Category Archives: Nerd Stuff

These posts relate to my nerdery (obviously). Computer stuff, games, movies, miscellaneous hobbies (nerdy, of course). Carr stuff is sort of nerdy, but I have another category for that.

2019 Razer Blade Stealth 13″ 4K Laptop

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For Christmas this year I picked up a Razer Blade Stealth 13″ laptop. Recently I have found myself needing a more mobile laptop solution and even the Razer Blade 15″ was somewhat cumbersome to transport (which is crazy when I think back to hauling around the 17″ Pro). I admit that I didn’t need the Stealth but I was very interested in trying it out. No regrets so far!

She’s Got the Look:

Razer has nailed their “We are the Apple of the PC world” strategy (at least I assume that’s their strategy). The look and feel of this laptop is just off the hook. I can’t get over how compact it is and the the smaller bezel size is a huge improvement over their previous generations.

Below is a video showing the unboxing experience and showcasing the Stealth 13’s options and my initial impressions:

One of the Stealth’s optional highlights is the 4K 13″ screen. In some ways the screen is overkill but it looks amazing. I remember about seven years ago when I picked up a Sony 13″ laptop and it had a 1080p screen. The resolution seemed unreal at the time. Fast forward to now and the 4K resolution on the Razer 13 seems unfathomable to me. Here is a more in depth look:

Performance:

It’s a little strange to see a new laptop run slower than a laptop from almost 4 years ago, but I suppose it’s also indicative that the rate of technological development has slowed or, at least, doesn’t have a need to progress as rapidly. Regardless, the Stealth 13 does everything that a modern computer needs to do. I fired up Doom and, speaking anecdotally, it plays respectably at 1080p with medium settings. Without the GeForce MX150 the 2019 Stealth wouldn’t be much of a fighter so I’d definitely recommend it as a purchase option. In some ways the 4K screen option is just beautiful bling as no game will be playable with the 4K settings. I’m not quite certain why the 3D Mark scores have validation errors- as far as I know everything is up to date (probably the custom driver builds that the 13 Stealth uses). Still, the scores should serve as a solid comparison metric.

Pros:

• In terms of attractiveness and size I don’t think anything compares to the new Blade models.
• With Windows 10 GUI scaling the 4K screen is usable and the sharpness / crispness is at another level.
• I am very impressed with the four speakers in this laptop- it’s louder than the 15!
• Non-illuminated logo on the laptop’s cover (I don’t miss the green).
• I am delighted they finally illuminated the alternate characters on the keyboard. Hooray!
• I love how small the power adapter is. I suppose when you don’t need a ton of power you can get away with that!

Cons:
• Needed a driver update (unavailable on Razer’s website) to correct a fairly serious speaker static issue.
• I’m not a fan of the reduced keyboard size. I suppose all things considered I’d rather have a smaller keyboard than a larger chassis.

Neutral Opinions:

• I’m working with a Chrome browser open to a WordPress website while playing Pandora and I’ll probably get 4 hours of life. Not bad, not great. There are probably several things I could do to optimize battery life.
• The travel on the keyboard is shallower than I’d prefer and it takes a little getting used to (I miss / skip a letter pretty often).
• I still wish they’d find  way to include a network jack and an SD card reader. But USB peripherals get the job done.
• After using the laptop for several hours it’s warmer than I’d like but not uncomfortable.

Conclusion:

As an “Ultrabook” the Razer 13 Stealth shines. I think Razer should refrain from advertising it as a “gaming” laptop because it’s not. But as a great looking portable powerhouse (relatively speaking) I think it’s awesome. I wrote this post on the Stealth 13 and, aside my unfamiliarity with the keyboard it’s been awesome.

Specifications: 
OS:
Windows® 10 Home (64-bit)
Processor:
Quad-Core 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-8565U Processor
Graphics:
NVIDIA® GeForce® MX150 (25W) 4GB GDDR5 VRAM
Display:
13.3″ 4K Touch w/ 4.9mm slim side bezel
Storage:
512GB
Memory:
16GB dual-channel (fixed)
Battery:
Up to 8 hours (53.1Wh)
Keyboard:
Single-zone RGB powered by Razer Chroma™
Finish:
Anodized black finish, tone on tone Razer logo
Dimensions:
0.58″ x 11.99″ x 8.27″ / 14.8mm x 304.6mm x 210mm

Other Laptop Links:
Review: Pulse 17
Review: 2014 Razer Blade
Razer Blade Pro
Razer Blade 15

Razer Blade / Windows 10 Adaptive Brightness Problem & Solution

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For the most part I love my Razer Blade 15 and it’s been a reliable Clydesdale workhorse that looks like a thoroughbred Arabian. However, once in awhile some small issue will pop up and drives me nearly insane. This latest issue has to do with the adaptive brightness “feature” that’s included in Windows 10.

