Razer Builds High-End Desktop Features Into $4,000 Laptop

Razer, a company that makes several high-end computing accessories designed mainly for computer game players, has introduced a new laptop that it says is as powerful as a desktop. Called the Razer Blade Pro, comes with a large, 17.3-inch screen and is the first laptop to receive a THX certification for the quality of its audio-video features. Razer takes full advantage of the Blade Pro’s bulk by offering a quirky design that moves the touchpad from beneath the keyboard to the right of the keys, which the company says will make it easier to use. But the Razer Blade Pro is not for casual computer users. It’s clearly designed for gamers and people who want to use the unit as a portable entertainment system with the highest quality sound and video. It will carry a $4,000 retail price when it’s released in April. Read on to learn more.

The Razer Blade Pro comes with several design quirks. The bezel around the screen is somewhat large and there are empty spaces above and below the keyboard. Plus, the touchpad is located to the right of the keyboard rather than below.

Razer Blade Pro’s screen is downright huge, at 17.3 inches. The screen has a 4K Ultra HD resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio, ensuring apps and movies look great. It’s also a multi-touch display.

The Razer Blade Pro comes with Intel’s seventh-generation Core i7 processor. The quad-core chip features hyper-threading and a base clock speed of 2.9GHz. The unit also includes the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card.

Razer built in plenty of memory and data storage capacity. The laptop ships with 32GB of RAM. It also allows users to bundle two solid-state drives in a RAID 0 array with capacity options ranging from 512GB to 2TB.

The Blade Pro includes a Thunderbolt 3 port along with three USB 3.0 ports. There’s also an HDMI 2.0 port for video needs and an SDXC card reader in case the up to 2TB of built-in storage isn’t enough.

The Razer Blade Pro runs on a 64-bit version of Windows 10, the company said. It’s also worth noting that the computer ships with a TPM security module to boost security.

If there’s one area the Razer Blade Pro falls short, it’s portability. The device is nearly 17 inches wide and 11 inches deep and stands 0.9 inches tall when it’s closed. It weighs a whopping 7.7 pounds.

The Razer Blade Pro is joining the ranks of computers that support virtual reality. It relies on Nvidia’s VRWorks technologies, Razer said, and can play all the latest and most sophisticated games and video content.

The Razer Blade Pro is THX-certified. The screen is pre-calibrated to deliver ideal visual performance, whether users are playing games, watching movies or working. High-end speakers deliver “high-fidelity audio” certified to THX standards.

Razer’s new Blade Pro laptop starts at $4,000—a high number that goes even higher if users add more storage. The laptop is expected to be available on Razer’s site and at authorized retailers in April.