I'm curious what everyone's thoughts on the Razer Blade are.
 
From the Ars Technica article:

Let's take a look at the specs

• 2.8GHz Intel® CoreTM i7 2640M Processor
• 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 Memory
• 17.3" LED Backlit Display (1920x1080)
• NVIDIA GeForce® GT 555M with NVIDIA® OptimusTM Technology
• 2GB Dedicated GDDR5 Video Memory
• Built-in HD Webcam
• Integrated 60Wh Battery
• 320GB 7200rpm SATA HDD
• Wireless Network 802.11 b/g/n Compatible
• 16.81" (Width) x 10.9" (Depth) x 0.88" (Height); 6.97lbs (Weight)

It will ship in the fourth quarter of 2011 for $2,799.99.

 
So it's got a slim form factor with somewhat beefy capabilities. It's got a touchpad with an LCD on it! And um, it's got 10 other buttons for contextual stuff. 
 
I don't really see how PC gaming is really dying, nor do I understand how this will save it from the brink. From what I can tell from its rhetoric, Razer intends to build a legitimate PC gaming platform to compete against consoles. Does anybody see this as a viable revitalization strategy? Anyone see this as an answer to a problem no one posed?
 
EDIT: Here's the full page ad in the Wall Street Journal that started this.

Razer are cockbags. There gear is massively overpriced junk for the most part. This laptop is a nice idea but the Nvidia GT 555 is entirely too underpowered to run the 1080p screen @ max res in the games which will matter.

I don't understand this 'PC is dying' argument. Like, what is killing it? 

Oh dear.

@Inkerman said:

I don't understand this 'PC is dying' argument. Like, what is killing it?

Developers and publishers killing it with idiotic DRM, delayed platform releases, poor ports, consolification of traditionally PC-centric games (often the PC version of a game looks better than the console version, but not by as much as it really should). It's largely treated as the red-headed step-child by an industry that (aside from, mostly, Valve) would rather see it die off so they can just focus all their attention on PS3 and 360.

Also, this Razer thing is silly. For the price of a ho-hum tiny little laptop "for gaming", you could build two top of the line sweet machines (with a good $600 video card) two years in a row. Being the next Alienware doesn't really save the platform and people just need to get over the idea of "laptop gaming". You're never going to have a top of the line experience and you're usually going to have to settle for a lesser experience with frequently older games. I don't know why people insist on doing otherwise.

@SeriouslyNow said:

Razer are cockbags. There gear is massively overpriced junk for the most part. This laptop is a nice idea but the Nvidia GT 555 is entirely too underpowered to run the 1080p screen @ max res in the games which will matter.

To be fair, the one thing they've ever had that was pretty sweet was an amazing gaming mouse with great precision, build quality, and no gimmicks. But that was a decade ago and I don't think they even sell it anymore. (I'll be damned if I can remember what the hell it was called).

Oh Razer. You are quickly becoming the Tap Out of gaming peripherals, take a page from Logitech and just release some good quality stuff without trying to sell me a Blizzard gameboy.

For a meager 3000 dollars you get to save PC gaming. I hope this stunt didn't get that much publicity, it's sad.

$2500.... are you serious? for a fucking laptop. NO

i like my razer mouse but wouldn't buy their laptop

$2500.... are you serious? for a fucking laptop. NO

That's crazy. My laptop with a 240M runs games just fine, and that only cost me around $700 over a year ago.

Looks like Razer is trying to bust an Apple... but with Windows.

This was an extremely disappointing conclusion to their mini marketing campaign. I thought it was going to be something legitimately interesting ... not some overpriced "gaming laptop" that has been done before.

Razer are cockbags. There gear is massively overpriced junk for the most part. This laptop is a nice idea but the Nvidia GT 555 is entirely too underpowered to run the 1080p screen @ max res in the games which will matter.

>laptop
>gaming
 
pick one

Alternatively I can see some logic in combining tablet form factor with gaming-level hardware. This would combine well with Windows 8 and if they provide keyboard and mouse attachments then i think it would do well. As for Razer's effort, yeah im sure a few gullible people will fall for the flashy bright lights and keyboard but thats all. Razer is trying too hard.

This was such a letdown. I woke up, saw the post, and subsequently died a little inside. 
-Ghooble

Talking about the death of PC gaming automatically renders your thread pointless, because PC gaming is not dying.

