The New Razer Blade: Thoroughly Reviewed
by Vivek Gowri on October 3, 2012 5:40 PM ESTRazer Blade (late 2012) - Display
Razer stuck with the AUO B173HW01 V.5 panel for the updated Blade. The 17.3” 1080p display is a good one, and we had no real issues with it last time around. This one was brighter and more accurate than our original Blade’s display panel but also had a slightly poorer contrast ratio. These metrics are all based on relative quality of different manufacturing batches of the same display, so it’s all up to the panel lottery gods. As before, color gamut and viewing angles are stellar (by TN standards, at least).
I asked Min about the possibility of seeing an IPS panel somewhere down the road when I met him at PAX this year. He seemed relatively unenthusiastic about it, citing concerns about display response time (I imagine that cost, too, was a factor). The AUO panel being used is high quality enough that it’s not a strict necessity for Razer to go IPS yet, especially considering that workstation-grade machines are some of the few 17” systems to feature IPS displays at present. But as we go forward and IPS panels become commonplace in larger displays (they’ve already started popping up in midrange 15.6” notebooks like the Sony VAIO SE and Vizio CT15), Razer will want to make the jump.
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Rezurecta - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
One question. Do you think MBP's are overpriced?ahamling27 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
They sure are, but if you want OSX on a laptop, you don't have much choice. You can get a better W7 gaming laptop for much cheaper.solinear - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
This kind of comment reminds me of the late 90s linux users, who bragged about how they spent $150 less on their systems and could do "everything I could" (except use software)... then a few years later went out and spent $2000 on a Mac with OSX and talked about how awesome it was and suddenly the price argument they previously had was not only not there, but they refused to discuss price when I brought that up.Price is important, but it's just part of a package. I think that the Razer package is probably worth ~$2000, though I might go with an HP instead (Alienware feels legacy to me) when I buy a new laptop. However, this is definitely on my short list for laptops.
The feature set is really nice and the fact that I wouldn't have to go "Which one of these ports is USB3 again?" or move a device out of a port to use the one that I need for something is more than a small amount of convenience.
Basically this laptop has everything that I'd want for the next 2-3 years in a laptop except for the SSD and RAM. Like others said, I'd rather have 16+GB RAM and an OS/apps drive that is a 256GB SSD and a platter-based disk for data or apps that I am not as concerned about performance on. That's what we did with my wife's HP laptop and we couldn't be happier with it.
Clockwurk - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
The problem with them making a "premium" product is that they aren't using "premium" parts. They are using middle of the road hardware and calling it "premium". That's what I have a problem with.Seems to work well enough for Apple, no?
ahamling27 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Yes, but with Apple your buying OSX not a W7 gaming machine. You're comparing apples to oranges, no pun intended, and it does work well for them.Except the rMBP has a better screen, faster processor, industry leading trackpad, but the gpu is a 650(for what it's worth, it's overclocked an extra 165 mhz). Plus, it's about $300 cheaper, and you have the option of a larger SSD.
Zap - Friday, October 5, 2012 - link
Buying ANY notebook computer is picking form over function. If you want highest performance for a lower price while still keeping some sense of portability, then build a mini ITX gaming rig. Remember that Silverstone SG05 that was reviewed in the past couple months? You can build one with an overclocked Core i7 and GTX 680, with a lot more storage space too.What's the point? Any computer choice is always a tradeoff. Pick your poison.
santeana - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Why comment? It is a valid point. I happen to agree with him. For just over half that price you can get the same chip with a premium display and your choice of AMD 7970m or NV GTX685m and it's only slightly thicker than this one. It's certainly a nice machine and I like the sleekness of it, but honestly it looks similar to the Sager/Clevo I just described and it's hundreds of dollars more.N4g4rok - Wednesday, October 3, 2012 - link
Personally, i wish more laptops did that with the trackpad. The placement makes more sense when you're use to mouse and keyboard. That, and i won't hit it while i'm typing.inighthawki - Wednesday, October 3, 2012 - link
I'd prefer a numpad there myself.HisDivineOrder - Wednesday, October 3, 2012 - link
Ditto.