Alienware M11x Review
Since the Alienware M11x was introduced at CES, we have not stopped scratching our hands, as we wanted to get it - it seemed to be one of the most interesting devices in the “thin and light” category in recent years. It is definitely compact, and the ULV Core 2 Duo is paired with a NVIDIA GT335M GPU inside. This fact makes it, perhaps, the smallest and most powerful laptop of those that are sold. However, power is never cheap - the price of the device will be from $ 799, and in our test configuration (1.3GHz SU7300 Core 2 Duo and 4GB RAM) from $ 949. It is expensive, but if you are an avid gamer, the price is justified. We tested this laptop - let's look together at whether it was possible to combine a relatively attractive appearance and performance.
See and feel
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The M11x, of course, has its share of wide bends - if you glance at it, it may seem that its front end is very similar to the Camaro. In fact, it looks more like a square than you expect, with flat sides and sharp edges along the rest of the body. We almost got the effect of some kind of business device, but the fact of the presence of the backlight is embarrassing. I would like Alienware to use a slightly more pleasant to the touch matte keyboard cover and no glossy black paint. The combination of such finishes and flat surfaces everywhere makes the laptop look cheaper than it seems.
On the sides you can find many different ports: on the left - VGA, USB, which is suitable for charging other devices, Ethernet, HDMI, DisplayPort, card reader, and
Keyboard, touchpad and screen
The keys on the keyboard are not rubber, but in return we get a fairly flat block of buttons with backlighting, located specifically for the convenience of gamers. It would be unfair if we keep silent about the totally crazy effects of AlienFX LED backlighting. You can customize the backlight of the keyboard, the Alienwareo logo, power keys, speakers, and even the status indicator to make it the color you want, or you can make the backlight flow from one color to another, or change colors all the time. It is absolutely not necessary, and somehow incredibly funny - we spent half an hour adjusting the backlight from bright pink to blue, before we stopped on aggressively red and orange colors. This is certainly not news for those who have already dealt with Alienware products, but to see such a function in the device for $ 799 turned out to be somehow wild.
We might have lived without a special menu key and a small Shift on the right, if it meant that the arrows would be large, but on the whole the keyboard is nothing, and you can naturally use the classic WASD key combination during games. The touchpad is also normal - there is certainly no multitouch, but we always liked textured touchpads - the control was pleasant and precise. I would just like the keys to be slightly larger - more than once it was possible not to hit the button with a finger, but past, into the plastic edge of the device case.
We often annoyingly talk about bad displays in cheap laptops, but in the case of the M11x, despite the fact that this is an entry-level product in the company's lineup, there was no need to compromise on the installation of the display.
Performance, video and battery
Will there be enough horsepower in the 1.3GHz SU7300 Core 2 Duo and the connected NVIDIA GT335M GPU to make the M11x a good gaming machine? Let's look at the numbers: with the GT335M disabled, the M11x model shows itself as a completely ordinary ULV laptop with an integrated GMA graphics processor, and the PCMarkVantage3 score is 2698, and the 3DMark06 is exactly 654. But if the GT335M is turned on, a real breakthrough occurs, in this case the PCMarkVantage3 score rises to 3141 and the 3DMark06 score is right up to 5593. This number is certainly lower than Alienware (“over 6,100”) claimed, but, nevertheless, it is real; Batman: Arkham Asylum game started with ease at 25-28fps with an initial resolution (1366 × 768) and a peak at 42fps, and Portal went from 130-200fps, which you will agree, not bad. In addition, our employee Joe Kelly found that Crysis plays in native resolution and 2x anti-aliasing at maximum settings with 8fps, around 15fps at high settings and 20-30fps at medium. BioShock at the maximum settings gave a peak of 120fps, although then it dropped to 55fps (during scenes where there is water or a lot of movement). Not that you would be shocked, but certainly you will not remain indifferent.
| PCMarkVantage | 3DMark06 | Battery life | |
| Alienware M11x (1.3GHz Core 2 Duo, GMA) | 2689 | 654 | 4.5 |
| Alienware M11x (1.3GHz Core 2 Duo, NVIDIA GT 335M) | 3141 | 5593 | N / A |
| Sony VAIO Z (2.53GHz Core i5, NVIDIA GT 330M) | 9949 | 6193 | 4:25 |
| ASUS UL50Vf with NVIDIA Optimus (1.3GHz Core 2 Duo, integrated GMA) | 3724 | 827 | 6:10 |
| ASUS UL50Vf with NVIDIA Optimus (1.3GHz Core 2 Duo, NVIDIA G210M) | 4049 | 3438 | Three to four |
| Lenovo ThinkPad Edge (1.3GHz Core 2 Duo, GMA) | 2955 | 905 | 5:12 |
| Acer Aspire 5738PG (2.55GHz Core 2 Duo, ATI Radeon 4570) | 4049 | 3098 | N / A |
In addition to the ULV performance, we get a ULV battery, which, with the integrated GMA 4500MHD processor, holds the charge like this: our video test lasted 4 and a half hours. There was no opportunity to test the battery while the GT335M was turned on (I didn’t want to wait another two or three hours), but in this mode the battery indicator decreased much faster. And remember - the battery is also integrated - gamers will not be able to simply pull out the battery, insert a new one and continue playing.
Something else should be said about the possibility of switching graphics on this device: now NVIDIA's Optimus hybrid technology is present in the ASUS UL50Vf laptop, and there it works as it should, and the M11x requires some programs to exit to switch the graphics mode. During this procedure, the laptop screen goes out, it all seems unpleasant. This is certainly not the worst property in the world, but it’s hard to know that such a solution in the UL50Vf works automatically. And we, of course, expect that this will be fixed in the next version.
Generalization
Do not fall in love with the M11x after spending so much time with it. This machine combines the qualities of a netbook and a traditional laptop, keeps the balance between non-standard ways of development, which leads to original compromises - the device contains the size of a netbook, while having a price like a few ordinary laptops, and weight too. It has a slow processor, but a fast GPU that eats the battery quite voraciously. M11x is like a cross between a spacecraft and a powerful car. Whether these specific features of a laptop are affected or not depends, probably, on how much time you will spend on games that are demanding of resources and how much time you are ready to spend on a device with a small screen. We are almost sure that if you decide to buy this machine, you will not be disappointed, however, we continue to demand from NVIDIA Optimus, and perhaps a slightly faster processor.
Other photos of the laptop
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/85362/
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