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(US) Smithsonian.com Article: 180.000 items at New York Public Library Available Online (by Erin Blakemore, 7 Jan 2016)
"Are you into old photos? Ancient religious texts? Vintage blueprints of algae? You're in luck: You don't need to turn off your laptop and take a trip to see them up close. On Tuesday, the New York Public Library announced that it has released more than 180,000 items as instant, high-resolution downloads for anyone who's curious and has access to a computer.
The downloads are all in the public domain and cover everything from popular culture to history, science and music. ...
(DE) "Tobi's Notenarchive" Website Updates
(From a recent newsletter from Tobias Schoelkopf regarding "Tobi's Notenarchive" website updates)
"Dear Bach friends,
all piano works, canons, and the complete BWV appendix is now available as CAP, CAPX, XML, PDF and Midi.
The following works are new in my Bach Archive ...
(UK) Heritage Lottery Fund to invest £3.6million in Royal College of Music's Museum
"The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has today announced support¹ of £3.6m to redevelop the Royal College of Music's Museum. This significant investment will kick-start a three-year project to create new displays and a performance space for the RCM's extensive and precious collection of historic instruments. ...
(US) New York Times Article: "Discogs Turns Record Collectors' Obsessions Into Big Business" (by Ben Sisariodec, 29 Dec 2015)
"In the beginning, Kevin Lewandowski just wanted a way to keep track of his techno records.Now, 15 years later, the free website he set up for that purpose, Discogs.com, has become a vital resource for record collectors and the music industry, with a sprawling database of more than 6.5 million releases. ...
(US) Orlando Consort Concert: "The Passion of Joan of Arc" Silent Film Get Live Soundtrack (16 Jan 2016)
(From a recent Orlando Consort news release)
The Philharmonic Society of Orange County is pleased to present "The Passion of Joan of Arc: Silent Film & Medieval Sound," a new project by British vocal ensemble The Orlando Consort, on Saturday, January 16, 2016, 8pm, at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The Orlando Consort creates a stunning live soundtrack to Carl Theodor Dreyer's monumental 1928 silent film biography of the saint and martyr, singing medieval songs composed during the lifetime of Joan of Arc (1412-1431) in live accompaniment to the film. A pre-concert lecture by Jean Drum will take place at 7pm. ...
(US) The New York Times: "Aix Festival Director to Step Down" (by Michael Cooper, 21 Dec 2015)
"Bernard Foccroulle, the general director of the Aix-en-Provence Festival, plans to step down from his position at the end of 2017, the festival announced on Friday.
Mr. Foccroulle, who joined the festival in 2007 and has led it through a number of artistic successes, said in a statement that ...
(UK) The Stage Article: "Scottish government draft budget outlines 9.5% culture spending cut" (by Tom Dibdin, 17 Dec 2015)
While there are no early music groups mentioned in the article, it is most likely that the granting process will also be affected with respect to Scottish early music organizations.
"Culture has been hit with a headline 9.5% cut in the Scottish government's draft budget, published in Edinburgh on December 16.
Overall, Scottish Government is reducing spend on culture in 2016/17 from £170.2 million to £154.1 million.
As part of this, the five directly funded national companies, ...
(US) Vanguard Seattle Review: "Pacific MusicWorks Gives a Golden Performance of Handel's "Messiah" (21 December 2015, by Claire Biringer)
"I'm going to come right out and say this: I don't like Handel. The overly stuffy formal structures and frivolous ornamentation of the high Baroque will never top my list. I find the Messiah static and trite, and Handel's operas no more exciting than the bassline of Pachelbel's canon. I've only found glimpses of redemption in his output, like the moody D minor Sarabande and brief coloratura passages in Giulio Cesare.
If anyone were to sway my Handelian hatred, it is unsurprising that it would be Pacific MusicWorks, the ...
(UK) The Guardian Interview: " Facing the music: John Butt" (21 Dec 2015)
"From Bach and Purcell to garage-pop band the Vaselines, conductor, organist and Dunedin Consort director Butt shares his musical inspirations ...
(US) BEMF Wins Big on the International Stage!
(From a recent Boston Early Music Festival newsletter)
BEMF's two latest CD releases - Steffani's Niobe, Regina di Tebe and Charpentier's La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers - have received a host of major international awards and recognition in 2015. The prestigious honors include a 2015 GRAMMY Award, two 2015 ECHO Klassik Awards, a 2015 Diapason d'Or de l'Année, a 2015 German Record Critics' Award, and two appearances on the Gramophone Awards shortlist! ...
(US) Bach Collegium San Diego News Release: "National Endowment for the Arts supports BCSD"
"We are excited to announce that Bach Collegium San Diego was recently awarded a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts!
The award of $10,000 will be used, in their words, "to support historically informed concerts and related educational activities. Plans include ...
(US) The New York Times Article: "In Handel's 'Messiah,' the Trumpet as Divine Agent" (by Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheimdec 17, 2015)
"COMING late in Handel's "Messiah," the glittering instrumental solo in "The Trumpet Shall Sound" is one of the most recognizable trumpet parts in music. This time of year, its rousing opening fanfare and serenely gleaming lyrical passages can be heard in concert halls and churches all over the country, part of a bass aria that becomes one of this beloved oratorio's emotional highlights, charged with hope, mystery and awe. ...
(FR) Jean Rondeau CD Release: "Vertigo" (Rameau & Royer) (Feb 2016)
News from Jean Rondeau of his upcoming CD release "Vertigo"
"France's leading young harpsichordist performs works by two masters of the French Baroque. No surprises there, perhaps … but the harpsichordist in question is Jean Rondeau and the album is called Vertigo. It conceives the harpsichord in vividly theatrical terms. Vertigo takes its name from a dramatic, rhapsodic piece by Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer, who, along with Jean-Philippe Rameau, forms the focus of this album. If Rameau (1683–1764) is the better-known composer today, especially admired for such operatic masterpieces as Hippolyte et Aricie and Platée, the younger Royer (1705–1755) was also a major figure in his time, rising to become master of music at the court of Louis XV. Both Rameau and Royer excelled ...
(US) The Four Nations Ensemble at The Clark Art Institute (Newsrelease)
"Four Nations Ensemble Announces partnership with the Clark Art Institute in three concerts.
On January 30 at 6 PM The Four Nations Ensemble and the Clark Museum inaugurate a series of concerts inspired by paintings in the great collection and calling upon the Ensemble and remarkable guest artists to ...
(US) Los Angeles Times Article: " Copyright Royalty Board hikes rates Pandora must pay" (by Ryan Faughnder, 20 Dec 2015)
"A panel of federal judges has ordered Pandora Media Inc. and other Internet radio stations to pay higher royalties for sound recordings in a ruling that could have broad ramifications for the music industry. ...
(US) Unquiet Thoughts Blog: "Saturday morning quotes 5.31: Authority and Autonomy"
"The question of autonomy versus authority has different connotations and sometimes very specific meanings in philosophy, law, the political realm, medicine, and religion. Broadly speaking, authority is defined as the power to enforce laws and/or to determine a baseline of information or standards. In a musicological context as relates to the sources of historical music, authoritative status is given to early printed sources of music, or given to very specific literal descriptions of a particular aspect of performance practice. Autonomy is defined as ...
(ES) Xuriach Dance Courses with Anna Romaní at the d'Història de Catalunya (8,15,22,29 Jan, 5 Feb 2016)
Location: Museo d'Història de Catalunya, Pl. de Pau Vila, 3 (Palau de Mar), 08003 BARCELONA
Xuriach in collaboration with the Museum of History of Catalonia, proposes an annual course on ancient dance of the masters of dance between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries which have reached us through treaties and manuscripts, or through forms of oral tradition. ...
(ES) 5th International Course on Medieval Music Performance (8-23 Jul 2016)
Location: Besalú, Spain
"The International Course on Medieval Music Performance offers singers and instrumentalists the possibility to study monophonic and polyphonic repertoires composed in the 12th and 13th centuries. The course masterfully combines rigorous musicological research with a vibrant reconstruction of performance practice.
The main objectives are ...
