Yeah still, but for a starting price of $999, this is actually NOT pretty good value.
Come on $1000 for a heavy tablet, with only a 64GB SSD ware a big chunk will be used by the Win8 OS, and then $250 for the gaming grip.
Even the Razor Edge Pro with a 128GB SSD and a i7 instead of a i5 would be at $1000 to high to be useful!
Not saying that the price is to high for what it cost to make the tablet, I say the price is way to high for the real world value of the tablet, think whit a efficient Haswell CPU they could make something lighter and more useful.
But unless they get the price down to around $500~600 with a included game controller grip, i dont see lots of people buying this overpriced tablet.
And I wonder if the reviewer was smoking pot, or is this is a Infomercial, instead of a real review, because even do its a wonder of engineering, i don't see the appeal, and a product like this would only find buyers if it had the Apple logo on it!
I don't understand how you can say this is not good value. $1000 is not much if you're in the market for a laptop/tablet and are on the go enough to make it worth it...plugging in and playing games in a small profile for easy packing, carrying, and just general versatility, this is a dream come true.
There are other options out there that I personally think are more feature rich and fit my personal use better in the same price-range and versatility, but even so the Edge fits the same type of device I'd want...and for comparable laptop performance you'd pay the same.
I wouldn't need anything but the keyboard dock if I did get one of these, though I personally have the Vaio Duo 11 that play games great and is much better out-of-the box feature-wise, port-wise, and display-wise. Plus I got the highest spec'd one with 256GB SSD for $1300 after a promo and $100 credit back with the Sony Card.
The main issue would be regular on-the-go battery life but if you can stretch it on power mode to get 4-6hrs, I think that is suitable, since anyone who is getting this should already expect to plug in for heavy game usage unless they're on a flight and want a couple hours of it.
If they packaged the keyboard dock when it is available with the Pro i7, 256GB, 8GB RAM model, for $1500, it would probably be one of the best value gaming laptops for portability on the market.
The Surface Pro with it's i5 and 4GB RAM is sorely lacking in performance. The only real downside for me is the resolution, as my Vaio Duo has spoiled me in that department and all the games I've played (DmC, HL2, Dota 2, WoW, Borderlands 2, Bastion, SC2, Portal 2, L4D2, FC2, and numerous others) all ran smoothly at 1080p if I turned down most settings and looked great at solid 30+FPS if not better.
" $1000 is not much" I am very well off, I am a supervisor in the offshore, and my wife is a deputy director of a local part of the national institute.
Still i think $1000 is way to mouths for what you get in return, like i said, not saying that the price is to high for what it cost to make a device like this, saying if you wait 1~2 generations, you get way more for a lot less.
This tablet falls in the category as the first LCD TVs, they ware around $5000 for a 40", and just like this tablet, the asking price was not to high for what it cost to make one, I am saying, you have to be a idiot to pay $1000~$1500 for something that will be outdated in 2 years by way better devices.
"for $1500, it would probably be one of the best value gaming laptops for portability on the market." Got a ASUS G75VX for work, and a Transformer for on the road, ware i depending on use use the dock with, nut yeah i cant play FPS games on the Transformer, still there are lots of other fun games other the Angry Birds that i can also play on it.
The G75 is a real desktop replacement, i can use when i am @work, I am "on the go enough" about +50% of the year, but i cant really see any real benefits over a normal tablet.
"The Surface Pro with it's i5 and 4GB RAM is sorely lacking in performance." I never said the Surface Pro was a good deal, I say your a idiot or have to mouth money if you if you buy this, as you can be a early adopter of tech that is not ready for prime time, if you buy it anyway i and many others will think something of you, if you tell the total price of what you got in your hands.
"you must be the one smoking pot if you think this would be $500-600 with a controller grip" Read correctly, i did not say the device was was overprices for the tech you get, i say the its just not worth it, as in 2 years from now you get the same for half the price and weight, whit 50% more powerk
i don't think you realise that the only in this thing that is going to get outdated in the next 2-3 years is the battery. as far as the performance goes even you anus will be outdated in the same time frame
Again, it still depends on your perspective - As a consultant in a field where I am working the same places as you (and at the slope among other places which are out of touch with the world) and I never go anywhere without my $1400 (two years ago) SB slate.
What you are glossing over with regards to value is that even when flying at the front, it is infinitely easier to get more work done with a tablet or slate pc because they take up so much less space (even this chunk). If you throw in the ability to do a good job of playing games for those exceedingly rare occasions when you don't have reporting or bureaucratic nonsense to deal with, you don't want to have to pull out a 15" {even ultrabook although they suck for gaming compared to ones with discreet cards} to do anything.
Where the slate PCs come in at far handier than a tablet is that when I am leaving a site with a 6 hour flight to my next destination, I can pull out my slate and begin working on reports and generate graphs using the same proprietary software that I just collected data on. I am not limited to almost-office software, at the mercy of what is (or more appropriately what is not) available for my ARM-based device and can even bring along a full ergonomic keyboard if I wish. Further, when I am flying out, I can prepare my data collection software so that when I arrive I am not scrambling to meet the always over-optimistic "we're going to start up this afternoon" hopes, because you know how bad critical path is during a startup.
Oh, and to add with your last couple of comments...you must be the one smoking pot if you think this would be $500-600 with a controller grip. Are you f***ing serious, lol. That barely gets you an iPad, Surface RT, Nexus 10, or a laptop with s*** specs. To say it should be that price WITH the controller grip is absolutely asinine.
And YOU don't see the appeal, but for someone like myself that travels regularly, is on-the-go for work almost everyday where I spend an hour or two sitting down in various locations, travel regularly for family, vaca, or just to get away with my wife for the weekend, it is perfect. The tablet versatility, performance when needed and I can plug in, plus the small profile for easy carrying/storing/space-use constraints, it really is awesome.
"And YOU don't see the appeal, but for someone like myself that travels regularly" I am a piping supervisor, and i really do see the potential, only my opinion of this device is, nice product but to heavy and to expensive, so no cigar!
I stopped being a early adopter years a go, and learn to wait, as i done +40 years before with out them, so i don't really need it today aider, even do i would like to have it.
Most of what you replied with was not only badly typed, but poorly worded, and incomprehensible. Your replies don't even accurately respond to what I stated.
"I am very well off, I am a supervisor in the offshore, and my wife is a deputy director of a local part of the national institute.
Still i think $1000 is way to mouths for what you get in return, like i said, not saying that the price is to high for what it cost to make a device like this, saying if you wait 1~2 generations, you get way more for a lot less."
Ok, you basicaly contradicted yourself here: Earlier you say $1000 is not good value, I said it is not much if you're in the market for a laptop/tablet, and then you say it's too much for what you get in return...well for some there is no other option and future generations of the product can only be hoped for and anticipated for possibly a year or two. I mean, you might as well tell someone that wants the PS4 to wait for the PS5 since it will be greatly improved. It's not very logical when the competition is similarly priced, it does what it is intended to do, and is not even that costly. $1000 for any type of laptop that can be used for gaming is about average.
And you say you're a supervisor for whatever and make good money...well then you're just a cheapass and shouldn't even be commenting because it's simply you personally that has an issue with money, not that this is actually overpriced or bad value. It's actually VERY GOOD VALUE in an objective look at the current market of tablets/laptops/portable devices. There are very few comparisons for the performance and portability. You're basing value off of "It's a lot of money for what you get" yet you can't tell me something at comparative pricing that offers the same, so the value isn't bad as you seem to think. You're just willing to compromise for a lesser experience because it appears you're probably cheap.
"This tablet falls in the category as the first LCD TVs, they ware around $5000 for a 40", and just like this tablet, the asking price was not to high for what it cost to make one, I am saying, you have to be a idiot to pay $1000~$1500 for something that will be outdated in 2 years by way better devices."
ROFL, NO IT DOES NOT. $1000-1200 is about on par with any other decent specced laptop that can play games nowadays with a mobile GPU. That analogy to LCDs is way off because they were exclusive products at the time offering completely new experience in displays, versus this simply being a more compact device with specs that can be found in other products (laptops) that have a basis for pricing...and it isn't much better for what they offer.
"Got a ASUS G75VX for work, and a Transformer for on the road, ware i depending on use use the dock with, nut yeah i cant play FPS games on the Transformer, still there are lots of other fun games other the Angry Birds that i can also play on it.
The G75 is a real desktop replacement, i can use when i am @work, I am "on the go enough" about +50% of the year, but i cant really see any real benefits over a normal tablet."
Again, you're compromising for the sake of your personal experience in regards to portability and in-convenience. When you try something like the Edge or Sony Vaio Duo you'd probably learn it's much more efficient, convenient, and having multiple devices in most circumstances just aren't as compact, portable, or high-spec.
