The 17" MBP has a quad-core processor, a 60% larger battery, an optical drive, a vertical resolution of 1200 instead of 1080, a 500GB 7200RPM drive instead of 320GB for the Razer, and still weighs 5% less than the Razer.
On the other hand, the Razer will offer a much better GPU and will be $150 cheaper than the high-end MPB 17".
It's hard to compare machines built for such different specs, but I'd say the $150 premium on the MBP is more than justified.
GPU becomes a lot more important if you are going to be using the laptop for gaming.
Ultimately they serve two different needs and therefore two different markets. For one person the Macbook is a no-brainer, but for someone else, the Razer laptop is a better choice.
I understand that. It's obvious, and it's also not the point. The point is that Razer made so many sacrifices to specialize this laptop that they ought to be able to undercut the MacBook Pro by a lot more than $150.
The use of a dual-core CPU instead of a quad-core CPU should cover most of the cost of the GPU upgrade, which means that either Razer's trying to make a lot more profit per machine than Apple's flagship laptop, or Razer's getting screwed on the cost of a bunch of commodity components.
Relevant to what argument? To what use case? What is a gaming PC? What is a gaming laptop? What are the use cases for each?
I would liken the gaming PC to an audiophile hi-fi setup, almost no one expects it to fit in a messenger bag and run off a battery. For the connoisseur, no portable setup will fulfill all of their needs, and in all likelihood, they'll have setups to cater to each use case. But what if you can have a machine that's ultra-portable, but could also be docked to a setup that allows for high frame rate/high res gameplay? Some people already do this on laptops with express card bridges to external PCI-E sockets. Works pretty well. Here's an example of one such build, although I've seen better:
I agree that they are too different to directly compare.
For me, the real $150 premium that makes the MacBook Pro justified is the fact that it runs OS X. For hardcore gamers, that's not really a plus. Also, the optical drive is a "meh" at best.
On the other hand, the Razer will offer a much better GPU and will be $150 cheaper than the high-end MPB 17".
It's hard to compare machines built for such different specs, but I'd say the $150 premium on the MBP is more than justified.