The cool new tech keeps coming at CES 2021 this week, and gaming firm Razer has joined the party. It's showing off upgrades to its flagship Blade laptop line, as well as an immersive gaming chair concept that features a 60-inch rollout OLED display.
The Razer Blade series already offers some of the best gaming laptops in the market – in terms of both style and performance – and the newly unveiled models go up another notch. The laptops in question are the Razer Blade 15 and the Razer Blade Pro 17, and they include brand new GeForce RTX 30 Series laptop GPUs from Nvidia.
As well as the graphics power upgrades, the two new models are more energy efficient and can work at quieter volume levels too. A choice of display resolutions and refresh rates will be available, topping out at Quad HD 240-Hz for the 15.6-inch laptop and Ultra HD 120-Hz for the 17.3-inch laptop.
That gives gamers a choice of faster refresh rates or sharper resolutions, and there are a number of choices when it comes to price too, thanks to the variety of Nvidia GPUs you can kit out these laptops with. At the very top end of the scale there's the GeForce RTX 3080, for those who want the ultimate in ray tracing goodness.
Despite packing all this power, Razer has worked hard to keep the laptops as thin and light as possible, and as usual the models feature a decent number of ports and some impressive sound setups. Pricing for the Blade 15 starts at US$1,699.99 with an on-sale date of January 26, while the Blade Pro 17 costs from $2,299.99 with availability dates yet to be confirmed.
Perhaps even more appealing – though sadly not available to buy – is the Project Brooklyn gaming chair concept that Razer has also unveiled at CES 2021. It fits both chair and high-resolution display into one complete unit, and it's certainly going to impress any visitors to your gaming lair.
The Project Brooklyn chair is dominated by a huge 60-inch OLED display that's fitted at head height and rolls out from the back of the chair when needed. You can see why this is still a concept – while rollable screens do exist, they're still prohibitively expensive.
With a carbon fiber design, foam cushioning, armrests that fold out to hold gaming peripherals, integrated RGB lighting and a smart cable management system, this all-in-one gaming cockpit looks to have every angle covered. The chair is able to hook up to a gaming PC, or a console, or both, through the connections on the back.
The Project Brooklyn concept also offers haptic feedback, so you can feel every rumble and shake of the gameplay – it sounds more immersive than just having your game controller shake at least.
Razer hasn't committed to bringing Project Brooklyn to market at any point, though it says it will continue to develop ideas around the chair to help inform and improve its other gaming products. If it can eventually be built and marketed to the masses, expect it to come with a rather hefty price tag attached.