True "Pro" laptop alternatives? Any views on the Razer Blade Pro?

[zen]

Inspired from another thread, where someone linked to the Razer Blade laptops (which look freakin' amazing), I just discovered that there is a Razer Blade Pro laptop coming this year.

17" 4k screen, GTX 1080 GPU all the ports you want (including an SD slot, which the standard Blades lack), and what looks like a really interesting side placement of the trackpad to emulate the position of a desktop mouse.

Plus, it has a mechanical keyboard (for mechanical keyboard geeks like me, this is a big deal).

No pricing yet, but I'm gonna have to say - this is surely the MBP killer? If the SD slot is not important for you, the regular Razer Blades seem pretty good options too.

Any thoughts?

 

[David58117]

The MacBook Pro has already been "killed" years ago, while Apple was in their slump.

Microsoft and windows have caught up, I think now just people need to go out and experience the newer hardware and fully updated windows 10.

 

[PKBeam]

how is this an MBP killer? they're barely in the same target market.

 

[\-V-/]

how is this an MBP killer? they're barely in the same target market.

They are in the same market. They're high end laptops.

To the OP, what do you need to use the laptop for?

 

[zen]

They are in the same market. They're high end laptops.

To the OP, what do you need to use the laptop for?

Personally, I don't need a "pro" laptop, I just want one with a decent keyboard. The Razer Blade Pro caught my eye as it has a mechanical keyboard, but I have heard good things about the Surface Book, Dell XPS and ThinkPad keyboards. My 13" rMBP is working fine for the moment, but I will need to replace it sometime, and not with another rMBP, sadly.

However I thought people might like to see these - a 17" screen seems to be on some Mac user's wish lists, and this one also has an SD slot.
[doublepost=1477646414][/doublepost]

The MacBook Pro has already been "killed" years ago, while Apple was in their slump.

Microsoft and windows have caught up, I think now just people need to go out and experience the newer hardware and fully updated windows 10.

My wife has a custom PC gaming rig running Windows 10, and I've been pleasantly surprised by that OS. I still think Mac OS is far superior, but for a Windows iteration, 10 isn't bad. Any shortfalls are more than made up for by the hardware options available.

 

[sleconte]

Inspired from another thread, where someone linked to the Razer Blade laptops (which look freakin' amazing), I just discovered that there is a Razer Blade Pro laptop coming this year.

17" 4k screen, GTX 1080 GPU all the ports you want (including an SD slot, which the standard Blades lack), and what looks like a really interesting side placement of the trackpad to emulate the position of a desktop mouse.

Any thoughts?

Sounds like an awesome machine, but IMO a laptop that size, with a GPU that significant, is in a different category. Certainly work capable, but it's going to be a lot heavier and noisier than you might want out of a MacBook Pro style computer.

I would say Asus Zenbook 3 or Dell XPS 13, but Zenbooks are noisier than expected and XPS 13 apparently has a whining on occaision. I really expect a work computer to be very quiet. But these seem like great alternatives in most ways.

 

[dealmaker]

How are the Trackpad's on the Razer's - anyone tried one.

Now my MBP hopes are dashed I am moving to Windoze - so trying to decide between Dell XPS, Razer and Microsoft...

 

[Sheza]

No pricing yet?

It was announced last week - $3699 with 512GB SSD.

The only upgrades are in the storage department, so what you see (32GB RAM, GTX 1080 etc) is what you get.

 

[maflynn]

Inspired from another thread, where someone linked to the Razer Blade laptops (which look freakin' amazing), I just discovered that there is a Razer Blade Pro laptop coming this year.

They're not any cheaper then MBPs, and I think that's one of the sticking points, True you get more raw performance, but many people are upset at the high price, why would I opt for a 2,000 14" razer when I can spend 2,000 on a 13" MBP?

 

[CarbonCycles]

Why not a system 76 ubuntu system?

 

[cardfan]

When you get down to it, it's a thread like this that'll have you right back at apple.com placing an order. I'd say outside of the Surface Book, there's not much appealing. If you want a 17" gaming laptop, then that's in a different league IMO.

I would probably look at OLED laptops as well. https://www.cnet.com/products/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-yoga-oled/ There's also alienware 13 oled that you can get a graphics amplifier for.

I'm in the apple camp still but I would have to simply say no to the new MBP for now (just buy the previous one instead but get a good deal) as it means too many adapters and waiting around for dev support for that touchbar. Give it another year and see where things are at.

 

[ugru]

why would I opt for a 2,000 14" razer when I can spend 2,000 on a 13" MBP?

because

you get more raw performance

 

[leman]

Google around for new Blade experience reports, its certainly a nice machine, but the battery life is pretty much non-existent. MacBook Pro is first and foremost targeted at people who need flexibility in all situations: especially on the go. Personally, I don't have any use for a laptop that will run out of battery after few hours.

 

[SRTM]

The razer blade pro is certainly tempting. I'd consider canceling my MBP order for it. Obviously the battery will last longer if you dont game.

 

[Barnfather]

It may be good spec - super ugly though.

I use a Dell notebook for work (8Gb, 256SSD etc - basically same spec as the MBP) and whilst it's an okay machine it has broken twice in the first six months of use, and feels significantly less 'quality' then an Apple notebook.

Also use W10 with work, and again - it's fine...best OS MS have had for a good few years...but it's still Windows, still has major security issues, still blue-screens frequently and appears to have a mind of it's own when it comes to security updates (although this could be partly due to corporate security standards). It still feels light years away from the useability and stability of MacOS (OSX).

Each to his own though

 

[David58117]

It may be good spec - super ugly though.

I use a Dell notebook for work (8Gb, 256SSD etc - basically same spec as the MBP) and whilst it's an okay machine it has broken twice in the first six months of use, and feels significantly less 'quality' then an Apple notebook.

Also use W10 with work, and again - it's fine...best OS MS have had for a good few years...but it's still Windows, still has major security issues, still blue-screens frequently and appears to have a mind of it's own when it comes to security updates (although this could be partly due to corporate security standards). It still feels light years away from the useability and stability of MacOS (OSX).

Each to his own though

Dell has a range of products though - those of us mentioning them are talking about a specific computer in their line.

 

[zen]

They're not any cheaper then MBPs, and I think that's one of the sticking points, True you get more raw performance, but many people are upset at the high price, why would I opt for a 2,000 14" razer when I can spend 2,000 on a 13" MBP?

More raw performance and a lot of ports.

Hmm. I really need to look at Dell and Microsoft laptops in person, I think. It's a shame we don't have Microsoft retail stores in the UK.

 

[CreativeC]

Just to give you an idea... this is what 4K € can buy you in Ireland from Lenovo (the thinkpad P50):

Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 Processor (8MB Cache, up to 3.70GHz)
Display: 15.6 4K(3840x2160) IPS Non-Touch
Memory: 64GB(16x4) DDR4 2133MHz SoDIMM
Graphic Card : NVIDIA Quadro M2000M 4GB
Storage: 2x1TB SSD PCIe-NVMe
6 Cell Li-Polymer Battery 90Wh
Wireless: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC(2x2) 8260, Bluetooth Version 4.1 vPro

Let that sink in.