How would you change Alienware's M11x?

Call it the little laptop that could, or just call it Alienware's most adorable machine ever. Whatever you call it, Alienware's M11x made all sorts of waves when it splashed down into an essentially empty market segment earlier this year, offering hardcore gamers the opportunity to take their first-person shooters onto cramped buses and coach airline seats with more comfort than ever before. Of course, all that power comes at a price, and while we already expressed our own feelings on the thing, we're interested in knowing how you feel about seeing triple-digit FPS numbers on an 11-inch display. Is the experience better or worse than you anticipated? Have you ditched your desktop replacement for good? Are you wondering why on Earth you chose this over a netbook? Let us know how you'd overhaul the M11x if you had the chance down in comments below. And make it good.

[Oscarv77 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:03PM]

I'm extremely pleased with mine. The only bottleneck is the processor.

[Kev007 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:06PM]

@Oscarv77
agreed, Nvidia should have stuck in at least an i3, if not an i5 processor
but i guess it's their version of a super-powered netbook

[njsrikar Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:15PM]

@Oscarv77
exactly ...the cpu is the only drawback ...

[Kev007 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:17PM]

@Kev007
i take that back, Core i3's are weak
also, the C2D SU7300's 10W power draw is pretty amazing, replacing it with the 18W Core i7-640UM would make a lot of difference (even thought their clock speeds are comparable)

[MRCUR Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:18PM]

@Kev007 - I didn't know Nvidia made laptops...

[JeremyBenthem Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:28PM]

@Kev007
you guys are killing the point, if you want laptops with faster gpus and cpus, they already exists, the point of this was to bring it down size and pricewise and there will have to be sacrifices

a reasonable list would be to kill the stupid design go back to the last gen look;
http://pcgametech.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/rh_area_m15x_front_open.jpg
the new Core i3 CULV, the new Optimus chipset (if it supports the 335M) or make one with external graphics compatibility

[EricB Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:33PM]

@JeremyBenthem Please point me in the direction of a 13.3 inch screen or below notebook with a similar video card as this one.

[Blahman Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:42PM]

@EricB Sony's new Vaio Z 13.1" i5/i7 with GT 330m.. but its 2.5-3x the price

[Air2ground Posted Apr 3rd 2010 1:06AM]

@Blahman The 335 is quite a bit step up. It has 72 shaders compared to the 330's 48, but the Z is light thinner and has a WAY faster dual core processor. Its a dual core core i5/i7.

[Almo Posted Apr 3rd 2010 3:38AM]

Make a 20 inch version like the HP HDX Dragon..

[jennamarcuss Posted Apr 3rd 2010 8:55AM]

@Oscarv77 I guess the obvious part will be, make it more faster and cheaper (both which are very hard to do) My friend already bought this one last week ago, and I played Crysis with this one, with 0 lag, even the anti-aliasing is set to max, I must say, this is truly a gamer's laptop. Opinions to M11x: http://bit.ly/alienware-m11x-gamers-dream-opinions

[aks Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:03PM]

make it even cheaper :P

[r3loaded Posted Apr 3rd 2010 3:17AM]

@aks Don't rip the UK off on pricing. I mean, even after exchange rates and taxes, there's still a £100+ gap between the countries.

[Broderbund Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:03PM]

Design the exterior more conservatively.

[ElCapitan Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:06PM]

@Broderbund

You mean make it not fugly?

[Broderbund Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:48PM]

@ElCapitan Well, yeah.

[strang Posted Apr 2nd 2010 11:19PM]

@Broderbund +1, Alienware design is too over the top I wish it was a simple exterior.

[n0ne Posted Apr 2nd 2010 11:25PM]

@Broderbund more like the Voodoo's. Great looking machines, yet no powah!

[lars1110 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 11:42PM]

@n0ne your kidding me right i have a voodoo machine with a core i7 processor its an orange voodoo beast :D

[Ducman69 Posted Apr 3rd 2010 7:06AM]

@Broderbund Amen, I wish they made a Latitude/Vostro version in just flat black, square or rounded edges, with no lights.

[brian515 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:04PM]

Make it look more refined by getting rid of the (no pun intended) out of this world styling and the crazy glowing alien heads everywhere.

