Razer Blade Owner's Lounge

If you are looking for a laptop, best place to ask is in the which notebook should i buy.

If it is a desktop question, you should ideally ask at DesktopReview.com - PC Forums - Desktop Computer Forums and Discussions, but we also have a desktop owner's lounge in the off topic section.

The blade owner's lounge should be reserved for blade related topics.

 

Thanks for the segway here guys.. speaking of desktops and Blade owners..

As a longtime hopeful Blade owner, with the lack of support (still) from Razer in allowing anyone out of the US to order this machine, coupled with some of the not so impressive benchmarking, I've decided to stick with my Vaio Z1 and built a $2000 desktop instead.

I suppose this is where I step out of the lounge and cross my fingers for the second generation Blade.

Not to dissuade anyone on your purchases, it's just even with plenty expendable income I've decided the price tag was too high for what I'd be getting and using the laptop for.

-ITF

 

Sounds like my Envy 15.

 

So I ordered mine on Tuesday with express shipping. Still nothing but the bill on my credit card. Has anyone received a shipping notice yet.

 

All i have received is a confirmation email which was in my junk folder yesterday. My account says order in process. I thought these laptops were already pre built?

 

Mine shipped. Not going to be here until Monday even with 2 day shipping.

Just a side note. The guy that runs the online store emailed me directly about my order after reading the post on this forum. He was very helpful.

 

Everyone please go to the best skins ever website and help me get them to make a protective skin for the blade! Go to the contact section and their will be an option to select the question you have and please select the product request one. The more people request a skin the more likely they will make one! I really think bestskinsever are the best skins so please check out their website. Thanks in advance.

 

Got my tracking email at 2am last night. Est arrival is Monday. I thought they were overnighting the Blades for free? I selected 2 day as the other options were over a week. They comped the shipping though so it was free. Just sucks to drop 3 grand on something on a Tuesday and have to wait til the following Monday to get it. Waste of a weekend lol

 

Yup Monday for me as well.

 

counting down the days till mass effect 3. hope razer will have some mass effect icons maybe in their next update.

 

Congrats on getting the confirmation, I was surprised they did not offer one day shipping even for a fee...but trust me, the Blade is worth the wait!

 

what he said. really the most polished machine i've ever owned, and i've owned quite a few...

Inspiron 9300 (first really nice laptop)
XPS 17
ASUS ROG 15"
Macbook Pro 15
Macbook Pro 13 (2009)
Alienware M15X
Macbook Air 13 (2010)
HP Envy 15 Beats Edition (loved)
ASUS G73 (great cooling with a 5870)
Alienware M17X R3 (put a 485M card inside)
Alienware M17X 3D
Macbook Air 11 (2011)
Alienware M18X (loved but too big, and 6970M support sucked)


PRESENT:
Razer Blade

 

Out of curiosity what about the 6970m support that sucked?

 

I would guess that he had the same issue I did with SLI/Crossfire on mobile graphics cards. It is a bad idea and poorly supported. Drivers also take forever to get updates and are quickly forgotten and then never updated.

I have a Malibal X8100 with 2xGTX285M....fantastic machine but heavy with a 18.4 inch screen and drivers are hit or miss.

 

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with SLI, but I must say that I have had little to no issues with Crossfire. I also know several people that own M18x's/M17x R2's that are happy with their SLI/Crossfire setups, sure it took a little help from DELL to fix some issues, but this is the case with any first adopters of a new system(Blade included). I do have to disagree with it being a bad idea and poorly supported. Many games support SLI/Crossfire, and both AMD and NVIDIA are pumping out SLI/CAP profiles all the time. Drivers are drivers whether you have SLI/Crossfire or not, they do not change. So that is why I assume you meant SLI/Crossfire profiles, which are updated a lot more regularly than drivers are. Also, the AMD 6xxx series Crossfire scaling and other features have been improved quite a bit.

 

Any idea how to get rid of the dust and smudges on the inside of my special LCD keys? I can see dust particles and fingerprints. Definitely on the inside. I see the warning that says not to remove the keys. Not sure what other option exists.

 

I would say contact support on that. That is just odd.

 

I concur with him. They really seem to be on it there.

 

So heres a dumb question. How Do I use my special LCD keys. For instance. I hit the Facebook key and I see the fb login screen pop up but I cannot enter anything. I figured I would tap on the field, like on my phone, then just type in my log in info but nope. Same thing for youtube, twitter, the internet button, etc. I tap the button and try tapping on the trackpad but nothing happens. I cant even change the settings on that Game button. The numberpad also does nothing but give me ding sounds.

 

It's funny you mention these issues because I had the same exact ones when I received mine on Friday. I called support and ended up having to re-update Synapse. Something between Windows 8 configuring and synapse updating screwed it up and the keyboard/switchblade was not working properly.

Now I've clued in more on how switchblade actually works and I'm not sure I'm going to keep the system. I've had synapse and the trackpad drivers crash repeatedly which either leaves the trackpad in an unusable state or even worse the keyboard in an unusable state.

