New Razer Blade or MacBook Pro

[Dackzy]

Just now, rf9661 said:

Ok. At this point I am pretty sure about either the MacBook Pro or the Razer Blade. 

why would you even look at the blade after I told you everything that was wrong with it? It is a craptop, in the same league as cheap Acer laptop aka the cancer of laptops

[ALwin]

11 hours ago, rf9661 said:

Hello!

 

I am looking for a laptop that will be used on the go. I will be doing school work, lots of YouTube, and light gaming (CS:GO.) I'm in between the MacBook Pro 13" 256GB model and the New Razer Blade 512GB. I'm tempted to buy Mac due to its software and cheaper price. I haven't purchased either since I know Fall is when both companies tend to release their new products. Which laptop, purchase it now or later? Let me know!

 

Regards,

Richard

Think about which one has the better GPU, because I don't think a 13" MacBook Pro (even Retina) comes with a dedicated GPU, it uses a iGPU.

[rf9661]

5 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

why would you even look at the blade after I told you everything that was wrong with it? It is a craptop, in the same league as cheap Acer laptop aka the cancer of laptops

I meant to write not the Razer.

[Dackzy]

Just now, rf9661 said:

I meant to write not the Razer.

both of the XPS laptops look nice IMO and csgo should not really be a problem unless you run at native res

[rf9661]

5 minutes ago, ALwin said:

Think about which one has the better GPU, because I don't think a 13" MacBook Pro (even Retina) comes with a dedicated GPU, it uses a iGPU.

 

6 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

why would you even look at the blade after I told you everything that was wrong with it? It is a craptop, in the same league as cheap Acer laptop aka the cancer of laptops

I'm only tempted with the Razer due to its graphics and design while the MacBook Pro I feel has a lot more to offer apart from some games don't work on Mac.

[rf9661]

5 minutes ago, ALwin said:

Think about which one has the better GPU, because I don't think a 13" MacBook Pro (even Retina) comes with a dedicated GPU, it uses a iGPU.

 

6 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

why would you even look at the blade after I told you everything that was wrong with it? It is a craptop, in the same league as cheap Acer laptop aka the cancer of laptops

I'm only tempted with the Razer due to its graphics and design while the MacBook Pro I feel has a lot more to offer apart from some games don't work on Mac.

[Dackzy]

Just now, rf9661 said:

 

I'm only tempted with the Razer due to its graphics and design while the MacBook Pro I feel has a lot more to offer apart from some games don't work on Mac.

lol the GPU thermal throttle a lot, so it is not even close to a 970m and the 1060 version they are making is just stupid, they might as well put a 960m in it. Pascal is hotter than maxwell. See if you can try a XPS and a macbook the same day and then choose what you like the most.

[rf9661]

7 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

lol the GPU thermal throttle a lot, so it is not even close to a 970m and the 1060 version they are making is just stupid, they might as well put a 960m in it. Pascal is hotter than maxwell. See if you can try a XPS and a macbook the same day and then choose what you like the most.

I'm actually going to do that. Going onto the XPS site now to check out its "features" more like specs.

[Dackzy]

3 minutes ago, rf9661 said:

I'm actually going to do that. Going onto the XPS site now to check out its "features" more like specs.

well the feeling in hand is more important IMO and the feeling of the keyboard.

[GR8-Ride]

4 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

why would you even look at the blade after I told you everything that was wrong with it? It is a craptop, in the same league as cheap Acer laptop aka the cancer of laptops

You keep saying that, and it's time that somebody stepped up and defended Razer to some extent.   The loudest voices on here have a hate for Razer, and it's time to step up and call bullshit on some of the hate.

 

Yes, the Razer Blade *can* throttle when playing demanding games, and the design of using a shared heat-pipe between the CPU and GPU means that both contribute heat into it.  From a design perspective, it's far less than ideal, but it's also not an uncommon practice if you want a thin and light laptop (see the latest MSI GS63VR for a comparison, or the MS GS60 before it).   Every thin and light "gaming" laptop will throttle to some extent.   The Blade throttles FAR, FAR less than I expected when I purchased it, given the noise on here and Reddit.

 

The thermal throttling on the Blade can be mitigated by either turning off Turbo boost, or by undervolting.   Again, if someone wants a thin and light laptop, heat and fan noise are the tradeoffs that come with it.  By the way, I run my Blade in closed, clamshell mode, driving an external 4K monitor.   I can play Doom for 2+ hours, and completely stock, only 1 or 2 cores will thermal throttle.   GPU temps don't go above 87C.   With Turbo boost off, CPU temps don't peak above 70C, and GPU peaks at 83C.

