I have a MSI GS60 ghost Pro (https://www.msi.com/Laptop/GS60-6QC-Ghost.html). There are newer models now but the specs are great and the look is (relatively) clean. There's lights on the keyboard which can be dimmed, but the slightly silly dragon logo on the lid can't. It's fairly inconspicuous though.
Not up to date on windows laptops to recommend a better alternative , but that’s not good industrial design at all. The fact that you have to dim the keyboard to hide the manufacturers bad taste is a clue!
Get the Razer. If you go with cheap thin options like MSI or Gigabyte, you get backlight bleed in the screen. If you go with more name brand like HP Omen or Asus ROG stuff, you get thicc heavy or lower spec. Razer is the best, but there's a loud and obnoxious group of people who constantly whine on every Razer thread about build quality, which just isn't true. I suspect they're paid Apple shills, since Razer is Apple's greatest hardware threat now, especially with this new phone.
I bought a MSI GT72VR - very pricy, but perfect for gaming and development, especially with the huge screen. Case design is pretty poor though: mines cracked in several places due to small drops from the couch (should take better care with a NZD 6k laptop, admittedly).
I've worked every day off of a Razer Blade for well over a year now and love it. Build quality seems great, battery life as well, beautiful screen, runs like a dream. I'm just one case of course and it's possible they have quality issues overall, but I'd recommend it to anyone who asks.
I and all my VR startup coworkers used Blades (mostly 14", a few 17") as daily drivers for the past year (since the 14" ones are one of the few non-huge laptops that can run a Rift) and we are basically all happy with them, so there's like 10 counter-anecdotes for you. I like mine better than either the Thinkpads or Macbooks I've used in the recent past.
I've been using a Razer Blade 14" as a daily work computer for several years now. It's been running great, and I've frequently recommended it in previous HN threads. The best part is that it runs Ubuntu almost flawlessly. (Usual Linux caveats apply, hibernate is borked and the Nvidia drivers are wonky, but you won't be gaming on Linux anyway.)
The only downside is that repairs are expensive and require shipping the machine to the shop which will take weeks. (Though I haven't had to send mine in, yet.) I wish they sold new batteries separately so users out of warranty can replace them themselves.
my brother in law got a new razer gamepad, a Sabertooth, and the joystick won't go to 11 o'clock, only 10 or 12
i got a Razer Onza gamepad , secondhand but like-new, the R trigger jitters, if youre holding it all the way down, it flickers between 100% and 0%, but if you hold it say 90% of the way down, it stays at 90%
also won a new razer keyboard, an Ornata, in a competition, the clickiness of the keys is extremely uneven, some are very soft, some are very clicky, and the lights are also non-uniform. It works fine, but why pay a premium for low-quality uneven goods?
Also, a non-QA gripe, you have to install a big blob of razer software, and sign up for a razer account, and be online, to change the lighting effects, lol. There is open source software to change the lights that requires none of that.
I will never ever ever recommend razer hardware based on this sample of 3 different products that all suck and cost a huge premium over stuff that doesn't suck. The gamepads are twice as much money and lower quality than the microsoft or sony ones?
Throwing that stuff on the pile since it really annoyed me.
The issue with Razr appears to be inconsistent quality, not consistently bad quality. The definition of poor QC, really. It's also a reputation they've had for a long time, which I'm sure has a confirmation bias impact.
Not just qa - not durable enough buttons start double clicking in some mice. Happened to 3 Nagas (2 of which were warranty replacements for the 1st one) my wife used and to Lachesis I've had. Other mice have lasted years before and after.
I have a 14" 1080p Blade at home and another one for work. Overall it's my favorite laptop I've ever owned. I can do game dev, VR dev, and play games on it. It boots up fast. It's solidly built. The keyboard feels good to type on even though the travel is pretty shallow. The trackpad works pretty good. My only real complaint is that the fans can get pretty loud, but if that happens and I'm in a coffee shop I just switch to the power saver power plan and then it quiets down.
I read that quality control was an issue so I bought it from Microsoft's website so if there was a problem I could bring it into a MS store. But I haven't had a problem with it.
The failure rate for the big Windows laptop makers is 18-19% in 3 years. I am pretty sure they've all adopted a basic component level QA process and lets the customer be the QA for the final product.
