Review Alienware M11x
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New Alienware M11x is the latest creation of the division of gaming machines from Dell and Alienware is probably the best of what all could happen to the world of PC game this year. If this is not enough to interest you, then you should also know that its cost would be approximately 1,058.90 USD, or nearly as much and have less powerful 11-inch notebooks on the new low voltage processors from Intel.
Alienware has arrived …
It is not often overwhelms me awed after the announcement of a new laptop, but Alienware M11x left me bewitched, and almost lost his voice from the very first day. Never before, and no manufacturer has not created an ultra-compact laptop, which could play almost all modern games for the PC. And we’re not talking about the puny Minesweeper or Solitaire, leave them girls. We talk about the latest products of hardcore gaming industry, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Alienware M11x will allow you to play these games with a decent framerate … laptop … so small that can easily fit on a table in a plane … with a couple of cans of Coca-Cola and nut bags.
Appearance Alienware M11x was akin to a 10-point storm the world’s laptops. Alienware engineers admitted that they were quietly working on the project ultracompact gaming laptop for almost four years, but this time the technology did not keep up with imaginative team Alienware. It needed small screens with higher resolution, but inexpensive. We needed compact, inexpensive and cost-effective multi-core processors, which at the same time would possess sufficient strength to overpower most of the modern games. Dedicated graphics cards were to be compact enough to fit in the casing and ultra-compact notebook with the issue of mountain performance for the calculation of modern 3D models with complex textures and with a decent framerate, working while on battery power.
Although I usually criticize and Alienware to create bulky monsters with fabulous price and extravagant design, the Alienware team deserves serious credit for the creation of affordable ultraportable notebook computer game, make that no longer was able to no one. When Dell announced the release of the new Alienware M11x at CES in January, none of the competitors was not ready for such a development. Representatives of all these companies and could only say “What have they done?”, “Come on! Can not be!”, “I do not understand how is it?” or 11-inch notebook, which delivers 30 FPS in the latest games at a price less than 1000 bucks? sour … “ (© my brother).
Alienware M11x is truly the first in its class, but do not think that it will remain so for long. Judging by the volume of discussion and general interest to the M11x on open spaces forums and blogs on the Internet, the number of people who are interested M11x, is huge! You can believe me that is all, literally all manufacturers rush to produce notebooks similar form factor, with similar, if not the best performance. Truly a dream come true … :) Bravo Dell and Alienware!
Hello baby!
Of course, gaming laptops are always the first lines of “chart escarpment” in school children, youths and even adults who do not mind sometimes prohvatit a shooter or car simulator, but with which connected all such global interest in this little notebook? Most of all passions is the fact, as I mentioned earlier – Alienware has always been synonymous with insanely expensive and bulky laptops. And at the same time, Alienware was able to create a unique image of the manufacturer’s premium products for gamers (or their parents) who can afford such a machine. The new M11x combines the features of Alienware brand with low cost, which is peculiar to Dell.
The initial price of 31 500 rubles may seem expensive, compared to a standard 15-inch laptop for 20 000 or 12 000 for the netbook, but compared with the prices of gaming laptops, which start with 45 thousand and above, M11x just a gift. Add to that all branded gadgets from Alienware – the specific case design, software, and keyboard illumination AlienFX, and in your hands your own piece of luxury at the price of conventional 11-inch ultraportable notebook.
But enough of the entry … proceed directly to the review.
