The Razer Edge Review
by Vivek Gowri on March 28, 2013 11:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Mobile
- Razer
- Razer Edge
Conclusion
It was actually hard for me to finish this review on time. Every time I started working on it, I ended up gaming on the Edge. Every time, without fail. It’s a lot of fun to use.
There’s a few things to think about with the Edge. It’s a real technical accomplishment, and as an engineer I can appreciate the challenges John Wilson and his design team must have encountered in creating a stable, polished mobile gaming device that packs this much power. And for a starting price of $999, this is actually a pretty good value for a system that holds a very unique position on the market. There’s nothing else quite like it on the market – you either have to give up the dedicated GPU or the tablet form factor. The relatively low resolution panel ensures that GPU performance won't be an issue, but long term these types of devices will need higher res panels and better GPUs to really be taken seriously.
Ultimately that's where the Edge finds itself today - stuck between the promise of a really cool future, and a decent but very specific present. The Edge is practically guaranteed to find a following in the enthusiast niche that is looking for a dedicated gaming tablet today, but its widespread appeal will be limited until the hardware has a chance to evolve. In this regard, Razer finds itself facing similar challenges to Microsoft with Surface Pro. We believe in the concept, but for broader appeal the hardware (and software) need more iterations (and more power efficient silicon).
The Edge hardware has some flaws – battery life, like with many (all) other Ivy Bridge tablets, is an Achilles heel, and the scarcity of ports is somewhere between annoying (no SD card slot) and ridiculous (no video out). And I seriously believe that devices like the Edge and Surface Pro absolutely should have Thunderbolt as a mandatory feature. But these are mere quibbles, things to improve in the next generation (Haswell starts to address many of the IVB’s idle power draw issues), not problems with the concept. Surprisingly, price isn’t one of the issues – the $999 base cost is actually a pretty good deal relative to the competition, considering the GPU horsepower on tap, and the upgrade costs are pretty reasonable, too.
The accessories are kind of a double edged sword – on one hand, they’re awesome; on the other, they don’t come cheaply. The gamepad is obviously a must-buy, it’d be nice to have twice the battery life for any kind of mobile gaming, the HDMI dock is also necessary if you want any kind of video out, and pretty soon you’re talking about $420 in accessories before you even mention a keyboard or mouse of any kind. It’s not inexpensive, and it’s hard to think about buying more than one or two of the accessories without feeling your mental wallet run away and hide. The idea of paying $1499 for the 128GB Edge Pro and gamepad controller bundled together is fine and I suspect that to be the most popular combination, but when considering that the full kit sent to me rings in at a hair under $1900, it seems a little bit ridiculous.
So in essence, the hardware is awesome, but it’ll cost you if you want to really unlock the full potential of the Edge. The impact it will have on mobile gaming going forward is going to be interesting – Razer has shifted the question from one of performance limitations to one of experience. The Edge has the computing power it needs to succeed as a gaming portable, and future generations will only get thinner, lighter, and more power efficient. The real difference maker here is the ability to take your PC games on the road and play them anywhere, not just where you can find a stable platform with space for a keyboard and mouse. I can go sit in a coffee shop and play any game I want exactly as I would on my M18x. It’s the same gaming experience you get on a regular PC, but completely untethered – from mice, keyboards, power cords, desks, convention, you name it.
I’ve had portable gaming machines before – my interest in notebooks started with small 12-13” gaming notebooks and I still have an undying love for systems like the Clevo W110ER. But those are all small notebooks with big GPUs, offering nowhere close to the mobility or flexibility of the Edge. This, this is different. The Edge feels like a PC-iPad-PSP mashup from the future, and it's incredibly exciting. As much as it was hyped up with all the CES awards and social media marketing push, Razer has created a fascinating gaming machine that could change the way we view portable gaming going forward.
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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.