Alienware M11X early review: Real gaming on a netbook

By Rory Reid on 29 January 2010, 1:03pm

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There are plenty of words in our language that don't go well together. Examples include 'airline' and 'food', 'military' and 'intelligence', 'black' and 'Russian'. None of these, however, are as oxymoronic as those that describe the M11X -- 'Alienware' and 'netbook'.

We got a chance to play with this thing last night and we're not ashamed to say a little sliver of drool oozed out. Whereas most devices of this type look cute, this bad little boy exudes a meanness usually reserved for its larger siblings. It's littered with LED lights and looks like it'd be just as handy for running iPlayer as for bludgeoning someone to death.

Like the Acer Ferrari One, it uses an 11-inch, 1,366x768-pixel screen. Unlike its rival, however, it has the 3D horsepower to really make the most of that display. In addition to a slow, but battery-friendly, Intel integrated graphics chip, it can automatically switch without rebooting to an Nvidia GeForce GT 335M unit. According to Nvidia, this offers 30 times the performance of standard netbook graphics, meaning the M11X should be able to run Call of Duty without batting an eyelid, and even have a stab at more demanding titles (Crysis, anyone?).

Unlike most netbooks, which use weedy little Atom chips, the M11X we looked at uses an Intel U4100. Very few details on this processor are available, but we believe it to be a dual-core part which, in theory, should make the M11X noticeably quicker than its rivals. In addition, Alienware had thrown 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive and a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium into the bargain, though we suspect final machines to be customisable by end users.

We're not too sure when the M11X will go on sale, but word on the grapevine is it'll sell for under $1,000 (£620), which isn't bad considering the unique blend of horsepower and portability you're getting. We're chasing Alienware for a proper review sample, but in the meantime you can take a look at some of the pictures we took during our short time with it.

Update: Alienware says the M11X will have a base price of $799 (£498).

Comments 11

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anonymous 29 January, 2010 14:57

If you meant the processor was a SU4100 (which I assume you do as at the press conference they said they would use a CULV processor) then there are already many computers with this chip. Examples are the acer 1810TZ and 4810TZ (windows 7 version) an many other CULV laptops. It is a dual core 1.3GHz 2Mb L2.

anonymous 29 January, 2010 20:10

It's not a netbook. Stop calling it a netbook. No Core 2 Duo, GS45-based computer is a netbook.

Matt Mach 33 29 January, 2010 22:15

It's just a high performance ultraportable more than a netbook. Given it's pricing (assuming the base gets the SU4100 and the GT335M spec)it looks quite tempting for me as a second pc.

MuffinWrath 30 January, 2010 01:17

Base model at Â£500. Wow think i might get it :)

anonymous 30 January, 2010 02:36

Sold

anonymous 30 January, 2010 17:23

I'd buy that for a dollar, I'll still buy it for a lot more than that. Stuff the iFad, THIS is the future of ultraportables hehehehehehe

Matt Mach 33 31 January, 2010 21:50

Base model at Â£500, but the SU4100 and the GT335M may not be base model. We'll have to wait and see

anonymous 2 February, 2010 21:21

order page up on Alienware website and it is Â£749 not Â£498. More rip off britain? Aren't the machines assembled in Ireland so why the higher cost compared to the US ($799). Now if it was bang for buck (and not about portability) would you rather have an 18 inch laptop running i7 and GTX220 for cheaper than you can spec this?

anonymous 8 February, 2010 12:23

Alienware are a bloody joke... Â£750 for a base model for the UK and $799 for a base model in US? I sure as hell won't be buying this piece of crap. Considering I can now pre-order a notebook with the Core i5 4GB RAM and a Nvidia 310 for Â£100 less which will own this bottlenecked crapbook. Alienware can stick this pimped-out netbook back up their rear-ends from where this came.

anonymous 10 February, 2010 14:58

It's netbook based on screensize. Under 12" it is so it's a netbook. Think of the size up, 13.3" is most definetley NOT a netbook but barely just a laptop.

I'm no longer 100% sure that this laptop would be my solution to travel AND running Dragon Age, something that thrashes Mass Effect 2 interms of stressing the system. Afterall Mass Effect 2 was made for and optimised for the 360 then ported.

The SU7300 (1.3ghz Core 2 Duo) will overclock to 1.7ghz when told to via the bios. Making it a potentially damn tasty compromise. Even higher clock-speed to work done ratio on this thing could be quite unexpected.

The Nvidia 310 has no where near the power of the 355 (as its a rebranded 210), and while I'd love Core i5 support, I'm not sure it's gonna happen. Apparently there where arguements for 'both sides' by Alienware employees.

The i3 seems very possible, the i5... I'm not sure, but an i7 would melt it. The larger HP Envy gets rather toasty with it in.

Apparently the SSD makes a huge difference to battery life and general performance.

Also to people talking about 17"+ laptops, you seem to have COMPLETELY missed the point of this product. I'd buy it to have a decent solution when commuting. Infact many laptops around 15" and over are a damn hassle to bring around.

anonymous 4 March, 2010 17:35

Most games bottlenecks on graphics card. Even you got a i3,i5 or i7, these won't run games like modern warfare 2 if you got crappy graphic cards. You cannot even compare a third class gpu like Nvidia 310 with a 2nd top class gpu like 335.