Razer Blade 14" (1060 GPU/late 2016) Owner's Lounge

If you haven't already, check this thread out on the Razer Insider forum, very helpful pointers about increasing the performance of the 1060 graphics card in the Blade:

https://insider.razerzone.com/index.php?threads/razer-blade-2016-gtx-1060-benchmarks.17082/

The Radeon 460 Pro in the new 15" MacBook Pro is a bit better than the old GTX 960m. The 1060 is much stronger. From a build quality standpoint, no Windows laptop is built better than the Blade. You got unlucky with some slight wobble it seems. I've had several slightly warped MacBooks. Happens with aluminum laptops.

The 1TB SSD in the Blade is very fast. On par with Apple in real world performance, maybe Apple will bench higher. The 256/512gb SSDs in the Blade are slow as molasses when it comes to write speed.

I'm also an Apple fan in search of a competent ultraportable. The $2400 is MUCH better spent toward the Blade, in my opinion. I HATE glossy screens, in any capacity, and lack of regular USB ports on the new Macs. I refuse to use dongles for everything.

Razer support is abysmal, and that's an understatement. MS support is better but if something has to be repaired I think they still send it to Razer. Nothing comes close to Apple support.

Tough decision for you. Play around with the Blade and take advantage of the 30 day return period and see?

 

I'm torn between Razer Blade FHD and Gigabyte Aero 14

What I do:
Im a programmer/researcher/VRsounddesigner I want a laptop with the 1060 GTX but also "office looks"

Price is the same:
RB at MS with Student Discount = 2460
Aereo14 at Gentech with some steroids = 2340

After "pumping up the specs" on the Aero 14, the differences are these:

• RAM - 16gb on RB and 32gb on Areo, maybe a bit an overkill but why not man
• Battery - ~5 hrs on RB FHD and ~9 hrs on Areo.. this is a good feature
• TB3 - only on RB although I dont really need it
• BUILD - RB is assured quality... Areo14 is liability since its impossible to find one on display and put my hands on it

Thoughts? Comments? Is my assessment correct?

Also, any comment on the 1TB ssd? im a novice in those

 

I pulled the trigger on the FHD/512GB variant for my fiancee to replace her 2012 13" MBP. This will be the easiest user, she doesn't game, she doesn't do any intensive work except web browsing and some video playback. If it fails this level of mobile user then I'll be very disappointed.

 

Is anyone experiencing occasional screen flickering on the FHD model? Especially when not plugged in. I'm 80% sure it's not a hardware problem, since this never occurs while under safe mode. So I updated all my graphics drivers (even using DDU), and this still occurs. Any thoughts?

 

I have a Vaio Z clamshell with the i5 28 watt and Iris 550, with full hd matte screen. I love the laptop great for travelling, because it has more power than the usual 15w ultrabooks and good battery life, but I also need something more powerful since I retired my desktop. I opted for the Razer Blade, full hd 256gb....I should get it in week or so. I will be replacing the ssd with the Samsung 950 pro 512gb that I have in the vaio, and just put the original 256gb back in the Vaio, since it is the SM951 256gb, probably way better than the one that comes in the Razer Blade. Hopefully the fix supplied by Razer fixes some of the underperformance of the gtx1060, as long as it performs within 5% of the competition, I will be happy. I even downloaded the EC, in case they decide to pull it. It will be my first Razer, I have had ROG and MSI before....good computers but not as slick. It has been more than two years since I´ve had a gaming laptop so I am sure I will be blown away.

 

Does it only happen with lower brightness settings?

 

Nope, it occurs at all brightness or power settings. It does not occur whenever I'm moving the trackpad, or Chrome is loading a page. It seems like a power saving feature that's misbehaving.

If plugged it, the screen flickers brieflly whenever I switched from a dark screen to a white screen. Weird.

Here's a video of someone that has exactly the same symptoms.

 

I am wondering, is it possible to change the wireless card on this laptop? Or just the ssd?

 

You can replace it, according to this thread.
https://insider.razerzone.com/index...er-wireless-1535-card-in-my-2016-blade.15104/

I want to add that the symptoms stop if I uninstall all drivers. This adds to the unlikelihood that it's a hardware issue, well unless the drivers are using a part of hardware that is broken.

Right now I am re-installing all drivers, and will update this thread with the results.