I've only dealt with Dell and Lenovo products, and their QA is all over the place...from very poor to very good on identical products.
I suspect Razer has their laptops made by Foxconn or Asus or Large_Manufacturer_X. Foxconn not only manufactures a lot of products and components for Apple, but they also make laptops for many other manufacturers. I'd not be at all surprised to learn they have the same 18-19% failure rate as the other big names since they all are born from similar processes.
There is a certain pucker factor when you roll the dice on an expensive Windows box these days that shouldn't really be there.
Apple's failure rate over the same period of time is 10%.
I use Razer mice exclusively for a good while now; find them a lot more ergonomic than whatever else I tried as a person with relatively large hands. Quality-wise, they're just fine, don't remember a single one actually breaking.
It's not the hardware you buy it for, it's the software experience.
I can see it being impossible to pair to anything Bluetooth with the phone also rebooting at random. I'd also expect it to force updates during a call.
Though it's missing the neon LED's all over it. Sad!
This is anecdotal but whatever. I have a razer deathadder, it broke (double clicks randomly) and it was less than two years old when it happened. No other mouse I've ever had has broken before and the previous desktop mouse I had for over 7 years before the scroll wheel wasn't as smooth as a newer one.
I had a deathadder that died in a similar fashion some five years ago. I bought another one after that, and its worked perfectly since then. Might have been a bad batch.
I’ve repaired many flaky vintage mice by swapping the switches.
There are industrial microswitches that can take a ton of clicks and also you can tune the weight of the click by checking the datasheets.
Digikey and Mouser are your friends, you could probably pay for a dozen switches and a workable soldering iron for what it costs to replace some of these gaming mice.
If you’re on a budget, just get a clone Hako iron.
Whereas I'm on my second Razer mouse in 12+ years and wouldn't go back to any of the previous brands I'd used (Logitech and MS come to mind - neither of which are even particularly bad in any way).
I'll wait and see the outcome of the device based on reviews, and then decide how I feel about it, and whether or not I should buy one or not. I've got a bit of time till my 2 year contract ends.
There is a lot of writing space dedicated to the "bad" design. Though the reviewer says, to quote, "even if ugly gamer designs are so numerous". I don't think good design was the point of the device.
Though I agree the specs and the GameBooster doesn't seem to offer enough for people to buy one of these. So what does it offer over the flagship phones?
This is the first phone with an 120hz screen, which surprises me. I really thought Samsung would be the first. I wonder if it's a Samsung panel? I'm glad to see that higher refresh rates are making their way from monitors & TVs into handheld devices. Refresh rate really does make a difference for me, even for something like reading text off a screen. I get less eyestrain from a higher refresh rate, but this could be anecdotal.
Sidenote: they missed a great chance to make the camera flash RGB. That's low-hanging fruit for a gaming peripherals company.
According to The Verge it's a Sharp IGZO panel. Which make sense since Sharp already released a phone under their own brand in Japan with a 120 Hz panel.
I thought refresh rate doesn't matter so much with LCD displays when you're reading a mostly static image (A book as an example), but maybe PWM or dithering is a factor as well in terms of eyestrain where higher refresh rates can benifit (of course the concept of refresh rate with PWM is a bit of a misnomer)
Do you use any of those MOGA devices? I have one and used it for awhile but frankly if I'm gonna game on the go I end up grabbing a Nintendo 3DS or PS Vita.
Curious what you do for yours and how you would change it if this phone had come with some slide-out joysticks and the like.
Call me pedantic, but I was reading the specs, enjoying it and saying "oh, maybe this is the next phone for me once my Nexus 6 dies", I was even ready to spend upwards of $700 (so much money) to get it compared to my usual sub-500 price generally.
Then they said it had no headphone jack. That stopped me dead in my tracks, I closed the tab, and am now writing this comment here.
Sorry guys, I MUST. Have. A. Headphone. Jack. Full stop.
Take a look at the new one plus phone that is about to be released.
It is heavily.implied that it will have a headphone jack. Should be sub 600$ and if my OP3T is any indication the software experience and lasting ability of their devices certainly up there with any other major manufacturer.
Cons: Chinese company, so you never know who is looking at your data. They do let you root and unlock bootloaders, though. So there is that.
You need to install the Google pixel camera app to get camera performance that matches other flagships. Thankfully my 3T got the app ported without root and I would expect the same for the new upcoming phone.
