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Alienware M11X instead of the MBP13?

Jason Beck said:
It still is Windows.
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well that isn't really that much of an issue for me, Win7 is actually very decent and is making more progress then OSX has since 10.5. Besides if i were to buy a pc laptop I would immediately reinstall using either fedora linux or PC-BSD.

So the OS isn't the most deciding factor in this, nor is a physical store presence (since neither have one here). It's mainly about price-performance-quality-longevity-portability
 
yeah i agree with you that it is dog ugly, especially compared to the MBP. It is nice that it is really customizable but I'd probably turn off all lights to safe battery power anyway. It also is kinda thick it seems in the videos, I prefer the black look of the toshiba r700 over the M11x.

It just seems like a good performace vs price combination with lots of features in a small body. Not sure if it is the best decision for a non-gamer though.
 
smelly cat said:
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.
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Yeah I get ya. I know what you mean on the physical store part. Dell was able to help me on my M11x problem though (after 10 hours on the phone lol). They sent me a brand new replacement which was nice, so I guess worth the phone time hahah. My GF's MB? took about 2 business days turnaround which was nice, no phone time, a simple visit to the apple store which is always fun for me.

*edit* for a non-gamer the M11x is good but not great. I stopped gaming in the past couple months so I decided a MBP was the way to go for me. If gaming is important to you, then the M11x is perfect for all those needs you posted above. Portability, price to performance, etc. The new i7's get hot though.. and less battery life than the R1 with the C2D like at Best Buy.
 
The ASUS N82JQ has all the same hardware as the m11x (minus the pretty lights) with a 14 inch screen. It is also only 5lbs so not much heavier than the m11x.

http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-n82jqa1-order-p-2826.html

heres a website where you can look at the specs

I personally have the m11x with the i7 processor and have had no problems with it. Games run fine and I have been getting 5+ hours of battery life.
 
Do not buy the m11x! I've owned mine for roughly 2 months and have had nothing but problems. From upgrading drivers, to having my laptop shut down every 20-30 minutes, it's been a bad experience. It's a great laptop for the first few weeks, but you'll find that what appears to be a great feat of performance to form factor, sadly, just doesn't pay off...

This is after having come from an alu unibody MacBook
 
well the more i look into it the more confused it gets. perhaps i will be waiting long enough for a sandy MBP to come around. reading the M11xr2 review and most comments here made me decide it might not be the best choice for me. I was looking for a small laptop but heck now i am even looking at a Dell XPS 16 i7 820qm. sigh.

i do still have that mbp15 in my basket at apples though. just the ipod i have to pay upfront and the HR AG screen make it a really expensive basket :D
 
stefan1975 said:
well that isn't really that much of an issue for me, Win7 is actually very decent and is making more progress then OSX has since 10.5. Besides if i were to buy a pc laptop I would immediately reinstall using either fedora linux or PC-BSD.
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That might be because Windows 7 NEEDED more progress than Snow Leopard needed since 10.5, especially coming from Vista, ever thought of that? ;) Leopard was an excellent OS, Snow Leopard just improved on it and lowered the footprint by removing old PPC code. Vista was NOT an excellent OS.

DesmoPilot said:
Win 7 is a great OS.
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From time to time I see many people saying this without an explanation. I run Windows 7 (every now and then just for kicks) and I see nothing special over Vista honestly. Big WOW that you can snap two windows side by side, it's not a big deal. I recognize that W7 handles memory better than Vista but other than that, I can't give you a long list of greatness about it and neither can most people, they just what you say, "Windows 7 is a great OS".

Now in terms of Mac OS X SL being a great OS, at least I can say what makes it great. Stacks, Expose, Spaces, Quicklook and Time Machine, Exchange Server 2007 support (without the need for MS Office) coupled with a very small footprint on my hard disc greatly improves my day to day productivity and that makes it a great OS. :)

Now, if the OP cares less about the OS then just get the Alienware but watch out for the low contrast washed out screens, they are notorious for putting them in their notebooks unless you get their top gaming machines. All the current Apple notebooks have high contrast screens with large vertical viewing angles.
 
M11x is a ghastly sight to look at, and personally anything less than 30cm screen is much too small. Just been given a new Lenovo something something at work that has a 36cm (14") screen, and its pretty annoying with screen size. Would personally go for a bigger screen, also the MacBook is probably nicer to type on and use because of the HUGE trackpad and more spaced out keys.
 
My professional photographer friend lives and works off CS4 on his MBP13.

