Avid PC gamers, you’ve surely had your eyes trained on this one. For the very first time, Alienware has rounded out its lineup of gaming notebooks with a truly portable entry: the M11x. A netbook it’s not, and nor is it introduced as such; in nearly every category apart from basic dimensions—performance, weight, price—this is much more comparable to a full-sized notebook. And that’s a wonderful synergy to behold as a hardcore techie: a machine that’s powerful enough to handle 90% of what you throw at it, sporting netbook dimensions and a four-and-a-half pound weight.
Yes, my friends, this just might be the definitive portable Alienware. If ever before you’ve criticized the brand for excessive lavishness and pricing, you owe this one a look. At under $1,000 for most configurations, the M11x strikes a rare chord of gaming competence coupled with well-rounded practicality. As usual, there are some drawbacks to the design, but for the most part, this is a homerun.
Let’s start with the specs, shall we? Our M11x review unit includes:
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Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
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Intel Core 2 Duo U7300 CPU (1.3 GHz, 3MB Cache, 800 MHz FSB)
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Overclockable to 1066 MHz FSB / 1.73 GHz clock
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4 GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM (upgradeable to 8)
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11.6” WXGA (1366×768) LED-backlit edge-to-edge glass glossy screen
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320 GB Seagate 7,200 RPM Hard Drive (SSD available)
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Switchable graphics:
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Intel GMA 4500MHD
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NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M (1 GB GDDR3)
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Dell Wireless 1520 802.11b/g/n
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10/100 Ethernet
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Width: 11.25″, Length: 9.19″, Height: 1.29″
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Forgiving the ultra-low-voltage CPU, these specs parallel that of a truly capable gaming laptop. Why, then, you might ask, did the engineers choose to go with such an underpowered CPU? Well, as it turns out, most games don’t need a ridiculously powerful processor; it’s the GPU that does most of the heavy-lifting, of course. Plus, most modern processors are more than capable for just about any mainstream task anyhow. So in the interest of reduced heat and battery consumption, the M11x instead opts for a 10W, 45nm lithography CPU to make plenty of room for a considerably beefier GPU. And judging by the performance scores we’ve seen, the balance was wisely chosen.
You’ll be overclocking first thing anyhow, seeing as the option is made available directly within the BIOS and it does nothing to void the warranty. That’ll earn you 1066 MHz FSB (thus matching the RAM) and a 1.73 GHz clock speed, which is more than enough to chew through most of the gaming you’ll be doing, and vastly more powerful than just about any other notebook of this size.
The M11x in all its semi-ultraportable glory
But first
All right, so by now, the M11x has been out for months, and odds are you’re already well aware of its performance scores. Rather than waste a bunch of time poring over numbers and benchmarks, I’m going to reference those already available (since they’re well-documented by now), throw in some of my own experiences, and spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on the other specifics which many reviews seem to miss.
To that end, let’s take a moment to examine the intricacies of the design a bit more closely. For starters, immediately evident is the Alienware styling, from the angled, boxy form factor to the magnesium alloy/hard plastic chassis combo and the beautiful lighting effects. Alien heads abound, the requisite custom nameplate adorns the bottom, and this thing just bleeds style. It’s as practical as it is gorgeous, however; while it’s a bit heavier than you might initially expect for its size, the weight communicates sturdiness more than it does unwarranted bulk. Heat never becomes too bothersome of an issue, either, provided you aren’t playing Crysis on your lap, which seems unlikely in any case (though the left palmrest does gather a bit of heat over time).
There’s a massive assortment of ports occupying the sides of the M11x. Specifically:
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IEEE 1394a (4-pin) Firewire
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MMC, SD, MS/PRO card reader
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DisplayPort
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HDMI
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10/100 Ethernet
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3 x USB 2.0
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VGA out
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Microphone and dual-headphone
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It seems the designers have packed just about every bit of functionality possible into such a small chassis, making the M11x a solid choice not only for gamers but for anyone looking for a capable ultraportable laptop that eclipses the functionality of the average netbook.
