New Razer Blade & Razer Blade Pro

I like how they can't stomach saying "Out of Stock" and chiling out with the order-taking haha.

Kojaku

 

Blade vs Alienware 14 video

Razer Blade 14 vs Alienware 14 - YouTube

 

Just got this from Amazon. They're tight-lipped as hell.

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Many manufacturers, publishers, and record labels restrict retailers from selling or shipping their products until the official release date.When we ship your order, we'll send you an e-mail confirming the date, contents, and tracking number.Many manufacturers, publishers, and record labels restrict retailers from selling or shipping their products until the official release date.In some cases, these items may enter the shipping process just prior to the release date. When possible, we do this to ensure that you get the item as soon as possible after the release date. I realize this has been a frustrating experience, and I'm sorry about this.

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Looks like we'll be getting our laptops just in time for black friday shopping, oh boy!

Kojaku

 

What is wrong with them.. F the 1080p display.. 33% less pixels keeps the 765M fresh longer at native resolution. No one cares once the game starts, you'll get lost in the game and forget it's not 1080p... now.. 768p.. that might be a little too far..

 

I remember a few years back when french Walmart equivalents didn't even bother listing the GPU of the systems they sold, but instead prominently featured HDD and RAM capacity presumably because bigger numbers that are easy to understand = good for sales. And it seems like in some ways, screen definition is becoming that new big number.

Don't get me wrong, I currently own a rMBP, screen quality and pixel real estate are nice, but the Razer Blade is first and foremost a gaming machine, sold as such, aiming for maximum performance in the slimmest chassis and it's pretty appaling that these and many other reviewers seem to completely disregard that key point. Or the fact that upscaling 720/900p to boost performance on a 1080p screen looks infinitely worse than playing at a native 900p res which *should* be a primary concern when you're buyin, you know, a *gaming* laptop.

 

That being said, you are trying to say that a gaming laptop is only used for gaming? Really? The whole concept is to have a powerful on the go machine, able to game, watch movies and so on. Have you seen the images of the screen, the angles, the washed out colors? 1080 or 900p is not the "main concern" but you do not buy a car just for the engine, do you?

 

If you could have either of the 2 right now(MBPr or the RB14) which one would you take? I am either getting razer blade 14 or MBPr 15 for college

 

No, what I was saying is that I'm buying a Blade with the main intent of gaming (on a slim and very sexily designed machine), and I would rather be able to play games optimally at native resolution (instead of having either worse performance or blurry image from upscaling) and have a slightly worse experience in other usages (web browsing, watching videos, etc...) than the other way around. Those are my personal priorities and the reason why I chose the Blade specifically, if those priorities were different then I would have chosen another model (such as, say, my rMBP).

Note that this comment only applies specifically to screen resolution, like everyone else I wished the screen quality was even better.

I haven't received my Blade yet, so take the following with a grain of salt, but I've had MBPs (and their ancestors) for years now, and the Blade is the first laptop ever that made me want to switch to a PC. And I'm certainly not looking forward to being stuck full-time in Windows, especially Windows 8.

However, if gaming isn't the absolute n°1 priority for you, I still believe the rMBP is a more well-rounded machine (if only because the screen is heads and shoulders above anything else). It's too bad Apple most likely won't update their lineup before October so we could know exactly what kind of competition the Blade will be facing in that matchup.

 

If you play real games that require hardware for it, RB14 hands down or whatever fits your budget.

If you just going to be use your laptop for school and light gaming them MBPr of any size.

I have the New Vaio 13, Razer 14, and 1st Gen MacBook Air in front of me right now.
Screen:
1st. Sony Vaio Pro 13 - So clear and rich.. Could be brighter
2nd: MacBook Air - Standard Screen, good colors
3rd: Razer - Washed out a bit, ok colors

Razer RGB 64% only


MacBook Air 1st gen 70%... not bad


Sony Vaio Pro... 95%!!!! What?


Keyboard:
1st: MacBook
2nd: RB14
3rd: Sony

Hardcore Gaming:
1. RB14
2. Sony and MacBook N/A can't run them well

Build:
1st: Razer and MacBook
2nd: Sony feels cheap, fan always throttles up.

Trackpad:
1st: Mac
2nd: Razer it's pretty good compared to any pc
3rd: Sony really bad, but functional

Wifi Radio:
1st. RB14, I get almost 2x the distance than the sony
2nd MBA
3rd Sony

I'll post a pic of all three computer if you want, but my camera battery is dead and being charged up.

