Razer's "Project Fiona," a tablet with an Intel Core i7 processor and the ability to play "current-generation PC games," is on display this week at CES. The crew at Engadget got to spend some time with the device, and made a moving-picture document of the experience.
Razer's "Project Fiona," a tablet with an Intel Core i7 processor and the ability to play "current-generation PC games," is on display this week at CES. The crew at Engadget got to spend some time with the device, and made a moving-picture document of the experience.
Reader Comments (23)
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:10AM do work said
luckily this is a prototype because this looks kinda pointless to me. the whole reason why consoles are successful is because developers develop games for them and optimize them to run on them. PC's get outdated fast and unless u have the highest quality GPU don't expect to play games on the highest settings 3 years or so after u get it. Not to mention the fact that it would seem this would have horrible battery life and the probably sky high price tag.
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:59AM Apakal said
@do work
I heard him mention around a thousand dollar price tag, which I agree is way expensive.
Beyond that, everything else you've said is rubbish. I've had my PC for going on 4 years now, haven't updated it once, and I only have problems with top-end games like BF3 (which incidentally I don't even play). I'm just now considering a new video card, but it has yet to be a pressing issue.
If you even bother to look at the specs for most games, minimum is still 8800 series NVIDIA cards and recommended are still in the 4000-5000 series ATI cards. I can think of all of 3 games that have recommended cards in the NVIDIA 500/ATI 6000+ series.
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I heard him mention around a thousand dollar price tag, which I agree is way expensive.
Beyond that, everything else you've said is rubbish. I've had my PC for going on 4 years now, haven't updated it once, and I only have problems with top-end games like BF3 (which incidentally I don't even play). I'm just now considering a new video card, but it has yet to be a pressing issue.
If you even bother to look at the specs for most games, minimum is still 8800 series NVIDIA cards and recommended are still in the 4000-5000 series ATI cards. I can think of all of 3 games that have recommended cards in the NVIDIA 500/ATI 6000+ series.
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:11AM do work said
@Apakal so u would pay probably close to a thousand dollars for a "portable" machine that plays PC games when u could get a pretty decent PC for that price? BF3 isn't really a too intensive game the low settings are pretty playable, the highest settings are the taxing ones. the fact that u can't play games on the highest settings just proves my point. my laptop can play games on medium settings but that doesn't mean i want it in a form factor like that my computer gets ridiculously hot, which i expect this to do. I mentioned consoles because u are guaranteed to be able to play any game that comes out for it because theres a set standard across the board. This thing on the other hand doesnt play games made and optimized specifically for this but PC games which yes, usually the highest settings are better than the consoles but that doesn't mean i would buy this if i could only play games on medium settings and then soon enough only be able to play on low settings and so on. When i said that PCs get outdated its due to this fact, that over a few years u have to lower ur standard of quality because of advancing cards and such whereas consoles u won't ever have to worry about not being able to play a game made for it
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:30AM do work said
@trinica i never said consoles are more powerful in any way, obviously PC's are substantially more powerful than 7 year old consoles, I'm saying that A) from a consumer standpoint this doesn't really have much of a market and B) that for gaming, which this seems to be mainly for, consoles are good because u are guaranteed to be able to play every game made for it. same thing for portables. this thing is playing PC games not games made specifically for it
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:33AM jmr1986 said
@do work Don't get me wrong i agree in the majority of point with you, but PCs are hardware that will last atleast 5 years, especially now that the market it's full of console ports. The problem with this device it's that you can't upgrade the hardware, i prefer to spent the same amount of dollars on a high end PC that will last atleast 5 years than buying a gaming table that i can't modify. And i'll like to know how the heck are they going to make the battery last two hours...
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:55AM trinica said
@do work
I don't know what game coming out (in the next few years anyway) would use an i7 or higher as their minimum specs. This device would be viable for a bit longer than I think you believe it will.
