HDMI 1.4a on the New Razer Blade 2014, Max Display Resolution/hz?

What is the max display resolution/refresh rate of the hdmi 1.4a port on the razer? I know the monitor also has to support it, but googling HDMI 1.4A is a mix of greek a/v talk and lots of people with conflicting information.

Can I do 1600p at 120hz? 60hz? What about 1080p?

 

Its the same type of HDMI as the previous Blade, but not sure if better graphics card affected anything. The previous Blade has been reported to do 2560x1600 over its HDMI, but the poster didn't mention refresh rate. I'm guessing its probably 60 or below though.

Online search reveals that 1.4a can't do 120hz at 1080p as well.

 

I really wish they would have stuck a mini displayport or thunderbolt port on the new Blade.

 

Agreed, in theory. But once you play it out, it seems less and less desirable. More ports must = less of something else or more space. Obviously, we want neither.

OK, but what about getting rid of HDMI and substituting with thunderbolt? That would just be annoying as there is much more widespread support for the former.

OK, fine, you say, but displayport/thunderbolt is better for gaming because it supports more monitors at higher resolutions! The problem with this argument is it forgets what the razer is all about, portability. If I really want a machine that'll be hooked up to my dual monitor setup, I'll get a desktop with dual GTX in SLI. Or, I'll just get a cheaper laptop that's bigger. Sure we want something that can "do it all" but that's technically impossible.

 

The problem is that display port and thunderbolt are not going anywhere. Sooner or later, Razer will need to add the port. There are already 4k monitors under $1000 and more reviews are starting to include 4k benchmarks. There are other benefits besides gaming when it comes to connecting to a high resolution display especially for those of us that are into photography.

 

I get that, I do. The problem is that they aren't everywhere (yet). When it's an either/or proposition (as it most certainly is in the case of the 14) it just makes sense to stay with (rather than ahead of) the curve. I'd prefer not to show up to my friend's house and get screwed when I need to plug my computer into his TV.

As for the "benefits besides gaming," I simply don't think that the Blade is considering those as strongly. It's a weakness, but, at this point, a necessary one.

 

A dongle isn't that hard to carry around. I got a carrying bag for my Blade and it has a giant pocket in the front where I can stick an usb to ethernet adapter. Another wouldn't be too bad.

If they really wanted only portability, they wouldn't have increased the width and weight of the Blade just to add a retina touchscreen.

 

Fair points. I think they care about sales, which were probably hurt, more than anything, by the screen last time around. The best 14" notebook screens are touch screens (unfortunately) so to throw in the best screen they likely had to go touch (which are thicker and heavier). I don't personally get the whole touch screen craze, so I am with you on that one.

Regarding the dongle, that's true. My friends who have macs carry one around. But its just so rare these days to see devices with thunderbolt/displayport that it still seems stupid to go in that direction atm. Even the 4K TVs have 2 hdmi ports rather than display ports. And, to be honest, I don't think that's going to change. I think TVs are just going to start supporting HDMI 2.0 (which can support 4K at 60hz). The last thing anyone wants to do is have to get a new set of cables. You are right to point out that their are a few 4K monitors out their that use displayport, there is certainly some loss. But I just think its minimal considering the purpose of the machine.

 

uh instead of the ongoing derail does anyone know anything more about the above statement? 1440p at 60hz?

 

My guess is no but we probably won't know for sure unless it's mentioned in a review or someone runs a test when they receive it

 

While Razer has a bunch of mobile products, I really think that first and foremost they are all about gaming. It's that mantra then that has me confused about the lack of mini display port in the new Razer Blade. Why? G-SYNC. This is going to make a much larger impact in the gaming scene than most people realize right now (especially when you're on the line with performance, which a mobile GPU will be sooner or later), and the 800m GPU line in the Blade already supports it. What a shame then that because of a lack of simple port options we can't hook this portable gaming system behemoth up to a gaming display behemoth. I actually think that is the single largest mistake Razer made with this new system.