Specification of our Alienware M11x:
| Processor: | 1.3GHz Intel SU4100 (800MHz FSB, 2MB Cache) overclocked to 1.73 GHz |
| OS: | Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit |
| Display: | 11.6 “WXGA HD 1366×768, with LED-backlit glossy |
| Video Card: | Nvidia GeForce GT 335M 1GB GDDR3, dedicated, and Intel GMA 4500MHD, built-in, switchable |
| Memory | 4GB PC3-8500 DDR3 (2 x 2GB) |
| Data Warehouse: | 160GB 5400RPM SATA |
| Wireless: | 802.11b/g/n, 10/100 LAN |
| Webcam: | 1,3 Mp |
| Card reader: | 3-in-1 |
| Battery: | 8-Cell Li-ion 64WH, power supply 65W |
| Dimensions: | 28,5 x 23,3 x 3,2 cm |
| Weight: | 1,99 kg |
Construction and Design
Anyone who has seen the other gaming notebooks from Alienware, will recognize the new kid M11x features of his older brothers, 15-inch M15x and 17-inch M17x, which had invested in his caring parents designers Alienware. Finally, a line of Alienware is fully staffed with all models of the ultraportable M11x to mastodon M17x, intended to replace a desktop PC. M11x features of design are a unique style of products Alienware. Many laptops with a closed roof of the screen look very similar, but Alienware is easy to distinguish them from the futuristic styling of the cover and logo in the form of a silver alien head. Another distinctive feature of the products Alienware is angular, industrial design of their housing. So it is better or worse, but with its magnesium alloy casing, Alienware M11x looks bigger than most of its 11-inch brethren … at least at first glance.
What I mean? There is no such skew M11x profile, as in most laptops. Laptops like the Lenovo IdeaPad U150, a casing, thickening of the front edge to the rear. In this case M11x not the case, because the engineers Alienware needed the full thickness of the shell to hold there a dedicated graphics card, the cooling system and built-in large capacity battery. Built-in battery is a separate factor in determining the thickness of the notebook. M11x seems stout with its thickness slightly more than 3 cm and 8-cell battery, but if you look at the same Lenovo U150 with protruding 6-cell battery, or on the Dell Inspiron 11Z, you’ll find that in fact the latter even thicker than notebook from Alienware.
What I mean? There is no such skew M11x profile, as in most laptops. Laptops like the Lenovo IdeaPad U150, a casing, thickening of the front edge to the rear. In this case M11x not the case, because the engineers Alienware needed the full thickness of the shell to hold there a dedicated graphics card, the cooling system and built-in large capacity battery. Built-in battery is a separate factor in determining the thickness of the notebook. M11x seems stout with its thickness slightly more than 3 cm and 8-cell battery, but if you look at the same Lenovo U150 with protruding 6-cell battery, or on the Dell Inspiron 11Z, you’ll find that in fact the latter even thicker than notebook from Alienware.
Special thanks must be said Alienware for build quality. It is such a framework through the use of magnesium alloy, covered with glossy inner and matt plastic panels. Externally, the notebook looks solid as a granite boulder, only cover the screen bends slightly when you press on it. The keyboard and support for the wrists do not bend even under heavy load on them. M11x to easily transfer the daily load on the body, plus testing, which fell on him in a backpack gamers. I hope it is true that enthusiastic players will not throw it on the floor in case of loss, but probably, M11x and it will bring. In general, this is the most reliable 11-inch laptop, which we have met so far. M11x West as easy to build even some business-class notebooks, positioned as “industrial” or “made to military standards.”
Another important design element Alienware is the use of custom LED lighting on all case notebook. The first thing you will notice the majority of people, so this is a great keyboard illumination and two areas in the front, but my favorite element is illuminated alien head, located above the keyboard. With the software installed AlienFX, you can adjust the backlight of the head to the many different options for warning on the status of your laptop battery. I configured it so that the head of my stranger lit in blue when plugged, and red when running on battery. It is also a great way to alert the user that he accidentally pulled the plug of a laptop during the game. Two additional areas of illumination on the M11x is the head of the stranger on the back of the screen and the ventilation inlets at the end of the notebook. These areas, however, can not be separately configured using AlienFX. Outputs ventilation also highlights, as well as a keyboard, and the stranger’s head on the lid covers the backlight when the notebook is turned on, like laptops Apple.
Below M11x also looks terrific, as above. Bottom panel is mainly flat and smooth, with two grilles on the speakers pointing downwards, a separate metal plate to the owner (do not know how this will be applicable in Russia, most likely it will not) and outlet for ventilation. If you will need to upgrade the configuration of your laptop, you probably will be pleased to know that all components are available to the user under a single access cover on the bottom. To get to the processor, video card or the cooling system will be much harder, but most users to be honest, it is not necessary.