You’ll also find a 1.3-megapixel webcam overtop the predictably stunning 11.6” WideHD LED-backlit screen. The screen, as usual, sports edge-to-edge glass, which is the additional layer of plastic that is situated atop the entire bezel, covering the actual LCD screen below (other recent Alienware and Dell XPS products have also taken this approach). I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about edge-to-edge glass, but I’m pretty sure I don’t like it. While it’s certainly easier to wipe clean if it encounters some dust (something you’ll be doing a lot of if you’re obsessive about such screen infiltration as I am), it’s also offensively reflective. So much so, in fact, that the M11x is hardly even useable outdoors—unless you appreciate a nice headache (check out the second video for an example).
But that’s one of the only truly regrettable drawbacks to the sleek design. Everything else, starting with the excellent keyboard, is top-notch. The laser-cut keys are beautifully and evenly backlit, and they provide such a wonderful combination of soft-touch with comfortable travel that they almost rival the likes of the almighty Thinkpad. As usual, the only issue here is space limitations; the keyboard is only 92% width, so some initial adjustment is inevitable. I found that the undersized arrow keys in particular produced problems during my writing, as I’m prone to abusing them in conjunction with the CTRL key to skip from word to word. Nevertheless, over the course of a few weeks with the machine, I grew accustomed to this alteration, and the problem quickly subsided as I learned to truly love the typing experience—in spite of its netbookish confines.
And the speakers are way better than anyone here at DC expected for a notebook of this size. The frequency response is wide and clear, with crisp trebles and even detectable lows. Obviously they aren’t going to rival those on a large high-quality notebook, but they are surprisingly and honestly better than many speakers on even 15-inch models.
Two-faced
One of the most absolutely useful innovations of the M11x is its switchable graphics chipset. As previously mentioned, there are actually two GPUs in the notebook: Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics and the discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M. These chipsets can be toggled via the press of FN+F6, and it takes all of five seconds for the switchover to take place. This is something we’ve witnessed in a number of business-oriented laptops, but rarely in a consumer-grade model—and never with such significant gaming implications. The primary benefit? Battery life, of course: anytime you aren’t using the M11x for gaming, you’ll want to opt for the Intel GMA integrated solution, which is more than adequate for standard use (even HD video and Google Earth) and yields over 6 hours of battery life at 70-100% brightness. Comparatively, the NVIDIA graphics in the midst of heavy gaming will earn you somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 to 3 hours of battery—still nothing to sneeze at considering the circumstances.
Were it not for the aforementioned screen glare drawbacks, in fact, I’m quite sure this’d be my portable business PC of choice. Certainly the processor cannot handle the mobile HD video editing that to which I frequently subject my current Dell XPS M1330 (at least, not with such grace, anyway), but nearly everything else about the M11x is superior, from the phenomenal battery life to the excellent backlit keyboard. I wouldn’t miss the optical drive a bit, and the touchpad on the M11x is, in my opinion, clearly superior, if not solely due to the textured finish which prevents sticking and stuttering of the finger while gliding across (it’s manufactured by Synaptics and does not suffer from the jumpiness which affected the M15x pointer interface).
Check out those ports
Extraterrestrial Style
Once again in keeping with the Alienware branding, the M11x comes with the AlienFX lighting customization system, which allows you to change the M11x’s LED coloring in multiple locations: keyboard, alien head above the keyboard, Alienware logo below the screen, alien head on the back of the screen, false vents on the bottom front left/right, and the fan lighting on the bottom. Some of these zones share the same light source and so are not individually customizable (such as the keyboard and bottom fan; as well as the Alienware logo below screen and the alien head on the back), but for the most part it’s a wonderfully versatile presentation. Someone over at NotebookReview mentioned that it’s possible to configure these to switch colors between AC power and battery; I tried this and it works wonderfully. Great idea, Jerry!
The familiar facial recognition software (called AlienSense) can also be found here, and while it’s remotely useful, even over the course of the 30 days of use it never seemed accurate enough to truly depend on. Occasionally I’d find myself automatically logged in after approaching the computer, but more often than not I impatiently resorted to typing my password to manually complete the process rather than waiting for a match. The system is supposed to refine its facial profiles each time a password is successfully entered, but I only found it to be marginally improved after a full month of acquainting itself with my ugly mug.