 

As to build quality, I've had no issues with my Blade, and it's been as solid and as reliable as the various Mac's I've had over the past 10 years.

 

The keyboard is at least equivalent to the keyboard on my Macbook Air (sitting right in front of me), and fairly close to the keyboard on my 15 rMBP (the rMBP is still a bit better).  No laptop keyboard is as good as my old Thinkpad T40p that I had 10 years ago, but I have no complaints about the Blade's keyboard.   Not as good as the Thinkpad keyboards (I liked the keyboard on my X1 Carbon...except for the stupid LCD 'virtual' function keys).

 

Trackpad is okay....close to the MBA / rMBP for feel, but far, far better than I've had on any other Windows based laptop recently (including my MSI GS60 that was a horrendous piece of shit).   Trackpad buttons feel cheap though...honestly I'd still prefer a Trackpoint if one was available.

 

Razer Blade industrial design is the equivalent of the Apple....all aluminum, minimum (if any) flex in the chassis (again, unlike my GS60, or the Gigabyte P35xV5 I looked at).

 

People buy laptops for a variety of purposes, and a variety of personal reasons.   If a person wants a dedicated gaming machine as their primary purpose, then a desktop or a desktop replacement machine are far better choices than ANY thin and light laptop, including the Blade.

 

If a person wants a laptop that can travel very well (especially for those of us who travel extensively for business, and have to utilize a corporate machine for work activity), then something thin and light becomes a requirement.    This is where my Blade fits my own, perhaps unique, use-case.  It's light-weight, and I can readily carry it and my work MBA in a briefcase and a plane.  I can play games on it while in the hotel, and also use it for my own media / entertainment.

 

Industrial design is also an important factor for a lot of people.   There is a reason why people would rather drive a BMW X5 instead of a Citroen Picasso, even though the Citroen may be a more practical vehicle, and just as fast on city streets (ie, speed limit is the same for both).

 

Flame suit on.   Let the hate begin.

 

 

 

Patrick

[rf9661]

38 minutes ago, GR8-Ride said:

You keep saying that, and it's time that somebody stepped up and defended Razer to some extent.   The loudest voices on here have a hate for Razer, and it's time to step up and call bullshit on some of the hate.

 

Yes, the Razer Blade *can* throttle when playing demanding games, and the design of using a shared heat-pipe between the CPU and GPU means that both contribute heat into it.  From a design perspective, it's far less than ideal, but it's also not an uncommon practice if you want a thin and light laptop (see the latest MSI GS63VR for a comparison, or the MS GS60 before it).   Every thin and light "gaming" laptop will throttle to some extent.   The Blade throttles FAR, FAR less than I expected when I purchased it, given the noise on here and Reddit.

 

The thermal throttling on the Blade can be mitigated by either turning off Turbo boost, or by undervolting.   Again, if someone wants a thin and light laptop, heat and fan noise are the tradeoffs that come with it.  By the way, I run my Blade in closed, clamshell mode, driving an external 4K monitor.   I can play Doom for 2+ hours, and completely stock, only 1 or 2 cores will thermal throttle.   GPU temps don't go above 87C.   With Turbo boost off, CPU temps don't peak above 70C, and GPU peaks at 83C.

 

As to build quality, I've had no issues with my Blade, and it's been as solid and as reliable as the various Mac's I've had over the past 10 years.

 

The keyboard is at least equivalent to the keyboard on my Macbook Air (sitting right in front of me), and fairly close to the keyboard on my 15 rMBP (the rMBP is still a bit better).  No laptop keyboard is as good as my old Thinkpad T40p that I had 10 years ago, but I have no complaints about the Blade's keyboard.   Not as good as the Thinkpad keyboards (I liked the keyboard on my X1 Carbon...except for the stupid LCD 'virtual' function keys).

 

Trackpad is okay....close to the MBA / rMBP for feel, but far, far better than I've had on any other Windows based laptop recently (including my MSI GS60 that was a horrendous piece of shit).   Trackpad buttons feel cheap though...honestly I'd still prefer a Trackpoint if one was available.

 

Razer Blade industrial design is the equivalent of the Apple....all aluminum, minimum (if any) flex in the chassis (again, unlike my GS60, or the Gigabyte P35xV5 I looked at).

 

People buy laptops for a variety of purposes, and a variety of personal reasons.   If a person wants a dedicated gaming machine as their primary purpose, then a desktop or a desktop replacement machine are far better choices than ANY thin and light laptop, including the Blade.

