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Blurring the Lines:
A while ago I wrote the article “The PC Industry is a Vampire Living off Apple Blood” in which I criticized the PC industry for releasing unimaginative products that lacked refinement, R&D, and ultimately costing them consumers. The industry has remained largely unchanged except that it seems awareness of consumers desire for a usable, refined, and good performance PC has increased.
Recently I have begun to see the release of hardware that held the promise both power and portability. I became hopeful that laptop manufacturers would release a notebook that included this kind of hardware integrated into a good looking and functional chassis.
Alienware has heard the call of the mobile road warrior and released the M11x. This laptop delivers both portability and uncompromising power. The version we are looking at today is the R3 of the M11x revisions. The R1 and R2 versions of the M11x each delivered the next level of power to this platform. The basic differences between the revisions were CPU bound:
- R1: Based around the Intel ULV Core 2 Duo Processor with the SU7300 and a Geforce GT 335M
- R2: Moved the M11x to the Core i series of processor starting with the i3 and a Geforce GT 335M
- R3: Brings Sandy Bridge to the M11x and starts with the i5 2537M and a Geforce GT 540M
Sandy Bridge really does bring game changing performance to the table for the M11x as it offers integrated graphics, much better processing power, and higher energy efficiency. What consumers can expect is a laptop that looks good, is very small, and offers performance much closer an average desktop or laptop. While the M11x retains its 11 inch form factor and relatively light weight it is not to be confused with a netbook. The M11x will likely blow the doors off average laptops and is a world apart from any netbook on the market. A simple check of its specs reveals a beast within a small shell.
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