New Razer Blade & Razer Blade Pro

Is that static noise like a humming whine or high pitch buzzing sound?

 

A bit of both. It's really not audible when any type of sound comes from the headset, but it's able to pick up any electrical activity by the Blade, it seems.

 

I remember someone from the AW forums was having similar problems. To fix their problem they reinstalled or updated their audio drivers from either the manufacturer website or from razer's website

 

Anyone know of a calibration utility we could use to at least try to get the best possible quality out of the Blade 14's screen?

 

Windows 8 screen calibration. Go to control panel, search "calibrate" in the search and you should see the option. That's what I'm going to do if I ever get my razer blade.

If you have actual hardware for screen calibration that'll be even better.

 

I just installed the Razer Surround program, doesn't it replace the audio drivers?

I had a static issue as well on my AW recently, it was Razer Surround that caused it and reinstalling it also solved it. I'll still try anyway, but almost definitely looks like a grounding issue since HDD activity makes the static noise worse =/

 

Ordered mine on July 1st, got the acknowledgment email, confirmation email and the processing order email, hopefully will get it by Friday!
As for the panel quality, hopefully someone with access to a screen calibration hardware will post a color profile so we can all import it to ours.
Back in 2012 some1 did it for the alw m18xr2 and the image difference was considerable.
Now, the static noise issue got me worried... If the noise gets worse when there is HDD activity it most definitely is a grounding issue.
Aren't we turning way too many blind eyes to the issues with the blade?

 

I can confirm that it definitely gets more intense with HDD activity. Case in point, when no programs are open and on my desktop, you hear a slight buzzing noise, when moving around my mouse and clicking it gives off a 'electric' noise on top of that buzzing noise. When running a game and I tab back to the desktop (from game music to silence), that electric noise is consistently on, probably due to higher activity on my HDD because I'm running a game.

I guess because, technically, you can tolerate it. I mean, the only time I really hear it is when there's absolutely no audio coming from my laptop, in games and music on I don't hear it. But still, I don't think it's right that a laptop of this caliber has this issue =/

 

My static noise sound like a blown speaker or a speaker that bottoms out playing heavy bass. I rebooted both times to correct the problem.

 

Ah, that sounds like what happened to my Krakens after my Surround installation failed, yep rebooting and reinstalling fixed it though.

Another observation, the static noise I hear only happens if my Blade is plugged in, on battery the sound disappears. Either a power chord/brick issue or definitely a grounding issue right?

Edit:

On a side note, if I do decide to tolerate this flaw and keep the unit, will this grounding issue cause more serious problems in the future? Or will it just be the static noise?

 

Ok thanks. Will give that a try

 

Can you have the person who ordered your system call them and make them cross ship you a new one so you don't have to go too long without a system? I think they did it for johnnobts when he had that problem with his keyboard not lighting up.

 

I'll try that. I'd have this replaced in a heartbeat but very concerned about how long I have to go without a system. Do you think Razer would be willing to send a replacement first, I receive it, and then I send mine? I was able to do this on my AW before, so I'm really hoping it's possible. I don't even expect them to ship it all the way here, just to my US address and I can take care of shipping it from there.

Student here, so a laptop is pretty much essential =/

 

I think they did that for johnnobts, maybe send him a message asking him if they sent him a replacement while he held onto his original blade 14.

 

Will do, thank you very much!

Edit:

Another observation on the Pro. Does anyone else notice that when using the SBUI for an app like YT, FB, or Twitter, and going back to trackpad mode, the ability to tap or double tap on the trackpad disappears? I have to go to the Control Panel > Mouse > Synaptics settings > Enable Tapping every time. Finding it a bit weird and inconvenient.

Correction, it only seems to be the Media Player app.

 

Alright, I need some help. Im torn between the razer blade 14" and the macbook pro 15" Retina refurbished. I play games like counterstrike source and BF3. Planning on playing BF4. If you were in my situation where you had to buy 1 of the 2 in the next month what would you get?

Also, for those of you that have the 14", what are the flaws and glitches that you cant seem to get around as of now. thanks, Dan

 

While Macbooks can play games they aren't gaming machines. The Razer is. From a gaming perspective there's no comparison. And this is speaking from personal experience with both.