"The Surface Pro with it's i5 and 4GB RAM is sorely lacking in performance. I never said the Surface Pro was a good deal, I say your a idiot or have to mouth money if you if you buy this, as you can be a early adopter of tech that is not ready for prime time, if you buy it anyway i and many others will think something of you, if you tell the total price of what you got in your hands."
I wasn't saying you did. I was simply posting my own comments about the Surface Pro to put in perspective another device in relation to the Edge. It's not being an early adopter just because it's a Win 8 device that is "new." There have been plenty of high-end Windows tablets in the past few years. The one's we're seeing now are just more refined, and I'd even go as far to say suitable for most people in use and pricing.
"you must be the one smoking pot if you think this would be $500-600 with a controller grip
Read correctly, i did not say the device was was overprices for the tech you get, i say the its just not worth it, as in 2 years from now you get the same for half the price and weight, whit 50% more powerk"
THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID!!! WTF DO YOU THINK "JUST NOT WORTH IT" and "But unless they get the price down to around $500~600 with a included game controller grip, i dont see lots of people buying this overpriced tablet." YOU LITERALLY SAID EXACTLY WHAT YOU JUST REPLIED YOU WEREN'T SAYING. You can't even follow your own damn comments, you obviously have trouble comprehending mine.
Not only that but 2 YEARS to get it for half the price. Seriously, GTFO! Nobody waits 2 years for something that they can use now on a daily basis in a convenient way. It would be completely stupid to wait two years, hell even a year for many people, if they are in the market for a product like this or similar.
You really need to re-read your own comments before you reply, cuz you are way off in nearly everything you continue to say. Just stop while you're already way behind.
Damn man get a life, you act like i just insulted your mother or so.
And if you are even to stupid to read understandably whats the point of arguing.
Basically the concept is nice, and the tech is cutting edge what you can make now, but he is still way to heavy, expensive and don't lest very long. (just like the Surface Pro)
But if you wane buy one, go ahead, i wait 2 years or so, and get a faster one, for half the price and almost half the weight, till then i use what i got, as my Transformer dose everything this tablet dose except High End gaming.
ROFL, get a life. I work in the wireless industry and enjoy everything I do. That took me like 5 mins to reply to and since there is no "quotations" it doubled the length of the reply.
Obviously you lack any real support for your criticisms and responses.
I didn't get the Edge and I won't, I simply read the review and understand the product and it's purpose, use, and value for what it is capable of.
Your Transformer tablet doesn't have an SSD, full desktop applications, games, processing capabilities, accessories, and as you said...you use a laptop to compensate for that. Good job, my phone does everything your Transformer does, so that must mean it's as good as the Edge, right? Dips***.
Man if you don't get it, and only get a hard-on from the tech, thats to bad, but even for 99.999% of the readers this tablet will just not be a option.
I use to own a Ferrari 328 GTS, as i was thinking it was cool, and yes it was, but it was a pain in the ass for daily use, and a normal luxury car is a much better option.
Same go's for this tablet, i think my "Transformer Infinity" tablet is 600g, and i think its all ready pretty heavy for long use, the Edge is a other 50% heavier, what makes it really useless for any long use in on hand, and unless you lay it down or hold it with two hands, good luck holding it longer then 5min!
"I didn't get the Edge and I won't, I simply read the review and understand the product and it's purpose, use, and value for what it is capable of."
I get its purpose, don't get me wrong, and i am looking forward to it, but again.
To heavy! (biggest problem) To expensive! (specially if with all the extra's you need, you will go over $1500) To short battery life!
Al three on them self are more or less game stoppers for me, all three together is just just a total no go, till those problems are fixed, i am not gone get a Razor Edge like product.
I have no problems with the last half or that comment, but your pathetic attempts at insults or perspectives are pointless and unnecessary.
Nothing I said implied I get a hard-on from tech. Literally nothing. I actually gave numerous reasons why there is nothing else on the market that can fit all-around usability of this device, and acknowledged the downsides if you can't manage a workaround or are in a situation where this isn't the product for you...that's fine, but don't say it's bad value because it isn't. You're comparing apples to oranges to clementines.
The difference between your Ferrari example is that it offers NOTHING in usability for daily driving from a Toyota Corolla, so again you offer a terrible example and comparison from your supposed experience.
Meanwhile this device I have repeatedly offered situations that someone would benefit from it, how it has abilities you simply can't get from other devices, along with various other examples of things that make it's value comparable to other so-called alternatives. I'd go into them again but it seems whenever I offer them you ignore them to spout garbage analogies rather than acknowledge what I f***ing say.
Oh and since you're going to come back and say, "I didn't say Toyota Corolla, I said a normal luxury car." I wasn't saying you did, I simply offered a random lower-cost vehicle in comparison. The difference is for someone that is in need of a laptop that plays particular PC games and wants to continue that on their travels (such as myself when I go away for work trips, travel to see family, or go on shorter vacations that I'd like to sit down and play a game for a couple hours a day...I can plug into an outlet and do so, while putting it in power saver for on-the-go browsing, and eventually someone could use an extended battery much like I do with my Sony Vaio Duo that adds little weight).
You obviously are thinking on the basis of carrying it around and using it as a tablet on-the-go for hours at a time rather than from the perspective of a tablet for various needs with the whole package of versatility and options...instead you narrow your view and can't think of how someone would use it outside of yourself.
what's your problem with cannabis, friend? an MRI will show increased brain activity in the frontal cortex when high. Yes, cannabinoids affect short term memory (the most important function of cannabinoids in the brain is to forget, so you don't have to retain every mundane detail of every moment) but what does that have to do with a review? I almost agreed with your opinion, but I don't like you, you must be poking smot. oh yeah, that means what u think it means
That's something I wanted to touch on in the conclusion but ran out of time/forgot: GT3e will make the second generation of this really, really interesting. Haswell/GT3e is going to be an awesome combination, but like Anand tweeted, it'll be a while (14nm in 2015) until we get a real best of both worlds solution.
GT3 is for laptops too (and even the GT3e). Intel has always focused the best IGPs to mobile CPUs because those systems are the most likely to only feature integrated graphics. Desktops often have a dGPU because there's no heat/space/battery issue, especially if the system is geared towards something graphics intensive (IGPs, even lower-end ones, are fine for basic use).
I find this review to be overly generous. Hardware should be reviewed on its merits, not on whether or not you approve of the concept. Asking nearly $2k for this monstrosity is utterly unreasonable.
It starts at $999, and the most reasonable configuration is $1499 - this honestly isn't that much more than Surface Pro or any of the other high-end Windows 8 tablets. I'd much, much rather pay $1499 for Edge Pro + gamepad than $1199 for the ATIV Smart PC Pro + laptop dock. Surface Pro plus Type Cover for $1139 is probably an equally decent value, but significantly slower (i5/HD4000/4GB vs i7/GT640MLE/8GB) and plays in a completely different market.
The docks are still the killers for me. At a desk I want to run 2 monitors at 1080p each minimum, preferrably with both 1920x1200 or better. And a usb keyboard and mouse. I could have a dock setup like that at the work office and home office and just drop the tablet in wherever I'm at. Wouldn't care if the tablet screen was disabled when docked running 2 external displays.
I would also like a transformer style keyboard dock so I could use it as a laptop.
When I can do all that, with an i7/8gb/256gb+ ssd, it will be sweet. It sucks because I'm sure it could be done now and nobody seems to have done it. Hopefully with haswell... but everybody keeps talking about haswell like it's the second coming, I'm worried it's not going to live up to our expectations.
Vivek mentioned Tb, and what you describe is one of the few areas where it'd be really interesting. The dock could itself have a standard graphics card, and thus drive multiple large screens and more powerful gaming while still allowing the tablet part to get away with much less graphics power.
I have to agree with Terd, while $999 may be the prize of entrance for the Edge experience, the review doesn't actually test the default battery configuration (regardless of it being the pro or non pro version).
What this review shows us is a best scenario, using the $250 gamepad attachment and $70 extra battery, that's $320 over the original MSRP, so, even in this scenario you only get 2 hrs of gaming when not plugged to the wall.
The review fails to mention that out of the box this tablet offers only one hour of gaming, and perhaps, less than 3 hrs. of regular use, if razer offered the extra battery with the gamepad attachment it would be a more tolerable proposal, but nickel and diming gamers for the privilege to play for two hrs is way too much, not even Apple limits the user experience in such a way with their overpriced toys...
All of the battery life tests (in the graphs) were done with the internal 41Wh battery, with the tablet alone - not attached to the gamepad or the docking station. 5 hours of light web-usage is for the tablet alone, no extended batteries involved.
The gaming tests were the only ones done with the extended battery and gamepad controller (which I think have to be bought together for the package to make any sense). I do wish that the gamepad came with the extended battery by default, Razer is definitely charging too much for the accessories.
I think the review does a fine job of giving us a sense of the product. The one change I would make is to emphasize the battery issue in the Conclusions in a more concrete way:
For example: "You can only expect around 1 hour of gaming time using the built-in 41 Wh battery and just over 2 hours with the gaming dock plus extra battery pack ($XXX extra). For a system that promises PC-quality gaming on the road, this may be a fatal flaw."
