Razer Blade (2014) Owner's Lounge

My video of League of Legends performance results with Razer Blade 2014. This is the version with gameplay video. The video editing software doesn't seem to pick up 1600 resolution quite well, but in game, everything is out-of-this-world sharp.

Results:
1920x1080 resolution: 60 fps capped
3200x1600 resolution: 29 fps

 

Since the RB14 doesn't come with an ethernet port, I was wondering how much latency is induced with a USB 3.0 to ethernet adapter. It apparently also uses about 120% more processing power compared to an ethernet port.

Does anyone have any information on how much extra latency USB 3.0 to ethernet adapters cause? Do most RB14 users solely use wireless?

 

yep. its not actually a dead pixel its like a speck of light not visible on black/dark colors its more noticeable on white backgrounds.

 

does the new razer blade 14 have an additional ssd slot for self upgrade?

 

No.

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Razer has only been making notebooks for a few years so it is hard to judge long term reliability.
The 17" Blade Pro is made by Gigabyte, and the 14" Blade is made by BYD (a big Chinese manufacturer that is new to notebooks), so the longevity experience may be different between the two sizes. In other words, I would not judge the 14" reliability based on the 17".

Also, I caught this post about Razer quality on Tom's Hardware: Razer quality sucks - fact or myth? [Solved] - Peripherals - Computer Peripherals

Makes me think it might be best to wait for the early adopters to get all the bugs worked out...

 

My own experiance with RAZER is fantastic, my laptop works great and build quality is very,very good.I personally have no issues with any of that.

 

If anyone's interested, NASA has released new 2014 images for the Hubble deep field. Here is a link to the highest-resolution jpeg image on their website:

direct link URL: http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2014-27-a-full_jpg.jpg

In keeping with my recent habit of making green-hued versions of many of my favorite wallpapers, to go with the Razer's green backlit keyboard, here is my take on a green version for the 2014 Blade:

direct link to my version on imgur.com:

http://i.imgur.com/jU5Jawp.jpg

 

anyone have that green python wallpaper?? or the honeycomb wallpaper with razer logo at the center?

 

Couple of good Python ones (not sure if these are what you're talking about):

http://4hdwallpapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Dark-Snake.jpg

http://backgroundwallpaper.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Black-Wallpaper-HD.jpg

Razer logo at 3200x1800 native, from Razer's website:

http://assets.razerzone.com/eedownloads/desktop-wallpapers/irl-3200x1800.jpg

Edit: Found a nice one on deviantart:

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/229/0/5/razer_wallpaper_by_benrulz-d5beax9.jpg

 

OOOOH Nice... We should start a new high res green wallpaper thread.

I'm using this one right now:


Here's a couple others that might be useful.. The green dragon head I edited from a purple original.

 

Nice thanks Bro! its not the one im looking for but i like that one. im looking for the wallpaper they used when they showcased the razer blade back in march

 

Can anyone get assassins creed IV running at 1080p without it letter boxing? I tried changing my desktop resolution to match, but no luck. It's really pissing me off


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Get into the actual game, on your ship or on foot, with the letterbox. Alt+tab to the desktop, right-click, and choose graphics properties. The Intel HD Control Panel will show up, click Display. Under Scaling, there should be two options, can't remember what the unchecked one is called, but change it to that and click apply. The resolution of the desktop will change to rid of the letterbox, the resolution of your game. Wait two seconds, because sometimes it's gone back to the letterbox if I did it too quickly, and go back to the game. Should be fullscreen now at whatever resolution you picked with no letterbox.

 

just got my new razer blade (this one from the razer store, not the microsoft store). There are some notable differences:

The microsoft store one had slightly different setup with windows on the software side. The one I returned to the microsoft (aside from having a noisy fan), had like 15 degrees higher idle temps, and the load temps were riduculous. Thus far the one from the razer store has been quieter and cooler, so I can't help but wonder if the microsoft one had something extra on the software side, hiding in the background -_-. (or it could be my unit really was super defective). Also microsoft still hasn't given me a refund despite having received the return 2 weeks ago....so...they really suck.

 

What were your idle and load temps?

 

I got mine yesterday, ordered from the Microsoft Store. Seems to be running great - I ran EverQuest 2 for quite a while, and a few battles in World of Tanks. Both were set to max graphics details. CPU never went over 88C, and GPU hit 85C max. Case got pretty hot above the keyboard, but I never had any issue with the temps where my hand was resting for the WASD keys. This was in my living room with the TV on - the fans came on at some point, but not loud enough to be annoying with the TV volume.