(US) Harmonia Early Music: "In Memoriam Thomas Binkley" (16 Nov 2015)
"... For around 35 years, Binkley was one of early music's foremost performers, scholars, and educators, particularly in the area of medieval music. His recordings with his colleagues in the Studio der frühen Musik—Andrea von Ramm, Sterling Jones, and at different times, singers Nigel Rogers, Richard Levitt, and Willard Cobb—brought to the table ...
(US) Flavorwire Article: "Is Cinema Doing Shakespeare Right?"
"... When it comes to adapting Shakespeare for film, fidelity to the source material is considered paramount – even if that clashes with the vision of the filmmaker in charge. One criticism that could be leveled at Justin Kurzel's gritty, grotty take on Macbeth is that the realistic edge the director brings to the project is blunted whenever a character opens their mouth to speak. ...
(FR) DVD ~ "Les petits plaisirs du Seicento" par Les Passions et "Variations Goldberg" de Bach (+ Turina et Albeniz) par le Duo Mélisande
News from Catherine Kauffmann-Saint-Martin of the availability of DVD sets of select concerts à l'Orangerie de Rochemontès. Not available commercially, the following sets of DVD's are available for purchase "Les petits plaisirs du Seicento" par Les Passions et "Variations Goldberg" de Bach (+ Turina et Albeniz) par le Duo Mélisande. ...
(UK) Opera Today Review: "Bejun Mehta: Yet can I hear that dulcet lay" (by Claire Seymour, 03 Dec 2015)
"The American countertenor Bejun Mehta exhibited a considerable range of vocal colours, refined phrasing and spectacular virtuosity in this programme of Baroque cantatas and arias, with La Nuova Musica, under the direction of the ensemble's founder, David Bates. ...
(NL) The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek Online (Sep 2015)
"The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek is the English translation of Franco Montanari's Vocabolario della Lingua Greca, based on the completely revised 3rd Italian edition published in 2013 by Loescher Editore, Torino. With an established reputation as the most important modern dictionary for Ancient Greek, it brings together 140,000 headwords taken from the literature, papyri, inscriptions and other sources of the archaic period up to the 6th Century CE, and occasionally beyond. ...
(CA) This is Classical Guitar Article: "Performing Baroque Music on Classical Guitar by Peter Croton" (by Bradford, 09 Dec 2015)
"There are many great books on the historical performance practices of Baroque music. Although the books have nothing to do with guitar, they are valuable because they approach performance practice from a universal musical perspective. Much of performance practice, after all, should be the same on guitar as it will be on strings or keyboards. But there are differences too and there are many opportunities to learn from our earlier plucked ancestors. Peter Croton, early music performer on guitar and lute (and more), and teacher at the world-renowned Schola Cantorum Basiliensis as well as at the Conservatories of Basel and Bern has tackled the task of making a handbook that will bring the new and old worlds together. In his book, Croton has the best of both worlds: a wealth of period sources and universal musical knowledge as well as specific reference to lute, Baroque guitar, and other plucked instruments and composers of the era. ...
(CA) Gregorian Institute of Canada Colloquium 2016 (11-14 Aug 2016)
Location: Saint Augustine's Seminary, Toronto
"The Gregorian Institute of Canada is please to announce its 11th Annual Colloquium, to be held at St. Augustine's Seminary, Toronto, ON, August 11-14. Our plans include a series of practical chant workshops ranging from introductory to advanced, featuring the outstanding clinician Adam Bartlett, composer and editor of Simple English Propers (CMAA, 2011), and editor of the Lumen Christi Missal, Lumen Christi Simple Gradual, and Lumen Christi Hymnal (Illuminare Publications, 2012-2015). Active as a teacher, workshop leader and speaker, Adam has travelled widely offering catechetical and training workshops on topics of Catholic sacred music and liturgical chant. ...
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MOPA's Artful Conversation at the San Diego Public Library
I was recently invited by the Central Library in Downtown San Diego to present about our upcoming exhibition 30x: Three Decades. I am a big fan of the San Diego Public Library and the programs they offer. I have worked on partnerships with them in the past, and I am very excited to speak in front of their visitors.
My plan for the presentation is to use an approach similar to what we do with our art talks for the SEPIA senior citizen programs. I will show a selection of some of my favorite images from the exhibition and encourage discussion around the subjects of the photographs, as well as pointing out the aesthetic elements of the photograph. I will also talk about MOPA's history and the breadth of our collection. I have not decided which images I will put in my presentation, but I am perusing the checklist of images for the show for a handful that really capture the spirit of MOPA's 30-year history.
I am hoping this is a chance for us to do more regular presentations with the libraries in San Diego. We have a great network of libraries here, and having a stronger relationship with them would be good for all of us.
The event is free to the public and will be held on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 2:00PM in the 3rd floor auditorium at the Central Library, 820 E Street, San Diego, CA, 92101. Please come by, check out the presentation, and come say hello if you get a chance.


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Doom 3: CPU Battlegroundsby Anand Lal Shimpi on 8/4/2004 2:14 AM EST
- Posted in
- CPUs
59 Comments
Back to Article
kabob983 - Thursday, September 09, 2004 - linkReply
kabob983 - Thursday, September 09, 2004 - linkSo where does the A64 3200+ fit on this scale anyways...above or below the P4 3.4EE? Reply
T0918273645 - Monday, September 06, 2004 - linkthis statement from their review is partially wrong.
"Doom 3 sees system memory as one big cache and drives performance up considerably. It is also the on-die memory controller that makes cache size less of an issue on the Athlon 64, while too small of a cache seems to make or break performance with the Pentium 4."
notice the 3.2 E with its 1mb cache gets 72.8 while the 3.2 C with 512KB cache gets 68.7. the only difference between this chips is the cache, which results in a difference of 4.1 FPS.
look at the FX53, with dual channel, and 1mb cache, it gets 103.4
and the 3800+ with 2.4ghz, 512kb cache, and dual channel gets 99.8
a difference of 3.6. So the larger cache does help. I think maybe anandtech might have mixed up the fact that they were comparing with amd the difference between dual channel, and cache. while with intel they were comparing only the difference between caches.
i think looking at the AMD charts you can see how close amd's view of the tradeoff for dual channel with the loss of half the cache actually is, at least as far as doom3 is concerned.
The 3400+ (no dual channel, 1mb cache, and 2.2ghz) performs at 80.4 FPS
The 3500+ (dual channel, 512KB cache, 2.2ghz) turns in 79.5FPS. So the dual channel/ cache tradeoff is so close you'd never be able to tell the difference.
So basically they mixed up the fact that the smaller cach size of the 3500+ compared to the 3400+ is masked by the dual channel ram which nearly completely makes up for the loss in cache.
I'm surpised they overlooked that fact.
Or maybe they thought that a difference of 4.1 is more of an issue than a difference of 3.6, but really that difference is nearly the same. Reply
manson909 - Monday, August 09, 2004 - linki can't believe no one has thought of this: since Doom 3 is capped at 60FPS, why not compare the MINIMUM framerates the CPU's encounter when playing? a system that has an average of 60FPS but is locked in at this speed (no dips) is far superior than a system that has an average of 70FPS but with lows in the 20's & high's in the 100's imo... anyone? Reply
HermosaBeach - Friday, August 06, 2004 - linkShort version:
I would like to see the final graph comparing CPUs using 1600x1200, Highest Quality, 4xAA (Anti-Aliasing) and 16xAF (Anisotropic Filtering)
With this graph we may actually see a flattening of the frames per second where an increase in the CPU has no real impact on frames per second. This is where the GPU (GeForce 6800 Ultra) hits the wall and becomes the limiting factor.