That's the point that really needs to be driven home. This is an impressive system, but the components available today do not have the power efficiency needed to make a truly portable system at this level of performance.
Yeah, the second generation is going to be awesome... whatever. I will wait until that awesome product. And I guess many people will do the same. You can not pretend to sell a hardware product on the assumption that the next one is going to be great. This Razer Edge lacks in graphic power and battery life. This one. The one that is now for sale. That sucks.
I had that system, and I loved the hell out of it. GT 650M is overkill for the 1366x768 panel, FWIW. But the Edge is truly, completely different. It's just a different system in almost every way, there's no real comparison between the two other than on a benchmark sheet.
So I just cannot understand why they chose a tablet form factor. W8 doesn't have many games with touch control (I hate touch control for gaming BTW) so you need keyboard and (good) mouse anyway. And it is not quite portable and very expensive.
A tablet of $1299+ that only Arnold Schwarzenegger could comfortably hold for any time with enough power to heat up your room....... just what we were all waiting for!
This is interesting as a proof-of-concept, but ultimately it's just not terribly practical: too big and bulky, too much heat, too little battery power. The tech just isn't there for this to work at this point in time.
I think building something like this around a Trinity/Richland solution would yield better results. As seen on the charts, Trinity games well enough at 720p and medium settings.
I think this is really the future. With Haswell you could have one PC that does everything. Mobile gaming. Docking to PC setup. Docking to TV. Bring to work with keyboard configuration. And so on...
It seems expensive but 2500 for the only computer you need anywhere really isn't bad.
I agree with you on price. I wouldn't buy this NOW, but considering this is the first dGPU tablet effort (I think this is true?) there's so much room to improve in the next few years. I guess I really hadn't considered combining an x86 tablet with a GPU hardy enough to do some gaming on as well. I always made the assumption of integrated graphics, and someone was crazy enough to build it. Like Vivek, I'm very much intrigued.
damn, just switch it to controller compatibility mode in steam and youre set! So many good games to play that dont need a mouse+keyboard. This is a pretty sweet system
Why not both? I had a chance to play with a Shield at PAX East, and it was a nice unit, but the lack of AAA Android games is a (possibly temporary) downside. There was Shadowgun and the Dead Trigger demo and the promise of Hawken . . . but that was about it.
"10.1” 1366x768 IPS display" "a bit thicker than other tablets at 19.5mm" "priced at US$1200-$1400" Stopped reading after seeing the above. A very niche market product.
Think about it in terms of gaming though (as in, with a mouse or gamepad). Many, many people with tablets only play Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Cut the Rope.
That's not what I said, though. The original comment was "why a tablet when a laptop goes everywhere it does without the compromises?" The reply was many disagree with that (implying tablet sales were an indicator of gamers choosing tablets.) My reply was meant to say that real gaming wasn't happening on those tablets, and as such didn't indicate that gamers were ok with the compromises. I don't personally believe the the battery life, performance and cost are worth the "gaming tablet" concept, but then I don't like playing games on PC with the Xbox 360 controller. I prefer the wider range of motion and larger key count of a mouse+keyboard.
His point is that tablets excel in touch-based games and activities. Once you start playing regular PC games that do not use touch, the whole advantage of a tablet compared to a laptop becomes iffy. Add enormous weight and short battery life and I, frankly, too do not see a point in this hybrid.
Take a laptop - small, large, anything - and try to play an FPS or a racing game while riding the bus or subway. Or sit on your couch and try. It's somewhere between difficult and impossible to do, even if you use a touchpad and not an external mouse.
The Edge works like a massive Gameboy Advance or PSP - just hold the controllers and go from there. It's closer to a portable console in experience than a notebook PC, even if it has PC silicon inside.
Plug in an Xbox controller, or use a wireless one. Heck, I believe you can connect a PS3 controller via bluetooth as well. I think you could play an FPS or racing game on a laptop fairly well that way.
Vivek, I have a Razer Edge Pro on pre-order, and I was wondering what you used to carry it around on airline flights. Is there a particular type of bag or case that works well to carry the Edge while docked with the gamepad? (Preferably one that's easy to pull out mid-flight.)
I just put it in my 17" notebook backpack (High Sierra Elite, $30 at Costco). You'll need at least a 15" backpack to fit it, the dimensions with the gamepad controller attached are roughly 15.9x7.7x1.3" - the width is about an inch and a half more than then MBP15, but only .75" more than the Dell XPS15z so your mileage may vary. 17" notebook bags hold it with ease though.
If you were told that the spec is TN panels and you were given an IPS, then that means you were given a cherry picked unit and many of the launch units will include a TN panel and still be "up to spec."
Whoops.
Also, I think it's pretty short sighted to say, "Well, 1366x768 is fine because gaming is going to be bad on a 1080p panel with that GPU." First, not every game is Crysis 3. Second, not everyone is going to want a decent PC-based tablet just to game. Some of them are in fact going to watch movies and/or web browse from time to time and having a high resolution panel would benefit them.
Perhaps Razer should have spec'ed a 2560x1440 panel to give the best of both worlds. Excellent with all content except games and a great way to down-rez to 1280x720 for high end gaming.
Considering the high cost of this thing (including one of those peripherals in your purchase price is a necessity), I think a high res panel is the least they could have done.
Anyway, good review except for you're constant apologies for Razer's mistakes. Also, I can't help feeling like this device REALLY reminds me of the first Razer Blade. The one that came out just before Ivy Bridge and sucked, only to be replaced in a few months time by a version that included IB, better power per watt, better everything, and a slightly lower price.
With Haswell incoming, buying one of these based on IB is downright wasteful since anyone who would want this will want that, too. Might as well wait.
Especially when the keyboard add-on isn't even ready for primetime.
Pre-launch, I was told TN, but that was apparently a mistake - all specsheets and units (preproduction as well as final production) I have encountered have been IPS. The production version has always been IPS, there's been nothing to indicate that mine was a cherry picked unit.
Everyone is free to like what they will, here is my 2 cents on this thing:
1. Ugly as hell 2. Pretty fat and bulky 3. Waay overpriced
Really, for what this thing costs base price, you can go buy a laptop that has all the same features or more, is just about the same thickness, already has all the "optional" ports, charger and other crap, more storage. That's before the overprived accessories.
For all the people that think, "But I can haz buttunz own itz." just add a ps3 controller to a laptop or use motionjoys PS3 controller driver and you have the same or better.
I'm not quite sure why so many people are hating on the Razer Edge and Vivek's review.
He liked the machine and had a lot of fun playing games on it, he addresses the weaknesses and the strengths. He came to a conclusion and it is not an absurd one.
The tech industry needs visionaries and companies that release bleeding edge products. Not every original release can be as polished as we would like, I would argue that the opposite is true... most initial genre creating products have some pretty rough edges!
Kudos to Razer for having the balls to produce something like this: a tablet that can play PC games (without having to stream them from somewhere else).
Kudos to Vivek for taking the time to review and benchmark it so we can read about if for free and come to our own conclusion about purchasing it or not.
Now, what I would like to know a bit more about: +can it easily be taken apart? (b/c I would like to know about upgrading the SSD) +what is the warranty? +what interface does the dock use (like what bandwidth does it have and what does the connector look like) [they mention that they didn't put USB3 on the dock there b/c not enough bandwidth, and that surprised me...]
Anyhoo, thanks for the review Vivek, I appreciate it!!!
re we talking Surface Pro hard (i.e. sure it uses mSATA but you'll likely break it to upgrade it), or Dell XPS 10 (relatively easy). More info about tablet serviceability here: http://www.jdhodges.com/2013/03/tablet-teardowns/
I like this (A LOT), but the price point is too high. The $1499 bundle probably needs to be under $1000. The weight and thickness honestly don't bother me overly.
Cool that they actually pretty much pulled this off. I'd loooooove to have one, but realistically the money is better spent towards a normal, more powerful notebook (just got an M17x-R4 with a GTX 680).
I wish that you got the features of the HDMI dock (either through the dock or built in) plus the second battery, plus the controller dock all included at any of the price points...I'd feel better about that price-wise. Interesting how it might handle games that really need a mouse and keyboard too...and yeah, it ought to have first party controller-as-mouse support, considering.
The Vita can't sell at $250 but a heavy $1000+ tablet based around gaming will? How does this stuff get past being laughed at during the boardroom meeting and get actually made?
Because Razer operates on large profit margins, and judging by the Blade and this thing, I'm pretty sure they don't really have any interest in putting out cheap "me-too" platforms. They're more interested in pushing innovative platforms and don't need or expect to move large volumes of the product.
Lolz, this is designed fist as a portable gaming device even though it makes every compromise you can. its price its stupid high, and it looks plain goofy. This thing is stupid and has no place in the market. It sits right up there with the N-gage in the history of dumb gaming devices.