My only concerns/questions:
1) The power brick makes quite a bit of interesting noise - it seems to be louder if the laptop is off (but charging), or when on under full load. I've read here people saying it sounds like crickets - not sure I'd say that. Are all of these doing that, or should I poke Razer?

2) Should the power button light up? I cannot find any pictures where it is lit, and mine doesn't appear to light up. However, Razer's support webpage with the FAQ's says this:
What do the different colors on my status indicator mean?
The front Led indicator shines on only when the lid is closed. The power button indicator shines on when the lid is open.
My front indicator light works as described, but no light on the power button that I've seen.

Other than that, all my issues have been related to trying to get used to Windows 8.1 for the first time.

 

Congrats on your new Razer.
1) My power brick makes no noise at all. If it bothers you return it.
2)About the power button being lit up, to tell you the truth I never really noticed.

 

Most of the power bricks make noises. Mine sounds like a very loud ticking clock when unplugged from the laptop. The thing I've found that stops the noises is unplugging the power cable from the brick itself, at least for me.

The Pro has a light up power button, the 14 does not.

 

Blade I returned to microsoft idled around 55-60c, load around 85-90C
Blade I got from razer yesterday idles around 37-40C, load around 74-78C

 

That's some thing I have noticed with this new one. The power brick is making this loud popping sound, my last two blades with the same brick weren't so....noisy.
I just ordered another power brick for comparison. If the other is quieter I'll likely try to RMA this noisy popping one (it sounds like little electical zaps every second)
The power brick even makes the noise when its not plugged into the laptop.

 

I really wouldn't call mine a popping sound - more like some sort of waveform. I emailed Razer support to ask them about a replacement.

 

Did MS have any noticeable software differences? Like bloatware etc?

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No, Microsoft heavily pushes that they do not sell any PC's with bloatware. The only difference vs. the Razer direct model is that Microsoft inserts a card into the box about their services.

 

no not really, but it must be a slightly different build or version of windows, as I notice very minor differences in the windows 8.1 interface.

 

Exchanged some emails with Razer support last night. He asked me if my power brick was making a popping or squealing sound. Squealing - that describes it! He suggested it could be line noise and to try some other locations; I had already tried it behind a good UPS with line filtering, and at another location, so he went ahead and shipped me a new power brick with a return label to send back the noisy one. Good support experience so far!

 

Hm I'm worried from that guy saying he got massively different idle temps between the MS store version and the Razer one. Wonder if he just has a lemon or if something else going on.

Anyone else tried both that can advise?

Thanks!

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I haven't tried both, but mine is from the Microsoft Store. My temps have been fine. The first night I think I hit a max of 85C on the GPU and 80C on the CPU. Last night I ran EverQuest 2 (known more for being CPU-bound than GPU) for a couple hours straight and CPU was around 80C, GPU was at 72C. Fans were barely on that whole time - I could only tell by lifting the Blade up and holding it to my ear. It was quite toasty above the keyboard on the case, but it was designed to do that for heat dissipation.

 

How is it playing with 1600x900 in this laptop? How much fps will it gain?

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So I've had my Blade for a little under two weeks and I'm really happy with this laptop. Only thing I would like to know is if my CPU temps seem on track with others. My GPU temps are fine and I'm happy with them. I've noticed that my CPU temps while playing borderlands 2 and Metro: Last Light will hit 90-91C on max settings at 1080p. It does not appear to stay that high and quickly cools down. Has anyone else seen these temps or should I think about returning for a replacement?

 

Got my power brick exchanged through razer. mostly fast and painless process. New one is near silent. If your powerbrick has any loud audible noises I recommend initiating an exchange.

 

I probably got a lemon. If you get a working on from MS store your ok. Just know they're really terrible on the customer support side.

 

How does a game look when you downscale to 1600*900? Does the quality turn to ? I really wish they would have put a 1600*900 QUALITY panel in there; scaling will be such a pain. Especially in programs like photoshop...

 

Guys, I just got my Blade and was wondering if you can hear the ticking noise when GPU kicks in. I put my ear very close to the keyboard and I could hear mine.

 

Absolutely agree.


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well, you're in luck: There is no scaling when you combine exactly four pixels into one on a 3200x1800 display, you get your wish - a perfect 1600x900 display.

You see, they needed the IGZO display, because a normal IPS display is too slow for gaming. And you can't buy a low resolution IGZO panel.

