Razer Blade 17" i7 Ultrathin Gaming Laptop $2800

[at0m]

Need to upgrade my Dell XPS, and I'm seriously debating getting one of these. Thoughts?

http://www.razerzone.com/blade#

Specs:
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 Processor
Dual Core w/ Hyper-Threading – 64Bit
CPU: 2.8GHz (Base) / 3.5GHz (Turbo)

Chipset
Intel® HM65 Express Chipset

Memory
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz

Display
17.3” Full HD 16:9 Ratio, 1920x1080 LED Backlit

Graphics and Video
Integrated Intel® GMA HD – Mobile Mode
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M 2GB DDR5 VRAM Using NVIDIA Optimus™ Technology

Storage
256GB SATA III SSD w/ TRIM Support

Additional Features
Razer™ Switchblade User Interface
Razer™ Anti-Ghosting Keyboard
Razer™ Synapse 2.0 Enabled
Built-in HD Webcam (2.0MP)
Built-in Speakers
Integrated Digital 7.1 Surround Audio Support (via HDMI 1.4) Dolby® Home Theater® v4 Audio
1x HDMI 1.4 Audio and Video Output (Supports NVIDIA 3DTV) 1x USB 3.0 2x USB 2.0
1x 3.5mm Audio Microphone/Headphone Combo Jack
1x Kensington Lock

Power
Integrated 60Wh Battery
Compact AC Adapter (120Watt)

Communication
1x Gigabit Ethernet Port
1x Integrated Intel Wi-Fi 802.11 B/G/N
1x Integrated Bluetooth® 3.0

Size and Weight
Width: 16.81 inches (42.7cm)
Depth: 10.90 inches (27.7cm)
Height: 0.88 inches (2.24cm)
Weight: 6.4 pounds (2.92kg)

Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit

[Kirby]

For what it's worth, I've heard many, many people online say they've tried out <insert one of their keyboards/mice here> because of all the advertising and hype they do, and found the end product to be severely lacking and crappy, I believe Didzo was among them.

[at0m]

I've had spotty performance with my Lycosa keyboard (random keys will stop working until I reboot the keyboard by unplugging it and plugging it back in), but I'd say its been worth what I paid for it (got it refurb for <50% retail cost).

I'm on my third Razer mouse, I've got no complaints there. They've all been solid.

Re: the laptop, just not sure about whether there's anything similar in terms of cost/performance. From what the reviews say, it's a little overcosted but the industrial design is so good/similar to the Macbook Pro that it's worth it. Was just curious if anyone on here has been in the market for a similar product and what their thoughts were

[StolenToast]

I've found the Lycosa "good" at best.  If this dies I'm going to get a Microsoft Sidewinder.  My Mamba, though, is godly.  I don't ever want to use a different mouse again, and no problems so far.

The Blade is the pinnacle of what I would call "luxury laptops", and engadget reeeeeeeally likes it.

[Didzo]

Yeah, I've had a bad experience with Razer. The software was inexcusably bad and the mouse itself stopped working way too quickly. I won't be buying another Razer product in the foreseeable future.

But for $2800 (yeah, you're overpaying, but you know this already), I would hope that they would at the very least match a Macbook Pro in component and build quality. Regardless, I would want to check out one of these in person.

If you don't need the looks or novelty, check out other places for gaming super-laptops.

[HeK]

My thoughts mirror Didzos, and I would like to suggest looking at Asus.

Personally, I don't find that gaming and portable to appear in the same field.
For example, I achieve over five times the battery life on my MPB then the Blade does...

[at0m]

I'll take a look at ASUS. If they have a similar offering in a reasonable price range, that's a brand I'm much more familiar/comfortable with building laptops.

I agree, though, Gaming + Portability are mutually exclusive for the most part, but I still feel like it'd be nice to get my 'fix' while on the road (since even with my new job I'm spending 20-40% of my time away from my desktop, and then end up with time to kill during 'prime time' hours).

[Didzo]

StolenToast, I forgot to mention it before, but a Razer Mamba was the product I had major issues with.  :-X

Here's the Asus people have been referring to (exact specs vary). While I haven't owned it or used it for extended periods of time, I have seen it in-store and the build quality (while mostly plastic) felt solid and looked well put together. One of the most tasteful looking "gaming" laptop out there. MSI also has a slightly less pricy laptop with the similar hardware, but the build quality and overall design are cheap and tacky compared to the Asus.

Sager also has gaming laptops, but I don't know much about the company.

