Alternative to the Razer Blade 14" ? Not your average "need a perfect gaming laptop for no money"

[DarkSable]

Hey there guys!

So my best friend has more money than he has brains, and has decided he wants to have a gaming laptop for when he and our other friend come to my place for LAN sessions. (This is after I go out and buy two extra monitor/keyboard setups and a licence to softxpand, which I'm kinda pissed about, but hey.)

He's interested in the 14" Razer Blade, but has some concerns about the display.

Here are the details of what he's looking for:

- portable. That means that he wants it to be under an inch thick, preferably no more than a 15, 15.6" screen.
- Decent at gaming. The 765m that the Blade has is fine for a 1600x900 display, but it would need something a little stronger for a 1080p display. (And it has to have a quad core CPU)
- A good display. The resolution can be either 1600x900 or 1920x1080, but it has to be good quality. This is one of his biggest qualms with the Blade.

Other points:

- decent battery life would be a plus, as this isn't a desktop replacement (he already has a somewhat decent desktop), but isn't an absolute must.
- storage doesn't matter. I've got a 256GB SSD laying around that I'll throw in there, which is more than enough for him. All he's using it for is school work, emulators, and light gaming.
- the OS doesn't matter either. I have a volume licence of windows 8 enterprise which he's used on my desktop and work laptop and prefers.

So yeah? Any suggestions there? The budget is about $2k, but could go up a little if absolutely necessary.

 

[dragonfrom12]

tell him to look into Alienware or MSI. MSI has many decent rigs for under 2K. Alienware would cost a little more than MSI but would be better customer support. and Alienware has been depicted to bee the best gaming laptop on so many reviews. id say tell him to buy alienware M14X and customize it better than anything else in this world. Alienware would cost about 1K-3K

 

[P1nnacle]

If he's looking for portable I wouldn't recommend anything but the razer blade. I own a 17" one and I've never had any problems with gaming on it. If you want under an inch thick, you probably won't find many. I'd seriously consider the blade. The only problem I have is with the mousepad, but if he's a gamer I would assume he has a mouse.

 

[DarkSable]

tell him to look into Alienware or MSI. MSI has many decent rigs for under 2K. Alienware would cost a little more than MSI but would be better customer support. and Alienware has been depicted to bee the best gaming laptop on so many reviews. id say tell him to buy alienware M14X and customize it better than anything else in this world. Alienware would cost about 1K-3K

The Alienware M14x is thick, heavy, overpriced, and from everything I've read, has a horrible screen. Plus it only comes with up to a 765 anyways, so the blade would be the same performance for probably less money and less size. Plus since I'd be the one providing him with tech support, I'd rather he not get a dell. xP

If he's looking for portable I wouldn't recommend anything but the razer blade. I own a 17" one and I've never had any problems with gaming on it. If you want under an inch thick, you probably won't find many. I'd seriously consider the blade. The only problem I have is with the mousepad, but if he's a gamer I would assume he has a mouse.

The mousepad can be disabled, yes? (He's got his own mouse.) Since you have one your self, I've got to ask - what do you think of the display on it? That's really my biggest concern with recommending the Blade to him, since every review says it's a killing point to an otherwise amazing machine.

 

[Indefatigable]

The new Alienware 14 has the only decent 14" screen that I know of. The Blade's screen is not for the trash, but it's even worse than the old m14x screens.

If you insist on 14" and want a good screen and thin profile, you might have to give up performance and buy the Thinkpad T440s, which I think will use the same screen as the AW 14.

 

[P1nnacle]

tell him to look into Alienware or MSI. MSI has many decent rigs for under 2K. Alienware would cost a little more than MSI but would be better customer support. and Alienware has been depicted to bee the best gaming laptop on so many reviews. id say tell him to buy alienware M14X and customize it better than anything else in this world. Alienware would cost about 1K-3K

The Alienware M14x is thick, heavy, overpriced, and from everything I've read, has a horrible screen. Plus it only comes with up to a 765 anyways, so the blade would be the same performance for probably less money and less size. Plus since I'd be the one providing him with tech support, I'd rather he not get a dell. xP

If he's looking for portable I wouldn't recommend anything but the razer blade. I own a 17" one and I've never had any problems with gaming on it. If you want under an inch thick, you probably won't find many. I'd seriously consider the blade. The only problem I have is with the mousepad, but if he's a gamer I would assume he has a mouse.

The mousepad can be disabled, yes? (He's got his own mouse.) Since you have one your self, I've got to ask - what do you think of the display on it? That's really my biggest concern with recommending the Blade to him, since every review says it's a killing point to an otherwise amazing machine.

I love my display, it's not as bright as some but certainly not dark at all, and one thing no one ever considers, it's matte, which means you can actually use it in the sun. almost every other gaming laptop uses gloss screens which in my opinion, suck. Personally, I find the screen to be just the right amount of bright. Also, the 14 inch blade has what looks like a good track pad. I was referring to the 17" glass screen trackpad which is really bad.

 

[DarkSable]

Oh, you mean that switchblade thing it's got going on? Yeah, I thought that was kinda funky. The matte screen is definitely a plus - all my monitors are matte, ever since trying a glossy one that drove me insane (I play with low brightness, so could see myself superimposed over every game.)

My only question is viewing angle - reviews say that you have to re-adjust the screen every time you change position, and I don't want this to drive him crazy and frustrate him.

 

[P1nnacle]

Oh, you mean that switchblade thing it's got going on? Yeah, I thought that was kinda funky. The matte screen is definitely a plus - all my monitors are matte, ever since trying a glossy one that drove me insane (I play with low brightness, so could see myself superimposed over every game.)

My only question is viewing angle - reviews say that you have to re-adjust the screen every time you change position, and I don't want this to drive him crazy and frustrate him.

Yeah the view angle leaves something to be desired, but its not bad if you're sitting in the same place. I don't have problems gaming, only when I'm switching positions from say the table to the couch.

 

[DarkSable]

Yeah the view angle leaves something to be desired, but its not bad if you're sitting in the same place. I don't have problems gaming, only when I'm switching positions from say the table to the couch.

Ahh, that's not too bad. I think I'll probably tell him to go ahead and get the Blade, then.