 

ToT, thanks for the wireless card info. I haven´t received my RB yet, and never owned one before, so I am not sure about how it works with the intel graphics and nvidia, like it has optimus or not. Perhaps try disabling the display power technology in the intel graphics settings, under power.
If that doesn´t work, then perhaps try another nvidia driver.

 

No luck. Using clean drivers after windows recovery, same thing. I made some further testing in safe mode, apparently the problem manifests when I'm copying a file while looking at a white screen - especially if unplugged, which exacerbates the issue.

Damn, if this is a hardware issue I would have to RMA it. Bad news is that I would have to pay for international shipping since there is no Razer dealer in my country... Any advice would be welcome.

 

I received it and spent a couple of days testing it. I was getting ready to for a clean OS install but the windows supplied was really very barebones with no bloatware I can find. Firestrike lower than it should be but I'm okay with that.

What I'm NOT okay with is a weird lag when right clicking applications/desktop, and more stutter than it should when I start programs (mouse cursor hangs and sttuters like old PCs). About 1 second lags. I checked the SSD/RAM/CPU speeds and made sure windows settings were for best performance. I disabled Aero. Same thing. It's very annoying considering the PC in my signature is much snappier to use than the new blade on a 2 year win installation. Any tips?

 

I was getting weird stuttering, and then I applied the recent throttling/power management fix that Razer released. The issue has disappeared, and the system is scoring about 4 percent faster now. A lot of people in the Razer insider forum have likewise seen benefits from applying the fix.

Now that I've spent more time with this laptop, it will be harder to give it up, should I decide to do that. I fixed the wobbling (bent it back into place via an online guide. The system is more stable after applying a few patches, and I LOVE the matte screen and speed.

But I really worry about its reliability. I'm reading quality issues on numerous boards and comments sections of reviews for the laptop. I have the MS extended warranty, but they just send it out to Razer. Another concern is I doubt the laptop would be returned to me in the condition I sent it out. I'm rather fanatical about keeping my laptop pristine for cosmetic reasons and for resale.

I can see why people love the machine! Damn Apple for not offering a better GPU. Then I wouldn't be torn.

 

Apple has a much faster CPU in the MBP quad core models though.

 

I'm torn as well, the Razer is probably a better value but at least with Apple you have a better idea of what you're getting and the peace of mind knowing Apple has great customer service.

Also, assuming I do buy a Razer Blade... what's the best vendor? Hidevolution or?

 

What fix is this? Bios update?

Edit: Just found it. Thanks for the heads up!

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

By all accounts HID is solid, and has more options than the Microsoft store. I got mine from MS as there isn't a markup and you can get a 10% discount if you are a student or have kids that are. I was also able to replace my 2015 blade very easily when the screen had issues.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

First guy refers to it with no particulars, second guy asks about it, then finds it, and neither post a link to help others in the same boat. Yeah, precisely what these forums are for, tech gossip and personal impressions. /rolls eyes.

 

I hope that helps. If it doesn't I would do a factory reset if you've tried everything else. Sorry I couldn't get you a link, but Razerzone is locked out a twork.

 

And wicked sarcasm

http://www.razersupport.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade/

FAQ doesn't say much. Digging around on insider zone the speculation is that it does what throttlestop does and unchecks bd_pro (not exact name but I'm on Tapatalk here and don't remember it) setting. Changes EC from v2 to v4. People are getting a couple hundred points higher Firestrike in some cases, 0 in others.



Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

How about just describe where to go on razerzone? You know like we described locations before Google Maps was invented.

 

Cheers, you're a hero.

 

Nah, you were right.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

https://insider.razerzone.com/index.php?forums/systems.88/

Go to gtx 1060 benchmarks thread. Checkout the last four pages or so (94 - 97). Might go further back, i havent looked yet.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for posting that

What you are saying is PLEASE POST LINKS to downloads and things you refer to in your post so we can all share in the fix you found.

Telling us you fixed it is nice for you, but if you take the time explain the fix and post a link to a How To article and / or the download to what you found and used to fix the problem is much more helpful.

We all rely on each other to find and fix problems, and when you are on the giving end please do your best to give us everything we need to be as successful in fixing the problem as you are.

 

Much faster don´t know...about 0.3GHZ difference....but I think the chip can be overclocked to 4GHZ....then yes....however, costing 3099 without tax with the Radeon Pro 460, which has at best about 60% of the performance of the GTX 1060.