How can you not include IVB integrated results in the games charts? What is wrong with you? That is the ONLY important test that needs to be done to the Edge - is it worth the cost and added bulk over integrated or is it not...
Also, saying Civ V is not playable is ridiculous. You did something wrong in the testing. It was playable on my ancient HP tm2 tablet, and that is worse than even the IVB integrated GPU. With the Edge it should be a ton better.
I really do love the idea of this but it is obvious to me I'll have to wait a year of two for this category to mature. The next few years are going to be interesting.
Once again their first attempt is not viable. At 1000 dollars I'd like to see a higher resolution screen, 1600x900 at least. I realize the gpu can't take it, but you can run games at 720p and you'll be fine. Resolution comes down to screen real estate. I need more than 768 vertical pixels. Especially at $1000!!! Furthermore I agree a 64GB SSD is almost useless. 128 should be the entry point with a 256 and maybe a 380 option. I know they can get 256GB SSD's for 150, probably less if they buy in bulk.
The thickness of the screen bezel makes me feel like it belongs in the late 90's/early 2000's. Expand the screen .4 to .6 inches and keep the same chassis with a smaller bezel.
I see no value from the i7 "upgrade" and don't want to be forced into it just to get a reasonably sized SSD.
On the controller, maybe try moving ab xy to the back, so they line up with you ring and middle fingers? Not sure how well this would work as I've never used anything like it.
Can they get any more stupid? They just trashed any hope of any future for this brand name. This is way way waaaaay too much money to pay for something that gives you such a small boost compared to a bargain bin AMD A10 notebook. They should have just waited for Richland and made a deal with AMD. They could have gotten about the same gaming performance, with 50% better battery life and $400+ cut from the price tag. They could have brought us something decent without the outrageous price that is going to make most people laugh and never look at this brand again. People commenting on facebook and twitter are just morons. It is easy for people to say they want all these things from a product, but it doesnt mean they are actually going to buy what they claim they want.
They should use an AMD Jaguar for this. Only an AMD APU will provide the kind of low power consumption and great GPU performance stuffed into a 15w power envelope. Jaguar's GPU destroys the GT640.
So basically this is a tablet thicker than an Ultrabook, with less i/o ports than an Ultrabook, and overpriced gamepad that make it wider than a 17" gamining laptop, all for the pleasure of playing at 1368 resolution? No thanks I'll keep my Alienware notebook. For gimmicky games at low resolution I have a phone.
I heard an interview with a game developer who started in PC gaming, forget which one. He said they pushed for the switch from PC to consules, tragic. Now he said their push is going to be from consules to mobile devices, even worse. These are sad days for PC gamers, and each step down to lower end hardware has cut the potential of gaming.
I think a lot of people miss the point and just overlook the potential uses this offers for people that might travel a few weeks or even months out of the year and are on the go a lot.
For work I spend a couple weeks in a hotel a year, travel to see family a week or two, and spend a few weekends away here or there, not to mention just driving around or spending time out and about sitting down someplace for an hour or two.
There is no way I'd haul around my gaming desktop, this is great for on the couch average use, docking on-the-go, and gaming when plugged while traveling.
BUT, I ended up getting the Sony Vaio Duo 11 two months ago and it does all of this stuff, has a backlit keyboard attached already, I got the extended battery on sale, and total I paid $1450 for mine with a promo + $100 credit since I got the Sony Card, plus 8500 points ($85 more dollars of Sony Rewards). So out-the-door around $1300 with the newer i7 3537u, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, and the HD 4000 has played 90% of the games at full resolution (1080p).
Not to mention the HDMI built in, VGA out, SD slot, 2 USB 3.0 slots, and numerous other features that make it much more handy in a laptop functionality (gaming) a lot with still being portable for touch use in tablet mode.
For the people that rip on these products as being overpriced...no. When an ARM tablet can cost $500-800 and an ultrabook $1000+, paying $200-500 more for this with the hardware you're getting, storage/SSD, and accessibility, it is NOT really that expensive.
Now if all you do is sit at home and play games for a few minutes on your phone when on-the-go, or you don't care about space and lugging around a large laptop...then maybe this isn't for you. But both the Edge and Vaio Duo for me were great fits, I just happened to be perfectly happy with the Duo as to not need the Edge.
Weight and battery life are killers for this product. Price is an issue but there are people willing to pay for the mobility and they would not mind paying extra for exclusivity too. But once you consider that you always (ALWAYS!) need to brace this tablet against something (be it a lap on a train or table at the coffee shop) and that even then you can get at most 2 hours on a freshly charged batteries, the appeal of this hybrid goes way down and frankly, you can do the same on a laptop with a good trackpad, costing much less and having more versatility in other functions. By the way, I was surprised that Vivek never mentioned how absence of the physical keyboard affected using this device. Microsoft did a piss poor job with the virtual keyboard that blocks 2/3 of the screen every time you bring it up and when something like this happens as you prepare to game, it would be a major nuisance.
It's definitely an interesting product. I don't need a portable gaming machine, so this isn't for me. But even if it were: no display output and the display resolution kill it for me. You may justify the resolution, but it is still not acceptable for me. I'd rather have smaller pixels so that non-native resolutions look better as well. This is a compromise I'm not willing to put up with (and yes, I know that higher resolution would also mean more power draw from the display at same brightness). Also, 11.6" would have been a better display size in my opinion, could have upped the battery package or reduced the thickness. And I personally still don't play FPS games with a gamepad (or many other types for that matter) so for many games I'd need the dock and a keyboard/mouse. All in all, I think I'm better off with sticking with my Ativ Pro for the few games I want to play when I'm on holidays. :D As for the review: Well done. But I'd really like a comment on whether or not this tablet supports Optimus and the corresponding battery life. :)
As an Edge Pro owner, I agree with what has been written in the review. I've been busy installing and playing games since it arrived yesterday. It is fun.
I have tried the Surface Pro. The lower resolution of the Edge is not an issue. If anything, it makes it easier to select things when at the traditional desktop. The screen is quite nice, and I have a retina iPad and a Kindle Fire HD for comparison.
This is an early adopter product. It is not for everyone. Just like the first Blade, if you balk at the price it isn't for you. The Razer store sold out of the initial production run of the 256GB Edge Pro in less than five hours. There is a market for it.
I can picture the scene now outside the Razer store. A bunch of happy gamers walking out to their Corolla's, stumbling over the curb as they are locked into an intense game of Half Life, while dozens of well dressed men in suits shake there head and sneer as they lament how much money these gamers are wasting on this platform. The men in suits then jump into their Ferrari 328 GTS's and cruise off into the sunset, waiting in tempered melancholy for the day when they, too, will have the means to afford a handheld gaming unit that will bring joy to their lives.
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randomlinh - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
This is how I envision a Steam box. Pick up and play anywhere... and if I have the time, dock it to a TV for big screen fun.Now I just need the price to cut in half....
SR81 - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
... except Valve has the intention of it being a $99 set top box that streams your games from your PC, just like the NVIDIA Shield without a screen.Mumrik - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
I have to assume this thing is for people looking to replace their normal stationary/laptop.Havor - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Yeah still, but for a starting price of $999, this is actually NOT pretty good value.Come on $1000 for a heavy tablet, with only a 64GB SSD ware a big chunk will be used by the Win8 OS, and then $250 for the gaming grip.
Even the Razor Edge Pro with a 128GB SSD and a i7 instead of a i5 would be at $1000 to high to be useful!
Not saying that the price is to high for what it cost to make the tablet, I say the price is way to high for the real world value of the tablet, think whit a efficient Haswell CPU they could make something lighter and more useful.
But unless they get the price down to around $500~600 with a included game controller grip, i dont see lots of people buying this overpriced tablet.
And I wonder if the reviewer was smoking pot, or is this is a Infomercial, instead of a real review, because even do its a wonder of engineering, i don't see the appeal, and a product like this would only find buyers if it had the Apple logo on it!
perry1mm - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
I don't understand how you can say this is not good value. $1000 is not much if you're in the market for a laptop/tablet and are on the go enough to make it worth it...plugging in and playing games in a small profile for easy packing, carrying, and just general versatility, this is a dream come true.There are other options out there that I personally think are more feature rich and fit my personal use better in the same price-range and versatility, but even so the Edge fits the same type of device I'd want...and for comparable laptop performance you'd pay the same.
I wouldn't need anything but the keyboard dock if I did get one of these, though I personally have the Vaio Duo 11 that play games great and is much better out-of-the box feature-wise, port-wise, and display-wise. Plus I got the highest spec'd one with 256GB SSD for $1300 after a promo and $100 credit back with the Sony Card.
The main issue would be regular on-the-go battery life but if you can stretch it on power mode to get 4-6hrs, I think that is suitable, since anyone who is getting this should already expect to plug in for heavy game usage unless they're on a flight and want a couple hours of it.
