Shrunk Down Powerhouse
We've been busy trying out Dell's various Alienware models since they were launched for the local region and we have yet to be disappointed by their build or performance. Their latest machine to sport the Alienware branding is the 11-inch Dell Alienware M11x and its small stature hides a very portable and powerful notebook.
Compared to the other Alienware branded notebooks though, the M11x doesn't pack a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor like its 15-inch cousin. Instead, it runs on Intel's more power efficient Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) processor, the Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 (1.3GHz).
Now, you're probably thinking, an Intel CULV processor isn't probably a good idea for gaming. Has Alienware finally snapped? Well, no. While the M11x does run on the CULV processor, it also packs a pretty decent NVIDIA GeForce 335M processor, which is an upgraded NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT for those who are getting confused by the NVIDIA's re-branding exercise.
Since the unit features switchable graphics, users will be able to milk the long lasting battery life features of the CULV processor and that of the Intel IGP for productivity needs while also benefiting from heavy action gaming thanks to its decent mid-range discrete graphics engine. We'll find out exactly if this potential lethal combo can fare well in our benchmarking section later in the review. For now, let's start off with the exterior and interior of this gorgeous looking notebook.
Like most Alienware designs, you'll find the design of the M11x to look futuristic and 'out-of-the-world' like. It's also quite thick when compared against the usual "thin and light" designs of other notebooks that run on Intel CULV processors.
The usual ports on the side are there, but what's missing is an optical drive. Unfortunately, there's no bundled external drive, so installing games can be troublesome unless you get your own external drive.
The right side too has your usual connectivity ports such as VGA, USB, LAN port, HDMI, DisplayPort, card reader and a mini-DV FireWire port.
Dark Interior
As the exterior hints, the interior of the notebook also sticks to much of the same design with a dark theme. Like its bigger cousins, you'll find a familiar 'Alien head' as a power button that changes colors depending on whether it's running on battery power or powered by the mains. You'll also note that because of space constraints, there aren't any extra functional buttons and the majority of the base is taken up by the very nice keyboard.
The notebook's interior sticks to much of the same design as its other cousins.
The glowing Alien head is the power button.
Typing on the keyboard was a smooth and tactile experience, which really enhanced the overall usability and feel of the notebook. The trackpad too makes use of the available space, though honestly, we don't think the M11x needed that large of a trackpad. If you're going to be using the notebook for gaming (and you will), a mouse will definitely be a better option and weapon of choice compared to the trackpad. That said, the M11x's trackpad is one your fingers will love and have no problems with. Lastly, sound quality is impressive for a notebook of this size. So when playing games, rest assured that unlike others of its size, you know you won't have to put up with listening to puny, barely audible set of speakers.
The keyboard is definitely one of the better ones in the market.
The trackpad also lives up to our expectations, though we're guessing you won't be using it too much for gaming purposes.
What's a gaming notebook without decent audio? The Dell Alienware M11x ensured to have that feature packed into its 11-inch frame.
Performance Benchmarking
Dell Alienware machines are known for their performance, so we're expecting some stellar results despite the Dell Alienware M11x using Intel's CULV processor. It does come with a very decent graphics module (for a system with this platform) in the form of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M, a mid-ranged discrete graphics that's probably best described as a much more powerful version of the old NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (which we'll use an older gaming notebook with an equivalent discrete graphics capability to compare). We'll also see how fast it goes when we pit the Dell Alienware M11x against a more traditional CULV-processor class based notebook with discrete graphics (the ). Seeing as how the 11-inch size tends to be somewhat odd among most notebooks (and even netbooks), we don't actually have any other 11-inch notebooks to compare directly and have to make-do with these somewhat comparable notebooks to assess the Alienware's overall hardware capabilities. As such we've chosen then Acer notebook for a quick comparison against a similarly equipped base platform one would normally expect in its class, and a traditional gaming notebook with the Dell Studio XPS machine. Lastly, but not least, you might like to note that the M11x sports a 7200RPM HDD, a rarity compared to the usual 5400RPM hard drives of most notebooks in the market.
Specifications / Notebook | Dell Alienware M11x | Acer Aspire Timeline 3810t | Dell Studio XPS1640 |
Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo processor SU7300
(1.3GHz with 3MB L2 cache) | Intel Core 2 Duo processor SU7300
(1.3GHz with 3MB L2 cache) | Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9400
(2.53GHz with 6MBL2 cache) |
Chipset | Intel GS45 | Intel GS45 | Intel PM45 |
FSB | 800MHz | 800MHz | 1066MHz |
Memory | 4GBDDR3 | 4GB DDR3 | 2GBDDR3 |
HDD | 500GBSATA7200RPM | 320GB SATA 5400 RPM | 500GB SATA 5400 RPM |
Video | NVIDIAGeForce GT 335M | ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 | ATIMobility Radeon HD 3670 |
Futuremark PCMark05
Sharing the same processor as the Acer Aspire Timeline 3810t only means that in PCMark05, the CPU scores won't actually be that different, and it shows. As can be seen, the Acer scored 3106 PCMarks while the Alienware M11x scored 3047 PCMarks; bear in mind, the difference in scores between both units are pretty negligible as far as benchmark scores go. It is however, the main system score where the NVIDIA discrete graphics of the Alienware M11x makes its presence felt with a higher score compared to the Timeline 3810t. While this does mean that given the similar base platform, the notebook equipped with the better GPU can give you an extra edge, the big overall performance boost in the System Test Suite is all because of the Alienware's 7200RPM drive.
