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When it comes to gaming laptops, Razer’s ultra-thin Blade systems are in a league of their own. No, they aren’t the most powerful machines on the market, but they are the thinnest. Portability is valuable, but it would be meaningless if it came at the cost of performance. This isn’t the case with the Blade, which tears through games with Nvidia’s second best mobile GPU and a decent Core i7 CPU from Intel. Neatly organizing that much hardware into such a sleek chassis, without damning it to overheat, is a commendable feat, and while other manufacturers have come very close to matching Razer’s handiwork, it’s still the leader of the pack. Unsurprisingly, Razer’s back with new Blades for 2015, and today we’re looking at the thinnest of the bunch: the 14″ Full-HD model.

Razer has created a gaming laptop that closely resembles Apple’s MacBooks, albeit with a modest amount of flare; the Razer logo on the lid and the keyboard’s optional green backlighting are the only tells that it’s a gaming product. The black anodized aluminum chassis feels a lot better than the plastics used in most laptops, giving it an appreciable air of class. Of course, looks only get you so far; it’s what’s under the hood that matters most.

Spec Comparisons

Laptop	New 14″ 1080p Blade	New 14″ QHD+ Blade	New 17″ Blade Pro	14″ Blade (2014)	17″ Blade Pro (2014)
Price	$1999.99	$2,399.99	$2,299.99	$1,999.99	$2,099.99
Display	1080p, 14″	3200×1800, 14″	1080p, 14″	3200×1800, 14″	1080p, 17.3″
CPU	Intel Core i7 4720HQ 2.6GHZ / 3.6 GHz	Intel Core i7 4720HQ 2.6GHZ / 3.6GHz	Intel Core i7 4720HQ 2.6GHz / 3.6GHz	Intel Core i7 4702HQ 2.2GHz / 3.2GHz	Intel Core i7 4700HQ 2.4GHz / 3.4GHz
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M / 3GB	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M / 3GB	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M /4GB	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M / 3GB	NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 860M / 2GB
RAM	8GB DDR3L	16GB DDR3L	16GB DDR3L	8GB DDR3L	16GB DDR3L
Storage	256GB SSD	256GB SSD	128GB SSD + 500GB HDD	256GB SSD	256GB SSD

The latest 14″ 1080p Blade costs $2,000, and comes with an Nvidia GTX 970M GPU (3GB of VRAM), a quad-core Intel Core i7 4720-HQ CPU (2.6GHz base/3.6GHz turbo), 8GB of RAM (DDR3L-1600MHz), and a 256GB SSD (SATA M.2). For $2,400, you can get the 256GB QHD+ Touch model, which features a hi-res, 3200×1800 touchscreen, 16GB of RAM, and the same GPU and CPU configuration found in the 1080p model.

That leaves the Blade Pro model. Shipping in April, this large, 17-inch version of the Blade has a 1080p screen, but also a unique touchpad with a full color display next to the keyboard that can be used independently from Windows to browse the web or watch YouTube. Interestingly, the Pro comes with a weaker CPU and GPU than the standard Blade. Depending on which Pro Model you’re looking at, expect to spend between $2,300 (128GB SSD + 500GB HDD) and $2,800 (512GB SSD + 1TB HDD).

Benchmarks

While it’s not the pinnacle of portable gaming tech, the standard 14″ Blade packs enough power to run modern PC games at respectable framerates using max or near max settings.

Game	Settings	Average FPS
BioShock Infinite	1080p, Ultra Settings, DirectX 11	88 FPS
Tomb Raider	1080p, Ultra Settings, TressFX, FXAA	55 FPS
Metro: Last Light	1080p, DirectX 11, 16x Anistropic Filtering (no Tesselation, Adv. PhysX, SSAA)	60 FPS
Battlefield 4	1080p, Ultra Settings, 4xMSAA	55 FPS
Unigine Heaven 4.0	1080p, Ultra Settings, DirectX 11, Extreme Tesselation	34 FPS

The new 14″ Blade holds up very well under real world conditions, but a fair warning for those investing in a long term gaming solution: you can’t replace or add to the Blade’s RAM configuration. To be fair, 8GB is a good amount for now, but not being able to install RAM may prove to be a thorn in the side of some people down the road. Other manufacturers make it easy to swap RAM in and out of a laptop, but in order to keep the Blade thin, presumably, Razer had to solder its memory chips directly to its proprietary motherboard. It’s a given that the GPU and CPU aren’t upgradable, so keep these things in mind when investing in a gaming laptop, especially one with 3GB of VRAM. This detail will likely be the first weak-link in the chain as developers continue to push visuals and thus hardware requirements.

With only three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI out, and a combo headphone/microphone port, the Blade’s connectivity options may leave some users wanting. While it’s understandable why Razer might opt to avoid the likes of a SD Card slot or an Ethernet port in the name of thinness, it’s questionable which is more valuable: portability or utility. The lack of an ethernet port is the biggest issue we faced, as it made downloading large games a longer process than we’d like. While it’s got a good WiFi radio, with support for 802.11a/b/g/n/ac+, we eventually reached for an ethernet to USB adapter. This obviously sped things up. For a system designed around downloadable games, it makes you wonder: why doesn’t Razer include an Ethernet adapter?

