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New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

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Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#31
post #25
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed! Expensive? Sure it is. But I applaud Razor for trying something daring. Given how slim it is, those specs are pretty outrageous.

I don't see anything about a CD drive. Perhaps that's how they were able to make it so slim.

Apple's getting rid of the optical drive too. I bought my laptop 2 years ago, and I don't think I've ever used my BluRay drive.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#32
I bet this'll be as successful as Windows SideShow. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_SideShow)

Games could already hook up to the pocket-sized multitouch high-res color screens that we all carry with us already. Why not start with that and, if there are actually some usages that work well, then consider building it into the device itself?

Innovation != just stick another screen on there.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#33
post #19

Whenever I play a game with a laptop I use a real mouse. Anything else is a bit painful for me. Because of that, as a righty I'd rather have the dynamic buttons on the left side of the keyboard. Heck, make the whole keyboard dynamic. Then when you're playing a game, instead of an alphanumeric symbol on the key being displayed, the action it's bound to can be displayed.

A person using hotkeys probably never has to look at the keyboard, I don't know how useful a fully customizable keyboard would be.

I always have trouble remembering my lesser used hotkeys (e.g. if you have 20+), but maybe I'm the only one. A quick glance at the keyboard could make it easy.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#34
post #18

Their advertisement took a stab at PC gaming vs console gaming and then they release a $2,800 device? This puts it in a different market (one that I don't think is very big).

Their advertisement had nothing to do with consoles. It was simply a statement that PC gaming is not dead.

If you want to spend $400 and play games, buy a console. You're not the target market for pc games.

Alienware made a name for itself selling $5k gaming rigs. They were incredibly successful at it. Since Dell bought them, their products have gotten crappier and crappier. If Razer wants to fill that void, more power to them.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#35
post #4

The last thing the PC gaming community needs right now is another insanely expensive piece of hardware with a gimmick attached. I really cannot see this going anywhere within the community. I'm guessing that those who largely play the PC games that would require such high specs aren't likely to want to play them outside of their homes. Besides you can purchase a comparably spec'd desktop system for a quarter of the p…

It's essentially the same price as the Mac Book Pro 17". Those things are like a plague at coffee shops and conferences all over the world. If the hardware is good, I think they have a good chance. I love the fact that the input pad is on the right. When using laptops where it's in front of the keyboard, I'm always accidentally pressing and moving the mouse.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#36
post #19

Whenever I play a game with a laptop I use a real mouse. Anything else is a bit painful for me. Because of that, as a righty I'd rather have the dynamic buttons on the left side of the keyboard. Heck, make the whole keyboard dynamic. Then when you're playing a game, instead of an alphanumeric symbol on the key being displayed, the action it's bound to can be displayed.

If the trackpad is any good, and it supports gestures which can be bound, the trackpad has the potential to be as good or better than a mouse. And of course, nothing's stopping you from attaching a mouse to this, meaning the trackpad can now be used for something different. (The fact that it's an LCD trackpad is just screaming for it to be used as a dedicated map viewer/mover in Starcraft.)

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#37

I've always found the idea of a secondary display on a laptop intriguing. Would be nice to be able to look down at the keyboard and have docs for whatever I'm working on already there, without having to page over to another screen or such. I would presume the screen has some sort of API (or at least a WebView mode) so this sort of thing would be possible. On the flip side, a 17" display means you have room to keep bo…

You know what would be really nice on a gaming laptop? A foot pedal. It would actually be really nice for browsing too. As it is, I don't use my feet for anything... it's only intuitive that a foot pedal should be developed.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#38
"Today, there hasn't been a single PC laptop that anyone has been passionate about for the longest time. It's not because there's no innovation, but [because] the big PC guys just don't want to innovate anymore," Min-Liang Tan, the CEO and Creative Director of Razer, told Ars.

Completely true. For example Lenovo/Thinkpad stopped producing the 4:3 screens that all their business users loved. Too hard/expensive to produce, 16:9 screens are the future, etc.

Until Apple produces millions and millions of 4:3 iPad displays. Now can we reopen the discussion?

I don't think Razer's expensive hardware and new UI is the answer, but that doesn't mean every PC laptop needs to ship with a just a shitty touchpad and 2 buttons. How about a 3rd button? A mousewheel? Start small and build from there.

The part I really don't understand is how the PC mouse industry is so innovative/over-the-top. 7 buttons, independent DPI controls, lazer tracking, ergonomic designs, etc. But then every laptop has the same terrible small touchpad and two badly-designed buttons. Seems like adding a 30-cent mousewheel to your case would instantly differentiate you from all your competitors.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#39
I can't really imagine anyone in the FPS/RTS crowd wanting to look down on their keyboard during gameplay. Normally you have to set their chair on fire if you want them to break eye-contact with the main-screen...

Perhaps there are slower paced games where this makes sense, though.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't realize MacBook Pros had touchscreens on the keyboard...

Look at this gallery of product shots: http://www.engadget.com/photos/razer-blade-0/ That is Apple's industrial design language. They could have made it look like anything and they chose to ape apple, that's lazy.

Are you seriously proposing that Apple has some monopoly on the idea of a rectangle with rounded corners? There's only so many practical shapes that a laptop can be.
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