[StolenToast]

StolenToast, I forgot to mention it before, but a Razer Mamba was the product I had major issues with.  :-X

Doesn't surprise me at all, honestly.  Even with Razer's good products there is a hit/miss factor.  How long did you use it?  I would definitely encourage you to give a Mamba or even Deathadder another chance (if you've got $80 to $120 to spare  ).  Mine is refurbed.

Sager also has gaming laptops, but I don't know much about the company.

My friend has a Sager.  They have been around for a long time and are the sort of no funny-business gaming laptop maker.  Solid machines, think Asus meets Lenovo.


At0m: when I said the Blade was a "luxury laptop" I was saying that it is not a GAMING laptop, per se, but rather just a very powerful machine in a nice package.  I would consider the higher tier MBPs as luxury laptops too.  The Blade was designed to be better than the MBP, plain and simple.  So yeah, if you want a gaming laptop look elsewhere.

[Didzo]

[quote author=Didzo link=topic=6297.msg241949#msg241949 date=1332916614]
StolenToast, I forgot to mention it before, but a Razer Mamba was the product I had major issues with.  :-X

Doesn't surprise me at all, honestly.  Even with Razer's good products there is a hit/miss factor.  How long did you use it?  I would definitely encourage you to give a Mamba or even Deathadder another chance (if you've got $80 to $120 to spare  ).  Mine is refurbed.

[/quote]

Lasted around a year and a half. First I realized how pointless it was to have it wireless since the batteries would run out in 5 hours. Then the wheel got this annoying squeaking and the sticker on its sides started coming undone, and the middle click became harder to push. Then those soft rubber pads on the sides fell off and I superglued them back on. Then the left click started to be spotty, and finally the tracking started going out sporadically and I no longer felt like dealing with the POS. To top it all off, the Razer mouse software was using 10-20% of the CPU resources on idle.

It has since been replaced by a Mionix Naos 5000. No regrets there.

[at0m]

I can't find any clear information about specs on the ASUS webpage. That's sincerely disappointing.

Best I can tell, both ASUS and Sager make desktop-replacement style laptops. That Sager you linked has a 3-HDD RAID-5 in it. How fucklarge does a laptop have to be to have 3 rotating disks + an optical drive? Too big for me to easily transport, I think Also, once you actually spec out a gaming rig with Sager, it ends up being $4k+, and essentially removes the battery entirely. What the actual fuck?

[StolenToast]

[quote author=StolenToast link=topic=6297.msg241978#msg241978 date=1332978309]
[quote author=Didzo link=topic=6297.msg241949#msg241949 date=1332916614]
StolenToast, I forgot to mention it before, but a Razer Mamba was the product I had major issues with.  :-X

Doesn't surprise me at all, honestly.  Even with Razer's good products there is a hit/miss factor.  How long did you use it?  I would definitely encourage you to give a Mamba or even Deathadder another chance (if you've got $80 to $120 to spare  ).  Mine is refurbed.

[/quote]

Lasted around a year and a half. First I realized how pointless it was to have it wireless since the batteries would run out in 5 hours. Then the wheel got this annoying squeaking and the sticker on its sides started coming undone, and the middle click became harder to push. Then those soft rubber pads on the sides fell off and I superglued them back on. Then the left click started to be spotty, and finally the tracking started going out sporadically and I no longer felt like dealing with the POS. To top it all off, the Razer mouse software was using 10-20% of the CPU resources on idle.

It has since been replaced by a Mionix Naos 5000. No regrets there.
[/quote]

See, I've had it about the same and I've had none of that. =\  I have never run out of battery during the day unless I forget to dock it at night. To each his own, that mouse looks pretty nice too.

[StolenToast]

I can't find any clear information about specs on the ASUS webpage. That's sincerely disappointing.

Best I can tell, both ASUS and Sager make desktop-replacement style laptops. That Sager you linked has a 3-HDD RAID-5 in it. How fucklarge does a laptop have to be to have 3 rotating disks + an optical drive? Too big for me to easily transport, I think Also, once you actually spec out a gaming rig with Sager, it ends up being $4k+, and essentially removes the battery entirely. What the actual fuck?

Thats nothing.  Sager used to sell $6000+ models. 

[at0m]

[quote author=at0m link=topic=6297.msg241995#msg241995 date=1332991130]
I can't find any clear information about specs on the ASUS webpage. That's sincerely disappointing.

Best I can tell, both ASUS and Sager make desktop-replacement style laptops. That Sager you linked has a 3-HDD RAID-5 in it. How fucklarge does a laptop have to be to have 3 rotating disks + an optical drive? Too big for me to easily transport, I think Also, once you actually spec out a gaming rig with Sager, it ends up being $4k+, and essentially removes the battery entirely. What the actual fuck?

