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    New Razer Blade (2015)

    Discussion in 'Razer' started by .PoNeH, Feb 3, 2015.

  1. Ultima123

    Ultima123 Newbie

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    how do i delete my thread
     
  2. Ultima123

    Ultima123 Newbie

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    double post
     
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2015
  3. hfm

    hfm Notebook Prophet

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  4. ChrisAtsin

    ChrisAtsin Notebook Evangelist

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  5. jpl20

    jpl20 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Anyone get your hands on one and want to post a review?​
     
  6. jpl20

    jpl20 Notebook Enthusiast

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    More specifically, looking at performance and heat. Would be especially helpful if you also have experience with last year's to compare. Thanks!
     
  7. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Meh posting a quick for sale post in a thread isn't bad. It's when you post a new thread specifically for that that they frown upon.
     
  8. Oxford_Guy

    Oxford_Guy Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm still debating whether to somehow import a 2015 Razer Blade into the UK. One of my concerns, though is that there will be no warranty that Razer will honour. That I might be able to risk, but If something went wrong with it, would I still be able to send it to Razer (Razer USA, I guess) at my own expense for repairs? I'm just thinking that, given the nature of the construction, local computer repair shops might not be able to fix it.

    I did send a query about this to Razer customer support, but have had no response...
     
  9. zShaw

    zShaw Notebook Guru

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    I must admit, unless I am going to be in the states or know anyone any time soon, the X3 v3 will be what I end up grabbing. It's only the trackpad that I'll be missing compared to my MBP but I intend to use a mouse seeing as it's a gaming laptop anyway so maybe the X3 is the way to go. It's a shame but the hassle involved to get the Razer just doesn't seem to justify the loss of warranty and difficulty getting it repaired if need be.
     
  10. Oxford_Guy

    Oxford_Guy Notebook Evangelist

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    The problem for me is that the X3 just looks too "boy racer" to take to work, and the build quality doesn't sound amazing, even compared to MSI
     
  11. jpl20

    jpl20 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Surprised that there aren't any more reviews / owner experiences posted yet; for last year's model there were tons of discussions
     
  12. tareyza

    tareyza Notebook Consultant

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    The problem with really high priced items is that there won't be a whole lot of people with the money to buy it, no matter how well you make it. At 2700$ for 512GB storage, that price is prohibitively expensive for most people, and those who have that money to spend on notebooks are usually enthusiasts who are more interested in pure compute power.
    I mean, all the reviewers mention how Razer is somewhat of an established brand and many compare products to Razer's blade, but given the size of this forum, its pretty clear that it really is a niche brand that could probably do a lot better if they made their prices more realistic.
     
  13. mollysantana

    mollysantana Notebook Enthusiast

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    This^ ;)

    As Tareyza said, Razer can do better with pricing and hardware given in their model laptops.
     
  14. SeagateBoy

    SeagateBoy Notebook Consultant

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    There's already one video on Youtube,
     
  15. ChrisAtsin

    ChrisAtsin Notebook Evangelist

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    It's a horrible "review".
     
  16. zShaw

    zShaw Notebook Guru

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    I have to agree, but even the X3 is £1800 for the 970M model. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground on these, which is a shame. I love the build quality of the RB being on par with MBP but I honestly don't think I can justify the cost in any way shape or form for casual gaming on the go. I'd rather lug my PS4 around with me!
     
  17. SeagateBoy

    SeagateBoy Notebook Consultant

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    LOL it's the only one I could find
     
  18. SeagateBoy

    SeagateBoy Notebook Consultant

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    that's the point isn't it? Razer wants to be the Apple of gaming laptops, so it has to be very expensive .........
     
  19. jpl20

    jpl20 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks for the video review posting - I agree it isn't the best, but there aren't a lot of options out there. What I really wish someone could comment on is the heat of the thing
     
  20. lorem101

    lorem101 Newbie

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    I got my 2015 blade today, so far so good, only been an hour and there are two things that bug me:
    - It's a finger print magnet! Literally can't keep it clean.
    - The fan can get quite loud, when installing programs it keeps winding up and down.
    Not sure if I'm going to be keeping it yet, still need to see if I can get use to the above two issues.

    Also a note to my fellow Canadians, when selecting shipping get the faster option since ground shipping was a lot of hassle to get through customs, I actually went and self-cleared my package.
     