And about the price point for it, you're basically purchasing a gaming laptop, but in tablet form. If you wanted to play these games (some of which pretty much require a controller) on a laptop you would need to take the controller and set it on your lap/a table to play, which can be quite frustrating. Now imagine you pack THIS: you now have the ability to bring whatever keyboard you want and whatever mouse you want along with you, but you don't even have to use them if you don't want to. This would be a great alternative, especially for fighters, platformers, etc.
You have to imagine it's also much lighter than traditional gaming laptops, so that's an added bonus as well. There are just too many great things about this device to focus on it being outdated in 5+ years (it would still run current-gen games by the way, and I'm pretty sure we'll all still love Skyrim in 5 years).
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I don't know what game coming out (in the next few years anyway) would use an i7 or higher as their minimum specs. This device would be viable for a bit longer than I think you believe it will.
And about the price point for it, you're basically purchasing a gaming laptop, but in tablet form. If you wanted to play these games (some of which pretty much require a controller) on a laptop you would need to take the controller and set it on your lap/a table to play, which can be quite frustrating. Now imagine you pack THIS: you now have the ability to bring whatever keyboard you want and whatever mouse you want along with you, but you don't even have to use them if you don't want to. This would be a great alternative, especially for fighters, platformers, etc.
You have to imagine it's also much lighter than traditional gaming laptops, so that's an added bonus as well. There are just too many great things about this device to focus on it being outdated in 5+ years (it would still run current-gen games by the way, and I'm pretty sure we'll all still love Skyrim in 5 years).
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 2:24PM birdizzle87 said
@do work
Decent PCs can easily outlast a generation of consoles and make the games look noticeably better doing it.
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Decent PCs can easily outlast a generation of consoles and make the games look noticeably better doing it.
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 3:57PM (Unverified) said
@do work how come the first comment is always the least intelligent? I've been using the same crossfired 5870s for about 3 years and I can still run every game on the highest settings. I cant imagine that will change in another couple of years minimum. New hardware that is more powerful does in fact come out often but that doesnt mean that your old system is "outdated" especially when current consoles are running off 7 year old hardware.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 4:23PM do work said
@(Unverified) u really comparing a formerly high end desktop GPU in crossfire against what is probably going to be a laptop GPU? no crap the current consoles are outdated i never said that they werent. jmr1986 and sidescroller seems to be the only ones who understand what im saying. just an opinion but the fact that this thing probably costs $1000 for a glorified tablet that can play PC games is not worth it. with a core i7 and a laptop GPU i dont see how this thing is going to last near 2 hours. laptop can barely last 2 hours gaming and this thing will probably have a better GPU.
besides its just my opinion. id rather spend my money on a console, portable, or hell even a tablet and get OnLive than this because at least those last and i would be able to enjoy for some amount of time before it dies. take it or leave it just looking at it from my point of view. You may be excited and like it but for me looking at it, spending a lot of money on it, and having 3 years or so down the line having frame rate issues with games on it isnt appealing to me. And yes point taken apparently PC hardware apparently lasts a long time before becoming outdated. But when my laptop which has a mid-tier gaming card (Radeon 6750m 1gb w/ a core i7) and i have to play BF3 on all low settings to get an acceptable 40 fps, then call me crazy but unless this thing has the latest and greatest and somehow crammed 2 GPU's and some amazing battery tech in there then its just not appealing to me. to each his own
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besides its just my opinion. id rather spend my money on a console, portable, or hell even a tablet and get OnLive than this because at least those last and i would be able to enjoy for some amount of time before it dies. take it or leave it just looking at it from my point of view. You may be excited and like it but for me looking at it, spending a lot of money on it, and having 3 years or so down the line having frame rate issues with games on it isnt appealing to me. And yes point taken apparently PC hardware apparently lasts a long time before becoming outdated. But when my laptop which has a mid-tier gaming card (Radeon 6750m 1gb w/ a core i7) and i have to play BF3 on all low settings to get an acceptable 40 fps, then call me crazy but unless this thing has the latest and greatest and somehow crammed 2 GPU's and some amazing battery tech in there then its just not appealing to me. to each his own
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:50AM (Unverified) said
This actually looks really cool for portable gaming. I do have a couple of concerns though.
