Introducing an Ultraportable Demon

We've been keeping track of Alienware's M11x series since the very first one landed and have had the privilege of testing each one. The move from Penryn to Arrandale in the R2 netted a substantial boost in performance at the cost of some battery life, though that issue was mitigated somewhat by the introduction of NVIDIA's Optimus graphics switching, replacing the more finicky software-based GPU switching in the first generation model. With the vastly improved power consumption and efficiency of Sandy Bridge, do we have a true successor to the last two models?

From first impressions, it certainly looks that way. Everything in the M11x R3 has gotten a healthy boost--everything, that is, except the screen. So spoiler alert there: the one big change we were hoping for, our last major complaint about the M11x in the R2, still remains present in the R3. Yet the move from Arrandale to Sandy Bridge has yielded dividends in other notebooks, and the GPU has received a stellar upgrade from the old GeForce GT 335M. And as a final bonus, Alienware is packing USB 3.0 in the R3.

Much like in our review of the Alienware M14x, right out the gate I'll tell you that most of the upgrades to the base system aren't going to seem worth it. Our review unit comes equipped with the fastest processor Dell makes available in the M11x R3, the Intel Core i7-2617M. For just a 17W TDP it's a remarkably capable piece of kit, able to turbo up to 2.3GHz on both cores or 2.6GHz on a single core, and it promises to be a major improvement on the i7-640UM the previous generation sported. The alternative choice, for $200 less, is the i5-2537M, which takes a 300MHz hit to both turbo clocks, comes with a slightly slower 1.4GHz nominal clock, and 1MB less of L3 cache. Given the low resolution screen, it's hard to really swallow a $200 upgrade to the faster i7.

That's especially true when you realize the CPU and GPU are tied together into two specific combinations: you can get either the i7-2617M and 2GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M, or the i5-2537M and 1GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M. That extra gigabyte of video memory is a waste on a part like the GT 540M, whose 96 CUDA cores and 128-bit memory bus are ill-equipped to take advantage of the extra space. The 540M ships at spec, with 672MHz on the core, 1344MHz on the shaders, and an effective 1.8GHz on the DDR3. This is a massive improvement on the GT 335M that the M11x R2 shipped with, running more than 200MHz faster on the core while offering an additional 24 shaders. It also brings support for DirectX 11 and has performance around the AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5650, just as we requested in our review of the R2.

The last notable upgrade is the inclusion of USB 3.0: the two USB ports on the right side of the M11x R3 are now USB 3.0 instead of the 2.0 used in the last generation.

Essentially what we're left with is a very healthy improvement to the system itself along with better connectivity. Unfortunately we're still missing out on the better screen--something Alienware otherwise gets right with their M14x, M17x and M18x. Other than the heavy rejiggering of the M11x R3's insides, though, the shell itself remains unchanged and in line with the rest of Alienware's notebooks: glossy black accents on the speaker grilles along with edge-to-edge gloss for the screen, a backlit keyboard, and a smooth rubberized texture on the plastic shell. The design has gone largely unchanged from the very first iteration, so our thoughts there still apply. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and while I personally still take some issue with the intake on the bottom of the notebook, at least the parts included in this version should generate less heat than the two previous generations.

The Fastest Ultraportable on the Block

Alienware's M11x R3 gets a big, big improvement with Sandy Bridge. Never mind the i7-2617M our review unit is equipped with, the minimum spec Intel Core i5-2537M has a higher nominal clock and faster turbo clock than the overclocked i7-640UM in the previous generation; it also has a slightly lower TDP and substantially improved performance clock-for-clock. Likewise, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M paired with it should bring equally notable improvements in performance--gaming and otherwise.

The M11x R3 may be packing a low voltage processor, but it certainly isn't slow. High turbo clocks and a fast GPU allow it to hang well with the rest of the pack and consistently beat out the old i3-380M, itself a faster CPU than the i7-640UM in the M11x R2. It's a shame we don't have PCMark 7 results from the earlier R2, but we do have results for other benchmarks, which we'll see below.

In every metric where the M11x R3 can be compared to its predecessors, it wallops them soundly. In fact it's consistently more than twice as fast as the overclocked Core 2 Duo SU7300 in the first generation unit, launched just 16 months ago! The U41JF posts unusually high scores, but it's worth pointing out that its i3-380M's nominal 2.53GHz clock speed has been ramped up by ASUS out of the factory to a robust 2.91GHz.

