Razer Blade (2014) Owner's Lounge

So idle is pretty high huh?

 

As I implied before I dont even think the 'profitability' argument stacks up with their storage choices in the long term. Ok a totally inflexible proprietary hardware system works for Apple but that is because it has a proprietary OS. It wont work longer term for Razer.

Do you think overcharging for msata SSDs works profitwise long term against adding a low cost component - like an additional msata port - which adds value and then charging a large margin on it. With 2 msata slots they could have offered massively more space - 2TB - at double the speeds - RAID 0. Now I would pay a US$250 margin over cost simply to have that pre-installed. If you buy a 512gb M2sata at a premium, one of the most irritating things is that you will probably be first in the queue to replace it with a 1TB M2sata when they become available.

Anyway, even if you think I am harsh, I just dont want to buy products from a company that acts like Apple - I have to put up with enough of that rubbish with my ipad - a company that makes it choices to profit at my expense, rather than to profit from mutual benefit.

 

I certainly see your point but I have no idea what works best for them profit wise. No-one does. Fact is, they did it. I can only assume they did it for profit over what's best for gamers. If they think that change is what's best for gamers, they are dumb...unless of course it's pcie compatible, which is probably a long shot

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The hwmonitor screen was alt tabbed out during titanfall, during the in between 90sec time frame, so not exactly idle.


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Anybody have battery life estimates?


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Can anyone test out SimCity 5?

 

Definitely a hardware issue for the majority of those issues, you should contact Blade support [email protected]



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They need to make a laptop that makes sense and appeals to customers... in order to make a profit, they clearly have disappointed many by this one omission alone (single slot and m.2 only)

Faster storage? Have you seen the performance numbers for their m.2 drives? It doesn't even approach that of the msata drives out there.

Why is it the right choice? Again, the performance of the m.2 drives they offer (someone posted benchmarks), don't merit the m.2 over msata at all.

I agree 100%. If people want a Mac they'll buy a Mac. I'm not object to the thin and light concept for a gaming notebook, but making for a completely closed and sealed system is like making it like a cell phone. PC gaming isn't about take what you get and live with it, it's about upgrading and personal configuration. I get that they want to minimize the options, but RAM and storage are the two key items that users want flexibility with. Just the fact that users are already seeking out external storage options means to me they failed. They didn't offer what customers want.

Nobody knows what their profit margins are because they are private, but no matter how much profit you try to make, you make less if you turn potential customers away from making bad decisions. I mean, certainly next year's Blade 14 should be perfect, everything is there for them. They will have Intel Skylake and nVidia Maxwell (likely 20nm by then), add 16GB RAM, and two mSATA slots, offer options for 1080p or 3K screens, and they would have a much larger customer base than they do now.

 

This would be the current offering of the MSI GS60 Ghost or Ghost Pro, from what I have read.

 

Who are you to say what everyone wants and what PC gaming is about for everyone?

They did exactly what I wanted, faster, better panel, same cooling system noise level. I wanted the slimmest, lightest, fastest and best build quality I could get. The 2014 Blade is the best combination. If ability to upgrade is important the MSI ghost and gigabyte models are there for the people with those OPINIONS. PC gaming is about CHOICE. There's many units to choose from from many manufacturers right now. Y50 is coming next month to add more.

Everyone had their own views and I think between all these new units there's something for everyone. No one manufacturer is going to make everyone happy. These forum conversations will ensure that.

 

Exactly. I don't really understand why HTWingNut is here. He spends his whole time just dumping on a device that people want, own, and so far, really enjoy... He says "Everyone is unhappy" but based on comments here, it looks like a minority are unhappy. It still seems that a lot of people are ordering considering the fact it's back-ordered.

Dude, either you really do want one, and are trying to convince yourself you don't, or you just enjoy $hiting on everyone else's parade... If you love MSI's ghost so much more, then please keep your praise/hatred to the wish list, ghost vs blade, etc. threads, and GET OUT OF THE OWNER LOUNGE.

 

You are correct there is no one solution for everyone, but I think you read a lot into his comment. Since most of the upset comments from Razer pre-orders are concerning the lack of storage options, I would say that many people Do want some flexibility in options.

Just for fun I'll pick on your reasons for picking the Razer 14.

Build quality and slimmest I'll give Razer. Lightest and fastest go to the Ghost.

Zeelobby, come one man it's just a forum post, simmer.

 

Easy there Zeelobby.
While you might not agree with HT he does make some valid points.So maybe he's not a fan with the direction RAZER has gone but he is spot on with the lack of upgradability the new model has lost.Most can overlook those but some cannot.

 

Razer is overwhelmed by pre-orders for the 2014 Blade. Empirically, they haven't disappointed many relative to their target market.