Also my ADD cannot handle this pulsating power button - can I not just turn it on or turn it off, does it have to blink?

 

Hey guys I'm looking to get insurance for my blade similar to what we could buy for the iPhone 4 when it first came out. Protection from loss, theft, and accidents. Not sure how to go about it. Suggestions please?

 

Renter's insurance?

 

Yeah, renter's or home owner's insurance is usually the best way. Typically there is a high deductible of at least $500 though. My homeowner's insurance automatically covers $10,000 of electrical and computer equipment from loss, theft, fire, accident with a $500 deductible. And if your current insurance doesn't offer anything then just ask at different ones. Just make sure to check out the terms as most will cover against theft, accident, fire, but not loss. There's this place too: http://www.safeware.com/ not sure how reliable they are, but I'm sure there's many options out there.

 

Only danger with covering such items under a traditional homeowner's/renter's policy is, should you need to file a claim, your rates could very well go up.

I would suggest taking out a separate policy just for the laptop, which you can do from this company.

 

I have tried to reinstall the synapse 2.0 but I still have the same problem. The blinking power button doesnt irk me, but the smudges and dust stuck to the inside of my switchblade keys do.

Im thinking Razer does not have a good return policy for these. Probably not like Dell where you have 30 days to change your mind. I definitely dont want to have to send it in, I did not pay 3 grand for an instant refurb lol. Not sure what my options are since I cant remove those keys to clean them out. Maybe I too will just get my 3g's back and call it a day. This system is def not worth what I paid imo. Not in this state. Im not looking forward to dealing with any bs so I hope Razer has something good to tell me.

 

Yeah your situation with the dust is intolerable. I think I understand what you are saying... the truth is the switchblade buttons are very cool on the website and in reviews. However when your holding this aluminum beauty you realize the cheap plastic buttons is an eye sore and extremely unstable.

I'm not terribly concerned about the refund policy. Their website states a 14 day RMA process on gaming systems/laptops and 30 days for everything else so long as purchased directly from their store. If I have too I'll take care of it through my credit card company, no biggie.

Its unfortunate however because I wanted to love this machine but there are quirks and concerns about it that leave me very uneasy about keeping it.

 

A long winded rant on my issues with the Razer Blade and why I'm returning it for anyone curious.

Phillip Zedalis | The Little* Laptop That Almost
A Razer Blade Review/Rant | None | Phillip Zedalis

 

Yeah, definite possibility. My insurance goes up even without any claims.

That company looks like a decent option, thanks!

Great read from an actual owner with a realistic perspective. I always thought that too about packaging a mouse. One of your biggest selling points is a futurama whiz bang touchpad but you package a mouse with it. Any Apple fanatic would take the touchpad over a mouse any day of the week.

 

The included mouse seems like a great addition for FPS gamers.

 

Thanks! Anyone have experience with this company or a similar company? Seems pretty reasonable. Do I ensure the entire laptop cost including tax? $3025 for the blade? It looks like $185 for a year of coverage with a $100 deductible is this expensive? Thanks for the help!

 

Sales tax typically isn't covered. If you're making a claim, I'm guessing you would have to provide some kind of invoice/proof of purchase, and you'd only get a check for the actual amount of the laptop.

 

Based on what I read, their refund policy requires the purchaser to eat the cost of shipping the item back to Razer. The box weighs about 30 lbs. plus I can only imagine how much UPS would charge for insurance on a 3k laptop. I am going to call Razer tonight to see what my options are. I managed to get the Synapse stuff working but ten minutes later it crashed and I had to restart the laptop.

ps it is 14 days from the date of purchase, not receipt of product, so if it took a week to get to ya, basically that gives us about a week or so to test it out.

Just read your review. I think you should stick to Macs lol. As for the fan, mine doesnt seem that loud to me. Sure I can hear it but I guess Im just used to my crappy Hp Pavilion fan which never shuts up even in idle.

 

That is kind of a crappy return policy. 14 days from date of **purchase**? Really? And buyer pays return shipping? In the case of the fingerprints in the buttons they need to pay for round trip next day, that's entirely unacceptable for a $3000 laptop. Any laptop really.

 

I've got an RMA now with them to return it - will mail later today. See how it goes.

 

Maybe the RMA is different for exchanges vs refunds? Not sure. I will call them later. Imo they should overnight a brand new one to me so I can check it out, then I would mail the old one back to them on their dime. Thats how Dell would do me. Thats what Dell tried to do when they sold me a non- working M11x but I told them to shove it and refund me.

Also, I have not seen this mentioned anywhere. The Switchblade LCD keys can only be viewed from a certain angle. If you get off angle, like hunched over the keyboard looking directly down at them, they appear blurry and unreadable. Is this normal? They start to blur even if I just move a little closer to the laptop, but fine when Im leaning back. I guess thats why we dont see keyboards made entirely of these types of keys. Not a huge deal just seems kind of cheap for such a pricey laptop.