The Alienware M11x R3 proves absolutely monstrous in its weight class in 3DMark, and again demonstrates a substantial improvement in performance over the preceding models. With Sandy Bridge it definitely seems the M11x has finally gotten away from being heavily CPU-limited. The Dell XPS 15 sporting the same GPU but with a quad-core CPU only checks in a scant 4% faster in 3DMark 11, but let's see how that translates over to actual games.

4.4 Pounds of Gaming Performance

In all of our synthetic metrics, the Alienware M11x R3's updated processor and GPU helped it put in a strong showing against even full-voltage chips from the Arrandale generation. Sandy Bridge's aggressive Turbo Boost seems to be paying big dividends towards helping the line finally get out from under being heavily CPU-limited, so let's see how that pans out once we start using it for what it was intended for: gaming.

The combination of a faster processor and faster GPU seems to pay off handsomely for the M11x R3, but the big news is definitely that the CPU limitations that tended to plague performance on the last two generations are mostly ameliorated by the i7-2617M. It's difficult to gauge how deleterious an effect downgrading to the i5-2537M would have on the M11x R3's gaming performance, but at these settings we appear to be largely GPU-limited. Pay special attention to those Mafia II results: Mafia II has a tendency to stress every part of a system in a way few games do these days, and for that reason I actually use it to max out power consumption when I do desktop testing. Nothing else really comes close.

We have added a few titles since the M11x R2 review, specifically Mafia II, Metro 2033, and StarCraft II. That means we don't have the same set of laptops in those charts, so we added a couple other laptops to flesh things out. You can get a full comparison of how the smaller M11x R3 stacks up against the Dell XPS 15 in Mobile Bench, or you can compare the M11x R3 with it's big brother, the M14x we reviewed earlier this week. Considering the difference in chassis size and CPU performance, it's pretty clear that the i7-2617M isn't holding the GT 540M back much; the M14x on the other hand still gets a healthy boost from the GT 555M. Moving to our High settings will obviously stress the hardware more, but we've included the native 768p results for the M11x as well.

At our "High" preset the M11x R3 continues to put in a strong showing, and most of these games are actually quite playable at the notebook's native 1366x768 resolution. It appears that we're again heavily GPU-limited here, which is fantastic given the low voltage processor. The 17W TDP of the i7-2617M (and the i5-2537M) is as low as Sandy Bridge goes, one watt lower than the previous generation's i7-640UM.

Battery, Noise, and Heat

We've already established that the updated Alienware M11x offers substantially more processor and graphics performance than its predecessors, enough to hang with and oftentimes even beat last generation's mainstream notebooks. With the same battery as the previous two generations, is it more frugal in power consumption as well?

While we would've liked to see a healthy improvement of battery life across the board, only the idle running time gets a big boost; everything else is status quo. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, as the M11x line is capable of a respectable 6+ hours of running time surfing the internet and 4+ hours of high definition movie playback. The R3 is at least on par with the Penryn-based first-generation model, and the slightly reduced battery life of the Arrandale-based R2 is nowhere to be found. In two years we've basically doubled performance in the M11x without increasing power consumption.

Thermal performance is frankly excellent, too, and unlike the troubled M14x fan noise isn't as big an issue as long as the intake's noise is muffled by the table. The M11x R3 isn't as powerful as the quad-core-equipped M14x and doesn't enjoy as nice a screen, but it runs cooler, lasts longer on the battery, and is quieter. Gamers looking for a portable solution are going to have to seriously consider whether or not they want the added size, noise, and performance of the M14x against the M11x R3; personally I'm not even sure which one I'd go for.

The Screen Still Sucks, Though

While most of Jarred's wish list for the Alienware M11x R3 has come true—solid DirectX 11 graphics, USB 3.0 connectivity—the screen upgrade he was pulling for didn't come through. The panel isn't the exact same model as the previous two generations; it's actually even worse.

Eeesh, that's bad. The new panel's brighter than the old one, and that's about it. Alienware may have been gunning to make the god of all netbooks with the M11x, but they didn't have to share their same Achilles' Heel: low-quality, low-resolution TN panels. While the 1366x768 resolution of the M11x R3 is probably fine given the relatively small size of the screen, the dismal contrast and color quality is troubling.

