Razer Blade (2014) Owner's Lounge

For me it's just never enough. I do only put things I really use a lot on my main drive, but that is a lot of stuff. I don't want to have to carry an external around when I take my laptop somewhere, or as I move it around the house. I play games on the laptop on a lapdesk thing while sitting on the couch, chair or in bed. I don't want to have a cord plugged in with a drive hanging over the edge just because I want to listen to music while I play a game. I don't even grab my backpack most of the time. I throw it in a sleeve and I'm good for a day at work playing games on break and lunch.

I already have my data on externals, but that is rarely used stuff. I'm sitting at about 4Tb currently, mostly movies, music and games, but also backups and software too. I would like 512GB as absolute minimum and 1TB would be better.

Here is about what my 2013 512 looked like (from memory so could be a little off)

15GB ish restore partition
40GB OS and installed programs
60GB music
10GB a few movies and tv shows I will watch soon
30GB what I call Data (savegames, maps, notes, drivers, other programs etc)
300GB games (ones currently playing or that I jump back and forth between, from 1Gb to 40Gb each, guessing 10-20 games, form single player, to MMO, to first person shooters to racing or RPGs)

That is an almost full drive right there. I cannot be redownloading huge games all the time, or carrying around my external drives just because I want to play Skyrim over lunch at work. I have about 2Tb of games but I only install the newest ones and my goto games that I play from time to time.

I prefer to keep my main SSD not nearly full, so maybe half full at most so I have room to move things around and make changes occasionally.

 

Can someone comment on the viewing angles of the screen?? I saw someone mentioned the blacks start to change at 25 degree angles, is this similar viewing angles to the 2013, just more vivid when viewed head on?

My only complaint on the 13 was the restricted viewing angles and how blacks washed out when you slightly changed your position. Does this do that as well?

 

1) dajohu. Why dont you install another ssd in your other msata slot on the 2013 Razer. A Samsung 1TB is US$500.

2) My view on the storage is that for US$2000+, I dont really expect to buy compromises which a single m2sata port certainly is.

3) Now if you want really convenient (as in small), extremely fast and pretty well priced usb 3 storage, I do not advise buying the Kingston HyperX. It is expensive and its performance - especially write speeds - is not particularly good.

I recommend the Mushkin Enhanced Ventura Ultra.

Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Ventura Ultra 240GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Model MKNUFDVU240GB

Its current maximum size is 240GB but they announced a 480GB at CES. I have both the 120GB and the 240GB version.



Attached is an Atto speed test on this usb 3 stick done by me with the Razer 2013. If you look you will notice that 1) it is pretty much maxing out usb 3 for both read and write speeds 2) compare its specs 450MBs read/425MBs write to the Kingston - (Speed USB 3.0: 240MB/s read and 160MB/s write) - there is no comparison 3) for my own personal stuff (test 800 photo files) this usb 3 stick is 30% faster to 'write' (as opposed to read) than the internal msata 'C' drive that came with my Razer 2013.

It is built like a tank. It does have 2 very minor drawbacks - 1) it is a bit larger than it looks - roughly the same size as a BIC cigarette lighter 2) it does run a bit noticeably hot (its all metal) but not hot/hot.

 

Is this what you're planning on using? Minerva AD912A M 2 NGFF Golden Finger to mSATA SSD Adapter M 2 NGFF to mSATA | eBay

If so, it looks like it might lean right up against the battery. I think you'll be ok height wise, given there looks like there's a gap between the ribbon cable and the M.2. Another option is this(mSATA SSD to M 2 NGFF 64G 128G 256G M 2 NGFF SSD Adapter | eBay) but you would have to tape down the M.2 portion since it's not long enough. It certainly would fit better. This is certainly worth considering since msata are going to get really cheap in the next 6-12 months, just due to availability alone.

 

1) I would do that if I still owned it, I sold it to buy the 2014 model. I planned to go with two 1TB drives in my 2013, hoped to go dual 512 drives for now in the 2014 but obviously that didn't work out.

2) Agreed completely. Dual msata like the 2013 model would have made this the perfect machine IMO.

Yes it was, and thanks for the 2nd option. I may just get both and see if I can get either to work. I really wish I had a small mSATA drive to mess around with, I would hate to commit to buying a 1TB mSATA and then I can't get it to work. I maye just have to buy the cheapest one I can find for testing. If I am the first to do this I will gladly report my findings and read write speeds for those that care (I don't lol).

 

I plan to test the second option(if I still keep my order open). You'll probably get yours before me though. If you have Prime, just get this and return it(http://www.amazon.com/Premier-SP310...?ie=UTF8&qid=1398450545&sr=8-8&keywords=msata). 15% restocking and return ship would be $10. Worth it to test IMO

 

So wait. Is it confirmed that PCIe is not compatible?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

No- it might be a while before someone finds out. Kind of an expensive thing to try. I think I might try it though - I still need to think about it. If I use the msata adapter and utilize the spare msata in my desktop, I'll be needing some spare storage in my desktop. The m6e would be a nice thing to have in my desktop if it doesn't work in the Blade. It's just expensive... but what am I complaining about? I'm buying a $2400 laptop

 

Haha. Too true. Right there with yah. Honestly I'd take 1 PCIe SSD over 2 mSATA, buy I might be in the minority here. I love my blazing fast speeds.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

Guys please can you share the number to call Razer regarding my order?