Dave Reply
HermosaBeach - Friday, August 06, 2004 - linkDear 53, I disagree. Here's another way to look at the problem or question. Let's say I own an ATI X800 XT PE. I would like to know what computer (CPU/MB) to get. I want to play games at 1600x1200 with 6xAA and 16xAF. Starting from the slowest computer like the AMD XP 2000+. As you improve the CPU and climb the performance ladder we expect the frames per second to increase. But, there may come a time where an increase in CPU does not appreciably increase the frame rate. At this CPU level getting a faster CPU is not really going to help you. I was hoping to find this magical CPU point. Early 2003, with my ATI 9800 Pro, the sweet spot was the AMD XP 1800+. A faster CPU imporved frames per second, but not by much and was not worth the significantly increase in cost. For example, with FarCry and Doom3 the AMD 64 3000+ might be the sweet spot where getting the AMD 6400 3700+ really does not significantly increase your frame rate. If this is true, I would get the AMD 64 3000+. If the frame per second continue to significant improve as you increase the CPU then I would get the top end CPU. Sadly, at 1280x1024 without 4xAA and 16xAF you really can't tell.
Dave Reply
skiboysteve - Friday, August 06, 2004 - linkDave, your retarded. Try reading the review, esp the first page. Reply
HermosaBeach - Thursday, August 05, 2004 - linkThis article should have used 1280x1024 and 1600x1200. The 800x600 resolution was a waste of time and reading. Who's going to purchase any AMD 64 or any ATI X800 series or NVidia 6800 series card and play at such pathetic resolutions. I found the article a waste of time and it certainly did NOT answer the question - what CPU to get. I own a ATI 9800 Pro and it certainly did not help with what CPU to get when I purchase my next graphics card - sigh.
Dave Reply
xxxfubar187xxx - Thursday, August 05, 2004 - linkThanks for the benchmarks guys! You do great work over there. Why wasn't the Athlon64 3700+ included in these benchmarks? Being the top of the line Socket 754 processor I figured it would be included in the tests. Reply
gimpyd00 - Thursday, August 05, 2004 - linkReply
Anemone - Thursday, August 05, 2004 - linkI suggest you look at the low and average framerates for the EE @ 1600x1200. From memory I recall on HardOCP was that the AMD chips had a higher top end and a lower low end, making the average, whereas the P4's had high and low ends not so far away from their average.
AMD64's fly, but at higher res's 1280 up to 1600, the difference is a few fps, and P4's seem to not fly as fast, but also not bottom out as bad in the super heavy scenes.
While I'm torn on the issue of which platform to go to, that is something I noticed.
DigitalDivine - Thursday, August 05, 2004 - linkShinei, hardocp did not use apples to apples comparisons. Reply
dmxlite - Thursday, August 05, 2004 - link"When tested at 1600 and real gameplay, Athlon 64 falls like a brick, as shown in the "Official Doom 3 hardware guide" at HardOCP."
Yes, that must be the reason why in the conclusion they say "AMD came out ahead in DOOM 3 performance with the strongest CPU in our tests, the Athlon 64 FX-53 processor," and why they chose the stock FX to be in their [H]ard|OCP Ultimate DOOM 3 System and an overclocked A64 3000+ to be in their [H]ard|OCP Ultimate Enthusiast DOOM 3 System. Reply
nlr_2000 - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkIt's called an on die memory controller ;) Reply
Staples - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkInteresting how P4s were always top dog in Q3 but now with D3, it is the opposite. Reply
Shinei - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkI don't know about you, T8000, but I can't complain about my (underclocked) 64MB Ti4200 and 3200+ XP combination. It drags in some areas (9fps as a low, 60 as a high, average gameplay flow is around 20; settings are 10x7 medium quality), but it's definitely playable in singleplayer, with very little mouse lag.
So, for my Athlon XP to be performing fairly well with 2-year-old, underclocked hardware, I'm willing to say that HOCP is probably making things retarded for AMD by changing settings or something. I find it very hard to believe that the vastly superior Athlon 64s (compared to my Athlon XP) would falter so heavily in gameplay when my own processor does not. Reply
T8000 - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkI think you cannot say a CPU is better because it produces more frames in situations where it is hardly stressed, like lower resolutions and timedemos. Furthermore, I think most people want to play at an acceptable framerate with as much detail as possible, so testing a GF6800U only at 1280 and without playing the game, is not realistic.
When tested at 1600 and real gameplay, Athlon 64 falls like a brick, as shown in the "Official Doom 3 hardware guide" at HardOCP. Only the overclocked Athlon FX could do slightly more then the P4EE at stock settings. Reply
flexy - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - link>>>
Whether the top-performing FX53 is worth the $811 price is up to you,
The answer is of course: NO
Neither is the PIV EE worth its price :) Reply
flexy - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkthe most important info for me is that it's actually nonsense to wait for socket 939...or useless to spend more money for 1mb cache.
So...socket 754 is even better/faster and cheaper. And the 512kb cache are plenty too for the A64.
This is very helpful info in regards to upgrading my system soon :) Reply
Pumpkinierre - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkNice article Anand- strange set of results. I'd like to see the benchmark for a 2.4c at 3200MHz with same memory latency settings. If it is memory latency as the a64 results suggest then the Prescott should be lower or even beaten by N'wood. If it is L1 cache size then the EE result should be lower.
PrinceGaz - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkThe amount of System memory (above 512MB) is unlikely to have any impact on framerate in the timedemo as I doubt it would need to swap anything out after the first run (which is discarded anyway).
I found my 128MB graphics-card (a Ti4200) gave an almost identical framerate at Low, Medium, and High quality settings in the timedemo even when gfx-card limited, provided Aniso was disabled in the driver for High quality mode (which would otherwise use 8x Aniso and impact on performance in other ways). So increasing the videocard memory from 128MB to 256MB will have no effect whatsoever on the timedemo, except maybe at Ultra quality which I didn't bother testing. Reply
Steve Guilliot - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - link#27
That's the OS load balancing between the two procs. Two D3 threads aren't running at once. That's why sum utilization of both procs won't go over 100%. Reply
Succorso - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkIs this review using XP or XP64 beta with the amd64 ? Are the benefits the same using a 32bitXP as opposed to the 64 bit XP ?
Succorso Reply
SignalPST - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkits interesting how DOOM3 runs best in the Nvidia/AMD combo along with the amazing price/performance that they offer over their competitors
the Athlon64 3000+ is on par with Intel's 3.4GHz EE, while the price difference is $840
the GeForce 6800 GT is faster than ATI's X800XT PE, the price difference being $160
so in this scenario, the Nvidia+AMD combo can save you $1000 and still outperform the ATI+Intel combo
bottom line, for DOOM3 and future DOOM3 engine games, ATI+Intel=losers Reply
cKGunslinger - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkYes, I would also like to see some numbers benchmarking 256/364/512/768/1024/etc MB memory configurations. When does the average system have *enough* ram to run WinXP and play a game? Reply
xtf - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkWould it be possible to add the cache (and other) specs of the K7s to certain charts?
Because sometimes the 2700 and 2800 are slower than then the 2500 and it'd be interesting to know why. Reply
tdent1138 - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkGreat article AT! I'm happy to know my 2.53Ghz @ 2.717Ghz P4 and 9800pro will happily run D3 at 8x6 in medium quality. I can now wait until HL2 at least to upgrade to whatever makes sense at the time (A64 something I imagine). Thanks again! Reply
tdent1138 - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkReply
Philbill - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkGreat article, Do you plan to give an update with the high end ATI cards?