A lot of uninformed wanna be Reviewers on Youtube and elsewhere don't get this either. Razer used a TN panel last year for speed.People complained about the crappy display.But they couldn't fix it with an IPS display, they had no choice but to go to this.

And for Photoshop, you really want to stick to the native resolution anyway.

 

What are you agreeing to?

Scaling only applies for odd scale pixel conversions. When you can just do an exact pixel combine, there is no scaling,the picture is perfect at the lower resolution.

so with IGZO, you get:

perfect 3200x1800 for desktop applications, video editing, huge spreadsheets etc and older games like WoW or EVE-online (even Skyrim is workable in high res, with only slightly reduced settings)

perfect 1600x900 for the latest games that really stress the GPU and for competitive FPS games, where some prefer to never drop below 60 fps, while normally a steady 30 fps is enough for smooth play.


In-between resolutions like 1920x1080 wont be as perfect though. Depending on the quality of the scaler, you might notice some blur or not.

While I have no love for Microcruft, I will admit that Windows itself handles high resolutions like 3200x1800 fine. Problems with things displaying too small are the responsibility of Software companies producing Windows software packages.

 

Gaming on scaled resolutions looks fine. The desktop needs more precision but then you can just use native and font scaling for that.

If your prime use cases involve apps that aren't yet HiDPI aware I would just shy away from a high resolution display until it's fixed.

 

Same here - the old brick made some loud squealing noises. The new one is nearly silent - under gaming load, I can *just* barely hearing a light clicking sound, and ONLY if I hold it right to my ear. Very glad I bothered contacting them to replace it.

 

Mine made the cricket noises for a small while but it stopped happening at some point I haven't heard it in a while.

 

I am agreeing that it would be nice to have the latest hardware with a quality 1600x900 TN panel. Throw in a thunderbolt port and it would be perfect. In theory running the new blade at 1600x900 should not result in blurring. But here is a feedback from a user, that contradicts this theory.

This is confirmed by others who have also experience the same results. While none of this is inherently Razer's fault there are application and games that don't work well at native thus the end user experience is compromised.

Here are also some of the inherent problems of having more resolution which don't ever pertain to scaling.

-Consume more power
-Taxes the whole system more as more pixels are pushed to the display
-Generate more heat as the system requires more power/performance to push more pixels at any given moment.
-Streaming/downloading of videos of lower quality e.g. 480p looks fuzzy on QHD display.
-Everything while sharper (given ultra high fidelity source/content) looks smaller. Issue for people who don't have 20/20.

I unfortunately do not have perfect eyesight. Honestly I squint sometimes when looking at stuff on a 2560x1600 30 inch screen. The 2013 blade 1600x900 screen is ideal for me, though I do sometimes wish for more accurate color reproduction and widen viewing angles before distortion. One can only hope I guess. Sad puppy eyes @ Razer.


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Are you telling me that I can run this laptop in 1600x900 and get the same quality as I would with a laptop that has a good quality NATIVE 1600x900 ?

 

No, it will not look like a native 1600x900 display. There are not currently any windows drivers that support pixel doubling.

 

Major review of the 2014 Razer Blade coming to YouTube later tonight!! Hang in there, folks

 

Isn't 200% DPI effectively pixel doubling?

 

1600x900 resolution on a 3200x1800 display is.

Anyways, the video is up now. Feel fee to post comments in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/wha...blade-14-2014-review-after-one-month-use.html

 

HiDPI-aware applications should render the UI at a size appropriate for the display scaling while showing media at the native size. Given that Lightroom does this nowadays, I would expect that Photoshop does as well (but I don't own it, so can't verify this).

 

Does anyone have issues with the laptop getting really hot? I was playing Watch_Dogs on high settings (which it auto configured) and the touchpad gets too hot to touch which is really concerning. I should also note the fans run at full speed the entire time.

I didn't expect to run at 30°C (I think when I checked it was between 70°C and 80°C) but I do want to be sure that I can play for extended periods without worry, say a couple hours before giving it a break.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I watched the video review a few posts above from sturmnacht (thanks for that by the way) and it seems it's a common issue. Just curious on everyone's thoughts.

Thanks!

Edit: OH! One more thing, I run games at 1080p, and I notice some nasty screen tearing. I would imagine I don't need to kill my quality with vsync, but what's up with that?

 

Vsync will increase quality if you have tearing.

 

Oh, I thought vsync watered the refresh rate down or something to work against the tearing? I guess I could try it and see, but it still strikes me as odd that the screen doesn't play nice with some of my games.