Razer Blade 14" Alternative

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CHANG3D

Supreme [H]ardness
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I love almost everything about the new smaller ultrabook sized Razer Blade 14" gaming laptop. Preorder is now available, and I would have already clicked that "buy" button had the screen been 1080p.

Is there any similarly sized powerhouse that has a 1080p screen (or bigger) that you could recommend me?

I remember seeing a Dell ultrabook packed with weaker hardware (cpu and gpu), but waiting on the Alienware I guess.

I think the Acer S7 might be good, but I don't if the GTX735M, like in the Dell, is comparable.

MSI GE40 and Acer V7 seems too big.

I think I got a winner:
Gigabyte P34G
http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/lapt...view-a-portable-gaming-laptops-for-the-masses
Nvm... Battery sucks...

Found a list:
Alienware M14x R3 (looks too big for ultralight gaming laptop)
MSI GE40
Gigabyte P34G
Lenovo Y400
Clevo W230st
 
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So this seems to be the only complaint i've been hearing for it. I understand it, I was a bit bummed too as I love everything else about this puppy, but going wtih a 1600x900 is a smarter choice for a 14" gaming laptop. You will get a better framerate and still stay at native res, which is better than getting a 1080p and lowering res to get better frames. I always place smoothness ahead of image quality and details when gaming. The prettiest picture is the world will look like crap when it gets all choppy. It would be nice to see them get a 120hz panel in there maybe next gen. Do 120hz on the 14" maybe a fast-response IPS on the 17" pro.
 
Ultrabook and Gaming don't really go together...

Moderate gaming can still be achieved however, but you are gonna be sacrificing something to gain another. Battery life, performance, portability - safe to say you could likely only choose 2 of the 3 for most laptops.
 
See if you can check out the alienware 14 in person at a store. The price is "reasonable" if you dont go overboard with the options and gaming at 1080p should be doable.
 
I went with the Lenovo Y500, it is big, but it is a power house. I think the y510 is the replacement with haswell and a matte screen.

The biggest things I love about it are the screen 1900x1080, 16gb ddr3, dual 2gb nvidia 750m, 1tb hard drive, and a msata slot with an 16gb upgradeable ssd.

But again, it is larger than I expected.
 
Gigabyte P34G is what you're looking for I think. It's a tad bigger than an ultrabook but not by much.

I think it has a 760m instead of the 765m though. ;)


EDIT: My bad, see you added it.
 
Awww, didn't realize it was an old thread.


And here I felt all smart... :(
 
bvbz said:
Gigabyte P34G is what you're looking for I think. It's a tad bigger than an ultrabook but not by much.

I think it has a 760m instead of the 765m though. ;)
Click to expand...
I added that back on the 4th, dude.

Right now, I'm thinking about just getting a haswell iris pro ultrabook.
 
So now that the reviews for the Razer Blade 14 are out, not only is it not 1080p, but the display panel sucks in every way possible...

Anandtech puts it best:
"Razer's designers made the Mona Lisa of gaming notebooks, and then drew a mustache, goatee, and monocle on her."
 
lmao, I hate it when companies make something with decent specs then mar it with a crappy display, Like the Galaxy Tab 3 10 inch version
 
I am in the exact same boat as you. I want the razor 14, I just want it to have a 1080p screen and an SD slot would be nice.

The Alienware would be good if it didn't have the form factor of a 10 year old dell.

The MSI GE40, i think, is the best option right now. It's thin, it's powerful, the screen ain't great, but is better than the razor. not as clunky as the alienware, but certainly no where near as sexy as the Razor.

The Gigabyte would be perfect if it just had 50% more battery. I need a couple movies worth on one charge. Maybe they'll have an extended battery option.

The perfect notebook is on the horizon. I'm thinking maybe an available screen upgrade for the razor... here's to hoping.

*edit - I would actually be fine with 1600x900(1680x1050 would be better) if it was just a high quality PLS or VA display. IPS, if done right, might even be good. But ancient washy TN, I swore to myself I would never have another. It's especially hard to look at TN film display if you have an AMOLED screen in your life. There's an idea, where is my OLED laptop? They promised it would be here next year, every year, for the last 7 years.
 
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Lenovo y400 has been upgraded to haswell y410p - still shitty trackpad, short battery life, a bit clunky, unneeded optical drive/bulk.
 
How about the clevo w-230s i believe it is called. It has a 13.3 inch screen 1080p with the 765m also.
 
This is probably the closest:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/25/dell-officially-unveils-precision-m3800-workstation-at-siggraph/

It's using workstation graphics instead, but given how NVidia Titan was originally made for workstations and computing and not for gaming, I do have high hopes.

And I'm also well aware that this laptop may be very well over my budget...

