Razer Blade Owner's Lounge

So Johnnobts you are going to be adding to your review.... Your awesome bub, thanks for taking time out of your day to do all this.

 

I'm working on a more complete review that will be released as soon as possible. IGN did a review today, albeit brief. Been working on review by... playing games! BF3, Skyrim, Kingdoms of Alumar, Crysis 2, Dirt 3. Can sort of sum up by saying all of them will play with more than acceptable framerates at high settings (though not ultra).

 

That's is awesome that all those can play on high!!!! Maybe when they tweak the drivers you will get even better results, you just made my decision up on getting one.
I don't really care what the main stream reviewers say since most of them are very vague and kinda down play the system. But you sir are doing a great service to us all by shedding light on it by telling us how great it is.

 

high settings doesn't mean ultra on crysis 2 mind you. BF3 I'm enjoying running at ultra textures, everything else on medium, at 1600x900.

 

John if you could can you go in depth on battery life in your review? Ign said it only maxed at 3 hours. I need something that can last awhile doing nothing but web browsing or note taking with the brightness at maybe 25%. Can you try to squeeze as much life out of the blade as you can and see what it can do? That 3 hour battery life is giving me second thoughts. =[

P.s. could you also talk about the trackpad? How the touch and gestures compare to a MacBook? Are there even "gestures"? Thanks.

 

It is a bit hard to believe that 3 hours is max with Optimus. My M17x R3 gets 5-7 hours on battery depending on usage. I thought Razer said they were aiming for 2 hours of gaming, that would suggest that with the GPU turned off they should get 4-6 minimum general usage.

 

I think the Blade only has a 40-45WHr battery? The M17xR3 has twice that doesn't it? 90WHr? Can you confirm with HWInfo64 or other tool?

 

Its a 60Whr battery. My battery tests are still ongoing. However, with screen dimmed to 30% which is still bright enough IMHO, with wireless off, and keys and ui dimmed, just using word processor got around 4 hours. With the blade ui off I got over 5. That's running it at a bare minimum though. I'd say 3+ hours with wifi and keys/ui running is right.

 

Touchpad is pleasant to use. You can adjust sensitivity. I had to disable the push to click setting b/c I kept unintentionally dragging folders around. It has standard gestures. Two finger scrolling for example works well. and three finger swipe right and left will scroll through the switchblade keys. I have 20 custom keys for skyrim and can scroll between them via the touchpad. Other than the push to click gesture I disabled it works well. I think the physical buttons are a little small though (and wish they weren't plastic).

 

Installed high res texture pack on crysis 2, at 1920x1080 with settings on high and blur disabled, getting 28-32 fps. not even gonna try the tesselation pack.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Have you been playing games with the touchpad, and if so which ones and how comfortable is it. Assuming it takes some getting used to?

 

Thanks for the response John. Is it easy to turn off the UI? And I assume the track pad can still be used when the UI is off? I'm wondering if you can set up a micro or a custom key in the UI to turn the UI off. Could you explore this? Thanks!

 

The mainstream reviewers are not down playing the system @ all they are telling you what it is capable of @ NATIVE resolution, and highest settings for that resolution(1920 x1080). John has dialed down the resolution on almost all of the games he has played. I think you should do just a little more research before you buy this. (I am NOT telling you to not buy it.) I think that you should just slow down a little is all. Don't negate everyone else, just because some random person on a forum is telling you otherwise.(No offense to you John) Just trying to be a little helpful.


@Johnnobts

Have you found the Switchblade UI to be useful? I play MOBA style games like League of Legends, Do you by any chance play that?

 

Don't play league of legends. Sorry. I believe that razerzone has a game specific ui setup in the works for that game though. I don't use the ui when gaming with a controller at all. But with my mouse I've been using it quite a bit. Am using the youtube, gmail and internet apps a lot. Like being able to check mail and Facebook status without Lea Ingram my game. The macro button feature seems pretty impressive too, but I don't really have any need for macros at this point.

Dirt 3 at high settings (not ultra) and 1080p gets 32fps in benchmark.

 

I am really liking that feature, the ability to watch videos, check E-mail, and social networking in game through the UI, and thanks for the info that the Switchblade UI will be supporting League of Legends. Good to know, because if it is ever sold as a separate accessory...I am all over it.

Nice FPS on Dirt 3 @ native res, that is playable for sure.(someone will of course disagree.)

With the macro button feature, you can turn one of the Switchblade keys to a macro? So is it rather customizable then?

 

All I was saying was that Kotaku for instance was reviewing it and gave it a less than stellar review, then he found out that the gpu was not kicking in and it help out a lot on the games. But he did not update his article he just has a little blip at the end that states it helped out a lot, he should have rewrote the review.
Also you are are telling me to do a little research on this laptop right? Well I have done tons of research read each article 5-6 time to make sure I did not miss anything and I never get the same story from the mainstream reviewers except that is an awesome laptop albeit pricy. I will be playing just mmo's and doing school work so this laptop is plenty of power, also when people compare it to a mbp I agree, as I do own a 17in mbp and payed more than this laptop so I am one of those guys that price does not matter as long as I love the way it looks and its switchblade ui is just a bonus, all I was stating by saying he made my mind up is that I believe his reviews to not be swayed by anything and that he is truthful on all his reviews.
Thanks for your concern though.
Edit: No sarcasm just to be clear

 

No problem, I gotcha. If you feel this is good for you then by all means go for it. I also think John is being truthful about his mini reviews of games, and I apologize about the research comment, I didn't know that you did so much. I really hope you can get one, and they do not sell out again before you can.