 

If a person wants a laptop that can travel very well (especially for those of us who travel extensively for business, and have to utilize a corporate machine for work activity), then something thin and light becomes a requirement.    This is where my Blade fits my own, perhaps unique, use-case.  It's light-weight, and I can readily carry it and my work MBA in a briefcase and a plane.  I can play games on it while in the hotel, and also use it for my own media / entertainment.

 

Industrial design is also an important factor for a lot of people.   There is a reason why people would rather drive a BMW X5 instead of a Citroen Picasso, even though the Citroen may be a more practical vehicle, and just as fast on city streets (ie, speed limit is the same for both).

 

Flame suit on.   Let the hate begin.

 

 

 

Patrick

Hello Patrick!

 

Thank you for your response. People like your are the ones I love receiving feed back from, honest and truthful. You pointed out the good and the bad. What would you recommend? I have a multitude of Razer and Apple products so I'm not against either. I like the rMBP 13 due to design, performance, software, and customer service while I like the Razer due to design and gaming performance. I travel quite often back and forth between my two properties and would like something I can take on the go and still play. Please let me know!

 

Regards,

Richard

 

P.S. I am thankful for the rest of your responses!

[Pendragon]

57 minutes ago, GR8-Ride said:

Yes, the Razer Blade *can* throttle when playing demanding games...

There's nothing wrong with shared heatpipes FYI. Laptops shouldn't thermal throttle. That's not acceptable. Just put a lesser GPU inside and deal with reduced performance. Some of us here do things alot more intensive than gaming, and need to have the laptop run at it's rated specs for 18 hours a day under full load and not expect bloody heat damage from it. Having a laptop run to 85C-90C at stock under gaming load is pretty bad. Long term damage occurs once you start peaking past 85C even though TJMax is more generous. Laptop components are stored too close compared to desktop for TJMax to be meaningful in a laptop setting. 

 

57 minutes ago, GR8-Ride said:

The thermal throttling on the Blade can be mitigated by either turning off Turbo boost, or by undervolting

or by repasting. Turning off Turbo Boost is pretty dumb, if that's what you have to do to get the laptop to operate functionally. Repasting and undervolting is fair game. 

 

57 minutes ago, GR8-Ride said:

As to build quality, I've had no issues with my Blade

Then you have been very lucky

 

Trackpad point is valid. It feels pretty nice, buttons are ass. XPS15 trackpad I would say is better than the Razer's and take the top spot for Window's laptop trackpad. Clevo's P series are really good too. Trackpad isn't as smooth, but buttons are world's better, so about equal. 

 

Keyboard is okay. Like Dackzy has mentioned numerous times, not suppose to be in a 2k machine. I would compare it to the Y700 in terms of comfort. XPS15, Thinkpads, Macbooks all eclipse it in terms of comfort and usability .

 

Chassis construction point stands, it's very nice. Though it chips. Black anodized aluminum always have this issue where if you chip them you see the grey beneath. 

 

57 minutes ago, GR8-Ride said:

If a person wants a laptop that can travel very well (especially for those of us who travel extensively for business, and have to utilize a corporate machine for work activity)

Not really...I'm that business, travel extensively, never home for more than 10 days person. And I carry 3 laptops around. Granted I leave them at the hotel and bring the one I need, there's no reason buying a thermal throttling laptop is acceptable practice. 

 

In a world where there were no 14in 970m laptops that would operate at its rated spec without thermal throttling, I'd shrug and say, fuck it, oh well. At least Razer Blade's got aluminum. But that's not the case. A P640RE exists. It's 0.5lb heavier, which is not that significant to the average adult and operates within spec. 

 

The Razer Blade has also sets a dangerous precedent for all future manufacturers, that a thermal throttling laptop, designed to overheat at load is completely fine. It's because consumers like yourself (nothing personal, just general market trend) don't mind thermal throttling and view it as an acceptable practice. This problem has reeled it's ugly head in all the upcoming Pascal thin and light laptops. The Razer Blade v2 2016 with a 1060 in it runs at 95C at stock with a fresh overwatch run. GOOD JOB RAZER. It wasn't even under sustained load.

 

The industrial design point is a fair point, but people buying the BMW knowingly do so about it's rated performance as well as it's design. It's not a secret that you pay more for quality build and branding, but it's a problem when it's not working as intended. The BMW doesn't have issues that limit it's use or have conditions applied to it. The Razer Blade advertises full 970m performance, which being thermally hampered. 

