Is It Acceptable to Passionately Love A Computer?
In recent years, I primarily (now exclusively for reasons having to do with no real disposable income and being cheap), game on my laptop. So when I first heard that Razer, the gaming oriented computer accessory company, was going to make a gaming laptop, I will admit I read it with the side eye of cautious cynicism. "They're the ones who make the expensive mice and keyboards right? They're getting in the laptop game, fighting the Dell supported Alienwares, the HP supported Voodoos and the Falcon Northwests of the world? Good luck..." Then, at PAX this year, they showed it off and my reaction went from that to something more like this.
Just look at it. It's... so beautiful. Co-designed by Intel, it's running a duel core Core i7 2640M 2.8/3.5 GHz processor, 8 GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM, an NVIDIA GT 555M graphics card with 2 GB of dedicated GDDR5 RAM, 320 GB 7200RPM HHD, a 17.3" 16:3 1920x1080 monitor, and an integrated 60Wh battery. Usually, with specs like that, these gaming rigs are a beast of a machine size and weight wise...like the Asus machine I'm working on right now. With the Blade, that's the really amazing part: the dimensions are 16.81 in x 10.9 in x 0.88 in at 6.9 pounds. Pretty much right around the same dimensions, just a tad bigger and heaver, than a 17" Macbook Pro.
Also that thing on the side of the keyboard that looks like a fancy trackpad, it's an exclusive feature called the Switchblade. It's a multi-touch LCD panel (think your phone) and special LCD backed keys that can be macro bound to the games your playing to show mini-maps in RTS's, squad commands in FPS's, commenly used spells in MMOs, or just be the coolest track pad ever.It's not all perfect though. My biggest hindrances are 1) it's not coming out till holiday this year and 2) it's expected to sell at the price point of $2799.99. So, if any of you want to get me the greatest Christmas present ever...just sayin'...
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August 28th, 2011 - 05:36
When I read the reports when the Blade was revealed, I was impressed. It really does look like a sexy and sleek beast of a machine…
BUT…
That graphics card. Write all you want about how impressive the specs are but that graphics card is seriously underwhelming. At that price point you would expect something with a little more grunt, not what is essentially a mid-range card. Alienware (who is owned by Dell), clunky bastards that they are, perform better than this on a technical level.
Despite this, I have no doubt it will sell based on the trackpad alone. Still at that price point, Razer have dropped the ball on what could have been a really sexy and powerful gaming laptop.
August 28th, 2011 - 09:17
This is true on the graphics card, however I also have a thing with Alienware. I got a Area 51m before they were bought by Dell and that machine lasted me 4 months. Even with proper cooling around the laptop itself, the motherboard literally melted and they did absolutely nothing, even under warranty, for any assistance in the matter. Since then I’ve seen them as nice machines, but still have had a lot of hesitance to buy their products.
August 28th, 2011 - 06:03
But think of the risks Stuart, imagine dropping that 3 grand laptop. Into a tank filled with acid. And killer bees.
Could you survive the loss of that machine?
August 28th, 2011 - 08:57
Hm…..the specs themselves are pretty cool but i still have some complaints:
1) The Switchblade-feature might be pretty cool for gaming but can it be used somewhat outside of games? Another thing that makes me cautious about this is the question whether the support of developers for this is given or not or if you will be abel to program macros yourself.
2) Only 320 gigs HDD? Better be a solid state drive (which would improve performance). If it is, consider this point invalid, if it ain’t: that’s just ridiculous, especially at a retail price of 2.8k, which leads me to:
3) 2.8k retail price? I don’t wanna sound arrogant or something but you can build youself 2 complete PCs with no lack in performance of that money. The same with Alienware…YAY, they are tested for performance but in my opinion that’s nothing that entitles them to double the price.
TL;DR: Altogether a nice but FAR overprized machine with a feature I’m not sure about and a ridiculously small HDD in its class.
August 28th, 2011 - 09:25
1) The Switchblade seems to be able to be used outside of games, depending on the program. If worse comes to worse, it’s the touchpad for the machine and it’s a multi-touch touchpad, similar to the Mac pads. They alluded to the fact you could set your own macros along with the officially supported ones.
2) I know I wanted the HDD to be bigger too. It’s not a solid state drive, it 7200RPM drive, so it’s fast but not super on the storage. I think it doesn’t have the more space as a way to keep the form factor.
3) That’s the world of gaming laptops. Desktops are significantly less expensive, especially if you build your own. Seeing a laptop is a self contained unit and almost always built by the manufacturer, they put the premium on there. The price puts them in the same range as their competitors. Trust me, it’s expensive for me too because I’m a cheap bastard when it comes to stuff for myself.
August 28th, 2011 - 14:29
That picture is the coolest Swastika I’ve ever seen.
August 29th, 2011 - 08:21
Quit your trollin’!
August 28th, 2011 - 16:03
This laptop is everywhere at the moment! It sounds like it has potential, but I’ll be interested to see people’s reactions once they actually use it. Gimmicky or practical and perfect in every way?
August 29th, 2011 - 08:34
Yeah, this laptop is awesome, but it’s also $2.8k (fkskfsadjadjjad) and when you’re talking about that kind of cash; unless you’re in such need for PC gaming portability, you might as well spend that cash on a rig one Redditor proposed for the same cost:
http://i.imgur.com/wTTck.png
Hell, that build even includes both the PS3 and the Xbox 360.
September 3rd, 2011 - 12:13
This looks very cool, but what I have experiended is a laptop is never a good fit for gaming. Doesn’t matter how rich it is, it’s always in short for latest games. And the over heating factor of laptop sucks.
September 4th, 2011 - 01:09
So I’ve noted, but with my nomadic lifestyle I’ve had in recent years, it’s been the only real fit I’ve had. Merph.
September 13th, 2011 - 18:23
Dunno about this thing, but mainly because I don’t believe Gaming and Laptop should be legally allowed to not have something in the middle keeping them apart. If it had a multi-touch touch screen and could convert into a tablet, I’d be all up ons it as a laptop in general.
As far as the really expensive mice and keyboards comment, they’re more than worth the money. At least the mice and headphones are (haven’t used their keyboards yet, but never seen much of a reason to until the Anansi and the TOR keyobard), especially the Naga. Using anything other than a Naga now would drive me ape shit.
September 13th, 2011 - 21:37
See, my life has been so nomadic and mobile that, as much as a super power tower would be awesome, the laptop’s been the best fit for me.
As not an MMO player, the Naga does not fit into what I necessarily need in my gaming experience. The DeathAdder 3500 has been sitting on my wishlist for a while though. But if I look around at my gear, I seem to be unknowingly a Logitech guy for some reason.