I'm sure with your uses, a MBP13 would suffice.

i am a casual gamer and mainly use opera and msn with light adobe and M$ office work. all of which run on both systems.
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Sometimes we get caught up in specs, but what we have to realize is that we probably will never need most of them.
 
yes specs are not the most important factor. the C2D gives me doubtd, but reading about the so so screen on the M11x makes me doubt too since i am planning to do photo/video editing on it. plus the glossy screen on both makes me doubt, so now i am convinving myself it is worth my money to get the MBP15.
 
stefan1975 said:
yes specs are not the most important factor. the C2D gives me doubtd, but reading about the so so screen on the M11x makes me doubt too since i am planning to do photo/video editing on it. plus the glossy screen on both makes me doubt, so now i am convinving myself it is worth my money to get the MBP15.
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What's wrong with the C2D? It performs on par next to a 2010 Core i3?

Would you buy it if it was labeled Core I3 instead?
 
vant said:
What's wrong with the C2D? It performs on par next to a 2010 Core i3?

Would you buy it if it was labeled Core I3 instead?
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I would if it really was an i3... the low i3-330m (2.13Ghz) is about as good as a C2D 2.4ghz.. 4 threads.. passmark scores are on par. newer technology, better resale value.
 
vant said:
What's wrong with the C2D? It performs on par next to a 2010 Core i3?

Would you buy it if it was labeled Core I3 instead?
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i wouldnt buy it then either. i *maybe* would condsider a C2D or i3 in a sub €500 laptop but in a laptop >€1000 i won't go for anything less then an i5-450 and preferably i5-520 or i7-820.
 
HLdan said:
That might be because Windows 7 NEEDED more progress than Snow Leopard needed since 10.5, especially coming from Vista, ever thought of that? ;) Leopard was an excellent OS, Snow Leopard just improved on it and lowered the footprint by removing old PPC code. Vista was NOT an excellent OS.



From time to time I see many people saying this without an explanation. I run Windows 7 (every now and then just for kicks) and I see nothing special over Vista honestly. Big WOW that you can snap two windows side by side, it's not a big deal. I recognize that W7 handles memory better than Vista but other than that, I can't give you a long list of greatness about it and neither can most people, they just what you say, "Windows 7 is a great OS".

Now in terms of Mac OS X SL being a great OS, at least I can say what makes it great. Stacks, Expose, Spaces, Quicklook and Time Machine, Exchange Server 2007 support (without the need for MS Office) coupled with a very small footprint on my hard disc greatly improves my day to day productivity and that makes it a great OS. :)

Now, if the OP cares less about the OS then just get the Alienware but watch out for the low contrast washed out screens, they are notorious for putting them in their notebooks unless you get their top gaming machines. All the current Apple notebooks have high contrast screens with large vertical viewing angles.
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I'm typing this on a phone, so excuse the briefness. Windows 7 has all kinds of features that make it a great OS, and much better than any of its predecessors.

Top of the list is the new taskbar, it does an amazing job of organizing open programs, and makes switching fast and accurate. IMO, it beats expose hands down since it doesn't just splatter every open window on your screen.

Major speed improvements across the board, including RAM usage as you stated, but also including a slimmed down kernel (too bad they couldn't incorporate minwin though) and better multi-core management.

You've already touched on the UI revamps, and there are plenty of other UI changes in win 7. But since my fingers are sore from this phone keyboard, I'll stop there. There are lots more improvements in windows 7, and I have barely even touched on the "under the hood" changes.

I also agree with you that SL is a great OS, but so is Windows 7. I'm not going to touch the subject of which is better because quite frankly, that is 100% opinion based and is very subjective depending on hardware, tasks and other factors. Both OSs can do virtually the same things, and both have their strengths and weaknesses. I run both regularly on my macbook and I run both on my custom desktop.
 
HLdan said:
From time to time I see many people saying this without an explanation. I run Windows 7 (every now and then just for kicks) and I see nothing special over Vista honestly. Big WOW that you can snap two windows side by side, it's not a big deal. I recognize that W7 handles memory better than Vista but other than that, I can't give you a long list of greatness about it and neither can most people, they just what you say, "Windows 7 is a great OS".

Now in terms of Mac OS X SL being a great OS, at least I can say what makes it great. Stacks, Expose, Spaces, Quicklook and Time Machine, Exchange Server 2007 support (without the need for MS Office) coupled with a very small footprint on my hard disc greatly improves my day to day productivity and that makes it a great OS. :)
Click to expand...

In my opinion it doesn't really need an explanation, Win 7 just works great (as did Vista after SP1). After SP1 Vista was a great OS as well, SP2 and Win 7 (which is basically just Vista SP3) each built on it very well.
 
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