The new Razer Blade has hit the market and it’s got tech specs that make me want to cry just thinking about how awesome it is, and the price tag to accompany it. Why would anyone own such an expensive piece of consumer tech gear you ask? Well, there are a lot of reasons, and all of them are pretty similar to each other, considering they’re the same reasons people own sports cars and designer clothing. The laptop itself is, to me at least, designer for gamers who want the ultimate performance along with the fact that this very small piece of plastic is worth more than the average gamer’s car. No insult to those who do not drive 1985 Camry’s that I usually see flood Gamestop at midnight launches.

The question is simple, why would anyone pay $2,200 to $2,800 for a 14” laptop that is small, hard to game on, but very powerful with an insanely high definition screen. There isn’t a realistic need for this device in anyone’s lives, except pro gamers I guess who live in 150sq ft shoe box apartments. Even then, I’m sure they could get something that might not blow away in the wind. The device is thinner than a dime! Well, a dime standing up that is, crazy marketing lingo eh?

Razer Blade

To answer that question we can simply say this is a device to meet people’s wants, not needs. There isn’t a slot for this to fit into in anyone’s lives. You’re not going to pro game League of Legends while flying in an airplane or sitting in Starbucks. You’re going to have to use a mouse and a keyboard to get past the small formfactor and even then, you’re bulking it out and getting to the point one of those small portable gaming PCs would be good enough for you (and they’re much, much less in price).

No, this is for those who have $2,200+ sitting around burning a hole in their pocket and they want to have the latest and greatest in consumer tech. I’m going to say something and that is this thing is worth it’s pricetag. It’s the epitome of modern portable tech and there isn’t much better on the market than this for the formfactor. It’s important to note that 14” is almost sort of kind of netbook sized. It’s 2” away from being a netbook, actually, and 15” is the standard for “low end small laptops” so pshaw I say.

My point of the matter is this. I know a lot of people who really crave this device and Razer is making a big move to knock Alienware out of the luxury portable PC business. However, this is a luxury item. For most, using something like Teamviewer and a tablet to mess around with a game on the go (i.e. playing it on their home PC and streaming it) or even most modern laptops have enough power to log into their favorite games and mess around a little bit.

In summary, I do think that the Razer Blade is insane and if you’ve got that kind of money there is no shame in buying it. They’ve sold out before, AFAIK, so if you plan on buying it buy it soon. It’s a wonderful piece of equipment, but it doesn’t fill a role in anyone’s lives except I guess elite pro gamers who have space requirements and must practice LoL on airplanes through airplane wifi or while in a coffeeshop.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Get in the bush with David "Xerin" Piner as he leverages his spectacular insanity to ask the serious questions such as is Master Yi and Illidan the same person? What's for dinner? What are ways to elevate your gaming experience? David's column, Respawn, is updated near daily with some of the coolest things you'll read online, while David tackles ways to improve the game experience across the board with various hype guides to cool games.

Comments