Alienware M11x

[BinaryData]

Hello,
Is this a good laptop for low level gaming?

 

[rodney_ws]

Not particularly. Mainly that laptop is held back by a subpar CPU...

* Intel® Pentium® Processor SU4100 (2M Cache, 1.30 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)
* Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo SU7300 (1.3GHz, 800 MHz, 3 MB)

Those are your two options. When's the last time you saw a game that recommended a 1.3 GHz processor?

 

[BinaryData]

Sorry for the double post THG Members.

1_What is your budget?
$1,000 USD

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Alienware M11x (11.6" Screen)

3_What screen resolution do you want?
Doesn't really matter.

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Laptop Replacement

5_How much battery life do you need?
2+ Hours Only if possible.

6_Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Basically, strong enough to play EVE Online, and 2Moons/Dekaron.

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
Photo Editting, Video Editing, Watching Movies, Programming etc..

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
160GB+
9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them.
Dell, Toshiba, Alienware, Thought about VooDooPC's, but they're too expensive.

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
A few years if possible.

11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVDRom Writer

12_Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
No idea, I custom build my own desktop. I don't really know what to look for other than what I'd need for Photoshop, MSVisual Studio

13_What country do you live in?
USA

14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.
This laptop won't be used for long periods of time, it's simply for School, and vacations. I'm looking for durability, and long life.

 

[rodney_ws]

I suppose it depends on what type of games you're playing... I suppose it'd do OK with some older/less intensive titles (L4D, Team Fortress 2, etc) However, it would literally cough up blood if you tried to run Crysis or Bad Company 2 on it.

Look at this CPU scaling chart for BC2...

http/www.techspot.com/article/255-battlefield-bad-company2-performance/page7.html

Look at how many frames per second are lost going from 3.7 GHz down to 2.22 GHz... and you want to take it down to 1.3?!? With an inferior CPU architecture?!? Oh wow. Sure... you wouldn't be gaming at a particularly high resolution but still... that game probably wouldn't be playable on that CPU.

 

[rodney_ws]

If $799 is your budget, you could get a much more balanced laptop than that one... the best thing about that laptop (besides how cool it looks) is its size. It's VERY portable for a gaming laptop and is small enough to carry most anywhere. I'd suggest rolling on over to NewEgg and putting in your price range and flipping through the laptops that have real GPUs. $799 should get you a very decent GPU with a MUCH higher clocked CPU... that little laptop you're looking at has a low voltage CPU... and that's mainly for thermal reasons... but unfortunately that's why it's also clocked at such a low speed.

 

[BinaryData]

Thanks Rodney_ws,

My limit right now is 1,000$. This would be my 1st laptop ever, when I was younger I was too clumsy, and managed to break everything in my path. At the end of the month, I get about 1700$ in financial aid. I have to buy books, which is around 300$.

i've looked around on NewEgg's site, but most of the laptops I looked at were 2GB, the minimum i need is 4GB. Simply because Photoshop is fickle about the RAM, and 3DS Max is a memory hog. I'm basically looking for a laptop with enough graphics umpf to play WoW, just a general standard that most people know. I'm not looking for some Dual 295GTX graphics cards.

 

[rodney_ws]

$1000 goes a LONG way. Let me dig you up something.

 

[rodney_ws]

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114803

Quad core, buff video card, 4 GB RAM, under $1000 and free shipping.

*edit* I'm not hugely thrilled with that GPU... Nvidia's number scheme is so confusing. That card is a little slower than a 9600 GT on a desktop. Lemme keep looking.

 

[rodney_ws]

Here's one with a harder hitting GPU...

http/www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i5+Processor+-+Blue/Black/9736955.p?id=1218164036446&skuId=9736955

 

[BinaryData]

So I've looked at a those 2 laptops. I'm not entirely sure if I should wait, or buy now. I don't get paid till the end of the month. I'll keep looking, the laptop doesn't have to be decked out for gaming. It'd be a plus if it did.

I guess I just want something durable, that if my desktop breaks, I can use my laptop as a replacement. My laptop will be for web programming ,designing, software programming, and dual booting with Linux.

What would you suggest for under 800$, rodney_ws?

 

[Maverick4396]

http/www.xoticpc.com/asus-n61jqa1-back-order-p-2734.html - 1065.00

http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np7762-built-clevo-m770cuh-p-2748.html - 832.00

http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np7652-p-2747.html?wconfigure=yes - 784.00

 

[rodney_ws]

NewEgg's advanced search tool really helps people zero in on the exact right laptop... just put in your price range and tell it a few things... 4 GB of RAM and a certain screen size and you'll be presented with a choice of laptops that meet your criteria. A friend of mine picked up a very nice Dell Studio 15 for $650, but it won't game since it has Intel graphics... $799 should let you get a reasonable laptop with 4 GB and a dedicated GPU.