 

I have no issues with the Razer Blade outside it's thermal design for the laptop itself. But Razer as the company... the QC is pretty bad. The support is pretty bad. RMA process is god awful. I openly bash this laptop for people who intend to game on it or push it for it's intended purpose, but I have no problem recommending it to people who honestly just need a aluminum Windows machine. I've helped quite a few execs vet Razer Blades, ensuring that there's no issues (trackpad, screen, keyboard, construction, heatpipe bend etc.) who fully intend on using it as a work laptop. That's completely fine. Business execs always to have the bigger dick in terms of everything, and a sleek black aluminum machine gives them that 1 up over other people using "mere" Thinkapds. Macbooks running on bootcamp is really really poorly optimized. If you're someone who views 2k as pocket change, and fully intend on purchasing the Razer Blade for work laptop and don't mind rolling the dice on the unit you get, it's one of the coolest machines you can get. It's a luxury item that isn't intended to operate at it's intended specs. That's really all it is. If you're fine with it, you'll have a great time. For most people, paying 2k for a laptop like that is not worth it.

 

 

[Pendragon]

I think I need to stress the point that the Razer Blade is setting a precedent for future machines. Manufacturers are giving less of a fuck about thermal design than just listing specs which is a real problem for people who purchase machines intending to use it at load. Give 0 fucks about actual performance. As thermal density increases with die shrinks, thermal design will become more important, and the current trend is not okay. If the design can't handle x GPU with x CPU, downgrade it. 

[Dackzy]

46 minutes ago, GR8-Ride said:

SNIP

Do you work with fixing laptops? Because I do and I keep seeing people with this shitty laptop brand coming to me for help. Then they keyboard stopped working, then the charging port stopped working, then the usb ports stopped working and they are all within a year old, some are even brand new.

 

The quality control on a razer blade is a joke and I mean a joke, you can just go and look up all the things people have been complaining about, futher more I have had people who came up to me and asked if I could fix their brand new razer laptop, because the USB ports did not work and said that they had tried to contact razer about it, but they just kept saying that it was the usb stick that was something wrong with or the mouse, not their product, I have had about 8 people who came to me because their shitty razer blade had some flaw and I have had them all open, they are build like utter shit in every single way, you can use all the best materials you want, but if you cannot put them well together then the build quality will still be bad, that is just how it is. It is how you put materials together that matters the most, aluminium is just a nice materials to touch, it is not a very strong material or durable and when you then also put them badly together then you end up with something that feels nice in the hand, but is build badly. I like aluminium laptops as much as the next guy, but not when there is little to no quality control, then you start seeing weird shit.

 

Yes other laptops also thermal throttle does this mean that it is okay that the razer blade does NO, HECK NO. When things get this hot then you shorten the life span of each component that gets hot in the laptop. It should be against the law to make such a product. Also you can get a Clevo laptop that is also 14 inch and not much heavier that doesn't thermal throttle.

 

You don't have to put it under "extreme load" to get it to thermal throttle, you just need to put it under such a load where it uses a fair amought of the CPU and GPU, if we talk the model with a dGPU, if we talk the 15w ULV model then you just need to basically have more than 10 windows open on chrome and have some smaller programs running in the back ground.

 

Also when you buy a laptop with a 970m then you expect 970m performance and not what is kinda a mix between a 960m and 970m. Also WHY THE F would you turn off turbo boost that is stupid, repaste that fucker and undervolt, but you loose warranty, not that is what any good anyways, becuase they are just stupid AF, I need to explain things about their own laptop to their support GG razer GG.

 

You see you used BMW as a example, but with a BMW you know what you get, you know that you get X performance, you know that you get x quality, with a razer blade you should get a 970m in performance, but you don't, you should get a laptop with no quality problems for the price, but you don't

 

I have nothing against the trackpad, because I know that some people like that style, I don't, because I like separate buttons, but that is preference.

 

Let me put it this way: If you get one with no flaws on it then it is a okay student machine or work machines, but still not meant to be gamed on.

 

I like the design of the laptop, it looks nice and neat, I will give them that.

 

By people like you sayint that this is okay that it thermal throttles, then more and more companies will start doing this and then we end up with products that a 100% shit and are no good. Cooling should always be nr.1

 

Also if you are a person who travels a lot and need a light durable laptop and doesn't need anything more than a laptop that can do work and you have this kind of budget get a god damn ThinkPad T460s, it makes any laptop look like a cheap china toy.

