Thursday, 20 September 2012
5 key features of the new Razer Blade
Face the facts, most gaming laptops today are big, fat, and extremely bulky. If that is anything, it's a huge concern for a gamer like myself where I believe that gaming should not be a pain in the ass where you have to carry a luggage wherever you go.
Hence, portability is one of the most important factor for me should I get a gaming laptop myself. Good news is, about a year ago, Razer unveiled their first ever gaming laptop and despite all odds, it was pretty much a hardcore gaming laptop with actual portability in mind.
Staying true to its original form, the recently-upgraded, new Razer Blade is said to boast an even stronger performance in a similar, sleek body shell.
"The all-new Razer Blade is built to defy all conventions; it has extreme levels of performance and yet is amazingly thin”.
- Razer’s CEO, Min-Liang Tan
Portability
If you're wondering how exactly thin is "amazingly thin", guess what, the new Blade is only 0.88 inches, and weighs less than seven pounds. Comparably, it is about a third of the weight of most gaming laptops in the market.Performance
But with such slimness and lightness, comes the question on whether its performance would live up to a gamer's expectation. To support all the strongest visuals with lag-free continuity, the second generation of the Blade "features the next generation of Intel quad core processors combined with powerful NVIDIA GTX class graphics chips and the fastest RAM available”, as stated by Tan himself.Comfort
At the same time, with most laptops and especially with such great needs, heat is one of the biggest threat for comfort to come suitably with portability. Hence, intelligent and efficient ventilation is needed. "The original Razer Blade's thermal system was completely re-engineered and built from custom-crafted parts with larger vents and specially designed heat pipes that allow more airflow to the unit's extreme components." On whether the larger vents are enough, we'll just have to test it to find out.Switchblade
Oh yes, this is my favourite. If you haven't heard about it or seen it before, it's pretty much quite a unique user interface with a multi-touch panel with changing functions depending on situations and commands. The feature was first introduced in the original Razer Blade, and has since grown with more applications designed to fit in accordingly - be it in games or social network apps.Price
First thing you see in the Razer Blade is its sleekness and portability. Check. Performance? Check. Comfort? Check (Probably). Razer Switchblade UI? Check. So with so many things going on in one single gaming laptop which defies common beliefs, how much does it cost? A tad cheaper than its predecessor at $2500, but still a heck of a price for myself.The new Razer Blade starts shipping September 30th (North America only).