Phil Reply
dangereuxjeux - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkSomehow, I feel ashamed that the Sempron 3100+ crushes my ol' P4 2.4C.... please please please stop publishing articles like this that encourage me to spend any more of my money upgrading to a new AMD platform to go along with my 6800. Reply
michael2k - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkHeh, what about frames/$ graphs? Reply
Da3dalus - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkLovely graphs, *pats my Athlon 64 3200+ while waiting for Doom 3*
Another week for Doom 3 to hit our european shelves, damnit I hate waiting for something you americans already have :-/ Reply
elfy6x - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkI have a dual Opteron 246 setup, with 1Gb of ram, and a Radeon 9700 Pro. I'm not really a gamer, but I gave Doom 3 a shot, and it utilizes both of my CPU's when I play. I have nothing else running when I play the game. It doesn't tax both CPU's to 100% but one CPU fluctuates between 40-50% while the other one bounces around 10-20%. So something is processing two threads. Just my observation. :) Reply
PotatoMAN - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkI second the idea of benching memory and video memory at AT for doom week. I have a 3200+ A64 and I am wondering if I am starving it more with a 9800 pro (128) or with my 512mb of RAM. Thanks AT for being awesome! Reply
Gooberslot - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkI bet a 1-1.2ghz P3 or Athlon would cut it for a minimum. Just go back and look at the old benchmarks of the P4 1.5ghz on here. Only in Quake3 was the P4 on top. In UT the P4 actually tied with the P3 1ghz. Pathetic. Stating minimum requirements based on those old Williamete P4's is very misleading. Perhaps the real minimum cpu requirements should have been 1.2ghz P3 or Athlon, 1.5ghz P4, or 2.4ghz Celeron. :) Reply
matman326 - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkMan I always knew that an athlon 64 system was powerfull but a 180 dollar proc. beating Intels Extremly Expensive 1000 dollar proc is just mind blowing. So much for the Netburst design kicking butt. Reply
AtaStrumf - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkIf you could find some time, I'd like to see a comparison between 128 and 256 MB R9800Pro, and 512 RAM and 1024 MB RAM. Basicly how much of a difference do video and system RAM make. Reply
at80eighty - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkdammit! looks like im gonna celebrate Christmas with a loan..grrrr... : )
WooDaddy - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkTwo words:
I've been an AMD user since the 386 days and even had a NexGen processor (pre-pentium, K5). Never went Intel, never will (maybe)...
Naw.. The charts don't lie. But to be fair, let's wait for the Intel-funded people (aka Tom's (blow)hardware) to put up their benchmarks. 10 bucks says they'll make all kinds of excuses to why Intel procs aren't fast enough. Reply
Regs - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkWow. Good info. Dual channel offers nothing. And the socket 939 2.2 Ghz CPU offers nothing over my 3000 A64 which costs 200 dollars less. Given that if you play on higher resolutions. Reply
thatsright - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkGreat article, but just one quibble. Is it just me, or does it sound like AMD paid AnandTech for the last sentence of the article: "In the end, the winner of the final battle is clear: the AMD Athlon 64 is the processor for Doom 3"
It sounds like a perfect quote from the AMD marketing dept! LOL Reply
DAPUNISHER - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkGood stuff! That was the most entertaining set of benchies I've seen in awhile. D3 is evidently turning out to be a better benching tool than game =) Reply
kherman - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkDear anandtech,
Please do a similar benchmarking wtih system memmorry.
ViRGE - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - link#9, Carmack has stated that Doom 3 does not have SMP support. Reply
CrimsonDeath - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkHow about pumped up XP-M's? I got one running at 2700Mhz, that would make it better than most cpu's out there.
Overclock till it burns, then overclock more! Reply
punko - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkGuess my XP 1800+ ain't gonna cut it . . .
kherman - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkWell, my 2800+ is staying in my box! Reply
kherman - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkIn the days of GPU shootouts, this article is an EXCELENT idea! Good work! Still have to read it though.
It's funny to, because I'm contemplating a move to 1 gig of memmory.
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkJust to clarify before the comments start, there are TWO 3400+ Athlon 64 as you will see in checking at New Egg for instance. The NEW 3400+ is Socket 754, runs at 2.4GHz and has 512k cache. The original 3400+ is still available and is Socket 754, runs at 2.2GHz, and has 1MB cache. Reply
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkPlease keep in mind that the small Athlon 64 increases in Dual-Channel and Cache-size are cumulative. While it's true that Dual-Channel only adds about 3% to A64 performance and 1MB cache only adds about 5%, the combination adds 8 to 10% improved performance. The FX53 is the ONLY chip that combines BOTH 1MB cache and Dual-Channel memory and is 8 to 10% faster than a comparable chip using Single-Channel (Socket 754) and 512MB cache.
The Dual-Channel 1MB FX53 should be about 8% to 10% faster than the latest Newcastle SC 512K 3400+ even though both run run at 2.4Ghz. Another interesting point is that since Cache mattered more in Doom3 than Dual-Channel, a 3700+ (SC, 1MB cache) might actually be faster in Doom3 than a 3800+ (DC, 512MB). This was certainly true in Anand's tests of the 3400+ (SC, 1MB0, which was faster than the 3500+ (DC, 512MB).
Whether the top-performing FX53 is worth the $811 price is up to you, but it is still a bargain in Doom3 compared to the 3.4EE that is 18% slower and still sells for $1000. Reply
Thorne - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkSMP Anyone? Doom III should support smp... has anyone found it? Reply
Thorne - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkReply
jrphoenix - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkIntel and gaming don't mix. Where is Peteroy when you need him? LOL. My 3800+ is looking better and better each day :) Reply
magratton - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkIs there any possibility that you could produce some numbers for the cpu overclockers who placed their bets on the Athlon XP2500M instead of the A64? Great article, thank you! Reply
ceefka - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkOh my, I guess the Pentium EE is indeed the Extra Expensive Emergency Edition.
I'm not much of a gamer though. It's a shame I wrecked my car a few weeks ago. I wanted to build a 939 since they also perform so well on sound and video. Have to wait now. Well there's one upside to that, prices will drop a bit, or so I hope.
Say AT, how about soundbenchies, especially Cubase SX, or similar, with a fixed arrangement, sound & midi with VST instruments and then add stuff like plug-in effects until the system throws up. I have read that Dual Opteron systems can handle 100 audio channels with about 80 realtime plug-ins. How far does say the top 20 of these CPU's carry you. I suppose Hyper Threading would help out Intel here. So I'm very curious. Reply
msva123 - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkIf only you could download hardware... Reply
Sonic587 - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkI find it remarkable how the A64 3000+ manages to get within 2FPS of the 3.4GHz EE. We have a lowly $160 processor almost besting a $1000 EE. Wow. Reply
Adul - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkdrool :D cant wait to upgrade Reply
mkruer - Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - linkLOL im still not buying and AMD 64 chip til the end of the year, but its good to know that the 3500+ on socket 939 still beats*ntels best Reply


text:
The Razer Blade Reviewby Vivek Gowri & Jarred Walton on 3/15/2012 3:01 AM EST
95 Comments
Back to Article
1ceTr0n - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkbut then I took a reality check arrow in the wallet Reply
nathanddrews - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkGreat review. Finally, a gaming notebook that looks like it was designed by adults.
I have to say that I find the use a 1080p panel on a notebook (especially a gaming notebook) without the power to feed it as a wasted expense - no matter how beautiful it may be. Is there an option for a similarly gorgeous 1600x900 display instead? Reply
Snotling - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkSeriously? have you ever looked at a 17" 1080p panel? it's the minimum acceptable resolution. below that you're in smartphone territory. Reply
Flunk - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkThe pixel density on high end smartphones horribly destroys even the most high end notebooks. The Galaxy Nexus has a 720 x 1280 (720p) screen that's 4.65" across. There isn't any competition there. 316 ppi vs 127 on the notebook. Reply
aleyon - Monday, March 19, 2012 - linkthe gnexus has a pentile display, which, aside from sucking, doesn't possess quite as many real pixels as specified.
you probably hate apple, but a truly high pixel density is the realm of the 4/4S/new iPad. Reply
DareDevil01 - Monday, April 23, 2012 - linkYou seem to be forgetting The HTC Rezound & Sony Xperia S which both have 720p screens and are below 4.3"
Excerpt from Xpereia Swiki page:
"The capacitive touchscreen display measures 4.3 inches with a resolution of 1280 x 720 and at 342 ppi, is tied with the HTC Rezound for the highest pixel density in any mobile phone released." Reply
Spunjji - Friday, July 13, 2012 - linkNo no no no no. Apple invented high resolution displays! Especially on laptops. Silly person! ;)
Special people are special. Reply
b3nzint - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - linkyes, but if they use that high density into 14' that would increase the price way high, just dont sells! Reply
drew_afx - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkwell, i'm not sure if you thought about gaming on that laptop..
all those high end games that will come out soon is gonna take
more than GT555M, especially at 1080p
you need enthusiast level of graphics to run 1080p smoothly on a laptop.
