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rMBP vs. Razer Blade?

E

exizeo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 23, 2014
212
0
Just wondering, regarding that.

The Razer (new) Blade's form is very similar to that of a rMBP, and actually has dedicated GPU, i7, and a screen resolution far superior to that of a rMPB.

The best/closest specced rMBP available is with a 2.8/3.3 i7 + Intel Iris, 512 ssd, and 2560x1600, at $1999.

The lowest specced Blade is at $2199, with 2.2/3.2 i7, 3gb 870m vram, 8gb ram, 3200x1800, and 128 ssd. Does seem to be a little heavier.

Is the rMBP worth it? The last time around, I got a '11 MBP for it's aesthetics, as well as internals...and as much as I love MacOS, my next computer might not be a Mac.
 
Well the decision seems to be is it worth $2000 more for a smaller SSD, slightly slower CPU and a heavier machine.
On the plus side you get a larger screen.
I believe the MacBooks are better built, better resale and (debatable depending on what you read) better customer support.
I'd prefer the Apple, but if it is for gaming.......

Barney
 
exizeo said:
Just wondering, regarding that.

The Razer (new) Blade's form is very similar to that of a rMBP, and actually has dedicated GPU, i7, and a screen resolution far superior to that of a rMPB.

The best/closest specced rMBP available is with a 2.8/3.3 i7 + Intel Iris, 512 ssd, and 2560x1600, at $1999.

The lowest specced Blade is at $2199, with 2.2/3.2 i7, 3gb 870m vram, 8gb ram, 3200x1800, and 128 ssd. Does seem to be a little heavier.

Is the rMBP worth it? The last time around, I got a '11 MBP for it's aesthetics, as well as internals...and as much as I love MacOS, my next computer might not be a Mac.
Click to expand...

I can't stand Windows 8, and I've never touched Mac OS X for the whole of my life until recently when I bought my rMBP. Windows 8 is the reason I switched to Mac. Specs ain't worth it if the OS is such a pain in the ass.
 
Barney63 said:
Well the decision seems to be is it worth $2000 more for a smaller SSD, slightly slower CPU and a heavier machine.
On the plus side you get a larger screen.
I believe the MacBooks are better built, better resale and (debatable depending on what you read) better customer support.
I'd prefer the Apple, but if it is for gaming.......

Barney
Click to expand...
Processor will not be slower, because in Razer Blade is Quad Core CPU vs Dual Core in MBP.


I would wait for the new model. I assume that Apple, like always will lower the prices for them and make a spec bump to Broadwell CPUs and Maxwell GPUs.

2.5 GHz Intel i7 QC, 16 GB RAM, 768 GB SSD, GTX850M/860M 2 GB GDDR5 for 2399/2499? Its tempting... ;)
 
Barney63 said:
Well the decision seems to be is it worth $2000 more for a smaller SSD, slightly slower CPU and a heavier machine.
On the plus side you get a larger screen.
I believe the MacBooks are better built, better resale and (debatable depending on what you read) better customer support.
I'd prefer the Apple, but if it is for gaming.......

Barney
Click to expand...

I don't quite value SSD size. I bring external HDD's for larger files, and rarely keep stuff on the computer itself.

Quad-core has a pretty large advantage, imo. I can deal with W8.1 if absolutely needed, and the Blade's case seems to be nearly identical to that of the rMBP. Gaming is something I'd like to do...I can do it somewhat on my current MBP, but not remotely well.

And yes, Apple Stores I will miss. The Genius Bar is pretty helpful when random bits of my MBP break. (touchpad, keys coming off)

koyoot said:
Processor will not be slower, because in Razer Blade is Quad Core CPU vs Dual Core in MBP.


I would wait for the new model. I assume that Apple, like always will lower the prices for them and make a spec bump to Broadwell CPUs and Maxwell GPUs.

2.5 GHz Intel i7 QC, 16 GB RAM, 768 GB SSD, GTX850M/860M 2 GB GDDR5 for 2399/2499? Its tempting... ;)
Click to expand...

In a 13"? I doubt it...but we can dream. All that, with MacOS for daily tasks, bootcamp'd Windows for gaming would be awesome.
 
