Alienware M11x: World’s Smallest Gaming Laptop
by Jarred Walton on March 30, 2010 8:16 AM ESTStill Great Battery Life
With all the gaming performance on tap, and despite the lack of Optimus Technology, the M11x still manages to deliver great battery life results. Alienware puts an 8-cell 63Wh "Prismatic" battery in the M11x, which is quite large for an 11.6" chassis. Even better is that Alienware manages to keep the chassis looking clean, as opposed to designs like the Dell 11z where the large 6-cell battery juts out the bottom. We calibrated the LCD for ~100nits as always and found that a brightness setting of 60% (three steps down from maximum brightness) gave us the desired result.
The best-case results will give you typical CULV run times: over 4.5 hours of x264 playback, 7+ hours of Internet surfing, or just shy of 9 hours of idle battery life. If you don't like fussing with the BIOS, we suggest you run the M11x at the overclocked setting all the time; you still get over four hours of x264 video playback, 6.5 hours of web surfing, and 7 hours of idle battery life. Try that with any other "gaming" laptop and you'll likely end up disappointed. Relative battery life puts the M11x just slightly behind other 11.6" CULV laptops (Acer 1810T and Dell 11z) and on par with the Gateway EC54. Again, we really like switchable graphics and Optimus, as it allows users to get the best of both worlds… except Optimus appears to be the way of the future since you get better driver support (at least that's what NVIDIA is saying right now—we'll confirm when we see the next public Verde driver).
Of course, if you want to play games without plugging in—which means using the GT335M, naturally—you're going to get significantly less battery life. We conducted a gaming battery life test as well, with the CPU overclocked. The M11x managed just over two hours (126 minutes) before shutting down, though it did provide the same great gaming performance in the interim. If you need to play games for 90 minutes or less on your daily commute, and you don't mind the strange looks on the faces of your fellow passengers, the M11x will provide a nice outlet. However, it works better for gaming if you have ready access to an AC outlet, in which case the battery is just a safeguard against losing your progress with the power goes out.
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JarredWalton - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
Hi everyone,In case you have any questions for me, I'm very likely not going to be able to respond for a few days. My wife is in labor, and I'll be heading out shortly, so wish us luck! Hope you enjoy the M11x review!
Cheers,
Jarred Walton
Lunyone - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
Good luck! Hope all goes well with mom and kid. Hope that they both are healthy and I'll officially welcome you to parenthood! Lot's of work and sleepless nights, but well worth it, IMHO!JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - link
Corbin Derrik Walton was born yesterday (March 30) at 2:33PM PDT.Mom and baby are doing fine, and we had a great experience. We used a midwife and delivered at the local birthing center, and after having my first daughter delivered in a hospital I have to say that this was an awesome change--much more intimate and relaxed, and the birthing tub was extremely helpful!
This is my second child, but Becky (my new wife's) first, and she was amazing! After around eight hours of labor, she gave birth au natural to our gigantic baby boy: 10 pounds, 4 ounces, and 21.5 inches long! We're back home, I managed to get some sleep for the first time in two days, and mom is trying to do likewise (with less success of course, since there's a big little boy wanting food on a regular basis).
Thanks for the well wishes, and thanks for the comments... I'll have to look through them in detail later.
--Jarred
Matt Campbell - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
Congratulations Jarred! Great news :)therealnickdanger - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
On the "baby and stuff":Congratulations and God bless!
On the article:
Very nice, I'm happy that you pointed out the lack of Optimus, Arrandale CULV, and driver issues. Even if the MX11 was $500, I would still hesitate given the potential for the MX11 mark 2. I was very excited for the MX11 after CES... then what seemed like only a month later I saw all the press surrounding Optimus and Arrandale CULV. Bad timing, indeed.
teko - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
Good luck =)fabarati - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
Congratulations Jarred!at80eighty - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
Best wishes man! hope all goes smooth & happy!Voo - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
All the best and don't worry about us! We'll just wait and bombard your mailbox with mails.. uh no that wasn't a threat, really ;)MonkeyPaw - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
Hope your baby enjoys his/her new gaming notebook!