I was hoping to spend just about $1600 +/- $200 for a new ultrabook that should last me 3-5 years... So it's kind of a $360 a year investment.
 
junglizste said:
Neither of those are Haswell or 14"
Click to expand...

Yes, but they are ultrabooks with discreet graphics, and the performance will be the same. And if you are buying a computer for gaming, battery isn't going to be great no matter what.
 
But the battery life on the razor is great... The just included a shit display. It's almost perfect.

It's frustrating...
 
I ended up dickering and saved another $400 too. Hooking it to a 27 inch BenQ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D7IG556/ref=oh_details_o01_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

with Corsair Keyboard http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CERXJNW/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

210-AAOY
1 Alienware 14 : Standard Base $2,011.84 $2,011.84
370-AANG
1 Memory : 16GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz
580-ABDP
1 English Keyboard
490-BBFM
1 Graphics : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M with 2GB GDDR5
658-BBMF
1 WLAN Killer 1202 Driver
400-AARP
1 256GB mSATA Boot + 750GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
619-ACMQ
1 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, English
429-AACX
1 Optical Drive : Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BD-ROM, DVD/RW, CD-RW)
555-BBET
1 Killer NIC 1202 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0
470-AAKE
1 US 110V Power Cord
340-ABEU
1 Documentation, English
421-1723
1 Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware
939-7672
1 Premium Phone Support, 2 Year Extended
950-3339
1 3 Year Limited Warranty
954-1680
1 Premium Phone Support, Initial Year
995-5423
1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
995-5433
1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Extended Year(s)
995-5443
1 In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year
995-5483
1 In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, 2 Year Extended
338-BCDP 1 4th Generation Intel(R)Core(TM)i7-4700MQ processor (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Intel(R)Turbo Boost)
391-BBDL 1 Display : 14.0 inch (355.6 mm) WLED FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare Display
451-BBBZ 1 Battery : Primary 6-cell 69W/HR
450-AAGT 1 Power Supply : Alienware 150W AC Adapter
320-BBCS 1 Anodized Aluminum
640-BBLF 1 Software Alienware Command Center 3.0
658-BBMG 1 Resource DVD
328-BBDH 1 Shipping Material
430-XYGR 1 Power DVD 9.6 BD, 3D,V2
389-BCCZ 1 Windows 7 Label, OptiPlex, Fixed Precision, Vostro Desktop
340-ACXY 1 Placemat (English)
332-1530 1 Dell.com Order
332-1530 1 Dell.com Order
658-BBNX 1 Additional Software
340-ACQQ 1 Not Included
630-AAAU 1 Software: Microsoft Office 2013 Trial
817-BBBP 1 None Required
730-6532 1 Thank You for Choosing Dell
* -DISCOUNT/COUPON APPL
A5750525 1 Your Dell Advantage benefits have been applied. Don�t forget to select free 2nd business day shipping at checkout. $1.00 $1.00

Subtotal: $2,012.84
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
Tax: $182.02
Environmental Disposal Fee: $0.00
Total Price w/Discounts: $2,194.86
 
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If you are comfortable with the Linux OS, this is an EXTREMELY good choice:

CPU: Intel i7-4750HQ
GPU: Intel HD 5200 (Iris Pro) GT3e Graphics
RAM: 2x8GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz
SSD: 256GB Samsung 840 Pro
Display: 14.1" 1080p IPS Display

Get this... at only $1373.00!!!! All in a thin & light form factor.

link: https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/galu1
 
That system 76 looks nice... but iris pro is only equivalent to about a Nvidia 640LE, certainly no where near 765m territory. And, if you're going to have optimus, why not have a beefy secondary GPU. I never understood why they were doing 610 & 620 optimus, what's the point?

I want at least a 650. You need at least that much to not play on minimum settings.
 
junglizste said:
That system 76 looks nice... but iris pro is only equivalent to about a Nvidia 640LE, certainly no where near 765m territory. And, if you're going to have optimus, why not have a beefy secondary GPU. I never understood why they were doing 610 & 620 optimus, what's the point?

I want at least a 650. You need at least that much to not play on minimum settings.
Click to expand...

Aye but that's what CHANG3D was looking for. For 47W TDP (CPU+GPU) the battery life should be good. Still to this date, not many Haswell mobile releases... No "mainstream" Iris Pro laptops are out yet...

EDIT:

I forgot to add how much of a bummer not being able to get an Iris Pro laptop; I was waiting for one to be released but had to settle on other releases... I went with the new MBA, with 8GB Ram, Intel i7-4650U (Intel HD 5000), and 256GB PCIe SSD. Totally happy with it.
 
:S Not sure about the heat generated from the laptop though... Never owned a gaming laptop before.
 
The thing about a gaming laptop is that it's mostly for portability to events or your friends' houses but you'll more than likely have it connected to AC power and not have to go full 100% battery beyond moving it around, right? So battery life may not be as much of a concern.
 
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