Massive cover access to the battery, hard drive, wireless card and memory slots, wrapped in two cross-screws for easy disassembly. It should be noted that Dell Alienware thoughtfully supplied with all the screws hold it clamped, so that by removing the bottom panel, you’ll never lose those little screws. Nowhere within us has found no labels, restricting the guarantee, although the edge of the hard drive and battery and stuck a yellow film. In any case, according to Dell built-in battery, hard drive, RAM and wireless card to be replaced by the user. And in any case, one-year warranty will cover you in case of technical trouble. In short, if you will need to replace the battery or proaprgeydit standard internal notebook, then you can do so freely and fairly easily.
The screen and speakers
11-inch LED-backlit display M11x, appears to be the same as that used in the Dell Inspiron 11Z. At the resolution 1366×768 at your disposal will be enough space on the desktop, almost like a full-size notebooks, which means that all menus and other vertical elements will be easily placed on it. The picture at the screen is excellent, with good color and diode illumination. The contrast medium, and depends strongly on the inclination of the screen. Comfortable for a review of the angle of the screen is very narrow and if you just shifted your head, instead of completely dark scenes in the game you’ll see a little color distortion at the top or bottom., Depending on the slope. With bright colors in this respect, all in order, and color rendition is perfect for everything from surfing the web and finishing photos.
The only remark to a large screen M11x me, is the lack of matte screen option. Yes, of course, glossy screen looks fine on the supermarket shelf, or when you first remove the laptop from the box, but the glossy screen reflection and glare strengths that will affect the enjoyment of the game. And it will interfere with using a laptop outdoors or in bright light. Dell definitely need to think about providing options matte screen for this notebook, since it is designed for use anywhere … not always the same you can adjust the lighting, for example, while traveling, or in the car.
The quality of the speakers in this notebook an order of magnitude higher than that of other 11-inch notebooks. Maximum volume is high enough in order to voice the big room, and sounds quite clean at the same time with no obvious distortions. Although the dynamics have M11x and located on the lower front edge of the laptop and sent down Alienware engineers should consider two special audio channel in the body, which send sound directly to the user through two illuminated decorative panels, front laptop. So, despite the fact that most of the audio stream is directed downward, however, some of it aimed directly at the user. Although the M11x and there are two headphone jacks, built-in speakers will be enough to listen to, which happens very infrequently.
The keyboard and touchpad
For years Alienware has used a specific eye-catching design keyboard with LED backlight, so that they could be used in the dark. This tradition continues in the M11x. Plus, the keyboard of this notebook is one of the best, if not the best of those we generally see in an 11-inch notebooks. The keyboard keys used by the ordinary type, slightly concave in the middle, the distance between the keys is very good, they have a clear impact and minimal lateral move. The big difference this keyboard from the keyboard the other 11-inch laptop is an excellent LED backlight, with a transparent border and transparent inscriptions on the keys, met futuristic font, reminiscent of the inscription from the movie Star Trek. And, more importantly, the base of the keyboard as strong as steel. We were unable to bend this keyboard, even one iota of our bitter seal. And matte plastic panel supports for the wrists, apparently, also stand watch battles, no bending or creaking. Noise when printing a minimum, without any loud lyazganya when pressing keys. The only slight minus the keyboard can be called what it mat not very fond of greasy fingers. You have to wipe the keyboard from time to time, or some keys greasy … W, A, S, D, blank and cursor keys too so accurately, if you’re a serious gamer.
Synaptics touchpad both pleasant and a bit depressing. I would be very happy if this was used on any other laptop Dell. Cellular structure covering the touchpad just perfect, it allows for precise dosage and control cursor movement, and the driver appeared to be perfectly calibrated in order to ensure the accuracy of movements and the absence of delays. Touchpad buttons have a soft spring-loaded course with a quiet click, while the full press several glubokovato to my taste. In general, this is an excellent touchpad … but this is just a touchpad.
Any fan of video games will tell you that for the game you need external mouse. Of course, M11x ultraportable notebook for normal daily activities on such normally use touchpad. But the main purpose of buying this laptop, compared with the HP Mini 311 and so is the game on it. Dell certainly would need to invest in the supplied high-quality small wireless or even an ordinary mouse, performed in the same style as the laptop itself.