 

Just adding my own experience here, depending what you decided to do with the notebook. If you even have the smallest intent of gaming I would recommend to try and stay away from the retina. I used to have one. High end 15" 16gb of ram and 768gb and my biggest issue with it in terms of gaming is that I had to reset the SMC settings every time is booted to windows ( was using bootcamp) to play bioshock infinite or the Final Fantasy XIV beta. Because if I didn't my frame rates would stick around 4-10 fps wen I would reset the SMC settings it would jump up to normal.

If your course at college gives you the option for either or I don't have a recommendation as of yet since my razer hasn't shipped yet. But if you think that the SMC issue won't bug you, oh! And that windows can't properly control the MacBooks fans. Then go for the retina, otherwise order the razer. At least with the MacBook you know when your going to get it while with the razer.... Well you know what's going on.

 

Hahahaha. Im guessing she is MAC guy and the on the left is the PC guy. She didn't even let him give his verdict at the end.

 

Do you guys think the 14" 512gb will be back in stock in July? o_o I'm heading off to college so it'd be easier if I could get it while I'm at home and get used to Windows 8 and the laptop itself.

 

By gamers for gamers.. they are targeting people that want to game on it. Everything else is secondary. There's plenty of other units more geared towards being a Jack off all trades, get one of those instead.

 

That's because she's running that show.. he's just there to get slapped around. Respect.

 

If anyone really needs to know which to choose between a rmbp or razer blade 14 and you actually want to play games with a nice experience, then hands down the razer blade 14 is your winner.

 

You folks run into problem when the power cord is 100% plugged into the laptop, but the battery still drains? I also noticed display dims like it's on battery power saving scheme. I don't have my display dim when plugged in.

 

I've been pressing Razer to give us at least SOME estimate of this (even a quarter, not the month) for a few weeks now and they absolutely refuse to say. They have literally repeated, over and over, that they don't have any information. Don't count on it happening in July, my friend. It looks like they're gonna be pretty backlogged for at least another 1.5-2 months whether they admit it or not.

Kojaku

 

Bleh, that's a bummer. Thanks for the info! I guess all I can do is hope and pay attention to this thread.

 

If razer wants my money they need to clear up this static noise issue and be able to get me a unit by august 10th. If not they've lost a customer to macbook pro retina.

 

From what I've gathered, it's a big hit and miss. A friend of mine has the Blade 14 here in the Philippines as well, luckily for him it's completely fine. Mine is due for an RMA with the international costs levied on to me. Would have been nice if a replacement unit was sent out first to have no system downtime, but I guess I can understand their scarcity of units.

Are you in the US as well? I wouldn't worry about it too much if you are.

 

they reply to ur email yet ?

 

Just got a shipping confirmation for my 256gb blade ordered on July 2! Was beginning to think it would take a while, but clearly not. I hope it works out for the rest of you soon as well

 

Huh, really? That's a pretty recent order.

EDIT : On the website the Razer Blade 14" 256gb is IN stock. Was this always the case?

EDIT 2: It's on backorder again.

 

Really I don't understand this "release date" concept that Amazon is spinning on Razer's behalf. So what is this magical date? When Razer has shipped x laptops successfully? When ship dates are less than 1 week from order date? When inventory levels reach a certain point? It is quite silly.

The only excuse I would remotely accept was that the demand was so overwhelming that they could not allow third parties to sell until backorders were cleared. But Razer has dine nothing to help itself here.

They are lucky there is no real competition in their space this year in the slim gaming best build quality category. The clevo W230st may be the only real competition there and isnt available.... Yet. But when that rolls out later this month i will actually take a serious look because of the better screen that is available and probably other options on that unit as well.

 

The Chinese reseller jd.com is shipping the 256gb now.

 

Same here, just got the shipping confirmation. Bought on July 1st.

 

Just stopped in to say I ordered my 256GB Blade July 9th and It shipped same day.

 

For the folks that just got their shipping confirmations - congrats! Were your orders directly through Razer's website or a reseller (e.g. Amazon)?

 

well I submitted my order for the Blade 14 512GB on the 4th of July received an email on the 6th of July that my unit was on backorder, estimated shipping dates takes about 5 to 7 business days. No email from them till now..hopefully mine will get shipped asap

 

I ordered mine from the Razer store.

