unreal25

Good advice. Even if people are familiar with Power Management, I imagine they often forget to tweak out the "Advanced Settings". I played a lot with these settings on my M11x and Thinkpads. I'd go further and say if you want to squeeze out more battery life, check out Intel Graphics: It will make graphic little more washed out (bleak) in Windows but from what I remember it gave me decent boost in terms of battery life (~15-20% or so). Also, unless you need to be online on battery, DISABLE the WiFi! (Press Start+X then turn it off there.) That alone usually provides a significant boost (>=30%).

Yeah, the music is simply epic!

Yes, I guess it depends what you're comparing it with. If until now, one has only used CRT displays, I'm sure the M11x display will look excellent. If you used for example Mac, the screen will be a significant downgrade (compared to pretty much any of their TN displays). My, personal, opinion is that M11x display belongs to low-end "Inspiron" line and certainly not in supposedly premium Alienware line. The display is still probably OK if its the same as R1, I even used it outside to watch a soccer world cup, although with a lot of trouble. On that scale, Macbook Pro's graphic performance is then also "excellent". Then again, a sort-of competitor, HP ENVY has a Radiance screen; is that one also excellent? Yes, but then it's quite a bit "more excellent" than M11x screen, isn't it? I don't think a colorimeter is a necessity. Often it is informative to just put two (or few) laptops side by side and look at the same image. Who doesn't have a Macbook these days? Just saying, a decent reviewer will have some knowledge of the available screens today on laptops in the same or similar category. Point being, lower your standards sufficiently and any laptop will get 5/5 stars in any category. With the hinge problem fixed, M11x is probably still a decent laptop. But to say that it has no cons, it's far, far from the truth. On that note, the only con they mention: starting price in the US is $1k, I think that's fine for what you get with it. (Again if that's a con, argument it with a bit cheaper laptop in this range that can deliver similar specs/build/performance.)

LOL... the fans started blasting even before he entered the game.... It sounds like M17x when I am running Furmark.

I didn't like the KitGuru review- it doesn't give any actual con. I'd also like to argument this with couple of points: - They mention the screen is excellent and has great color gamut. There are no numbers provided, however. Again, excellent is a very subjective thing. I'd say IPS is excellent. RGB LED is excellent. Most of the TN are decent, mediocre or crap. If we start rating things with great as a worst description, what's the point of doing it at all? That said Thinkpad X200 screen I had (matte TN) was better for me than M11x, because I could actually see stuff on it when I was outside - despite the fact that it certainly had all the numbers worse than M11x display. - "The battery life is very strong." Errr.... welcome to 2011? < 5 hours just browsing the internet is pretty mediocre for an ultraportable laptop, especially the one based on Sandy Bridge platform. 2:50 watching the movie? I easily got 5-5.5 hours on M11x-R1. The results are really bad actually and are in line with bigger, more power hungry, laptops. (See: M17x-R3.) Also keep in mind here, the screen is extremely reflective - it takes some effort to find a decent angle to watch a movie. - "keyboard is a good size". Unless they did some kind of remarkable redesign (from the pics it looks exactly the same as R1) - keyboard is actually extremely cramped. The best thing about it, it shows no flex (I don't see what 'little' flex they see there.) but I often find it annoying to try to type on it since the keys are so close together. I mean it sort of works, but its far from comfortable. I ended up pressing the wrong key very often. Lastly, I wouldn't want to drop it. It may be well constructed on the inside, but I wouldn't be so sure about the cover.

Yeah I like the Thinkpad, the design doesn't look that bad IRL. In terms of feel and construction, M11x feels mile behind, like any other consumer laptop in comparison (to Thinkpad). The M11x "stylish" finish can be scratched really easily (especially on the bottom) and there is very slight peeling on the corners. Not to mention the falling rubber feet, keyboard imprints on the screen, inability of the screen lid to actually stay closed, weak bottom panel construction: tech opened it once and one of the screws broke so you couldn't screw it back in and the entire design is pretty hostile for doing any kind of user servicing. The M11x build quality is significantly behind (even though you actually get completely different first impression) both M17x-R2 and two Thinkpad X-series (12" ultraportable) I used. You only get to experience these things if you really own laptop sufficiently long so I doubt any short review will notice these things.

LOL... I thought "Liking" someone's post did that.

I miss playing 2-player multiplayer games in split screen with my friend. We used to play tons of games like that before. I haven't played Another World (it looks cool), but played otherwise tons of strategies and adventures. But, my all-time favorite is Fallout series. I like the games where you build stuff, even if it's just for the kicks (Theme Park, Theme Hospital, SimCity etc. )

Ah OK - I thought maybe that's a seller proxy or something who can get you good prices on eBay.