In case you are unfamiliar with the adaptive brightness setting here’s the gist: your screen backlight is automatically dimmed when anything on the desktop is a darker color. The effect is extremely noticeable in an application like Photoshop (the GUI is dark-themed) and the screen dims to the point where white looks like gray and it’s difficult to do any real work. Why anyone would choose to have the adaptive brightness enabled is beyond me.

In theory it’s very simple to turn the setting off. You simply open your “power options” then navigate to “change plan settings” and the click the “change advanced power settings” link. This brings you to a pop-up box and under the “Display” options you can switch adaptive brightness on or off. Easy right? Not so fast…

When my Razer Blade is plugged in Windows respects the setting and everything is just fine (well, usually- sometimes I do have to restart my laptop). But when the laptop is operating on battery power the adaptive brightness setting is completely ignored. I searched and searched online for an answer to my problem and came across an excellent article suggesting a myriad of different solutions:
https://windowsreport.com/adaptive-brightness-windows-10-wont-turn-off/

The root problem appeared to be a power management setting for the integrated Intel graphics. This setting was a redundant adaptive brightness routine that was overriding the Windows 10 version. Eureka! Only there was an issue…

…I didn’t have an option to access the Intel graphics settings. The registry edits suggested by the article also proved impossible because the corresponding file location wasn’t present. No amount of rooting through Windows 10 allowed me any access to any Intel-related graphic settings. Additionally, no amount of online searches brought me any closer to finding a solution. A few articles suggested the only way to fix a problem like mine was through settings in the BIOS. Did I even have Integrated Intel graphics?

I already knew the answer to that. I’ve installed a few games that haven’t recognize the Nvidia GPU, defaulted to the Intel chip and had to be manually configured (i.e. Transformers: Devastation). A quick peek under the advanced display settings and it was clear the Razer Blade was using an Intel UHD Graphics 630 while on battery power. Okay, so it was still there and it was working.

So what on earth could cause my Intel control panel to be missing? Maybe that there was software that I could get directly from Intel. No dice. Intel’s website suggested contacting the OEM if the Intel Graphics Setting option is missing. I imagined trying to get Razer to help me with my problem chuckled. Okay, so maybe I had the wrong driver installed.

I racked my brain and it hit me. I had swapped out my hard drive and that necessitated a Windows 10 installation. Maybe I had missed something when I was reinstalling my drivers! It certainly couldn’t hurt to reinstall them again.

I downloaded the Intel Graphic Driver file from Razer’s Support page. I ran the installation (side note: Windows Defender repeatedly warned me that threats were detected during the installation, but it completed just fine). And then:

After the installation and a restart there was the “Intel Graphics Settings” option right where it was supposed to be. I held my breath and opened it.

Under the power settings there is an option to disable “Display Power Saving Technology.” Click it, hit apply and voila!

This fixed the problem. Now on battery power the laptop will respect the Windows 10 adaptive brightness settings. I suppose part of me understands why the power saving is enabled by default but what an absolute pain the neck.

Summary Version: If you can’t turn off adaptive brightness then you need to disable the power saving feature in the Intel graphics settings. If the Graphics settings aren’t visible make sure you have the correct OEM driver installed. 

 

2018 4K Razer Blade 15 Laptop

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Razer knows how to make a sexy laptop- this is an indisputable fact. Over the years I’ve owned many of these laptops and, for the most part, I have enjoyed them all. Razor build quality is second to none and they cram an amazing amount of power into a very tiny frame. There’s no question that my Razer Pro was still getting the job done (well- minus a battery issue), but the Razor 15 was too intriguing to pass on.

Aesthetically the new design is much boxier than the past models. Personally I like the squarish design and the simple elegance of the laptop’s layout. The reduced bezel is a welcome relief (it feels “right” for lack of a better description) and the 15″ 4K screen is exceptional (bright, no dead pixels and great consistency). Build quality is as high as ever and the laptop feels exceptionally solid.

The very handsome Razer Blade 15!

Performance is on par with my old Pro. The graphic GTX 1070 Max-Q Design in the 15 can’t keep up with the Pro’s GTX 1080 but the 15’s newer CPU easily outperforms the Pro enabling a comparable 3D Mark score (both had scores right around 14,000 with the 15 edging out the Pro by a few points).

I opted to upgrade my 15 by expanding the RAM to 32 GB and upgrading the 512GB SSD to a 1 TB version (the same specs as my Pro has). The upgrade process was straightforward and relatively inexpensive. Interestingly, after my upgrade my 3D Mark score dropped into the mid 13500’s. This is probably a driver or configuration issue – I had to reinstall Windows 10) – and realistically we’re talking about a single fps loss at the moment.

The Razer 15 doesn’t necessarily represent a good value- I don’t think that’s the market they’re after. But as a high quality ultra-portable boutique gaming laptop they remain king of the hill for another year.