CPU's definitely not the bottleneck, but the thermal requirement for
that thin laptop is keeping Razer from using power sucking gpus Reply
santiagodraco - Sunday, March 18, 2012 - linkAdults that don't understand what gamers really want, performance first.
Sure it looks great and has lot's of glitz and glamor, but I'll take my much better performing M17x R3 thank you very much.
Now if Razer can figure out who to put proper performance hardware into that thin a package and keep it cool then I'll be impressed. Well at about 900 bucks less along with it. Reply
niva - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkThat system is indeed interesting. I'm really looking forward to seeing what other machines they'll put out in the future. I'm not interested in the Switchblade, but the design of this machine highly appeals to me. The usage of the black and green details, the glowing kb... very nice Razer. Now I wish I could afford something like this... Reply
Thefinaleofseem - Friday, March 16, 2012 - linkThe most hilarious thing about this laptop? It's arguably more overpriced than a 17" Macbook Pro. Compare the specs. 6770M vs 555M. They're about the same. 1080p panels with the MBP arguably having a better panel, similar form factors and weight. The Blade actually went with a bloody dual core when the MBP has a quad that turbos to about the same frequency anyway. It does have an SSD, which is a welcome change over the laughable 320GB hard drive they used to have in there and actually gives it a solid edge. It does have 8GB of RAM, although if you buy RAM anywhere other than Apple, you can get 8GB for less than $40, so that's hardly an issue.
That leaves the little touchpad and a few extra buttons. Sorry, but that screen is little more than a gimmick. A touchpad with no tactile feedback? Utterly useless in gaming, which is the market that Razer is looking to grab with this thing. Have fun looking away from the screen periodically to ensure that your fingers are in the right place. It might be somewhat useful in slower/turn-based games, but nothing even remotely fast paced will have a use for it.
The only solid advantage it has is the SSD. The major disadvantage it has is the laughable dual core CPU. Really, in a game that can use perhaps only two cores, the difference will be minute if it's even visible at all. In games that can use a quad? The MBP will pull ahead easily, not to mention if you're running multiple other applications with your games or want to do something else, like media compression. That leaves the SSD, which is nice, but quite frankly, when you're about on the level of what many consider to be the poster boy for overpriced, then maybe you're charging too bloody much. Reply
santiagodraco - Sunday, March 18, 2012 - linkI agree with much of what's you've said and also agree that this thing has missed it's mark (but as a notebook per se it's very cool).
As for the trackpad... well that's really a non issue as anyone who calls themselves a gamer wouldn't be caught dead using a trackpad, they'll have a mouse in the bag. So from that perspective the trackpad is very cool as an information display but nothing else. Reply
Hrel - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkHow can you claim to be about gamers when you put a GT540 in a 17" Chassis? Psh, doesn't even count. With that price tag I expected AT LEAST a GTX560, if not GTX570. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of trying to make this type of laptop less cumbersome. But right now I can't imagine playing on anything less than the GTX560M, which I have currently in my Clevo. Overall I'm very happy with it, but I'd pay an extra 500 bucks to have a second hdd bay and cut the bulk by half. As for the specs this is as low as I'm willing to go. Get rid of the cd rom drive, fine. I honestly couldn't care any less about that. But the GT540M is unacceptable; I'm sorry. It's nice that this is thin, but I'll put up with a little extra bulk and weight to have a GPU I can actually use. If you have to do that by putting the GPU in an external "caddie" or docking station I'm fine with that too. As I don't ever game on battery power, only when it's plugged in.
Razer, I say develop a docking station using Intels lighpeak connection and some good ol USB 3.0, and make that dock compatible with every single laptop you release, period. THAT! My friends will garner some serious customer loyalty. Reply
Hrel - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI look forward to the day when I can just slide my smartphone into my laptop, where that touchpad is now. One concern though, I have a friend who because of a skin condition cannot use anything that's capacitive touch. I'm sure this is a small segment of their target customers but every time I see capacative touch on stuff I think of that now. Reply
Hrel - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkhm, see that's another things, especially for this much money, I expect to work properly. Noise, I never notice the noise of my Clevo P151. If I listen for it I can hear it, but I do not ever notice it. I paid 1100 bucks for this thing, then put a Seagate Hyrbrid drive in it. Beautiful 1080p screen. For nearly 3 times that I expect everything to be better in every single way. The physical size of the laptop just doesn't matter if it means sacraficing anything else at all about the laptop. I'd rather have a 20lb monster that runs everything I play at 1080p and doesn't make a peep than a 6lb pansy that can't even play Mass Effect 1 at 1080p smoothly. Like the SSD, ok, load times are low. That's nice. That's why I have the hybrid drive. But really I care much more about the performance IN THE application that I do how long it takes to load that application. It's a luxury item, like the size of the laptop, nice to have and I'm one of those people who are willing to pay extra for that kind of thing; I have the means. I'm just not willing to sacrafice another area of the laptop to get it. I do like the design elements and apparent attention to detail quite a lot. This looks like an excellent first try, they just got too ambititious and sacraficed on fundamentals; in my opinion. Also the price seems about 800 too high given the specs. And that's assuming noise was a non-issue. Reply
owan - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkWe get it. You want gaming performance, you're willing to carry around a desktop with a screen bolted on. Thats great, but you're not who this laptop is for. I agree that their marketing department made a mistake saying this was "for gamers" but you don't have to harp on it. Reply
Immentus - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkSure it is. It's aimed very much for him - it's a gaming laptop. Many of his points are valid considerations. Maybe you should focus on educating yourself rather than trying make your skittle fan boy comments sound valid. Reply
Hrel - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkLol, you sir just made my day! Thank you. Reply
tim851 - Friday, March 16, 2012 - linkNot every gaming laptop is aimed at every gamer. That would be nigh impossible.
Hrel is obviously looking for a desktop replacement, something you don't lug around every day. That's why he can live with the drawbacks, i.e. size and weight.
Just because other gamers put more emphasis on portability and are willing to sacrifice top performance for it doesn't make them less of a gamer or a solution aimed at them less of a gaming laptop.
There are still people playing competitive Counter-Strike or StarCraft (1) and let's not forget the millions of people living in World of Warcraft or other online games. These people are gamers, yet don't need the utmost performance.
And some might welcome the style appeal in the Blade, which is obviously meant for people who like the MacBook Pro's design, but for whatever reason don't want one or a clone.
So here you get the same form factor and internals in a surprisingly discrete and different design. Reply
Meaker10 - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkWhat are you talking about, its aGT 555M, a more potent GT555M I might add, very similar to the base graphics card in the alienware small desktop PC.
A GTS450 with a shader cluster disabled basically. Reply
VivekGowri - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkA GTX 560M would have been nice, basically the same as the GT 555M they have in it right now, except without the disabled shader cluster and a 192bit memory bus...Or they could have pushed release back a month or so and shipped it with a GT/GTX 6xxM part; Kepler would have definitely increased the performance envelope without throwing the thermals out of whack. Reply
Parhel - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkIvy Bridge would have probably allowed for some some additional heat coming from the GPU side as well. This is a really sweet notebook, but in the end, I'm left thinking the same thing I thought after reading your Dell XPS 13 review the other day. Why spend invest in a premium ultrabook type system today when Ivy and Kepler are right around the corner? Reply
perpetualdark - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkYes, for gamers. A gamer has a powerful desktop system, and if he/she wants to take it mobile, something powerful enough to game on, yet MOBILE and PORTABLE it what we look for. Something that can dual as a second "box" when at home.. See, to me, that is what the definition of a "gamer" is.. Not someone looking for a powerful desktop replacement with a docking station. That is what YOU are looking for - an all in one solution that fits every situation.
I recently purchased a gaming laptop because I was going to be travelling a lot more for work. I chose the Asus 15" gaming laptop after a LOT of research. In the beginning, I wanted performance, lightweight, and inexpensive. I didn't need a powerhouse with dual graphics cards and the biggest screen you can get, I wanted enough power to run my games effectively while still being a mobile solution. One I had to carry through miles of airports, and still fit under my seat once I was on the plane. One I could open on a plane without having to be seated in an exit row. I also wanted something that would have enough battery to game for a few hours, or watch a movie on.