 

[BinaryData]

I was actually looking at this laptop;

http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np7652-p-2747.html?wconfigure=yes

with a few add-on's, larger hard drive, 4GB of 1333mhz RAM.

The No-OS isn't an issue, I can get another copy of Microsoft Windows 7 Professional easily. Since I'm a college Student, i get certain Microsoft products for free. It's sweet


Though, I've never heard of this kind of laptop before. Not the brand, website, or anything. Can anyone comment on it?

 

[Maverick4396]

http/www.xoticpc.com/really-makes-laptops-industries-best-kept-secret-a-47.html

http/www.xoticpc.com/reviews-ip-20.html

XoticPC just built and shipped my Sager.

 

[BinaryData]

Thanks Mavrick. I'll have to check into this for my mom as well. I'm surprised I've never heard of these guys, I've been gaming and building rig's since I was 11 years old.

It doesn't hurt to give them a try either. How long does the shipping usually take? Do they do Tax-Free like NewEgg does or are they homo's like Dell and charge you Tax, and then shipping & Handling?

I'm penny pinchin' here, tryin' to get the most out of 1,000$ that I can.

The one that I said I liked, I'll probably upgrade the processor, go with a 250GB HD, and grab 4GB of RAM. I'll pay the extra 10 bucks to get 7200 RPM HD, unless you guys tell me it's not worth it. Lol.

 

[Maverick4396]

They do tax free outside of nebraska (they even has a system for CA people to ensure they are tax free). I ordered my sager on 3/5/2010 and paid 49.00 for rush building and they shipped it a 9PM 3/9/2010 with a schedule delivery date of 3/11/2010. I needed my laptop by NLT 3/12. I also paid 64 dollars for 2 day shipping.

The faster hard drive is absolutely worth it for a couple reasons: The speed and the cache make it faster by a measurable amount compared to the 5400 RPM version.

 

[BinaryData]

They do tax free outside of nebraska (they even has a system for CA people to ensure they are tax free). I ordered my sager on 3/5/2010 and paid 49.00 for rush building and they shipped it a 9PM 3/9/2010 with a schedule delivery date of 3/11/2010. I needed my laptop by NLT 3/12. I also paid 64 dollars for 2 day shipping.

The faster hard drive is absolutely worth it for a couple reasons: The speed and the cache make it faster by a measurable amount compared to the 5400 RPM version.

Alright, Thanks man.

I'll probably order this towards the end of the month, when I get paid.

 

[Guest]

Alienware M11x is perfect for gaming. What you really need to look for is the GPU that this bad boy is coupled with and that is an 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 335M. It maybe a mid-range GPU that will not run Crysis at 60fps but its enough to run Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Warcraft! The CPU is a CULV SU4100 (Upgradable to SU7300 for more cache) and is overclockable to 1.73 and is great for every day tasks. Will not hiccup at displaying decoding Hi-Def content and even doing office work (MS Office such as excel and word). Even Adobe C24 now uses OpenGL and utilizes the graphics card for its own tasks. The $799 tag is only the start. To really get this going, it will cost you $999 and above.

 

[drcolin]

"I suppose it depends on what type of games you're playing... I suppose it'd do OK with some older/less intensive titles (L4D, Team Fortress 2, etc) However, it would literally cough up blood if you tried to run Crysis or Bad Company 2 on it"

Sorry to contradict you, but the M11X does play Crysis (at medium settings with good framerates).
I should know......I have one and I play Crysis.

 

[Guest]

I've had the Alienware m11x for several months now. I love the damn thing, let there be no bones about it. However, it is not a gaming rig in the traditional sense, because you want be running the latest and greatest on it at the highest settings.

However, where someone said somewhere "an eleven inch screen is smaller than you think" maybe it's because I gamed in college on a 15inch sony crt, but this thing looks beautiful, and it's actually a laptop when you need it to be. Seriously, are you an adult? Do you travel much? Then keep a desktop rig at home if you need the best, then take this bad boy with you. I looked everywhere for a solid laptop I could take with me on the road, and game, and this one blew away everything else. You won't be hauling even a 15 inch gaming laptop around. As much as I love asus, their large laptop gaming rig feels cheap as *** and hasn't impressed me with the graphics level at the native resolutions. HP is a fackin joke, and sony, which has posted impressive numbers with their latest and greates 14 incher, is 2000+ dollars for the rig you'd want.

Never thought I'd be a fan boy of a damn laptop, but this model has won me over, and while I won't be able to get a new one for a couple of years, I really can't wait to see what alienware does with this line.