Dell Alienware M11X Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 Gaming Notebook PC

It's a netbook in size only. This thing is a gaming POWERHOUSE! It can play all of the latest games, the only thing it lacks is an optical drive, but i gains by a pre-install of the Steam Client and Portal for free. only thing that i don't like how the backplate isn't customizable anymore, and you can't laser etch your name into the plate when you buy off of amazon. It stock includes 4Gbs of RAM 250Gb 7200 RPM HDD and a semi-old (but extremely powerful) Intel dual core processor. I've been able to play these so far with 30+ FPS:

TF2

HL2

Black Ops

L4D

L4D2

Modern Warfare 2

Postal 2

Portal

Portal 2

Counter-Strike: Source

Homefront.

It's amazingly awesome, haven't had any problems yet! Tech support is appearently bad but i hear that you've been able to contact through Dell and not Alienware. Great resolution screen (I can play Crysis 2 with 25 FPS with native res) cheap cheap optical drives floating around as an option. Has great speakers! i have really really bad acoustics in my family room, but with the speakers up all the way i can hear it from the back of my house! So many LED's with alienware LED software and if your computer has a problem, you can use Alien Re-spawn, which comes with this computer. Has LED's on the hard drive, fan on the bottom, illuminative keyboard, and on the dual speakers in the front. It's classified as an ultra-portable and that's exactly what it is. 7+ hours on integrated graphics. Oh! and you can switch the graphics almost instantly with the press of a button from discrete to integrated. (Intel HD graphics 3000). Can overclock by going into the BIOS and just selecting "overclock enable/disable". Great computer, affordable price. Great video quality, and good Internet connectivity, great for streaming media like YouTube and Netflix. As an added bonus, if you order from Dell, you can ship it with a game and accessories like a keyboard and mouse, and also customizable LED's from the website factory installed to your personal liking. Has a great metal casing that is VERY durable. BEST computer I've ever had!

The laptop itself is great. The first couple days it will seem glitchy and thats because you need to do all of the updates for its especially windows 7 service pack 1. After that the blue screens of death stopped.Mine came with one of the rubber stands on the bottom shorter than the others so when you rest your left palm on it it jiggles. I just superglued a penny to it and the problem is gone.

You should buy this from another source because this seller didn't respond to my emails to resolve an issue. My issue was that literally the day after I bought they slashed $50.00 of the price and I didn't think it was fair and that it would be alot more efficient for them to refund me the difference rather than go to the trouble of returning it for a full refund only to buy the same computer again. I thought of doing that but I loved the laptop so much that I decided to go ahead and keep it because it was a price I was willing to pay to begin with and I still had consumer surplus.

Buy Dell Alienware M11X Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 Gaming Notebook PC Now

When first purchasing this I did not know what to think. Wanted a good laptop but did not want to pay alot of money for. Went to Dell site and for everything laptop has in it put it why over the price I purchased it for. It Intell dual Core processing speed 1.30Ghz,4GB OF Ram and can expand up to 8GB. And a 250GB Harddrive and a very good 11.1 viewing screen with a 720p HD viewing and a dedicated graphics cards 1GB which means one hella gaming machine. Other features I like lighted keyboard face recondition wireless abgn and webcam and mike. All this for one low price and would deal with this retailer again. Thanks bulldog7062

Read Best Reviews of Dell Alienware M11X Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 Gaming Notebook PC Here

I bought this laptop used with upgrades including a 500GB 7200RPM Hard Disk Drive, brand new internal LCD, and an external DVD-RW Drive with Lightscribe for $377 USD. It also came with the soft case, box, and everything else you'd get with it had it been purchased new. Despite being an excellent buy for the money, I was a bit concerned if it would be a good enough buy for myself, as its intended use was to be a work computer for graphic design and animation. After using the machine, I can honestly say that I am more than satisfied with its work capability, primarily in Photoshop CS6.