[GR8-Ride]

1 minute ago, Pendragon said:

I think I need to stress the point that the Razer Blade is setting a precedent for future machines. Manufacturers are giving less of a fuck about thermal design than just listing specs which is a real problem for people who purchase machines intending to use it at load. Give 0 fucks about actual performance. As thermal density increases with die shrinks, thermal design will become more important, and the current trend is not okay. If the design can't handle x GPU with x CPU, downgrade it. 

The problem is, that's not what the consumer wants.  And we live in a society where consumer demand = product opportunity.   If everyone accepted that a Clevo chassis was the best laptop on the planet, then everyone would be buying a Clevo laptop.

 

The problem is, all of the Clevo derivatives are low volume, virtually unheard of companies, with essentially fugly industrial design and zero marketing.   They are extremely good, reliable and well built laptops.  But they're ugly to look at (frankly most gaming laptops are), generally bulky, and unless you live close to a store that sells them, almost impossible to examine in person prior to purchase.

 

I get the idea that someone should be able to run their machine (car, laptop, etc) at 100% utilization and not expect failure.  The reality of the modern world is, duty cycles vary, and a lot of items that are marketed to consumers are not intended to be run at 100% utilization (unfortunately).   Try running your washing machine at home 24/7, and see how long it lasts.

 

Even the BMW example doesn't hold water.  The E46 M3 (2001-2006) model was heavily advertised by BMW as a track-ready machine....as easy to drive on the racetrack on weekends as it was to drive to work every morning.   The problem is, the engine had a nasty habit of punching holes in the side of the block whenever it was subjected to racetrack type conditions.   And BMW's response was "You drove it on the track, so no warranty, as that use case isn't covered".    We used to have to tow vehicles from the racetrack to the local highway, and then have BMW come pick the car up from there.   Despite the bad press and unreliable engines, BMW still sold a ton of E46 M3s.

 

The vast majority of the consumer public views a laptop as a general purpose machine, and those who want to play games on them will do so.   It's both a disposable item (Apple has really led the way towards disposable electronics), and a fashion accessory (again, thanks to Apple).   Thermal throttling isn't something that 99% of the population would even understand (which also happens to my iPads, and my Macbook Air as well by the way).   Most people don't give a shit.

 

I play games for at most 2 hours per day on my Blade.   The rest of the time its my media / surfing machine while I'm working on my MBA.

 

Razer continues to sell every Blade that they can build (faster than they can build them, for that matter).   I'd suggest that they are closer to tapping into what the consumer wants than people here will give them credit for.

[rf9661]

1 hour ago, Pendragon said:

SNIP

 

1 hour ago, GR8-Ride said:

SNIP

1 hour ago, Dackzy said:

SNIP

 

Ok. So I'd like to thank all of you for making descriptive points of the pros and cons of the Razer Blade. I think in conclusion, the MacBook Pro turns out being the better option (even though it doesn't have a dedicated GPU) from what I understand. If you are able to find a laptop similar to the design of the Razer Blade with better 'performace' please let me know. I'm actually going to check out what Asus ROG might have. Thanks! Also, just let me know if you do find something else that has great looks and performace! 

[Dackzy]

8 minutes ago, rf9661 said:

 

Ok. So I'd like to thank all of you for making descriptive points of the pros and cons of the Razer Blade. I think in conclusion, the MacBook Pro turns out being the better option (even though it doesn't have a dedicated GPU) from what I understand. If you are able to find a laptop similar to the design of the Razer Blade with better 'performace' please let me know. I'm actually going to check out what Asus ROG might have. Thanks! Also, just let me know if you do find something else that has great looks and performace! 

XPS 15

[Pendragon]

6 hours ago, GR8-Ride said:

The problem is, that's not what the consumer wants.  And we live in a society where consumer demand = product opportunity.   If everyone accepted that a Clevo chassis was the best laptop on the planet, then everyone would be buying a Clevo laptop.

 

The problem is, all of the Clevo derivatives are low volume, virtually unheard of companies, with essentially fugly industrial design and zero marketing.   They are extremely good, reliable and well built laptops.  But they're ugly to look at (frankly most gaming laptops are), generally bulky, and unless you live close to a store that sells them, almost impossible to examine in person prior to purchase.

 

I get the idea that someone should be able to run their machine (car, laptop, etc) at 100% utilization and not expect failure.  The reality of the modern world is, duty cycles vary, and a lot of items that are marketed to consumers are not intended to be run at 100% utilization (unfortunately).   Try running your washing machine at home 24/7, and see how long it lasts.

