Razer Blade Owner's Lounge

Good stuff! Thanks for the review Kage. One thing I haven't heard much about is the BIOS on this machine. Do you know if it allows you to permanently change your boot device (specifically from the HDD to the Msata) Or is it a totally custom, untweakable Razer BIOS..?

If I get this, I plan to get a larger msata drive and install the OS to that
rather than use it as just cache.

 

Yeah you can change your boot device just fine, even with the drives being combined atm you can still see both of them and choose, so if you put in your large drive and don't use them in a hybrid combination there would be no problem using it as your boot drive I imagine

 

Fingerprint magnet is right, just like my old model. Speakers are definitely better, and fan noise is absolutely better (thanks razer!). don't like the FN key being moved at all. Still haven't had time for gaming, but ran Dirt 3 at ultra settings, got avg. 30fps. Couldn't even break 11 fps with the original at those settings. cool.

 

As for the fingerprint magnet, I just wash my hands before every use if possible, and without greesy hands, I don't seem to fingerprint it, and if I do, the cloth cleans it pretty easily

 

Good to know it's a standard BIOS. One more point in favor of getting one. Yeah, I'm finding with my Sager's soft touch coating, it also picks up fingerprints --especially on hot days.

The difference is the soft touch coating may not react too well if the greasy prints stays on for a while... being it's soft and not anodized or painted aluminum like the Blade.. I sometimes hover my hands over the palm rest when typing on hot days because I'm concerned the coating will start to wear off.. So I'm ok with fingerprints... But the thought of the soft coating wearing out on my Sager is one reason why I might swap it out for this one...

 

working on my new switchblade ui, starting from scratch, its fun stuff. anybody finds cool icons to share, or makes any, post 'em... or maybe make a separate thread for it.

 

A thread for switchblade apps would be awesome

 

I received my R2 unit last night and immediately took it apart to swap out the SSD/HDD with a 256GB mSATA and another 512GB SSD.

I am happy with 8GB so I didn't bother to remove the board to check the other side. It is highly unlikely that it would be socketed anyway given the height restriction.

Beware that there is a recovery partition that contains Windows + Drivers that you will lose if you replace the drives. I did a fresh Windows install using the included DVD and a USB drive. The end result is an installation of Windows that cannot reach the network so plan ahead and download all the drivers from Razer's site (R2 drivers were posted on release day) to one of the SSDs or a USB stick and be prepared for a night of installing drivers, apps (ninite.com), and Windows updates...

So far I really like the laptop. I only briefly tried Skyrim and Borderlands 2 and they both played fine on high (almost max) settings.

I have also noticed Wifi connection issues despite every other device in the house working perfectly with my Netgear WNDR4500 access point. Hopefully we see some updates in this area.

The Synapse software also seems a bit unstable. It has crashed on me a few times (.NET errors or just outright disappearing without any notice) and I have been left without a functional pointer device on a few occasions. I am also a bit baffled why it insists on storing my settings in "the cloud" for a mobile device and then not behaving properly without wifi.

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There are 12 screws but 14 apparent screw holes covered with stickers. The two front middle ones are not actually screws so don't try to remove them! I used a Torx T6 screwdriver.

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Here is the board with the back cover removed.

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This is a 7mm drive. It has rubber bumpers on the sides and there is a pad stuck on the inside bottom of the case, but it is otherwise unsecured inside the case.

Replacing with a 9.5mm SSD is possible, but it is a very tight fit and there is a tiny gap in the case when it is closed up again. I recommend using another 7mm SSD.

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The 64GB mSATA SSD is under these cables. The tape is easily pulled back and you can pop off the cables from one end.

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A close-up of the GDDR5 for the GTX660m.

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The Embedded Controller.

 

Thanks for the pictures of the internals. Did this void your warranty? I ask because I'd want to do the same thing its one of those little things that is stopping me from pulling the trigger. Rep for those pictures thank you.

 

You crazy man, voiding your warranty day 1...

@ SpartanJet - Go Spartans... my alma mater!

 

Yeah I am positive that voided the warranty. I couldn't get the stickers to come off the screws cleanly enough to go back on without being noticed...