  21. moviemarketing

    moviemarketing Milk Drinker

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    Why only 3GB VRAM? :(

    They believe this doesn't matter to potential buyers?
     
  22. ChrisAtsin

    ChrisAtsin Notebook Evangelist

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    Haha I know. I've been looking too. If there's no good reviews by next week, I will just buy and return it if it's not good.
     
  23. .PoNeH

    .PoNeH Notebook Evangelist

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    The guy at CS today said that hard drive upgrades are not to interfere with the warranty. I thought I read somewhere that someone was denied repair on their system due to having their HDs upgraded manually. I must have been mistaken.
     
  24. ChrisAtsin

    ChrisAtsin Notebook Evangelist

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    There was a guy who was denied repair on his screen because he'd accessed the machine but they ended up repairing his screen for free at the end.
     
    .PoNeH likes this.
  25. zShaw

    zShaw Notebook Guru

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    It may very well be the point of the Blade's that are out at the moment, but there's got to be room for an equally well designed and built unibody ultrabook with for arguments sake, an i5, 8gb( up to 16gb) ram, 256gb SDD and 1080p screen with an 950/960 for ~£1000-£1300.
    By only going for the supreme high end they're missing the mark on anyone who wants one but can't justify the incredibly steep price point in exchange for the spec.. and no one seem's to think otherwise which is a shame.
    Lenovo come close but the Y50 should have just been a version of the Yoga Pro 2 and not that horrible I don't even know how to describe it of a body for a laptop.
     
  26. reloader-1

    reloader-1 Notebook Geek

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    I think someone hasn't reviewed what Razer actually released this year:

    2015 Razer Blade 14, FHD
    http://www.razerzone.com/store/razer-blade-fullhd

    i7 Processor (better than your spec)
    8GB Ram
    256GB SSD
    1080p Screen
    GTX 970 (better than your spec)

    Total price? £1309

    Happy now?
     
  27. aaronjb

    aaronjb Notebook Consultant

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    It shouldn't matter. Laptop manufacturers add far more VRAM than necessary in order to compete in the specification listing ("back-of-the-box" stats). You'll hit the processing limit of the GPU at the native resolution before VRAM becomes an issue, especially with a 970m.
     
  28. zShaw

    zShaw Notebook Guru

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    Don't be so quick to judge, unless I lived in the US then unfortunately I would never get it for that price in the UK. I've already looked into BundleBox'ing the $1999 model and it still works out at around £1700. Throw the lack of warranty in there and it starts to look like a gamble not worth taking, which is a shame.
     
  29. moviemarketing

    moviemarketing Milk Drinker

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    Certainly used to be the case, extra VRAM on a weak GPU was sort of a marketing gimmick. Unfortunately times have changed, already in 2014 there are a number of titles with graphics memory issues at 1080p max settings. If I'm spending $2k-3k on my laptop purchase, it needs to last me 4-5 years or so, and I'd expect more console ports in the coming years to require lots of VRAM to avoid stuttering at 1080p.

    It's not that 6GB vs 3GB would necessarily result in higher frame rates, but there should be less stuttering and hitching from saturating the VRAM buffer at 1080p on certain problematic titles: Lords of the Fallen, COD Advanced Warfare, Watchdogs, games with lots of high res texture mods installed (GTA 4/5, Skyrim, upcoming Fallout 4), id Tech titles (Wolfenstein New Order, DOOM4).

    When video memory gets close to running out, the GPU needs to pause for a second to swap out the old texture data and load new texture data from your SSD or system memory. Higher vRAM means your chances of saturating this are lower, and your card can keep more texture data in memory. At 3GB this is going to happen more frequently than 6GB.

    3GB VRAM is more than enough for most current games of course, and I like the Razer chassis; however, there are a few other slim laptops on the market with 970M 6GB and even one with 980M 8GB (Gigabyte P35x).
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2015
  30. Oxford_Guy

    Oxford_Guy Notebook Evangelist

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    BTW does anyone know if the new 2015 Razer Blade has a spare M2 slot for an extra SSD like previous models? There's steep price difference between the 256Gb and 512Gb models, but would be useful to know about future expansion possibilities
     
  31. ChrisAtsin

    ChrisAtsin Notebook Evangelist

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    Doubt it. The 2014 only had one slot. In don't think they added another but the 2013 had an extra mSata slot so who knows.
     
