Rypac1502

That's pretty cool Gears, nice work.

There's not a huge difference between the i5 and i7, especially when it comes to gaming. You would yield a substantially bigger performance increase by overclocking the GPU than choosing the i7 over the i5. Also for the native screen resolution, you're not going to notice a difference between the 1GB and 2GB GPU memory. If you are connecting to higher resolution external monitors, maybe you could consider it but not if you are just carrying it around for LANs. Stalk that outlet!

Hey mav, I've had my M11xR2 for coming up to 2 years now, so I hope I can help you out. I assume you want to get the M11x for its portability + gaming capability? Because honestly, that is probably the only reason I would suggest getting one. Don't get me wrong, I love my little beast and it has served me well but my R2 is starting to show its age in more recent title (such as BF3 and The Witcher 2). I can see you've already ruled out the R2, which is a good step. There is a performance increase over the R1 (for CPU bound games) but it isn't huge and the R1 definitely wins out in temperatures and battery life. I've also seen some nice mods on the R1 which give it more of an edge. However, I think you'll find that the R3 is quite an improvement over its predecessors. The i7 Sandy is definitely going to win out over the C2D and the GT 540M is quite a step up from the GT 335M. My friend owns an R3 and I can also say that it has much better battery life than the R2 and not too far off the R1, it runs cooler, has a better quality screen, more robust hinges and the nice soft-touch lid like the R2 (purely subjective ). @unreal25 owns (or did own?) an R3 and made a thread regarding some of the improvements he found as a direct replacement of his R1. Give that a read if you have the time: http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m11x/1648-m11x-r3-screen-comparisons.html For the time being, it seems the M11x line has been discontinued and there are some upcoming ultrabooks with specs that aren't too far off those of the R3. My personal opinion would be if you found an R3 for the right price and in good condition, grab it. I wouldn't recommend picking up an R1 or R2 unless you found one for dirt cheap. Keep in mind that there are a few new entries into this size category which win out against the M11x in terms of performance or screen quality or weight/dimensions. Just ask if you have any more questions.

@draiken From my (short) experience with the 720QM, those temps are a pretty high. I threw everything I could at mine before my 920XM arrived and I don't think I ever saw it break 75C. A repaste will definitely help your GPUs. Mine hit 110C when I first received my R2 (which I assume is the reason the guy was selling it) but after a repasting I sit around 75C, OC'd and playing BF3. No laptop cooler, just propping up the back of the laptop.

Nice work widezu, can't wait to see your reults. From what I've heard so far, the 7970m packs much more punch than I was expecting. I'm keen as to get one for my R2 but it is a little expensive to get one sent out to Oz at the moment. Sounds like it would be a whole lot easier if the 120Hz screen wasn't exclusive to the Nvidia cards though.

+1 unreal, I loved Xwing VS Tie Fighter! I am a pretty big Star Wars fan and that series were some of the first games I ever played. I remember playing the original Tie Fighter on floppy discs... I also really enjoyed the Witcher 2. I found there was quite a bit of depth to it when you started experimenting with creating traps, bombs and potions.

Thanks svl7, I think I'll wait a while and grab a Clevo card. The 69XX Clevo cards seemed to be less trouble in the R2... and I don't like my chances with a Dell rep.

@widezu69 You've got me excited now... In that case, I think I've got it planned out. I could sell a few things and gather the funds to buy one and maybe in a year or so, add another for XF when the prices have dropped. Now I need to find somewhere to purchase one. Any ideas?

@unreal That was my reaction too. I really hope that the 7970m will play nicely with the R2. It seems just one of them would be quite an upgrade over my 5870ms.

Poor old M11x got cut from the line up. Oh well, it really couldn't compete against those wafer thin ultrabooks. I'm still hoping for a refresh on the screens for the rest of them. Both a quality and resolution bump would be nice.

Haha, perfect meme. I also find it hard to believe that getting a replacement upgrade would be that easy. Dell were more than happy to replace some of my parts but when I asked for a replacement bottom panel on my M11x (some of the screws are a bit stripped) they wouldn't have a bar of it and were going to charge me $160 for the replacement panel! No. Thanks.

I could probably do that but I think it's best we leave him alone for a little while... for a few days at least.

That screen on the R3 looks x10 better unreal. I've always been pretty disappointed with the colours, brightness and viewing angles on my R2, it is my main gripe with the machine and looks alot like your R1. It sounds like a much bigger improvement overall. I'm glad that it finally worked out for you and you got a decent upgrade. As for overclocking the GPU, I use MSI Afterburner on my R2. EVGA Precision is also good but personally I found my clocks to be a little more stable with Afterburner. My R2 can't take much of an OC though, so try them both out. Have fun benching.

Thanks unreal, it went well actually. All it was, was a dying CMOS, which I had told Dell on the phone. They still insisted that I needed a replacement mobo, so I just said whatever and let them have their way. When the tech came out he asked what the problem was and when I told him, he was curious to know why I needed a whole new motherboard. I said that it was the phone support who were so insistent on it and he understood. He didn't seem to impressed with the guys who had organised it as I think he had to make some calls as to why he didn't replace my whole mobo. So in the end, I got a new CMOS battery installed and that was it. Everything is working great and the tech was actually really good. Nothing like the horror stories that I have heard. Also, thanks for letting me know about the replacement. I'm also secretly hoping my R2 dies in about a years time just before warranty runs out so I can gun for an R3 (or R4) replacement.

Nice work unreal, I'm glad it worked out for you. I've got a Dell tech coming out to replace the mobo on my M11x today so I hope they don't botch it up. Looking forward to seeing the benches.