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The new Razer Blade Pro trades gimmicks for 4K gaming power
When Razer made its first laptop, it was a company best known for selling third-party gamepads and high-performance gaming mice. Premium gimmicks were the name of the game. The company routinely released products with 17 buttons, adjustable tension analog sticks or retractable parts. This flair for novelty carried over to Razer's first gaming notebook, which featured a set of 10 customizable keyboard buttons that each housed its own tiny LED display. It was neat, but the flagship laptop was soon overshadowed by a smaller, more powerful model. Now, the company is finally giving its original notebook the upgrades it deserves: a screaming new processor, the latest in graphics technology and a keyboard without the hindrance of the original's silly "Switchblade" interface. This is the new Razer Blade Pro.
Razer's new Blade Pro laptop houses a mechanical keyboard
Razer has definitely made a name for itself in the world of gaming notebooks, but for the past few years, the Blade family of laptops has had a black sheep: The Razer Blade Pro. This 17-inch machine was the company's original thin gaming notebook, but it lingered in obsolescence after Razer introduced the more popular 14-inch variant and, later, the Razer Blade Stealth. For years, the smaller machines were given modest CPU, RAM and graphics updates while the ironically named "Pro" lagged behind with a 4th generation Intel processor. Those days are over. Today, Razer announced that the 17-inch Razer Blade Pro is back -- and it's finally going to live up to its moniker.
Razer Blade Pro and 14-inch models hands-on
It wasn't all that long ago that we first got our mitts on the Blade 2.0, and today we came to grips with two new third-gen Razer gaming laptops: the Blade Pro and a fresh 14-inch model. On the outside, both of these Blades favor their elders -- both sport matte black anodized-aluminum shells with Razer's trademark Slimer-green accents and diminutive power bricks. Where they differ from previous Blades is in what lies beneath that familiar facade.%Gallery-189862% Each will come with Intel's fourth-generation Core-i7 quad-core silicon (a 47W chip in the Pro and a 37W CPU in the 14-incher) and a freshly revealed NVIDIA GTX 765M GPU, plus bigger batteries than ever before. If it wasn't already obvious, let us spell it out for you: a big reason for these changes is electrical economy. One of the biggest complaints with any portable gaming rig is its battery life, or more accurately, lack thereof. A more efficient CPU and GPU, plus an extra 10 to 14 Wh of juice means that Razer is acutely aware of the problem and is taking steps to fix it. Razer ran the MobileMark 2007 battery test on the new 14-inch Blade and it lasted six hours. Of course, we'll have to wait until we review these new rigs to discover real-world battery life, but at least on paper, the two new Blades will be a bit more miserly.
Razer reveals the Blade Pro and 14-inch Blade gaming laptops (update: $999 Pro for indie game devs)
Razer promised it was aiming to iterate its Blade gaming laptop on a yearly basis, and despite the company's recent focus on tablets, it appears to be keeping its word. Today, a mere eight months after releasing the second-gen Blade, Razer unveiled two new members of the Blade family: the 17-inch Blade Pro and its 14-inch sibling. As you might expect, the Pro tops its elders with new silicon and storage options. It's exchanging third-gen Intel Ivy Bridge silicon for a fourth-gen Haswell chip and upgrading from an NVIDIA GTX 660M to a GTX 765M GPU. Oh, and Razer's nixed the HDD options from the big Blade's menu -- the Pro packs a 128GB SSD standard, with optional upgrades to 256 or 512GB. That new hardware is evidently smaller than what it's replacing: though the Pro shares the same size chassis as its predecessor, it packs a 74Wh battery (the older Blade has a 60Wh cell). Other than that, the Blade Pro comes with Razer's Switchblade interface, a trio of USB 3.0 ports, 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and a 1920 x 1080 display, just like the prior Blade. Meanwhile, the new 14-inch Blade will come with mostly the same hardware as the Pro, meaning it's got a Haswell chip and GTX 765M graphics along with a buffet of SSD choices. Those components are stuffed inside a chassis that measures 13.6 x 9.3 x 0.66 inches, and weighs 4.13 pounds. Naturally, given its smaller size, it lacks the Switchblade LCD and buttons, has a 1.3 megapixel webcam (as opposed to the Pro's 2 megapixel unit) and a 14-inch 1600 x 900 display. And, despite its relatively svelte dimensions (for a portable gaming rig), the baby Blade still has a 70Wh battery inside. The Pro starts at $2,299, or $200 less than prior Blades and the 14-inch model will set you back a minimum of $1,799. Each will be available in North America in Q2, with a worldwide rollout of the Pro coming sometime later this year. Update: Good news, Indie game developers! Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan just announced that those devs with a successfully funded Kickstarter can get a new Blade Pro for just $999. %Gallery-189699%
