Razer Intros Own-Brand Gaming Notebook Discussion

IMO, "powerful enough" doesn't cut it at a $2800 price point.

 

And Macbook isn't even a good comparison really. It never claimed to be a gaming machine. It does great what it was designed for, running OSX apps and looking stylish.

 

@EvilCorsair

It really just pisses me off that they go around throwing the name "THE TRUE GAMING LAPTOP".

Then you check their site, the specs, the price, and you just want to rage. It's like they take gamers for idiots... And I am one, a gamer that is. Not an idiot. (humor post, to chill out)

If they placed "The gaming innovation is here" or something of the sort, then I could have forgiven them.

 

Agreed. People are soooo fixated on thickness of a laptop when a laptop's footprint has a MUCH greater impact on how "wieldy" a laptop becomes. Given things equal, of course thinner is better but a 17" laptop is still a 17" laptop. In this case, a 555M caliber card in a 17" frame @ 2800 bucks and being called a gaming laptop?

Sorry.

 

It's no more a hardcore gaming machine than a MacBook "Pro" is a hardcore business-class machine for professionals. So actually, it really is pretty analogous. Cool style, high price, inaccurate label.

 

The reason it's so damn expensive is partly because of the excellent enginnering that's gone into it to cool its 'powerful enough' components in a machine thinner than a MBP.

But mostly because they can't benefit from economies of scale, like the likes of Dell or Asus can. If this thing was mass produced in the thousands, like Alienware machines, it could be half the price (or close to it). Which would be much more reasonable. Even then, they're trying to achieve the same sort of quality standards of MBPs without the benefit of Apple's massive budget, design team, and manufacturing facilities. They had to buy their own damn ODM to build this thing to their standards.

Alienware started out similarly; they took components, built a desktop, and then sold it at a premium. Every company has to start somewhere and it's usually not cheap.

I was simply comparing it on its specs and price point. I'm well aware MBPs aren't designed to be gaming machines.

They call it the 'true' gaming laptop because they believe it's the only portable gaming laptop. I agree, it's just a bunch of marketing BS.

However, to say it can't handle games is to say the likes of the Alienware M14x can't handle games either, and plenty of people bought that machine for portable gaming. See above for the reason it's so expensive.

To each their own. You don't see the point in a thin machine, plenty of people do. It's the weight as well; it's much lighter than 17" gaming machines. They couldn't put anything higher than a 555M in the frame because of how thin it is (it's already taken a feat of engineering to keep the 'weak' 555M cool). And once again, Alienware call the M14x a gaming laptop and people seem to buy that with a 555M.

Granted the M14x is 14", and the Blade is 17". But the Blade is also the same weight, and much thinner. It's aimed at people who want portability but with a 17" screen.

 

How long have you owned your Razer Blade? We'd all love to see your benchmarks and temps. How has Razer's tech support been?

What do you know about build quality and temps when no one outside of Razer has spent any real time with a production grade Blade.

Compared to buying an ODM (with all it's employees) to design and manufacture notebooks with eleven extra miniature LCD screens, hiring an ODM to build desktop cases with just a custom plastic shell is dirt cheap.

What Razer is doing is not similar at all to how Alienware started off.

Yet the 17" MBP will have more gaming power than the Blade if Razer skimped on the GT 555M. Even against a good GT 555M the MBP will have a better CPU, switchabe graphics, a larger hard drive, an ODD, a proven quality screen with a higher resolution, proven build quality and support, and a lower price-tag.

 

I'm going on what the head of Razer has said in response to questions. I'm not claiming for a second that it's true, but I'm inclined to believe him as he's not some corporate robot. And if it is true, it would explain in part the costs.

We do know for sure that it has an aluminium shell, so build quality should be good. They also claim they're trying to improve customer support (hence a US-only release at first) but on that claim...I'm going to wait and see.

Okay, you're right there. Part of my point was that low production quantites for first products do result in higher production costs, but Razer's costs are even higher thanks to buying their own ODM.