Any fan of video games will tell you that for the game you need external mouse. Of course, M11x ultraportable notebook for normal daily activities on such normally use touchpad. But the main purpose of buying this laptop, compared with the HP Mini 311 and so is the game on it. Dell certainly would need to invest in the supplied high-quality small wireless or even an ordinary mouse, performed in the same style as the laptop itself.
Ports and Features
A set of ports rather good compared to other ultraportable laptops, and, frankly, in this part of us complain. Alienware M11x is equipped with three ports, USB 2.0, FireWire, card reader, 3-in-1 port Ethernet, the standard audio jacks and three types of output to an external monitor, including VGA, HDMI and DisplayPort. And yes, the M11x is no built-in optical drive … that even excellent. Optical drive not only occupies valuable space on your laptop, adds weight and consumes extra battery power, but also to the majority of users have long download software and games from the internet, but does not set it to disk. If you order a laptop from Dell you can even do it once predustanovit Steam. For those who are not familiar Steam – this software allows you to purchase online and then download virtually any game for the PC. I. .. Again, there is such a thing as Torrent …
The only thing that disappointed me in regard to the lack of optical drive, so this is what Dell laptop staffed software to restore a laptop to a DVD. On DVD. Period. ON DVD! Allais, Dell! Are you serious? Your engineers and tech support certainly know, what should be delivered to restore soft laptop without built-in optical drive – a USB flash drive or conventional fleshkarte! Do not understand why, to deliver a software for recovery M11x on DVD, if it has no optical drive? Would invest stick or even an optical drive in the box. And so, just thrown in a box of DVD and what happened to him then to do with this DVD?! :)
Of course, it would be nice to see at the M11x combined USBeSATA port or port USB 3.0, so users can connect high-speed external hard drive through it, but I suspect that in the next apdeyte laptop we will see what either of them. Or even both. Meanwhile, USB 2.0 and Firewire, in principle, be enough for most.
Let’s look at some of M11x with all the parties:
Front: Lights AlienFX and grilles on the speakers
Rear: The hinges of the screen, AC power and ventilation holes
Left: slot lock Kensington, output VGA, Port USB, network port, output HDMI, DisplayPort, card reader and FireWire.
Right: Dual headphone jack, microphone input port and two USB.
Productivity and performance
Comparative results of processors wPrime (the lower the score, the better the performance):
CMark05 characterizes the overall system performance (the higher the score, the better the performance):
3DMark06 characterizes the graphics performance of the system (the higher the score, the better the performance):
Results of the performance of hard disk:
Heat and Noise
At Alienware M11x only two levels of noise. A quiet whisper of fan noise and running on all cylinders, like the sound of hair dryers in the next room. By default, the fan always runs at minimum speed and its almost, if not quite, inaudible. However, when overclocking the processor or in games fan periodically included in the high performance mode, removing the hot air from the processor and video card out notebook. On the one hand, it’s good, because you know that excessive heat does not melt your laptop, but it also means that the M11x may hinder your colleagues or neighbors in a quiet room or auditorium. External temperature values Corps M11x mostly well tolerated, it does not burn your knees, although at the bottom and a couple of seats, heated overclocked processor and a discrete graphics card. All these temperatures are in degrees Celsius and stored, when the processor was overclocked and discrete graphics card has been heated two-hour game in Mass Effect 2
Battery life
With switchable graphics, the M11x two different modes of battery life – the regime of increased working hours, when using the integrated Intel graphics card and maximum performance, with the inclusion of a discrete graphics card Nvidia GT 335M. Dell claims that the use of graphics Intel, M11x will be able to work out the battery more than 8 hours. In our lab tests, when installed on 70% screen brightness, selected a balanced profile in Windows 7, a wireless-enabled communications and periodic updating of website pages, we managed to get 6 hours 59 minutes to overclock the processor SU4100 and included integrated graphics card Intel. It is reasonable to assume that dampen the brightness, turning off the acceleration and WiFi, you may well be able to get closer to 8 hours.