 

Even the BMW example doesn't hold water.  The E46 M3 (2001-2006) model was heavily advertised by BMW as a track-ready machine....as easy to drive on the racetrack on weekends as it was to drive to work every morning.   The problem is, the engine had a nasty habit of punching holes in the side of the block whenever it was subjected to racetrack type conditions.   And BMW's response was "You drove it on the track, so no warranty, as that use case isn't covered".    We used to have to tow vehicles from the racetrack to the local highway, and then have BMW come pick the car up from there.   Despite the bad press and unreliable engines, BMW still sold a ton of E46 M3s.

 

The vast majority of the consumer public views a laptop as a general purpose machine, and those who want to play games on them will do so.   It's both a disposable item (Apple has really led the way towards disposable electronics), and a fashion accessory (again, thanks to Apple).   Thermal throttling isn't something that 99% of the population would even understand (which also happens to my iPads, and my Macbook Air as well by the way).   Most people don't give a shit.

 

I play games for at most 2 hours per day on my Blade.   The rest of the time its my media / surfing machine while I'm working on my MBA.

 

Razer continues to sell every Blade that they can build (faster than they can build them, for that matter).   I'd suggest that they are closer to tapping into what the consumer wants than people here will give them credit for.

Oh hands down. I'm a business guy, and from a business perspective, Clevo is basically retarded. The economics of this are 100% in the mainstreams favor. They post larger revenues with more profit margins, hence attracting further investors.

 

Washing machines are not meant to be used 24/7. Laptops are. Just like computers. Enterprise class washing machines are also designed for 24/7 operation. 

 

Your BMW example also goes to prove my point. That just cause something is sold well, doesn't mean its good. I mean damn look at the Ford Pinto. Hottest car in america. Also prone to killing people. It sold fucking well. Do people recommend buying them? FUCK NO. 

 

The whole point we're trying to make here is that yes, Razer is a marketing and branding juggernaut. Really the Apple of Windows machines. Does it make their things good? No. Is it sold extremely well to the average ignorant consumer that doesn't know better? Hell yes. Would we recommend it here where people actually know a thing or two about laptops? God no. Razer, MSI, Asus, Aorus etc ALL try to tap into the market where people want thin and light but with performance. Which is thermodynamically impossible. Will they "sell" better than the Clevo. Ofc, they are everywhere. Who even knows Clevo cept for the hard core guys that understand the market products. Doesn't change the fact that the Razer Blade is not a good laptop. It appeals to the vanity of consumers, so lets be clear here, one would be paying for the Razer Blade for ePen status. Otherwise other laptops in the same form factor do the exact same function better, cooler and in a comparable form factor. It's the same reason why people pay tens of thousands for LV bags whereas a plastic bag would serve the same function. 

[GR8-Ride]

3 hours ago, Pendragon said:

Oh hands down. I'm a business guy, and from a business perspective, Clevo is basically retarded. The economics of this are 100% in the mainstreams favor. They post larger revenues with more profit margins, hence attracting further investors.

 

Washing machines are not meant to be used 24/7. Laptops are. Just like computers. Enterprise class washing machines are also designed for 24/7 operation. 

 

Your BMW example also goes to prove my point. That just cause something is sold well, doesn't mean its good. I mean damn look at the Ford Pinto. Hottest car in america. Also prone to killing people. It sold fucking well. Do people recommend buying them? FUCK NO. 

 

The whole point we're trying to make here is that yes, Razer is a marketing and branding juggernaut. Really the Apple of Windows machines. Does it make their things good? No. Is it sold extremely well to the average ignorant consumer that doesn't know better? Hell yes. Would we recommend it here where people actually know a thing or two about laptops? God no. Razer, MSI, Asus, Aorus etc ALL try to tap into the market where people want thin and light but with performance. Which is thermodynamically impossible. Will they "sell" better than the Clevo. Ofc, they are everywhere. Who even knows Clevo cept for the hard core guys that understand the market products. Doesn't change the fact that the Razer Blade is not a good laptop. It appeals to the vanity of consumers, so lets be clear here, one would be paying for the Razer Blade for ePen status. Otherwise other laptops in the same form factor do the exact same function better, cooler and in a comparable form factor. It's the same reason why people pay tens of thousands for LV bags whereas a plastic bag would serve the same function. 

Hang on though.  It's one thing to say that the Razer Blade isn't the best laptop on the market for pure, unadulterated, hard-core gaming (honestly, neither is any other thin and light laptop).