The problem was, it was not out there. Nobody made something like that. My choices were a super expensive powerhouse that weighed over 10 lbs, a cheap plastic generic laptop with good specs, a portable solution with a wimpy graphics card, and a decently specced and decently priced laptop with poor battery life but very bulky for a 15". I went with the last option. It weighs a ton and the battery life is crap, but it is small enough to fit my needs, performs great with a 560M, the display is awesome, and it can run at 100% for 6 hours straight and be cooler than most laptops are in sleep mode. It didn't fit my criteria perfectly, so it was a tradeoff.
This razer fits what I wanted much more closely, and is a step in the right direction. I would be willing to drop to a 555m from the 560 if the battery life were better and the weight and blukiness was substantially lower. If they made this in a 15" model and got the price down to about $1700, I would have jumped on it in a second. I don't want a 17" laptop because the whole point of a laptop is portability. Too many 17" laptops, especially the "gaming" ones, are bulkier than my desktop, and the only thing that sets them apart from a desktop is they can be moved easier from room to room. That is not the intent of a laptop, and some companies are selling these things without batteries for that very reason.
I do question heat on a laptop like this.. can you run this thing wide open for an hour while it sits on your lap, without cooking your legs? Does it have to have micro fans that run at a million RPM and put a jet engine to shame? These aren't "deal breakers", just concerns.
Bottom line though, is it fills a niche in the gaming market that I believe the trend is leaning toward. With the miniaturization of everything in life, why are gamers stuck with 10+ pound beasts that will put you in the hospital after the 10th flight segment in a week.. ? Make it just powerful enough to run the games we want. You don't need 200fps to play it, you need more than 30 all the time and you are good. If you want more, it is to satisfy your desire for a big epeen, not to have a mobile gaming alternative to your main gaming rig. Reply
Hrel - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI agree with you. I just think a dock would be a good thing because then I wouldn't even really need a desktop. A dock is something you leave at home so they could just put a desktop GTX560 in it. Then I connect my bluetooth keyboard and mouse, run and HDMI cable to the tv and BAM! Laptop turned desktop. That is what I want. I don't want to build another desktop, I feel like it's unnecessary. Right now my laptop is faster than my desktop in every department except the GPU. A dock could fix that problem and I wouldn't need a desktop anymore.
Like I said, fix the noise issue. Fix any heat issues and correct the keyboard layout and this would be great. I agree 15" would be better, I'd be ok with upping the thickness to a whopping ONE INCH!!!! If that's what it takes to have proper noise and thermals. But you literally don't have to change a thing about this laptop to offer a dock too. I just really want more docks. I would much rather pay 400 bucks for a good gaming dock to keep at home than 1200 on another desktop. Hell, a dock plus laptop would even be easier to take to a friends house if I just had to be able to max everything out in a game for some reason. It would also offer a possible upgrade path when that non-swappable integrated laptop GPU starts getting dated. Reply
nafhan - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkThey're definitely targeting a specific niche, which it sounds like you are not in. The real question is: are enough people in that niche for this to be a viable product?
If money were not an object, I'd probably buy one of these as a compliment to a very high powered gaming desktop. Reply
Jedi2155 - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI got my Volt...working on getting a house. This will compliment my gaming system quite nicely. Reply
Jedi2155 - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkOnce they get Ivy Bridge and a Kepler GPU on there of course. Current performance is too anemic to replace my 3 year old Gateway FX with a 9800M GTS. Reply
Hrel - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkOn the first page you list a GT540M, then when you get to the benchmarks you say it has a GT555M; not much better but definitely a step up. Which is correct? Reply
Hrel - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkyou say GT555 in the table below comparing notebooks too. Assuming your correct on the number of "cuda cores" I'll assume it has the GT555, not the GT540, which has only 96 Cuda Cores. Reply
JarredWalton - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkGT 555M; sorry for the error. Reply
VivekGowri - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkYeah, sorry guys - I copied the table from a different review; I changed all the GPU specs but forgot to change the GPU title itself. This is most definitely a GT 555M, the text references it numerous times (Google Docs tells me it appears in the text 16 times). Reply
Articuno - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkAnd it's because putting a heat source almost TRIPLE that of your natural body heat on your lap destroys your sperm faster than you can blink. There's a reason why human males have external testicles, people, and it's because *34* degrees Celsius is too much for your sperm. Reply
piroroadkill - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkWho cares. We've got too many people as it is. Reply
shriganesh - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkwhy? Are you going to bask your balls on ur brand new laptop? Reply
bennyg - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkUse a ten buck cooler bro. Then you can have it lap-top for as long as you like. Reply
abscode - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkSantorum to soon push for outlawing such computers. Reply
Granseth - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI really like how the dare do something different. And hope the mouse and shortcut buttons catches on even though it's expensive now, it might get installed in cheaper models in time. Reply
Hrel - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkMaybe I'm wrong but I was under the impression if you're main intent for a display is gaming, where response time matters most, that IPS displays were worse than TN Panels. Since they have signficantly high response times. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought IPS was pretty much only useful for professional image editors, for pictures and video and the like. Things where color accuracy is of the highest importance. Reply
RoninX - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI have a Dell Ultrasharp IPS monitor with my desktop gaming rig (i7-2700k + GTX 570), and I don't notice any lag in response time at all... Reply
JarredWalton - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkIt's funny how we have all these 3D HDTVs with IPS displays, but somehow the only 120Hz computer displays are TN panels. I suppose maybe the HDTVs only have to deal with HDMI input so they're really only doing 3D with 48Hz (Blu-ray) or 60 Hz (HDTV broadcasts). Anyway, IPS can be very good, though there are people that prefer TN because on paper the specs look better. Look at our IPS display reviews lately, and you'll see that in our real-world testing some TN panels are about 10ms faster "input lag" than IPS:
I'd still go IPS given the choice. Reply
erple2 - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - linkWait. Are there ANY IPS based HDTVs abailable? When did that happen? Reply
shatteredx - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI play fast paced shooters like ut and cs and there's no noticeable input lag or blurring on my dell u2312hm or 2007wpf. I did notice a bit of blurring on my 2007wpf for about the first week after switching from a CRT back in 2006 but my brain adjusted to it quickly.
I can't stand the bad viewing angles on tn panels (which are exacerbated on laptops due to variable desk height) and my next laptop will surely have an ips panel.
I just wish a 120hz ips panel would get developed. Reply
Dustin Sklavos - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI personally love my Alienware M17x R3. It's a couple pounds heavier than the Razer Blade, sure, but it's usable. What good is a thin and light form factor for a gaming machine when the thing is obscenely noisy under load, running so hot that out of the box the processor is already near boiling, and features a keyboard that's next to impossible to type on? And then the notebook has problems with sleep mode, AND one of its major selling points is crash prone?
I'm sorry, but as an alternate take, from what I've read here I can't agree with the recommendation. Looks are nothing without substance behind them. Reply
weiran - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkPersonally I can't see myself ever wanted to carry an Alienware M17x anywhere off my desk, and in that case I may you may as well get a desktop. Razor has attempted to make a gaming laptop that's really portable, and have done a very good job. In fact is there even a lighter 17" or even 15" laptop?
I think Razor is realising that being just another competitor producing gaming slabs that compete only on spec and price makes no sense; they will have razor (ha) thin margins and just be another player in the game. By creating their own sub-category of device, appealing to a reasonable niche of gamers who want an ultraportable laptop that still has a good discrete GPU, they're in their own market with no direct competition.
I'm glad there's at least one PC manufacturer making something different, and pulling it off. Reply
Dustin Sklavos - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkThe problem is that if you want something lighter and more portable, the Alienware M14x offers roughly as much performance for half the price. You have to go down to a 1600x900 screen, but that resolution is also better suited to the GT 555M. Reply
Penti - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkYup, that would be better and more what I would be inclined to if I where in the market for a gaming laptop. For me GT555M is bare essential minimum here. I don't like the 17" laptops at all and the DTR-models usually just fails. The cheap 1080p panels aren't really to prefer and the graphics aren't powerful enough to drive that in games any way. So I was looking at the M14x closely when it came out and do like it more. I would basically need GT555M or better, and certainly a display above 1366x768 here.
