Razer has unveiled the "most powerful Blade ever". This is an update to the firm's sleek 14-inch flagship gaming laptop. Key features of this portable 17.8mm thick machine include; an Intel Core i7 – 4720HQ processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M GPU with 3GB of GDDR5 RAM and the choice between a 14-inch IGZO display at 3200 x 1800 pixels offering capacitive multi-touch or a non-touch Full HD IPS display.
The new Razer Blade offers upgraded core specs including the CPU, GPU and a greater amount of RAM installed as default. The CPU is an Intel Core i7 – 4720HQ processor, this is a quad-core part with 2.6 GHz / 3.66 GHz (BASE / Turbo) speeds.
The GPU of choice for the refreshed gaming laptop is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M GPU with 3GB of GDDR5 RAM. As standard this Maxwell architecture 1280 CUDA core GPU runs at 924MHz plus boost and runs with a memory clock of 2500MHz on a 192-bit bus offering 120GB/s of bandwidth. Another upgrade from last year's model is the inclusion of 16GB of DDR3L-1600MHz memory as standard in the QHD+ version. A non-touch Full HD IPS version of the Razer Blade is also being made available with the same specs but 8GB of RAM and costing $200 less.
Battery life is expected to be better on this refreshed laptop design thanks to newer Intel and Nvidia parts and the implementation of Nvidia Optimus graphics switching tech. Intel's built-in graphics will be used when the 3D grunt of the GTX 970M GPU isn't required.
Elsewhere the slim 17.8mm aluminium chassis encased Razer Blade boasts attractive high-end features such as its backlit anti-ghosting keyboard, advanced thermal engineering to keep up performance under pressure, and no spinning disks – M.2 SSD storage options only - from 128GB to 512GB.
The new Razer Blade will be available at Microsoft Stores from 16th February and is pre-orderable today both from Microsoft and the firm's own website. Pricing of the QHD+ version starts from the same $2,199 as the model that it succeeds, the FullHD screen equipped model is a little cheaper at $1,999.
