The Razer Edge Review

Conclusion

It was actually hard for me to finish this review on time. Every time I started working on it, I ended up gaming on the Edge. Every time, without fail. It’s a lot of fun to use. 

There’s a few things to think about with the Edge. It’s a real technical accomplishment, and as an engineer I can appreciate the challenges John Wilson and his design team must have encountered in creating a stable, polished mobile gaming device that packs this much power. And for a starting price of $999, this is actually a pretty good value for a system that holds a very unique position on the market. There’s nothing else quite like it on the market – you either have to give up the dedicated GPU or the tablet form factor. The relatively low resolution panel ensures that GPU performance won't be an issue, but long term these types of devices will need higher res panels and better GPUs to really be taken seriously.

Ultimately that's where the Edge finds itself today - stuck between the promise of a really cool future, and a decent but very specific present. The Edge is practically guaranteed to find a following in the enthusiast niche that is looking for a dedicated gaming tablet today, but its widespread appeal will be limited until the hardware has a chance to evolve. In this regard, Razer finds itself facing similar challenges to Microsoft with Surface Pro. We believe in the concept, but for broader appeal the hardware (and software) need more iterations (and more power efficient silicon).

The Edge hardware has some flaws – battery life, like with many (all) other Ivy Bridge tablets, is an Achilles heel, and the scarcity of ports is somewhere between annoying (no SD card slot) and ridiculous (no video out). And I seriously believe that devices like the Edge and Surface Pro absolutely should have Thunderbolt as a mandatory feature. But these are mere quibbles, things to improve in the next generation (Haswell starts to address many of the IVB’s idle power draw issues), not problems with the concept. Surprisingly, price isn’t one of the issues – the $999 base cost is actually a pretty good deal relative to the competition, considering the GPU horsepower on tap, and the upgrade costs are pretty reasonable, too. 

The accessories are kind of a double edged sword – on one hand, they’re awesome; on the other, they don’t come cheaply. The gamepad is obviously a must-buy, it’d be nice to have twice the battery life for any kind of mobile gaming, the HDMI dock is also necessary if you want any kind of video out, and pretty soon you’re talking about $420 in accessories before you even mention a keyboard or mouse of any kind. It’s not inexpensive, and it’s hard to think about buying more than one or two of the accessories without feeling your mental wallet run away and hide. The idea of paying $1499 for the 128GB Edge Pro and gamepad controller bundled together is fine and I suspect that to be the most popular combination, but when considering that the full kit sent to me rings in at a hair under $1900, it seems a little bit ridiculous. 

So in essence, the hardware is awesome, but it’ll cost you if you want to really unlock the full potential of the Edge. The impact it will have on mobile gaming going forward is going to be interesting – Razer has shifted the question from one of performance limitations to one of experience. The Edge has the computing power it needs to succeed as a gaming portable, and future generations will only get thinner, lighter, and more power efficient. The real difference maker here is the ability to take your PC games on the road and play them anywhere, not just where you can find a stable platform with space for a keyboard and mouse. I can go sit in a coffee shop and play any game I want exactly as I would on my M18x. It’s the same gaming experience you get on a regular PC, but completely untethered – from mice, keyboards, power cords, desks, convention, you name it. 

I’ve had portable gaming machines before – my interest in notebooks started with small 12-13” gaming notebooks and I still have an undying love for systems like the Clevo W110ER. But those are all small notebooks with big GPUs, offering nowhere close to the mobility or flexibility of the Edge. This, this is different. The Edge feels like a PC-iPad-PSP mashup from the future, and it's incredibly exciting. As much as it was hyped up with all the CES awards and social media marketing push, Razer has created a fascinating gaming machine that could change the way we view portable gaming going forward.