What do I do? (Mini-Laptop suggestions)

[maniac5999]

So, I've been looking for a new mini-laptop for about 6 months now. I'll be using the laptop for general web surfing, word processing and wasting times with light video games. Nothing too intense, like Crysis or anything, just games like Civ4, WoW, etc. Size is important to me, since I'm probably going to spend a lot of time walking around NY with this in a bag on my back. I'm also a lefty, who uses his left thumb to click (it natuarally falls to the right corner of the left button while using a trackpad) so I probably need a laptop that has two buttons instead of one. I'd also like a laptop more powerful than my 5 year old current laptop, because technology is supposed to progress with time (K8 3200+ (2.2ghz) ATi 200m) Also, while I don't expect to be away from an outlet for hours upon hours, I strongly suspect that I may spend a decent amount of time (an hour or two at a clip) gaming on battery, and i'd like a strong enough battery to handle that, and still be able to give me some internet/youtube time without having to carry my charger with me.

I've been waiting on the AMD 3rd gen ultrathin. I had high hopes for it. I figured that a die shrink to 45nm would help battery life a lot, and I also believed the rumors that the 4290 would be an IGP version of the 4330. Now that I found out that it's basically just a rebadged 3300, and I'm really disapointed. I'm wondering if I should wait, or just get something now.

I could get one of the current AMD Neo laptops(The Wind U230 should be out in a couple weeks with 2 mouse buttons) which would have almost the same graphics oomph as the next gen, but the battery life sucks and the CPU seems like it'd only be about as strong as my current laptop's CPU (both have a 4.2 Win7 WEI score)

I could get a cheap CULV laptop like the Acer 1410, which would have much better battery life, but the GMA4500 is questionable when it comes to games like WoW.

I could get a netbook to hold me over for a year or two, which would be REALLY small and get good battery life, but the 3150 is probably worse than my 5 year old ATi 200m. (and I have questions about an Atom playing WoW)

I could get an ASUS 1201, but the dual core atom still seems underpowered, and the battery life is probably as bad as the current AMD once I undervolt the AMD. Plus it has a 1 button touchpad.

There's also the UL30. same button, and an inch larger than I want, but otherwise so good. To be honest though, I would love to see a more powerful GPU if we're dealing with a 13" laptop and switchable graphics. (Heck, alienware crams a 335 in an 11" netbook)

Lastly, there's that Alienware 11" laptop. Does anyone have any experience with it? the idea of an 11" laptop with an OC'd CULV and a switchable Nvidia 335 is awesome, but they use a 1.2 ghz CULV instead of 1.3, so it feels a bit CPU limited with it's 1.6ghz OC, and the form factor seems funky. The numbers say it should be freakishly long for an 11" laptop, as well as being tall, and having a chassis designed to be much louder than I'd like my laptop to be.

Does anyone have any opinions? should I just give up and wait? My ancient brick is still functional, even if it weighs 10lbs and gets about 2 hours of battery life while idleing.

 

[Niku]

That low power CPU in the 11" alienware m11x netbook is going to be as good as a netbook gets for a while. That is a core 2 duo culv, specifically, and its going to have to blow any atom out of the park. If you want to play WoW, it seems like that alienware laptop, which can be gotten on the dell outlet for as little as $650 refurbed, is practically made for people who want to be out and about looking right at the people they have been ignoring so they could play WoW.

OH! and i while i do not play wow, ive seen it run a couple times on Atom netbooks. It... um... kind of ... runs? But not great. But to me the bottle neck seems GPU based. Like, it ran with 15 frames out side of large towns, then dropped to 3 when doing... stuff. Like, any stuff.

 

[TheStu]

I am not sure what your budget is, but I have heard good things about the Envy series. They have large (for PCs) trackpads and above average specs for their size. Those specs and whatnot come with a cost. They are directly targeted at the MBP, and the price reflects that.

 

[CurseTheSky]

IIRC, the M11x is actually a 12-13" laptop with a 11.6" screen. The bezel is huge. That's how Alienware (Dell) crams so much into it.

The HP Envy line, like TheStu mentioned, is an option if you want quality and performance, though the battery life is somewhat lacking and the price is high. The Envy 13 is great for portability, while the Envy 14 has far better specs (and price) but is also much larger - approaching 15.4" notebook territory. Both the Envy 13 and 14 have available Slice batteries, which roughly doubles the battery life.

The Acer TimelineX series is probably worth a look. I personally preferred the ASUS UL series more than the original Timeline due to build quality, but it's hard to argue with the TimelineX's awesome specs, considering the price.

 

[wpcoe]

IIRC, the M11x is actually a 12-13" laptop with a 11.6" screen. The bezel is huge. That's how Alienware (Dell) crams so much into it.

Thanks for that tidbit.

I was agonizing over splurging for the M11x, or getting the more mundane (and affordable) Acer Travelmate 8172.

Even if that tidbit were incorrect, it makes me feel better about buying the Acer yesterday. 😀

 

[Zap]

Even if that tidbit were incorrect, it makes me feel better about buying the Acer yesterday. 😀

Anandtech's review of Alienware M11x

Finally, we should mention that while the M11x technically has an 11.6” chassis, a few aspects of the chassis need mention. First, the M11x is about 1” deeper than other 11.6” CULV laptops we’ve looked at, and at 4.4 lbs. it definitely weighs more. Obviously, Alienware had to pack more cooling capacity into the M11x to keep the GPU and CPU from overheating, but they’re dangerously close to the size of a 13.3” chassis. Look at the LCD bezel and you’ll find a large border, particularly on the top and bottom. The M11x uses an 11.6” 1366x768 LCD, but with a few small tweaks we’re confident they could have put a 13.3” 1440x900 WXGA+ LCD into the chassis. The huge bezel area almost makes us think that they put a smaller LCD in the chassis just so they could lay claim to having an 11.6” gaming laptop.

Just for comparison sake, my wife's 11.6" Acer 1550 (AMD Nile platform) weighs 3.08 pounds.

 

[maniac5999]

Um, Ressurect old threads much? The date of that post was March 4th. In mid March I bought My Wind U230. I'm pretty happy with it, although the battery life could be better.

 

[wpcoe]

When I actually got my hands on an Alienware M11x, I was surprised at how heavy it was compared to both my 5-year old Acer Travelmate 3004 and my shiny new Acer Travelmate 8172. My only regret so far is that my 8172 is only an i3-380. I really wanted an i5-equipped version, but alas, I could find none. Grief counseling and anger management in progress as we speak. 😀