As for the fingerprints/dust issue, I probably would have never noticed it at home because the lighting is poor. But it was noticeable at work with the spiffy track lighting. Principle of the matter, I know they are there and it irks me. I am trying to not care but the crashing Switchblade UI is doing nothing to squash any thoughts of opening an RMA. I am def not eating a hundred or more dollars to return or exchange this item. State Attorneys would come into play at that point lol. Im just hoping Razer has something good to tell me later. I will post their response.

 

RMA process is same for exchanges/refunds. They always do RMA in your warranty period and they basically send you a replacement once you've sent yours in. I could tell when asking for a refund they don't really like to do that, but since I'm in my 14 day window there wasn't much they could do. Their website clearly states you are responsible for return shipping so not sure how much leverage you have there to be honest. They are not a fraction of the size of Dell. Living in California the return shipping with insurance and signature will cost me like $50 so thats not bad to get 3k back - minor investment

You are absolutely right about the LCD keys. If you are holding it in your lap or at a desk the keys are cut off, or at least the top ones. Plus they are blurry and pointless. And like I said in my review and you noted, the software crashes constantly.

They sent me an RMA email within a half hour of calling and I'm shipping mine out. They don't give too much of a fuss. If you want them to foot the bill that will be another thing. And to send you a second one so you can try it out? Given they are only making batches of a 100 (haha I'm kidding) I doubt they have a spare to even send you. Good luck

 

I would hope RMA would be free of charge considering it's their issue and not yours. As they say, a product is only as good as its warranty and customer service. In any case hope it works out for you. I really want to see one in person.

edit (after thoughtmatrix): Well I wouldn't doubt if it was only batches of 100. If they give you grief about returning it, that shows me an unprofessional company right there. If they offer 14 days return, there should be no questions asked, well unless they get it and it's completely destroyed by abuse... They really would have been better of releasing the switchblade UI as a USB accessory like all the other stuff, worked out the kinks on a $200 accessory, and implemented it in a full laptop after it had all been debugged. But I'm just a peon talking...

 

Wow, this is extremely shocking...Razer is definitely not going to get anywhere with these policies.

 

You are absolutely right. What surprised me because I hadn't thought about it until just now was how in all their marketing videos they talk about successful switchblade UI is. How incredible that it's in two products now (the blade, and the star wars old republic keyboard) and how much time/energy has gone into that with partners.

What I failed to realize is: that keyboard hasn't gone for sale yet.

So Razer launched a $3000 laptop with a gimmicky touchpad option that has never gone to production or seen the light of day with crashing software...

So you nailed it.

 

When I first saw the laptop, I thought, wow, nice, something I might consider. Then I saw the price tag...

I just think it was rushed to market.

 

To be fair it is an awesome device and very competitive to the MacBook Pro on a few levels. If they:

- Dropped the price to $2500
- Dropped the switchblade
- Cleared up warranty misinformation and priced it competitively to Dell.

I would buy it again.

 

I don't think that was the case at all. IMO, the Blade's design and marketing were simply (very) badly misguided. The notebook should have kept the same components and visual/tactile aesthetics but been released in a 14-inch form factor. Make the only screen 1600x900 matte, have an mSATA SSD for the OS and spinner HDD for programs/games, and drop the price a grand. Offer the touchpad as a separate peripheral at a discounted price when purchased with the Blade, then make it for sale to the general public. Perhaps offer some perks to those who buy them together - a beta testing program for new software, or access to profiles before everyone else.

Edit: HT - it could have been worse. Remember when the original plan was to launch the Blade at its current SRP with a standard platter hard drive?

 

I think $2000 would be a fair cost without the switchblade. Coming new into the market, it's difficult to command a high cost just because someone else does. Apple has made a name for themselves. I don't see anything special about this machine making it worth more than $2k. But after hearing about their return policy I would stray away.

The 14" machine makes a lot more sense, more a competitor to the M14x, but pricing should be < $2000, preferably $1500. Yeah, $2800 for a machine with a platter... mmm, no.

 

Not sure I agree. I consider the primary competitor is the MacBook Pro. I mean once you use the unibody with a matte display it's perfection. Where they failed is the switchblade is no Apple trackpad.

But if you stack the $2800 against a similar spec'ed MacBook pro 17" it's extremely competitive. Maybe not for the 99% but neither is the MBP. Razer wants to be more like Apple, not Dell.

 

Which is/was their biggest mistake. They're supposed to be targeting this at gamers. They cross shop Alienware, MSI, and Sager/Clevo against each other, not Apple.

 

I agree. In fact with iPad's and smaller devices selling like crazy I'm surprised anyone would consider coming out in the laptop market at all when almost every other manufacturer is trying to figure out how to get out while still selling us ink cartridges.

 

I got my Blade!

What does it take to crash the switchblade UI? I want to try to to see what all is affected. Maybe some replicable steps for us other Blade owners to test out?

 

Grats! To crash switchblade all you have to do is use it.

No seriously play some games and enjoy it. You'll see a few of the issues fairly quickly and decide if you can tolerate them or not.

 

Even if it were a few hundred dollars more than an M14x, a 14-inch Blade as I described it would have been put on my credit card the instant I could order one.

 

Yeah some people want a 14". I only want a 17".