I'm not so sure I understand how an over-priced laptop is going to save PC gaming....not that it really needs saving, because it seems to be doing just fine.

Although I do love the contents of it, the price is a tough swallow.  Prove PC gaming isn't dead (to those who still believe it's happening and love their hyperbole) by providing a fairly good laptop with the razor touch at an affordable mainstream price.  Dispel the foolish thoughts that it takes a small fortune to play games well on a PC.

Is PC gaming the Mysterion of the gaming world? Why do people always say that it's dying?

That is a massive waste of money, and the guys at Razer are pretty goddamn dumb for that.  Also, PC gaming is not dying.
 
Their dynamic keyboard buttons or whatever are cool though, I would love to have a quality keyboard that had dynamic keys provided it wasn't overpriced as hell.

anyone with an ounce of sense would see this thing and immediately think "i can build three very capable gaming desktops with the amount of money that thing costs". nothing to see here people, this is just razer continuing to peddle shiny, insanely overpriced things. an who the hell looks at their keyboard when they're in the middle of an intense online gaming session? that touch pad's sole purpose is to inflate the price and to make it look cool.

You should at least show what makes it interesting: the dynamic keys and multitouch LCD trackpad.

Here's a video of it in action:

Yeah, it's overpriced, but you're not exactly paying for a common product.

Well I saw the price and I stopped give a shit about anything about it

Under 7 lbs is considered easy to carry around on a daily basis? How many people out there actually need to carry around a competitive gaming laptop every day? Seriously, how many, 20? Carrying something like that around to work or school is just silly. For the same amount of money you could get a similarly spec'd laptop to carry to your gaming events, a great thin and light laptop (Macbook Air/Ultrabook) to carry around daily, and still have some cash leftover.

I really like how they're promoting it as "the first dedicated gaming laptop", as if we've all forgotten the last decade of other shitty (for the ridiculous price) gaming laptops.

It's all pretty simple - if you're serious about gaming, invest in a desktop. When it comes to your laptop, get what you need for your other purposes and play whatever few games might happen to actually work well on it. You're simply not going to get the same experience in a five pound half inch thick machine that you will in your sixty pound 3cf desktop.

Seriously? Do these folks at Razer even know their audience? A $2800 gaming laptop? Who the hell would even buy that! 
 
I thought would be put out some cool product, and this is what they come up with. Totally misguided. It will flop.

If they get this down a thousand or so, I'd be interested.

@Origina1Penguin said:

You should at least show what makes it interesting: the dynamic keys and multitouch LCD trackpad.

Here's a video of it in action:

Yeah, it's overpriced, but you're not exactly paying for a common product.

Which means you're paying for a touchpad/keyboard combo which would be better suited as a peripheral, yet you are forced to purchase it attached to a PC whose components will be useless in a year's time.

The only interesting part of this is the LCD keys, so why not just make a keyboard with those instead of a whole laptop...

2800 dollars for a laptop? How about I take half of that, build a pc and use the other half to buy games for 2 years. Success!

@Inkerman said:

I don't understand this 'PC is dying' argument. Like, what is killing it?

Developers and publishers killing it with idiotic DRM, delayed platform releases, poor ports, consolification of traditionally PC-centric games (often the PC version of a game looks better than the console version, but not by as much as it really should). It's largely treated as the red-headed step-child by an industry that (aside from, mostly, Valve) would rather see it die off so they can just focus all their attention on PS3 and 360.

Also, this Razer thing is silly. For the price of a ho-hum tiny little laptop "for gaming", you could build two top of the line sweet machines (with a good $600 video card) two years in a row. Being the next Alienware doesn't really save the platform and people just need to get over the idea of "laptop gaming". You're never going to have a top of the line experience and you're usually going to have to settle for a lesser experience with frequently older games. I don't know why people insist on doing otherwise.

THE ANSWER TO THE DEATH OF A GENERATION IS A 2800 DOLLAR DOOR STOP LADIES AND GENTLEFOLK.

This thing is going the way of the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh. Just wait for it. 
 
The name is a clever play on words, I'll give it that.

lol at the price tag

@TomA said:

@Branthog said:

@Inkerman said:

I don't understand this 'PC is dying' argument. Like, what is killing it?

Developers and publishers killing it with idiotic DRM, delayed platform releases, poor ports, consolification of traditionally PC-centric games (often the PC version of a game looks better than the console version, but not by as much as it really should). It's largely treated as the red-headed step-child by an industry that (aside from, mostly, Valve) would rather see it die off so they can just focus all their attention on PS3 and 360.

