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posted by cmn32480 on Monday October 24 2016, @12:14AM   Printer-friendly
from the me-wants dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

If you want hardcore gaming performance, but need it in a system that's portable, if not completely lightweight, then Razer's new Blade Pro could be just the ticket. Razer is calling it the "desktop in your laptop," and they the company has a point.

On the inside, the system packs a quad core Skylake processor, an 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU, 32GB RAM, up to 2TB of NVMe SSD storage in RAID 0, Thunderbolt 3, and a 4K G-Sync capable screen. That's a machine that isn't giving much up in performance to most desktop PCs, so already justifies Razer's strapline... but it's the next thing they did that really makes this a laptop desktop.

The Blade Pro doesn't have the usual membrane keys found in laptops. It has a full mechanical keyboard, with switches—not rubber domes—beneath each key. OK, it's still a laptop, so it's a low profile mechanical keyboard with reduced key travel and chiclet style buttons. But it's a mechanical keyboard nonetheless (Razer also has a similar mechanical mechanism for its iPad Pro keyboard). And of course, being a Razer laptop, it's not just a mechanical keyboard. It's a mechanical keyboard that can be lit up with any color of the rainbow. Alongside it sits a giant touchpad.

[...] There is of course the small matter of the price; it's a little eye-watering. With 512GB of storage, it starts at $3,699/€4,199/£3,499.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by ShadowSystems on Monday October 24 2016, @02:58AM

    by ShadowSystems (6185) <ShadowSystemsNO@SPAMGmail.com> on Monday October 24 2016, @02:58AM (#418021)

    First we have a manufacturer (not just these guys but nearly all of them) that tears out all the standard ports in an effort to make their devices as "thin & light" as possible, & then proceeds to charge a premium for the thing.
    Then because they've stripped out all the ports that were once standard & replaced them all with a USB type C port instead & expect you to use dongles to replace said ports, they now get to charge you AGAIN for the dongle.
    So you've just paid a premium for a device that the maker stripped to the bone & then again to add back the parts they stripped out.
    WTF is the point?

    Now you have to get a "desktop replacement" or "mobil workstation" (and pay the premium for them) to get the ports that are still standard.
    See that wired Gigabit LAN port? *Pointing* That's got to be there because not everybody has access to WiFi, nor is WiFi ubiquitous everywhere.
    See that video port? *Points* That's got to be there because not everyone has access to a WiFi enabled streaming monitor or projection system.
    See that headphone jack? *Pointing* That's got to be there so we can listen to our stuff without having to recharge yet another device in order to do so, then hope like hell it pairs properly, & then that nobody else is ALSO connecting unobtrusively to listen in as well.
    See that USB type A connector? *Pointing* That needs to be there for all the trillions of devices that still use that version, since type C isn't as prevelent as you might like to think.

    "Just buy the dongle/doc & stop whining!"? Really? So now I've got to spend even more money and carry around yet another device just so I can do what's still a standard function?

    So if all those ports still need to be there to let us get shit done, then why the HELL do you strip them out?
    Simple. Greed. You want to sell us the dongles to put back the bits that you've ripped out. You want to sell us a dock to plug the device into to add back all those ports. You want to charge us a premium for having removed them and then again for giving them back.
    Fuck you.
    I refuse to play that game & "thin & light" can kiss my fucking ass.

    I've just purchased my new computer & it's due to arrive on Monday. It's got all the ports, it's got a 4GHz CPU, it's got 32Gigs of DDR4 memory, it's got a 256Gb NVMe SSD, and it has a DVD DL writer. Guess what? It cost less than your "thin & light".
    *Rude gesture with both hands, a foot, an elbow, my Navigation Cane, & I'd include the Guide Dog if it weren't busy on the other machine trying to play Minecraft*
    =-}p
    /s

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @03:06AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @03:06AM (#418023)

    ... it's got a 4GHz CPU ...

    Just like a decade ago. :)

    • (Score: 1) by ShadowSystems on Monday October 24 2016, @03:40AM

      by ShadowSystems (6185) <ShadowSystemsNO@SPAMGmail.com> on Monday October 24 2016, @03:40AM (#418029)

      Except that most computers now don't have much above 2~3GHz in them. You have to customize the machine to add the 4GHz part, which adds more money to the build (obviously).
      So for my eight core 4GHz I7, that's a damn sight better than the mobil version that most makers tend to foist upon folks.
      I'd love to have something in the TeraHertz range by now if Moore's Law held true, but then I'd probably wet myself in squealy glee at that much computational horsepower.
      *Sheepish grin*

      Razor's "desktop in a laptop" is a nice enough concept, but it falls far short on too many points to make it much of anything to crow about.
      I've just bought a better system for less money (including shipping!) & it'll be in my greedy little paws by end of day tomorrow.
      Razor can bite me. =-)p

  • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday October 24 2016, @03:54AM

    by mhajicek (51) on Monday October 24 2016, @03:54AM (#418031)

    Just be glad you're not in the machining industry, where you still need RS-232.

