WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:06.799 Today's video is about a little black book that I have. And if you jumped to 00:00:04.880 --> 00:00:11.360 the same conclusion as my wife and thought to yourself, that hound dog 00:00:09.360 --> 00:00:15.040 scoundrel, then I'm flattered. But you're overestimating the effect that 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:19.199 YouTube internet fame has on members of the opposite sex or on members of the 00:00:17.119 --> 00:00:23.439 same sex for that matter. Nope. I don't have that kind of blackbook. I'm afraid 00:00:21.520 --> 00:00:28.080 my blackbook is a gaming laptop from Venom. And while it is pretty sexy, the 00:00:26.240 --> 00:00:33.119 closest thing it contains to the phone numbers of members of the opposite sex 00:00:30.080 --> 00:00:33.119 is a bookmark for 00:00:38.440 --> 00:00:44.559 livels.com. Cooler Master's Casemod World Series is your opportunity to show 00:00:42.800 --> 00:00:50.079 off your modding skills and win great prizes. Entries close February 7th, 00:00:46.800 --> 00:00:51.920 2015. Click now to learn more. So, let's 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:56.399 kick things off with a bit of who the devil are these guys about Venom. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:01:00.960 They're a small Australian gaming laptop company that caught my attention by 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:05.280 making some pretty eyebrow raising claims with respect to the performance 00:01:03.199 --> 00:01:10.080 and quality of their products. My initial response to their request for a 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:13.200 review was a chilly, well, I'm sure it's fine, but frankly, I'm not really sure 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:18.479 what someone who isn't a tier 1 manufacturer can contribute to the category at this point. But they 00:01:16.240 --> 00:01:23.200 insisted that if I gave it a chance, I would be impressed and sent me this, the 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:27.280 Venom Blackbook 15. So, what makes a BlackBook special then? Anyway, their 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:31.280 overall sales aren't large enough for a worldwide exclusive chassis. So, 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:35.680 according to Venom anyway, it's the finishing touches, configuring fan 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:40.079 behavior, creating the OS image, which they include on a USB drive instead of a 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:43.680 hard drive partition. Thank you. sourcing their own LCD panels, sourcing 00:01:42.320 --> 00:01:48.880 their own keyboard key switches, sourcing their own memory and drives. And I was skeptical about this one at 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:53.200 first, but apparently one advantage of their lower volume requirements is that 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:58.320 they can exclusively opt for lower yield Agrade materials for the construction of 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:02.719 their products. And it actually seems to make a difference because the finished 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:07.119 product really is unexpectedly nice. There were a lot of ways that a company 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:12.319 with the name Venom could have gone overboard on the all flash, no dash 00:02:09.679 --> 00:02:15.760 gamey look designed to appeal to the demographic that needs to ask their 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:21.200 parents for a new gaming machine. But the BlackBook 15 is all business from 00:02:18.720 --> 00:02:24.959 the outside with a good mix of I/IO including optical out, dedicated 00:02:23.040 --> 00:02:29.440 headphone and microphone jacks, an SD slot, a SIM slot, unusual here in 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:34.319 Canada, two USB 3 ports, and an Intel Gigabit port on the right. another USB 3 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:40.319 port, HDMI out and dual mini DisplayPort 1.2 ports and some ventilation on 00:02:36.720 --> 00:02:42.959 the left and a curiously positioned ESA/ 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:47.040 USB 3 port and some more ventilation on the back to go along with the power 00:02:44.720 --> 00:02:53.120 jack. So, the overall takeaway holding it in my hands is reassuringly premium 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:56.319 aluminum unibody construction, stealthy 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:58.400 blasted black anodized finish, and uh 00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:02.959 well, horses to spare once you get under the hood. Because specwise, all current 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:09.599 BlackBook 15s have an Intel Core i7 4710HQ quad-core processor, GeForce GTX 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:11.920 970M graphics, a 1 TB 2 and 1/2 in hard 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:15.519 drive for mass storage, and Windows 8.1. Then there are three different tiers to 00:03:13.440 --> 00:03:19.760 get more or less RAM and SSD space depending on how much you want to pay. 00:03:17.200 --> 00:03:24.720 I've got the mid-tier one with a 256 gig M.2 SSD and 16 gigs of RAM, but the 00:03:22.720 --> 00:03:29.120 lowest end one has that and the highest N1 doubles it. But chassis and specs 00:03:27.200 --> 00:03:32.640 aren't even really what's supposed to be interesting about this thing. So, let's 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:40.080 get into what that is. Sitting in front of it, the first thing I noticed is the 00:03:34.799 --> 00:03:42.959 gorgeous 3K 2880 x620 Vision IPS matte 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:47.599 display. Man, this thing is nice. Deep blacks, vibrant colors, minimal glow, a 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:52.599 must if you're going to run at this resolution without scaling. As expected, 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:57.680 motion blur for a non TN panel, and fantastic viewing angles. The next thing 00:03:54.879 --> 00:04:02.239 I noticed was the OS. And while their Windows image does have a fair bit of 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:07.200 stuff installed out of the factory, most of it is what I would classify as useful 00:04:05.040 --> 00:04:10.879 rather than bloat. There's a Resident Evil 6 benchmark, for example, that they 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:14.640 presumably use for validation that everything is working correctly. A 00:04:12.640 --> 00:04:18.479 screen evaluation utility that I immediately fired up to determine that I 00:04:16.320 --> 