If they packaged the keyboard dock when it is available with the Pro i7, 256GB, 8GB RAM model, for $1500, it would probably be one of the best value gaming laptops for portability on the market.
The Surface Pro with it's i5 and 4GB RAM is sorely lacking in performance. The only real downside for me is the resolution, as my Vaio Duo has spoiled me in that department and all the games I've played (DmC, HL2, Dota 2, WoW, Borderlands 2, Bastion, SC2, Portal 2, L4D2, FC2, and numerous others) all ran smoothly at 1080p if I turned down most settings and looked great at solid 30+FPS if not better.
Havor - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
" $1000 is not much"I am very well off, I am a supervisor in the offshore, and my wife is a deputy director of a local part of the national institute.
Still i think $1000 is way to mouths for what you get in return, like i said, not saying that the price is to high for what it cost to make a device like this, saying if you wait 1~2 generations, you get way more for a lot less.
This tablet falls in the category as the first LCD TVs, they ware around $5000 for a 40", and just like this tablet, the asking price was not to high for what it cost to make one, I am saying, you have to be a idiot to pay $1000~$1500 for something that will be outdated in 2 years by way better devices.
"for $1500, it would probably be one of the best value gaming laptops for portability on the market."
Got a ASUS G75VX for work, and a Transformer for on the road, ware i depending on use use the dock with, nut yeah i cant play FPS games on the Transformer, still there are lots of other fun games other the Angry Birds that i can also play on it.
The G75 is a real desktop replacement, i can use when i am @work, I am "on the go enough" about +50% of the year, but i cant really see any real benefits over a normal tablet.
"The Surface Pro with it's i5 and 4GB RAM is sorely lacking in performance."
I never said the Surface Pro was a good deal, I say your a idiot or have to mouth money if you if you buy this, as you can be a early adopter of tech that is not ready for prime time, if you buy it anyway i and many others will think something of you, if you tell the total price of what you got in your hands.
"you must be the one smoking pot if you think this would be $500-600 with a controller grip"
Read correctly, i did not say the device was was overprices for the tech you get, i say the its just not worth it, as in 2 years from now you get the same for half the price and weight, whit 50% more powerk
rviswas11 - Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - link
i don't think you realise that the only in this thing that is going to get outdated in the next 2-3 years is the battery. as far as the performance goes even you anus will be outdated in the same time framerviswas11 - Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - link
sorry i ;meant asus.truthbeacon - Saturday, April 6, 2013 - link
Again, it still depends on your perspective - As a consultant in a field where I am working the same places as you (and at the slope among other places which are out of touch with the world) and I never go anywhere without my $1400 (two years ago) SB slate.What you are glossing over with regards to value is that even when flying at the front, it is infinitely easier to get more work done with a tablet or slate pc because they take up so much less space (even this chunk). If you throw in the ability to do a good job of playing games for those exceedingly rare occasions when you don't have reporting or bureaucratic nonsense to deal with, you don't want to have to pull out a 15" {even ultrabook although they suck for gaming compared to ones with discreet cards} to do anything.
Where the slate PCs come in at far handier than a tablet is that when I am leaving a site with a 6 hour flight to my next destination, I can pull out my slate and begin working on reports and generate graphs using the same proprietary software that I just collected data on. I am not limited to almost-office software, at the mercy of what is (or more appropriately what is not) available for my ARM-based device and can even bring along a full ergonomic keyboard if I wish. Further, when I am flying out, I can prepare my data collection software so that when I arrive I am not scrambling to meet the always over-optimistic "we're going to start up this afternoon" hopes, because you know how bad critical path is during a startup.
perry1mm - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
Oh, and to add with your last couple of comments...you must be the one smoking pot if you think this would be $500-600 with a controller grip. Are you f***ing serious, lol. That barely gets you an iPad, Surface RT, Nexus 10, or a laptop with s*** specs. To say it should be that price WITH the controller grip is absolutely asinine.And YOU don't see the appeal, but for someone like myself that travels regularly, is on-the-go for work almost everyday where I spend an hour or two sitting down in various locations, travel regularly for family, vaca, or just to get away with my wife for the weekend, it is perfect. The tablet versatility, performance when needed and I can plug in, plus the small profile for easy carrying/storing/space-use constraints, it really is awesome.
Havor - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
"And YOU don't see the appeal, but for someone like myself that travels regularly"I am a piping supervisor, and i really do see the potential, only my opinion of this device is, nice product but to heavy and to expensive, so no cigar!
I stopped being a early adopter years a go, and learn to wait, as i done +40 years before with out them, so i don't really need it today aider, even do i would like to have it.
perry1mm - Sunday, March 31, 2013 - link
Most of what you replied with was not only badly typed, but poorly worded, and incomprehensible. Your replies don't even accurately respond to what I stated."I am very well off, I am a supervisor in the offshore, and my wife is a deputy director of a local part of the national institute.
Still i think $1000 is way to mouths for what you get in return, like i said, not saying that the price is to high for what it cost to make a device like this, saying if you wait 1~2 generations, you get way more for a lot less."
Ok, you basicaly contradicted yourself here: Earlier you say $1000 is not good value, I said it is not much if you're in the market for a laptop/tablet, and then you say it's too much for what you get in return...well for some there is no other option and future generations of the product can only be hoped for and anticipated for possibly a year or two. I mean, you might as well tell someone that wants the PS4 to wait for the PS5 since it will be greatly improved. It's not very logical when the competition is similarly priced, it does what it is intended to do, and is not even that costly. $1000 for any type of laptop that can be used for gaming is about average.
And you say you're a supervisor for whatever and make good money...well then you're just a cheapass and shouldn't even be commenting because it's simply you personally that has an issue with money, not that this is actually overpriced or bad value. It's actually VERY GOOD VALUE in an objective look at the current market of tablets/laptops/portable devices. There are very few comparisons for the performance and portability. You're basing value off of "It's a lot of money for what you get" yet you can't tell me something at comparative pricing that offers the same, so the value isn't bad as you seem to think. You're just willing to compromise for a lesser experience because it appears you're probably cheap.
"This tablet falls in the category as the first LCD TVs, they ware around $5000 for a 40", and just like this tablet, the asking price was not to high for what it cost to make one, I am saying, you have to be a idiot to pay $1000~$1500 for something that will be outdated in 2 years by way better devices."
ROFL, NO IT DOES NOT. $1000-1200 is about on par with any other decent specced laptop that can play games nowadays with a mobile GPU. That analogy to LCDs is way off because they were exclusive products at the time offering completely new experience in displays, versus this simply being a more compact device with specs that can be found in other products (laptops) that have a basis for pricing...and it isn't much better for what they offer.
"Got a ASUS G75VX for work, and a Transformer for on the road, ware i depending on use use the dock with, nut yeah i cant play FPS games on the Transformer, still there are lots of other fun games other the Angry Birds that i can also play on it.
The G75 is a real desktop replacement, i can use when i am @work, I am "on the go enough" about +50% of the year, but i cant really see any real benefits over a normal tablet."
Again, you're compromising for the sake of your personal experience in regards to portability and in-convenience. When you try something like the Edge or Sony Vaio Duo you'd probably learn it's much more efficient, convenient, and having multiple devices in most circumstances just aren't as compact, portable, or high-spec.
"The Surface Pro with it's i5 and 4GB RAM is sorely lacking in performance.
I never said the Surface Pro was a good deal, I say your a idiot or have to mouth money if you if you buy this, as you can be a early adopter of tech that is not ready for prime time, if you buy it anyway i and many others will think something of you, if you tell the total price of what you got in your hands."
I wasn't saying you did. I was simply posting my own comments about the Surface Pro to put in perspective another device in relation to the Edge. It's not being an early adopter just because it's a Win 8 device that is "new." There have been plenty of high-end Windows tablets in the past few years. The one's we're seeing now are just more refined, and I'd even go as far to say suitable for most people in use and pricing.
"you must be the one smoking pot if you think this would be $500-600 with a controller grip
Read correctly, i did not say the device was was overprices for the tech you get, i say the its just not worth it, as in 2 years from now you get the same for half the price and weight, whit 50% more powerk"
THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID!!! WTF DO YOU THINK "JUST NOT WORTH IT" and "But unless they get the price down to around $500~600 with a included game controller grip, i dont see lots of people buying this overpriced tablet." YOU LITERALLY SAID EXACTLY WHAT YOU JUST REPLIED YOU WEREN'T SAYING. You can't even follow your own damn comments, you obviously have trouble comprehending mine.
Not only that but 2 YEARS to get it for half the price. Seriously, GTFO! Nobody waits 2 years for something that they can use now on a daily basis in a convenient way. It would be completely stupid to wait two years, hell even a year for many people, if they are in the market for a product like this or similar.
You really need to re-read your own comments before you reply, cuz you are way off in nearly everything you continue to say. Just stop while you're already way behind.