    --
    The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
    • (Score: 2, Funny) by ShadowSystems on Monday October 24 2016, @04:05AM

      by ShadowSystems (6185) <ShadowSystemsNO@SPAMGmail.com> on Monday October 24 2016, @04:05AM (#418034)

      BAH!
      You WhipperSnappers & your newfangled ports!
      Back in my day we had to arrange amino acids into zeros & ones, prod them with a pseudopod to get them to move where we wanted them, & hope they stayed in order while they went.
      We didn't have any fancy ports and that's the way we LIKED it!
      *Shakes a palsied tentacle*
      Now get off'n my LawnGnome!
      =-D

      • (Score: 4, Funny) by mhajicek on Monday October 24 2016, @04:14AM

        by mhajicek (51) on Monday October 24 2016, @04:14AM (#418036)

        Any port in a storm, eh?

        --
        The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
    • (Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Wednesday October 26 2016, @02:32AM

      by linkdude64 (5482) on Wednesday October 26 2016, @02:32AM (#418820)

      Ditto for electrical, at least if your facility is using old PLCs.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @04:05AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @04:05AM (#418033)

    To me, the only truly essential legacy port that you listed is the headphone jack. That one I cannot live without, and I would never buy a machine that lacked one. Most of the rest of the stuff you mentioned is stuff you won't always need to do. How often do you really need to do presentations on your laptop with someone who has no WiFi streaming projection system? How often do you have to connect your laptop directly to a wired network? How often do you need to plug in a legacy USB-A device? The adapters required for the latter two will in total cost less than $10 and weigh less than 100 grams. The adapter needed for the first one is the only really expensive one, but even that costs less than $50. If you're spending $1000+ on a new laptop, how is an expenditure of $10 or even $60 such a big deal? And in exchange, it's the difference between lugging around a laptop that weighs 1 kg versus one that weighs 2-4 kg. When you're really mobile and have to carry stuff like that on your back around a city it makes a big difference.

    I'm a lot more concerned about how it's almost impossible to get a new laptop without Microsoft's new misbegotten operating system preinstalled. I will not pay Microsoft for their latest iteration of malware.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by ShadowSystems on Monday October 24 2016, @04:52AM

      by ShadowSystems (6185) <ShadowSystemsNO@SPAMGmail.com> on Monday October 24 2016, @04:52AM (#418042)

      I use a wired LAN connection each & every day. There is no wireless available in the building due to it being old, a natural Faraday Cage, & security demands that nobody be able to Man-In-The-Middle a wireless transmission that will almost certainly include data that we *Can Not* allow to get out. Not everyone works in an office with ubiquitous WiFi, lunches with their laptop at the local coffee shop & surfs via WiFi, or travels on a train/subway that allows one to do much of anything if the device can't be held in one hand with the other hanging on for dear life to the overhead strap.
      You must not do much in the way of interaction with projectors nor external monitors not directly under your control. There are too many "old school" projector systems that still require an SVGA plug, or monitors that need one, or (shudders) ones that have some benighted Apple connector that refuses to accept anything but an Apple product on the other end. Colleges, Universities, small business', "Mom & Pop Shop", & private sources are all notorious for having an absurd amount of ways of connecting to their equipment, very little of which will involve a WiFi connection.
      That USB connector is still used on printers, media devices, port replicators, docs, projectors, scanners, CD/DVD changers, external CD/DVD units, and nearly every single "computerized" device available from shops like Amazon, BestBuy, NewEgg, ThinkGeek, et al. You can't dismiss it so readily without also refusing to buy (or have bought) anything as an accessory... you know, like a keyboard or mouse.
      As for not wanting the weight of a fat laptop to burdon your bag, then why do you like adding every dongle under the sun to your kit to cover the attachment of the devices that require the ports they ripped out of the laptop in the first place? You may save some weight by buying a "thin & light", but then you lose those savings by having to lug around a kilo or two of dongles, docks, & adapters. Wouldn't it be smarter to just buy a albeit heavier laptop that included them in the first place?
      TL;DR: not everybody has a WiFi connection, we still need the ports, & we're sick & tired of the "thin & light" marketing bullocks.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by mhajicek on Monday October 24 2016, @05:51AM

        by mhajicek (51) on Monday October 24 2016, @05:51AM (#418051)

        I regularly connect to my laptop: my tv, my 3d printer, my corded trackball (don't have to worry about batteries), thumb drives, external speakers and headphones. Whenever available cords work better than wireless.