Of course, we also tested the time of the M11x in game mode, with an overclocked processor enabled discrete video card Nvidia, screen brightness set at 70% and enabled the wireless connection running Mass Effect through Steam. M11x managed to twist Mass Effect 2 for 2 hours 48 minutes, before it is completely disabled. Power consumption at the same time ranged from 22 to 27 watts, in game mode. Time of game could also be increased, to tie the brightness and turning off the wireless connection.
Built in M11x 8-cell lithium-ion battery has a claimed capacity of 64 Wh and recharged from a standard power supply 65W. And while we are talking about built-in battery, it is one of the most powerful batteries that we met in the 11-inch laptop. And, although replaceable battery would certainly be preferable, this built-in battery is quite easy to remove and change the attached instructions in the manual. This is not a MacBook Air, do not be afraid.
Another feature of the battery, which we liked is its function of indicating the residual charge. With five white LEDs, you can quickly find out how much charge is left and whether you need to bring the charger or not, then not to be Grounded in the laptop is not very suitable for this moment, such as a demonstration of his friends. Charging indication works even if you turned off your laptop with it really convenient to estimate how much charge is left, not including a laptop.
Performance in games
Synthetic benchmarks like PCMark and 3DMark, help to give a rough idea of how fast a particular notebook to another, but when it comes to serious games, the only way to check how good gaming laptop will run on it a few games, namely those in which you play. Also, it would be nice to understand how to behave in this laptop, and when powered from the wall outlet, and when running on batteries. Usually, when you switch to self-powered gaming laptops slow graphics card, and sometimes even the CPU. This course helps to increase battery life, but not the best way affects the quality of the game. Alienware M11x engineers have designed in such a way that when you switch on the battery life it continues to work at maximum output performance. Thus, the performance indicators listed below, just indicate to you what kind of performance you get, regardless of whether your laptop runs on AC or battery.
Due to the M11x discrete graphics card Nvidia GeForce GT 335M is a map of the upper level, which is of course slower than the maps used in the Alienware m15x and the M17x, but still has much more power than any other graphics card installed in the ultra-portable notebooks. 1GB of dedicated DDR3 memory will provide an acceptable framerate in most games, and we were pleasantly surprised that we did not have to constantly lower the detail settings the picture to make it in modern games.
Although we have not had time to test all of our available new games, but we still spent a couple of days in which to walk to most of them. All tests were conducted using a discrete card NVidia. But if you first need to obtain maximum battery life, then … you always have the opportunity to play Fallout on integrated graphics card Intel. For the test we have chosen a certain set of games, which, in our opinion, reflect the latest trends in contemporary gamedev.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
This game was one of those games, which demonstrated M11x gaming performance during his announcement Dell’om at CES. And on the M11x is really comfortable to play in this modern first-person shooter. Framerate constantly kept and must be kept within acceptable limits, given the fact that Alienware engineers have spent enough time to test this game on the M11x, to ensure a smooth gameplay. With a pair of customization in detail and with overclocked processor framerate never fell below 25 frames per second … which is enough for a gaming notebook.
Although we have not had time to test all of our available new games, but we still spent a couple of days in which to walk to most of them. All tests were conducted using a discrete card NVidia. But if you first need to obtain maximum battery life, then … you always have the opportunity to play Fallout on integrated graphics card Intel. For the test we have chosen a certain set of games, which, in our opinion, reflect the latest trends in contemporary gamedev.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
This game was one of those games, which demonstrated M11x gaming performance during his announcement Dell’om at CES. And on the M11x is really comfortable to play in this modern first-person shooter. Framerate constantly kept and must be kept within acceptable limits, given the fact that Alienware engineers have spent enough time to test this game on the M11x, to ensure a smooth gameplay. With a pair of customization in detail and with overclocked processor framerate never fell below 25 frames per second … which is enough for a gaming notebook.
eft 4 Dead
This is a modern first-person shooter and we had concerns that the M11x cope with them in game situations, when a large crowd of zombies greet the player. And again, M11x did not disappoint our hopes. With average graphics settings we were able to keep the framerate at playable level, with only a single delay when meeting with crowds of zombies.