00:04:22.000 have no dead pixels and that other than a touch of backlight bleed at the top 00:04:19.919 --> 00:04:26.960 and bottom edges, it looks terrific. Firefox and Chrome browsers, a copy of 00:04:24.960 --> 00:04:29.919 Divix Player, which isn't my favorite third party player, but prevented me 00:04:28.479 --> 00:04:34.240 from ever having to see the horrible modern UI video player. And finally, a 00:04:32.400 --> 00:04:40.160 copy of Norton Antivirus and Internet Security, which normally I would blast them for, 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:44.240 but since they have the consideration to at least include a full year of service 00:04:42.080 --> 00:04:49.280 rather than some BS trial like the Tier One guys are doing these days, I guess 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:51.360 we'll call that a draw. Their control 00:04:49.280 --> 00:04:54.800 center utility is fairly bare bones, but is lightweight and does what I need it 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:58.400 to do. There are toggle buttons for most onboard stuff and quick configuration 00:04:56.479 --> 00:05:02.560 for fan profiles, including the ability to create a custom profile if you wanted 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:05.919 to, you know, turn the fan speed way up and overclock the GPU or something. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:10.960 Something I didn't end up playing around with because the stock config had the 00:05:07.919 --> 00:05:12.560 internals topping out at 70° C while 00:05:10.960 --> 00:05:17.680 also staying reasonably quiet. I mean, we've got it running full boore right 00:05:14.759 --> 00:05:21.600 now, and it doesn't have that annoying whine to it that some that some gaming 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:26.160 notebooks do, which I guess leads pretty well into the overall gaming experience. 00:05:23.520 --> 00:05:30.960 The BlackBook 15 strikes, in my mind, an excellent balance between notebooks that 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:36.560 trade away their slimness for being powerful, cool, and quiet, like ASUS's 00:05:33.639 --> 00:05:41.440 G751, and notebooks that trade away their coolness and quietness for being 00:05:39.039 --> 00:05:47.919 extremely slim and powerful, like MSI's GS60 Stealth. This one is equally 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:50.080 powerful, but carrying it or using it 00:05:47.919 --> 00:05:54.880 feels like it's striking more of an even balance between noise, heat, and 00:05:52.160 --> 00:06:00.639 thickness. Speaking of even balances, the 3K panel is a total of 4.67 00:05:57.840 --> 00:06:07.039 megapixels, which is another compromise that I mostly agree with. 4K at 8.25 00:06:05.039 --> 00:06:12.080 megapixels would have obviously been too much for this and really any notebook 00:06:08.880 --> 00:06:14.080 GPU to drive today, and 1080p is 00:06:12.080 --> 00:06:18.639 decidedly last gen at this point. So, I see why they did it. But my complaint 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:23.919 here is one for panel makers rather than for Venom. Because while the BlackBook's 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:26.800 970M is enough to handle even most AAA 00:06:23.919 --> 00:06:31.039 games at medium or better at native res, I wish that 1440p notebook displays were 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:36.400 available because that would give a little bit more breathing room for future games at native res without 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:39.919 without running at a lower res and dealing with interpolation. Let's move 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:44.000 on to the keyboard now, though. Some stuff wasn't too noteworthy. The layout 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:47.520 commits no major sins, but isn't exceptional. And the backlight is a nice 00:06:46.080 --> 00:06:53.600 feature, but it's not super bright or anything. But the feel of it was pretty 00:06:50.880 --> 00:06:58.160 unusual. Honestly, a little stiff for my tastes. But given that this is a 00:06:55.880 --> 00:07:04.240 lowprofile notebook keyboard that we're talking about, the tactile feedback is 00:07:01.080 --> 00:07:07.039 excellent. And while at first I bemoaned 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:10.560 the lack of macro keys, Venom includes a utility, even though it is a bit buggy, 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:16.720 that allows any key to be rebound with another key or a macro. Not 00:07:12.759 --> 00:07:19.759 bad. So, conclusion time. Is this 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:22.319 notebook good? Yeah, it is. Is it really 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:26.240 good? Actually, yeah. Is it the kind of product that I would love to carry 00:07:24.080 --> 00:07:30.319 around with the fit and finish that's closer to what I'd expect from Apple or 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:36.880 Razer than to your typical plastic gaming PC notebook? Yeah. But is it 00:07:33.440 --> 00:07:39.120 worth the price? Well, that's your call. 00:07:36.880 --> 00:07:42.400 But with the words Razer and Apple having just rolled off my tongue, I 00:07:41.039 --> 00:07:46.720 think you already know that the BlackBook 15 is not going to be a 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:50.800 bargain basement gaming machine. So ultimately that call has to be yours. As 00:07:49.520 --> 00:07:54.879 usual, we'll have links in the video description for price comparison. Guys, 00:07:53.599 --> 00:07:58.800 thank you for watching. Like this video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it. Leave a comment if your 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:03.039 feelings are more complicated than this. As always, there are links in the video description aside from checking out the 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:06.000 price of this to do other things like give us a monthly contribution if you 00:08:04.479 --> 00:08:10.000 want us to keep making videos. Buy a cool t-shirt like this one if you want us to keep making videos and change your 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:14.479 Amazon bookmark to one with our affiliate code so you can use that to give us a small kickback whenever you 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:17.039 buy stuff on Amazon if you want us to keep making videos. And if you don't 00:08:15.919 --> 00:08:22.160 want us to keep making videos, then don't do any of those things cuz then eventually we will have to stop. Thank 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:26.000 you for watching and as always, don't forget to 00:08:23.800 --> 00:08:39.629 subscribe or don't subscribe if you want us to stop making videos.