OK, so you already know that the Alienware M11x outperforms pretty much every other sub-$1000 notebook with an 11.6 inch display when it comes to gaming performance. And you know that it has a 1.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CULV processor and NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M graphics. But do you know how tightly fit the graphics, processor, memory, battery, and other components are?

Well, know you do. Because the folks at 163 dissected an M11x laptop and posted an “alien autopsy” online.

At 4.5 pounds, the Alienware M11x isn’t exactly the thinnest or lightest 11.6 inch laptop around. But it looks like Dell worked pretty hard to take up as little space as possible. The battery and power supply actually use about half of the laptop’s space, leaving little room fro the hard drive and other components.

You can find more strip-down photos, including shots of individual components at 163.

via GadgetMix

I’ve read a couple of reviews of the Alienware M11x gaming ultraportable recently. But Scott Kuban’s is the first I’ve seen that points out that the laptop not only can play Crysis at native resolutions, but the computer gets even faster if you overclock the CPU from the BIOS menu.

Out of the box, the M11x runs at 1.3GHz and has an NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M graphics processor that you can switch on or off depending on your needs. But you can adjust the processor to run at 1.73GHz which kicks things into higher gear.

So while running at 1.3GHz, the computer gets a 3DMark06 score of over 5600 (far higher than any Intel CULV or NVIDIA ION-based laptop I’ve seen to date), at 1.73GHz that score jumps up higher than 6400. In real-world settings, overclocking the CPU makes programs load faster and improves gaming performance a little bit.

I’ve seen several reports that suggest you’ll get about 2 hours of gaming time or 5 hours of web surfing out of the M11x battery. I asked Scott what kind of battery life he was seeing with HD video playback, and it turns out he gets almost 4 hours… whether the CPU is running at 1.3GHz or 1.73GHz.

More details at Scott’s Soapbox.

The Alienware M11x is a thin and (somewhat) light notebook with an 11.6 inch display, an Intel CULV processor, and some seriously powerful graphics capabilities which make the M11x the first budget 11.6 inch laptop that gamers can truly love. And the folks at Hardware Heaven are apparently in love. They’ve published the first review of the M11x that I’ve seen, and they conclude that it’s one of the best products they’ve ever reviewed.

The laptop is a bit heavy for an ultraportable, weighing in at 4.5 pounds. And it has the same angular shape as other Alienware laptops, which might be a turnoff for those looking for a sleek machine for use on the go. But here’s where the Alienware M11x stands apart: It can handle 720p and 1080p HD video playback, and it can handle 3D video games at 720p resolutions.It also has a backlit keyboard, which is rare on a budget ultraportable.

The laptop has two graphics processors. For day to day tasks such as web browsing, Intel’s integrated graphics will probably do the trick. But when you want to play games, you can hit Fn+F6 to fire up the NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M GPU without rebooting. It features 1GB of dedicated video memory, DirectX 10.1 support, and Blu-Ray acceleration, among other features.It can handle recent games including Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and Dirt 2 without breaking a sweat.

Of course, you’ll sacrifice some battery life if you switch from integrated to dedicated graphics. While you can surf the web for about 5.75 hours with integrated graphics, you’ll get less than 4 hours of HD video playback with the GeForce graphics, and just over 2 hours of gaming time.

The Alienware M11x is available for pre-order from Dell for $799 and up. Make sure to hit up Hardware Heaven for the complete review if you’re considering this laptop.

Update: IGN and Pocket Lint have also published reviews of the M11x.

via Netbook Choice

Dell’s first ultraportable gaming rig is now available for pre-order. The Alienware M11x will begin shipping on March 1st, but you can put in a pre-order for this 11.6 inch laptop for $799 and up starting today.

The base model features a 1.3GHz Pentium Dual Core SU4100 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB 5400rpm hard drive, Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 335 graphics with 1GB of dedicated memory. It also has 5.1 channel audio, and an 1366 x 768 pixel HD display.

That’s for the base model. There are a handful of upgrade options available. For instance, another $100 will get you a marginally faster 1.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor. You can upgrade to 4GB of RAM for another $50, or to 8GB of RAM for a whopping $350 upgrade. A 250GB, 7200rpm hard drive will only set you back another $50, which totally seems worth it. The 256GB SSD for $570? I’m not as certain.

For a complete list of options, check out the Dell order page.

via Gizmodo

OK, Alienware and Dell haven’t really been working on the recently announced Alienware M11x thin and light gaming laptop for 5 years. But according to a post on the Direct2Dell blog today, Alienware was working on a small form factor gaming rig back in 2005, a year before Dell bought the company.

Unfortunately, the tech at the time just wasn’t up to snuff. But over the past few years we’ve seen some pretty significant advances in the thin and light space. Relatively low power, high performance chips are pretty common. And the Alienware M11x will be one of the first devices to bundle an Intel Core 2 Duo CULV processor with NVIDIA 335M graphics.

