Alienware's M11x netbook gets a base price: $799

Whoa, Nelly! We learned back at CES that Alienware's pretty-much-a-netbook would launch in the Spring for less than a grand, but now we know precisely what the base price will be: $799. The starting MSRP of the M11x was delivered courtesy of the company's own website, but not in the most straightforward way. If you surf on over to the M11x microsite and view the source, you'll notice the following blurb tucked within the code:

The Alienware M11x, with over 6.5 hours of battery life and weighing under 4.5 lbs. will start at an amazing $799! Leave it to the folks at Alienware to enable truly mobile performance gaming at an affordable price.

So, a polarizing (albeit vivacious) design, an 11.6-inch display, NVIDIA GT335M switchable graphics and a 6.5 hour battery, all for $799. Shall we sign you up, or what?

[Thanks, Daniel]

[AckbarsFist Posted Jan 28th 2010 8:34PM]

@DestrictoEnse What does this have to do with the iPad? Completely different market and target audience.

[BrownSound Posted Jan 28th 2010 10:40PM]

@Solidstate89

no no the new line up of Alienware desktops and laptops are much cheaper than there predecessors. For a good reason too they are way crappy but my god in person look so cool specially the area 51alx. the drive bay swishes down when you click the alien head whaaaa you gotta admit thats worth about a thousand dollars in itself right there and the rest well ehh... no wind turbines but its getting there its getting there

[techlord Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:34PM]

Nice, but $799 is 2x more than most netbook.

[nightshadex101 Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:37PM]

@techlord
But less than the biggest iPad.
And I bet that I can get better games on this.

[Peytral Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:37PM]

@techlord
except it's not a netbook
it runs a core 2 duo something and has switchable graphics!! win imo

[ango Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:38PM]

@techlord Netbook are you kiding, for playing games on laptops it's AW the best ( iThink )

[Ducman69 Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:39PM]

@techlord look at the hardware, this is hardly a netbook.

its a gaudy but very well spec'd UMPC.

[Ducman69 Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:40PM]

@Ducman69 actually scratch that, even a UMPC I usually think oversized cellphone, heh. I can't recall the category this falls under, but as they say, a rose by any other name.

[Outsider Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:41PM]

@nightshadex101

Don't kid me man. It doesn't only get better games than the iPad or the iPhone... It gets better games than the 13" Macbook Pro that I use.

[Wildman Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:41PM]

@techlord
-1 for not knowing this isn't a netbook.

[Sor1 Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:52PM]

@techlord

I don't care how much cost. This thing is what i was looking for something protable. Small, powerfull and easy to carry in your bag. iPad, slate pc, etc... meh.. this things is like the Juggernaut of "netbooks"

"I am the Juggernaut B*tch"

[pavelbure Posted Jan 28th 2010 6:19PM]

Phail notebook is phail.

Hahaha

[iamPro Posted Jan 28th 2010 6:21PM]

Am I alone in thinking the whole Wii vs. next gen console wars has started again after the iPad announcement?

[DaHarder Posted Jan 28th 2010 6:23PM]

@pavelbure

completely stupid comment is still stupid...

[DaHarder Posted Jan 28th 2010 6:24PM]

@iamPro

I going with Yes... you are alone with that

[patlennas88 Posted Jan 28th 2010 7:09PM]

@nightshadex101
can it run crysis?

seriously, does anyone know?

[TheMikeP Posted Jan 28th 2010 7:17PM]

@patlennas88 During the initial announcement, Alienware stated that it could indeed, run Crysis.

[Metayoshi Posted Jan 28th 2010 7:23PM]

@patlennas88
That probably depends on the CPU, since we know the GPU is actually a pretty good mid-range one. Anything better than a Core 2 Duo T6600 already meets Crysis' minimum requirements. Of course, that means you're probably running it in 640x480 with everything set to low. But yea, the GPU part can definitely run Crysis. It all just depends now on what CPU Alienware decided to put into this thing.

[hewhokilleddeath Posted Jan 28th 2010 8:04PM]

@Metayoshi: Alienware will probably put in one of the new core i3 or i5 chips seeing as the rest of the Alienware brand seems to be migrating towards i5/i7.

[MrGreen Posted Jan 28th 2010 8:09PM]

@techlord Tech lord my @$$.

[Drudkh Posted Jan 28th 2010 8:34PM]

So still no ETA on this whatsoever? I think I saw somewhere something about end of february, but any updates on that?

[Fanfoot Posted Jan 28th 2010 9:16PM]

@Drudkh Add Ion and I'm sold!

(sorry, couldn't resist)

[JeremyBenthem Posted Jan 28th 2010 9:40PM]

@Fanfoot
you want a downgrade? I'm sure that's cool with Dell

[DougieBear Posted Jan 28th 2010 10:51PM]

It's like a netbook that weighs the same as a desktop.

[CraniusLupus Posted Jan 29th 2010 12:23AM]

@techlord Yes bu8t can your netbook play Crysis?