 

Finally caved and pre-ordered on Amazon. I'm thinkin' maybe Razer will get some stock out to Amazon sometime two weeks from now..or maybe if we're lucky, since it says on the Razer website that the 128GB's official availability will begin on the 8th (and it will be the last model to be available) that maybe outside distributors will actually release the item on the 8th? I know someone mentioned the official release date being the 8th of July somewhere in this thread...

Kojaku

 

Any word on international availability?

 

I too was considering the rMBP. But here were the deal-breakers for me.
1) The Razer will play games 2-3 times faster than the rMBP. Pretty much forget about playing BF4 on a current gen macbook on anything but ultra-low settings. With the Razer, I expect to play everything on high settings for the next two years.
2) Poor cooling solution. The rMBPs overheat when playing games. Then they start to throttle, which hurts performance.
3) Poor windows support. Ok I'm a windows guy. Have been since switching in the windows 95 era. I feel so much more powerful in a windows environment. I am sure you can do the same, and maybe more, in OSX, but for me, I like windows for now. From what I have read, things like the retina display and battery management are handled poorly in windows.

Don't get me wrong, the rMBP is an amazing machine. If Razer didn't come out with the Blade 14 I would still be considering one. Even after their refresh near the end of this year, I don't expect more than a GT 750m in there. A lot of people are claiming they will drop the discrete GPU and just go with intel integrated iris, which is a bit slower than the current GT 650m, but would improve battery life.

 

1) the 765m is 2x as fast as the 650m
2) rmbp 15 doesnt overheat when gaming. it will throttle if you do use for pro apps that can use the cpu + gpu at 100%, it doesnt have enough power from the psu
3) the poor support is due to the touchpad, which in turn becomes you average touchpad, and lack of swicthable gpus

 

Here's another Blade 14 review Razer Blade 14 Review - YouTube

Says that it gets quite a bit hot when gaming. All from what the reviewer said. I'm still confused on what to get the AW or the Blade. It seems like the AW cools better but I still don't know, thats what people on the AW forums are saying. Guess I'll just wait another month or so until more people receives their units and can get a better opinion then

 

Of course it will get hot. There are two significant heat producing devices inside - the CPU and the GPU. Razer has done a terrific job of designing things so that the heat goes where it is least bothersome, but the heat has to go SOMEWHERE. If you stick your face in front of the exhaust vents, don't complain that your nose got burnt.

What concerns me is that the intake vents are at the bottom, where they may get blocked by my legs. What happens to the heating solution then? Maybe we should call it a table-top device instead of a laptop.

 

True, on that video I assume the palmrest and keyboard area are unaffected by the heat. I hope he was referring to the vents or maybe bottom of the laptop

 

My order was changed to this as well. Also, they originally charged me when I ordered it initially now the charge is gone. Did this happen to you as well?

 

So I'm assuming the price won't drop anytime soon on the Razer Blade 14" right?

 

They have not charged me yet. I assume they will charge me once it ships. Either that or I was incredibly lucky and my bank decided to pay it for me.

 

Has anyone read the techradar review? It says "The other reason the Blade is immediately lovable is its 14-inch, 1600 x 900 display, which emits a sharp enough image that we initially thought it was an IPS panel. It's not, but it's bright enough that you can use it in broad daylight, and boasts the kind of clarity and wide viewing angles that you normally find in IPS display." Er, is razer using different displays in some of these? Or are these folks nuts?

 

The 17" Blade screen isn't an IPS panel either, and when I had my blade, I thought it was a really good screen. I'm sure that the 14" one will be similar too. Johnnbots thought the screen was pretty good, too. (If I remember correctly)

 

Need your folks help. So i'm setting up my razor to use an external monitor and that monitor as the primarly monitor. Problem it is flickering intermittently and it's quite annoying. Is there a fix for this?

 

Sometimes that is the HDMI handshake IE HDCP . I have had that issue in the past on different devices so if you have another monitor cable to try i would start there.

 

damm I just came back from Fry's too.

I tried going HDMI to HDMI to a TV and it worked flawlessly.

Currently using Amazons HDMI to DVI connected to a HP S2331 Monitor is flickering. I turned off auto negotiate source select on the HP Monitor, but that didn't help.

I guess I can go to best buys and buy another cable, maybe i should get a HDMI to VGA adapter instead.

