Dell’s first version of the minuscule 11.6-inch gaming laptop, the Alienware M11x, remains an attractive option for several reasons. One of the more important ones is that the laptop is exceptionally affordable today, since there are newer alternatives available,
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Dell Alienware M11X 11.6 Inch Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300,1.3GHz,4GB RAM,320GB HDD,WLAN,Webcam,Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit) 12 total customer reviews... |
The base hardware of the Alienware M11x R1 still holds up very well and the laptop is capable of playing all current games, even if the details will have to be turned down a few notches in the more demanding titles.
It gets its gaming capability from the included Nvidia GT 335M–a mobile graphics card that produces a Futuremark 3DMark 06 score of around 6,000 points according to the manufacturer. Naturally, this score is not as high as its considerably larger counterparts, but nevertheless translates to playable frame rates in practically all 3D games.
On the processor side, the M11x R1 is equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo low voltage CPU, which has a standard clock of 1.3GHz but can be overclocked to 1.73GHz with a few simple steps that do not void the warranty. This processor–coming from an earlier Intel generation–does not have the same feature set as newer Intel CPUs such as Hyperthreading, but this has been shown to have a marginal effect on actual gaming performance when comparing the R1 and R2 versions. Another plus is that the CPU uses very little power (even when overclocked), which gives it a healthy battery life even for extended periods away from the grid.
Reviews
Engadget: BioShock at maxed settings produced a peak of 120fps, although that fell to 55fps during scenes with water or lots of action.
IGN: Despite a few minor hiccups, our experiences with the M11x were almost entirely positive.