Futuremark PCMark Vantage
On a more modern benchmark, it would seem that the chemistry for the PCMark Suite has changed. Neither did the discrete graphics nor hard drive performance differential played a big role in determining the benchmark score. However in the separate Gaming and HDD Suites, the Dell Alienware M11x comes out well ahead thanks to its better hardware specs.
Futuremark 3DMark06
Tossed into our notebook comparison mix comes the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670 equipped Dell Studio XPS 1640, a 16.4-inch notebook that was a pretty average gaming notebook we reviewed last year. The Studio XPS' 3DMark06 benchmark scores are pretty much representative of NVIDIA's GeForce 9600M GT based notebooks. With the Alienware's NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M graphics engine which is supposedly a much better performing mid-range GPU, we're expecting a much higher result, obviously. On the other hand, we don't expect the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 to match up to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M.
As can be expected, the M11x scores pretty much blow the competition away, and make for a great companion as a portable gaming notebook despite its size. This does mean that just one year ago, what could be counted upon as an average gaming notebook can now be replaced by an Intel CULV equipped notebook with decent discrete graphics and a much smaller and portable size to boot. So, now that we've established that the M11x is certainly portable (in size) and powerful (relatively speaking) in performance, how will hold up when it comes to battery longevity? That's coming up on the next page.
Battery Life and Portability Index
The Dell Alienware M11x has a non-removable 8-cell 64Wh battery and comes with a built-in battery indicator to show how much of a charge it has left at the bottom of the unit.
We've had our doubts ourselves when it came to the battery performance of the Dell Alienware M11x despite it using an Intel CULV processor. One of our main concerns was the fact that the discrete graphics would use too much power that the Intel CULV processor wouldn't matter. Another concern was that because the battery isn't removable, having a short battery life would mean this laptop isn't as portable as it could be and totally impractical. Our guesses turned out to be wrong though, as you will see from our test graphs below.
Battery Life
With five and a half hours (331 minutes) with the discrete graphics turned off and close to 4 hours (226 minutes) when using discrete graphics, the Dell Alienware M11x is pretty much the portable gaming notebook you are looking for. All thanks to its 8-cell battery, the M11x has plenty of staying power that should be useful for gaming while unplugged. While it is heavy for an 11-inch machine at 2kg, we'll see how if its worthwhile as we check how it fares in our Portability Index below.
On the Power Efficiency charts, it seems that the M11x is doing pretty well in this department, with pretty low figures (11.59W) when running on integrated graphi. However, when the discrete graphics is turned on, power consumption shoots up to 17.02W, which is way more than what the Acer unit is (13.92W) which also has its discrete graphics turned on. However bear in mind though, the discrete graphics of the M11x is much more powerful (as seen on our previous page), so it's only natural for the power draw to be higher.
Portability Index
Our favorite test - where we take the battery uptime and divide it by the product of the unit's weight and volume - makes a return as usual. The higher the ratio, the more portable the unit is and we'll see if the impressive battery life translates to a portable unit given the chunkiness of the notebook. Surprisingly, despite our earlier concerns, the Alienware M11x manages to rank pretty well - even when taking into consideration other lighter and slimmer Intel CULV processor equipped notebooks. It's an outcome that we're quite impressed with, especially given the five and a half hours battery life of the M11x.
An Alien Affair
So far, we've reviewed three Alienware units from Dell, and we've found the first two, the M17x and M15x, expensive yet impressive gaming machines. Battery life for those units weren't anywhere decent, as their power hungry CPUs and discrete graphics made short work of the battery. In the Dell Alienware M11x however, we're looking at a compromise that seems worthy of the Alienware name - decent performance but excellent battery life even with the use of discrete graphics.
Build wise, the M11x shares much of the design and form factor of its bigger cousins, though obviously in a much more compact form factor. While it is a little heavy at just slightly over 2kg and quite chunky aesthetically, the aforementioned battery life does give it a portability edge as reflected in our Portability Index benchmark. As for performance, the M11x churned out decent performance for an Intel CULV processor equipped notebook, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M discrete graphics gave it the edge for gaming in an even a more compact form than larger notebooks. Furthermore, the use of a 7200rpm drive gives it an edge in general responsiveness and standard productivity tasks.
As for the price, Dell seems to have pulled a rabbit out of the hat from somewhere, as the base model will only cost your a measly S$1599. Our review set however, will cost you a little bit more at about S$1800 depending on the additional software that you may want to include. That's still pretty darn cheap to be honest, and just a little bit more than what you would pay for a CULV processor equipped notebook from other brands. Dell has a winning product on their hands with this long lasting portable gaming machine, one that's hard not to love unless you absolutely detest the Alienware design - and there aren't many in that group.
A Dell Alienware notebook that won't blow your budget out of the sky while still delivering the gorgeous build quality, decent performance, and for once has a long lasting battery life? Sounds impossible? Not with the Dell Alienware M11x.
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.