I get an alienware m11x r3 (sept 2011), and I get bumblebee working and battery life over 7hrs with Linux Mint Maya or Olivia MATE edition !

NOTE: it seems this tuto doesn't work for mint 17!!!

Here we go.

Install bumblebee project from version 3.x

http://bumblebee-project.org

Power Management works out of the box! Thank to bumblebee team work!

Following ubuntu's install currently, you need to open your terminal and enter the commands below.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable

For more up-to-date nvidia drivers, you need to add another PPA. As of 12.04, this is still necessary for Nvidia GT 6xxM cards. It may be optional for the GT 4xxM and GT 5xxM series on 12.04. When in doubt, just install it. The command is:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates

Then:

sudo apt-get update

To install Bumblebee using the proprietary nvidia driver:

sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia linux-headers-generic laptop-mode-tools

and reboot.

******************

If you intend to run 32-bit programs like Wine and using Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric or later, install 32-bit libraries with:

sudo apt-get install virtualgl-libs:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libc6:i386

For advanced users, if you do not want to use the proprietary nvidia driver or 32-bit libraries (for example, if you are only interested in power savings), install bumblebee with:

• sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends bumblebee linux-headers-generic

linux-headers-generic is necessary since bbswitch (the power saving module) is a kernel module.

********************

For "laptop-mode-tools", many options are avaible in /etc/laptop-mode/conf.d & /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf

Plus I tweaked the nvidia's xorg's config in bumblebee's repertory adding this line below in section Device of /etc/bumblebee/xorg.nvidia.conf

    Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable=0x1; PerfLevelSrc=0x3322; PowerMizerDefault=0x2; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x3"

... be careful because Linux  Mint Lisa (or OS based on Ubuntu 11.10), Cinamon desktop and LMDE will eat more watts... but there are differents installations process.

In all case, I recommend to install primus to use primusrun instead optirun command. Have a look on http://bumblebee-project.org.

If you have any question, just ask, sending me a message.