Alienware M11x gets torn down, earthly components found inside
By Vlad Savov 
posted March 9th 2010 6:05AM
posted March 9th 2010 6:05AM
posted March 9th 2010 6:05AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
yup still not buying this. :D
Your loss.
@Leindurstit
not so exited about the screen size so gamings not an option and I'm not going to pay 700 to surf the web when I already have a netbook. Also ever since I'v bought my alienW desktop I'v hated them with vengeance.
@BrownSound
Then this is obviously not being marketed towards you. Move on to something else. It sounds great for those looking to do a little more than the usual web surfing.
Sucks for you.
@BrownSound 1.73ghz core 2 duo (originally thought to be 1.6ghz), DDR3 ram, and a fantastic GPU. Mine plays any game I throw at it, including BFBC2, SUPCOM2, Bioshock 2... everything.
I sold my Acer Aspire One without a second thought.
@BrownSound Well, obviously this laptop is not marketed to you. I have an 11.6" Gateway LT3103u in addition to my main Sager. The LT3103u plays WoW, Battlefield 2, Far Cry, and some others fine. Plus, the small size and portability are great.
In conclusion, I would love this lappy, and you can shove off! ;-)
WHAT!?! They told me that Alienwares were made from Aliens? That it was super special and was, like, awesome. So the premium I spent on buying it wasn't because it was from an alien planet but rather a ridiculous, LED filled case.
What a rip off.
@Aurailious I would have agreed with you, but then I saw the M11x.
@Aurailious
ahahah lol no no their definitely from aliens
Why do high end machines have hard drives? They should all have SSDs.
@JS because earth men are not as rich as ETs are.
@tao i refreshed the page and voted you up twice! well spoken
@tao oh come on a decent one can be had for $300.
@tao Agreed. Make it an option, which they do OP, and let the consumer decide. Just make sure the alternative isn't a 4200 rpm...eh, needless jab at Jobs.
@JS Thats why I'm going for the Vaio Z
Why can't Dell put the same video card and a Core i5 CPU into a bigger, 13,3" or 14" laptop ? There seems to be a huge gap in their gaming lineup, it's either the chunky XPS 16 or this tiny M11x and nothing in between.
@25i actually i want a 14 inch gaming laptop, and i feel left out in all the fun. at home, i use an external monitor, but i do game when i'm out and about as well. i couldn't stand gaming on an 11 inch screen. and of course, 17 inches is just too big (incidentally, thatswhatshesaid)
What a waste. They have a nice GT335M gpu in there... but crummy SU7300 processor. At least put something like the SU9600 like the HP Touchsmart tm2 (just saying cuz that notebook has SU7300 and SU9600 options!)
@Reznov You can swap in a new Core2Duo for $100 on the product page. Not sure model number.
@Palomino
The base option is the Pentium SU4100 which is exactly the same as the Core 2 Duo SU7300 upgrade. The only difference is 1MB of cache disabled and VT-x disabled.
So on Page 3 they show what they claim is the SD/MMC card slot.
Then on page 5 they show a different item elsewhere on the machine that they also claim is a multi-card reader.
Seeing that it has a WWAN option, the device on page 3 is probably the SIM card slot, right?
A question: are there any technical reasons one couldn't use that empty mPCIe slot where the WWAN card is supposed to go for another mPCIe card? Say, a solid state device?
My XPS M1530 has a WWAN slot, and I picked up an unlocked GSM card for a song on eBay (although I've never used it). I've always wondered if I could use it for something else.
@RichardToronto 1) The SIM card slot is directly above the SD card slot. 2) If you buy the gobi Aircard / GPS configured for either CDMA or GSM, the card is fitted into the half mini pci-e slot. 3) If you do not buy the aircard, the half mini pci-e slot is still available. Notebookreview.com has been the location of all discussion regarding this, but no one has actually tried it to confirm it works. It fits, we just don't know if the computer will be able to boot off of it.
@Smurf
Well, that's confusing - considering the slot labeled WWAN (exactly the same as my XPS notebook) is a full size mPCIe slot and the slot labeled WLAN had a WLAN card in it.
@RichardToronto The WWAN port is just a normal half mini pci-e slot. The modem / gps combination (the gobi card) goes there. The SIM card slot is conveniently located above the SD card slot, in order to allow you to swap SIM cards without a screwdriver. It's very nice. I wish I could have bought the GSM gobi card, now. If you don't buy the air card with the laptop, the hardware inside the sim card slot, the antenna wires, and the modem/gps are all left out.
No thanks, I am done with PC gaming. Being a legit gamer, I am sick of being treated like a criminal with endless DRM. Ubisoft's new DRM was the last straw. From now on, it's PS3 for me!
@LonnieDVD if you dislike DRM, Sony's future isn't the way to go IMHO. Look at what they are trying to do with PSP GO. The future is looking full of DRM for games. You have to support DRM free developers and reward them with your money, rather than shutting down one platform all together.
It should come as no shock to me that Alienware has made the M17x,M15x, and the M11x all practically the same build setup minus the size. though i did find it funny when dell sent a repair guy to my house to replace my M17x graphics card and the guy had no clue on where to start with the thing... ended up not putting it back together incorrectly and Dell had to ship me a new one :*( ... i sure hope these Chinese guys could put that M11x back together again...lol
Okay so the other day my wife throws a picture of this rig in front of me and says, "Hey, that's pretty nice, isn't it?"
"VERMILION HELLS YES, WOMAN!"
It's just tough for her when one shows up now.
Hey, I'm not done L4D 1-2 on expert yet!
This indeed is a gaming machine. I had hands on with COD MW2 this weekend and the graphics were set to high with AA at 2X. The games played extremely well with no noticable lag or pizelation. We tested straight out of the box, so no tweaks as of yet. The keyboard is solid and and everything is tight with no creaks. It follows through on what it's designed for. It is a portable gaming machine.
think the intel corei7 640um will eventually make it to this machine?
@MangoPants
Yeah, its in the works... don't forget they gotta get there money outta this revision first, so I wouldn't expect to see a Ci5/7um in this until at least fall.
@robamb2002 I'll be waiting for a better processor in this rig as well, and an SSD option. Other than that, it's blinged out.
@INsano
I'm loving the form factor and graphics. Can't complain about the battery life either. Just the processor is a bit outdated. I think it's between this and the Asus UL30JT for me. We'll see. I'm getting a bit fed up with my Intel Atom. That's what I get for being cheap and optimistic!
Laptops: the best portable gaming devices.
If I had the money, then I'd buy this.
Give it a touch screen and it would have been the ultimate mobile PC ! I use a Dell Studio 17" and suddlenly my Alienware M17x looks old :-( In the 2-3 coming years ALL laptops will get a touchscreen, it is THAT great !! (...and the opposite with all these useless desktop touch screens...)