Razer Blade 14 (2021)

[maflynn]

Here is what truly surprises me. Apple has really been resting on its laurels.

Nothing could be furthest from the truth. The M1 Macs are phenomenal, no matter how you slice it, Apple hit it out of the park with its ARM processor and it caused some upheaval in the computer sector. People are now taking ARM serious because of Apple

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Nothing could be furthest from the truth. The M1 Macs are phenomenal, no matter how you slice it, Apple hit it out of the park with its ARM processor and it caused some upheaval in the computer sector. People are now taking ARM serious because of Apple

I was speaking more from a functionality perspective. You are indeed correct that the M1 Macs are great. I just was surprised when I switched back at how much freer the applications are compared to the mac. It's like they souped up the engine and then put a governor on it.

But YES I definitely should have stated it better. LTT and other tech reviewers speak to the power of the M1 line and I agree.

 

[Harthag]

So I had a desktop with an RX 580 8GB (used to Hackintosh) that melted on me (bad power supply?).

I decided that since Scrivener 3 is out for windows, and now there are alternatives to Vellum, I would see if I could get a gaming laptop and sell my M1 Macbook Air (as it is nigh impossible to get a video card for MSRP).

I settled on an Asus Zephryus G14 with a Ryzen 9 5900HSand a RTX 3060 with a 1 TB SSD. This little thing is a beast. I can game just fine and I like everything about it. It was on sale for $1400 when I got it at Best Buy--it is now $1549 which is still a good deal. Many places are calling it their laptop of the year.

Asus Zephyrus G14 at Best Buy

I did think about the Razer, but Reddit scared me off with talk of expanding batteries.
I also (since I live in the middle of nowhere) opted for the Best Buy warranty so I have someone local to give it to in the event of a repair.

Here is what truly surprises me. Apple has really been resting on its laurels. This thing can game, do everything else I need it to do in ONE MACHINE. No mac can do that. And I really don't miss the software as much as I thought I would.

Windows 11 will help even more--as there are some reports it runs even faster and cooler on Win11.

I think the overall philosophy of turning macs into iOS is really, really limiting and will continue to trend even worse that direction. It used to be (and I sound like the old man yelling at a cloud here) that Mac was the badass UNIX system that was more free than Windows, but that is no longer the case--IMO.

I would also like to add that I agree with @maflynn --1080p is enough at 14"...

Great choice and great price. I owned the G14 with the RTX 2060 and then 3060, now Blade 14. G14 is an excellent machine with excellent battery life, excellent cooling, and pretty nice keyboard. I'd probably still have my G14 3060 if my wife hadn't spilled coffee on it. It took Asus 2 months to replace a simple keyboard...during which time I bought the M1 Air and then Razer decided to drop the Blade 14, which I couldn't resist.

You can't go wrong with either the G14 or the Blade 14 (assuming you buy the Blade from anyone but Razer direct). Just note that with Best Buy's warranty you'll need to deal with Asus for the first year, I believe. Same thing with the Blade I bought from Microsoft. I still need to deal with Razer during year 1 if anything happens, years 2 and 3 I contact the warranty provider and they deal with Razer.

The G14 and Blade 14 are in a league of their own. True jack of all trade ultra-light laptops that can get you through a day of work and also have very competent gaming ability.

 

[c0ppo]

Nothing could be furthest from the truth. The M1 Macs are phenomenal, no matter how you slice it, Apple hit it out of the park with its ARM processor and it caused some upheaval in the computer sector. People are now taking ARM serious because of Apple

I agree completely. A few days I ago I've used MBP M1 for the first time. Connected to the Lg 5K monitor, M1 simply rocks. Nothing at this moment can compare to it. MBP didn't even get warm to the touch. Dead silent.

I will stick to PopOS on my desktop. But next MBP with M1X or M2 (or whatever they call it), I plan on purchasing that for my mobile needs. CPU is rather powerful, doesn't throttle like crazy, it's not hot, it's dead silent + battery life is amazing. Only thing that could stop me from purchasing one is the touchbar. I hate it, and don't want to even see it anymore

 

[jrichards1408]

I agree completely. A few days I ago I've used MBP M1 for the first time. Connected to the Lg 5K monitor, M1 simply rocks. Nothing at this moment can compare to it. MBP didn't even get warm to the touch. Dead silent.

I will stick to PopOS on my desktop. But next MBP with M1X or M2 (or whatever they call it), I plan on purchasing that for my mobile needs. CPU is rather powerful, doesn't throttle like crazy, it's not hot, it's dead silent + battery life is amazing. Only thing that could stop me from purchasing one is the touchbar. I hate it, and don't want to even see it anymore

Can't run Linux on it or game on it. deal breaker for me

 

[c0ppo]

Can't run Linux on it or game on it. deal breaker for me

It's not for everyone, and I don't claim that it is.
But since moving to desktop, I use my laptop as a media device + to get work done when on the move.
For those two, MBP M1 is great for reasons I have already listed. In my use case scenario, nothing gets even close to it. But then again, if Apple doesn't drop gimmick called touchbar, I'm not purchasing one.

 

[dmr727]

I agree completely. A few days I ago I've used MBP M1 for the first time. Connected to the Lg 5K monitor, M1 simply rocks. Nothing at this moment can compare to it. MBP didn't even get warm to the touch. Dead silent.

There are a lot of great reasons to like the new Macs - I've been a fan of silent/efficient computing for a long time now. It's also a big reason I've been favoring AMD for my PCs lately. But I also don't think there's a lot of cross shopping going on with folks in the market for a Razer. I'm probably as close as it gets since I'm not much of a gamer, but as someone that likes to tinker close to the metal, Apple's black box of an SoC isn't as interesting.

We'll see. Apple may change my mind this Fall, but I spend a good amount of time on the road and it'd be nice to do some nerding at the hotel instead of having to wait until I'm home with my PC. The 14" Razer seems like a pretty good platform for that.