The Alienware M11x is one heck of a beast. It grunts, runs, and speaks Alien(ware). After getting it from our local friendly FedexMan a day before my trip to New York for pre-SSAT math preparation with Dad, and some sightseeing, I was able to pull off as many tests needed to say one thing: it’s awesome. But what makes the M11x awesome? Read on after the jump!
Price as Reviewed: $1,211.50 — Come on, it was completely loaded.
Full Disclosure: Sent by surprise from the FedexMan. Actually, it was sent in as a review unit by Alienware.
Specs And Such
It’s fast. It borrows the elaborate AlienFX lighting system seen in its $1500+ counterparts. It has a Core 2 Duo SU7300 45nm processor running at 1.30GHz (overclocks to 1.73 GHz natively). There’s 4GB of DDR3 RAM running at 400MHz. A 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M (!) to blow any game out of the park. 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi with an added EV-DO Verizon Wireless antenna. That 11.6″ 1366×768 display. And it all starts at $799 (!), but we’ll get to prices in a second.
How It Performs (read: AMAZING)
The moment I unboxed the 11x, I was spellbound. I’ve reviewed the M15x in the past, and it was nearly $5000, and was packed in a luxurious manner. And the same went for the M11x: don’t let its lower price fool you. It’s classy, sleek, and powerful. Every detail, every bit of plastic, every time you hit the keyboard, the response is the same: it’ll perform brilliantly. Even at 35,000 feet. As I said earlier, I found it a few hours before I headed straight for NYC, and ditched it for my other laptop. It lasted the entire 2 hour+ flight playing Wings Of Prey at high settings on full-res, and copied nearly a gig of photos and video from my D5000 review unit, which I also was testing at the same time.
In terms of hardcore analytical data and benchmarks, the M11x also performs well in there. But who really cares about that (note: benchmarks aren’t really popular here on LaptopMemo)? I’ll tell you one thing though: all of it is needed (sort of), even though the average consumer won’t even know what I’m speaking of. But that’s why you’re reading this, aren’t you? You’re techy and Web 2.0 savvy (!).
Don’t forget GeekBench! (See how benchmarking is annoying?)
Wanna See How Many Ports It Has?
A VGA-out port, Ethernet port, HDMI-out, 1394 Firewire, SD card and micro SD card reader, 3 USB 2.0 ports, 2 audio jacks, a microphone jack, lock slot, and a Displayport. That’s not much, but has everything you’d ever need (except E-SATA).
But It All Comes Down To The Gaming Performance
To start off with, I played Dirt 2 on maxed-out settings, Aces High II, Wings Of Prey (nearly at high settings, gave some breath to the M11x), Portal, and Napoleon: Total War on high settings, which of course was below the very laggy “Very High” settings that the particular game (Total War) offered. This meaning that Test Drive Unlimited 2 and Modern Warfare 2 (which can run on maxed-out) should just run like cream brulee. While the M11x might never replace your standard desktop PC gaming rig, it could easily give it some fatal stabs. And at a few ounces more that 4.5 pounds, much like the popular unibody 13″ Macbook Pro, the M11x is extremely portable, albeit slightly bulky for an ultraportable.
And when I say it plays games, it doesn’t cough out on battery powered mode or while being plugged into an outlet: gaming performance is nearly equal both ways. And nor am I speaking of almost-choppy 29FPS performance; a lot of games can grunt at 40FPS and even more while on “High Performance”.
So Then That Means The Battery Sucks, Right?
Um, no? The battery so far has lasted me, let’s say while light gaming, checking email, light Photoshopping, Alienware FX LED lights on, and being connected to Wi-Fi using Google Chrome, the plucky little M11x lasted for:
A battery life time of almost 3 hours on “High Performance”.
A note is that you shouldn’t get more than 3 hours out of the M11x, and 2 1/2 while just playing games on high settings. Also, since the screen has 768 pixels, adding AA (anti-aliasing) could be very useful. The average PC gamer could yawn if he/she pleases, but when I log onto this thing a pwn you like a n00b on Test Drive Unlimited 2 when it comes out on high settings, you’ll be scared for your life.
The Keyboard, Speakers, And Screen Rules (almost)
Since the brightness meter isn’t stellar when it comes to sunny conditions, I’d rather just go for some shade.
Keyboard? Check. It’s a little frisky to adapt to when you’ve come from a 13-inch or 15-inch laptop, but when you have really connected with it, it can do wonders like typing this review in less than 2 hours, only with the main requirement of great typing skills, courtesy of your over-cheesy 13-Year-Old Tech Journalist.
Speakers? Check? I said “check”! OUCH! Okay, that was loud! The speakers have a decent amount of bass, which really surprised me; same goes for how many decibels they can scream out.
The 11.6 inch screen? Check! I do have a problem with it do: it uses that familair plastic overlay, which causes tons of glare, and since the brightness meter isn’t stellar when it comes to sunny conditions, I’d rather just go for some shade.
The 1.3 megapixel webcam? Check. Actually it can be a little laggy and it isn’t that very good, but it works! (Don’t think I’m being easy on it here, I’m not).
Conclusion
The M11x is worth every cent.
The M11x isn’t at all that powerful without boasting the specs and price to at least the configuration that was used in my review unit. The base $799 config only gets you a measly160GB of hard drive space, a Pentium processor, and only 2 gigs of DDR3 RAM, which even Steve Jobs thought was necessary to upgrade to 4GB in the 13″ Macbook Pro, on its base price. The graphics card comes on all versions, but even with all of the upgrades in this M11x, there’s some serious advantages. Mainly processor speed, and of course WWAN EV-DO connectivity with Verizon Wireless. That’s a win I might add, even though that upgrade jumps to an extra $125. Ouch.
But the M11x is worth every cent of it.
Pros:
- It’s fassssssssssssst
- Sleek and awesome looking
- Extremely — awesome!
- Wi-Fi signals are always really strong
- Graphics performance is epic pwnage
- For $1,200, you’re getting the guts you get in a more expensive laptop
Cons:
- *cough* No CD drive *cough*
- A little heavy, but not by much when compared to its main rivals
- Upgrades jack up the price bigtime
- Directional keys are too small
Alienware M11x Review Gallery