  32. ChrisAtsin

    ChrisAtsin Notebook Evangelist

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    Are you saying that in practice, Shadow of Mordor stutters at 1080p on a 3GB VRAM card or is this theoretical?
     
  33. moviemarketing

    moviemarketing Milk Drinker

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    No idea about Shadow of Mordor. Not sure if the high VRAM requirement was just in the published recommended specs, or whether it actually utilizes that much if you use the in-game SSAA, etc.
     
  34. ChrisAtsin

    ChrisAtsin Notebook Evangelist

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    Other games? I'm just asking because I've never had that issue on my desktop 980 and I game at 1440p there. I'm just curious.
     
  35. Oxford_Guy

    Oxford_Guy Notebook Evangelist

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    Oh I see, I didn't know that - probably not, then!
     
  36. moviemarketing

    moviemarketing Milk Drinker

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    Might be interesting to test Skyrim or GTA 4 loaded up with lots of high res texture mods on both your P650SE and your desktop.

    Also there are some higher graphics settings on Wolfenstein New Order that do not appear in the menu unless you have at least 3GB VRAM. And if you have COD Advanced Warfare, try enabling “Cache Sun Shadow Maps” and “Cache Spot Shadow Maps”
     
  37. ChrisAtsin

    ChrisAtsin Notebook Evangelist

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    I have AW. I'll try it out.
     
  38. ChrisAtsin

    ChrisAtsin Notebook Evangelist

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    I average around 110 with it off and 125ish with both settings on. The result is very similar though.
     
  39. LVNeptune

    LVNeptune Notebook Virtuoso

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    Play ACU on Ultra with max AA and watch the popins and stutter. It needs about 5GB VRAM to properly function.
     
  40. ChrisAtsin

    ChrisAtsin Notebook Evangelist

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    My framerate would be too low anyway. The desktop 980 can in no way handle AC Unity with max AA at Ultra and 1440p
     
  41. LVNeptune

    LVNeptune Notebook Virtuoso

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    Even with some settings lowered it still needs more VRAM :p
     
  42. ledzepp14

    ledzepp14 Notebook Evangelist

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    stopped by the microsoft store, but they didn't have the updated ones in stock. i would've prob bought it right on the spot. they didn't even know there are updated versions, and tried selling me the old ones at the same price.
     
  43. Pcguy07

    Pcguy07 Notebook Geek

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    The Razer Blade 2015 will be available in select Microsoft Stores on February 16th.
     
    Matthew9559 and ledzepp14 like this.
  44. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Mordor does not stutter at all with 3GB vRAM...
     
  45. moviemarketing

    moviemarketing Milk Drinker

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    That's intentional for Unity though, the stuttering gives you a more silky smooth Ubisoft cinematic experience, just like the old timey hand cranked projectors.
     
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  46. LVNeptune

    LVNeptune Notebook Virtuoso

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  47. .PoNeH

    .PoNeH Notebook Evangelist

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    I would love to see a side-by-side comparison of the glossy vs. matte screens. Considering how I set my 2014 RB to 1080p from the get-go (some apps are way too tiny on the QHD resolution), I think I would prefer the matte look vs. the touch ability.
     
  48. ledzepp14

    ledzepp14 Notebook Evangelist

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    the razer site shows the 1080p version as "exclusive". does this mean this won't be available in the microsoft stores?
     
  49. shizzuh

    shizzuh Notebook Enthusiast

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    I hadn't considered that but I see now what you are saying, and now wonder that too. I had been waiting until the MS store got it to purchase. Called both Razer and MS and neither had an answer other than, wait and maybe?

    I was going to go with MS store for the accident protection plan. Has anyone used any of the third party accident protection policies with success?
     
  50. reloader-1

    reloader-1 Notebook Geek

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    I'm not judging...

    You wanted a manufacturer to make a laptop at your specs and pricepoint. Razer hits it perfectly, but the only quibble is it not available in your country. It exists, however.
    If you want to restate your sentiments to "I wish someone in the UK would make" that would be more appropriate. The computer you desire exists, and at your price point - just not in your country.
     
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