 

you lose some you win some

 

I live in Brazil and I get my first RB by Friday when I arrive in the US....seriously considering returning my Blade due to the weak support and potential problems, considering it is not possible to RMA the machine from Brazil....I mean I can sent it out....but it can´t be returned without paying 100% taxes on it. By Sunday, I will have a position....if it is worth the risk....perhaps I will keep it if everything is working fine, since it can be a good machine.

 

Those guys over there are in a different universe than mine with ~9300-9500 fire strike scores. After using throttlestop, EC4, upgrading all drivers, setting power on high performance, I'm getting ~8500. I don't even care about the gpu that much, my fiancée doesn't game, but the system and Windows functions are sluggish, very annoying.

 

And you changed synapse power setting to run in cool mode vs quiet?

If so, I would swap it out. Sounds like there's a bit of a lottery going on.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

If you need international support I strongly recommend an Alienwarw w/ Premium warranty OR HIDevolution's clevo line.

 

Something definitely sounds off. I'm not sure how much benchmarking translates into regular Windows applications, but I was running in the low 9100s out of the box, and mid 9300s after the EC update. His unit is almost 1000 points lower. That kind of deviation doesn't seem right.

 

NeoCzar, that is pretty low firestrike score especially after the EC4 fix and the sluggishness in windows that you are experiencing is, I think, unacceptable. Did you make sure the EC4 was actually installed in the BIOS? I read that some people had to install more than once before it actually updated the EC from 2.0 to 4.0.

 

Guys does anyone know if dual booting the machine with Ubuntu voids the warranty?

 

Yeah but compared to the 2016 970m model this this is pretty loud at Idle. I would say around twice as loud.

 

Also a new issue for me running the latest Nvidia Drivers, when I go full-screen for a youtube, twitch, vimeo or any type of video to a 1920x1080 monitor via hdmi; The screen is completely black. I cannot see anything. Anyone else encountered this? Older drivers don't solve the problem, but mirroring the screen instead of "second-screen only" option fixes is (which I don't want that option). Super strange could be optimus issues?

 

My clevo/sager with 1070 and 6700hq also does this, and I used the same fix as you. I encountered this while in MShybrid mode (Optimus) but not while in dedicated GPU mode, so thinking it may be an Optimus issue

 

I got my hands on my first RB, really amazing build. I was hoping to get a performance boost on firestrike after the EC4 update and graphics update, but I´m getting 9186 compared to 9130 before. Oh well, I guess the performance is good enough considering I don´t game much and I really like the machine, as long as other issues don´t show up.

 

What system did you have previously? Where you were scoring 9130?

 

darkloki, the 9130 score on firestrike was on my new Razer Blade....stock, straight out of the box. Some users have been experiencing low relative performance on this machine, so Razer released a fix but it didn´t do much for me. The fix however was for the machines scoring below 9000 though.

 

Wouldn't running duplicate instead of extend decrease gaming performance as you are technically running "Dual Monitors"?

 

so, i bought the 1060 version, i used to have the 970m is the fans louder or are they the same?

 

They sound significantly louder to me. What about you?

 

i receive it wednesday. Is idle quiet on it? I only game with wow the rest is on the ps4.

 

It sounds a lot louder than the 970m to me even at idle, the fans look nearly identical from what I can tell opening both the systems up though. The fans get even louder when you plug into an external monitor despite an idle load on the system. I can clearly hear the 1060m at idle and with the 970m I couldn't unless I put my ear touching the system.

 

Is the sound itself a bad one? Is it just a whooshing of air, or is there any whine or annoying sound profile to it?

 

I honestly think it sounds bad. I wasn't expecting BETTER than the 970m but at least the same sound profile. Kinda of a high pitch whooshing/whining.

 

I also found a temp fix for this from the Razer support rep. He told me to disable Hardware acceleration in chrome (see picture) which I can confirm fixes the full-screen issues but seems to have obvious effects on video performance. You can especially see these effects watching a 60fps Youtube video.

 

got the blade in, as of right now i am impressed. the little wow i played the temps stayed low 60s. and the fans are not that loud. I have it in quiet mode, i turned on the cool mode and the fans did crank up, but it is not as loud as the aw15r3. The only thing I can complain of right now. is even when the computer is idle, the fans will not turn off. Is there a fix to drop the fans down or do i have to suffer through this?

 

Update with my experience with my new RB and first ever. Firestrike scores are coming in at more or less 9200...with a bit of OC with afterburner 140/200 I got 9759....I am happy enough with that.