Havor - Sunday, March 31, 2013 - link
Damn man get a life, you act like i just insulted your mother or so.And if you are even to stupid to read understandably whats the point of arguing.
Basically the concept is nice, and the tech is cutting edge what you can make now, but he is still way to heavy, expensive and don't lest very long. (just like the Surface Pro)
But if you wane buy one, go ahead, i wait 2 years or so, and get a faster one, for half the price and almost half the weight, till then i use what i got, as my Transformer dose everything this tablet dose except High End gaming.
perry1mm - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
ROFL, get a life. I work in the wireless industry and enjoy everything I do. That took me like 5 mins to reply to and since there is no "quotations" it doubled the length of the reply.Obviously you lack any real support for your criticisms and responses.
I didn't get the Edge and I won't, I simply read the review and understand the product and it's purpose, use, and value for what it is capable of.
Your Transformer tablet doesn't have an SSD, full desktop applications, games, processing capabilities, accessories, and as you said...you use a laptop to compensate for that. Good job, my phone does everything your Transformer does, so that must mean it's as good as the Edge, right? Dips***.
Havor - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
Man if you don't get it, and only get a hard-on from the tech, thats to bad, but even for 99.999% of the readers this tablet will just not be a option.I use to own a Ferrari 328 GTS, as i was thinking it was cool, and yes it was, but it was a pain in the ass for daily use, and a normal luxury car is a much better option.
Same go's for this tablet, i think my "Transformer Infinity" tablet is 600g, and i think its all ready pretty heavy for long use, the Edge is a other 50% heavier, what makes it really useless for any long use in on hand, and unless you lay it down or hold it with two hands, good luck holding it longer then 5min!
"I didn't get the Edge and I won't, I simply read the review and understand the product and it's purpose, use, and value for what it is capable of."
I get its purpose, don't get me wrong, and i am looking forward to it, but again.
To heavy! (biggest problem)
To expensive! (specially if with all the extra's you need, you will go over $1500)
To short battery life!
Al three on them self are more or less game stoppers for me, all three together is just just a total no go, till those problems are fixed, i am not gone get a Razor Edge like product.
perry1mm - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
I have no problems with the last half or that comment, but your pathetic attempts at insults or perspectives are pointless and unnecessary.Nothing I said implied I get a hard-on from tech. Literally nothing. I actually gave numerous reasons why there is nothing else on the market that can fit all-around usability of this device, and acknowledged the downsides if you can't manage a workaround or are in a situation where this isn't the product for you...that's fine, but don't say it's bad value because it isn't. You're comparing apples to oranges to clementines.
The difference between your Ferrari example is that it offers NOTHING in usability for daily driving from a Toyota Corolla, so again you offer a terrible example and comparison from your supposed experience.
Meanwhile this device I have repeatedly offered situations that someone would benefit from it, how it has abilities you simply can't get from other devices, along with various other examples of things that make it's value comparable to other so-called alternatives. I'd go into them again but it seems whenever I offer them you ignore them to spout garbage analogies rather than acknowledge what I f***ing say.
perry1mm - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
Oh and since you're going to come back and say, "I didn't say Toyota Corolla, I said a normal luxury car." I wasn't saying you did, I simply offered a random lower-cost vehicle in comparison. The difference is for someone that is in need of a laptop that plays particular PC games and wants to continue that on their travels (such as myself when I go away for work trips, travel to see family, or go on shorter vacations that I'd like to sit down and play a game for a couple hours a day...I can plug into an outlet and do so, while putting it in power saver for on-the-go browsing, and eventually someone could use an extended battery much like I do with my Sony Vaio Duo that adds little weight).You obviously are thinking on the basis of carrying it around and using it as a tablet on-the-go for hours at a time rather than from the perspective of a tablet for various needs with the whole package of versatility and options...instead you narrow your view and can't think of how someone would use it outside of yourself.
aNaNDaMiDe - Thursday, April 18, 2013 - link
what's your problem with cannabis, friend? an MRI will show increased brain activity in the frontal cortex when high. Yes, cannabinoids affect short term memory (the most important function of cannabinoids in the brain is to forget, so you don't have to retain every mundane detail of every moment) but what does that have to do with a review? I almost agreed with your opinion, but I don't like you, you must be poking smot. oh yeah, that means what u think it meansdamianrobertjones - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
"Pick up and play anywhere" - Wouldn't that be called a laptop?Hrel - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
If your laptop weighed 3 lbs and had an integrated xbox360 controller.A5 - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
It seems like the 2nd generation of this will be way better, if what half of Intel is saying about Haswell and GT3e is true.VivekGowri - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
That's something I wanted to touch on in the conclusion but ran out of time/forgot: GT3e will make the second generation of this really, really interesting. Haswell/GT3e is going to be an awesome combination, but like Anand tweeted, it'll be a while (14nm in 2015) until we get a real best of both worlds solution.A5 - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
Yeah, it seems that way. Thanks for the reply.tech.noob.fella - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
isnt gt3 only for desktops?? i thought gt2 was for portables like this machine...not sure thoughKristian Vättö - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
GT3 is for laptops too (and even the GT3e). Intel has always focused the best IGPs to mobile CPUs because those systems are the most likely to only feature integrated graphics. Desktops often have a dGPU because there's no heat/space/battery issue, especially if the system is geared towards something graphics intensive (IGPs, even lower-end ones, are fine for basic use).TerdFerguson - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
I find this review to be overly generous. Hardware should be reviewed on its merits, not on whether or not you approve of the concept. Asking nearly $2k for this monstrosity is utterly unreasonable.VivekGowri - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
It starts at $999, and the most reasonable configuration is $1499 - this honestly isn't that much more than Surface Pro or any of the other high-end Windows 8 tablets. I'd much, much rather pay $1499 for Edge Pro + gamepad than $1199 for the ATIV Smart PC Pro + laptop dock. Surface Pro plus Type Cover for $1139 is probably an equally decent value, but significantly slower (i5/HD4000/4GB vs i7/GT640MLE/8GB) and plays in a completely different market.andrewaggb - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
The docks are still the killers for me. At a desk I want to run 2 monitors at 1080p each minimum, preferrably with both 1920x1200 or better. And a usb keyboard and mouse. I could have a dock setup like that at the work office and home office and just drop the tablet in wherever I'm at. Wouldn't care if the tablet screen was disabled when docked running 2 external displays.I would also like a transformer style keyboard dock so I could use it as a laptop.
When I can do all that, with an i7/8gb/256gb+ ssd, it will be sweet. It sucks because I'm sure it could be done now and nobody seems to have done it. Hopefully with haswell... but everybody keeps talking about haswell like it's the second coming, I'm worried it's not going to live up to our expectations.
zanon - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
Vivek mentioned Tb, and what you describe is one of the few areas where it'd be really interesting. The dock could itself have a standard graphics card, and thus drive multiple large screens and more powerful gaming while still allowing the tablet part to get away with much less graphics power.15th Warlock - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
I have to agree with Terd, while $999 may be the prize of entrance for the Edge experience, the review doesn't actually test the default battery configuration (regardless of it being the pro or non pro version).What this review shows us is a best scenario, using the $250 gamepad attachment and $70 extra battery, that's $320 over the original MSRP, so, even in this scenario you only get 2 hrs of gaming when not plugged to the wall.
The review fails to mention that out of the box this tablet offers only one hour of gaming, and perhaps, less than 3 hrs. of regular use, if razer offered the extra battery with the gamepad attachment it would be a more tolerable proposal, but nickel and diming gamers for the privilege to play for two hrs is way too much, not even Apple limits the user experience in such a way with their overpriced toys...
VivekGowri - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
All of the battery life tests (in the graphs) were done with the internal 41Wh battery, with the tablet alone - not attached to the gamepad or the docking station. 5 hours of light web-usage is for the tablet alone, no extended batteries involved.The gaming tests were the only ones done with the extended battery and gamepad controller (which I think have to be bought together for the package to make any sense). I do wish that the gamepad came with the extended battery by default, Razer is definitely charging too much for the accessories.
TrackSmart - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
I think the review does a fine job of giving us a sense of the product. The one change I would make is to emphasize the battery issue in the Conclusions in a more concrete way:For example: "You can only expect around 1 hour of gaming time using the built-in 41 Wh battery and just over 2 hours with the gaming dock plus extra battery pack ($XXX extra). For a system that promises PC-quality gaming on the road, this may be a fatal flaw."
