Alienware MX11 R2 worth it or not??

[mos187]

Hi guys, im planning on getting me an Alienware mx11 R2 lappy and found a nice deal from a friend of mine where its in mint condition "i mean excellent condition", the setup is as follows:

Dell Alienware M11x R2
-- Processor: Intel Core i7-640UM Processor (4M Cache, 1.20 GHz)
-- 320 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
-- 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
-- 1 GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 335 M
-- Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Module
-- Dell Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini-Card
-- 11.6 inch High Definition WLED Display (1366x768)
-- 8 Cell Primary Battery
-- Soft Touch Stealth Black

The above setup will hold back 990$, where it actually costs around 1300$ on dell.com,
so need your help/advice her guys on wither to get it or not, and if there are any owners of the Alienware mx11 r2 with the same setup please let me know your experince with it.

Thanx guys appreciate the help..

 

[EvolvA]

well, I'm not the owner of an R2 but I have an R1 and I can tell you that it's a beast with games and windows as well (this one is because of the fantastic 7200 rpm HDD), and the battery is so enormous that I got 7 hours 30 minutes out of the box while installing the software I use and the games I play (and this was with all the lights on and the screen at maximun brightness). with the R2 you should spect a little less battery life, but for 990$ I say: go for it!!

I leave you two reviews here:

R1:
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/924/pg1/alienware-m11x-notebook-review-introduction.html
R2:
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1011/pg1/alienware-m11x-r2-review-introduction.html

 

[mos187]

Thanx EvolvA for your prompt &informative feedback, one more question though would there be any difference "performance/battery" wise if i got the core i5 revision instead of i7, i found another deal for 100$ less with the exact specs except processor and 250GB HDD..

 

[BlackMagic]

A good friend just got the exact same machine a week ago and he likes it, a lot.
And he is a real anal guy, about pcs especially. He is into all the electronic gadget stuff, 4G phones, pcs, high dollar stereo systems and hdtvs, etc.
And he has enough money to afford good stuff. He always buys top shelf.
He also has 2 other high end Toshiba laptops and he has been using all kinds of laptops for years.
He owns/runs a Contractors business. He uses a lot of financial and accounting software along with the normal other office stuff.
But the neat thing is... he's also a hardcore gamer.
I laughed at him when he got the Alienware machine because I thought no way would he be able to play COD BlackOps. I was wrong, the machine handles it well and he is happy.
He does hook it up to a desktop monitor when not on the road working. I mean hey, it IS a small screen.
But small is exactly what he wanted, his 17 and 15 inch Toshibas are a little big to drag around and use comfortably in his trucks and on airplanes, etc.
He avgs. 35-40 fps in COD BO and he said thats good for him.
I would buy this small i7 machine if I needed one.

 

[EvolvA]

Thanx EvolvA for your prompt &informative feedback, one more question though would there be any difference "performance/battery" wise if i got the core i5 revision instead of i7, i found another deal for 100$ less with the exact specs except processor and 250GB HDD..

if you read the reviews above, you will see there's not that much of a difference between the core i5 and the core 2 duo, so I dare say there will be a smaller difference between the i7 and the i5 and if the i5 is 100$ less I'd buy it instead of the i7

 

[mos187]

Just finished reading a review about the cor i7 revision and noticed when overclocked it beats the i5 "even when overclocking the i5 to the max" not by a huge margin but none the less it will help in performance, so i guess i will go for the i7 revision i think it also would be a future proof choice.....
Thanx for the help guys really appreciate it.......

 

[sagman76]

Be Aware

Hi
New to this forum but stumbled across this thread and really wanted to inform of some issues with the M11x you may or not be aware of.
I am not trolling or anything like that as I have just sold my 3rd M11x i7 on ebay.
Dont get me wrong it is a great machine and I liked mine alot but couldnt risk keeping it any longer.There are issues that Dell has now admitted.

1. Hinge Breaking. Major problem with this notebook. My 3rd system arrived 23 Aug 2010 started creaking so got rid ASAP.
2. Build Quality. Its not great I sent 2 systems straight back one came in a mess uneven gaps on each side of the screen. Loose bottom cover. Raised Keyboard. Screen touching Keyboard and the list goes on. 2nd system came DOA. There are lots of stories like this.

I would think very carefully before you take the plunge and check here,
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/ for good and bad information.

If you do buy one make sure you download the throttestop program in a thread in above forum as it stops the i7 ULV throttling down under load. If you raise the OC in Bios to max 167mhz use this program and it will stay at 14x multipler on 2 cores rather than downclocking itself to 6x or 8x. It makes a huge difference in performance and compelety changes the laptop. REally helps in CPU dependent games like Starcraft 2/BF2 etc. It should have come like this in IMO. It doesnt affect heat or anything but will decrease batt life a little

sorry to put a downer on it but I believe if you didnt know some of the issues you are now a little more informed before spending a large amount of money

thanks

 

[Marineborn]

1000 bux pretty much nah dude, specs imo you could get a much better laptop from Asus. look at the G73 series so much more hardware for a better price cause there not using the name alienware, that graphic card in that thing is crap. i wouldnt do it, the screen is small, i mean if your just gonna bullshit on messenger and stuff okay, but dont exspect to do alot of gaming while at the same time looking good

 

[brandonwh64]

I just seen a I7 Q720 ATI 5730 machine go for 700$ and its a quad with HT

 

[sagman76]

Not All out Gaming

I think you are missing the point slightly. Of course there are better laptops out there in regards to spec at this price point.

Its powerfull enough to run most games at a good settings, max on a lot of games even with some AA depending on the game.
I had mine maxed with no AA on a lot of games but as I have said in my previous post A CPU heavy game it will struggle on higher settings. Crysis can be run on a mix of medium to high using somes tweaks. Check Ultra on the cheap in google!

If you want a mobile PC with excellent battery life using Optimus, but still want to play games at reasonable settings on the move there is nothing to match it.

If you want real estate max or ultra settings and 60+ FPS across all games then its not for you.

 

[mos187]

Thank you all for the feedback, actually one of the main reasons im getting the m11x is its portability and capability of running games even if on medium settings, my work nature requires alot of travelling so this thing will fit just fine giving me the ability to do some gaming and not breaking my back carrying it around, so i think it will do fine....