 

Has anyone considered taking the dive and patiently opening up the lid assembly and swapping out the LCD panel with another one? I heard the one that comes in the Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon X1 is pretty good at the same resolution.

 

This review: Razer Blade review | Laptops & portable pcs Reviews | TechRadar ?

Unless they received a different panel in their test unit, the following quote identifies the entire review as complete fluff:

Every other review points out the Blade 14 display as a notable deficiency. Some here are even returning their units based on the inferior quality, symptoms of which include very poor viewing angles, limited contrast ratio and iffy color gamut.

Has anyone contacted the reviewer and asked for the panel ID?

 

Those seem to be unique pictures. At least I have not seen them in any other review. The picture showing the display seems to show better colors than the others I have seen at that angle.

 

Replaced cable and still having the same issue.

Folks with the Blade 14 and HDMI to DVI cable, if you can test to see if you external display is flickering let us know.

 

Curious theory, have you tried plugging in a headset/speaker/earphone to the audio jack and try to hear any static noise?

After my grounding problem on my audio jack and research on it, I've read that this grounding problem sometimes extends to the external connections, in this case the monitor. I haven't tried an external monitor on mine yet since I don't plan to use one. Worth a shot, I'm definitely having mine replaced because of this.

 

Since you tried it on the TV and it worked fine but not on your monitor it has to be something else like the DVI adapter which are not all created equally. I dont know if all DVI adapters are HDCP compliant (probably not) so it could be just the adapter.

 

I can try without my gaming headphones.

 

Well I tried it with a new cable from another manufacturer. I am not about to try a third. I hate returning stuff.

Hopefully other members will test it out. To recap hdmi to hmdi (tv) did not have any issue. Hdmi to dvi (hp) it flickers.

I did hook my blade to a 27inch PLS monitor and didn't notice any flickering but I didn't have it connected for more than 30seconds. I'm unable to retest that cause I am 3000miles away from home

 

Yeah, doesn't have to be with gaming headphones. I tried them across a range of headphones and earphones, all shared the same problem. Just a curious test

 

Still flickers with the headphones out For minute there I thought you solved the problem, but it started flickering.

Wish I had another monitor to test this.

 

AFAIK DVI is not HDCP compliant (I may be wrong, though). This will always be a problem with older monitors/TVs. HDCP will try to establish whether or not the connected device is a recording device - if so, then it won't enable the output.

If you have VGA out, use that instead. If your monitor has component video inputs, a good VGA to component cable should be tried for picture quality. If you are happy with the picture, go with it.

 

I give it a go, I have a newegg will call center next to me.

LOL going to component, we are not in the 90's, the monitor I have in this house is only 3 years old. I would be upset if monitors still came with component inputs. That's like putting a TN panel on a laptop.

Anyways I hope the problem I have is due to my HP S2331. I would hate to see this problem exists for all users, especially folks who bought a Razer 14 as a desktop replacement.

 

In regards to International release dates (queried from Australia, for Australia):

Hi Albert,

Thank you for choosing Razer. We are sorry for the vague responses at this time. Our estimations are very rough at this time because we are still in the process of arranging a release time. As of now our goal is to try and get it out this year but no real ETA can be said at this point. Please sign up for the Razer newsletter here, and you'll be notified when the Blade and Blade Pro become available in your area:

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Best Regards,
Razer Support Team



So nothing we don't currently know. Razer Blade due for release in 2013.

 

See if you can get any help here:
HP 23 inch Flat Panel Monitor series -  Download drivers and software - HP Business Support Center
Maybe there is a firmware update that will fix this.

A driver update on the nVIDIA side should also be looked into. I know how annoying this issue can be. I've faced it using a HTPC with a Samsung 40" TV. The display would blank out every time I tried to change the resolution, and by the time it would come back, the resolution change would have been cancelled (the 15 seconds time to accept the changes would run out). A lot of hair pulling ensued.

 

Yeh I've updated the monitor driver and also forced the new NVidia driver with no resolve.

 

roflcopter

 

Sorry for the repost, but I still am struggling with this:


Has anyone been able to make the function keys...functions (dim display/backlight etc) work without that utterly stupid FN key?

I was able to make the first few ones work, the volume and play button, but the rest of them..nope...

It would be MUCH better to have them work as they do on macs. I don't think anyone actually uses Function keys other than with FN combination.

 

Have you tried making a macro with razer software and assigning the buttons?