 

You have some serious balls my friend. I'm not going to swap them out until my warranty expires anyways lol

 

I just rep'd you for dem cahones and the pics. Thanks for the shots. Wished Razer would loosen up a bit with the "you can't upgrade anything or else" policy. One thing I loved about my Sager.

 

So has anyone found a way to use the switchblade while not connected to the internet?

 

not sure he voided his warranty. read the warranty fine print, i didnt see a warranty void notice this time around.

 

just got mine a bit earlier tonight and just got around to opening it, but i was curious about whether anyone who has actually gotten it received a voucher for windows 8. one of the unboxing vids i saw there was a little paper in the box (the tan outer razer box not the black one the blade actually comes in. the guy opening it said it was a windows 8 voucher however i didnt get one in mine, so i wonder if anyone else got theirs. i looked in the little folder that has the cd and booklet and didnt see anything in there either. otherwise, i love this guy so far, coming from an msi gt627 that had HORRIBLE keyboard flex, this keyboard is stiff and super responsive.

 

also, easier to clone the (XXCLONE) original drive along with both partitions onto your replacement SSD. then you can still restore from there. razer will be putting up the blade 2.0 drivers soon enough. i had issues with swtichblade so i uninstalled it and did a fresh reinstall from the website, seemed to clear things up for me.

 

Fired off a mail to razer blade support asking about opening the chassis. I'd like to upgrade to a 256GB mSATA and a 512GB SSD (Samsung's are 7mm as I recall), but I'm not keen on doing that right away if it voids the warranty.

 

Let me say again really pleased with reduced fan noise, its much, much, much quieter than the original. big thanks for that. temperature wise i think it runs the same, gets warm on the palm rests (mild, not bad at all), and very hot above the keys where my fingers don't go. do not experience any excess heat on the touchpad or nearby.

playing all my favorite games at 1080p now, not having to dial down resolution for any games (big smile). may do another techinferno review.

 

Razer support confirmed that swapping the HDD and/or mSATA voids the warranty on the Blade R2.

 

bet if enough owners petition min-liang tan directly he might reverse that policy, at least concerning merely swapping out drives. i mean why else include a windows disc with the blade this time around?

 

you got a windows disk with yours?

 

yes, taped to the bottom of the inside box, in a bag. it also has a windows restore partition on the hdd as well. also, my windows 7 serial key sticker on the bottom was already loose on one side, pressing it down wouldn't make it re-adhere, so i carefully removed the sticker and put it on my blade support kit pack instead. i hate stickers anyway. i like how asus puts their windows stickers on their power supply units with the zenbooks.

finally downloaded most of my games except diablo 3, am configuring all my favorites, tweaking them to run at 30+ fps on 1080p, borderlands 2, max payne 3, crysis 2, bf3, mass effect 3.... haven't had any problems. ambient occlusion and tesselation take their toll though, especially on games like batman arkham city. have to turn them off...

 

weird, i didnt get one, i checked both boxes, the tan outer one, and the black razer box (i even took the black box apart thinking they maybe squirreled it away) i guess ill have to email support and ask about it.

 

I did not receive a windows CD in my Blade boxes. Not sure why we would seeing as how there's no optical drive.

 

i didn't get one with my first blade, and i have no idea why i got one this time around. but its sitting on my table.

 

I just go my blade! I did not receive a windows disk with mine. I have a quick question to those how also have received their blades. When you close the lid to the laptop, does it look like it does not line up with the corners of the bottom half? Its like the lids corners are more rounded than the bottom half.

Side note: I wish razer would approve my application for the switchblade SDK. I have so many ideas and would like to help in flushing out the app selection

 

Well cs replied back and apparently there's a mistake. They either WERE supposed to include a cd with the blade, or they WEREN'T. they said they were looking into it and would update me when they got an answer. I still have yet to install anything on mine, Between taking care of a grabby handed 1.5 year old and a transformer blowing at the end of the street I haven't had great luck today. However my Samsung 830 512gb came today and spent a majority of it whispering "c'mon....it's just a warranty, you know you wanna"

 

I double checked my boxes, I definitely got a windows 7 disc, it was inside the carboard box with the razer logos on it, not the innermost or outermost boxes. In a plastic bag glued down to the box... dunno why i got one and others did not. wish it said windows 8 on it, lol

i say go with your guy and void the warranty, do not unscrew anything but the bottom panel and replace the hdd though. if you have issues later other than your drive i still think razer will take care of you, that's my feeling.

