Dell launches the Alienware M11x in the UK; is it too expensive?

The UK M11x costs £748.99/~$1172, but in the US it's only $799/~£511 – is this too much to pay for a small gaming laptop?

Dell announced the price of its latest gaming laptop last month, the Alienware M11x, which starts at $799 and ships from the 5^th of March. This month, Dell launched the M11x in the UK, and it costs £749. The hallmark of the Alienware brand is excellent gaming performance, and Dell has tried to cram as much power into this tiny 11.6” laptop as possible.

Gadgetmix.com's recent hands-on report demonstrated the M11x's power: it ran Star Trek Online and Call of Duty 'smoothly and sharply'. Gizmodo.com managed to play Call of Duty at 30fps with a resolution of 1280 x 720. The M11x contains a 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M, which is a GPU designed for middle class gaming notebooks – to find it in such a small machine is a pleasant surprise; to find out more about this GPU, please have a look at our dedicated page here.

Dell has placed a 1.3GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor SU4100 in the M11x and this can be upgraded to a 1.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 for £40/$100. It's easy to see why Dell opted for these processors, as they provide users with a lower wattage and reduced cooling requirements. In terms of performance, the SU4100 reaches rank 178 on our processor benchmark list, and the SU7300 is ranked only two places higher, at 176. To find out more about the SU7300 and the rest of the Core 2 Duo range, please click here. Both of these processors have a FSB of 800MHz, which means that the rather expensive 2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM must run at this speed too. Whilst DDR3 may have increased the price of the M11x, it is more energy efficient than DDR2, which should help preserve battery life.

How portable is the M11x? Dell claims that the M11x should run for up to 8.5 hours on its 8 cell battery, but hands-on reports have demonstrated only a 6 hour battery life, and just 2 hours during gaming. Alienware laptops tend to be heavier and bigger than laptops of an equivalent screen size, and the M11x betrays its heritage: it's 1.29” (32.77mm) thick and weighs approximately 4.39lb (1.99kg), which is quite bulky for an 11.6” machine.

There are some differences between the UK and US version of the M11x. The US version can be fitted with a WWAN Gobi adaptor for an extra $125, but the UK version doesn't appear to have a 3G option. The US version has a smaller 160GB (5400rpm) hard drive, compared to the 320GB (7200rpm) hard drive placed inside the UK version. For some reason, the US version doesn't have Bluetooth as standard, whereas the UK version does, although it's only $20 to fit the M11x with v2.1+EDR. Take a look at the table below for the full specifications and pricing details of the US and UK versions of the M11x.

Playing games on netbook-sized machines: an expensive luxury?

Alienware machines usually contain the best combination of gaming components, but how much should gamers pay for this illustrious band? The M11x's larger cousins are exceptional performers, and the M11x does seem to live up to Dell's claim that it is the most powerful laptop of its size. However, I wonder why anyone would want to limit their gaming experience for the sake of having a 11.6” machine – if portability and price are two possible motivating factors, then the M11x fails on both accounts. One would barely get a few hours of moderate gaming out of the machine before the battery would die, and the price is far too high.

I decided to compare the price of the US and the UK version, when they were configured in exactly the same way and the price difference was significant: the US version cost only $1044/~£667.534, whilst the UK version was $1359.07/~£868.99. Whilst the cost of notebooks may be higher in the UK in general, despite exchange rate differences, the M11x is a particularly expensive machine for UK consumers, let alone an unnecessary expense for US consumers. The M11x is a novel luxury, and consumers who don't mind carrying around a machine a few inches bigger, would have a better and cheaper mobile gaming life.

Specifications