Today, Razer announced their 2017 Razer Blade Pro, their 17” premium laptop designed to replace the desktop at home. Back in October Razer announce the Blade Pro 17” for 2016, which brought a design overhaul of the device and a steep price tag of $3,699. Today, we keep the same design aesthetics, but have upgrades to bring the latest hardware into this machine.
The CPU gets a bump from the Intel Core i7-6700HQ, a Skylake chip that has a base clock of 2.6 GHz and boost clock of 3.5 GHz, to the Intel Core i7-7820HK which has a base clock of 2.9 GHz and boosts up to 3.9 GHz based on Intel’s Kaby Lake. In addition to the spec bump in processor, the 32 GB of DDR4 memory is getting a spec bump as well, from 2133 MHz to 2667 MHz.
The real selling point from Razer is the THX Certified Mobile Device, a certification from THX that states that the screen is color calibrated and the audio meets specification requirements to make this one of the best media viewing and listening experiences in a laptop.
“Through the processes of THX, the Razer Blade Pro screen is calibrated and tested for resolution, color accuracy and video playback performance. The result of the exercise is an unrivaled viewing experience in any instance, whether a person is playing an FPS game or enjoying a special effects-packed movie.
Similarly, the audio jack on the new Razer Blade Pro met THX requirements for voltage output, frequency response, distortion, signal-to-noise ratio, and crosstalk that guarantees clear sound through headphones.”
Other key specs are the 4K nVidia G-Sync enabled IGZO panel with capacitive multi-touch and the GTX 1080 (still the desktop chip) driving this monster of a machine.
Razer is still starting at a staggering price of $3,999.99 for the 512GB version of this device, which is a price tag that will make anyone with a sense of value stare in stupor. But, this is for the student or traveling professional who wants the absolute best in performance and design in a laptop, and is willing for fork over the cash for the Apple-inspired price premium.
This is a beautiful piece of hardware, there is no denying that, and while I’ve hit only the highlights in terms of features, there are plenty more that start to warrant some of this price tag. The reality is that this is a laptop that many people will gush over, and only a few will have the ability to purchase. Thankfully, the Blade 14 and Blade Stealth continue to come down in price as the manufacturing process continues to improve over time, and I hope the same happens for this line of 17” laptops as well.
You can read the full press release here: http://www.razerzone.com/press/detail/press-releases/razer-launches-the-new-razer-blade-pro-the-worlds-first-thx-certified-gaming-laptop
If you’re a high roller and are interested, you can get one here when they’re ready in April: razerzone.com/bladepro
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