Question: Why would gamers, who typically lug 15- or 17-inch notebooks to LAN parties, even consider an 11.6-inch portable for play? Answer: For the same reason everyone else buys light laptops. In the olden days (that is, circa 2009), laptops with high-end graphics needed lots of space for cooling, and small screens meant low resolution. An 11-inch notebook was typically a slow-performing netbook, meant for little more than word processing and surfing the Web. So leave it to Alienware to think outside the box and deliver an ultraportable that delivers game-worthy graphics performance, road-ready battery life, and the attitude of a full-blown gaming rig. The unique M11x represents a couple of firsts for Alienware: Its base price of $799 is the lowest of any computer in the Alienware line, ever, and it’s the smallest machine, too.

Our test unit, configured with a Core 2 Duo processor, a 500GB hard drive, and 4GB of memory, came in at a reasonable $1,099. But what really makes this notebook different is its versatility; it mixes an ultra-low-voltage CPU, known for its power-saving and low-heat characteristics, with an Nvidia GeForce GT 335M, a performance-class mobile graphics chipset. It also has an integrated graphics controller for when you don’t require that much 3D power. To be clear: This is not your typical Alienware notebook, as it just doesn’t have the horsepower of its high-end brothers, theM17x and M15x. Still, it has strong enough chops to satisfy all but the most demanding gamers, and it will provide hours of unplugged frag time. And despite its size, it offers many of the cool accouterments you’ve come to expect from Alienware.

With its beveled, race car–style front end, illuminated grills, silver finish, and the familiar backlit alien head adorning its lid, there’s no mistaking the M11x’s family resemblance. It's basically a smaller version of the Alienware M15x. (Like its bigger sibling, it's available in a Cosmic Black finish, as well.) Measuring 1.3 inches thick and weighing 4.4 pounds, the M11x is undeniably chunky for an ultraportable. The slightly larger Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13weighs 3.8 pounds, while the 13-inchToshiba Satellite T135D-S1324 comes in at 3.9 pounds. However, the M11x has a very solid feel. The display is supported by two heavy-duty hinges that provide just the right amount of resistance when opening and closing the lid, and the battery is contained completely inside the chassis. (You can remove it by undoing eight screws on the bottom of the chassis and taking off the bottom panel.)

The 11.6-inch screen has a resolution of 1,366x768, which means it can display HD content at 720p. The panel is framed by a piano-black bezel with a backlit Alienware badge on the bottom, and it's protected by a glossy edge-to-edge covering that provides very good contrast and sharp colors. The trade-off is a fair amount of reflectivity, which can be distracting. The shiny bezel is aesthetically pleasing but not very practical; a matte bezel would help cut down on the glare factor. That said, our 720p test clip, The Magic of Flight, looked wonderful on the little screen, and viewing angles were very wide for such a tiny panel.  

The roomy keyboard is firm and comfortable, and it's illuminated by the same customizable AlienFX lighting system that also lights up the power switch, the front grills, the logo badge, and the status lights above the keyboard. Unlike the Alienware M15x, which offers four distinct color zones on the keyboard, the M11x is limited to a single zone, but you can choose from 20 colors. The slightly recessed touch pad is textured and provides smooth cursor control, and the mouse buttons are quiet and responsive. There are no sliders or touch-sensitive controls at the top of keyboard, but you will find a power switch in the shape of (what else?) an alien head. The front-firing speakers are surprisingly loud given the M11x’s diminutive stature, and they don’t distort when cranked all the way up.

Considering its girth, the M11x’s lack of an optical drive is puzzling. After all, the engineers at Toshiba managed to fit a DVD drive into the thinner and lighter Portégé R600, so it is certainly doable, and for gamers, it’s practically a must. We thought Alienware might have made this decision in the name of cooling such a graphics-intensive yet small machine, but the company instead cited cost, size, and weight as the determining factors. To us, that means it was possible, but the company doesn’t think people will value it—an opinion we don’t share, especially for gamers. Still, you do get a nice assortment of ports (DisplayPort, HDMI, and VGA video outputs, plus three USB ports), which means you can easily hook up this laptop to a larger screen, a full-size keyboard, and a mouse at home for a better gaming experience. You also get a FireWire port and an Ethernet port, and the inclusion of dual headphone jacks is a nice touch. The chassis lacks an ExpressCard slot, but it does have a three-format flash-card reader and a SIM-card slot.

Alienware did everyone a favor and bypassed the bloatware on the M11x. The system's 500GB hard drive came with Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) installed and was thankfully devoid of much else. (Alienware wisely withholds from cluttering its PCs with excess apps and trial software.) In addition to the AlienFX applet, you get another proprietary control utility, the Alienware Command Center. It contains AlienFusion, which lets you adjust power settings to save on battery life or increase performance; AlienTouch, which lets you customize your touch pad's sensitivity; and AlienSense face-recognition software, which works with the embedded 1.3-megapixel Webcam. You also get CyberLink’s YouCam software, which makes it easy to set up video chats and personalize them with cute special effects. In addition to those basics, fans of solid-state drives (SSDs) can have the M11x outfitted with a 250GB SSD as a $420 option. And finally, the M11x comes with a one-year warranty that includes 24/7 telephone support and basic in-house service within one to two business days. You can upgrade to a three-year plan for $199 more.