Also the M14x is about 1000-1500 USD cheaper so there is really no choice here. Why spend the extra money to get something looking kinda awful and not really have any better performance. Even as gaming laptops goes it look awful. The touchpad-thing is just despicable and just something useless a company like razor could come up with. Reply
bennyg - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI think my P150HM is quite portable. It happily goes from home to office every day and fits in my reasonably-sized backpack. Its under 4kgs, looks like a Thinkpad (!!!), and has a SB quaddy and 580M in it with a cooling design that keeps the laptop cool. And has a fantastic screen (upgrade option 95% gamut matte)
When you think how little you add in size and weight the m14x looks silly in comparison as a "gaming" notebook. New refresh model looks like it will add Optimus (for 580M, yes) and backlit keyboard which are really the only two weaknesses. Along with the monstrous poowerbrick... but in the office a 90W 19V does the job.
I don't know what Razer were thinking with this laptop to be honest, it just looks compromised in so many ways. Looks like a gamer-ised MBP that ate a smartphone, Borg-style. Reply
piroroadkill - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI think it's actually fantastic, and I don't have the same complaint about the keyboard layout - it looks reasonable enough to me.
I love the changeable keys and the touchscreen touchpad on the right.. it means when you're gaming on the built in keyboard, you won't rest your wrist on the classic touchpad position.
The CPU choice is great, the screen choice is perfectly fine, the thickness is stunning.. Even the battery life is half decent.
The only low point is the slightly inadequete GPU. I'm no Razer fan, I think they make flashy gaming hardware that has sub-par build quality and poor support.. BUT that said, this is a fantastic looking machine, offering some genuinely fresh features into a stagnant market. Shoe-horn a slightly better GPU in there, look at some way to offer it at a cut price (maybe stick a Barracuda XT 750GB in it?), and you have an extremely compelling product. Reply
gostan - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkthis review is just so sad at so many levels. let's build a supercar, let's fit it with tiny wheels, and let's charge a lot of money for it. then let's get a media to justify the wheel selection.. Reply
Swirlser - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkLooks pretty, but really any "gamer" that drops several grand on a laptop on the eve of both a gpu and cpu shrink has far more money than sense.
Didnt read full article - but if its available now, order it *immediately*, coz if you wait a few weeks its going to be officially past its sell by date on its very first boot up ;-p (not a great start for the "World's first true gaming laptop" o.O) Reply
DelicateThunder - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkOn the first page, "6.4 lbs 1.36kg". Seems more like 2.9kg for me. Reply
Death666Angel - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkA lot of gimmicks that are not necessarily wanted by gamers, mediocre hardware for the money and for gaming, a price tag that has to compete with more powerful offers and a thinness that I don't think gamers really need.... So who is this thing for? Reply
Xuvial - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkSo basically this is aimed at people who are willing to shell out stupid amounts of money just so they can get their hands on something that LOOKS different.
Got it. Reply
bryanlarsen - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkLots of haters here in the comments, but I think it's a fabulous design.
What I'm looking for:
- good portability
- great screen
- excellent CPU performance for work
- nice design that's not exactly the same as every other laptop in the coffee shop
- enough performance to adequately play the occasional game of Skyrim or Civ5.
That trackpad design is absolutely brilliant. Trackpad on the right makes so much more sense than below the keyboard. Topped with a bunch of macro keys in a very convenient location (when your right hand is using the trackpad: most of the time, in other words).
What's turning me off:
- crappy keyboard for work
- irritating fan noise
- lack of Linux support (assumption, but probably a safe one)
looking forward to the ivy bridge / kepler refresh Reply
aferox - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI do like some of the things Razer has done with this, especially the weight. However, the Razer Blade was obviously designed by right-handed individuals for right-handed individuals. As a leftie, I would consider this design impossible to use. My mouse would be on the left, where all of those ports and that hot air come out. That touchpad on the right? Exactly where I don't want it. Most designs do not really cater to left handers, but they can be used without too much fuss. Not this. Reply
snide23 - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI'm with you. I know quite of few of us leftie gamers who wouldn't consider this setup. But apparently we are a minority. Reply
KaRRiLLioN - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - linkI'm a leftie, but I've always moused with my right hand. Reply
pyrthas - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI understand the complaint, but for gaming, I'd much rather have it on the right, so that I have the extra key under my left hand. Reply
piroroadkill - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkYes, exactly. I think the Fn placement is no cause for concern at all. Reply
geniekid - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI will echo the general sentiment that this thing is both overpriced and inadequate for gaming, but at the same time it's nice to see a company really try and increase the overall build quality of a laptop.
The problem is when you take big risks like this you have to get it right the first time, or you have to have enough resources in reserve (and enough faith from the powers on high) to iteratively improve the product until it's good enough. I hope Razer gets into the latter category and succeeds. Reply
kenyee - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkCost unfortunately is too high. And what's with only 2 memory slots on a giant 17" laptop?
The rest actually looks pretty cool. If Apple released something like this, their fanboys would be all over it, despite the price ;-)
Hopefully high res displays will drop in price and ivy bridge/kepler will make this a lot more interesting... Reply
Felix_Ram - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI can't help but think that Razer is out too early on the market, and that they have the wrong cpu company in their machine. Their concept is good, it's just not competitive enough.
If they were launched with the coming AMD APU, the topline trinity, and they at the same time managed to crossfire the APU with an AMD GPU, without changing the machines design, they might have a much more competitive product on their hand. Reply
JarredWalton - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkNo way. Trinity very likely won't even be as fast as Sandy Bridge for CPU tasks, the APU graphics won't be as fast as a GT 555M by a long shot (about 33% slower I'd wager, though I could be wrong), and AMD's switchable graphics and dual graphics still has serious driver issues in my experience. You don't spend basically $1500 on the industrial design and build quality only to ship it with a slower CPU and GPU. Reply
VivekGowri - Friday, March 16, 2012 - linkAgree with the "too early to market", disagree with everything else. If they had waited a couple of months, this could have Ivy Bridge and Kepler, and they could have used the extra month or two to fix some of the more pressing stability issues that plagued Switchblade at launch. It's a bit of a pity that they didn't, actually. Reply
tonyn84 - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI really, really like the form factor of this, I think moving the trackpad to the right side is brilliant (sorry lefties) and really hope to see this in future gaming laptops. The price though, I can't even get close to justifying for the performance. With any luck though they'll be able to have a couple different models at some point after ivy bridge is available. If they can get is closer to $1500 I'd seriously consider it, even with slightly less bells and whistles. Reply
Bees - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkWhat I'd like to know is why the facts that the keyboard and touchpad can both go unresponsive on their own wasn't treated in this review like the showstopping bugs they are. I've seen it firsthand with someone else's Blade, it's ridiculous that something so widespread (according to the support staff on the phone) made it past QC on such an expensive piece of tech. Reply
JarredWalton - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI don't know if Vivek ever had this happen, but I certainly didn't encounter that problem in the several days of testing I did. Most likely it is a QC bug and your friend got bit, or else something else is going on. That said, I do not like the keyboard or touchpad at all. Vivek had more time to adapt so I left that to him to discuss, but I found the touchpad to be an expensive gimmick. Reply
IKeelU - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkFinally a company willing to invest in portability, good design and quality, that isn't called Apple. I would buy this without even thinking of it as a gaming laptop, if only they could reduce the noise level.
Considering how many actually spend 2k+ on Macbooks, I'm astonished that it took a peripheral company to invent such a desirable high-end laptop. I hope this sells well, and I hope Dell, HP et al. take note. Reply
FormulaRedline - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkThis product is an early April fools joke, right? I saw "Gaming" and "1080p" followed shortly by "555m" and basically stopped reading. That is until I saw the almost $3k price tag...then I had to post.
You can pretend Marketing screwed this up by claiming it to be a top of the line gaming product when it's really more a 17" ultrbook/MPB -like machine, but Razer is SUPPOSED to be high end gaming. 555m's belong in sub-$1000 machines that can do some gaming on the side at lower resolutions.