 

It's another thing altogether to say that it isn't a good laptop.   It's a perfectly good laptop for general purpose and some gaming, similar to a lot of other thin and light laptops.  And honestly it's quite a bit better than other high-end, thin and light laptops (looking at my rMBP with dGPU or my Surface Book with dGPU) when it comes to some gaming.

 

If you want a laptop that is purely for work / school purposes, then there are far better (and more cost-effective) choices than the Razer Blade.   If you want a laptop that excels at gaming and other uses are secondary, then go with a Clevo reseller model, or one of the larger Alienware / MSI models.

 

If you want a laptop that has a certain industrial design element to it, then you're looking at something from Apple, or Razer, or Dell.

 

Is the Razer Blade the best gaming laptop on the market?  Hell no...if I wanted a pure gaming machine, I would have picked something else myself.   However it IS fully capable of playing games for extended periods (in my case, 2+ hours), and without being thermo-dynamically compromised.   Do I turn off Intel's Turbo Boost?  Yes, but I suffer no performance issues as a result when playing Doom (1080P, 60+ FPS).   My rMBP with a GT750M could never do that.   As I said....CPU doesn't go above 70C, GPU doesn't go above 83C.  Other chassis thermals are well within norms (42C for SSD, 35C for the battery).

 

My point being, it's a good, all-around laptop that is fully capable of gaming (within limits and/or with optimizations), AND remaining thin and lightweight.   It's pricey, but much like your LV example, the buying public will often value form over function any day.   It's $900 (CAD) cheaper than the last rMBP I bought, and far more capable.

 

There isn't a single laptop on the market today that is designed to operate at 100% load, 100% of the time.   The duty cycle for consumer laptops is nowhere near that limit, regardless of it's configuration.   You'd have physical fan failure long before the CPU would die.

 

Here's my analogy.   I used to race cars for a living.   Had a BMW 325is that I raced....completely stripped out, dipped, seam-welded, full cage, no interior, race buckets only, etc .   Needed my pickup truck to tow it, and it spent it's life in my garage and I had to use my pickup as my daily driver for work.   On the weekends at the racetrack, it was awesome fun, and fully capable, and I had zero (generally) reliability issues with it.   I still had plates on it (for awhile), and while I could legally drive it to work, it wasn't the most pleasant or viable daily driver.

 

So now I drive an M4 as my daily driver, and as my weekend track toy.   It's great fun around Mosport, but still nowhere near as fast or as reliable as my race car (heat soak, brake fade, etc).   At the end of the day, I can take my M4 home from Mosport, and still drive it to the office on Monday morning in perfect comfort and reliability.

 

My Razer Blade is like that.   I don't need a dedicated gaming rig...the Blade suffices for me.   Is it perfect?  No.   But I can game on it on the weekends, and still take it to work with me on Monday and not feel like I'm dragging an 8lb behemoth with me.

 

But I know I won't convince you, and we both know you won't convince me.    I post this simply as a counter-point to the anti Razer Blade sentiment that exists in this forum, and hope that someone will read it and realize that there are multiple experiences and opinions to consider, and use that to make their own decision.

 

 

 

Patrick

[Dackzy]

@GR8-Ride I don't know about you, but I would never ever recommend a laptop when there is such a big risk of it being fucked from the start. Also some laptops are made for 24hour use, some normal business laptops are made to a given MILL spec, so they can withstand a lot of crap. If you are a business and you don't buy business laptops then you are stupid, really fucking stupid. The whole idea behind a business laptop is that there should be as little down time as possible, because down time equals money lost and they are build so that you don't really need to worry about them when you travel or if you drop them. With a normal laptop like razer blade then people should worry a lot about not dropping it and it would never ever be a good idea to get such a laptop for business use, because it is prone to a lot of flaws and down time, if that just one of the problems I have had people come to me then that means at least one week of down time for that laptop, because Razer's support could not give less fucks and it is really hard to find parts for it, for a normal fixing shop. A razer blade is a "okay" laptop if you are one of those people that are looks over everything and don't care about anything else aka the cancer of buyer's, because it is those people who end up fucking the rest over. It is the same kind of people who buy a MacBook pro just to surfe on the web. Also just because a product sells well doesn't equal to it being a good product, if you buy such a product then it is clear to see that you have not done your homework. A blade is something a rich student gets, that just needs to take down notes and maybe play some game that doesn't stress out anything on the PC and wants a pretty PC, it is NOT something a business person should get, it is NOT something you should get if you just play somewhat demanding games. It is NOT something you get if you want a reliable product. Also it is true to a extend that a laptop is becoming a fashion statement, but no business will think better of you if you came with a blade, but if you came with a ProBook or ThinkPad then the story changes and the same goes for people know a lot about laptops, it will only impress people who know the price of it and doesn't know the problems with it. Also this fashion BS is stupid, why go and show off a fucking laptop.

