The 2014 Razer Blade Review
by Brett Howse on October 10, 2014 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Notebooks
- Gaming
- Laptops
- Razer Blade
Speakers
The Razer Blade comes with two front facing stereo speakers. Unlike a lot of laptops that are this thin, the speakers are not down firing so you do get a better sense of stereo space. As with most laptop speakers, they do not have very good low end output, with a pretty sharp drop off below 200 Hz. At maximum volume playing some music, the Blade was able to achieve right around 80 dB.
Needless to say, I would not replace my home theater with this laptop. The front facing stereo speakers are great if you are watching a quick video, but if you want better quality sound it's best to pair the laptop with some headphones, which will also help when gaming to keep the fan noise subdued.
Software
Razer has done a great job by not including any of the software you often see from other OEMs. For many of us, the first few hours with any new device is spent removing all of the unwanted trial-ware that gets shipped. On a system with this price tag, it is good to not see any of that. They do however have some of their own custom software that you can use to customize the keyboard functions, create macros, enable Gaming Mode, and adjust the lighting. It's simple, it looks good, and it works well.
My only complaint with the software is that it requires you to create an account with Razer in order to use it. If this was optional, it would be fine, but it is not, which is disappointing.
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heybrandons - Monday, October 13, 2014 - link
I agree, I've been using it as my primary computer for everything from work to play and it's been great. The only thing I can complain about is that they put the air intakes at the bottom; would have much preferred them on the sides so that they don't get block when sitting on my lap.Connoisseur - Monday, October 13, 2014 - link
I don't think that's going to change in future iterations, even with more efficient CPU/GPU combos. With the amoutn of power this draws, I don't see how a side intake could suck in enough air to cool all the components. I also don't mind the look. Very clean looking on all the visible surfaces.kallogan - Friday, October 10, 2014 - link
no maxwell in slim chassis = failConnoisseur - Friday, October 10, 2014 - link
The 2014 Blade was released back in May. How do you propose they integrate Maxwell when the parts didn't exist yet? Razer is on a 1 year release cycle so I'd expect a Maxwell/Broadwell machine to come out April/May 2015.Jon Tseng - Friday, October 10, 2014 - link
Nice review but wasn't this machine released like, over six months ago??I know you take your time to get the most through reviews out there, but not much point reviewing it now. Especially as 970M notebooks are changing the whole purchasing decision all over again.
By that rationale you should also be getting your Galaxy S5 review up soon, right? :-p
Yorgos - Friday, October 10, 2014 - link
I bought a Y410p Lenovo 6 months ago:i7-4700 qm
14" 900p
replaced the 1TB hdd with a 150 CHF 840 PRO 256 GB
w/ 3 years warranty
somewhere 70 Wh battery
Total price: 898.0 $ + 150 chf = 1050 $ (1 $ is nearly 1 chf)
Connoisseur - Friday, October 10, 2014 - link
Why even list this machine? It's got a vastly inferior graphics card, screen and CPU. I'd understand if you're comparing value vs. build quality (although I think that's still a dumb comparison), but these two machines don't even share the same internals.Kutark - Sunday, October 12, 2014 - link
I just paid $1340 for an Acer VN7 Aspire Black Edition. Its just a hair less than 1/3" thicker, weighs about 2/5 of a lb more, has an IPS screen, 16gb Ram, 860m Maxwell, so it runs nice and cool and quiet. 256gb SSD, and is almost as good build quality. Now, before you go off, yes, Acer's traditionally had crap build quality, but go read the reviews, this thing is really well made. I can open the screen from the corner and it flexes maybe 1/3". Its very solid. The keyboard is amazing. Oh, and its literally half the price.tipoo - Friday, October 10, 2014 - link
There wasn't yet a full review of that Haswell 15" rMBP you had for comparison, was there?Ryan Smith - Friday, October 10, 2014 - link
No, there wasn't. That review was unfortunately canceled when Anand retired.