Just curious, what do you guys think would sell easiest, or for the most money? This is the 4th time I'll be repairing my M11x, so I'll be requesting a new laptop. I heard that one can typicall be offered either M11x R2/R3 or Dell XPS 15, since they are in similar price range (~$1K). I also paid $200 extra for 1 year extra warranty but I am not sure whether that will count into what I could get. I checked Dell website so or $1K, I could get something like XPS 15 with B+RG LED and a 2year basic warranty (or 1year + 9-cell battery etc). Otherwise I could probably haggle at least the M11x-R2. I'm looking into getting out about $850 back. If by any chance I can get M14x, even the minimum specced, I'd expect that could sell easily for $1K. Also I'd avoid selling on eBay - I'd rather post around different forums.

Yeah, I used to be. I just prefer to post elsewhere where I don't feel I have a sniper aimed at my head each time I make a post. I still go to their Thinkpad forums. Btw, who's Dianna?

Pf I wasted money on MX-4 and AS5. I could've just went with ketchup (moreover, mine is organic) and my toothpaste.

StevenX did mention it does look pretty cramped on the inside. 100 F is relatively warm for a palmrest. What's underneath it? I thought both CPU and GPU are positioned further back. Another thing I note by rereading his posts - he is running at M11x-resolution: 1366x768. There's a choice either going with lower-res screen but getting higher performance, or a little higher res, but little lower performance.

Ha, it does seem little convenient. But its a good news nevertheless.

Yeah I've seen it too - still pretty pricey. Then again they are for very specific usage.

Welcome! Bench long and prosper!

Yeah it does pack a lot of power - those are really good scores for 14". I don't like the sound of its fan tho (pun intended ). According to Steven its as loud as M17x-R2 when its fans are on max. I completely agree on the display. M14x is supposed to be top of the line laptop in 14" range - subpar display on $1.4K laptop just doesn't seem right. I just don't get what the heck Dell is doing with their laptop lines. Their eXtreme Performance Shit laptops are back - uglier than ever - with really good display options. But from what I read - again with overheating problems. Why not just toss away 50 crap laptops from their lineup (and thats an understatement) and make 3-4 good ones, with nice options that could be customized. Not saying it has to be super-great-IPS but e.g. HP ENVY has some nice Radiance displays.

That seems a little off. M17x-R2 scores about 4k from what I remember.

Yeah StevenX is a nice chap. I remember him from the old days... when our M11xes still had their hinges. Btw you're apparently even allowed to compare R2 vs R3 here.

Welcome aboard! I've no idea what Trash80 is. But I like the idea of the original post, so let me do the same while I wait for some crap in my office. @Mods, possibly move the thread somewhere where intro posts fit into? I started with Commodore64 with imba tape drive when I was a kid (I think 7 years old). When I was 10 I (finally!) got my first PC. It was a real beauty: Intel 486DX-2 66 MHz and I think 400MB HD + ADI 14" color monitor + 14.4K modem. It had sort-of-a turbo boost: you'd press a button on the case and it boosts from 33 MHz to 66 MHz. The days of MS-DOS, Norton Commander, ah... good ol' days... We had 3 academic institutions that offered internet access, each had ~20-30 dialup spots (for the country of about 4milion people btw). I figured out what the heck all these IP addresses, DNS servers, PPP protocols and similar crap are and voila. In 1994, unreal25 comes online for the first time (without a nick tho). A new internet era is being born! Next I upgraded to using CD-ROM, then during my high school I believe I had Pentium 120 MHz or so. That part of my memory is kind of blurry. I do remember the shit 15" screen tho. Last year of high school (18 years old), I'm saving my money like mad, starving basically and buy a new baby. Intel Celeron 466 MHz that I later successfuly oc'd to 700 MHz it was boosted by Riva TNT 16MB . Papa Ashtefere would be proud! Going a bit more forward, I am running 3 computers: - Alienware M17x-R2 in my sig - Thinkpad X200 tablet - Dell Inspiron 531 (AMD dual core 2 GHz) as a home server Where am I going next? Only time can tell.

Ashtefere mod coming in 3, 2, 1,... Nice review, I'm sure the noise can be reduced at least a little with some modding. I'd try the simplest thing first - thermal paste as StamatisX said and see where you can go from there.

Oh sweet! I always wanted to visit 'down under'.

Upstate New York currently. Originally from Croatia.

I don't remember hearing Dell changed the screens on M11x (correct me if I am wrong), they just did something to the hinge. So, assuming it's the same type of screen as on R1, this is how it looks like vs Thinkpad X200t with the glossy screen (w/ anti-reflectivity layers): Btw, this is taken in a pretty dark room.