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It seems Razer have been getting a lot of requests for Linux support on their 'Razer Blade' laptop line, so they are looking for feedback.

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Writing on Facebook Razer CEO and Co-founder Min-Liang Tan said:
Min-Liang Tan, RazerThe Razer Blade series have become the default coding machine for many out there and one of the most common asks is for us to support Linux on it.

Well - we're looking at it and we're inviting all Linux enthusiasts to weigh in at the new Linux Corner on Insider to post feedback, suggestions and ideas on how we can make it the best notebook in the world that supports Linux.


They also pointed people towards this post on their forum, for people to give them feedback.

It would be fantastic to see another hardware vendor officially test and support Linux on their laptops, more choice is always a good thing.

Would you buy one if it properly supported Linux? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Hardware
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21 comments
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STiAT Mar 5, 2017
I'd like proper linux support / tools for their naga mouse or similar hardware...
slaapliedje Mar 6, 2017
Awesome, I'd probably buy a Razer if they supported Linux directly. At least next time I'm in the market for a laptop.
yerbestpal Mar 6, 2017
I tink I would probably make my next laptop a Blade if it were to support Linux.
Blauer_Hunger Mar 6, 2017
I have a Blade, and the biggest problem is nVidia Optimus View video on youtube.com . Since the 1060 isn't supported by nouveau in Linux 4.9, I have to use Bumblebee till I upgrade to 4.10, but Bumblebee has problems with Vulkan and with monitors attached to the dGPU. At the moment, the Arch Linux Wiki has most information about needed workarounds etc.
soulsource Mar 6, 2017
Yep, Optimus is a huge PITA, but sadly there are very few (none?) high-quality laptops with dedicated AMD graphics available, and Intel Iris Pro is quite expensive.
I'm hoping for the Zen-based APUs to improve the situation...
Luke_Nukem Mar 6, 2017
Motherfucking Optimus...

If Razer are dead serious, then I hope they start hammering on Nvidia's door.
micha Mar 6, 2017
Is Optimus really a problem if you use the proprietory nvidia drivers? Maybe I'm missing soemthing but I got two notebooks with the technology and Optimus stickers on it. With one I can select dedicated GPU in the bios and with other I simply selected performance mode in the nvidia-settings. Both run all games just fine..
knotted10 Mar 6, 2017
Quoting: michaIs Optimus really a problem if you use the proprietory nvidia drivers? Maybe I'm missing soemthing but I got two notebooks with the technology and Optimus stickers on it. With one I can select dedicated GPU in the bios and with other I simply selected performance mode in the nvidia-settings. Both run all games just fine..

Have you noticed the screentearing? Except if you have xorg server 1.19+ then you are having screentearing. That's the main reason why Nvidia optimus sucks, you stick to the proprietary drivers and burn your eyes with screentearing, or you stick with the mentioned problems with bumblebee (considering that you know how to use it, think about the newbie guys that arrive into linux without knowing anything about this)

It's literally pieces of s*** raining from the sky.


Last edited by knotted10 on 6 March 2017 at 9:57 am UTC
minkiu Mar 6, 2017
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So by your comments, I understand that these new laptopts that pack full GPUs you still have to use Bumblebee? There is no way to disable so the OS thinks its only a GPU and discard the integrated one?

Luckily I hadn't had massive trouble with Bumblebee (and nvidia drivers) the only thing I couldn't manage to make work is CUDA for Blender, but using rimusrun or optirun tends to work.


Last edited by minkiu on 6 March 2017 at 10:28 am UTC
Corben Mar 6, 2017
Unfortunately Razer's notebooks aren't available here in Germany. So I went for an ASUS ROG Strix GL502VS-FY042T. As it has a gsync display, the iGPU is disabled. So I don't have to bother with optimus. As the GTX 1070 can run at very low frequencies in desktop mode, I don't think it's effecting battery runtime a lot. Well, it's also a gaming notebook, so long battery runtime isn't very important. Though it's using power from the battery when playing high demanding games. The power supply isn't enough.

What I couldn't get to work are some hotkeys from the internal keyboard. Display- or keyboard-backlight-brightness aren't changing when pressing fn + the corresponding key. Kernel parameter "acpi_osi=" doesn't help as suggested for other Asus notebooks on stackoverflow etc.
Here I wish Asus would have better Linux support.
As I'm using an external Apple keyboard I can live with that, as its fn keys can change both brightnesses.
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