Last edited:
exizeo said:
Just wondering, regarding that.

The Razer (new) Blade's form is very similar to that of a rMBP, and actually has dedicated GPU, i7, and a screen resolution far superior to that of a rMPB.

The best/closest specced rMBP available is with a 2.8/3.3 i7 + Intel Iris, 512 ssd, and 2560x1600, at $1999.

The lowest specced Blade is at $2199, with 2.2/3.2 i7, 3gb 870m vram, 8gb ram, 3200x1800, and 128 ssd. Does seem to be a little heavier.

Is the rMBP worth it? The last time around, I got a '11 MBP for it's aesthetics, as well as internals...and as much as I love MacOS, my next computer might not be a Mac.
Click to expand...

Of the specs listed the QHD+ display is the standout feature for me. The issue is the current lack of App/OS support. Apples HiDPI modes are an acceptable solution to this (until/if we get resolution independent GUIs), but you're not going to get that on the Windows side yet (and thats coming from someone who often runs at native and has a Vaio P also).

Aesthetically it looks "remarkably" like a MBP, you'd be tempted to scrawl "clean me" as you would on a silver car covered in dirt to the extent it looked black :D.

The other feature I'd really miss is the trackpad, having used many Windows machines, I'm yet to come across one that comes close to the Mac (now they offer decent res screens, I've been able to swap to a Mac as my primary machine). Its clear Apple have put a lot of work into their trackpad code and design.

I can definitely see the allure of the RB. Although I also see some conflicts inherent in its spec/design. Its relatively light and portable, but the HW suggests battery life wont be stellar. On an Iris equipped MBP I can pull almost an entire working day, could I do that on the RB (I understand at full load neither will manage that)? If not, does a DTR (since you'll be mostly tethered) really need to be as thin and light given the inherent compromises to achieve this?

If you do get it I'd love to hear how you get on though :) Unfortunately my gaming days are restricted to console now and even those are few and far between, so I can't justify getting one for a play :(
 
Gaming machines are designed to play games. That's really it. You sacrifice in other ways (battery life, weight, etc.) to be able to play games. So, really, the question of getting a game machine or not comes down to one thing: will you play a lot of games? If the answer is yes, get the RB. If not, get the rMBP.

Of course, I wouldn't get a game machine @ 128gb. Some new games today are coming in at 30-50 gigs by themselves.
 
trust me the 870M is lower specs than 780M and even the 780M cannot perform in a good way at a resolution beyond 1440p. So for games you will not use that higher resolution. So i think 15"MBP with 750M is a better choice you will have both OS

a gamer machine should be able to play games at 60 FPS native resolution.
 
Just read some early "hands on" reports (I wouldn't call them reviews):

"A Razer engineer explained that the company identified a "no touch zone" along the top edge of the laptop's base (right above the F1 - F12 keys, where users' fingers typically don't wonder) that helps disperse heat generated by the supped-up specs." from TechRadar

Also "whirring fans" and we can all guess where the battery life will be. Sorry but I'm not interested. This is a dedicated gaming machine, and certainly a very good one. But I don't see the point of the comparison with the MBP. It is like comparing a Mercedes and a Ferrari...
 
Like i said...A gaming machine that cannot be played at native resolution in games?
 
thundersteele said:
Just read some early "hands on" reports (I wouldn't call them reviews):

"A Razer engineer explained that the company identified a "no touch zone" along the top edge of the laptop's base (right above the F1 - F12 keys, where users' fingers typically don't wonder) that helps disperse heat generated by the supped-up specs." from TechRadar

Also "whirring fans" and we can all guess where the battery life will be. Sorry but I'm not interested. This is a dedicated gaming machine, and certainly a very good one. But I don't see the point of the comparison with the MBP. It is like comparing a Mercedes and a Ferrari...
Click to expand...

Just because it has the horsepower to play games doesn't mean it isn't a well rounded non-gaming machine too. It has a very powerful everything, but beyond the better specs, is very similar to a rMBP.