That's the point that really needs to be driven home. This is an impressive system, but the components available today do not have the power efficiency needed to make a truly portable system at this level of performance.
apertotes - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
Yeah, the second generation is going to be awesome... whatever. I will wait until that awesome product. And I guess many people will do the same. You can not pretend to sell a hardware product on the assumption that the next one is going to be great. This Razer Edge lacks in graphic power and battery life. This one. The one that is now for sale. That sucks.nerd1 - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
All razor so-called gaming PCs are big joke, I wonder what they are thinking. I'd rather get a clevo 11.6" with 650M on this.VivekGowri - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
I had that system, and I loved the hell out of it. GT 650M is overkill for the 1366x768 panel, FWIW. But the Edge is truly, completely different. It's just a different system in almost every way, there's no real comparison between the two other than on a benchmark sheet.nerd1 - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
So I just cannot understand why they chose a tablet form factor. W8 doesn't have many games with touch control (I hate touch control for gaming BTW) so you need keyboard and (good) mouse anyway. And it is not quite portable and very expensive.VivekGowri - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
when one sets out to make a gaming tablet, choosing a tablet form factor would in theory seem logical, no?kyuu - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
That's what the shell with the gamepad controls is for...?A5 - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it is pointless.bountygiver - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
But hope some games can add touch control where appropriate. (Like civ 5)batteries4ever - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
Very nice and actually a few days early.........A tablet of $1299+ that only Arnold Schwarzenegger could comfortably hold for any time with enough power to heat up your room....... just what we were all waiting for!
kyuu - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
This is interesting as a proof-of-concept, but ultimately it's just not terribly practical: too big and bulky, too much heat, too little battery power. The tech just isn't there for this to work at this point in time.I think building something like this around a Trinity/Richland solution would yield better results. As seen on the charts, Trinity games well enough at 720p and medium settings.
SmCaudata - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
I think this is really the future. With Haswell you could have one PC that does everything.Mobile gaming. Docking to PC setup. Docking to TV. Bring to work with keyboard configuration. And so on...
It seems expensive but 2500 for the only computer you need anywhere really isn't bad.
jamyryals - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
I agree with you on price. I wouldn't buy this NOW, but considering this is the first dGPU tablet effort (I think this is true?) there's so much room to improve in the next few years. I guess I really hadn't considered combining an x86 tablet with a GPU hardy enough to do some gaming on as well. I always made the assumption of integrated graphics, and someone was crazy enough to build it. Like Vivek, I'm very much intrigued.flyingpants1 - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Literally everything you said can be done with any current laptop. Lenovo Y580 runs BF3 @ 1080p and it's $900.thesavvymage - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
damn, just switch it to controller compatibility mode in steam and youre set! So many good games to play that dont need a mouse+keyboard. This is a pretty sweet systemgostan - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
heavy, bulky, thick, 2 hours battery life with compromised graphics setting, low res display, noisy and it costs 2000.seriously, why bother?
mayankleoboy1 - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
So, would you buy this, or Nvidia Shield ? :PRoninX - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
Why not both? I had a chance to play with a Shield at PAX East, and it was a nice unit, but the lack of AAA Android games is a (possibly temporary) downside. There was Shadowgun and the Dead Trigger demo and the promise of Hawken . . . but that was about it.vvk - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
"10.1” 1366x768 IPS display""a bit thicker than other tablets at 19.5mm"
"priced at US$1200-$1400"
Stopped reading after seeing the above. A very niche market product.
Blibbax - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
"would be awkward or impossible to play PC games are no longer so"Where can you use this that you couldn't use a similar sized laptop, though? This is what I don't get about tablets in general.
jamyryals - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
Many, many people disagree with you about tablets.freedom4556 - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
Think about it in terms of gaming though (as in, with a mouse or gamepad). Many, many people with tablets only play Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Cut the Rope.A5 - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
That doesn't mean those are the only games on the platform. That's like saying PC gaming is worthless because most people only play The Sims or WoW.freedom4556 - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
That's not what I said, though. The original comment was "why a tablet when a laptop goes everywhere it does without the compromises?" The reply was many disagree with that (implying tablet sales were an indicator of gamers choosing tablets.) My reply was meant to say that real gaming wasn't happening on those tablets, and as such didn't indicate that gamers were ok with the compromises. I don't personally believe the the battery life, performance and cost are worth the "gaming tablet" concept, but then I don't like playing games on PC with the Xbox 360 controller. I prefer the wider range of motion and larger key count of a mouse+keyboard.Netscorer - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
His point is that tablets excel in touch-based games and activities. Once you start playing regular PC games that do not use touch, the whole advantage of a tablet compared to a laptop becomes iffy. Add enormous weight and short battery life and I, frankly, too do not see a point in this hybrid.VivekGowri - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Take a laptop - small, large, anything - and try to play an FPS or a racing game while riding the bus or subway. Or sit on your couch and try. It's somewhere between difficult and impossible to do, even if you use a touchpad and not an external mouse.The Edge works like a massive Gameboy Advance or PSP - just hold the controllers and go from there. It's closer to a portable console in experience than a notebook PC, even if it has PC silicon inside.
kyuu - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Plug in an Xbox controller, or use a wireless one. Heck, I believe you can connect a PS3 controller via bluetooth as well. I think you could play an FPS or racing game on a laptop fairly well that way.RoninX - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
Great review.Vivek, I have a Razer Edge Pro on pre-order, and I was wondering what you used to carry it around on airline flights. Is there a particular type of bag or case that works well to carry the Edge while docked with the gamepad? (Preferably one that's easy to pull out mid-flight.)
Thanks!
VivekGowri - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
I just put it in my 17" notebook backpack (High Sierra Elite, $30 at Costco). You'll need at least a 15" backpack to fit it, the dimensions with the gamepad controller attached are roughly 15.9x7.7x1.3" - the width is about an inch and a half more than then MBP15, but only .75" more than the Dell XPS15z so your mileage may vary. 17" notebook bags hold it with ease though.HisDivineOrder - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
If you were told that the spec is TN panels and you were given an IPS, then that means you were given a cherry picked unit and many of the launch units will include a TN panel and still be "up to spec."Whoops.
Also, I think it's pretty short sighted to say, "Well, 1366x768 is fine because gaming is going to be bad on a 1080p panel with that GPU." First, not every game is Crysis 3. Second, not everyone is going to want a decent PC-based tablet just to game. Some of them are in fact going to watch movies and/or web browse from time to time and having a high resolution panel would benefit them.
Perhaps Razer should have spec'ed a 2560x1440 panel to give the best of both worlds. Excellent with all content except games and a great way to down-rez to 1280x720 for high end gaming.
Considering the high cost of this thing (including one of those peripherals in your purchase price is a necessity), I think a high res panel is the least they could have done.
Anyway, good review except for you're constant apologies for Razer's mistakes. Also, I can't help feeling like this device REALLY reminds me of the first Razer Blade. The one that came out just before Ivy Bridge and sucked, only to be replaced in a few months time by a version that included IB, better power per watt, better everything, and a slightly lower price.
With Haswell incoming, buying one of these based on IB is downright wasteful since anyone who would want this will want that, too. Might as well wait.
Especially when the keyboard add-on isn't even ready for primetime.
VivekGowri - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Pre-launch, I was told TN, but that was apparently a mistake - all specsheets and units (preproduction as well as final production) I have encountered have been IPS. The production version has always been IPS, there's been nothing to indicate that mine was a cherry picked unit.royalcrown - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
Everyone is free to like what they will, here is my 2 cents on this thing:1. Ugly as hell
2. Pretty fat and bulky
3. Waay overpriced
Really, for what this thing costs base price, you can go buy a laptop that has all the same features or more, is just about the same thickness, already has all the "optional" ports, charger and other crap, more storage. That's before the overprived accessories.
For all the people that think, "But I can haz buttunz own itz." just add a ps3 controller to a laptop or use motionjoys PS3 controller driver and you have the same or better.
coolhardware - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
I'm not quite sure why so many people are hating on the Razer Edge and Vivek's review.He liked the machine and had a lot of fun playing games on it, he addresses the weaknesses and the strengths. He came to a conclusion and it is not an absurd one.
The tech industry needs visionaries and companies that release bleeding edge products. Not every original release can be as polished as we would like, I would argue that the opposite is true... most initial genre creating products have some pretty rough edges!
Kudos to Razer for having the balls to produce something like this: a tablet that can play PC games (without having to stream them from somewhere else).
Kudos to Vivek for taking the time to review and benchmark it so we can read about if for free and come to our own conclusion about purchasing it or not.
Now, what I would like to know a bit more about:
+can it easily be taken apart? (b/c I would like to know about upgrading the SSD)
+what is the warranty?
+what interface does the dock use (like what bandwidth does it have and what does the connector look like) [they mention that they didn't put USB3 on the dock there b/c not enough bandwidth, and that surprised me...]