Meanwhile, it's got a great processor. Oh good, now we can bottleneck the @#*$ out of it. Has anyone at Razer ever even built a computer? Reply
ezmo85 - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkThis sort of reminds me of the launch of the original iPad:
-very well built
-sleek and stylish
-extreme attention to and focus on optimization for use-case
-potential trend setter for a new category of computing
But there is one key difference that will prevent the Razer Blade from reaching anywhere near the iPad's success: pricing.
When the iPad launched, people were estimating it would land in the $1000+ range, which Apple very well could have done (especially given their record up to that point), dooming it to a small, niche market. Instead the pricing started at half that, and now 2 years later no one can deny its overwhelming success--even in the mainstream. In the case of the Razer Blade, I'm afraid this will remain a niche product until they can drastically lower the price.
I personally would love to own a Razer Blade; it would be the perfect compliment to my overpowered desktop. When I'm on the go I don't need the video settings cranked to the max, I just want the games to be playable, and the computer itself to be... well, a laptop. Something comfortable to carry around, with enough battery life to get me through a plane ride, coffee shop browsing session, class or two of note-taking, etc. This product meets that use case quite well, and I don't think I'm alone in these desires.
But there's no way I'm spending upwards of $3000 for this. Even on a higher-than-average salary, I just can't afford that. Cut that price by half... or even, dare I say, 2/3? At $1500, I'd be hard pressed not to at least make it a near-future purchase. At $1000, I'd buy it today (if the wife let me).
But I know those prices are pipe dreams... for now. Reply
Anchen - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkIsn't this in a lot of ways like a Macbook pro, with some interesting design ideas? If this wasn't marketed as a "true gaming laptop" but just as a high end laptop I wonder what people's comments would be. Especially if say Apple was the one making these ideas. On a minor note, I would love the function key to be on the right side of my keyboard personally. I personally don't use it much , and if I do it's to fiddle with brightness, or to swap what the video is going out to. In other words it's something I don't mind digging a second for as opposed to touching by accident while gaming instead of ctrl.
That said at it's price range it's not a product I'd buy, same for the macbook pro. Switchblade is neat but ultimately I think if they saved some money with a normal trackpad there they probably would have been better served. I really do like the design and aesthetic though. Reply
Malih - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkI always wonder when there will ever be a 15" or 17" laptop with consumer-respecting display resolution that are THIN and have good design will come out. And here's one, it's gaming grade laptop too.
I won't mind spending a bit over $2,500 for it (that is if I have the money to spare, which I don't right now, but if I do), I'd grab this laptop right away, that's how desirable it is... for me, cause I always respect a good display coupled with good design. Reply
assmode - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkreally, $2700 for this?
a fancy lighted computer and a lcd touch pad.
sorry but that's a subpar computer with a low end graphics card, does it even have an SSD ?
Go with msi GT783, its got a nVidia GTX580m, 16gigs of ram and 256gb SSD in it atleast and for 500$ less. Reply
assmode - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkand of course much better cpu.
and going by the table here in the intro page, the GT780 is a much better deal than a lesser Alienware, lmao. Reply
ThreeDee912 - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkPeople keep throwing out specs and prices, but the GT783 is over 2" thick and almost 9lbs.
This isn't a desktop replacement, this is meant to actually be portable, not a semi-portable slab. Reply
KoolAidMan1 - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkThe 17" Macbook Pro costs less, has a faster GPU, all while still managing a slim chassis and excellent battery life.
When a 17" MBP, a professional laptop that is excessive even among the Macbook Pro line, can beat the Razer Blade in specs and price then you know something is off. Reply
Malih - Friday, March 16, 2012 - linkNow that I think about it, you're absolutely right. The only plus is the touchpad, which is not really a plus for me. Reply
ananduser - Friday, March 16, 2012 - linkNo KooldAidMan, it's not about the specs, its the "experience"; you should understand that. MB cannot offer you what this Blade can, while the Blade can offer the mundane computing of a MB. Reply
ameetkumarmaharana - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkMy budget is Rs.1,00,000 INR. Which laptop should I go for? Please suggest the best one within the price range. Reply
will54 - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - linkThis seems like its more suited for MMO gamers on the go. From the trackpad and programmable buttons to the specs this seems like it would be perfect for WOW , SW TOR or Guild Wars. Reply
Roland00Address - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - link1) This laptop is for a person who has a lot of money
2) Wants to play on ultra
3) Wants a big screen
4) While keeping the weight down
5) For other games this person does not care about, or is willing to play those games on mainstream settings even though this laptop costs over 2.5k
Or maybe I am wrong, maybe the laptop is for people who want to have a pure sexy laptop and don't care what is inside of it? Reply
Roland00Address - Friday, March 16, 2012 - link(sigh, I would kill for an edit button) Reply
ShieTar - Friday, March 16, 2012 - linkAll the images in this article show the keyboard being backlit. Can this be switched off?
I already hate that my current notebook has two LEDs that are always on, they really annoy me when I want to watch a movie on it, because they get really distracting at dark scenes.
I can not imagine watching anything on a notebook that has constantly backlit keys. Reply
kevith - Friday, March 16, 2012 - linkA 2800$ notebook, very expensive indeed.
But what are these people thinking? You pull out this, almost sexy thing. It looks like a million dollars, unique, black, thin and simple, yet advanced.
And everybody goes "Wow" and envy you. And then, as you turn it on, it sounds like a f... hairdryer?!
We could forgive the lack of real gaming-power.
But this is simply not good enough at this pricepoint! Boooh, Razer.
Thanks for reviewing it, because it looks SO stunning, that I would be very tempted to buy it.
But not anymore. Reply
Silma - Friday, March 16, 2012 - linkThe razer blade looks like a great laptop but not for true gaming. Or perhaps Sudoku or Angry Birds.
I'm not buying a laptop to play at anything lower than 1080p and the blade can't do.
In my experience no thin laptop can adequately overcome the heat generated by hours of playing.
That's why I finally purchased an Alienware M17x R2. Yes it's big. Yes it's heavy. But I can play @1920x1200 for hours on end at truly decent fps (>30). It's been 2 years and I don't regret it. Nowadays I would either buy an Alienware or an Asus G but there are very few truly gamers laptop out there. Reply
hotsacoman - Friday, March 16, 2012 - linkHow do I win this???? Reply
jigglywiggly - Saturday, March 17, 2012 - linklack of 120hz is dissapointing
otherwise i wud care
also 17in too big for the weak gpu Reply
silverblue - Saturday, March 17, 2012 - linkWasn't that Interplay's slogan back in the day? Reply
Notmyusualid - Saturday, March 17, 2012 - linkSo many people here are right, Ivy Bridge & Kepler, and this thing is going to rock.
I'm in the market for a new gaming laptop, so I'll be watching this one very closely.
Basically it is the most beautiful laptop I've seen... Reply
The Ugly Truth - Saturday, March 17, 2012 - linkhttp://www.change.org/petitions/anandtech-forum-en...
Freedom of expression and freedom to have an online life outside of AT forums reach is all we ask. Reply
santiagodraco - Sunday, March 18, 2012 - linkI'm very dissapointed in one aspect of this review. It seems that you were actually trying to protect the Razer from looking bad by not including the Alienware M17x in the review. You post it in the matrix, at almost 900 less, but don't compare it?
I'd think your readers would be very interested in seeing the top gaming notebook on the market compared to this new Razer. Reply
Rogie - Sunday, March 18, 2012 - linkGot wrong numbers for Razer's relative battery life for idle and h.264.
5.35 and 3.28.
That, or the actual minutes are wrong. Reply
KaRRiLLioN - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - linkI think the form of this thing is sweet. The touchscreen/touchpad stuff is a bit gadgety and I'm no fan of chiclet keyboards, but I might snag one of these things just because it looks so cool.
At the very least, it'll be better for typing/web browsing than my Dell Latitude 13--and people will probably think I'm a hitman. Reply
asdfzxh - Friday, June 14, 2013 - linkidts Reply