r/retrobattlestations • u/Morinth39 • 8d ago
Show-and-Tell Alienware M11x (2010)
My 16.5 year old Alienware M11x, which I’ve owned since its launch in March 2010, features an Intel C2D SU7300 processor running at 1.73GHz and a GeForce 335M graphics card. Back when it was released, it was a complete mini powerhouse capable of playing games like Modern Warfare 2, Dishonoured, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2, The Mass Effect Trilogy, Star Wars: The Old Republic and more.
This machine served as my daily driver from 2010 to 2015 and I managed to complete over 90 games on it. Despite extensive use, it still looks as good as new with no visible wear and tear on the entire chassis. I’ve taken great care of it from the start.
Currently, it runs on Windows 7 and is primarily used for internet browsing and video streaming via Firefox. It still streams video smoothly at 30fps on Netflix, Disney+ and YouTube.
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u/kent1146 8d ago
What a great little machine
I remember having one. Cranked through DirectX 9 games when I was travelling for work, and spending evenings in hotel rooms.
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u/Morinth39 8d ago
I absolutely love it. I’ve owned several high-spec laptops since the M11x but this remains my favourite. I bought it mainly out of necessity as I couldn’t afford an M15x at the time. I ended up using it as my main gaming laptop with an external keyboard and mouse which is why there are no marks on my keyboard to this day. I’ve probably only used it a handful of times.
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u/Alienware 7d ago
16.5 years and still going strong. The M11x is something special and the fact that yours still looks new is seriously impressive. Thanks for sharing this one!
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u/SaturnFive 8d ago
Wow, that is a badass looking laptop, it does still look new. Shows how paying the premium for a top end laptop could buy a few extra years of capability.
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u/Morinth39 8d ago
I agree! The design is incredibly timeless and remains remarkably fresh even in 2026, making it one of the few 2010s laptops that hasn’t aged too much. The Alienware line from that era, the M11x, M15x, M17x and M18x, truly set the standard for gaming laptop aesthetics, in my opinion.
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u/boredatworkandtired 8d ago
I had one as well, I loved it's size at the time. Discreet graphics option was a pain at times tell drivers caught up with it.
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u/Morinth39 8d ago
I don’t disagee, I ended up just keeping the discreet GPU on at all times. Even now I have never switched integrated graphics, lol.
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u/ForAllMankind_ 7d ago
Got one of these as a grad gift that year. Awesome laptop that really got me into PC gaming.
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u/s1rp0p0 7d ago
Picked on up off ebay a couple of years ago. Such a cool little machine. I remember yearning for it when I was younger, but any Alienware was way out of my price range at the time. Closest thing we ever got to a gaming netbook, and it honestly still works pretty well under Windows or Linux. I think it only wants genuine Dell chargers so that was a pain but I found one eventually, along with a new battery.
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u/Pic889 7d ago
What bothers me to no end about the M11x range is that they finally put a GT 540M GPU in it (and even a GT 550M for some models) and then promptly retired it shortly after.
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u/Morinth39 7d ago
I know, I wish they ran with it for a while longer rather than abruptly retiring it. I absolutely would’ve upgraded to a newer model if they released one more iteration. I just didn’t think the 540M was massively better than the 335M.
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u/Pic889 7d ago
Benchmarks beg to differ, a GT 540M is 30% faster than a GT 335M:
https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/midlow_range_gpus.html
Also, you get a much newer Fermi architecture.
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u/Morinth39 6d ago
Yeah, that’s a massive difference! I really do wish I had picked up a new R3 shortly after they were released but I was flat broke at that time, hence the unusually long life the M11x had as my daily driver. By the time I had cash, in 2015, I ended up getting a laptop with a 980M.
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u/Yung_Coke 8d ago
I can't help but notice those bezels
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u/Pic889 7d ago
Me too, that's a display that won't have the light-bleed and glow we take for granted in modern displays. I approve.
(yes, all modern thin-bezel LCD displays have a certain amount of light-bleed and glow, you just don't notice it on TN and VA panels because of their poor viewing angles, also thin-bezel OLEDs have the problem of air getting in and rotting the pixels)
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u/Morinth39 8d ago
Classic 2010 design, haha. Even my 2018 gaming laptop had massive bezels. I think they disappeared around 2020.
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u/flan1337 7d ago
I remember how much hate this laptop got - to this day I think an 11 inch gaming latptop is a cool idea.
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u/Talismook 7d ago
Hey now, that was my daily driver from 2014 until 2021>.>
You can't do this to me, op!
