New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer • Hacker News Board

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#51

Post by citricsquid » Fri, Aug 26, 2011, 5:58 PM UTC

51Cards wrote: post #22

amelim wrote: 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…

I would definitely consider buying one. Why do people think that high priced, high design PC's can't sell when Apple has been selling exactly this with great success? The PC crowd has been lulled into cheap hardware but not everyone wants that. I typically buy high end Sony Vaio's just because of the sheer elegance of the product. I have raved on here about my Vaio Z, portable "workstation" power in 3 pounds of 13" g…

because very few "hardcore gamers" (who this is aimed at) are the same who can afford to drop $3k on a laptop just for gaming. I spent around $4,000 on my desktop set up, but that's something I use for everything.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#52

Post by ramanujan » Fri, Aug 26, 2011, 6:00 PM UTC

glhaynes wrote: post #49

ramanujan wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm. Strongly disagree with this. As a hacker rather than a gamer, the concept of a programmable set of LCD keys next to the standard keyboard is extremely interesting for native app development. I hope that particular feature is copied into a subsequent Macbook Pro release. It's really bringing the innovations pioneered by the iPhone (programmable UI rather than built-in keyboard) back to the laptop. Among other th…

It seems to me that that role is pretty well served by icons in the regular UI that the user's already looking at.

But those need to be clicked with the mouse. Having a top 10 list of extremely common hotkeys in an app is just a lot more discoverable (for the non-expert or first-time user) and much faster (for all users) than finding the right icon to click.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#53

Post by DannoHung » Fri, Aug 26, 2011, 6:00 PM UTC

samlevine wrote: post #26

This is a great marketing gimmick for the keyboard they're selling: http://www.razerzone.com/swtor/keyboard At around $200 this is a lot more likely to sell.

Yeah, I'm a fool with too much money, but that keyboard looks SOOOO cool, like an almost reasonably priced Optimus.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#54

Post by MartinCron » Fri, Aug 26, 2011, 6:01 PM UTC

dkl wrote: post #35

amelim wrote: 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.

I always turn off tap-to-click for just that reason.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#55

Post by Bud » Fri, Aug 26, 2011, 6:03 PM UTC

51Cards wrote: post #22

amelim wrote: 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…

I would definitely consider buying one. Why do people think that high priced, high design PC's can't sell when Apple has been selling exactly this with great success? The PC crowd has been lulled into cheap hardware but not everyone wants that. I typically buy high end Sony Vaio's just because of the sheer elegance of the product. I have raved on here about my Vaio Z, portable "workstation" power in 3 pounds of 13" g…

People think that because the high-end PC gear can't compete right now on price, design, longevity, toughness, etc.

For instance, this laptop can't manage to hit the MacBook Pro price point, and it's in a plastic case, as opposed to a single-piece slab of aluminum. Which do you think will hold up better? Who would you rather deal with for warranty repairs and replacement? Which company is more likely to still be alive at the end of the machine's life?

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#56

Post by jinushaun » Fri, Aug 26, 2011, 6:03 PM UTC

Shenglong wrote: post #30

I can't believe it took this long to make a non-apple laptop that isn't ugly. Simple, sleek and smooth. It really isn't that difficult.

Reading the quotes from Razer in the article, it really makes me angry at the big PC manufacturers and happy that HP got out. Nothing Apple does is truly that amazing or innovative. The difference is that Apple actually has the balls to try to produce a high quality product. Not expensive for the sake of being expensive like Sony, but quality worth paying for. HP and Dell would rather sell low margin crap at high volume than try at the high quality game.

Go Razer! Glad they're the only PC company out there will the balls to compete on quality and innovation.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#57

Post by MartinCron » Fri, Aug 26, 2011, 6:03 PM UTC

pkamb wrote: post #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 prod…

just a shitty touchpad and 2 buttons. How about a 3rd button?

The Dell Precision laptops have two sets of three mouse buttons (above and below the trackpad). I still plug in a real mouse, though.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#58

Post by sandGorgon » Fri, Aug 26, 2011, 6:03 PM UTC

falcolas wrote: post #44

sandGorgon wrote: post #41

question - why is everyone making alumninium unibody notebooks ? Is carbon fiber not lighter and (arguably) just as strong. Is it just the design aesthetic that everyone is trying to reach out for or is there something else.

If I had to guess, I'd say that it's easier to cast and mill the aluminum unibody than it is to mold the carbon fiber. Probably cheaper, as well.

hmm.. I honestly never thought that was the issue, given how popular graphite tennis racquets are.

What about fiberglass then ? I even saw a show on TV, where they remade a car chassis by handfilling fiberglass filaments and the resulting could withstand sledgehammer blows.

does fiberglass/carbon-fiber affect laptop cooling ?

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#59

Post by bricestacey » Fri, Aug 26, 2011, 6:05 PM UTC

lukifer wrote: post #36

sbov wrote: 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.)

Trackpads are surprisingly well suited for FPS. I was with a bunch of programmers recently and we started playing Urban Terror with our Macbook Pros and we did fine with our track pads. It was more difficult to 180 in an instant, but otherwise aiming was almost normal.

Quality is obviously important. A $400 Dell laptop's trackpad would've been awful. Interestingly, a $5 optical mouse is a nearly optimal setup, which is why I doubt there is much attention on trackpads which cost much more.

Re: New gaming laptop with innovative UI by Razer

#60

Post by mixmax » Fri, Aug 26, 2011, 6:08 PM UTC

amelim wrote: 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…

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.