Can this be used as a Windows tablet too? Can I just use Windows software like any other laptop, pair a bluetooth keyboard, etc?
Also, would we have to re-buy all our PC games through their store/interface? I hope it's not a whole new store as the only option. I own a ton of Steam games, and would either like to use that platform or at least be able to have their interface recognize that I already own the game, so I can use the button configuration utility. I'm NOT re-buying all my PC games though just to play on this thing.
Can this be used as a Windows tablet too? Can I just use Windows software like any other laptop, pair a bluetooth keyboard, etc?
Also, would we have to re-buy all our PC games through their store/interface? I hope it's not a whole new store as the only option. I own a ton of Steam games, and would either like to use that platform or at least be able to have their interface recognize that I already own the game, so I can use the button configuration utility. I'm NOT re-buying all my PC games though just to play on this thing.
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:54AM Apakal said
Price point is way off base. Sure mobile gaming has its perks and this would be great for my 3 hour break between classes (what with being a commuter student and all), but I'm not going to pay a grand for the limited use I, and I feel safe in saying most other games, would get out of this.
I mean think about it. Are you going to use it at home when you have other options? Probably not, especially if you are a PC gamer and you would prefer KB/M. How often are most gamers on the road that this would be their primary gaming platform? Maybe a small percentage? Less than 5%? I'm not sure, but it can't be hefty.
And let's stop to consider DRM for a second. Always-on internet connections have the potential, despite consumer backlash, of being pretty common. Even though I'm assuming it has built in Wi-Fi, the truly mobile gamer won't always have Wi-Fi available, limiting gaming options. Will it have 4G? Is 4G even fast enough for a decent gaming experience? What about data usage?
There are still a ton of questions and some serious concerns. The platform is cool for sure and it definitely has some merits, but there are issues beyond that platform that make me stop and wonder.
I mean think about it. Are you going to use it at home when you have other options? Probably not, especially if you are a PC gamer and you would prefer KB/M. How often are most gamers on the road that this would be their primary gaming platform? Maybe a small percentage? Less than 5%? I'm not sure, but it can't be hefty.
And let's stop to consider DRM for a second. Always-on internet connections have the potential, despite consumer backlash, of being pretty common. Even though I'm assuming it has built in Wi-Fi, the truly mobile gamer won't always have Wi-Fi available, limiting gaming options. Will it have 4G? Is 4G even fast enough for a decent gaming experience? What about data usage?
There are still a ton of questions and some serious concerns. The platform is cool for sure and it definitely has some merits, but there are issues beyond that platform that make me stop and wonder.
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 1:00PM DuPrince3 said
I can see people playing games on this in places like Internet cafes, on the john, on an airplane flight, or around friends. However, I just can't see people whipping out this Wii U tablet/PS Move device on a train or bus ride where it's more common to see people playing a game on their phone, iDevice, DS, 3DS, PSP, etc. It's rare to see people pull out their laptop to play a game for fear that it'll bring unwanted attention to them. Any word on the battery life of this thing?
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 2:27PM ColorblindMonk said
@DuPrince3
So far nothings final on this device. It should not be surprising that it may be short, however.
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So far nothings final on this device. It should not be surprising that it may be short, however.
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 7:26PM MrPaulJames said
@DuPrince3 Every gaming laptop I've owned, when running full power and not charging, lasts about two - three hours. But that's with (I'm assuming) a much larger battery...
Never know what might happen from now until this thing is release though.
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Never know what might happen from now until this thing is release though.
Posted: Jan 11th 2012 7:18PM MrPaulJames said
Wait... Any windows game will work out of the box, no optimiziation required... Then he says that games optimized for the system will work straight out of the box?
I love the look of this thing though!
I love the look of this thing though!