My main concern when buying the laptop was with the LCD; as the LCD is the first thing one looks at when buying a laptop, considering it cannot be upgraded; it can only be pushed to the side by adding a second (or third?) external monitor via side video ports. I thought that there was no way that an 11.6" screen would suffice for work, but the M11x has the same resolution as the much larger, 15.6" laptop screens at work.

My second concern was the fact that it didn't have an internal optical drive, but an internal view reveals that the space where an optical drive is normally stored is occupied by a portion of the immense battery instead. I primarily utilize USB and SD cards for data storage and transfer, but the fact that the seller also included an external optical drive removed any doubts from my mind. With the battery in mind, I must say that I am overwhelmed by the battery life of this laptop. This laptop is several years old with the original battery, yet the battery life is true to the boxed specifications despite the fact that the battery has been heavily used and has to power the CPU I have overclocked to 1.7Ghz.

The overclocking process was painless. A quick trip into the BIOS reveals an overclocking option that is a simple toggle. There is no messing with voltages. Depending on your personal preference, this may be a pro or a con. Although I was expecting a little more to play with inside the BIOS, I understand that laptops are laptops and desktop options would only drain the valued battery life. Overall I am pleased with not having to enter the BIOS from time to time in order to refine things, the main thing that I'd need to change in the bios can actually be altered from within the Windows OS on the fly.

The dual GPUs are amazing! Simply press a command on the keyboard and swap video cards without having to enter the BIOS. Battery life is excellent with the more powerful GPU alongside an overclocked CPU. As for the software side of things, Windows 8 installed flawlessly and works without issue with the Alienware software. Boot speed is drastically improved from the Windows 7 experience. The Alienware software is easy to use, and really allows your personality to shine through with the various color options you can assign to your backlit keyboard, logo, etc. In an sea of whitewashed Macintoshs and other drab laptops, this option really allows an artist to be expressive in a positive way.

As far as the wireless networking goes, the wifi seems to work well for connecting to the network and accessing the internet. So far there are no issues with that at home, the office, or on the go at cafes etc. The only negative thing I can comment on is that I have issues transferring large files from PC to Laptop or vice versa. I haven't taken the time to troubleshoot my aging network, so I cannot blame these issues on the laptop; at least not yet anyways. My network currently is in need of upgrades to be brought up to the Wireless N and Gigabit standards of today's hardware.

There are some pros and cons with the laptop, but considering the price, the pros heavily outweigh the cons.

Pros:

-customizable lighting that compliment both the form and function of the device

-extensive battery life

-dual GPUs

-ease of use

-sharp screen resolution. Screen size would be a con, but I can't objectively complain when the amount of pixels included is the same amount as a much larger 15.6" display.

Cons:

-No DirectX 11 support

-No internal optical drive (not really a con for me, but I'm grasping for straws to include some cons)

Final Thoughts:

This laptop really packs a punch despite its size and age. Considering that this laptop is being hauled to and from work in a case along with the charger and a 15" Wacom Intuos5 Touch Medium Pen Tablet (PTH650), I am now really starting to appreciate its lightweight 11.6" form factor. For under $400 It can't be beat. At around $500, buyers might have to weigh their options. At about $529 plus shipping (depending on retailer), the Acer Aspire V3-551G-8454 Gaming Notebook is a formidable challenger. It too has dual GPUs thanks to the A8 processor and 7670M dedicated video card. It has the same resolution, but it is stretched across a larger screen. Same desktop area, larger image, but a fuzzier picture. The GPUs support DirectX11, but with AMD (ATI) chips that do not support CUDA. If you need to utilize CUDA for various programs including Adobe CS6, then the Alienware is for you. The Acer has the internal optical drive, but sacrifices 25% of the battery you'd get with the Alienware. On the other hand, the Alienware laptop sacrifices the full sized keyboard you'd get with Acer in favor of the sharper image and 11.6" form factor. One final thought would be my personal preference for Dell's customer support over Acer support.

WORD OF CAUTION:

This model laptop was recalled due to an issue with the VGA components in the laptop hinge that was prone to breakage. When buying this laptop, be sure to check that the laptop was sent to Dell for supported repairs, or be sure that you will be able to do it yourself after purchase.

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