Things I like;

  • Smaller bezel and larger 4K screen
  • New square design and ultra-compact form factor
  • Expandable RAM and hard drive
  • Redesigned heat management (runs cooler than the Pro)

There aren’t a lot of things to complain about on the Razer 15 but there are still a few things that could be a bit better:

  • Shift function symbols are not backlit
  • Touch pad is finicky (misidentifies my palm as a finger and result in gesture misrecognition)
  • No backlighting around the touch pad (I liked the feature on the Razer Pro)
  • No SD card reader or Ethernet jack

Razer 15 System specifications:

Operating System

  • Windows® 10 Home (64-Bit)

Processor

  • 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-8750H processor, 6 Cores/12 Threads, 2.2GHz/4.1GHz (Base/Max Turbo), 9MB Cache
  • Mobile Intel® HM370 Chipset

Display

  • 15.6″ 4K, 3840 x 2160
  • IPS, 60Hz
  • 100% aRGB, 16:9 aspect ratio, capacitive multi-touch
  • Custom calibrated at the factory

Graphic Card

  • NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 Max-Q Design (8GB GDDR5 VRAM, Optimus™ Technology)

Memory

  • 16GB dual-channel SO-DIMM (DDR4, 2667MHz),
  • Upgraded to Micron Ballistix dual-chanel 32GB SO-DIMM (DDR4, 2666MHz)

Storage

  • 512GB M.2 SSD (NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4)
  • Upgraded to 1TB Samsung 970 EVO (NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD)

Battery

  • Built-in 80Wh rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery

Size (Approx.)

  • 13.98″ / 355mm (W) x 9.25″ / 235mm (D) x 0.68″ / 17.3mm

Weight (Approx.)

  • 4.73 lbs / 2.15 kg

Communication

  • Intel® Wireless-AC 9260 (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, and Bluetooth® 5 connectivity)

Input & Output

  • Precision glass touchpad
  • Built-in webcam (1MP/720P)
  • Anti-ghosting keyboard with Razer Chroma™ backlighting
  • Thunderbolt™ 3 (USB-C™)
  • USB 3.1 port x3 (SuperSpeed)
  • Mini DisplayPort 1.4
  • HDMI 2.0 audio and video output

Other Laptop Links:
Review: Pulse 17
Review: 2014 Razer Blade
Razer Blade Pro

Porsche 2018 Photo & Video Shoot

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I do a lot of cosmetic stuff to my car and so periodically it makes sense (to me) to grab a few pictures of these changes. Since I fancy myself an budding car photographer I took on this mission personally (and no… this is not my iPhone camera). I figure posting six pictures of my car should be plenty since I also cobbled together a video montage. I’m certain this kind of obsessiveness will delight whoever ends up with my car someday. In the meantime I’m slightly less sure it will delight the Internet.

Plain in many ways, but beautiful…

That backside. Nothing better.

She waits patiently. But when we get underway she’s a monster.

When something is this pure the gossip is hard to come by. [Huh? What does this stuff even mean – Ed]

Some say no one “needs” a car like this. They are exactly right.

Black wasn’t my first choice when I got the car. But it’s my first choice now.

I can’t help but sing the praises of this car just a bit. In many ways it’s a nondescript monster. The handling, power and precision are unmatched. It’s the only car I’ve owned that hasn’t left me disappointed (yet). I think it’s okay to splurge on one thing. This is my thing and it’s worth every penny.

Want to hire me to take pictures of your car or put together a fun little video? That would surprise me. That being said, feel free to drop me a line if you’re in Utah.

 

Sideshow Statues: Transformers & Star Wars

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For my fortieth birthday I got myself statues from Sideshow (what else would a forty year old want?). Being an adult is awesome.

First up is this Boba Fett:

Next are three 80’s style robots (Optimus Prime, another Optimus Prime and Voltron):

It’s true that you can’t really play with statues. But you can’t play with toys you leave in the box either. At least I get to take these out of the boxes and display them! All of these are limited edition productions and are available from Sideshow.com at the time of this posting.

Netgear Orbi – Making a Mesh

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We have long struggled with Wifi in our home. There are a few elements working against us: 1) We have 3.5 levels and a lot of space to cover. 2) Part of that space is an excavated portion of the basement where nary a wifi signal can penetrate. 3) Part of our space is a main floor office which, for reasons unknown, is wifi Bermuda Triangle 4) We need Wifi in our garage for various devices and this exterior area has been difficult to cover as well.

