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Razer debuts ‘world’s thinnest gaming laptop’

SAN FRANCISCO — Razer today announced the world’s thinnest gaming laptop, the Razer Blade.

SAN FRANCISCO — Razer today announced the world’s thinnest gaming laptop, the Razer Blade.

At only 16.8mm thick (Apple’s MacBook Air is just a little thicker at 17mm), the Razer Blade packs more power-per-cubic-inch than any other laptop in the world, said Razer. The dimunitive machine runs on a 4th gen Intel Core processor, boasts the latest Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M GPU and uses a solid-state drive for quick boot up — up to four times faster than a traditional 5400-RPM hard drive, according to its press release.

The machine is not yet available in Singapore but we have signed up for a hands on when we get to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in a couple of weeks.

Before then, here are the specifications according to Razer. The Blade has a 14-inch LED-backlit HD+ display with a native resolution of 1600 x 900, and its custom-made gaming grade trackpad offers multi-touch gesture support. The Razer Blade also features a full-size backlit gaming keyboard that has full anti-ghosting capabilities and programmable keys powered by the revolutionary Synapse 2.0.

The ultra-portable laptop features 8GB of fast 1600 MHz DDR3L memory and comes standard with 128GB of total solid-state storage with options for a 256GB or 512GB SSD. Audio is boosted by the Dolby Home Theatre v4, which features immersive audio-quality output that has been custom-tuned to deliver a cinematic sound experience.

It is said to offer up to six hours of battery life and includes a Killer Wireless-N high-performance wireless networking adapter, combining intelligence and control along with up to five-times the wireless networking speed of competitive wireless adapters.

Vice President and General Manager of notebook GPUs at NVIDIA Rene Haas said: “The 14-inch Razer Blade packs a ton of horsepower into a very small chassis. The new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M GPU delivers blazing performance with incredibly efficient power usage to this ultra-portable gaming machine.”

Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director Tan Min Liang told PC Mag that it is able to keep the machine sleek by redesigning the Blade’s thermals and platform architecture from the ground up, and by using “bespoke components”, it is able to “pack more performance per cubic inch than any laptop in the market”.

The Razer Blade will be available for pre-order from Monday (June 3) at a recommended retail price of US$1,799 ($2,270).

BLADE PRO FOR WORK AND PLAY

Also unveiled was the 17-inch Razer Blade Pro, a gaming laptop with a serious side.

Powered by a 4th gen Intel Core processor, it packs a next generation Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M graphics with groundbreaking storage performance. “We’ve designed a gaming laptop for work and for play—appealing to on-the-go hardcore gamers, game developers, creative artists and aspiring video professionals,” said Mr Tan. “The machine can flawlessly run the most popular creative software applications, and is powerful enough to run the most graphically intensive games on the market today.”

At 22.4mm thin and weighing 2.98kg, the device is said to be the most portable 17-inch gaming laptop in its class. Every detail is sleek, slim and light, all the way down to the compact power supply.

The third iteration in Razer’s ultra-portable series, it features a 47-watt Intel chip — 10 watts more than the last 17-inch Razer Blade — and the most powerful CPU ever fitted into a Razer system for increased professional performance.

At the heart of the machine is a full-HD 17-inch LED display linked in combination with the Switchblade User Interface (SBUI), allowing users to take advantage of tools and creative possibilities at their fingertips. Driven by 10 dynamic adaptive tactile keys, a LCD track pad and professional-grade and game apps, users can push their work and play levels up a notch. Razer’s SBUI now includes several new, professional-grade apps and a wide array of new tools available at no charge, including programs like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro, Maya, GIMP and more.

Other features include an 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3L memory, with 128GB of total solid-stage storage with the option to upgrade to a 256GB or 512GB SSDs. This SSD technology can quadruple the performance of a traditional 5400-rpm notebook hard drive, said Razer.

Pre-orders for the Blade Pro will begin Monday (June 3) starting from US$2,299.

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