I have an offer on a 6 month old Razer Blade Stealth 13.3" 120Hz Core i7-1065G7 GTX 1650 Ti Laptop for $2000. The goal is to set up my 12 year old son starting year 7 and in need of a laptop either apple or PC to run MS office. Clearly he wants to play games and first person shoorters are his passion like fortnite. He has been playing loads of ipad games so has never really experienced the bigger titles. I want to give him options in a capable machine that is lightweight and able to be put in his backpack when he rides to school. Battery needs to last for the school day. For some reason he wants one that looks good. What does anyone think? I can give him mine that I am not using and wait 12 months if necessary (HP Elitebook 830 x360 G6 touch with pen 32GB 512 SSD). I was curious with all the new AMD tech arriving and thought maybe things are being shaken up devaluing the Razer Blade.
High School and gaming laptop perhaps a Razer Blade Stealth 13.3" 120Hz Core i7-1065G7 GTX 1650 Ti Laptop
Comments
Your suggestion was in the back of my mind. I think you are tight. Interesting sotry. I'm sorry you had such bad luck but maybe you aved me some grief so for me it was worth hearing it Thanks
Piggy backing on this - the definition of a laptop in the past, in my books, was always about having a portable device you don't need to lug around. Battery life and portability was and still is my number one priority in a laptop. If MS office is the only thing important, you don't need a good laptop for that. Gaming can happen in the comfort of your own home, while the laptop remains as a work device for your kid. You can even dispute costs and make it a good experience for you and your kid - sacrifice looks and whatever, get a cheap laptop that gets the work done and he can have a great gaming machine he can have access to and play when he's finished with his work.
Get a cheapo sub-$400 laptop from JB Hifi and get one of those shiny new latest PCs from Techfast that will play AAA games for the same budget.
Thanks again, I had a chat with my wife and she is offered to swap her 2019 apple Air for him and she will use my laptop. She thinks the Apple is less likly to be distractring for gaming as its limited in that area and has good battery life. I'll have a look at Techfast as well.
Pretty sure the stealth won't give you all day battery.
Hmmm seems others are sying this. Thanks
Razer doesn't have a good track record in terms of reliability…
Having a personal gaming laptop is probably going to disrupt their learning, they will just be tempted to play games rather than do homework. And the second issue is a sub $2k gaming laptop isn't likely to have an all-day battery life and is a little heavier than a typical ultrabook.
I would recommend you give them your HP x360 laptop in the mean time and get them a game console instead? Or alternatively a gaming desktop that your kids can share.
Hi thanks for your reply. Thereare others saying the same thing as you. Looks like I need to take yours and their advice.
Here you go!
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/578636
Fits the budget, 9 hour battery or something, same GPU, arguably much more awesome cpu, nice form factor.Hi, a good link. I think I have seen this come up with good reviews. I appreciate your effort.
I had a similar dilemma last year with the then 13 yo. Ended up getting a Macbook Pro (for school as it was heavily apple orientated) and a cheapie gaming tower for home. That way gaming and homework are neatly seperated.
Others have said that gaming separation from work is important. Thanks for helping.
Don't know if its the best idea bringing a $2000+ laptop to high school?
I would recommend giving your laptop that you aren't using to him and seeing how it goes, if it's holds up. If it's fine after the 12 months, go for the Razer laptop, although, as others have said, not the best battery life or reliability.Hi, The $2000 is about the overinfalted cost the school offers surfaces for (old models) so I just went with that for the budget. I get your point though. Your thinking was similar to one path I could take so thanks for your comments.
Don't get a gaming laptop for school.
Reasons:
Fan speeds are too loud
It's heavy
Battery won't last all dayBack in High School I had an Alienware and thing weighed 4KG. Had to undervolt and repast the CPU so that the laptop wouldn't sound like a jet engine as I started up Chrome.
OP is looking at the Razer 13.3" which has the form factor of an ultrabook. Weight is under 1.5kg
Also gaming laptops have become much more usable for everyday use. My alienware m15 weighs about 2.2kg and the battery lasts enough to use all day.