Mass Effect 2
I played Mass Effect 2 since the day she left, and this combination of RPG and shooter is still one of my favorite games. Since I have already spent hundreds of hours playing it on my desktop at home, I would be very interesting to learn how M11x behave this Space Adventure. Again M11x almost perfectly coped with this task. The only thing we had to shut down in Mass Effect 2, have dynamic shadows and then the framerate never dipped below 20 frames per second, while remaining generally above 30 frames.
Shattred Horizon
Following this success, I began to believe that M11x probably the best invention since the internal combustion engine and … decided to put this little notebook in place, fed him a game that requires a large capacity central processor, Shattred Horizon from Futuremark. Those who are not familiar with Shattred Horizon, I would say that this first-person shooter, whose action takes place in space where all the heroes of the asteroids floating around in the absence of gravity, shooting at anything and everything from all possible angles. This game requires a considerable load on the CPU to calculate the acceleration, thrust, trajectory, etc. … And not only for the main character, but for all the characters and objects around.
And then immediately apparent limitations processor CULV, established in the M11x. Values framerate often dumped on the unit frames per second and it became almost impossible to control movement of the main character and actions of other players like to shoot and avoid hits. Interestingly enough, the framerate been largely, while the settings of detail images. Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce 335M is powerful enough for that. to cope with the calculation of the main characters costumes and asteroids, but the low-voltage Intel processor is not fast enough to cope with all the calculations during the game and maintain an acceptable level of upgrade training.
Sid Meier’s Civilization IV
Since Shattred Horizon exhibited M11x not in the best light, I decided to be kinder to the baby and upload it to an old strategy like Sid Meier’s Civilization IV. Although it also requires quite a considerable amount of computation, in general, actions in the game certainly more peaceful. For the graphics card and there a lot of work, such as calculations of the globe, but again, graphics from Nvidia, straightening his shoulders, easily coped with this stress. Framerate was decent for all time.
Warhammer Dawn of War II
Playing graphically more complex fantastic strategy Warhammer Dawn of War II is faster than in Civilization IV, and the picture is much more of detailed than usually see in strategic games. In general, the framerate remains acceptable all time, but from time to time frames fell below 20, when a large cloud of enemies and explosions filled the screen. But, despite the delays, I believe that Dawn of War can be quite comfortable to play and M11x.
Resident Evil 5
And in the end we decided to kill another pair of zombies, this time in the Resident Evil 5. And … M11x not only coped with Resident Evil 5, but with the default settings framerate was so high that we had to extend the results table in half, so that all the figures fit into it! Briefly we can say that Alieware M11xluchshe suitable games that are more graphic than calculations of the CPU.
As a result, turning off the laptop at the end of the day, we were satisfied with the performance M11x, he fully met our expectations. Of course there have M11x CPU required in games with lots of calculations, but it is definitely the most powerful 11-inch notebook in the world. If you want to play a shooter on the road, the M11x will give you an excellent combination of performance and portability.
Conclusion
Now Alienware M11x and charms, as in the day when it first announced the Dell. Robust construction, compact size, powerful gaming performance and impressively affordable price make it an excellent choice for gamers on the PC that already have high-performance desktop and that need for gaming during travel.
Yes, we would certainly see it, at least, mid-level processor from Intel, at least as an option. No matte screen, coupled with nesnimaemoy battery can also be someone to scare. And whether uncompromising M11x gaming notebook? No. But is he the first gaming notebook, which is so small that it can take with you anywhere? Yes!
Those who want to buy Alienware M11x, need to understand that a weak processor has its limitations and you just do not get to play some games that require significant processing power. In other words, currently M11x ONLY ultraportable notebook, where you can play in “most” of modern games. If you need a compact notebook that you can take with you anywhere and you can accept the fact that in some games you play does not succeed, that the M11x is the perfect choice for you.
And besides … Alienware M11x VOOBSHCHE only at this time ultra gaming notebook.
For:
- Ultra Gaming Notebook
- Beautiful design, construction, keypad, touchpad, etc. etc. etc. ..
- Lights AlienFX
Cons:
- Limited selection of processors
- The lack of a matte screen option
- Built-in battery
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