The laptop has an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, and is about the size of an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper. Oh yeah, and it can play modern games including Call of Duty 4, Left 4 Dead 2, and probably even some games that don’t have numbers in the titles.

We still don’t have a launch date or final price for the M11x, but it’s expected to go for under $1000. You can check out a video of the gaming machine in action after the break.

Update: Engadget noticed that if you peek at the source code on the M11x page, you’ll find that it will likely have a starting price of $799.

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Dell introduces an 11.6 inch gaming laptop today that a number of sites have started referring to as an Alienware-branded netbook. It’s not. It’s a thin and light machine with a low power processor, high performance graphics, and a price tag of “under $1000.”

I’m willing to stretch the definition of netbook to include laptops that have 11 or 12 inch screens. Because to me, the whole point of netbooks is that they’re portable and cheap. Three years ago, you couldn’t find a laptop with an 11.6″ display for under $500. Now you can find quite a few. But while $1000 is certainly a great price for a gaming laptop, it’s not exactly cheap. I think the last time I spent $1000 on any computer was in 1994.

Anyway, if you’re still interested, the Alienware M11x packs a low power Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, NVIDIA 335M graphics with 1GB of dedicated video memory, and an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display. It can play Call of Duty 4 in 720p at 30fps.

The notebook weighs about 4 pounds, which is pretty heavy for an ultraportable. It gets about 6.5 hours of battery life under normal usage, but only about 2 hours if you’re doing hardcore gaming.

More details at Gizmodo.

While I can’t say for sure if Tariq Krim’s crew was checking out our roundup of 5 current games which play well with netbooks, it’s obvious that Jolicloud hasn’t forgotten the importance of a little R&R. And what better way to unwind than with a quick round of frag the newb?

Included among this week’s featured Jolicloud apps is Quake Live. ID Software’s web-based, ad-supported FPS has been a smashing success since opening this year. Sure, it’s not quite as practical as some of the apps which are plugged in to Jolicloud, but who cares? You can’t be all business all the time, even on your HP Mini 5101.

Jolicloud’s blog post contains a nice, blown-up (size wise, not with explosive devices) version of the screenshot which you can check out here. If you’re lucky enough to be part of the beta program already, enjoy!

If not, have patience. It probably won’t be too much longer before Jolicloud opens things up to the public.

While I’d never recommend buying an Intel Atom powered netbook as a hardcore gaming machine, the truth of the matter is that a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU and GMA 950 graphics are good enough for some games. And that’s not only true for netbooks running Windows.

The video below depicts a System76 Starling Netbook running Ubuntu 9.10 Linux. And it’s playing a free multiplayer  first person shooter called Urban Terror which is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

I’m not really an expert on first person shooters, but the game seems to be running pretty smoothly, although the player could probably use a bit of training. He gets shot and killed twice in the span of the three minute video.

via Linux Netbook

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What goes together better than big, power-hungry, desktop gaming PCs and light weight, low power netbooks? Peanut butter and broccoli perhaps? Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, but PC vendor iBuyPower is offering customers a chance to pick up a gaming rig along with an MSI Wind U100 netbook for cheaper than the price of buying the two separately.

It’s not exactly a buy one get one free offer, but for prices ranging from $1179 to  $1849, you can get a monster gaming system with up to 12G of RAM, a Blu-Ray drive, and NIVIDIA GTX 285 1GB graphics along with a cheap ultraportable for when you don’t want to use up the entire block’s electricity just to check your email.

The company has four different “Power Bundle” offers. In each case the MSI WInd netbook is the same. You get a Wind U100 with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, 10 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, and 6 cell battery. The dsktops range from a system with an AMD Phenom II X4  CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive to a model with a 2.66GHz quad core Intel Core i7 920 processor, 12G of memory, and a 1G hard drive.

via TweakTown

While the internet is filled with random generators, there are few things that are as reliably random as rolling a set of dice. I mean sure, computers should be able to accomplish basically the same thing, but the guy who runs GamesByEmail was tired of getting complaints that his random numbers weren’t random enough. So he built a crazy contraption that can roll dice endlessly and record the results. And the whole thing is powered by a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook.

It’s not like you need a whole heck of a lot of processing power to take pictures of dice and detect the numbers. You just need a decent camera, and a computer that can analyze the photos using a special application written in .NET. It probably doesn’t hurt that the Inspiron Mini 9 isn’t an energy hog.

All told, the machine can handle about 200 dice, and each die takes about 13 seconds to make a round trip. I haven’t bothered double checking the math, but the guy who built this contraption says it’s capable of 1.3 million dice rolls per day.

You can find a video of the machine in action after the break.

via Slashdot

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