should I buy a RBS+core combo or just a blade 14(2016ed)

hey guys I've always been a fan of razer i totally fell in love with the first blade 14 -which i bought- because it was a very powerful laptop but also thin and i knew it then and now that it had It's shortcomings but for me it meant great portability and power but unfortunately for me it died a while ago -it was my fault, i mistreated it a lot- and at the time i didn't have the budget for a newer blade 14 model so i opted for a toshiba satellite dv15 it was a nice notebook for my budget -about $800 at the time- and i didn't mistreated this one at all but it has come to a time that i had to change the HDD -I know HDDs are not good anymore- for a new one and haven't found a replacement for it's battery as it lasts about 30mins with a full charge so I've been looking for a replacement for about 4 months and when i came to the razer site i found out about RBS+core and totally fell in love the same way I did with the first blade 14 because i knew i was part of the niche it was meant for, so I've been waiting for the release date and reviews of the RBS+core -still waiting for the reviews- but after little research in these and other forums I've found out about the possible bottleneck on CPU demanding games and the cheaper price of the blade 14 and I just don't know what to do.

I'm not knowledgeable enough about computers and that kind of stuff and I'm not a fan of desktops so I've never bothered about building one and that's why I've been stuck with console gaming before and after my blade 14

So it came to a point where i don't know what to do and it's been about 2 months since i joined the Community and I've noticed how most people here is helpful so it's time to ask the razer community for advice. any insights?

as a sidenote:
My budget is around $2k so i can't buy a blade 14 +core -oh god i wish i could- and I'm a med student so I'm fine without gaming on the go as I'm kind of busy almost all the time, I'm also not a hardcore gamer, actually I'm a casual gamer but i enjoy smooth graphics, also looking for 5+ hours of battery life, I love portability which both of them offer -at least the kind of portability i want- I'm willing to wait for the reviews and benchmarks which i guess won't be up for another month or so

PS: sorry for the long post, here's a digital potato cookie

 

This is what I would do:

First wait for Core benchmarks, because you don't risk anything. GTX 970M benchmarks are plenty out there especially on YouTube.

Like I wrote before in another post I am not astonished by the new Blade. Therefore I would buy a RBS + Core and would later upgrade to the RB 2017 or to the new RBS, if it comes with an i7 quad core and 16 gigs of ram.

 

you can buy my stealth think im going blade / core combo.

 

Basically this is your best option. Do not rush on anything, you'll probably just be wasting money. I'm so glad I decided to wait on buying the RBS because now a lot of people are selling them for the new Razer Blade 14. Anyway, we have no idea what the benchmarks will be for the RBS + Core. We have the picture of the RBS + Core/AMD Nano but that is directly from AMD. I'd wait until reviewers actually get their hands on the Core before jumping on anything. The RBS + Core/970 may only prove to be 5-10% more powerful than the 6GB 970m that the new Blade has. A RBS + Core/980Ti combo may prove to be 40% less powerful than a normal 980Ti in a desktop. We really don't know.

Your best choice from a performance standpoint would be buying the new Blade, a Core, and then putting a GPU in but that is such an absurd waste of money that I couldn't recommend that solution to anyone. If you're like me and are extremely interested in the "eGPU race," then please wait, don't rush into anything. Razer isn't the only manufacturer making eGPU's. Razer's quality may be a step-up from a lot of other manufacturers but the extra $500+ isn't worth it when the laptop will basically be plugged into a box anyway. Just my two cents.

 

its a waste of money to have a nice gaming laptop for travel that u can plug into a desktop graphics card for even better performance at home? Well, let's do the math. My gaming desktop prices out at about 1400 dollars. A nice ultrabook (since we are assuming we dont need a gaming laptop with this economical scenerio) runs for lets say a grand. 2400 dollars total, oh wait u need a keyboard mouse speakers and monitor..2700 if u go budget on that stuff.

Blade + core + graphics card (high end) = 3 grand. not so far off, i'll take the 300 for the convenience of having it all on 1 machine.

 

Buy the blade 14. It looks like Razer is lagging on getting out that core. By then u may have the extra cash ;-)

 

Yes, $3000 for that kind of solution does seem like an absurd amount of money. Let's do the correct math; $2000 for the base Blade, $400 for the Core. You're looking at about $2500-$2600 with taxes, shipping, etc. Now you can get a GTX 970 for around $300 to bump that total price up to about $3000. Now let's add some peripherals and you're at about $3000-$3100. With just a 970 in the Core, you're really only going to get a marginal performance increase over the 970m that the Blade has (trust me, I have a 6GB 970m in my MSI GS70 and I've run benchmarks against my friend's desktop with a 970) so somewhere around a 10-15% increase in most real-life situations. Is that really worth it? Probably not so you'll want a stronger GPU. The average price for a GTX 980 is about $500 so that'll bump your $3100 up to about $3400 with taxes for still only a marginal increase over a 970. A big performance increase will come from a 980Ti or another flagship GPU and will be close to or over $700 so now your $3400 turns into well over $3500.