I played around with the previous 14" Blade, and it was slightly heavier, the mouse button on the trackpad was awkward (from someone used to a mac) and the screen was worse (now fixed). All in all though, if you want a nice looking Windows machine, it was really freaking sweet.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Just because it has the horsepower to play games doesn't mean it isn't a well rounded non-gaming machine too. It has a very powerful everything, but beyond the better specs, is very similar to a rMBP.

I played around with the previous 14" Blade, and it was slightly heavier, the mouse button on the trackpad was awkward (from someone used to a mac) and the screen was worse (now fixed). All in all though, if you want a nice looking Windows machine, it was really freaking sweet.
Click to expand...

How did it perform in terms of battery life, noise, heat when not gaming (in comparison to our MBP/MBA)?
 
The RB looks really cool, but it's still relatively new to the market. I was looking into the RB14, but ultimately went with the rMBP when I realized that I don't game as much on PC any more (and I wanted OS X for my music).
 
It looks like a fine piece of hardware but I think such internals in this small form factor will hurt battery performance pretty hard. Still those specs are blindfolding though.
 
Serelus said:
Yeah I was talking about the rMBP but it's come to my attention that the OP is talking about 13 inch which really is no comparison..
Click to expand...

13" to 14"...I can deal with that. Going to 15 is a bit too much, though, so no 15 rMBP.
 
I was looking at a RB14 last year, but the lousy screen paired with Razer's reliability issues with their other hardware kept me away. I ended up getting an Alienware 14, which had basically the same specs but is also huge and heavy. But... here's the thing... I wanted to use it to play games! Hence I make that tradeoff.

Unless you want a gaming machine, don't buy a gaming laptop.
 
5to1 said:
How did it perform in terms of battery life, noise, heat when not gaming (in comparison to our MBP/MBA)?
Click to expand...

I just played around with it after a friend was using it, so I really can't comment. I can tell you it was pretty warm after gaming, but that's about it. Definitely cooler than my MBA when I tried to game on it ;)
 
Cyrax said:
I was looking at a RB14 last year, but the lousy screen paired with Razer's reliability issues with their other hardware kept me away. I ended up getting an Alienware 14, which had basically the same specs but is also huge and heavy. But... here's the thing... I wanted to use it to play games! Hence I make that tradeoff.

Unless you want a gaming machine, don't buy a gaming laptop.
Click to expand...

What's exactly wrong with the reliability?

I won't be hardcore gaming anytime soon, but I would enjoy the ability to do so. My current MBP is a failure at this...and I'd rather get an all-in-one, 13-14" laptop replacement than get another MBP and a Xb1.

I'm only wanting another laptop replacement now, due to my current MBP becoming an obsolete piece of crap. Not sure what exactly is wrong with it, but my keys are coming off, and it seems to be responding really slowly, even under very little load. Should I take it in to the apple store...and inevitably pay a crapload?
 
exizeo said:
What's exactly wrong with the reliability?

I won't be hardcore gaming anytime soon, but I would enjoy the ability to do so. My current MBP is a failure at this...and I'd rather get an all-in-one, 13-14" laptop replacement than get another MBP and a Xb1.

I'm only wanting another laptop replacement now, due to my current MBP becoming an obsolete piece of crap. Not sure what exactly is wrong with it, but my keys are coming off, and it seems to be responding really slowly, even under very little load. Should I take it in to the apple store...and inevitably pay a crapload?
Click to expand...

There is nothing wrong with your computer. Put in 8gb of RAM and an SSD and your computer will feel good as new.

As for the razor blade, the new display is simply to shut up the critics over it's previous display. However, the simply fact is, a retina display on a gaming machine isn't smart.

They really should have just given it a nice 1080p IPS display. Even with its high end dGPU this thing is going to struggle doing its main function: gaming.
 
I think people need to understand what a Retina MBP is and is not. And one thing it is not is a gaming rig. It never has been.

The rMBP is much more about stuff like Final Cut, Final Draft, Creative Suite, Photoshop, basically graphical art, music and video stuff. Some people also put Office for Mac on it to have balanced Productivity capabilities. But the hardware is aimed more at the audio/visual content editing and creating spectrum. Gaming is very secondary in the equation.
 
i think razer blade for a real gaming machine should have 870M SLI for gaming at 1800p. if you are using that resolution only in windows but sorry that you can do with MBP as well.
 
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