That's a big 'if'. We don't know anything about the 555M's clocks in the machine, or the shader count. It could be more powerful than a 'standard' 555M, it could be less powerful. Until they release official statistics, and until we see some independent benchmarks as well, let's wait and see.

The MBP has a better CPU, yes, however the Blade's CPU shouldn't bottleneck a 555M. A fast dual core is still superior in some games. (Granted, more and more modern games are supporting a quad.) The Blade has switchable graphics too. As for the hard drive, they might still change it; they've said they're considering an SSD option, the standard hard drive may change too. As for the rest...again, we need to wait and see what the production Blade is like.

 

There's a big difference between build quality and quality of components. You can have platinum and titanium components but assembled like crap with gaps and sharp edges and flimsiness or bulges.

And I don't doubt for a minute their costs for manufacturing and materials were high, but that doesn't mean you stick it to the customer. Someone failed at making a solid business case. You need to take a loss and sell units before you can earn brand loyalty and users want to spend their hard earned cash on your product. Just because something cost you twice as much to manufacture than everyone else doesn't mean you can justify selling it for twice the price. It just doesn't work that way. Business 101.

I'm curious to see sales of this thing. My bet is they'll be lucky to sell 500 units at their asking price.

 

Oh, of course. From the pictures I've seen it looks well built but there could still be weaknesses that aren't obvious from the pictures already released.

And I agree, I'd sell it at a loss to gain customer support, more sales and more publicity. Razer might not have the finances to allow this, however. I was never trying to justify the price, just explain why it was so expensive. I still think $2,800 is at least $800 more than it should cost.

 

You can actually...and quite easily

You just need one of 2 things(or both preferably):
- 1 or 2 aspects that make your product different from the competition in its industry
- good solid marketing

That's how companies like Apple, Bang & Olufsen, Bose, Monster Cable and "Beats by Dr Dre" are able to sell their products and make a profit. Whether or not you agree is irrelevant but it IS possible to chuck something at double the price of the competition and have people buy it.

Remember Razr isn't some no name company, they have a name, brand image and a certain customer base, just not in the laptop market.

 

I'm not gonna deny that a metal unibody chassis can be really nice looking, but it's not worth a huge price premium, and it makes sufficient cooling more difficult as well. I'd rather leave that kind of stuff to the Mac fanboys who value form over function.

 

You'd think for $2800, they would at least put a quad core processor in there. A dual core and Nvidia 555? Really?

I guess that pretty keyboard makes up for everything

 

What use would quad core be?

Also, the form factor of the Razer would have a lot of trouble managing heat from a quad core processor. The MBPs have trouble with dual core as it is.

 

It's a GAMING laptop. Most newer games perform better with quad cores anyhow. Yes it would have trouble managing the heat from a quad, hence the disappointment of everyone in what they're offering at the price. If it were $1800 maybe justifiable, but $2800? No.

 

I think what Razer is doing is exactly what Apple has done. They are attempting to seduce the "not-so-knowledgeable" computer gamers (an oxymoron if I've ever heard of it) with this product, and then make money that way. Apple has done the same, except with the entire population other than gamers.

Not a bad strategy, but I despise it.

Mr. Mysterious

 

I understand the fact that it is a "gaming" laptop. My question was directed at the issues it would have managing heat.

Toss a quad core in there and you have a portable 17" aluminum cooking slab. Don't forget the eggs.

 

The first thing i thought of when i saw the razer was: "fried eggs" lmao

Mr. Mysterious

 

Actually, my first impression was non-stick frying pan.

I really doubt they could do something about the cooling. As I know razer products, aside from form factor, their products are really not that good in quality. (My Death Adder had a double click problem and my first Moray had problems with one ear piece. I even heard that the first Mamba sucked so hard they had to remake it)

 

Apple need to release a gaming laptop, man i bet that would be even sexier

 

As Apple does not hold the patent to PC Gaming they have no legal interest in entering this market segment.

 

any update for the ETA on this thing?