For all that you get on the hard drive, the M11x is a bit of a lightweight on the CPU. The system is powered by Intel’s Core 2 Duo SU7300, an ultra-low-voltage processor with a stock speed of 1.3GHz. Here, it was overclocked to 1.73GHz at the factory. (Click to read more about laptop processors.) You can enable or disable the overclocking by entering the BIOS utility and switching it on or off, but it’s nice having a bit more oomph, considering the CPU’s low-end specs.

On our PCMark Vantage test, which measures overall system performance by running simulated productivity applications, the M11x’s score of 3,608 was more than 1,000 points above the average for an ultraportable and slightly higher than the average mainstream notebook, as well. Granted, it couldn’t keep pace with Sony’s VAIO Z Series ultraportable, but that laptop uses a Core i5 chip and is much more expensive. Closer to the M11x in price is the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13, which the M11x bested by 831 points, and the Eurocom T3 Contessa, which trailed the M11x by more than 2,000 points.

The M11x handled our multimedia tests admirably. It encoded our 11 standard test audio tracks in iTunes in 5 minutes and 38 seconds, while the Lenovo and Eurocom models needed 6:48 and 9:54, respectively. Once again, the Sony VAIO Z Series and its Core i5 processor trumped the M11x, here with a time of 3:36, but that doesn’t mean the M11x can’t handle the task; it’ll just take longer.

The same goes for encoding video. The M11x's score on our Windows Media Encoder test was more than three minutes faster than the average ultraportable. However, on our Cinebench 10 benchmark test, a CPU-intensive rendering trial that stresses every available processor core, the M11x’s score of 3,122 was a tad below the average ultraportable score of 3,202. This is likely because the Core 2 Duo SU7300 is a bit older than the Core i3, i5, and i7 processors we're seeing today. Also, it's focused on battery life more than performance.

To help with the battery life, the M11x features "switchable graphics," which allows you crank up the 3D power with a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 335M chip for gaming and other graphics-intensive apps, and then dial back down to the integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD circuitry when you want to conserve power. (Pressing Fn and F6 simultaneously switches between integrated and discrete graphics, without shutting down the machine.) The GeForce GT 335M is not one of Nvidia’s high-end graphics processors, but it delivers enough muscle to play most games at reasonable frame rates, and it certainly blows the integrated graphics out of the water. On our 3DMark06 test, a synthetic benchmark that measures DirectX 9 3D performance, the M11x turned in a score of 718 while running in power-save (integrated graphics) mode. We then switched over to performance mode and received a score of 4,071. That's more in line with bigger, more expensive notebooks, and it's a level of score rarely seen in the ultraportable arena.

On our DirectX 9 real-world gaming test, using the game title Company of Heroes, the M11x scored a very playable 67 frames per second (fps) running at its native 1,366x768 resolution. The more demanding DirectX 10 version of the same test netted a score of 20fps, which is still pretty decent but not ideal. A frame rate of at least 30fps is desirable for smooth gameplay, but we dialed back one or two effects from high to medium, and the action was fluid and lag-free. We should note that with the exception of the Sony VAIO Z Series and the HP Envy 13, frame rates are usually so slow on most ultraportable notebooks that Company of Heroes and most other games like it are virtually unplayable. To wit, while in integrated-graphics mode, the M11x struggled to put out an agonizingly slow 1.3fps on the DirectX 10 Company of Heroes test.

Battery life was quite good while running in performance mode (that is, with the discrete graphics enabled). The M11x lasted 3 hours and 38 minutes on our demanding battery-rundown tests. (In this test, we stream video over Wi-Fi until the battery dies.) That’s only a few minutes shy of the average for an ultraportable, and you get all that graphics power, to boot. It lasted 5 hours and 50 minutes while using the integrated graphics chip, which is more than two hours better than the category average. Keep in mind, this test has video and Wi-Fi running throughout, so if you’ll just be running typical home productivity apps, you can expect much better battery life.

If you’ve always wanted an Alienware notebook but couldn’t bring yourself to pay the premium for the privilege, the M11x is definitely worth considering. It offers the build quality and edgy design that define the brand, and it outperforms nearly every ultraportable on the block. It can’t match the 3D power of the more expensive (and much larger) gaming rigs, and it really could use an optical drive, but for $1,100 you get a highly portable notebook that delivers solid 3D power and very good battery life, a rarity for this class of system. Whether you’re a gamer looking to ease your shoulder strain or a frequent traveler looking for a lightweight notebook with considerable wow factor, put the M11x on your short list.