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Accessory-maker Razer today unveiled what it claims is the "world's first true gaming laptop," a 17-inch (1920x1080) system encased in a full aluminum chassis that's surprisingly thin and light for the category it competes in; coming in at 0.88" thick and weighing 6.97lbs. Developed in partnership with Intel, the Razer Blade is powered by a 2.8GHz Core i7 2640M CPU, 8GB of 1333MHz DDR3 memory and 2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 555M graphics with Optimus technology.
Razer's gaming laptop comes with a 320GB 7200RPM hard drive for storage and the usual array of connectivity options, including USB 2.0 and 3.0, HDMI-out, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0.
Perhaps its most notable feature -- besides the thin profile -- is the so-called Switchblade UI, which brings 10 customizable keys and an LCD screen to the right of the full-size keyboard. The latter can display in-game information when a mouse is in use or function as an ultra-sensitive, multi-touch panel designed for gaming on the go.
Razer took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal to announce its entry into the laptop market after building up a bit of suspense with its "PC Gaming is not dead" campaign earlier this month. As a manufacturer of PC gaming gear, it's clear that the company has a vested interest in the future of PC gaming, and now they're taking it to the next level.
In terms of hardware the Blade will not break any performance records as far as gaming notebooks are concerned, but we have to applaud Razer for trying out something different with its debut machine. As you'd expect, the Razer Blade won't come in cheap, though. The system is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2011 for $2,800. It's unclear if Razer will be offering any hardware configuration options to customers.
User Comments: 30
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It's ridiculously expensive, but it is refreshing.
As much as I don't really care for Razer or gimmicky stuff in general, the laptop itself *looks* like it has been REALLY well thought out and hopefully built as good as it looks. I can't speak for quality without having handled one in person, but it *looks* like a very high quality machine.
We need more well-done products like this in the PC universe... just at half the price. Too many manufacturers are hung up on offering cheap s@#$ for ultra low prices. That toxic mantra has spread to mid-range and even high-end laptops too, cutting corners at every turn with plastic in places there ought not to be, insufficient cooling systems because the R&D and copper is too expensive to do it right, crummy LCD panels with awful viewing angles, poor attention to detail and any number of other things that make even some higher-end PC laptops suck.
So I, for one, am glad to see this product. I won't be buying it and I can't say it is worth the money, but I hope this laptop enables Razer to span into a lower price bracket or encourage other computer manufacturers to make decent s@#$, for once.
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IvanAwfulitch said:
If by that you mean you hope that Razer has just set the bar higher, then I think they have, but they haven't. Allow me to explain. There aren't very many laptop manufacturers that can boast this kind of attention to detail. As you said, it looks and feels well thought-out and from their demonstrations, it appears to perform quite well. In that sense, they've raised the bar in terms of (hopefully) a new quality standard.
But they haven't set it higher because of the price. It'll be so exclusive, not mainstream enough, that it won't have the desired effect on as many people. If more people could afford that sort of quality, and more people could then demand it, then more companies might follow suit. But the price-point (among other things) sort of spoils it.
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Considering the shabby job Razer does supporting its existing hardware (are the drivers *out* yet for the Razer soundcard and Windows 7? They were still missing when I built my latest system a year ago and gave up on the Razer line of products,) I shudder at the thought of how dismal support will be for this "gaming laptop."
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Zilpha said:
Holy macaroni, three grand? They must be out of their minds if they seriously think that putting a LCD on the keyboard justifies that king of price tag. Gamers are still going to choose Asus, Sager and Alienware to get more machine for less.
Well, at least they did take one crown from Alienware - Price. I hope that everyone complaining about Alienware's prices get a load of this monstrosity.
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Yep nice except the price. Gpu isnt awesome either.
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