Customers were offered a $200 discount on new purchases of the 2015 model of the Razer Blade gaming laptop last month, which took the price of the 256 GB model to $2,199.99 and the 512 GB model to $2,499.00.
The gaming laptop is powered by an Intel Core i7-4720HQ chip that clocks in at 2.6 GHz, along with 16 GB of DDR3L SDRAM. The 2015 Razer Blade also packs the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M with 3 GB of VRAM and a 14-inch QHD+ touchscreen display. These specifications have earned it the distinction as one of the best gaming laptops of 2015.
However, Razer is apparently not yet fully satisfied with the monster of a machine that it created with the 2015 Razer Blade, as the video game hardware company has unveiled the cheaper and even faster 2016 Razer Blade.
The new Razer Blade sees its processor updated to an Intel Core i7-6700HQ, and its SATA M.2 drives upgraded to the faster PCIe drives. It retains the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M graphics chip, but will now feature double the VRAM at 6 GB.
The 2016 edition of the gaming laptop will also be retaining the 16 GB of RAM from the previous year's model, but it will now be using DD4 memory.
Other changes to the new Razer Blade include the addition of per-key Chroma lighting and USB-C charging, as well as support for Razer's new Thunderbolt 3 graphics amplifier, Razer Core, once it is released.
The 2016 Razer Blade also slimmed down in terms of its physical dimensions, as it retained its thickness of only 0.7 inches thick but decreased its weight to 4.25 pounds compared to the 4.50 pounds of the 2015 model.
Despite all the upgrades, the new Razer Blade will be released at a cheaper price compared to its predecessor. The 256 GB model of the 2016 Razer Blade will sell for $1,999 while the 512 GB model will sell for $2,199, compared to the initial price of the 2015 Razer Blade of $2,399 for the 256 GB model and $2,699 for the 512 GB model. This places the 2016 Razer Blade at the same level as the discounted prices of the 2015 Razer Blade, and while the price drop does not make the gaming laptop affordable to most, it is definitely a good direction for the machine.
Preorders for the 2016 Razer Blade have already started through the company's online store, with shipments slated to start on March 31.