 

I hope they see this demand and plan accordingly next year. Thought that maybe last years model proved that point to them, and it sounded like Min expected growth, but I guess not as much as there truly has been this year!

But really, cheers to them. This is a great machine no matter what you factor.

 

You make some good points. I can't say I'm that unhappy though, just a little annoyed. I'm still going to buy it. If anything, they actually gained a customer through me this year. I was nowhere close buying last year's model with that abysmal screen. All I want is a thin, light gaming laptop that has a nice trackpad and a nice screen. I had a UX302LG, which this is replacing. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be very happy.

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I think they got a much higher demand than they got last year based on the screen alone. Not sure if I'm the only one but I canceled last year's edge and blade preorders as soon as I saw the reviews on the screens. I'm sure they were great products but that's a lot of money to spend on mediocrity.

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I'm calm. I just don't understand why we are STILL having a debate about whether the Razer Blade is worth it or not in the owners lounge by people who don't own it... I mean if users want to share pros/cons that's one thing, but I don't go to the ghost pro owners lounge and talk about how crappy the build quality is of the ghost pro without owning it.

Yes, mSATA would have been fine, 2 mSATAs would have been great. m.2 is disappointing IF it does not allow PCIe connectivity. If it does, the speeds achievable with this device are greater then any other gaming slim-book with an SSD upgrade. It makes sense Razer would not sell the RB14 with PCIe SSDs because they cost about twice as much as mSATA m.2 SSDs. If the base cost of the 128GB RB14 was $2.6K+, no one would buy it compared to the competition. However, if it is PCIe compatible, it's great for owners who want blazing speeds now, or want the ability to make a significant upgrade in the future.

Obviously people are buying it, and while I'm sure the inclusion of m.2 connector has driven some buyers away, there is obviously a shortage of devices on the market, so Razer can't exactly be kicking itself at this point. No one can comment on how large their "customer base" is without real numbers, and it is possible that the inclusion of m.2 lost them an insignificantly small number of users. We just don't know, and assuming that is the case is just dabbling in fallacy.

That's ignoring the improvements of this years device which probably brought even more additional customers into the fold, especially the high-res screen.

 

I don't care much for which drive that they are going to have in there, given that the 80mm m2 is going to give relatively the same performance or more, and in the future will have more space per drive than msata ever will. And thats what I think annoys you, aside the obvious 1 slot less, while in the future this will be a good option, specially if they have wired the connector to the pcie, currently msata does offer a larger storage (1tb vs 512gb) and the previous design allowed for 2 slots.

Its interesting to note how the trend is going that storage and ram are getting killed in terms of upgradeable options for end user, and sincerely Im not particularly bothered by this trend. Don't get me wrong, I do still use quite powerful machines that most people here don't use (512gb of ram anyone?), however given my needs for mobility I don't feel particularly bothered by this trend of getting lighter and smaller whilst packing a lot more power. However you do know that I don't care much about thinness. Until RAZER grows their line up its one downside that Im willing to take up on. Like I want to buy a new car, and Im torn between the fiat 500 and a less compact car like the new clio. I truly don't care about the added space, I do want the ability to park nearly everywhere. As a side benefit the woman loves the 500

People blame strangely apple for this, maybe they are selling more stuff, but they surely weren't the first one to make things soldered.

And another thing, they ARE offering what some of their customer wants, however as usual you can't please all the people. Whilst you would be thrilled to own a decked out p170sm or the dual GPU model, I wouldn't. I would just sell it.

I truly can't disagree with your wants, I do want more ram, however to claim that they can have more profit by selling cheaper and more configurable options is hard to pin point, given the nature of stock, support, parts channels, delays and so forth

 

I paid $2.6k...

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Razer is going for a niche segment of the market. Their customers are willing to spend more money for something unique. HTWingNut, you are absolutely right. They are driving away customers that might traditionally be associated with the gaming PC market. But those same people also made their own PCs so they wouldn't have to pay for RAM. They aren't the kind of people who could sustain a high margin operation. I can guarantee you the lack of second slot it not eating into their share of that market. Many of the people who were the first to get their laptops didn't even want to open the back cover. People who aren't willing to buy a Blade because it doesn't have a second slot which you couldn't use without voiding the warranty are the kind of people who wouldn't want to pay for the added cost of the device.

I do agree with Zeelobby, though. There is no reason to hang around the Razer forum and crap on it. I have never even been to the MSI forum because I don't like the Ghost. We heard your point. We disagree. And complaining about 8GB of RAM on a gaming laptop is just plain funny, so I won't address that.

