams the standard BS Apple fan spit out. The drive fragmentation really is a HUGE red flag.

All hard drives become fragments no matter what the OS or hard drive format. They become fragment from how hard drives are written 2. If there are not enough sectors in a row to put the file in a single place it breaks it up.

Fill fragmentation does not cause the corruption. The worse it does is slow down the performance of the drive as it takes longer to get all the piece of the file.

Either way you are full of the standard Apple Fanboy bs bashing windows.
Click to expand...

I know my post sounds biased however i have used Windows computers for a long time and only recently made the switch, when i switched to Mac one of the things i noticed was the my experience was a lot smoother.On topic to your post however UNIX does help stop (not prevent) file corruption/fragmentation...... I wouldn't have a Mac without Windows (I posted this on the Windows side to my 3 day old Mac:p) And How does it help the thread starter bashing my post.

To the Thread Starter
From what i've read maybe the Alienware M11X better suits you. The Only thing i can say is that you should try out OSX and after that decide on your computer. With the 11" screen yes i understand resolution wise the MBP display and the M11X same/similar but to me you'l regret a 11" screen however i believe you should try out a 11" Laptop (If you Can) then decide and if after your OSX and 11" Test your not convinced on the MBP get the Alienware, you probably won't regret it.
 
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