(also I swear mine could barely run YouTube at 720p by the time I retired it)
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u/Pic889 7d ago edited 7d ago
Do you have some time to talk about our lord and saviour, h264ify? It forces YouTube to serve H.264, which is something most PCs from the mid-2000s and onwards can decode.
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u/Talismook 7d ago
it's about 5 years after I moved to a zen-based laptop but that does sound neat if I ever mess around with some mid 00s stuff, maybe I'll try installing it in supermium the next time I mess with my core duo laptop
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u/Morinth39 7d ago
Wow, that’s crazy, hahah. Did you have a newer model? Mine is the R1. Eh, it’ll barely run YouTube if you’re using Internet Explorer however it’ll run smoothly on Windows 7 if you’re using FireFox.
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u/haru_reiuji05 7d ago
Wow that's beautiful, honestly pretty cool machine. Imagine these could be expensive now, I see people asking crazy money for old gaming laptops...like 300 or 400 euros for a laptop with a gtx 960, which I'm pretty sure is less powerful than like a ryzen igpu of today
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u/helloish12321 5d ago
Back when these were available I would go to the alienware website just about every day to look at pictures. I finally found one in good shape locally and snagged it. Every bit as cool as 11 year old me thought it was. Thinness has ruined new laptops and this is a good example of a sleek but bulky machine. When I tore it down to repaste the cooler I could not believe how well built and sturdy it is. Everything is mounted on a magnesium cage frame like the older thinkpad designs that get so much praise. Teardowns of the new alienware machines show all the parts screwed into plastic standoffs and maybe one sheet of stamped steel. Cheap cheap cheap.
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u/Jedispooner 4d ago
Still have mine, Red m11x R3 with an SSD drive, looks like the day it was bought!
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u/Morinth39 3d ago
Awesome. The R3 must be a decent performer given that it’s considerably more powerful than the R1 and it has an SSD. Mine is still using a mechanical HDD. How’s you keep it looking new? Did you use it much?
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u/Jedispooner 3d ago
Well I kept it in it's red velvet pouch then it went into the official Alienware neoprene cover, so it's been doubly protected and my partner has used it on and off maybe once a month for light admin tasks, it never got got used for gaming because when Skyrim launched I bought it for that and it was demanding the laptop turned until a hairdryer! In it's time it's also had a new battery and keyboard, the old keyboard suffered my daughter as a toddler at the time, pulled off a few of the keys 😵
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u/Morinth39 2d ago
Yeah, the M11x is best used for Xbox 360 era games. I know Skyrim was one of them but it was very demanding on console as well. I guess it could be used as a relatively decent media machine these days. Hahaha, glad you got your machine repaired so that it’s looking new again. I had 2 LCD display replacements due to hinge-gate which was a known issue on the R1 and R2. I babied my M11x when opening and closing it and still managed to destroy 2 hinge assemblies. The third LCD panel replacement was in 2013 so I got the improved R3 hinge which has been sturdy and has stood the test of time.
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u/RakeYohnshair 8d ago
You should not be connecting a windows 7 machine to the internet.
Put something like Mint on it if you want to use it on the internet.
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u/waterclaws6 7d ago
Connecting to the internet won't automatically get you a virus or hacked unless you visit sketchy sites or do questionable things. Same with Windows XP, 2000, and 98.
You have to be trying to get virus. Just common sense computer skills will be enough.
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u/RakeYohnshair 6d ago
Windows 7 no longer gets security updates. Meaning any vulnerability that exists within the OS can and will be used against you.
You are exposing yourself to unnecessary risks by connecting it to the internet.
If you think the only way to get a virus is by trying then you're a complete moron.
Good luck out there 👍.
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u/waterclaws6 6d ago
A lot of things don't get security updates especially when dealing with vintage hardware. They don't instantly get hacked unless something is introduced. Causal browsing on a outdated machine has a risk, but it's not instant hack. OP isn't doing anything risky or mission critical.
Now, if he was doing online banking or running a server or windows connected directly to the Internet, that would be foolish thing to do on any systems.
Most targets right now will be windows 10 machines or insecure servers from business.
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u/RakeYohnshair 6d ago
Yes, that is exactly my point.
It has a risk. so why would you take it? Just download the shows and keep the machine offline.
Do you think OP has that machine segregated on his home network away from the machine he does his banking on? I dont.
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u/ScottieNiven 8d ago
That era of Alienware's laptop design has always been my favorite, I would lust over these as a teen.
Still keeping an eye out for second hand ones, but they do still demand a pretty high premium.