I’m still not willing to call the Alienware M11x a netbook, and I’d call you crazy if you were to do so. The bottom line is that no netbook should cost $800 (are you listening, Sony?) and that Core2 CPUs pretty much exclude you from the category.

Now, that doesn’t mean the M11x isn’t sweet. Quite the contrary. It’s a seriously bad-ass little gaming rig, and you’d be hard pressed to find a more portable frag box to take to that mostly-friendly LAN at your buddy’s house. IGN even picked it as one of CES’ best-in-show products.

Over on the Direct2Dell community site, they’ve posted a blog about the M11x’s origins as the “Phantom.” According to the post’s author, Alienware had been planning the tiny beast since around 2005, a bit over a year before the Dell acquisition went down.

It’s an interesting read, and there’s a video embed of the M11x running L4D2 without breaking a sweat. The more I look at that thing, the more I start thinking about where I can scrounge $800 to buy one. It’s not due out for a little while, so I guess we all have time to start saving pennies, amirite?

Things have been more than a little crazy at Minifrag HQ (translation: my house), because my family and I have been in the process of purchasing a new home. It probably wouldn’t be such a big distraction if it weren’t for our geography.

See, yours truly lives and works way, way up north in Canada — six hours north of Winnipeg, to be more clear. The dilemma we faced was deciding whether to commit to a long-term stay where we are now, or relocate somewhere a bit closer to “civilization.”

Ultimately, bush living won out, and we’re set to move — in a little over two weeks. So further craziness is about to commence…

On the plus side, the new place has an actual office where I’ll be writing from. No more kitchen-table blogging from me. And that also means I’ll be able to frag my heart out in private without disturbing anyone in my home who has practical things like homework or bill-paying to do.

Thanks for giving a hoot, and stay tuned!!

One big issue I have when it comes to paying for boxed (or downloadable) games is wanting some assurances they’re going to run on my hardware. I currently don’t own a tower with “real” graphics capabilities – just a netbook and a laptop, both with Intel integrated video.

Fortunately, the crew from Futuremark has a useful little web app called Game-o-meter. It uses a Java-powered system profiler to collect data from your rig and compare it to minimum requirements for tons of different games. Just about every popular title is listed, from WoW to CIV3 and 4, to Rome: Total War.

The results Game-o-meter produces aren’t fool-proof, of course, but they at least give you a little more insight than what’s printed on the box.

One caveat: new hardware might take a little while to show up in their database. As you can see from the test run on my Gateway LT210H, the Pine View graphics are as yet unknown to Futuremark.

To check your system, make sure you have Java installed and then head over to Yougamers.com – just click any game to start testing!

When Zotac’s new models were photographed at CES, there was a non-working unit which looked like it could be hiding the fabled NVidia Ion2 mini-PCIe expansion card. Unfortunately, there was an HSF obstructing our view.

Now it appears that Asus has let some information slip in the footnotes of a marketing imagefor their upcoming EeeTop 2010PNT. Spotted by Blogeee [Google Translate link], there’s a bulleted item for NVidia Geforce G310 Ion2 graphics.

Ok, great. We have one more confirmation that Ion2 will be some kind of a G310 GPU. And it’ll likely be on a mini-PCIe card from what we’ve seen before.

What I want to know is this: when will we be able to buy the damn thing!?

There may be other great things about the new HP Mini 210, but there’s one feature I think is definitely worth talking about. Netbooked has posted a hands-on video with the unit which reveals that the bottom cover can be removed without a screwdriver.

I don’t know how many times I’ve cursed laptop manufacturers over the years as I search for one more screw to release something I need to remove. a screw-free casing certainly sounds like a good idea to me.

Of course, over time the clips which hold the cover on could degrade and lose their effectiveness – but that will probably be long after you throw your netbook in a recycle bin.

Check out the video after the break!

TechReport spotted some new models from Zotac during the craziness at CES, including the system above – clearly marked as running Pinetrail + GT218. Yep, that’s the NVidia GPU which has reportedly mutated into the Ion 2 “chipset.”

It’s too bad there are a couple downsides to this picture. One, the socket is totally covered and there’s no view which shows whether or not that’s a mini-PCIe slot under there. Two, the label also clearly says “non-working.”

From what I’ve seen over the years on other laptop designs, it’s entirely possible that there is, in fact, a socket and an expansion card under that HSF. It’s also entirely possible that this particular unit at CES didn’t have anything under it.

Bottom line: Ion 2 is still “coming soon,” but at least OEMs are obviously ready to ship it once it’s ready.

Wondering why it’s been so quiet the last couple of days? Too much drinking to help me cope with all the news out of CES?

No! I’ve been wringing my hands waiting for Futureshop to finally deliver my Gateway LT2101H – the one I discovered on their site more than a week ago. Do to a backorder and inattentive CSR, I ended up having to wait four extra days – but it’s here now!

Take the jump, and have a look at the pics!

