Razer is back once again and it's got something new to share: the 2016 version of its Razer Blade gaming notebook line. Tuesday's unveiling brings us a completely new Blade laptop, sporting upgraded components, a lighter design and a lower price on high-end configurations - making it a faster, stronger and better than it's predecessor.
Measuring at 14 inches, the Blade lies beneath the Pro on Razer's laptop lineup, designed for gamers that want a portable machine that doesn't compromise power. The price, now more than ever, reflects this with 256GB model costing $1,999 and then 512GB model costing $2,199.
What separates the 2016 model from the 2015 one? There's quite a bit, starting with the processor. Last year's model used the Intel i7-4720HQ, which was the chip of choice for lighter gaming PCs at the time. However, the market has moved on to the Intel's 6th-gen processors and Razer is moving along with it, with the blade sporting a quad-core i7-6700HQ. Not only does this boast 16GB of DDR4 memory, but has a base clock of 2.6GHz and a boosted one of 3.5GHz.
Moving along is the aforementioned SSD storage. Users now have the choice to either get either 256 or 512GB of PCIe SSD storage. The choice of picking a particular hard drive is one that Razer had long incorporated with its Pro models, so it's nice to see the normal Blade getting the same treatment.
The 3,200 x 1,800 IGZO display is still the same as last year's, but whereas it was once a high-end option, it's now the standard. Similarly the keyboard has been upgraded, now featuring the same per-key RGB lighting found on the Blade Stealth.
Its VRAM has also seen an upgrade from last year's 3GB to 6GB, making its strong graphical performance even better.
However the two major upgrades which really set it apart from the 2015 model are the heat distribution systems and GPU.
The old system ran hot regardless of its state. Now, the system's heat distribution has been adjusted to move heat away from places the user may touch frequently, while the fans now run at regular intervals. Meanwhile, the new Blade has been future-proofed. It still sports the the Nvidia GTX 970M, but if you need more graphical horsepower, it had a new USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 port to connect to the Core, allowing you to use a new card for external graphics power.
All in all, the Blade 2016 offers a total upgrade to the one before it while still keeping its sleek, ergonomic design and battery power.
Preorders will be available March 16, with an expected shipping date in April (it even comes with a free copy of the "The Division").
To see a full list of its specs and features click here.
