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    2014 Razer Blade 14" - Microsoft Store vs. Razer Store differences

    Discussion in 'Razer' started by TJCacher, Jun 19, 2014.

  1. TJCacher

    TJCacher Notebook Consultant

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    Had an interesting experience today.

    I may be one of the few people who has actually spent significant time with identical 2014 Razer Blade 14" models (specifically, the 512gb model) from both the Microsoft Store and the Razer Store.

    I had originally pre-ordered from Razer and eventually ran out of patience when people started getting deliveries from Microsoft before our pre-orders shipped. So I placed an order from Microsoft and, since it was promised for 2-day delivery, did not cancel my Razer pre-order, thinking I'd have time to cancel after playing with the unit from Microsoft for a couple of days.

    As it turns out, Razer had already shipped my order without alerting me, so I received the Microsoft unit on a Tuesday, and the Razer unit the very next day.

    I did not refuse delivery, because I decided to compare both units and note any differences, and keep the one which I preferred, if I found any differences worth expressing a preference over.

    At the time, I noticed that the Microsoft unit had a slightly different storage setup, with respect to how the disk was partitioned, but I didn't really think anything of it.

    After a few days, I decided to ship the Razer unit back (it ran slightly hotter, was noisier to my ears, and didn't benchmark quite as fast - although these differences were really not very significant). I ran Razer's built-in restore to return the drive to factory condition, obtained an RMA from Razer, and shipped it back.

    Today, about a month after receiving my Microsoft unit, I decided to restore it to factory and rebuild it, due to a few software issues I was having, and the fact that I have my setup process pretty well streamlined, so starting from scratch isn't really all that painful anymore, mostly due to having all my personal data in the cloud and my Steam games backed up on local NAS.

    I was very surprised to learn that this unit lacks Razer's built-in restore feature, and uses the default Windows restore feature instead. To be honest there's not that much difference between the two processes, but Microsoft's process takes about twice as long, and offers a simple format and full restore (recommended if you're keeping the machine) and a full restore with secure disk wipe (recommended if you're selling the machine). To be clear, I'm talking about the system restore process which is initiated by pressing the F9 key during a system start, while still at the EFI/BIOS power-on screen. As far as I can tell, Microsoft eliminated Razer's factory restore process, and installed their own in its place.

    I'm posting this because I've read a few posts on here claiming that all Microsoft does is stuff their own little sales card in the box and ship the unit out exactly as if it was coming from Razer, and my experience seems to indicate that this isn't entirely true. The restore process on my Microsoft Store Razer Blade is pure Microsoft Windows 8.1 - not the same as the unit I restored and sent back to Razer, even though the machines are both identical 2014 Razer Blade 14" 512gb models.
     
    TJCacher, Jun 19, 2014
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    jashsu and Br0fist like this.
  2. Br0fist

    Br0fist Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks for the info. I remember inquiring about it some time back. I'm relieved that you found the MS unit to run better, but I wonder why such software differences exist at all..

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
     
    Br0fist, Jun 19, 2014
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  3. jashsu

    jashsu Notebook Geek

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    Very interesting, thanks for the observations.

    Sounds like Microsoft is getting Microsoft Signature builds put on machines they sell. Did you notice any difference in the preloaded software before you performed the full restore?
     
    jashsu, Jun 19, 2014
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  4. TJCacher

    TJCacher Notebook Consultant

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    No software differences at all, that I can tell, aside from the slightly different partitioning scheme that apparently implements Microsoft's restore feature in lieu of Razer's. And after the restore, the default wallpaper was even the dark-grey Razer Honeycomb that appears to be standard on all these new RB's. Also, the account picture is defaulted to the standard Razer logo. This appears to be Razer's build, except with Microsoft's system restore.
     
    TJCacher, Jun 19, 2014
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    jashsu and Br0fist like this.
  5. Br0fist

    Br0fist Notebook Enthusiast

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    What's Razer's return policy on this? I soon will be in a similar predicament as you...

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
     
    Br0fist, Jun 20, 2014
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  6. TJCacher

    TJCacher Notebook Consultant

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    You've got to ship back (at your cost and according to directions they send you) within 14 days using a Razer-provided RMA.

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
     
    TJCacher, Jun 20, 2014
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