So far, so good. I currently own a 15.4″ Gateway notebook coated in the same candy apple red (though the netbook adds a stylish tone-on-tone stripe), and I’ve been very happy with it. The LT2102H – at least at first blush – is every bit the same quality I’ve come to expect from Acer / Gateway machines over the years (this is #4).

The LT2102H measures about 24MM (just under 1″) and weighs in at 1.1KG. (about 2.4 pounds). Its power button/LED and wifi LED are located at opposite sides outside the hinges. Added cool: the translucent plastic covering the power LED has an embossed ripple pattern on it which looks slick when illuminated.

Its chicklet keyboard is a good size, and comfortable to switch to after using my full-size 15.4″. As with other Acer keyboards like this they do wiggle a bit – but no more so than a traditional laptop keyboard, really. The touch pad is also nice and large and tracks very well. Its button isn’t split (not a downside in my eyes) and has a good, solid feel – the action on it is just about perfect (for what I like in mouse/trackpad button).

Software-wise, I’m pleased to see that Gateway  hasn’t gone overboard with the bloat. Here’s what I’m uninstalling: Norton Internet Security and Online Backup, and the Google Toolbar. That’s it. I’m leaving Microsoft Works installed. Hey, I don’t need a full-blown office suite on this machine, and Works will fill in nicely when I need to whip up a quick document.

Windows 7 Starter is on board, and I’m fine with that, at least for now. I have a nasty habit of formatting and reformatting non-stop after about a week, so we’ll see how long it stays. Here’s how the Experience Index shakes out:

• Processor: 2.4
• RAM: 4.4
• Graphics: 3.1
• Gaming Graphics: 3.0
• Primary Hard Disk: 5.3

Pretty well exactly what I expected. I’ll be upgrading from the stock 1GB ram to 2GB tomorrow. Access through the underside is super easy – a single screw guards the ram door, while the HDD and wifi adapter require undoing a trio of screws (still very painless).

On the battery front, Windows 7 reported about 4:55 minutes on a full charge. If that turns out to be true, great – it’s only a 3 cell, 2200mAh powerpack, so I’ll be thrilled if I can push it to nearly 5 hours. Thoughtful design feature: the plug on the AC adapter can be rotated – making it easy to squeeze into a slim gap on your overcrowded power bar or to allow it to hang securely from a wall outlet.

And now, a word about audio. Coming from an older MSI Wind and Acer Aspire One, the speakers on the LT2102H absolutely rock. Maxxed out they’re plenty loud for listening at my desk or kitchen table, and there’s little to no distortion. There’s also no bass, but I wasn’t expecting that. Regardless, Mr. Scruff’s Ninja Tuna (in your sample music folder) sounds funky as all get-out, and I love it.

At full brightness, the 10.1″ display outshines my 15.4″. It’s actually too bright, which is great. I’ll probably be running at about 80% most of the time. Images are crystal clear and colors are rich and accurate.

I’m also digging the Atom N450′s improved muscle. I’m browsing, listening to music, and installing apps right now and the system isn’t bogging down.  In Google Chrome, GMail and Google Reader are smooth as silk. That’s a must for times when I can’t get away with being “productive” by reviewing games for you guys.

Games to be tested soon…so stay tuned! In the meantime, there are a few more photos over at my Picasa Web storage you can check out.

Over at Liliputing, Brad continues churning out news from CES 2010 in Las Vegas. In the last couple days, the thing I’ve been most excited about is the slew of NVidia Tegra 2 tablets and netbooks on display. Why?

Because Tegra 2 is a giant leap ahead of the current Tegra platform. Here are some highlights of Tegra 2, in case you’ve missed them:

• 40nm process Dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor at 1GHz
• 4x faster than current-gen Tegra
• full 1080p HD (including HW accelerated Flash 10.1)
• insane battery life: 140 hours of music and roughly 16 hours of full HD video
• supports Linux (eventually including Chrome OS), Android, Windows CE/WinMo

But there’s one feature that has been somewhat glossed over. The Tegra 2 can also run games built on Unreal Engine 3. Better still, it runs pretty darn well – read on, and check it out in the video after the jump!

That’s a pretty major breakthrough. Right now, Apple fans pretty much have bragging rights when it comes to non-DS or PSP mobile gaming. However, the combination of Tegra 2′s muscle and NVidia’s massive developer following could change things dramatically.

And let’s not forget that the current iPhone and iPod Touch don’t even know what to do with Flash. All those awesome Flash games you’re playing on your desktop? They should run just fine on a Tegra 2 tablet.

Hopefully the arrival of these devices will be coupled with the development of some nice Bluetooth-enabled input devices we can use with Tegra 2 tablets. As nice as Unreal 3 support is, looking down at a tablet laying on my lap and doing the whole WASD thing on-screen just doesn’t sound that compelling to me.

Nvidia may be facing an uphill climb with Ion 2 in netbooks, but it looks like Tegra 2 is going to be a pretty clear-cut winner on tablets and smartbooks. I’m pumped.