 

I think the price is TOO much... I would pay for it 1500$~1900$, for a great style, with a...... umm...... 7/10 system.

 

Don't know why people complain about pricing. This is clearly a niche market and it has something that is different from most other laptops. I think it's great to have a large screen yet thin and light profile. The last laptop I looked at that was similar in this aspect was Dell's Latitude Z600, which was also extremely expensive but a few months later it was much cheaper. It's clearly targeting a specific segment (ie. those that have more money than common sense aka early adopters lol) but without products like this, we wouldn't see as much creative development from independent companies. Razer is not a large company, especially in notebooks, and of course their development, production, and materials costs will be much higher than say Toshiba or any other large notebook corporation. I applaud their first attempt into the notebook field and hope that we see many more future products like this.

 

Ignoring the outrageous claims of being the first to do anything new here the introduction of the option alone shows guts and I am looking forward to the trickle down effect. Welcome to the premium laptop market Razer.

 

I hope we don't see many more products like this, regardless of pricing. While I do like the placement of the touchpad on the right, it makes more sense than at the bottom, having the special keys there as well really is a brain-dead decision. I know they share a common interface, but it makes little to no sense whatsoever, and is not useful for most people that use a mouse. And if you say that people game with a touchpad, have it all wrong.

But even with cost. Good luck. It is worth half what they are asking. Even then I wouldn't pay more than $1000 for it.

 

Really doubt it. Why would the Blade have better battery life than the M14x when it has a larger screen?

Are you joking? Games consoles have never offered top-of-the-line performance; they offer performance that was roughly current at the time when the design started (which is always several years before it's released).

Apple have the unique selling point of OSX, the design and the brand.
Bang & Olufsen and Bose may overprice their products, but at least they're excellent products as well as having a good brand.
"Beats by Dre" is branded by a famous rapper, which means that can afford to charge a fortune for a piece of complete crap.
Razer isn't that well known outside serious gamers, who are the precise people who will care about performance vs. price. They don't have the recognition among the sort of people who are likely to actually buy this.

It would also likely cost £4000, perform worse than any PC alternative and have an aluminium chassis which would get hot enough to burn a hole in your trousers.

I must say, the specs on the Blade really let it down: It isn't really any more powerful than my M15x but it's a year newer and significantly more expensive. The only reason to buy it is the weight and the thinness - neither of which are massive concerns for "gaming" laptops.

 

Hmm, reviving a two month old topic.

And 555m is "top of the line"? It never was and never will be. All I was saying is consoles who continue to use the same tech over time reduce the size of their consoles and at the same time drop the price, not increase them.

They haven't even released this laptop for sale yet. The LG P330 has similar specs at 13.3" 1600x900, at what looks like about $1200 and comes with a combo SSD + HDD (twice the size I might add at 640GB), a lot thinner, and lighter, compared with $2800 for the Razer. So you're paying $1600 extra for a 1080p 17" screen, slightly faster CPU, and a crazy semi-useful touchpad gimmick.

But I digress. Plus check this out, two prototypes stolen from Razer:
Razer Broken Into, Robbed of Two Blade Laptop Prototypes

 

Ah, oops, I saw this in "Most discussed news" and kinda assumed it was current; my mistake. That'll teach me to check the dates on topics before replying.

Anyway, no, it is most definitely not "top of the line"; I was merely pointing out that console hardware is never top-of-the-line, even when new. I would agree that they do at least have the decency to decrease the price as the console ages.

Yup, and I'd buy the LG any time (actually, I'd probably go for neither and buy an Alienware M17x; but I digress)

Wow, that represents a seriously ballsy thief and some seriously incompetent security guards.

 

I agree, for $1200-$1500 I'd go for a different machine altogether, and for $2800, I'd get a powerful desktop with triple 30" monitors and a powerful laptop.

 

that one doesn't looks so good.. anyways..

 

It lacks optical drive, it makes no sense for this to be type of entertainment machine if it cant entertain me with a bluray or dvd.