[Papytendo Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:04PM]

Free?

[haz Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:05PM]

Add Microsoft Office 2010

[MRCUR Posted Apr 3rd 2010 12:04AM]

@haz - You can get the Office 2010 Beta yourself.

[elistuy Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:06PM]

i still want one

[aelaos Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:06PM]

Put a Bitten Apple logo , so Engadget could make 1.000.000 articles about it , and receive one trillion Apple haters/lovers comments

[eyerot Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:16PM]

@aelaos

If you have such a low opinion of Engadget, why don't you do us all a favor and go somewhere else?

[aelaos Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:32PM]

@eyerot
Does the word Satirize ring any bell to you?

[Gamecheater Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:47PM]

@aelaos

http://www.engadget.com/exclude/Apple

Now quit your bitching.

[Leindurstit Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:06PM]

Matte display. Either a real latch, or magnets to keep the screen closed. Move the right column of keys elsewhere and made every other key wider. Make the arrow keys wider regardless. Intel i-something processor. Ambient light sensor. Make the thing less long, or use a 12" screen. Rubberized (or at least not-shiny) finish. Make the display cover not pop out and need to be pushed back in every few days.

(these are the reasons I returned it and went for a new Vaio Z, btw.)

[BigJayDogg3 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:09PM]

@Leindurstit

All very good points. I still say do that and then keep the price at about 750-800.

[Z Posted Apr 2nd 2010 11:51PM]

@Leindurstit
Agreed... I am using mine on a 550 mile trip from Philly to KY for easter right now and it has been great to me except...

-These small arrow keys are ridiculous
-Yes, MUST have an ambient light sensor to turn off key backlighting/dim/brighten screen.
-fyi this message was created using my TP2 over edge w/ bluetooth....love it!

[seanGadget Posted Apr 3rd 2010 12:31AM]

@Z
your TP2?? NO way dude!

-fyi..this was made by a person that doesn't give a shit over lack of sleep and is laughing at you

[Broderbund Posted Apr 3rd 2010 1:04AM]

@Z The only way you could impress engadget with your cell phone is if you were typing that out from the evo.

[Alexpeegs Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:07PM]

Get it thinner and better battery life plus processor and a few other accessories.

[BigJayDogg3 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:07PM]

The C2D standard, more mature "case" design, and a $100 price cut.

[kiden Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:07PM]

I would make it the size of a netbook. :)

[mtnDewFTW Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:07PM]

Make it thinner, and not made completely out of cheap plastic.
Make the trackpad a bit bigger as well.

[mtnDewFTW Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:08PM]

@mtnDewFTW Oh and a OLED PCI display wouldn't hurt :D

[blland Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:14PM]

@mtnDewFTW make it out of aluminum... and make it thinner... and a -

where was I?

[tlauer1 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:07PM]

Make it look like the opposite of the piece of shit that it looks like.

[einhanderkiller Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:08PM]

Better processor, better video card, and better design.

[gagan512 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:08PM]

give that 11incher screen a higher resolution.. 1366x768 is useless for most stuff.

[BigJayDogg3 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:11PM]

@gagan512

If you go much higher on that small of a screen text will be virtually unreadable.

[gagan512 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:15PM]

@BigJayDogg3
yea thats kinda obvious, but it wont cut it. i use the smallest font on my 24" 1920x1200 so its really upto personal preference imo. make the screen bigger to 12/13 or whatever, netbook resolution on a "gaming laptop" is just pathetic.

[writeinC Posted Apr 2nd 2010 11:11PM]

@gagan512
If they made the resolution any higher, game performance would suffer incredibly, so no, increasing the resolution would not be a good idea.
Also, 1366x768 is not "netbook resolution", 1024x600 is. 1366x768 is normal resolution for 12-14" notebooks

[BigJayDogg3 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 11:19PM]

@writeinC

And is even extremely common on 15 inchers.

[tlauer1 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:11PM]

Make it look like a MacBook Pro and it will be badass! Even better, make it look like an iPad.

[Jordo1234 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:15PM]

@tlauer1
Uh Yeah No. -1

[TareG Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:33PM]

@tlauer1
Oblivion junkie