Thankfully, the viewing angles are at least passable. It's a tiny screen so sharing it with a friend is going to be a little awkward (making the second headphone jack a nice idea but fuzzy in terms of practicality), but at least if someone's looking over your shoulder they'll be able to see what's going on clearly enough.

Conclusion: An Ultraportable Demon

When Jarred reviewed the Alienware M11x R2, he was so pleased with it that he did the most sensible thing he could: compiled a wish list for the next generation model. Improved connectivity, a better screen, and DirectX 11-class graphics. There was no excuse for omission of gigabit ethernet in the R2, but there wasn't a good, power-optimized DX11 solution on hand at the time either. In upgrading the M11x, Alienware has fixed everything that matters and bolstered everything else. Gigabit ethernet, Bluetooth 3.0 as an optional upgrade, USB 3.0, and the improved NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M all work alongside the shiny new Sandy Bridge low voltage processor to provide the most gaming performance per square inch one could conceivably pack into a modern laptop.

Well, almost everything's been fixed. The screen continues to be a major sore spot for the M11x R3, and if anything, it's only gotten worse. While Alienware seems to have gunned for netbook-of-the-year with the M11x's design, the 11.6" screen seems like more of a formality than a legitimately practical decision. The bezel's huge, and could easily accommodate at least a 12.1" screen or better. The move to a 12" screen also brings IPS technology to the table; if Lenovo can pack that into their ThinkPad X201, we don't see why Dell can't source those screens for a premium piece of kit like the M11x. Of course, then it's not the M11x, it's the M12x, but we'd be willing to increment the model number by one if it means a vast improvement on the one part of the M11x that most desperately needs attention.

Since most of our requests have been addressed by the M11x R3, it seems only fitting to continue looking Alienware's gift horse in the mouth and asking for more. My wish list includes three things. The first is the obvious one: improving that screen. My second is one that I think has a better shot of happening, and that's an inclusion of an mSATA SSD as a system drive alongside the 2.5" HDD for storage. Like a lot of you I'm a big proponent of mSATA becoming fairly universal in modern notebooks: even if the notebook doesn't ship with an mSATA SSD, the option would be greatly appreciated.

My third request is going to extend to the M11x R3's big brother, the M14x. While having the intakes on the bottom of the notebook is fine for land monsters like the M17x and M18x, notebooks as small as these two should be usable on the user's lap, period. I don't like having that intake someplace where it can be easily blocked off, and the "wind tunnel" style cooling that Intel pioneered and Toshiba employs with their Tecra R840 and Portege R830 looks like the kind of redesign the M11x and M14x desperately need. Understanding the inside of the M11x is pretty cramped to begin with, finding some way to improve the cooling system to further reduce noise and allow the notebook to better be used as an actual laptop would still be appreciated.

As for the M11x R3 itself? Well, the M11x R2 was an Editor's Choice Silver winner, and certainly easy enough to recommend. Everything is up (except the pricetag for a decent configuration), and you're still not going to find a more portable gaming solution. It should be a shoo-in for Editor's Choice again, but in the process of updating everything Alienware still left one of the most grievous problems with the M11x untouched...again. In fact, it was worse than untouched, it was actually exacerbated. The panel in our review unit has defied the odds and is somehow worse than its predecessors in every metric but brightness. Jarred's gone back and forth over things like this before, and unfortunately I have to agree with him: the first time is forgivable, but we're on the R3 and the screen is still dire.

The R3 is easy to recommend over the R2. It's absolutely worth the money, definitely the best one Alienware's released thus far, and an easy sell for the portable gamer. The $999 stock configuration can easily be left unchanged; the i5-2537M isn't too much slower than the i7-2617M, 4GB of DDR3 is enough to game, the 320GB 7200-RPM hard drive is on the smallish side but still decent, and adding an additional 1GB of video memory to the GT 540M is a waste. So while the base price has gone up over time, the actual cost of getting a good configuration seems to have dropped. If you were interested in the M11x, the R3 is awesome.

But we can't reward complacency. Our biggest gripe with the previous two has only gotten worse with time. Fix the screen, Alienware, and you've probably got a Silver award in your future. Tweak the cooling and you'll go Gold.