EDIT: Also, It seems to be because of the old drivers that Razer has installed, which resulted in them contacting the writer @ Kotaku. Might be why he didn't redo his entire review and just added that little blurb at the end.

 

doing more battery testing now. really getting better scores with 30 percent brighthness and setting ui at norma brightness, with wireless running non-stop should still get right around 3 hours.

 

also installing league of legends and hopefully firefall. running out of space on my ssd.... need to wait for beta key for firefall of course.

 

What do yall guys think about possible upgrades in the future, I realize once the back is open on the laptop the warranty is voided. After the warranty is expired is it possible to do any upgrades, or I assume you could do them now or I could be entirely wrong.
I know I saw something earlier about upgrading but I am talking about gpu memory that kind of stuff, someone said that you could not do a cpu upgrade or something to that effect.
What do all you tech savvy people think?

 

The CPU and GPU are most likely soldered to the motherboard as is the GPU RAM. Even the SSD is just a plain PCB board without a housing, so upgrade options are limited there as well. RAM, not sure, but probably the standard SO-DIMM sockets, about the only thing you could most likely realistically upgrade. That's the problem with these super thin laptops, they eliminate sockets and solder everything onboard so there's no upgrade path. Many ultrabooks even solder the RAM on the mainboard as well. Add 1/4" to the thickness and usually gives you the packaging space to use standard sockets and equipment across the board.

 

gotcha.... Maybe John can confirm this since he opened up, and that sucks if they have one thing go out they have to replace the whole pc basically. Not very business smart if you ask me.

 

Sweet Deal John! Add me on League will play a custom with ya. Show you some basics. Just shoot me your summoner name and I will add ya bud!

Maybe a CPU upgrade, but a GT555m is not an MXM type card. It is directly soldered to the MOBO. You won't be able to upgrade the GPU, and upgrading GPU VRAM takes a lot of soldering skill, and even then probably won't work. I think the upgradable parts are RAM, HDD, and maybe, BIG maybe, CPU. No GPU upgrades at all though. Definitely is limited on what you can upgrade.

Really the SSD doesn't even come in an aluminum or plastic case? I agree Clasak not very business smart indeed.

 

I just read it is a mxm b... Whatever that means

 

Where?

10char

 

It was for one for sale in ebay...lol...just the first thing that pulled up

 

its a 1gb if that matters eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

 

they could be wrong on there specs

 

There are different types of cards. One is MXM which is removable and the other is that it is soldered directly on the motherboard. Most manufacturers other than MSI and Clevo perhaps will solder their cards. MSI and Clevo usually use MXM. The Razer Blade has its GT555m soldered so you cannot replace the GPU.

 

How do you know it is, where did you find that info?

I have been searching and can not find anything

 

In a form factor as thin as the Blade, the only way Razer could have stuffed a GPU inside is by soldering it.

 

oh ok you are just assuming, that is why I could not find the info

Thanks

 

probably should have just said you think it is soldered and not said it is soldered since you do not know, could have saved me some time searching....lol

 

Well, tell me if you find any credible evidence to the contrary (photos?) because you won't

 

you do the same to support your theory.....oh you won't either....lol

 

It's most likely tho due to current technology. Just look at MacBooks. Everything is soldered. However third party stores do do gpu and CPU resolderring using expensive equipment when motherboards get damaged. I wonder if you can use the same option to upgrade the chips. Can anyone shed some light on that.


Also to John I'm not sure if you missed my post but I was asking about the switch blade UI and the options to turn it off to save power. It's on page 12 of the thread. I'd really appreciate it if you could answer those. And my friend brought up a good question. How long does it take for the awesomely designed power brick to charge the blade? Both while it is off and while it is being used. Thanks

 

Precisely. The only way for them to have a laptop this thin is to solder. However, resoldering requires specialised equipment. Soldering irons are not what you need, but huge machines that are rather expensive to purchase.

 

the 555M is definitely not removable/upgradable guys

 

I can guarantee the GPU is NOT MXM, it takes up way too much packaging space internally to get in something < 1" thick. For one, the BIOS would have to support a different GPU. The amount of money you'd spend to resolder a GPU would probably cost more than replacing the entire motherboard itself.

 

yawn... ok, my review of the blade is done, waiting to have it posted soon.

 

Resolderring a gpu is actually not as expensive as you would think. Professional Mac repair shops that have the expensive machines charge a flat rate between 150-250$ to repair MacBook logic boards. I think that if you had the chip you wished to upgrade too you could just go to one of these shops and have them do it for the same price. I just don't know if upgrading the gpu in this way can actually work.

 

Right, but cost of new GPU (if you can even find one) + cost of resolder (if they can do it) would probably be close to a new mainboard. Even if you found the newer GPU you wanted on another motherboard, having it removed would also cost money. You're talking $400-$500 for a GPU that is worth maybe $200 at most.

 

Not sure about your prices. But in any case we are deviating from the purpose of this thread =]

 

John are you going to be posting your review in the same spot as the old one?

 

It would be better if he could edit the OP so that newcomers will know where to find the review...


Sent from my iPhone with Tapatalk

 

No, will provide a link for it though soon as its posted

 

Awesome can not wait!!!

 

John could you help settle an argument?
Can you post a screenshot of your window experience score please, and something possibly identifying it as the Blade...lol...it would help out a lot thanks in advance.

 

not a problem, will do it when my battery on my phone charges

 

Dang John, your phone takes forever to charge...lol