The TR Podcast 95: Razer's Blade, Jobs retires, and a PC in your palm

	Date: September 4, 2011 Time: 1:23:56 Hosted by Jordan Drake Co-Hosts: Scott Wasson, Geoff Gasior, Cyril Kowaliski, David Morgan Download: MP3 (60.6MB) | M4A (82.6MB) Subscribe: RSS (MP3) | RSS (M4A) iTunes (MP3) | iTunes (M4A)
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Show notes
After answering a trio of listener mail questions, we kick off this episode of the TR Podcast with talk of Razer's new Blade laptop, an unusual, intriguing, and pricy gaming laptop that will most likely be either amazing or very gimmicky. Then, we move on to gameplay footage from the next Counter-Strike title from Valve, which we follow up with Cyril's review of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

After the gaming discussion, our own David Morgan gives us the scoop on a stylish case from Fractal Design, and Jordan has a podcast exclusive review of Jawbone's Jambox bluetooth speaker and speakerphone. In a sober turn of agenda, we then discuss Steve Jobs' resignation as Apple CEO, as well as our latest TR comic. Finally, Geoff cracks open the Zotac Zbox AD10 Plus nettop—a tiny yet powerful system that quite literally fits in your palm.

Send in listener mail, and we'll answer on the podcast. - jdrake@techreport.com

Follow us on Twitter - Scott - Jordan - Geoff - Cyril - The Tech Report

Listener mail:

Quick Sync and CUDA (0:00:47) - from Craig:

"I currently use Handbrake to transcode video, but I'd consider switching to something that takes full advantage of my hardware. I recently picked up a laptop with a Sandy Bridge CPU and a 550M GPU with Optimus. Is it possible to use Quick Sync for the decode, and CUDA for the encode at the same time, or will I have to decide between one or the other? Will the quality be as good as a software solution? "

Software upgrades for CPUs (0:04:27) - from Sweatshop King:

"Even though we're soul mates, there are somethings we don't agree on. In the last podcast, you said the intel software upgrades weren't important to your listeners, as it's an enthusiast site, and they'd be looking at the 2600k. Whilst I can agree with the fact we're interested in the 2600k, it doesn't mean we're going to purchase it. Just because we like fancy toys, doesn't mean we can buy them. i'm still running a q6600, and when i do upgrade it'll likely be a low end cpu, as my wife controls my bank account, because I'm not man enough to question her. My point is that this cpu upgrade DOES affect us, not that i really think it's unreasonable for intel, but i do think in the future that we should take the upgrade costs into effect when looking at future cost comparisons.
Thanks Babes,
Your BFF
Sweatshop King "

Two questions (0:07:05) - from KJ:

"Thanks for the previous answer about AMD Fusion choice. Two questions:
1. Recent tablet reviews didn't mention much about the windows tablets or convertibles. I am very interested in the ASUS EEE transformer but wouldn't a windows tablet be better? Considering Windows 8, better HW like the Acer Iconia W500 tablet with AMD C-50, windows OS, etc, why wouldn't a windows tablet be better? The ACER Intel CULV laptop you mention frequently came in a convertible chassis. so what do you gain/miss in the windows tablet vs the android tablet apart from the app store. Intel AppUp has many touch based apps.
2. Do you think there will be a llano laptop in a 12"-13" slim chassis (less than 1" thick)? Maybe even with discrete graphics. Is there any technical reason llano cannot be done in small/thin chassis?"

Tech discussion:

Razer intros ultra-slim gaming notebook - (0:15:45) - Read more

Valve shows Counter-Strike: Global Offensive gameplay - (0:23:07) - Read more

Just one more mission: impressions of the new Deus Ex - (0:30:07) - Read more

Fractal Design's Define R3 mid-tower chassis - (0:35:35) - Read more

Jordan reviews the Jawbone Jambox - (0:43:19) - Read more

Steve Jobs steps down as Apple's CEO - (0:53:14) - Read more

Once a pirate... - (1:10:22) - Read more

Zotac's Zbox Nano AD10 Plus nettop - (1:13:45) - Read more

That's all, folks! We'll see you on the next episode.