 

Going to change the subject. Can any of the owners please give their experience on the trackpad? Specifically, how easy are multitouch gestures to get right? Is there any jumpiness like some experienced with last year's model? Does two finger scrolling on webpages feel smooth and accurate?

And the screen: One irritating thing I've been seeing laptop manufacturers neglect with these new screens is backlight bleed. In a dark room with a black screen, can any of you notice any backlight bleed? A picture would speak a thousand words and would be very much appreciated.

 

I am not a hardcore gamer but I game a lot . I have been using the dell xps line for years and increasingly disappointed with their build quality. I have honestly been searching for something like the Razer for years.

I don't want something clunky or gaudy like an alienware with a boxy build or absurd lights.

The ghost seems like a good device and more bang for your buck, but I was angling for build quality and smaller size so I felt the Razer was the one for me.


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I said the combination of those 4 things. We're splitting hairs if we are looking at the difference between 4.32lb and 4.47lb. The ghost will be marginally faster for CPU bound stuff, not happening at 1800p or the 3K ghost panel. I suppose that depends on the game. It was just my opinion the blade has the best combination of those things.

 

Couldn't have said it better.

 

Tomb Raider FPS:
Native Res @ Normal =45+......(HIGH, VERY HIGH, ULTRA).....ULTIMATE=25+
900P @ULTIMATE= gazillion.

Metro Last Light: This one is confusing...
I got a steady 50+ at native on MAX settings. I also got 9FPS on MAX settings. I also got anywhere from a gazillion to 9FPS at 900P on low settings....in a nutshell this game is sooo poorly coded. Or maybe the graphics driver has some issues with it. Maybe it kept switching between integrated and discreet...idk...Not a genius.

Diablo 3 RoS is 45+ @Native on MAX

More games to come...

 

Make sure Metro Last Light's AA is disabled. 3x AA can bring even my Tri-SLI GTX Titan desktop to its knees.

 

Damn, 40+ FPS at native res with high settings is pretty damn awesome! I know Diablo and Tomb Raider aren't necessarily the most demanding games, but that gives me high hopes at playing newer titles at high and 1080 with decent framerates.

As for Metro Last Light, yeah, its not the best coded. There are definitely a couple games out there which don't necessarily push graphical boundaries but can bring even the greatest hardware to it's knees. The original Crysis, Metro, etc. Watch dogs might be heading the same path as well, considering the basic required specs are redic, though hopefully that's due to insanely detailed AI or something.

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Same issues with metro for me, I uninstalled it. Won't be playing that on a laptop.

Diablo runs crazy well at native.

CIV V actually makes the fans spin a bit more than anything else I have tried. Must be the cpu cranking?

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Can someone please test Company of Heroes 2 ?

 

Any more temps not in Alaska ? kinda interested and anyone could recommend something sweet and good in performance cooling pad ? I mean sexy and powerful just like razer blade

 

You might want to look at Cooler Master. Their cooling pads are excellent.

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Since when is restricting RAM and storage options and omitting an Ethernet port a good thing for anyone, gaming or not?

 

As far as I'm concerned, wireless options are good enough today (ever heard of 802.11ac?) to be on par with Ethernet. And secondly, even the highest-end games don't need >8GB RAM. More RAM is just bragging rights. 16GB is already overkill, let alone 32GB. You don't need that much unless you're running servers.

The only thing I agree on is the storage, but come on. At least Razer opted to use a standard (albeit new) connector rather than use something proprietary like Apple.

You really seem to be nitpicking. For it's weight and size, it really packs more power than any other laptop of similar dimensions. If you had an Ethernet port, that would defeat the purpose of 'thin and light'. As far as owners here are concerned, the Blade is a great machine, and I agree with that. If you want to upgrade, there's always something called DESKTOPS. And they happen to be cheaper than the Blade, too. Please don't spam this thread.

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I've gamed with WiFi for years. Never found it excruciating to the point where I needed to plug in to play. You could probably use a USB 3.0 adapter if you really wanted to as well (just a couple bucks). as for RAM, more is always better but 8 is more then enough. The only games that could possibly demand more are either poorly coded to not take advantage of the onboard GPU RAM, like lazy PS4/XB1 ports, and in the process are alienating pretty much every casual PC gamer, since the majority of systems are less than 8GB. And again, while more storage would have been convenient, if it supports a PCIe upgrade, the m.2 port will be awesome.

 

I'm not spamming, I sense a bit of hostility for some reason. If you game online, wi-fi is not even close to having a hard wire, there's a signficant difference. Plus fiile transfers of 20MB/sec at best vs 120MB/sec with a hard line. I have AC and it's limited in distance to get about 30MB/sec at best, usually 25. 8GB RAM is probably OK for now, but in a year, two years? You have no option. BF4 already consumes about 6GB, throw in OS and any background apps you could easily possibly tap your pagefile more often than cared for.

