CES 2016: Razer Impressions
Razer had a few big announcements this year at CES and they showed off some exciting new peripherals that’s sure to make a big splash.
No strangers to laptops, Razer announced a brand new ultrabook in the Razer Blade Stealth. This slim ultrabook sports the latest Intel Skylake Core i7-6500U with 8GB of RAM. You can get the Razer Blade Stealth with either a 12.5” QHD or UHD screen with the IGZO panels being touchscreen capable. The Stealth is pretty slim too coming in at .52” thin and weighing a svelte 2.75lbs. The keys are all individually colored and feature a nice feeling travel on the keys. The pricing for the Razer Blade Stealth starts at $999.
The Razer Blade Stealth’s GPU is the Intel 520, which isn’t made for really intensive games. Razer’s got a solution though if you want to do some serious gaming with the ultrabook. See, the Razer Blade Stealth has a USB-C port with Thunderbolt-3 and that means it’s possible to pair it up with an external GPU, which is what Razer has gone out and produced.
Dubbed the Razer Core, this housing holds an external desktop class GPU and features a 500W power supply. You can also see four extra USB ports, an Ethernet connection, and a USB-C connection. Plugging the Razer Blade Stealth into the Core and the core into an external monitor, you can play some of the most demanding games out there. Yes, it’s not a portable solution, but it is something I’ve seen a lot of people asking for: the capability to expand their laptop or ultrabook’s graphical powers.
Throw a GeForce GTX 980Ti in there and you’ve got some serious power to play with. There’s fans at the bottom that push the hot air up and out of the top to keep the card cool. I asked if this solution was limited to the Razer Blade Stealth, but I was told that with the proper BIOS support, the Razer Core could be used with other laptops or ultrabooks with Thunderbolt-3 connections. It’s good to hear Razer isn’t locking it down to their product and I hope we’ll be able to see future laptops take advantage of this pretty damn cool product. No pricing was announced for the Razer Core yet, but it’s sure one of the best things I saw at CES.
For those that do a lot of streaming, Razer’s coming out with a new camera called the Stargazer. This depth sensing camera can record at 720P at 60FPS or you can go to 1080P at 30FPS. A built in noise cancelling mic captures your voice if you don’t want to use a separate microphone.
Using Intel’s RealSense technology, Razer’s got a few tricks up their sleeves. First off, it supports Windows Hello, a feature I use a ton of on my Surface Pro 4. Just look at the camera and it’ll log you right in. It’s pretty quick too and can even tell apart twins and be used in low light. For streamers that want just themselves and not the background during their broadcasts, the Stargazer will also do that as well on the fly without the need for a green screen. It remains to be seen how well the Stargazer can do this, but the feature really caught my eye and could be a game changer in terms of making it easier for folks to show only themselves in their videos.
The Stargazer will be available Q2 2016 for $199.
The big news in VR may have been the pricing announcement of the Oculus Rift, but Razer’s OSVR solution shouldn’t be taken lightly. They’re aiming for a $299 starting price tag and goes up depending on what features you want in your HMD. This was the first time I tried it out and was impressed by what they had to offer. One of the things I really liked about the OSVR kit was that each lense had a lever underneath that you use to adjust the focus. I found this a lot easier to use than the dial on the GearVR. The optics were good even if the resolution was a little lower than the Rift. The screendoor effect was hard to notice, but the picture seemed a little blurrier than the Rift or the Vive. Also, the setup ran at 60Hz, which doesn’t measure up to the Rift running at 90Hz. That’s not to say the picture wasn’t smooth, but it wasn’t as smooth as the DK2 I have running at 75Hz. Still at $299, you get a very capable HMD at a very good starting price and one that has the potential to be upgradable with better components in the future.
Overall, Razer had some really great products coming out. The Razer Core and StarGazer are two pretty slick looking products that I’m looking forward to in the future. OSVR is another thing I’m keeping my eye out on because of my love for HMDs. Razer rarely disappoints when I visit with them and this year at CES was no exception.