 

Hey guys I received my blade today and im LOVING IT!! All ive played so far is black ops zombies on high/maxed out and it ran beautifully.. The graphics were amazing! I do wish the left and right click buttons were bigger though.. Also when I'm using the track pad sometimes when I swipe from the bottom left corner left corner my mouse freezes and has like a little icon that looks like an eye behind it (like the arrow on the screen stops moving and has an eye icon behind it) until I lift my hand up from the track pad.. Has anyone else noticed this??

Anyways im loving this thing, its fast, powerful, and looks SO GOOD!

 

That might be the horizontal scroll? Look in the synaptics control panel and see if its on, it is in mine.

 

I also recieved a windows 7 disk.

 

Where is this disc? I didn't see it in the black envelope or the plastic tray or the foam top. Are you finding it under the plastic tray somewhere?

 

Well I just pulled the trigger last night and ordered one. The clincher was I watched the Blade 2 keynote and feel a company like Razer deserves support.

Min-Liang definitely took a chance coming out with this thing. Most companies (other than Apple) wouldn't pay attention to things like the power supply design, etc. because most companies don't care and it hurts their bottom line. But Razer went the extra mile. Sure it costs more but like a Mac you pay for more than just specs.

And how many companies offer $500 dollars off as a thank you to early adopters? Yeah I get the feeling they really are for us gamers.

Now the long wait.. Does anyone know where Razer ships from? Gonna try to time it so I'm home on the day it arrives.

 

Sorry don't quite remember where it was, It was impossible for me to miss I remember that, so it couldn't have been hidden

Also, if anyone here is skilled at the app development I have a pretty awesome idea for a minecraft one, make the switchblade keys 1-9, the 10th being a pause button so esc, and have the 1-9 keys images adjust to be the block you are holding in that slot. So say you have a tnt in your 3rd slot, the image of the tnt would appear on the number 3 button, not sure if this is possible, but if it is, it would be awesome.

 

Well I did it, I used an exacto knife blade to peel the lil stickers off carefully and all but one look untouched still. The process overall was really easy, I used ease todo backup trial to clone the hd to the ssd via USB3 to sata cable I had laying around. Took about 30 min or so, then swapped drives and tested before putting everything back together. Only issue was caching software however not sure I really need it anyway. But for reference, the caching software needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled for it to work with new drive. The Samsung 830 is a 7mm drive and fits in just like the original drive. I think a 9mm would fit as well but it would be a really tight fit I think

 

can u hotkey minecraft anyway? if so then just make custom icons and set them urself

 

Good to know the stickers can be "surgically" removed. I'll do the same once I am past the 14 day return period and I'm sure I want to keep it.

I would not use the Nvelo caching software with the 830. It's made to be used with traditional HDDs -not an SSD. It would be redundant (not in a good data protection way) and would add unnecessary system overhead with the driver loaded. Its also likely a premium SSD like the 830 has a longer rated mtbf than their Hynix NAND equipped version depending on the model they're using. Though Hynix has some high endurance nand models, I couldn't find a rating for this one.

I would personally go with a large toggle nand/sandforce msata to replace the hynix. And install the OS on that. Then use the 830 for steam games and apps.

 

Hi guys,

Can you tell us something about idle noise....PLEASE! I read nothing so far and I reall want to know if it is really silent while browsing or watching movies with intel gaphics and so on. Thank you!

Anand....what the hell means "SPOOL" in this case? Are the fans off when the new blade is on idle?

One other question:
How does Razer suggest to clean the fans? Open the whole case?

 

It's slient. I have yet to hear the fans. If I put my ear to the notebook, all I hear is the chatter of the mechanical HDD.