Is portability really worth that much with Razer's insane pricing? Just about any person that doesn't just piss away money will say no. Instead, what I recommend, is waiting. I know it's hard because everyone seems so rushed to get the newest toys, but waiting is definitely the best answer. ASUS is developing a very thin and light notebook with a 6700HQ that will be compatible with their eGPU box. They may price it near the $1000 mark like the RBS is and their dock will most-likely be closer to $300 like most of us were hoping with the Core. MSI will also be debuting their new eGPU enclosures. The MSI GS40 is basically the same laptop as the new Blade 14 (yes, TB3/TC and all) and it only costs $1500 with it's most expensive configuration. Sure it's not the Macbook-style that Razer adopted, but whether or not that style is worth the extra $500 is up to you. Do whatever you want to do. If spending an absurd amount of money is what you want to do, I'm sure Razer will appreciate it. I'm looking for performance-per-dollar. I'll be getting an eGPU solution with a 980Ti but I'm sure as Hell not going to spend over $3000 to do it.

 

think you missed the point where i compared it to a high end desktop / ultrabook combo, but to each their own. And yes, portability and quality do have a price.

 

I have made a conditional decision on your scenario already for myself.

I have a MSI GS 60 - 970m 6gb with 1080p screen. My plan was to use it as my primary computer (work and play). I travel about 4-6 nights per month. I am like you. I love gaming but I am do not consider myself a hard core gamer. My wife might... The Blade will have much better battery life than the MSI but 4.5lbs is a light weight laptop that you can legitimately game on but it is not light compared to the Stealth or similar ultrabook.

So what is your day to day like? I imagine med school does not leave a great deal of free time. You probably type a bunch too. Web access, movies, etc...

I conditionally chose the Stealth plus Core. I am waiting on benchmarks and possibly a better deal from Razer before making a final decision. I chose this combo because I already have a reasonable gaming option with the MSI and I wanted an ultrabook for work. I can stretch the Stealth through 3 meetings a day. It can do casual games well and the option to add a eGPU in the future is ideal. If the eGPU can really run a Titan or 980 card successfully then 4k at home is a real possibly using the same laptop I use for everything else. Plus it is priced right and a joy to use.

Other thought... I have read the 970m 6gb will have real trouble pushing the Blade's screen resolution.

Base model Stealth - $1060 with tax
Core - $430 with tax
GPU - Up to $510 with tax

For a little more you can get a 980. Not a bad setup if the benchmarks hold up.

 

If you want something now get the 2016 blade. If you're fine with waiting for benchmarks, wait. I am.getting the 2016 blade for school reasons but I also want to be able to go to friends house with ease to play games, dragging the core around would be a pain in the ass.

 

I personally don't see how dragging around the Core could be a pain in the ass. You're still plugging in one item into a power outlet--the Core. The Core charges the Stealth so there's no need to plug the actual laptop in and then it's just one cable from the Core to the Stealth for the GPU. But, to each their own.

 

I'm one of those crazy new adopters but for me, I was fine with it. I went with the blade 2016, core, and 980ti. My wife never uses a computer so I didn't feel the need to have a separate full computer at home. I travel over 2 weeks out of the month every month for my job. I wanted something that was powerful enough to play games while away from home. On the flip side, I still wanted more power so I got the core and the 980ti for home so I could plug in and game at max settings, no matter what the game.

 

yup. sold the stealth, selling my desktop and going with the ultimate all in one solution (i hope).

 

hey, my day to day is: wake up early and go to classes the. whole morning and after that go to the library and study as much as i can and then in the afternoon

an important note here is that I'm already a doctor back in my country, I'm studying here to get my medical certificate so that i can study a specialty

 

by the way has anyone heard of 3rd party reviews of the above??

 

That's cool. Good luck on you new speciality. Healthcare is booming now.

Keep in mind the Blade will have a larger battery pack and is part of the total weight you will be carrying each day. The Stealth charger is small and light.

On another note you don't have a gaming option without the Core if you choose the Stealth. It will play casual games well but nothing AAA.

 

To add on to this, the Intel HD 520 graphics in the Stealth are about equal to a 820m which is okay for running games at low/medium graphics but you will need to lower the resolution to 720p or so. That's one of the reasons I'm trying to wait for ASUS' ultrabook/eGPU since it'll have the 6700HQ which has a HD 530 chip which is equal to a 920m. The 920m would be able to run most games with low/medium settings at 1080p.

 

that was one of my options I've had an asus in the past and it was a great and durable laptop also my daily driver tablet is an asus transformerbook t100ha and it's worked perfectly fine for my needs, but they haven't released any news on the ROG XG2 so only time will tell

 

thanks everyone for their advice as of now I've decided I'd wait for benchmarks and reviews. My laptop can live enough for me to wait for them but the answer i liked the most is this and i was thinking that from the beginning but needed a little help choosing what to do

 

I'm not anxious to buy anything yet, personally. My 970m does perfectly fine for now...besides, if I bought a eGPU solution like the Razer Core now, I'd put in a 980Ti but I'd like to wait for the Pascal cards.