Unless, of course, nVidia has plans to open up G-SYNC to HDMI (as I think it's more about licensing issues than tech) and Razer knows something. Hmm......

 

Do any of the upcoming ultra books, or even gaming notebooks in general, have a thunderbolt/display port and enough power to run gsync and/or 4K?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

Probably not 4k... but there are definitely notebooks out there with displayport/thunderbolt. Gsync doesn't require much out of the host computer besides a compatible graphics card.

 

Ah cool. Thanks. But are there any gaming ultra books coming with those though. I'm sure you could get them on like Alienwares or other massive notebooks, just curious about portable ones. Thanks!

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Gsync for laptops requires 850m+. Not sure what laptops have that atm. Haven't been keeping up with new releases since I bought a new laptop. I remember mostly seeing displayports for 15". Not many 14" had them or I didn't notice many.

Edit: random quick google search turns up the sager NP8258 which is a 15" laptop with displayport and a 860m. Not sure how portable that is though.

 

The Asus G750 series is one with Thunderbolt out. The JZ model rocks an 880m, so that would be your best bet. I still think it would lack the horsepower for decent gaming at 4k.

Amazon.com: ASUS ROG G750JZ-DS71 17.3? Gaming Laptop, GeForce GTX 880M Graphics: Computers & Accessories

The most portable one that comes to mind is the Alienware 14, but the most you can spec that one with is a 765m and it's over an inch and a half thick, so...

 

Yeah. Its disappointing how slow thunderbolt/display port is happening. Especially thunderbolt. Love it on my MBP. But yeah. I guess most 800 series laptop GPUs will struggle with 4K. Well I'll await my blade and hope it's a powerhouse. Guess waiting til the 16th will let me read up on some of the other options approaching.

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G-SYNC doesn't really take GPU "power" to run. Actually, one of the advantages of G-SYNC is that when you don't have enough power and you start jumping back and forth over the 30 or 60fps line, it helps the overall experience. If you read reviews, people said even with lower FPS drops they weren't as perceptible.

 

Correct, and people (including nvidia ) have indicated that if you are capping 120hz you aren't going to see a large difference with sync enabled on a 120hz monitor. Same for 144hz if you aren't using light boost.

That being said I can't wait for the ROG swift to be released. 1440p 120hz with improved light boost and gsync. Still trying to throw money at the screen for that bad boy.

 

I just tested 4k out with the laptop. Here are the results. I'm going to get a 4k display now but I'm still worried a I'll pick on that limits resolution on the input. At least I know what the Blade can do tho.

My cheap him I cable
4 k worked at 23 hz
3840 worked at 24 hz
2560x1440 wasn't an option. Just like the internal display.
20xx x15xx worked at 29 hz - sorry whatever the res it was 4x3 so I didn't care at all about it.

I tried an 85$ high end hdmi from best buy
4 k worked at 30 hz
3840 at 30 hz

This was all stock settings, possibly could go higher with custom drivers resolution.

* I made some changes above. The 3rd res was 4x3 so I didn't do much testing. I was disappointed 1440 wasn't an option but even on internal it isn't listed.

 

Any way you can test 1080p at 120Hz? If it supports 4k at 30 Hz, there's clearly enough bandwidth but I hear 1.4a isn't supposed to support 1080p 120hz, which is odd.

 

I would like to know the same thing: what refresh rates are supported for 1080p.

 

Most importantly 1080p at 75 Hz for DK2

 

Sorry to all above. I did not even think about >60 hz as I've never seen a TV accept higher and I was too excited 4k worked. It was a Samsung 55" 3d 4k tv for 2500 usd. It was the only 4k in the store. No Pc displays above 1080.

Also I had the 3rd res listed wrong. I was in a hurry and excited to report from my phone in parking lot.

 

Most TVs are far above 60Hz now adays... and quite a few gaming monitors are as well.

