Alienware M11x R2 - My New Toy (unboxing pics)

[kent1146]

I got a new toy in the mail today: an Alienware M11x R2 laptop. I have been travelling more and more for work lately, and spending more time away from home. I wanted something that was capable of putting out some serious gaming power, and it was time to retire my Dell XPS M1330. Order placed on Monday night, got here Wednesday afternoon.

Alienware M11x

• Intel Core i5 520UM 1.066Ghz / 1.866Ghz CPU
• 4GB DDR3 RAM @ 800Mhz
• nVidia GeForce GT 335M 1GB RAM GPU & Intel GMA GPU - uses Intel GPU for 2D tasks for battery life, and automatically switches to the GT335M GPU during 3D usage through nVidia Optimus technology)
• OCZ Agility 120GB SSD (aftermarket)
• 11.6" WLED display (1366x768 native res)
• Battery Life: 5.0 - 5.5 hours productivity use, 2.0-2.5 hours on battery-based gaming
• Windows 7 Home Premium w/Alienware Goodies (customized lighting, facial recognition software, etc)
• 4.5lbs weight

I cleaned up the pre-installed hardware to get RAM usage down to 800MB at boot. Initial gaming tests in Left 4 Dead 2 gets me 45-50fps (1366x768, 4xAA, 16xAF, Vsync w/Tripple buffer, all details maxed). DAMN, SON! This laptop's got some kick to it!


So without further delay, here are the unboxing pics:

Box Arrives From FedEx Delivery:



Shipping Container On Its Side:



Opening the Shipping Container - Inner Laptop Box:



Inner Laptop Box w/Alienware Head:



Inner Laptop Box w/Alienware Head:



Opening Laptop Box:

Alien font says "ALIENWARE"

Accessories - Power Adapter, Manual, Recovery CD:

A RECOVERY CD? Come On, Dell! You can do better than that!

Laptop Safely Encased In Foam:



Laptop in Felt / Microfiber Sleeve:



Alienware M11x R2 - Top View:

[kent1146]

Alienware M11x R2 - Front View:



Alienware M11x R2 - Side View:

DisplayPort, HDMI Port, Powered USB Port, 10/100 Ehternet Port, SIM Card Slot, SD/MMC Slot/ 4-pin Firewire Port

Powered USB Port provides power to USB devices even when laptop is off / sleeping

Alienware M11x R2 - Side View:

Power Adapter Port

Alienware M11x R2 - Side View:

2x Headphone Ports, Microphone Port, 2x USB Ports

Alienware M11x R2 - Under Side:



Laser Engraved Name Plate:



Alienware M11x Opened



Size Comparison w/Dell XPS M1330 (13.3")



Another Toy - ThermalTake BlacX Duet dual-drive USB / eSATA Hard Drive Docking Station

[kent1146]

ThermalTake BlacX Duet

HDD Dock, power adapter, eSATA Cable, USB Cable

Alienware M11x R2 - Under Side Opened:

Pulling the pre-installed Hard Drive to clone it over to an SSD

The Old Hard Drive:

Western Digital Scorpio Black 250GB 7200rpm

Side-By-Side Comparison:

WD Scorpio 250GB 7200rpm & OCZ Agility 120GB SSD

Using the ThermalTake Dock to Clone the Drives



Cloning the Hard Drives

This eSATA Dock is FAST! 5 Minutes to Clone 40GB

SSD Installed in the Alienware M11x - First Boot

I changed the default red lighting color scheme to a mixed blue/green scheme.

Starting Windows for the First Time



Configuring Windows - First Boot



Configuration Complete - Starting Windows

[kent1146]

Desktop



Windows System Information



Task Manager :

Hyperthreading goodness! I would eventually clean up the installed software, and get RAM usage down to ~800MB at boot.

Windows System Rating

The Low 3.2 Desktop Performance is due to the Integrated Intel GMA GPU. The laptop automatically switches over to the nVidia GeForce GT 335M during 3D Accelerated Apps, which is why the Gaming Graphics score is so much higher.

[PriMaTe]

Good stuff! thanks for all of the pictures. Does it really get 3 hrs of hard gaming on a charge? or is that just what alienware says?

Looks like the keys are backlit orange? I like that

[kent1146]

Thanks for the comments.

My rough initial testing (basically, gamed hard on it until the battery was ~75%, and it showed about 2:01 left on it before the battery meter had a chance to "refresh") showed about 3 hours of game time. The different reviews and benchmarks out there confirm this.

And the laptop is backlit red by default. Cool thing is that you can change the color of the backlighting to whatever you want, with each "zone" using its own color. For example, right now, I have a red Alienware logo under my LCD, a blue keyboard, and pulsating blue/purple coming out from the speaker grilles in the front. Combine that with the facial recognition software to log in to Windows, and I gotta say... screw all of the Apple fanboys out there who think that Macs are the cat's meow. This is the coolest f*cking computer I have ever used.

[kpxgq]

my desktop geforce gt240 scores a 6.8 on the win7 score... i thought the gt335m would score higher?

[proxops-pete]

is it just me or the pics don't show up??

[kent1146]

Works for me.

Did you try refreshing, or using a different browser?

[ImaNihilist]

I can't tell if that's a large notebook or a small desktop.

[kent1146]

You can consider it a large netbook