Fans are quiet when under 50% which is the usual for normal use. I did repaste and undervolt the CPU to keep temperatures down when gaming thoughGood points I did not think about. Thanks for your help.
Hi, It looks like I might avoid the razer and consider the options presented in this forum. I'll watch for fan noice etc. thanks
Hi, Thanks for your thoughts. I'll keep them in mind as I explore some options presented in this thread.
I thought most schools supply laptops???
Hi, I wish they did but I cant bring myself to buying a surface 2015 model for $2000 which is their offer. In Victoria they cant force you to take their option you can pick something else which I notice happening in the year 10 and above group after they realise. So I'm looking early for my year 7 and getting something worthwhile. It appears a retail PC outlet has set up shop in the school and offering machines that are imaged and saying how such a good service that is. Seems a bit dodgy. They set up a 3rd party machine by installing office free of chanrge under their arrangement. Mind you I can do that anyway as could anyone else so I'm not seeing the point. They also load on a wifi certificate which I can do to if they email me it.
There's plenty of options for smaller budget, if it's just for school work not hardcore gaming.
Look around at different computer stores, like MSY
I'll check it out thanks for the link. I notice there is a store in Clayton Vic. We are opening up soon in Vic so a good option.
My son is in a similar boat. Here's my discussion: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/578087#comment-9566089
There are some Lenovo models that look like they handle both jobs pretty well.
I'll take a look thanks for the heads up
OP please reconsider this, this is a laptop for school, it
- too heavy
- an item for theft
- school work and gaming should be separated
I have gone and set up various laptops for schooling and the parents involved have given the go ahead for gaming, within 30 mins of me setting up the laptop, the laptop now has viruses on it.
A 12 year old does not have sufficient knowledge of IT to be able to navigate these pitfalls.
But a dedicated school laptop, then get a console, you will not regret it but you will with the fees associated with virus/stolen/broken etc.
Hi, I'll take those points on board. The virus concern is important as I dont want to have to service it too often. Thanks for your interest
Get a AMD HP Omen 15 $1597 @ JB's. Have had 10 hours battery life on the HP Recommended settings. If you get Apple, you have to get their warranty as well, you'll find out why when it breaks.
I'll look into that model thanks. I better check up on the warranty for an apple. Thanks for your help
Ebay deal for the Lenovo Gaming 3 just went up: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/579546#comment-9582472
Be aware that it only has a 45Wh battery. Tests show that you should be able to get 6 hours out of it (https://youtu.be/DeQrXflRbg8?t=664) but it's still iffy for school use, IMO. The Legion 5 series has bigger batteries.
Thanks for the info and advice
My experience with Razer equipment. Bought a Razer Blade Stealth, purchased online via the Razer store. Came in about 2 weeks from their Hong Kong warehouse. When I received it there was an issue, so i sent it back. Note the only closest service center that could repair my laptop was in Singapore - Singapore service center just sent me another new machine from Hong Kong. So they paid for all of that and I was without a laptop for about 3-4 weeks. Then the new one came and a key broke, sent it back and another 3-4 weeks and they sent me a new machine.
The battery life isn't the quoted 8+ hours it said. I got around 3-4 at most. No gaming.
After 2 years the screen and battery started to fail, there was dark spots on the screen. All in all I sold that piece of trash for $1000 off what I bought it for. The Razer laptop didn't come with all those nice features you want for a work laptop or school laptop to have such as charge limiting or good power efficiency.
If you want a device for work/school try and get a laptop from a brand that isn't known for issues, if there are issues make sure there's a service center that can service the machine (under warranty) in Australia at least or like Dell they'll come to you.
Keyboards are solid though. Their mice suck, mine failed after 1 year.
All in all, I do not use Razer equipment anymore. Looked cool.
You should just give him the laptop you're not using for school/lightweight gaming and buy/build a PC.