Enjoy your Blade, nothing wrong with that, but ignoring shortcomings of the laptop, heck seems people are praising the shortcomings as the best thing ever for some reason, it won't help Razer improve on it. /shrug/

 

Once again, RAM usage is proportionate to RAM capacity. What if I told you BF4 doesn't *need* 6GB of RAM? 4GB is perfectly enough. You sound like Samsung: more RAM = faster device/programs/apps. Not true. Well, there's a lower limit to how little RAM you can have but after some, 16GB is completely unnecessary, even for intensive rendering tasks.

And speaking about your WiFi, it seems your router has some problems. Go get an Asus router and you'll notice a distinct speed/bandwidth increase.

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I have an Asus Router and an Intel 7260 AC wi-fi card. The router sits 20 feet unobstructed from my laptop usually. I've done plenty of testing. And with twitch gaming the latency between wired and wireless is quite noticeable and I don't have as quick of reflexes many of the players do.

You can justify your purchase all you want to. I don't care. I hope you enjoy the laptop. I was just commenting on the shortcomings that I see with it, not trying to start a battle. I enjoy the laptop I have now, but there's still lots of things I'd like to see improved.

 

I have to agree. I get better speeds on my Asus refurb.

There isn't hostility because your posting nonsense. There is hostility because you keep posting it in this thread. Please create a "Razer Blade blows thread" or "Leetness of ethernet" thread in the hardware forums or something. We already know the limitations, so right now you're just beating a dead horse and getting me excited that an actual OWNER has posted videos, pics or information...

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You've already asked the same question and received the same answers in this very thread about 4 or 5 times (and those are only the ones I've seen). As much as I respect your opinion because of your excellent w230st review, this is getting ridiculous.

 

Does anyone have a spare Orochi coupon code that they don't need, and are willing to give away? I want a new mouse. I'm currently using a Razer Salmosa that I got for free from the purchase of my sister's laptop. It's not very good, and I wanna upgrade...

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Sorry to keep your hopes down but I spoke to the Razer Support about utilizing the voucher outside of the US and he mentioned that it will not possible because the shipping address has to be the same as the one the Blade has been delivered to.

 

Aw, snap. Ah, well. You can't have everything in life, and I feel very thankful that I was even allowed to get the Blade! It really is expensive in Singapore, guys...

Even with the 10% education discount, the 128GB Blade was about S$2.99K... Still about US$300 more expensive than the US price. Maybe next time I should buy from the US store and give the shipping address as a SingPost address there, and then get them to ship it here. Still going to be cheaper than buying directly from the Singapore store.

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you have to have high speed wifi and enough bandwidth
you also have to have a router with ac compatibility

i will not benefit. u verse is the worst investment possible. it has subpar download. and upload is always 1mbps. it can really only support one device at a time and barely does that.

 

Actually that is pretty debatable.

The 128gb is S$3000. At the exchange rate of 0.80 that works out at US$2400.
The computer includes 7% sales tax which if you are a visitor you can reclaim.
That brings down the cost to US$2242 for the 128GB model for a visitor to Singapore.
That is a US$43 premium to the US price.

That doesnt seem at all unreasonable to me.

 

I'm just hoping my parents don't sell their house sooner then expected if the mouse has to be delivered there. I don't think I'll go with the orochi either. Gonna see if I can swing a Mamba like someone mentioned earlier.

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Are you sure? Without the 10% discount, (for simplicity's sake) the price of the 128GB Blade 14" is S$3299 (not $3000, where'd you get that from?), which includes a 7% sales tax. Shaving off that 7% turns out to be about S$3068. The current exchange rate is S$1 = US$0.8. That in turn becomes $2440 or so.

That's still some 240 bucks more, man. I believe the price of the Blade in the U.S. is US$2199 (not sure if it includes sales tax). I think you changed currency before getting rid of sales tax, I don't think it works that way (correct me if I'm wrong).

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Has anyone received their Orochi voucher yet? I had requested that they allow me to apply it something else a few weeks ago (I have an Orochi and Naga 2014 already) and he said they were escalating the case to see what could be done. I haven't heard back unfortunately. I'm really hoping they'll let me have a steep discount on a Kraken Pro or something. It'd be nice to have an all-Razer setup!

 

Any impressions on how games look downscaled to 900P/1080P?
I know a few owners said it looks OK but nobody really went into any detail, one thing that's amazing to see is that some games run good enough on native res

 

I would like to echo this request. Also, how does Windows look if you run it at 1600x900?

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