There was some good news for laptop gamers, and their wallets, out of IFA on Thursday, August 31, as Razer announced a new configuration for its top-end 17.3-inch Blade Pro laptop. The new model boasts more modest internals at a much more modest price, starting at just $2,300. The original, fully loaded, Blade Pro starts at $4,000.
It’s still a premium gaming laptop, so its price isn’t exactly as budget-friendly as, say, the Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming, but it’s much more attainable as a desktop replacement than the previous model. Not to mention, the $2,300 Blade Pro has a few unique features which set it apart from the competition.
The new Blade Pro features a matte 1080p IPS display panel, with a refresh rate of 120Hz and support for Nvidia’s G-Sync. The new display isn’t a touchscreen, but that refresh rate is promising.
Internally, it features an Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 2TB mechanical hard drive.
But wait, there’s more! Razer promises the new Blade Pro will be user-expandable, meaning a few of those baseline specs can be upgraded over time. The new Blade Pro comes standard with 16GB of RAM, but enterprising owners will be able to pop the Blade open and add another 16GB of RAM, bringing the total up to 32GB.
The storage options can also be expanded. You’ll be able to replace the existing 256GB M.2 SSD with larger offerings all the way up to 2TB. The mechanical drive can also be replaced with any compatible mechanical HDD up to 4TB.
On top of all that, the new Blade Pro features the same high-quality construction featured on the original, with a robust “military-grade” aluminum chassis, a real mechanical keyboard, and of course Razer’s signature Chroma lighting setup.
We don’t have an exact release date just yet, but Razer has the new Blade Pro slated for a third quarter 2017 release on the Razer Store, and a fourth quarter 2017 release worldwide. So we should see it on store shelves before the end of the year, and if you’re particularly eager to get your hands on it, keep a close eye on the Razer Store in the coming months.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.