When we reported that Razer is announcing something big last week, we speculated that they would be launching the portable Switchblade concept gaming laptop that they introduced in this year’s CES. However, as the countdown reached 0, we were introduced to the Razer Blade. It isn’t the Switchblade, which was an 11″ gaming netbook with an OLED, programmable keyboard. The Blade is a massive 17″ laptop which as Razer touts as the first TRUE gaming laptop.
First off, as brands such as Asus and Alienware might protest, it isn’t the first gaming laptop. On the other hand, from the photos, the Blade looks like it is purposely build to be a gaming laptop with the placement of the thumbpad and the addition of 10 OLED, programmable keys.
The internal hardware isn’t that different as with high laptops. It’s got a 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 2640M processor mated with a Nvidia GeForce 555M GPU. The included Nvidia Optimus technology should help it with saving battery life as it is able to switch between the lower power Intel GPU but when needed will switch to the much more powerful GPU. The 8GB 1333 DDR3 system RAM and 2GB video RAM are standard as the 320GB hard drive and the 60Wh battery. Also, a big difference with the bulky desktop replacements, the Razer Blade is considerably thin especially with a 17″ 1080p display. Unfortunately, it is still quite a hefty beast as it weighs almost 7lbs.
As there are already Razer products being sold in our local market, it is still unknown if we will see the Blade here especially in out price sensitive market as the Razer Blade costs $2,799.99
Specs:
- 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 2640M Processor
- 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 Memory
- 17.3-inch LED backlit display (1,920×1,080 pixels)
- Nvidia GeForce GT 555M
- Built-in HD Webcam
- Integrated 60Wh battery
- 320GB 7,200rpm SATA HDD
- 802.11 b/g/n compatible
- 16.81 inches x 10.9 inches x 0.88 inch (WxDxH); 6.97 pounds