[Pendragon]

4 hours ago, GR8-Ride said:

There isn't a single laptop on the market today that is designed to operate at 100% load, 100% of the time.   The duty cycle for consumer laptops is nowhere near that limit, regardless of it's configuration.   You'd have physical fan failure long before the CPU would die.

Yea I actually push my laptops quite hard all the time, its actually how my laptops survive because I ramp my fans quite hard especially on Apple products. There's alot more demanding applications than gaming. 

 

4 hours ago, GR8-Ride said:

snip

I get what you're trying to say about the Razer Blade, cept there are options for Aluminum thin and light laptops that can game while looking badass on the side at around the same price of Razer Blades. Aorus X5sv5 comes to mind. (To be honest, it's a bloody miracle they could cool it but they did). That's what bothers me when people tout the Razer blade for it's industrial design. There are aluminum thin and lights that can handle it. 

 

Most of us here don't have a problem about it's general usability. I've used the laptop and I quite liked it, I have nothing against it cept for it's thermal design. It's about the average issues that a potential user could run into due to QC, support, RMA issues. For every 1 happy user that doesn't push their laptop hard and got a perfect machine, there's so many others that have posted heat damage, dead on arrival, and variety of other issues. Granted unhappy users are more vocal than happy users, but when you compare relative unhappy users to other laptops Razer is consistently up there. 

 

I also get your point that it's a great laptop for your use case. But for MOST people, 2k isn't something they'd want to drop for the price to performance they're getting. People who are chasing gaming would be pleased to find 1070 laptops in the same price bracket, and people chasing value can find 970m laptops around 1200 range. There's only a select niche of users that a Razer Blade would ever be okay for, and if you look at my posts in the past you'll notice that I have recommended it, but only VERY selectively (literally twice). It's generally for price-insensitive, form factor constrained, high appearance value people. Generally business users who already have a company supplied Thinkpad and looking to be cooler than the other guy (no joke. i would get 1, cept I know too much about laptops to hurt my soul with the purchase. Otherwise I'd get 1 to optimize to it's limits). 

 

I'm glad you're happy with your experience and it pretty much confirms my perspective on people who would be a good fit for the Razer Blade.

 

But the last point I'd like to bring up may be relevant for your future purchasing decisions. The next gen of Razer Blades will not be recommendable for any niche. Testing shows 95C on CPU on a fresh run of Overwatch under a non-sustained heavy load. Fucked. No amount of turbo boost off, repaste, fps limit will be able to cool the 1060 in it's hood in the upcoming generation. And that's what I dislike about Razer so much. If you happen to get the next gen Razer, you'll be coming back with FPS limit, GPU lowered power limit, CPU straight underclock (not even turbo boost off), max fan speeds to get it at those temps if that. This is what I mean about setting precedents. The Razer Blade 1060 version will be the first laptop to be not functioning on arrival and if consumers lap it up, that's going to be the future and I am NOT okay with that. 

 

 

 

[DatLemon]

Go for the Razer Blade. Razer just announced the Razer Blade 14 with a GTX 1060, preorders are now, and you'll be able to get the razer blade in october. 

[Dackzy]

1 hour ago, DatLemon said:

Go for the Razer Blade. Razer just announced the Razer Blade 14 with a GTX 1060, preorders are now, and you'll be able to get the razer blade in october. 

and it thermal throttle with Overwatch. It is even more shit than the 970m version.

[Pendragon]

9 hours ago, DatLemon said:

Go for the Razer Blade. Razer just announced the Razer Blade 14 with a GTX 1060, preorders are now, and you'll be able to get the razer blade in october. 

*facepalm

[1v1mebro]

On 8/30/2016 at 10:35 AM, Dackzy said:

lol the GPU thermal throttle a lot, so it is not even close to a 970m and the 1060 version they are making is just stupid, they might as well put a 960m in it. Pascal is hotter than maxwell. See if you can try a XPS and a macbook the same day and then choose what you like the most.

the gpu throttles but it still its still a gpu its like saying you should go for integrated radeon r5 graphics instead of getting a gtx 960m but in this case its intel graphics and nvidias 1060 and no pascal is not hotter it uses less power than maxwell there for less heat

power=heat in every single way the p.s. its been said before the DESKTOP 1060 HAS THE HEAT OUTPUT OF A 970M