Anyhoo, thanks for the review Vivek, I appreciate it!!!
bountygiver - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
it's a tablet, upgrading yourself is obviously not going to be easy, the question is only how hard?coolhardware - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Exactly.re we talking Surface Pro hard (i.e. sure it uses mSATA but you'll likely break it to upgrade it), or Dell XPS 10 (relatively easy). More info about tablet serviceability here: http://www.jdhodges.com/2013/03/tablet-teardowns/
althaz - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
I like this (A LOT), but the price point is too high. The $1499 bundle probably needs to be under $1000. The weight and thickness honestly don't bother me overly.Wolfpup - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
Cool that they actually pretty much pulled this off. I'd loooooove to have one, but realistically the money is better spent towards a normal, more powerful notebook (just got an M17x-R4 with a GTX 680).I wish that you got the features of the HDMI dock (either through the dock or built in) plus the second battery, plus the controller dock all included at any of the price points...I'd feel better about that price-wise. Interesting how it might handle games that really need a mouse and keyboard too...and yeah, it ought to have first party controller-as-mouse support, considering.
Darbyothrill - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
You would think that they would have wanted to wait for Haswell, considering Intel's claims that the GPU competes with the 650m.Jumangi - Thursday, March 28, 2013 - link
The Vita can't sell at $250 but a heavy $1000+ tablet based around gaming will? How does this stuff get past being laughed at during the boardroom meeting and get actually made?kyuu - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Because Razer operates on large profit margins, and judging by the Blade and this thing, I'm pretty sure they don't really have any interest in putting out cheap "me-too" platforms. They're more interested in pushing innovative platforms and don't need or expect to move large volumes of the product.B3an - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
The Vita isn't a full PC with a real OS and Ultrabook level hardware with a game library anywhere near as big as Windows. Stupid comparison.Jumangi - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Lolz, this is designed fist as a portable gaming device even though it makes every compromise you can. its price its stupid high, and it looks plain goofy. This thing is stupid and has no place in the market. It sits right up there with the N-gage in the history of dumb gaming devices.Visual - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
How can you not include IVB integrated results in the games charts? What is wrong with you? That is the ONLY important test that needs to be done to the Edge - is it worth the cost and added bulk over integrated or is it not...Also, saying Civ V is not playable is ridiculous. You did something wrong in the testing. It was playable on my ancient HP tm2 tablet, and that is worse than even the IVB integrated GPU. With the Edge it should be a ton better.
NeedsAbetterChair - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
I really do love the idea of this but it is obvious to me I'll have to wait a year of two for this category to mature. The next few years are going to be interesting.Hrel - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Once again their first attempt is not viable. At 1000 dollars I'd like to see a higher resolution screen, 1600x900 at least. I realize the gpu can't take it, but you can run games at 720p and you'll be fine. Resolution comes down to screen real estate. I need more than 768 vertical pixels. Especially at $1000!!! Furthermore I agree a 64GB SSD is almost useless. 128 should be the entry point with a 256 and maybe a 380 option. I know they can get 256GB SSD's for 150, probably less if they buy in bulk.The thickness of the screen bezel makes me feel like it belongs in the late 90's/early 2000's. Expand the screen .4 to .6 inches and keep the same chassis with a smaller bezel.
I see no value from the i7 "upgrade" and don't want to be forced into it just to get a reasonably sized SSD.
Hrel - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
On the controller, maybe try moving ab xy to the back, so they line up with you ring and middle fingers? Not sure how well this would work as I've never used anything like it.Shadowmaster625 - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Can they get any more stupid? They just trashed any hope of any future for this brand name. This is way way waaaaay too much money to pay for something that gives you such a small boost compared to a bargain bin AMD A10 notebook. They should have just waited for Richland and made a deal with AMD. They could have gotten about the same gaming performance, with 50% better battery life and $400+ cut from the price tag. They could have brought us something decent without the outrageous price that is going to make most people laugh and never look at this brand again. People commenting on facebook and twitter are just morons. It is easy for people to say they want all these things from a product, but it doesnt mean they are actually going to buy what they claim they want.anubis44 - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
They should use an AMD Jaguar for this. Only an AMD APU will provide the kind of low power consumption and great GPU performance stuffed into a 15w power envelope. Jaguar's GPU destroys the GT640.Silma - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
So basically this is a tablet thicker than an Ultrabook, with less i/o ports than an Ultrabook, and overpriced gamepad that make it wider than a 17" gamining laptop, all for the pleasure of playing at 1368 resolution?No thanks I'll keep my Alienware notebook. For gimmicky games at low resolution I have a phone.
jeffkro - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
I heard an interview with a game developer who started in PC gaming, forget which one. He said they pushed for the switch from PC to consules, tragic. Now he said their push is going to be from consules to mobile devices, even worse. These are sad days for PC gamers, and each step down to lower end hardware has cut the potential of gaming.perry1mm - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
I think a lot of people miss the point and just overlook the potential uses this offers for people that might travel a few weeks or even months out of the year and are on the go a lot.For work I spend a couple weeks in a hotel a year, travel to see family a week or two, and spend a few weekends away here or there, not to mention just driving around or spending time out and about sitting down someplace for an hour or two.
There is no way I'd haul around my gaming desktop, this is great for on the couch average use, docking on-the-go, and gaming when plugged while traveling.
BUT, I ended up getting the Sony Vaio Duo 11 two months ago and it does all of this stuff, has a backlit keyboard attached already, I got the extended battery on sale, and total I paid $1450 for mine with a promo + $100 credit since I got the Sony Card, plus 8500 points ($85 more dollars of Sony Rewards). So out-the-door around $1300 with the newer i7 3537u, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, and the HD 4000 has played 90% of the games at full resolution (1080p).
Not to mention the HDMI built in, VGA out, SD slot, 2 USB 3.0 slots, and numerous other features that make it much more handy in a laptop functionality (gaming) a lot with still being portable for touch use in tablet mode.
For the people that rip on these products as being overpriced...no. When an ARM tablet can cost $500-800 and an ultrabook $1000+, paying $200-500 more for this with the hardware you're getting, storage/SSD, and accessibility, it is NOT really that expensive.
Now if all you do is sit at home and play games for a few minutes on your phone when on-the-go, or you don't care about space and lugging around a large laptop...then maybe this isn't for you. But both the Edge and Vaio Duo for me were great fits, I just happened to be perfectly happy with the Duo as to not need the Edge.
Netscorer - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
Weight and battery life are killers for this product. Price is an issue but there are people willing to pay for the mobility and they would not mind paying extra for exclusivity too. But once you consider that you always (ALWAYS!) need to brace this tablet against something (be it a lap on a train or table at the coffee shop) and that even then you can get at most 2 hours on a freshly charged batteries, the appeal of this hybrid goes way down and frankly, you can do the same on a laptop with a good trackpad, costing much less and having more versatility in other functions. By the way, I was surprised that Vivek never mentioned how absence of the physical keyboard affected using this device. Microsoft did a piss poor job with the virtual keyboard that blocks 2/3 of the screen every time you bring it up and when something like this happens as you prepare to game, it would be a major nuisance.MobiusStrip - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
Look at that idiotic glossy screen.Death666Angel - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
It's definitely an interesting product. I don't need a portable gaming machine, so this isn't for me. But even if it were: no display output and the display resolution kill it for me. You may justify the resolution, but it is still not acceptable for me. I'd rather have smaller pixels so that non-native resolutions look better as well. This is a compromise I'm not willing to put up with (and yes, I know that higher resolution would also mean more power draw from the display at same brightness). Also, 11.6" would have been a better display size in my opinion, could have upped the battery package or reduced the thickness. And I personally still don't play FPS games with a gamepad (or many other types for that matter) so for many games I'd need the dock and a keyboard/mouse. All in all, I think I'm better off with sticking with my Ativ Pro for the few games I want to play when I'm on holidays. :DAs for the review: Well done. But I'd really like a comment on whether or not this tablet supports Optimus and the corresponding battery life. :)
IceStorm - Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - link
As an Edge Pro owner, I agree with what has been written in the review. I've been busy installing and playing games since it arrived yesterday. It is fun.I have tried the Surface Pro. The lower resolution of the Edge is not an issue. If anything, it makes it easier to select things when at the traditional desktop. The screen is quite nice, and I have a retina iPad and a Kindle Fire HD for comparison.
This is an early adopter product. It is not for everyone. Just like the first Blade, if you balk at the price it isn't for you. The Razer store sold out of the initial production run of the 256GB Edge Pro in less than five hours. There is a market for it.
seapeople - Sunday, April 7, 2013 - link
I can picture the scene now outside the Razer store. A bunch of happy gamers walking out to their Corolla's, stumbling over the curb as they are locked into an intense game of Half Life, while dozens of well dressed men in suits shake there head and sneer as they lament how much money these gamers are wasting on this platform. The men in suits then jump into their Ferrari 328 GTS's and cruise off into the sunset, waiting in tempered melancholy for the day when they, too, will have the means to afford a handheld gaming unit that will bring joy to their lives.0 adrian 0 - Wednesday, April 3, 2013 - link
.MajinBlayze - Tuesday, December 3, 2013 - link
In your review regarding the downgrade from the pro version:"You lose the 1080p display and Wacom digitizer"
according to the support page here: http://www.razersupport.com/gaming-systems/razer-e... "The Razer Edge is not Wacom or pressure sensitive compatible"