In order to get internet to the nether regions of our home I had previously set up three separate networks (Seriously? How sad that your nerdy friends didn’t rescue you…). The basement & excavated area had a NightHawk X6, the office had its own NPowerLINE Wi-Fi 1000 and the upstairs had a separate NightHawk X8 which also covered the garage. Things mostly worked but the setup made it hard to share printers, seemed to confuse devices (they often switched networks or disconnected altogether), made it hard to lock down the internet (i.e. parental controls) and made certain aspects of home automatic difficult to use if you were on the “wrong” network. I knew I needed to eventually fix the problem (Sonos connect amps with 3 networks? Uh… no) but there was so simple one router solution. I dreamed about having some kind of mesh network but my ability to set one up was much too limited to undertake a project like that. And so I waited. Until one day…

ca

…Netgear released the Orbi. Billed as a “mesh network” system (slightly misleading) the Orbi consists of a Router base and satellite nodes. The base establishes a link with each satellite and they create a relatively seamless “mesh” network (it’s a hub and spoke system but as far as your devices are concerned it’s all the same big network).

I opted for the 3 node system which is billed as covering 8,000 square feet (I don’t have nearly that much space, but you can’t have too much Internet, I say). I positioned the base in our mechanical room next to our cable modem- that was the easy part since I didn’t really have a location choice. However, you have to position the satellites within reach of the base so I had a few placement mishaps on that end. Eventually I ended up with a node in the basement by the excavated areas, one on the main floor across from the office (inside the office was a disaster) and another in the center of the upstairs (in a bedroom).

Side note: Our network “infrastructure” was a complete mess (“So wait- you have a router plugged into a switch that goes into another router and then into your modem?”). When I installed the Orbi I took the opportunity to organize and simplify things quite a bit.

I spent a lot of time wandering around making sure that every nook and cranny of the house had acceptable internet. Speeds are much faster now and, based on a few days of use, much more reliable / stable. We may benefit from an additional satellite in the future (it looks like people are using up to four satellites) but I think for now we’re covered (nerd pun!).

We were hoping to implement Disney’s Circle, which was offered with the Orbi system. However, there is an Orbi firmware issue and the current stable version is not compatible with Circle. No word on when that will be remedied. It’s really too bad because the Netgear parental controls aren’t great (they suck). That being said we can still use the Orbi app to turn internet access to devices on an off which seems like it will be useful.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the Orbi system and feel like it’s been a great (and desperately required) upgrade. Hopefully it’s smooth sailing from here on out.

Update: 4/13/2018 – Having now had the Orbi system for a week I can say that computer connections periodically drop for no apparent reason. I’m wondering if it has something to do with the computers switching to a different satellite. It may also be an issue related to Parental Controls that I tried to set up (it was a mess- I turned them off but I’m wondering if I left something misconfigured). Such hassles.
Overall: 8/10 (dropped connections)

Update: 5/23/2018 – The Orbi system has turned into a bit of a liability. Nodes randomly lose base connection and Internet. Devices attached to the network are randomly booted. Internet speeds are wildly inconsistent. I can’t find documentation or information to remedy these situations. I think we’re moving back to our old routers. Sigh.
Overall: 4/10 (suckville)

Sideshow Statue: Batman vs. Superman

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Let’s be serious for a minute. Batman is, far and away, my favorite super hero. I loved the comics, I loved the animated TV shows, I manged to cobble together some love for a few of the movie franchises. Recently Dawn of Justice pitted the Word’s Greatest Detective against the Sun-Powered Boy Scout. Say what you want about the movie, but I felt like they finally nailed the costume. This is the kind of costume that a picture doesn’t do any justice. Owning a picture of this would be an embarrassment. In cases like these you need a lifelike statue to showcase this level of excellence (I’m not sure if I know how to be serious). And so I present to you, Batman:

If you decide to get one use this link and I can get some referral points: Magical Buy a Batman Statue Link
I have no illusions that anyone will click through this link and buy this guy, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. It’s seriously a great figure.

Sideshow: Millennium Falcon, Liberty and Justice for All.

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It’s been awhile since I’ve gotten any pop art (like… weeks). For some reason Sideshow Collectibles has appeared on my radar quite a few times in the last couple of months and I admit to spending a fair amount of time browsing their product offerings.

In December two things really hooked me and I placed preorders for both. The first was  “Liberty & Justice: Trinity,” a limited edition print by Alex Ross. I am a super hero sucker and Alex easily makes my top five favorite artist list. The second item was a diecast Millennium Falcon by EFX. I had been mulling over the idea of buying a vintage Kenner toy but the 19″ Falcon from EFX filled the position nicely.

Both collectibles are fantastic and I made a quick overview of them:

My first two ordering experiences with Sideshow went fairly well. They take a down payment (non-refunable) and they are good about letting you know when the balance will be changed and when the pre-order is expected to ship. They also offer a reward program for customers which gives you  about 5% back (although it take a month for the rewards to become available… c’mon, I got stuff to buy!). I imagine I’ll be a regular customer as they have quite a few items I’ve got my eye on (I’m looking at you, Optimus).