While the M11x is plenty capable out of the box, if you’re planning on eventually performing some sort of upgrade, you’ll have to remove the entire back panel to reach your target. Most of the easily-replaceable parts are accessible via this panel, including the RAM, hard drive, WLAN card, mobile broadband adapter, and the massive 63Wh internal battery. That pretty much covers the extent of most laptop hardware upgrades, so the design checks out as a positive one in my book. The screws are also secured by clips so that they won’t fall out of the back of the panel—a nice touch.
Game on
So, what about gaming? You might notice that I’ve not wasted much time on the subject since you’re probably by now well informed as to just how powerful this thing is for its size. Nevertheless, I did spend time playing several different popular games on the review unit, and I was almost consistently amazed by the results.
We’ve all seen the 3DMark06 scores by now, so there are few surprises to be had here (most benchmarks hold them at around 7,000, which ain’t too shabby). But what’s considerably more interesting is the actual performance of the PC during real games. Here, unless you’re playing something with a disgusting amount of CPU demand, you will not be disappointed. Most every modern game runs at playable speeds even on medium to high settings. A few general examples to give you an idea of what to expect:
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Batman: Arkham Asylum (Very High Details, 1366×768, No AA or PhysX) – 30+ FPS average, 16 minimum (very rare). Highly playable, and very impressive.
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Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Medium settings, No AA) – Again, 25—30 FPS average, rarely below 20. Looks amazing!
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Portal, Half Life 2: Episode 2 – Of course, the M11x chews these apart. I set everything on High and watched the M11x sail through
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Crysis (Medium detail) – Frequent dips, but only occasionally really intrusive.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Extreme Settings, 1366×768, 2xAA) – 30 to 35 FPS, occasional drops into the mid-20s, but nothing lower.
Again, you’ll find much more specific benchmarking elsewhere (as the M11x has been around for months now, and there’s really no reason to focus intently on it yet again in this review), but the general rule of thumb is that unless there’s a ton of supplementary math involved, it’s probably perfectly playable—even often on medium-high settings. This is a perfect example of the power of a modest CPU paired with a high-end mobile GPU for gaming application: you get power and heat efficiency with mostly stunning performance.
Oh, and of course, you’ll want a great mouse to go along with your gaming notebook (clearly, any gamer knows that a touchpad simply doesn’t fit the bill). For that, you might consider the fantastic Alienware TactX gaming mouse, which, while admittedly expensive, is the best mouse I have ever used.
Want more?
And wouldn’t you know it; at the time of this writing, Dell has already begun to roll out improvements to the M11x’s repertoire. We just received word that later this month, the Dell M11x will forego the ULV Core 2 Duo it currently boasts in favor of low-voltage versions of Intel’s i5 and i7 processors, which feature the trademark Turbo Boost tech. As a result, it won’t ship overclocked, and overclocking is “not recommended” by Dell. But it should see a significant performance boost as the CPU picks up its slack—and the battery life will be mostly unaffected, too, at least if you ask the PR folks.
Better yet, the manually switchable graphics will now be replaced by NVIDIA’s Optimus technology, which will perform the switching for you seamlessly depending on what you’re currently running. And finally, our biggest complaint about the current M11x—the edge-to-edge glossy screen—will be resolved as well; if you choose the black iteration of the new revision, you’ll find a matte screen instead.
Wow.
Wow is right. The M11x is already a sight to behold and a stunning performer, especially for its size. Pretty soon, it’s going to get even better. While I clearly cannot review the machine based on what’s coming, what’s already here is impressive regardless. Dell is stretching the borders of what we consider an ultraportable to be capable of, and it looks to have no interest in resting. My honest verdict? If you’re looking to pinch pennies, go ahead and pick up the current model, provided you don’t mind the few drawbacks it carries. Or, if you’re looking for what could quite possibly be the best laptop of its size ever produced, wait for the refreshed M11x later this month and then seize the day.
We’ll have more on the new M11x configuration as it’s available. For now, just know that I’ve left this encounter captivated.