        --
        The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
      • (Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @06:08AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @06:08AM (#418053)
        I don't lug around a kilo of dongles, docks, and adapters. If you are, you're doing it wrong. A USB C to A adapter and a USB Ethernet adapter is a total of 100 grams tops, as I said, probably far less. It's a negligible weight addition, and they're more or less the size of a thumb drive. My laptop's power supply brick is much, much bigger and heavier than those two. And as technology progresses Type A USB is going to start disappearing the way all old legacy ports eventually do. How often do you really have to hook up your gear to one of those old school projectors that still have a DE-15 VGA port? If you are so insistent on being able to connect to old equipment, then does your gear also have DB-9 RS-232, IEEE-1284 parallel, or one of those 5-pin DIN keyboard ports? You have to stop insisting on full backwards compatibility at some point for technology to progress. And in the middle of a transition adapters are a minor inconvenience.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @07:14AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @07:14AM (#418061)

        I use 1Gbps wired everyday too. WiFi is flaky and slow. In theory 1Gbps WiFi is possible in practice not if there are other people trying to use it too. Copying gigabytes of stuff over WiFi takes longer than I wish to wait.

        USB A is also a required.

        Anyway the Blade Pro seems to have the ports I want and the ports you want: http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade-pro#specs [razerzone.com]
        Except for perhaps the video bit - it's only got an HDMI port, no VGA port. But that's acceptable to me.

        So your original rant mostly doesn't apply to the Blade Pro, but then you can add a rant on if they can squeeze those ports into a Blade Pro they should be able to squeeze those ports into something fatter and lower spec.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @12:41PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @12:41PM (#418121)

      "How often do you really need to do presentations on your laptop with someone who has no WiFi streaming projection system?"

      How often do you do presentations? It is pretty unusual to find a conference room that has wireless video. VGA is standard and will likely be for a long time to come.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @04:17PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @04:17PM (#418199)

    I entirely agree with what you said. However, I will note that the people who are willing to spend over $3500 for a laptop in this day-and-age are not ones to balk at spending another $100 for the different connectors and peripherals needed to make it work.

  • (Score: 2) by gidds on Tuesday October 25 2016, @12:45PM

    by gidds (589) on Tuesday October 25 2016, @12:45PM (#418506)

    May I play Devil's Advocate here for a moment?

    See that USB type A connector? *Pointing* That needs to be there for all the trillions of devices that still use that version, since type C isn't as prevalent as you might like to think.

    But you only have all those USB devices because previous machines dropped all the specialised keyboard connectors, mouse connectors, modem connectors, serial ports, microphone ports, and all the various other connectors that were in common use at the time.

    If they'd continued to support all those, then USB devices wouldn't have taken off in the way they did; many people at the time would have been happier, but today we all benefit from the early adopters.

    So manufacturers have to balance the needs of people today with lots of existing gear against those who are starting out now and have to buy new stuff anyway, and the many more who will (probably) benefit in the future from ubiquitous USB-C.

    And at least you can get simple dongles to tide you over until that time.

    I'm not saying that manufacturers should ignore current needs. Yes, it's very annoying when current gear isn't (easily) supported.  (And I certainly can't see any reasonable excuse for dropping something like headphone connectors for the foreseeable future; they're tiny and far too widely used, and I do not want to be forced into proprietary and encoded formats.)

    But I also don't want to spend a lot of money on a device that should last many years, only to find it can't work with newer accessories or features in a year or two.

    Where does the balance lie? That'll be different for different people, depending on their needs, existing gear, and wallets.  But I don't think that this game is only about greed; yes, there's plenty of that, but I think it's also about improvements and future-proofing.

    --
    [sig redacted]
  • (Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Wednesday October 26 2016, @02:34AM

    by linkdude64 (5482) on Wednesday October 26 2016, @02:34AM (#418821)

    What laptop is that, if I might ask? I know the ASUS ROGs have *ALL* of the necessary ports, and multiples of each, and run cooler than my desktop does under load - and quietly.