Razer just announced “Project Valerie,” a concept laptop that has three 17-inch 4K displays. It’s quite possibly the craziest laptop I’ve ever seen.
I really love CES sometimes.
What is it?
Razer is known for making some of the thinnest gaming laptops around. So what do you do when you have all that extra space compared to your competitors? Why, stuff more screens in there, of course.
In fact, Razer says it’s “the greatest amount of screen real estate ever assembled in a single computer,” which I assume includes all-in-ones desktops.
Built off of Razer’s recent refresh of its single-screened Blade Pro – and therefore sporting nearly the same specs – each panel features 4K resolution (for a total of 11520 x 2160), 100 percent Adobe RGB coverage, and Nvidia G-Sync to avoid screen tearing.
Each panel slides behind one another into a body that’s just 1.5 inches thick. It weighs 12 pounds.
For comparison with single-screened gaming laptops, the recently redesigned Alienware R17 is 1.18 inches thick (the previous generation was 1.35). Meanwhile, Acer’s equally insane Predator 21x is 19 pounds (although that one has a mechanical keyboard and two Nvidia 1080s).
Project Valerie uses a single Nvidia 1080, which definitely isn’t going to be able to power the most demanding games at the highest settings with three-times-4K resolution (Razer calls is 12K, but I’m hesitant given that’s true only in width), but for older titles you should be able to have an awesome multi-monitor set-up.
You can always turn off the extra monitors off too.
Why does it matter?
As much as the screens may have gamers salivating, Razer was quick to describe Project Valerie as a workstation. Engineers, developers, 3D artists, and anyone who relies on a multi-monitor setup on a powerful computer would actually be able to take a full-fledged workstation on the go.
On another hand, it’s also something of a validation of Razer’s efforts to make its computers thinner and lighter, as it’s that reduction that has allowed it to fit three screens into a reasonably sized product.
The common argument levied against gaming laptops – especially ones this large – is that you “might as well build a desktop.” But when you have something with more total screen real estate than most desktop setups in a package you could bring on a plane, that argument becomes moot.
Just imagine how awesome/obnoxious having a triple monitor setup on your next flight would be, or even the convenience of enjoying a such a display setup without the accompanying mess of wires and lack of desk space.
And of course, once one brand has done it, others will follow, and competition will thrive. Who knows, maybe 10 years from now we’ll have multi-screen laptops the size of todays ultrabooks.
When is it coming?
Unfortunately, we have no idea when it will actually go on sale – I mean, it doesn’t even have an actual name yet. Still, Razer assures me it intends to bring the laptop to market, and that we’ll hopefully be hearing more details soon. It’s sure to be exorbitantly priced, but I guess that’s fair when there’s literally nothing else like it.
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