Gaming hardware maker Razer just announced its brand-new Razer Blade laptop on March 16th. The news came in just a couple of months following the unveiling of the smaller Blade Stealth gaming laptop, of which it was selected for the “Best of CES — Best PC” award in CES 2016; Razer’s sixth consecutive win. While Blade Stealth is a new category in itself, the new Razer Blade is still the company’s flagship product, replacing last year’s model, both with 14-inch displays. Surely this will fill gamers with determination, knowing that there is a larger, 17.3-inch Blade Pro just waiting for Razer to replace it with this year’s model. The Razer Blade gaming laptop will follow Blade Stealth’s footsteps to offer a direct-to-consumer pricing model, to “keep the costs down” — the 2015 Blade costs US$2,399 for the QHD+ model, while the new Blade now starts at US$1,999 (base model already has a QHD+ panel). The device ship next month in the US.
- 256GB PCIe SSD — US$1,999 (~RM8008.49)
- 512GB PCIe SSD — US$2,199 (~RM8807.54)
You didn’t read the bullet points above wrong — just like Blade Stealth, this new Razer Blade comes with a PCI Express (PCIe) solid-state drive (SSD), giving it unbridled speeds of up to three times faster than what the already-zippy mSATA SSD is able to offer. To avoid the bottleneck during data transfers, Razer throws in three USB 3.0 Type-A ports, and Thunderbolt 3 that uses a USB Type-C port. Thunderbolt 3 supports USB 3.1, PCIe, DisplayPort, and is backward compatible with DVI, HDMI, and VGA displays via adapters. If you’re not into adapters, there is also a dedicated HDMI 1.4b port. USB 3.1 alone can only go up to 10Gbps, but Thunderbolt 3 does up to 40Gbps; more on this in a bit.
That’s not the only thing that screams ‘fast’ on the Blade; everything else is also top-notch. It comes packed with the sixth generation Intel Core i7 quad-core processor (6700HQ), NVIDIA’s Maxwell architecture GeForce GTX 970M GPU with 6GB of VRAM, and a whopping 16GB dual-channel DDR4 2133MHz memory. It also comes with the latest “Killer” Wireless-AC 1535, a trademarked brand to describe its 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.1 standards. If the graphics in the laptop don’t satisfy you, this is where the Razer Core comes in. Core is a graphics crunching external box that you hook up your Blade or Blade Stealth to, via Thunderbolt 3. This one cable alone can handle the back and forth of all the desktop-grade graphics being processed by the Razer Core.
Mentioned earlier is Blade’s 14-inch, 3200 x 1800 QHD+ IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) display, that pumps out 5.76 million pixels at around 262 pixels per inch. IGZO is said to offer a significantly faster propagation time than traditional a-Si TFT (amorphous-silicon thin-film transistor) panels, which translates to consistent colors across the screen plus little-to-no ghosting effect. All these hardware so far is distracting us from the fact that it is also a touch display, which may not be all that useful in video games, but is perfect for Windows 10.
Speaking of which, the Windows 10 it comes with is of the 64-bit kind, with access to DirectX 12 visuals of course. With the OS, gamers can also stream supported Xbox One games to be played on the Blade. Razer also promises minimal bloat in the system, as the gaming culture demands an optimized hardware without unnecessary background processes. That said, it does come with Razer Synapse, a configuration software for controls and macros for all Razer peripherals; Razer Comms, a chat application; and Razer Surround, an ability to deliver virtual 7.1 channel surround sound with any pair of (decent) stereo headphones. Besides gaming, the Razer folks are also very much into music; the new Blade comes with a full license of FL Studio 12 for professional music production, and Razer also has a dedicated site to offer music production tutorials and music samples.
We’ve just reached the best part of the Razer Blade. RGB-backlit keyboards are all the rage these days among gamers, but they were only common on desktops. Razer claims that the Blade Stealth and this new Blade are the first two laptops in the world equipped with “individually backlit RGB keys” that it calls Chroma. All Razer Chroma products including mice, keyboards, headsets, and even Razer’s mouse mat, feature 16.8 million customizable colors. Chroma also does lighting effects such as Wave, Spectrum Cycling, Breathing, Static, Reactive, and Ripple. These are all customizable through the Synapse software mentioned earlier. An SDK is also available for developers to make their games interact with the Chroma. Triple-A titles that support Chroma include Blade and Soul, Call of Duty, DOTA 2, and Overwatch.
All of the above we’ve covered so far, comes packed in a CNC-milled aluminum chassis that’s 17.9mm thick, and weighs 1.93kg. Razer also touts that the new Blade is designed in a way so that it has optimal thermal management to keep the heat away from the user, and to keep it running at peak performance without overheating. Even the power brick is designed to be compact, at just 22mm thick.
- Display: 14.0″ IGZO QHD+, 16:9 Ratio, 3200×1800, with LED backlight, with capacitive multi-touch
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M (6GB GDDR5 VRAM, Optimus Technology)
- Processor: Intel Core i7–6700HQ Quad-Core Processor with Hyper-Threading 2.6GHz / 3.5GHz (Base/Turbo)
- Chipset: Mobile Intel PCHM 100-series chipset, HM170
- Memory: 16GB dual-channel onboard memory (DDR4, 2133MHz)
- Operating System: Windows 10 (64-Bit)
- Storage: 256GB SSD (PCIe M.2) or 512GB SSD (PCIe M.2)
- Communication: Killer Wireless-AC 1535 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac + Bluetooth 4.1)
- Input & Output
- Multi-point touchscreen interface
- Built-in webcam (2.0MP)
- Anti-ghosting keyboard with Chroma backlighting
- Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C)
- USB 3.0 port x3 (SuperSpeed)
- HDMI 1.4b video and audio output
- 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo port
- Audio
- Built-in stereo speakers
- Array microphone
- Bluetooth 4.1
- Dolby Digital Plus Home Theater Edition
- 7.1 Codec support (via HDMI)
- Additional Features
- Razer Synapse enabled with programmable keyboard
- Kensington Security Slot
- Trusted Platform Module (TPM 2.0) security chip embedded
- Power & Battery
- Compact 165W power adapter
- Built-in 70Wh rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery
- Approx. Size: 0.70 in / 17.9 mm (Height) x 13.6 in / 345 mm (Width) x 9.3 in / 235 mm (Depth)
- Approx. Weight: 4.25 lbs / 1.93 kg
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