It’s no secret that we think the Razer Blade is one of the finest laptops on the market, and not just at the pinnacle of the best of both worlds between gaming and portability. It looks great, it’s beautifully put together, and it crams high-end, workstation-like hardware into a form factor barely bigger than an Apple MacBook.
If you want something to game portably, then it’s the the pick of the litter. If you want something relatively thin and light, but don’t want to skimp on the power, then you’ll struggle to find a single better device out there. And if you’ve not got a lot of money to spend… then you should probably keep on walking past that particular shop window – sorry. In the Venn diagram of powerful, lightweight and cheap, you can choose two with the Razer Blade. Though to be fair to Razer, for most laptops, you can have about one and a half at best.
Now, just a couple of short months since announcing the spectacularly tempting Razer Blade Stealth, an ultra-lightweight Ultrabook with a fantastic spec and a sensible price point that can be bolstered with a lightning fast Thunderbolt 3 graphics dock and a proper desktop GPU, Razer are at it again. This time, they’ve announced the latest iteration in their flagship line-up: the Razer Blade 2016.
In reality the Razer Blade 2016 model is more of the same, but with the tenets of Moore’s Law applied in the most practical fashion, squeezing in the latest desktop-class Intel Core i7 quad-core processors and a mobile-grade Nvidia GTX 970 with a gluttonous 6 GB of video RAM. The Razer Blade 2016 also fits into the same svelte form factor, and still looks the business.
Here’s the full Razer Blade 2016 specification:
- Intel® Core i7-6700HQ Quad-Core Processor (2.6 GHz / 3.5 GHz)
- NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX™ 970M (6 GB GDDR5 VRAM)
- 16 GB Systems Memory (DDR4, 2133 MHz)
- Windows® 10 64-bit
- 256 GB / 512 GB SSD (PCIe M.2) options
- 14.0-in. IGZO QHD+ 16:9 Ratio, 3200×1800, with LED backlight, capacitive multi-touch
- Anti-ghosting keyboard with per-key lighting Powered by Chroma
- Killer™ Wireless-AC 1535 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac + Bluetooth® 4.1)
- Thunderbolt™ 3 (USB-C™)
- USB 3.0 port x3 (SuperSpeed)
- HDMI 1.4b video and audio output
- 3.5 mm headphone/microphone combo port
- Built-in webcam (2.0 MP)
- Built-in stereo speakers
- Array microphone
- Dolby® Digital Plus Home Theater Edition
- 7.1 Codec support (via HDMI)
- Razer Synapse enabled with programmable keyboard, trackpad, backlighting, and fan control
- Embedded TPM (Trusted Platform Module)
- Kensington™ security slot
- Compact 165 W power adapter
- Built-in 70 Wh rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery
- Approx. Size: 0.70 in. / 17.9 mm (Height) x 13.6 in. / 345 mm (Width) x 9.3 in. / 235 mm (Depth)
- Approx. Weight: 4.25 lbs. / 1.93 kg
The Razer Blade 2016 models are currently expected to ship in April 2016, and you can pre-order direct from the Razer Store later this month; check back with us for updates on availability.
We’ve also heard from Razer (in the same breath as their confirmation that the Razer Blade Stealth and Razer Core will be coming to the UK and EU) that the Razer Blade 2016 models will be coming to Europe and the United Kingdom a little while after the US. This is great news, because other countries often struggle to get their hands on this special hardware, and unusually for Razer – hitherto a very US-centric company – they will also ship with UK (and other regional) keyboards later in the year.
Watch this space for more release and shipping information, and hopefully a hands on review.
Can’t wait for the Razer Blade 2016 models? You can still pick up the previous generation Razer Blade – with a US keyboard layout – from the Razer Store while stocks last, and it’s still a cracking bit of kit.