On another note.. I need to update my sig

 

That is RIDICULOUS. How can one reseller ship and the others like Amazon still be in pre-release mode? Sigh. I really don't understand.

 

I don't normally dream. Let alone about laptops. But I had a dream last night that I got a confirmation email that my Blade had shipped. Woke up and checked that it had indeed shipped! Looks like it will be here Friday.

 

Time to drop some new rage on the Razer twitter/fb and Amazon support (A CHINESE RESELLER!?!? BEFORE AMAZON!?!). Excuse me while I light up the torches and sharpen the pitchforks.

Kojaku

 

Didn't somebody say something about a shipment stuck in customs? I think its odd that all of a sudden a bunch are shipping, including mine, which I ordered YESTERDAY and I had the shipping email this morning.

I leaning towards it was out of razer's hands.

 

Also, if nobody else does before mine comes, Ill try and get some good pics comparing the blade's display to what I have access to. I can get a 2012 macbook 13, Google CR-48, and last years envy 15 with the ips display

 

Yes. They told me Friday that the shipment was stuck in customs. Looks like it finally made it through.

 

My gut tells me from speaking with Amazon that they really don't have anything there but a placeholder in their electronic system. Their supervisors have no information and are puzzled.

 

Just a theory.

Was that Chinese reseller an official reseller? Or just a 'reseller' after the initial launch?

If it's the latter, I would suspect that the reason why Amazon is in the dark with dates is because Razer might be prioritizing themselves as a source, seeing as how they just launched in China therefore need inventory there. Which could be followed by a European release, maybe. Just guessing!

 

How comes that a Chinese reseller offers the Blade? i thought its just US and Canada?????

 

They launched the Blade in China roughly the same time they launched Razer Surround.

 

Hi guys!

I've been lurking around here for some years now, but thought i'd share my blade order with you.

i ordered the 512 gb 14" blade on the 7th of june in the US. Then one day before the first shipment (i think it was the 21st) i got the backorder email, stating 2-3 weeks further delay. The three weeks have passed friday (in two days). I wrote Razer asking if they held their shipment date of 2-3 weeks, and they actually replied that the time frame had been confirmed by their warehouse. I'm just curious what happens now. Has anyone received their 512 gb blade?

 

After some initial weirdness and a delay, yes, I think a few of us have.

 

Yeah at this point both Razer and Amazon have simply stopped talking. They know the lack of communication is unprofessional... But they really don't care.

Kojaku

 

I hope y'all know the best deal is getting the 128gb blade and adding a 256gb msata drive down the line. This would make the now 384gb blade roughly be 1980.00 plus the initial tax from razerzone.

also, dont plan on amazon having any blades till next month. I guarantee Amazon receives there shipment when razerzone has the Blades shipping in 1-2 business days.

 

That'll mean some people would've been sitting on backorder for 1.5-2 months all while a chinese reseller has already begun outshipping the largest online retailer in the world. Razer?

Kojaku

 

If razer has orders to fill on their website why would they ship units to amazon? They have to tend to their customers first untill the get enough stock to ship to different retailers. Im with you on no tax from amazon, but it ain't coming soon.

 

Because they will always have orders to fill Dan. Here is the thing. Why announce the availability on Amazon when based on what we are all seeing, it could be months at this rate before Razer gets its act together. Amazon should pull it from the site honestly. In any case, a simple update from Razer to Amazon on availability for all of the loyal customers of both brand and shipper would not hurt. Customer service is really at a minimum here.....

 

They have mentioned that a shipment is stuck in customs. Blame the officious oaf who is sitting on the paperwork. If the shipment is not cleared, what is Razer to do? Ask Amazon to forward those orders to them so they can clear them? I don't think Amazon would be comfortable with that.

I think transparency (or lack thereof) is the issue here. Razer should have issued a press release stating the above so that the people waiting knew what to expect.

 

Anyone could've got a 256gb 14" this morning while it said IN STOCK. Like people said, some people ordered from razerzone yesterday and their blades shipped today. Its all about when the shipment comes in. Now razer is out of stock till their next shipment comes in. I would like to wait it out for amazon, but it looks like i'll already be in college by the time they get their units.

 

Lol Dan I agree it probably will be a good long wait. PS I got a chance to see what a clevo w230st looks like from a side angle. Almost 3 times the height of the Razer. No thank you....