I won't even consider buying a phone without a headphone jack. To me it would be like buying a computer without USB ports. The technology is decades old, still works perfectly, and there isn't a suitable replacement for it yet.
I agree. This is a user-hostile trend that needs to stop. I really hope the phone does terribly so the company realizes that they need to listen to their users.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 131 ms ] threadThe only downside is that repairs are expensive and require shipping the machine to the shop which will take weeks. (Though I haven't had to send mine in, yet.) I wish they sold new batteries separately so users out of warranty can replace them themselves.
my brother in law got a new razer gamepad, a Sabertooth, and the joystick won't go to 11 o'clock, only 10 or 12
i got a Razer Onza gamepad , secondhand but like-new, the R trigger jitters, if youre holding it all the way down, it flickers between 100% and 0%, but if you hold it say 90% of the way down, it stays at 90%
also won a new razer keyboard, an Ornata, in a competition, the clickiness of the keys is extremely uneven, some are very soft, some are very clicky, and the lights are also non-uniform. It works fine, but why pay a premium for low-quality uneven goods?
Also, a non-QA gripe, you have to install a big blob of razer software, and sign up for a razer account, and be online, to change the lighting effects, lol. There is open source software to change the lights that requires none of that.
I will never ever ever recommend razer hardware based on this sample of 3 different products that all suck and cost a huge premium over stuff that doesn't suck. The gamepads are twice as much money and lower quality than the microsoft or sony ones?
Throwing that stuff on the pile since it really annoyed me.
I read that quality control was an issue so I bought it from Microsoft's website so if there was a problem I could bring it into a MS store. But I haven't had a problem with it.
I've only dealt with Dell and Lenovo products, and their QA is all over the place...from very poor to very good on identical products.
I suspect Razer has their laptops made by Foxconn or Asus or Large_Manufacturer_X. Foxconn not only manufactures a lot of products and components for Apple, but they also make laptops for many other manufacturers. I'd not be at all surprised to learn they have the same 18-19% failure rate as the other big names since they all are born from similar processes.
There is a certain pucker factor when you roll the dice on an expensive Windows box these days that shouldn't really be there.
Apple's failure rate over the same period of time is 10%.
I can see it being impossible to pair to anything Bluetooth with the phone also rebooting at random. I'd also expect it to force updates during a call.
Though it's missing the neon LED's all over it. Sad!
I’ve repaired many flaky vintage mice by swapping the switches.
There are industrial microswitches that can take a ton of clicks and also you can tune the weight of the click by checking the datasheets.
Digikey and Mouser are your friends, you could probably pay for a dozen switches and a workable soldering iron for what it costs to replace some of these gaming mice.
If you’re on a budget, just get a clone Hako iron.
It still seems overly negative, but it does seem to be a review.
Though I agree the specs and the GameBooster doesn't seem to offer enough for people to buy one of these. So what does it offer over the flagship phones?
Only thing unappealing about it to me is the logo
Sidenote: they missed a great chance to make the camera flash RGB. That's low-hanging fruit for a gaming peripherals company.
[1] https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/c...
I don’t think that one was released in the US.
I seem to recall a Lumia device shipping with a 120Hz display, too, but I might have imagined that since I can’t find it now.
I could not find the panel in question but Sharp make a 2.9" 120Hz 1440x1440 panel:
http://www.panelook.com/LS029B3SX05_SHARP_2.9_LCM_parameter_...
I do wonder if this panel is designed for VR gaming, I can't think of any 'microwave oven display' grade applications for such a panel.
Curious what you do for yours and how you would change it if this phone had come with some slide-out joysticks and the like.
Then they said it had no headphone jack. That stopped me dead in my tracks, I closed the tab, and am now writing this comment here.
Sorry guys, I MUST. Have. A. Headphone. Jack. Full stop.
EDIT: Put some parentheses.
It is heavily.implied that it will have a headphone jack. Should be sub 600$ and if my OP3T is any indication the software experience and lasting ability of their devices certainly up there with any other major manufacturer.
Cons: Chinese company, so you never know who is looking at your data. They do let you root and unlock bootloaders, though. So there is that.
You need to install the Google pixel camera app to get camera performance that matches other flagships. Thankfully my 3T got the app ported without root and I would expect the same for the new upcoming phone.