Like the Apple products it resembles, the Blade is fitted with a chiclet style keyboard. The flat, spaced out keys are great for typing, and surprisingly good for gaming as well. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the mouse buttons beneath the touchpad. The touchpad itself is smooth and responsive, but the buttons feel flimsy. The subtle physical feedback you feel when pressing a button is important because it signifies that the input has gone through, and when the timing of the feedback feels off or hollow, you notice. There is so much right about the Blade’s design, but if there’s one aspect that needs another pass, it’s the mouse buttons. They aren’t horrible, but there’s definite room for improvement.

For such a thin laptop, the Blade’s battery lasts a decent amount of time while it’s untethered from an external power source. We kept the Blade alive for nearly four hours while gaming, and if you’re keen to use it for non-gaming activities with a slightly dimmed screen, expect that count to rise as the CPU’s less taxing HD Graphics 4600 GPU takes over. The good news is that the Blade’s power supply is only slightly thicker than a large candy bar, so it won’t weigh you down if you need to carry it on the go.

With a 256GB SSD, the Blade can move move data quickly, but it doesn’t necessarily hold a lot of data. A 512GB drive would at least alleviate some of the space constraints that occur when installing multiple games, but unfortunately, Razer doesn’t offer the option on the 1080p model.

The new 14″ Blade is a capable, portable, and great looking gaming laptop, but more than ever, the it’s facing competition from outsiders. Gigabyte’s P34WV3-CF2 has the same CPU,GPU, and RAM configuration, and although it’s .13 inches thicker, Gigabyte’s gaming laptop weighs over half a pound less than the Blade. It’s also worth noting that it has four USB 3.0 ports, an ethernet port, and an SD card reader. You also get more storage for your money with the included 128GB SSD and a 1TB 5400 RPM HD. With all of these additions, and easily upgradable components, why is Gigabyte’s laptop $400 cheaper? It’s equally powerful, more useful, and cheaper, but it doesn’t have the same build-quality that’s present in the blade. In short, for the Blade, you’re paying for not just for it’s hardware, but also for the craftsmanship behind the product.

If you pick up a Blade with all of its limitations in mind, you won’t be disappointed. While it could benefit from a few more connectivity options and the ability to upgrade components, it’s an incredibly well built gaming laptop that’s thin and powerful. It’s not the cheapest option around, but it’s not always about comparing specs and numbers if you take build-quality seriously. Here, the Blade is the slickest gaming laptop money can buy.

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Capcom is looking for players to test an upcoming Ghostbusters game in development for the iPhone, according to a post to the Capcom Unity Blog.

“Beeline is looking for a few folks to participate in a beta test for an upcoming Ghostbusters iPhone game,” Capcom said. “If you’re interested please complete the following survey.”

The survey asks for your basic information (gender, age, education, employment status), and some of your mobile gaming habits.

It asks what mobile games you play, citing specific examples like Puzzle & Dragon, Heroes of Dragon Age, Avengers Alliance, Clash of Clans, The Simpsons: Tapped Out, and Marvel Puzzle Quest, or invites you to write in your own answer. It also wants to know many times a day you play, and how long is your average play session, with the longest option being 10 minutes or more.

The upcoming title is being developed by Beeline, which already has one free-to-play, tower defense Ghostbusters game in the iTunes App Store.

If you complete the survey you’ll be asked for your email for a chance to participate in the beta test.

There are currently two new Ghostbusters movies in the works, one with an all-female main cast and one with an all-male main cast.

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Obsidian has removed an offensive limerick from its recently released role-playing game Pillars of Eternity that was written by one of the game’s Kickstarter backers, the developer has announced.

“It’s come to our attention that a piece of backer-created content has made it into Pillars of Eternity that was not vetted,” Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart said in a post to the game’s forum. “Once it was brought to our attention, it followed the same vetting process as all of our other content. Prior to release, we worked with many of our backers to iterate on content they asked to be put into the game that didn’t strike the right tone.”

Urquhart said that Obsidian asked the backer before changing it, and that he gave them new content to replace the offensive limerick. You can see the content in question that some players thought was transmisogynistic as it originally appeared in the game in the image above.

The change was made alongside patch 1.03, which also fixed a serious bug that centers around equipping items. You can find the full patch notes here.

Pillars of Eternity was released late last month, the product of a successful 2012 crowdfunding campaign that raised $4 million.

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Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare players have killed 2,591,920,137 zombies in the game’s Exo Zombies mode, developer Sledgehammer has announced.

Sledgehammer revealed the number in a new infographic that includes a bunch of other interesting figures collected from the game since it was released in November 3, 2014.

For example, if you’ve played the game’s multiplayer mode you probably could have guessed that the most popular weapon type of choice among players is the assault rifle, followed by SMG, heavy, and sniper weapons.

Since launch, players have used 2,249,728,574 grenades. 44 percent of those were regular frag grenades, followed by semtex grenades, which accounted for 35 percent.

Players have also boosted enough times to circumnavigate the earth 14,000 times.

You can find the full infographic below.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s second expansion, Ascendance, is available now across Xbox One and Xbox 360. The add-on–which includes new maps, weapons, zombies content, and more–will be available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PC in about one month, in accordance with Microsoft’s exclusivity arrangement with Activision.

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