Thats nothing.  Sager used to sell $6000+ models. 
[/quote]That doesn't help my 'needs to fit into a backpack and also not completely break my bank but still play games' problem. That solves an entirely different problem, if I just wanted to ditch my main rig and use a laptop as my primary PC, docking it when I'm at home. I don't really want to do that, though.

[Didzo]

[quote author=StolenToast link=topic=6297.msg242002#msg242002 date=1332995111]
[quote author=at0m link=topic=6297.msg241995#msg241995 date=1332991130]
I can't find any clear information about specs on the ASUS webpage. That's sincerely disappointing.

Best I can tell, both ASUS and Sager make desktop-replacement style laptops. That Sager you linked has a 3-HDD RAID-5 in it. How fucklarge does a laptop have to be to have 3 rotating disks + an optical drive? Too big for me to easily transport, I think Also, once you actually spec out a gaming rig with Sager, it ends up being $4k+, and essentially removes the battery entirely. What the actual fuck?

Thats nothing.  Sager used to sell $6000+ models. 
[/quote]That doesn't help my 'needs to fit into a backpack and also not completely break my bank but still play games' problem. That solves an entirely different problem, if I just wanted to ditch my main rig and use a laptop as my primary PC, docking it when I'm at home. I don't really want to do that, though.
[/quote]

You might want to look at some ~15in. laptops then or just stick with the Razer Blade.

The Alienware M11x might not be a bad choice either, depending on how important mobility is for you.

[StolenToast]

[quote author=StolenToast link=topic=6297.msg242002#msg242002 date=1332995111]
[quote author=at0m link=topic=6297.msg241995#msg241995 date=1332991130]
I can't find any clear information about specs on the ASUS webpage. That's sincerely disappointing.

Best I can tell, both ASUS and Sager make desktop-replacement style laptops. That Sager you linked has a 3-HDD RAID-5 in it. How fucklarge does a laptop have to be to have 3 rotating disks + an optical drive? Too big for me to easily transport, I think Also, once you actually spec out a gaming rig with Sager, it ends up being $4k+, and essentially removes the battery entirely. What the actual fuck?

Thats nothing.  Sager used to sell $6000+ models. 
[/quote]That doesn't help my 'needs to fit into a backpack and also not completely break my bank but still play games' problem. That solves an entirely different problem, if I just wanted to ditch my main rig and use a laptop as my primary PC, docking it when I'm at home. I don't really want to do that, though.
[/quote]

If thats what you want then you really can't do much better than the Blade.  A Falcon NW, or Alienware might cost less AND perform better but might not fit in your backpack with your other stuff.

[Didzo]

[quote author=at0m link=topic=6297.msg242045#msg242045 date=1333065521]
[quote author=StolenToast link=topic=6297.msg242002#msg242002 date=1332995111]
[quote author=at0m link=topic=6297.msg241995#msg241995 date=1332991130]
I can't find any clear information about specs on the ASUS webpage. That's sincerely disappointing.

Best I can tell, both ASUS and Sager make desktop-replacement style laptops. That Sager you linked has a 3-HDD RAID-5 in it. How fucklarge does a laptop have to be to have 3 rotating disks + an optical drive? Too big for me to easily transport, I think Also, once you actually spec out a gaming rig with Sager, it ends up being $4k+, and essentially removes the battery entirely. What the actual fuck?

Thats nothing.  Sager used to sell $6000+ models. 
[/quote]That doesn't help my 'needs to fit into a backpack and also not completely break my bank but still play games' problem. That solves an entirely different problem, if I just wanted to ditch my main rig and use a laptop as my primary PC, docking it when I'm at home. I don't really want to do that, though.
[/quote]

If thats what you want then you really can't do much better than the Blade.  A Falcon NW, or Alienware might cost less AND perform better but might not fit in your backpack with your other stuff.
[/quote]

A Falcon? Cost less?

I played with their configuration tools and... yeaaaaaaah. No.

[at0m]

Well there's nowhere to try out a Blade in person, and as much as I'd like it better as a 15", I figure I'll give it a try. They've got a 14-day return policy on non-defective systems, so worst case I'm out the $25 to ship it both ways. Plus there are two sales, so I get a free mouse and three free hats. And everyone loves hats.

I'll update with a review of it after I've had a chance to play with it.

[Kirby]

I am more than slightly interested on that LCD trackpad thingy that have going on there though.

[at0m]

I was having trouble getting my CC to go through on their website last night, I'm trying again today. Like I said, I'll let you know what I think of it. Worst case, I write up a review, then ship it back to them and I take my money elsewhere. Maybe they'll let me keep the hats.