 

Well I meant input. I've had lots of 120 and 240hz tvs but the all only accepted 60 hz input. As I said they didn't have any Pc displays above 1080 so I didn't even look over there.. I could test 120 hz at home but my 120hz displays are dual dvi input, no hdmi. Sorry guys I was too focused on higher than 1080 and forgot about above 60 hz.

 

This was actually the exact issue that pushed me to the MSI GS60 Pro - it has a DisplayPort; one model has a 3k screen, so shouldn't have trouble pushing FHD+ sizes and has the same 870m so Gsync should work, too.

It was a tough call between it and the RB14 (love the unibody!), but the DisplayPort issue did it for me.

In fact, I think most of the new gaming notebooks from MSI and Asus have DP's - the GS60 just happens to be the main competitor to the RB14 (size, etc.).

 

I'm taking a close look at the GS60 Ghost now that I know there's one with a 3k screen and displayport (plus it has a lot more like an SD slot, ethernet, twice the RAM, slightly faster CPU, more HDD space, 2 year warranty etc.). All that AND it's cheaper? Wow.

Do you know what the refresh rate of the 3k screen is? Is it a touchscreen like on the Razer Blade? If not I shall be very, very sad indeed.

 

No idea of the refresh rate, but the screen is not a touch screen.

 

Correct. Not a touch screen (I used to think I'd want a touch screen, but then I thought of how often do I want to be wiping fingersmudges off my screen?)

Both the RB14 and Ghost Gs60 series have max 60Hz since they're both IPS displays. I'm not sure about ms response times.

 

I think there are some IPS panels with 120Hz out there, so I was hoping perhaps the tech is moving on in to consumer grade stuff.

Is the Razer Blade 2014's panel an IPS??

 

yes the panel is IPS

 

My thoughts exactly. Anyone know if the 2014 Blade's HDMI out supports this res/refresh combo?

Oculus DK2 is HDMI 1.4b as opposed to the Blade's 1.4a.

 

I can get 85 Hz refresh at 1080P without doing anything special or fancy with my screen/cable combo. You will need a cable that can support the bandwidth needed though, I found some of my cheap/old cables were more limiting on what refresh rates I could use.

 

Thanks for the verification dajohu!

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The DK2 is 1080p 3D, sure it will support 75hz then?

 

I'm interested in getting one of these monitors:

Amazon.com: LG Electronics UM95 34UM95 34-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor: Computers & Accessories

Anyone know if the Razer Blade 2014 will be able to drive it with just HDMI? I assume it would but would it be a poor experience? Thanks.

 

I was able to get it to do 3440x1440@44 hz on my display. So it can, but realize there could be some limitation on the HDMI input that limits it to something like 1080 with that display. I got this one Amazon.com: Samsung 28-Inch Ultra High Definition LED Monitor (U28D590D): Computers & Accessories

The second part of your question (poor experience?) depends on what bothers your eyes. I grew up using CRT's and I hated the flickering you get with lower refresh rates. What I've found out is that lower refresh doesn't bother me much with modern displays and the way they refresh. I've used 33 hz at 4k on some games and have zero problems. So 44 hz for me would not be an issue, some folks would hate it though I'm sure.

 

I am sure it can do 1080p @ 75 hz over HDMI, but I don't know if there is anything else special that could cause issues. Is the device seen from the computer as simply a display? If yes, then I would think it would work.

I would have thought a 3D device would have to be an even Hz but I have to admit I have no clue what this thing is or how it works.

Someone send me one and I will try it for you

 

The DK2 is not true 1080p 3d, they've split the screen to each eye so there are two screens, each displaying 960x1080 at 75Hz. The result is that the signal required is 1080p 75hz, which should be zero issue for the RB14.

 

Exactly. The semi-equivalent would be a 150Hz 3D monitor with shutter glasses, except without the cross-talk!

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Wrong thread!