Alienware M11x R2: A Legend Reborn
by Jarred Walton on July 9, 2010 4:05 AM ESTGaming at Various Detail Settings
In contrast to previous reviews, we decided to list only results for 1366x768 minimum detail in our main charts (our standard for entry/midrange laptops). We want to find some "recommended" settings for comparing the M11x and the R2 release, but first let's look at what happens in the various titles as we increase the details, including PhysX and 4xAA where practical.
All of the games are easily playable at settings beyond the minimum, but some titles are still more strenuous. Batman can handle Very High Quality, and if you're willing to dip slightly below 30FPS at times you can even enable PhysX. Bad Company 2 and Crysis are not so kind, with scores that drop well below 30FPS once we go beyond Medium/Mainstream. All of the remaining games are able to handle high or very high detail settings while staying above 30FPS, though dropping a few settings down a notch might improve the minimum frame rates. Still, the M11x and R2 are definitely able to handle most gaming needs. You won't be maxing out Crysis—or most other games for that matter—but you can certainly enjoy gaming. It's just a shame that the display you end up looking at is so average when everything else about the M11x impresses.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
55 Comments
View All Comments
Stokestack - Sunday, July 11, 2010 - link
"For everyone who complains about glossy displays there is someone who prefers them. I am one of those people. And if the majority disliked glossy displays the industry as a whole wouldn't use them."Not true, apparently:
http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2006/10/8022....
Glossy screens were shoved down buyers' throats by third-tier vendors at Best Buy with lies about "deeper blacks and richer colors." Sadly, so-called "leaders" like Apple followed the precedent set by plastic, fake-chromed Toshiba laptops with their tails between their legs. Most consumers, not being capable of critical thinking on these matters, accepted that. But the fact is that glossy screens suck in EVERY lighting condition. It doesn't matter if you're in a pitch-black room, because the light from the screen will illuminate YOU and create a reflection anyway.
Your "deep blacks" aren't black at all with the sheen of a reflected image overlaying them, and that's a fact. Rich colors? Which ones, the ones contained in the scene behind you?
And I hope we're not to take that strawman about matte screens being hard to keep clean seriously.
plewis00 - Monday, July 12, 2010 - link
I don't try and force my opinion on others I just tell you what I feel and how I see things. I find matte screens harder to keep clean, you may not, and frankly as you were a total asshat anyway I don't care - for all I know you can't afford an LCD and are still using a CRT. At least -some- people who came back and countered my opinion did it politely and with a modicum of decency about it stating their opinion.I have had good matte screens, I have had bad glossy screens.
And you posted ONE link to a loaded survey anyway (from Lenovo/IBM users - who have been using matte screens as long as I can remember) where the article even states the reason why we are moving to glossy screens - where's the stuff about Best Buy come from? A demo glossy unit in a store sounds like the one place I would definitely rather NOT have a glossy display (bright lights and fingerprints and smudges everywhere).
Unlike you, I'm not going to demand or ask that everyone bows down to my opinion, it was, for what it's worth an opinion. I like my M11x and if I had the choice of both displays I'd have to see both to make a decision but I don't have any complaints about the glossy finish.
Take me seriously or not - am I bothered? No. Am I more bothered about how a self-opinionated jerk gets through life without getting the crap kicked out of him? Somewhat, but probably not as much as you'd hope...
mrjminer - Friday, July 9, 2010 - link
I'm with you. This glossy phase that all manufacturers have entered is extremely annoying. I don't want a laptop that I have to position based on whether or not I have a light on, and I don't want a screen that's reflecting everything around me.I think the reason manufacturer's switched to this is because it looks better in the store. For practical purposes, though, glossy is inferior to matte.
And to the guy below that says "matte displays attract dirt and fingerprints," that claim is outright false:
1. Fingerprints barely show up on matte screens and they're almost always unnoticeable when the screen is on.
2. Matte screens attract less fingerprints than glossy? Please, let me know who manufactures the screens on the laptops you've used because I'd like to invest in their non-existent company.
3. Attract dirt / dust more than glossy screens? No. You merely spend more time cleaning off your glossy screen because you have to do so any time you accidentally give it the slightest touch.
4. Take more time to clean than glossy screens? Um... I guess if you're comparing a larger matte screen size to a smaller glossy screen size.
All of these things taken into account, matte screens need to be cleaned less and are not limited in position by the light/furniture setup.
The only practical use I see for glossy screens are for touchscreens / tablets because it avoids the push-down effect (whatever it's called) and would largely negate the possibility of damaging the screen by pressing too hard.
plewis00 - Friday, July 9, 2010 - link
If you get dirt on a matte screen and try to clean it, it smears more, whereas on a glossy it tends to come off easier - that was my point, nothing more. All my computers use glossy screens for better or worse (Dell M1530, 1750, M11x and Sony UX1XN) and I don't take issue or offence with them.The only LCD using a matte display is my TV and I do have a harder time cleaning that off - and you're right, I barely see dirt on it when it's on but knowing it's there, I find annoying.
Glossy screens don't avoid that pushdown effect (do you mean the ripple) - the only way to fix that is the glass plate on top of capacitive displays i.e. iPhones.
blyndy - Friday, July 9, 2010 - link
I'll add that I have vertical blinds behind me. I found a borrowed Macbook to be frustrating to use as the daylight leaked through the closed blinds and left glaring vertical reflections for me to have to look through.mrjminer - Saturday, July 10, 2010 - link
Oops... slight correction, #2 is supposed to read "Matte screens attract more fingerprints than glossy?" I accidentally put less :Ophreax9802 - Friday, July 9, 2010 - link
I have an R2. Can you give details on how you achieve such long battery life? Just curious, because the maximum idle time that I get is around 4 hours. If possible maybe you can do a general guide for optimizing battery life for laptops. Thanks for the good job! :)JarredWalton - Friday, July 9, 2010 - link
Use Power Saver profile first, set brightness for 60% second, disable AlienFX (on battery -- use the Go Dark option), and make sure to disable any extra crap processes (especially the rogue Dell WLAN tray icon). Doing just those items got me to nearly the listed results. Going in and halting all the additional processes/services got me the rest of the way, but that was only an extra ~20 minutes idle.JarredWalton - Friday, July 9, 2010 - link
Oh, and turn off Firewall, Windows Defender, and any Update services.FYI, the problem service with the wireless is called "DW WLAN Tray Service", as well as the WLTRAY.exe process.
koscica - Friday, July 9, 2010 - link
I am going abroad in a couple of weeks and I would like to buy M11x before I leave. Therefore my only available choices are original m11x at best buy or the fast track i5 version from alienware. Is the i5 worth 150$ extra?