Razer Blade (2014)

Change is hard, and it will continue to change even more difficult. Case in point: The latest iteration of the Razer Blade ($ 2,399 as tested). Razer Blade gaming has revamped the laptop, keeping the same design ultraportable Editors' Choice Razer Blade from last year, but ramping up the quality of the display, adding touch-screen capabilities, and upgrading to newer options NVIDIA mobile graphics. But not all changes are good: The shift to higher resolution graphics and more powerful hardware battery life hit (and therefore overall portability) pretty hard, and the price has jumped up by $ 400. As still an extremely well-made gaming laptop, the latest blade may be the first of the Razer laptop to not get our strongest recommendation.

design
The exterior design of the Razer Blade remains unchanged from the previous-generation Razer Blade (2013). It has the same slim MacBook-like aluminum chassis, measuring 0.7 by 13.6 by 9.3 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.47 pounds. It is slightly thicker and heavier blade than in 2013, but differences can be attributed to the addition of a touch screen. The black paint job is accented with bright green accents, such as snake-Triskelion glowing Razer logo on the lid, or noticeably green USB port of the system and glowing keyboard.

The biggest change is the display on the blade, a sharp indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) panel, which now offers 3,200-by-1, 800 resolution. That is a significant step up from the resolution 1600-by-900 Razer Blade offered in previous models. These differences result in a stunning improvement in detail, adding a dose of realism to all but the most demanding current games, showing texture with crisp details, and bringing out the little touch strewn with whole modern titles. In the past, Razer claims that the blade had lower resolution to offer better frame rates and more clear gameplay. Reasoning made ​​sense then, and even the hardware has improved and 4K play looming large, still functioning logic. So, although it looks amazing, high-res display will be the weakest point of the new blade, but I'll discuss that more later.

The other major addition is related, with 10 finger touch capabilities offered today. It is very rare in gaming PCs, so now shunned as unnecessary contact, despite the touch-centric nature of Windows 8. The speakers, located on either side of the keyboard, offering sufficient volume to fill a room, and even a little more bass than we expected.

The chiclet-style keyboard and large touchpad looks exactly like those used in the previous model, which makes sense, so as both are very good for any laptop, let alone a gaming machine. Keyboard with unique font Razer blocks and have the same anti-ghosting capability offered by Razer gaming peripherals. Touchpad is calibrated for accuracy, and by default is set to match the size of the display, which means you can make the cursor on both sides (or top to bottom) to display without having to lift the your finger from the touch pad. Similarly, the right and left mouse buttons are separate physical buttons instead of being integrated into the touchpad. The smaller details are what make the edge stand out from other ultraportables as distinctly gaming-oriented.

Unfortunately, as in the previous model, heat is a major concern with the blade. The narrow chassis does not leave much room to circulate air, and the issues it actually seems to be more a problem with the new hardware inside. While running the test and play with the blade, I regularly see temperatures up to 126 degrees Fahrenheit (as measured with a Fluke IR thermometer). This scorching heat is not only found around the hinges and vents, but the keyboard as well. Fan noise is also a major issue. Within a few moments of firing up a game, the fans inside the laptop rev up like a laptop's trying to escape, and the rapid-fire, high-pitch whine is hard to ignore, even with headphones on.