Also, this Razer thing is silly. For the price of a ho-hum tiny little laptop "for gaming", you could build two top of the line sweet machines (with a good $600 video card) two years in a row. Being the next Alienware doesn't really save the platform and people just need to get over the idea of "laptop gaming". You're never going to have a top of the line experience and you're usually going to have to settle for a lesser experience with frequently older games. I don't know why people insist on doing otherwise.

How vane. You're assuming that PC gaming still revolves around high end, AAA games, which clearly, it does not.

How poignant, you're attacking someone's credibility when you can't even spell the word vain. Vain as in vanity vs vane as in weather.

All this gamer gear from Razer with flashy LEDs is embarrassing. It makes PC gaming look like it's for 14 year olds.

PC gaming can't be dying. 

It's already dead.

Right because a 3000$ gaming laptop is going to completely reverse people's stances on PC gaming. Casual gamers will all drop Farmville for Starcraft, iPad sales will tank, and the console era is over.

@MaFoLu said:

The only interesting part of this is the LCD keys, so why not just make a keyboard with those instead of a whole laptop...

The closest I've seen is the Optimus Maximus keyboard:

That doesn't have the multitouch trackpad though. It's a bit of a gimmick I suppose but nobody else has it. The Optimus is a whopping $1,600, but you have to imagine those dynamic keys aren't cheap to make.

@SeriouslyNow said:

Which means you're paying for a touchpad/keyboard combo which would be better suited as a peripheral, yet you are forced to purchase it attached to a PC whose components will be useless in a year's time.

Pretty much, yeah. But they'd make more money this way, I think. I am hopeful we'll see more companies trying ideas like this.

@TomA said:

@Branthog said:

@Inkerman said:

I don't understand this 'PC is dying' argument. Like, what is killing it?

Developers and publishers killing it with idiotic DRM, delayed platform releases, poor ports, consolification of traditionally PC-centric games (often the PC version of a game looks better than the console version, but not by as much as it really should). It's largely treated as the red-headed step-child by an industry that (aside from, mostly, Valve) would rather see it die off so they can just focus all their attention on PS3 and 360.

Also, this Razer thing is silly. For the price of a ho-hum tiny little laptop "for gaming", you could build two top of the line sweet machines (with a good $600 video card) two years in a row. Being the next Alienware doesn't really save the platform and people just need to get over the idea of "laptop gaming". You're never going to have a top of the line experience and you're usually going to have to settle for a lesser experience with frequently older games. I don't know why people insist on doing otherwise.

How vane. You're assuming that PC gaming still revolves around high end, AAA games, which clearly, it does not.

Please explain what you mean by "vain"? Or are you using misusing the word?

I would hardly consider PC gaming to be thriving because there are fifty million people playing Farmville, GoG releases, WoW, and PopCap games on them. I'm not saying that's the case, but I don't base the perception of PC-gaming's health on casual gaming or flash-based games. It's based on things like the breadth and depth of titles available, the quality of those titles, the communities around them, and the unique offerings titles bring to the table on the PC that you can't get on other platforms.

As I pointed out in my comment, you can expect to play a limited subset of games on your laptop. Older games, some MMOs, plenty of casual games and web based games. You could even play some newer games in very reduced fidelity. What you can't do is replicate today's desktop gaming experience in today's laptop and people should stop trying. (Granted, you can probably get very close if you're looking to spend $4,500 on a 13lb custom built laptop and we have seen a number of those over the years). But trying to have that same experience in a laptop (especially at any reasonable price) is like expecting to play BF3 on your iPhone. The capability just isn't there and we don't expect it to be.

Let's just do away with some of the very over-the-top expectations people have for laptop gaming.Buy your laptop for the real purposes you need it for and if it happens to be able to play some games pretty well, then enjoy.

Wait...did it really take Razer this long to develop a product called the Razer Blade? I'm not sure what to even make of that...

As a owner of Apple laptops, I have little to complain about things being too expensive, but this takes the cake, twice.

People could buy both a top-of-the-line laptop, plus a BEAST of a desktop gaming PC for the price they are asking for this thing.

It's simply offensive how they are touting this thing as the saving grace of PC gaming. I honestly hope they don't sell a single unit.

PC gaming can't be dying. 

It's already dead.

How do they expect to beat Asus and Alienware with this?