Spool would mean the sound of the fans spinning up. On the old Blade, that happened pretty much any time the CPU did something. You'd hear a sharp, high pitched noise as the fans started spinning, then it would settle down a little. I haven't heard a thing from the new Blade and it's been on all day next to me at my desk.

I've never cleaned laptop fans before. Best I can suggest is you vacuum the dust out, not blow anything in the bottom.

 

it is much quiter than the original, fans rarely kick on when web browsing or word processing. when they do they are mousefart quiet.

 

Does anybody know what kind of screw driver or allen key or whatever it is, is required to open the new Razer Blade?


I am going to put an SSD in mine and I cant figure out what all those little screws on the back actually are. Someone know the specific name of them? They are extremely tiny!

 

Torx screws. I used a t-6 bit with t meaning torx

 

Thanks! Going on ebay now to see what I can hunt down, much appreciated!

 

Yeah when its idle or just browsing the internet, the laptop makes literally no noise other than the keypresses of the keyboard, which also aren't that loud, then again im used to my super loud black widow so yeah xP

 

Really EASY Audio Mod:

you know how the blade makes that awesome knife-slicing sound when you start it up? Guess what, go to the C:/OEMLOGO/ folder and you can save the Startup.wav as a backup and replace it with another wave file, just rename it to Startup. Right now when I turn my Blade and open it up Claptrap says "Aand Open!"

will you tube it

 

Yes. it's the same on the original Blade as well. It would line up if the top and bottom halves met with a metal housing, but they don't because of the rubber gasket. It's fine.

For those putting in 512GB SSDs, not sure if you're aware but the power usage at idle and write on a 512GB SSD is quite a bit more than the stock 500GB HDD (1.3w vs 0.8 idle, 0.2 standby, 5+ w write vs 2-ish w write). That may have been a factor in why Razer went with a 500GB HDD vs a 512GB SSD. Just something to keep in mind.

 

well i just learned a fairly painful lesson. your results may vary, but at least my installation of windows, the 'recovery partition' doesnt recover anything. i was dinking around, thinking i would reinstall windows per the above suggestion that was given to put the os on the 64gb and the rest for apps. however, when i went to do so, i couldnt find my win 7 h.p. disk, (and seeing as razer didnt include a disk with mine) i grabbed the professional one i had, ( i only have one copy of windows pro, and including the blade, 3 copies of home premium so i figured i would try it out, then reinstall with home premium or find a reg edit that would convert it back to HP ....that didnt work out so well....so as i had left the recovery partition alone on my ssd when it cloned, i tried to do the F9 to recover. the progress bar went to 1% then said it was finished copying. that rendered my os partition unbootable (dropped to a windows boot manager screen that said it couldnt find a device) i tried to re-restore a few times, then though, ok.....ill just pop my old harddrive back in as i basically pulled it after the first boot, and squirreled it away untouched. it balked that the data on the 64gb ssd wasnt consistent with the caching software and would just force me to reboot.

so, i figured i would run the recovery F9 thing on the old hard drive. and it did exactly the same thing. i pulled the drive out, and attached both it and the samsung ssd to my desktop, to see exactly what was going on, and it turns out in my case at least, 1% is just enough to create the directory system of the c drive, but not copy anything to it. in other words, the recovery system is broken.

i would caution any of you to take great care when deciding to use the recovery, as its possible its broken on all the r2 (maybe even the first gen as well) either that or im seriously over-estimating my ability to select from the one option they give (recover os partition) and click run.

 

I've used recovery a couple times on the original Blade. Worked fine.

I'm hesitant to try it on the Blade R2 after what you've described, though the system does see the recovery partition under Disk Management in Windows. That partition is marked Active. It's needed to boot.

All Windows 7 DVDs should be identical. Create a USB install, then delete the sources\ei.cfg file from the USB stick. Windows 7 will prompt you to set the versions when installing.

 

Thank you for letting me know. Any other owners have some advice on how to keep the blade clean? The included cloth does not seem to cut it. It helps, but I can still tell where it has been touched.