Razer Keynote: Blade Notebooks come to Europe

Prior to the keynote, Razer teased fans with a picture showing quite clearly the shadow of a desktop PC and monitor with the caption 'Unveil the Shadow' – a strong hint that the company was planning to move into desktop systems (technically, it already has Razer-branded Lenovo systems, but nevermind).


Continuing to whet fans' appetites, Min-Liang Tan said in his speech that a Razer desktop would have to have the finest components: an Intel Core i7 processor, a GTX 1080, a 4K IGZO screen with G-Sync, all while standing next to a curtain draped over a very desktop-system-looking shape. But, alas, the entire build-up was nothing but a cunning ruse, as the CEO then pulled the covers off of the company's newest notebook: the new edition of the Razer Blade Pro. Cheeky Min.


With its Core i7-6700HQ, GTX 1080 and 32GB or 2,133MHz DDR4, Razer reckons the new Blade Pro can compete with the top five percent of desktpo systems currently available. Premium is the name of the game here, as the new notebook sports a unibody CNC aluminium chassis, a 17.3in 4K G-Sync screen with 100 percent Adobe RGB gamut coverage, dual PCI-E NVMe SSDs in Raid 0 (up to 2TB total) and Killer wired and wireless networking.


Razer has managed to cram the components listed above into a laptop that's less than an inch thick (22.5mm, to be precise) and weighs 3.54kg – it's hardly an ultrabook, and billed more as a desktop replacement or desktop alternative, but it's undeniably pretty portable relative to its power, and the 250W power adaptor has also be downscaled. Squeezing everything into this chassis and keeping it cool enough required some ingenuity, and Razer is using the world's thinnest vapour chamber along with a 'dynamic heat exchanger' and a custom fan design. Sounds impressive, although it of course remains to be seen just how hot and noisy it actually gets.


'It’s impressive what Razer was able to pack into the new Razer Blade Pro,' crowed Mark Aevermann, senior product lead for GeForce gaming laptops at NVIDIA. 'They have managed to design a gaming laptop with our flagship GeForce GTX 1080, in a form factor gamers can take with them on the road.'


Perhaps the most exciting feature of the new Blade Pro is its keyboard and, no, we're not referring to its Chroma RGB lighting system. Rather, Razer has here the first notebook to use its ultra-low-profile mechanical switches, first seen in the company's iPad Pro keyboard. These are designed and manufactured by Razer itself, and each key has its own precise actuation and reset point and 65g actuation force. We've not had hands on with a final retail sample, but we did have a play with them back when we visited Razer's San Fran headquarters and they're worth being excited about.


With that all covered, all that remains is the price, which is of course firmly in premium territory. It starts at $3,699 excluding taxes for US customers, which translates to £3,499 for those in the UK and €4,199 for EU buyers, both including VAT. It is expected to start shipping in November to US and European markets, with French, German and UK keyboard layouts all available for us EU folk.


That wraps up our coverage of Razer's Berlin keynote, but stay tuned for a brief interview with Min-Liang Tan, where we'll be following up on our lengthy interview from last year.