This is Netbook only in the fact it is a sub 12" notebook. Its better classified as a ultraportable, and then you look at other ultraportables (ne Sony) and suddenly the competition is in the 2-3 grand range.

So i would say it is a steal

[AdamWill Posted Jan 29th 2010 1:02AM]

@Atkins Yup. Too heavy. Shame, looks good otherwise.

[celinerhonavi Posted Jan 29th 2010 5:29AM]

@Metayoshi 6 1/2 hours of battery life (battery mode), 50FPS Crysis, 30FPS Call of Duty on High Settings, with Nvidia GT335. And now 800 USD only... Lol is this sweet or what? More of this M11x for gamers: http://bit.ly/alienware-m11x-details

[DougieBear Posted Jan 29th 2010 7:49AM]

@cherryboom

And thats why the price of that device is absolutely unjustified.

[Brother Unit No 4 Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:35PM]

Make it 13in. and I'm sold.

[Outsider Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:41PM]

@Brother Unit No 4

Would a "That's what she said" joke work here?

[CZroe Posted Jan 29th 2010 12:32AM]

@Brother Unit No 4
Not me... Then it wouldn't fit in my motorcycle's tank bag. I've been looking for something game-able that would fit. The only concern is the powerful magnets vs. an HDD, so I might have to go with an SSD.

[Alexicov Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:35PM]

But i was under the impression that the netbooks were dead?

[Dking7 Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:40PM]

@Alexicov no iPad is dead

[DaHarder Posted Jan 28th 2010 6:35PM]

@Alexico

Only in the mind of (RoB Em') Steve Jobs and his legion of mindless minions.

All others realize that US 250.00+ fully-functioning (USB ports, media card reader sporting, multi-tasking capable, wide-screened, non-locked-down to some overpriced/tyrannical ecosystem) portable computers are just what are needed by those on tight budgets in this weak economy.

Long Live True Value!

[yulebellow Posted Jan 28th 2010 6:51PM]

@Dking7

DOA

[Geesus Posted Jan 28th 2010 10:01PM]

@yulebellow

More like DBA - Dead Before Arrival

[jhoff80 Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:36PM]

4.5 pounds and it's still considered in the netbook class?

[max1001 Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:51PM]

@jhoff80
Okay. You guys really need to improve your reading skill. The whole "pretty-much-a-netbook" is a joke. It is obviously not a netbook considering it has a video card, c2d and cost $799.

[Flix C Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:52PM]

@jhoff80
It's a fucking 11inch with a nVidia GT335 of course it's NOT a fucking netbook you moron...

It's a joke....

[eDan Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:36PM]

Can't wait to buy this.
And Engadget finally used one of my tips :P

[DarrenMurph Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:50PM]

@eDan Thanks for the tip!

[WithAmazement Posted Jan 28th 2010 7:10PM]

@DarrenMurph

Not to nitpick, but your article states that you have to look in the source code for this piece of information. This information has actually been available for a few days now, courtesy of their Alienware m11x sweepstakes giveaway page located here:

http://www.alienware.com/microsite/m11x/m11x.aspx?source=ECH0023

If you respond to their question, "Alienware announced a price for the Alienware M11x to be below $1000. How affordable do you expect a mobile gaming system of this caliber to be?" and sign up for the sweepstakes, you will be presented with the information, "The Alienware M11x, with over 6.5 hours of battery life and weighing under 4.5 lbs. will start at an amazing $799! Leave it to the folks at Alienware to enable truly mobile performance gaming at an affordable price," which is where that piece of source code is derived from.

My point is that they aren't intentionally trying to bury this information in their source code, just rewarding you with information for signing on to their mailing list/ entering their sweepstakes. Actually, I'd encourage everyone to sign up, because hey - why not? There's a chance of winning one!

[laze Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:37PM]

I'll take one.

[sonicyoof Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:37PM]

Meh. I don't like that is has a keyboard and touchpad. Ever since the unveiling of the iPad, I learned that it's best to not have those things at all, ever. I mean, if the iPad doesn't need it, why does anything else need it?

[Outsider Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:40PM]

@sonicyoof

Upped, under the assumption that you were being very sarcastic, and witty.

[Trebawa Posted Jan 28th 2010 6:36PM]

@sonicyoof
I concur. I've personally found that tactile feedback makes things too easy. I want to concentrate solely on my gorgeous Apple screen; that way, anything else (like Flash envy) in life that might distract me is blocked out.

[opnickc Posted Jan 28th 2010 7:00PM]

@sonicyoof

Yeah, the MacBook Wheel ruined keyboards for me.

[Ozymandias Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:38PM]

Capacitive touch w/ a convertible screen and I'm in. Seems to be the logical step for netbooks. Standardizing a hybrid touchscreen/keyboard would go a long way.

[fokka Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:44PM]

@Ozymandias ack, would love to see more convertibles.

[AlexTheBoss Posted Jan 28th 2010 5:39PM]

M11x > iPad
nuff said