Razer Blade Pro packs Nvidia 1080, but is almost as thin as MacBook Pro

Razer has spent much of the last few years trying to dispel the notion that you need a super bulky laptop for serious gaming chops, and made waves with its svelte Blade and Blade Stealth.

Now the company is giving its largest laptop line, the 17-inch Blade Pro, a big jolt of life by cramming a desktop-class Nvidia 1080 – one of the most powerful graphics cards around – into a chassis not much thicker than a Retina MacBook Pro, at 0.88 inches vs 0.71.

Just look at the things crammed into it:

• Intel Core i7 6700HQ (2.6GHz quad-core, overclockable to 3.5 GHz)
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB GDDR5X VRAM)
• 32GB 2133 MHz RAM
• 17.3-inch 4K IGZO screen with G-Sync and 100 percent Adobe RGB coverage
• 99 watt-hour battery (apparently the largest size you can bring on an airplane)
• Chroma lighting system
• Low profile mechanical keyboard
• 3 USB 3.0 ports, ThunderBolt 3 (USB-C port).
• Storage options from 512 GB SSD (PCIe M.2) to 2TB

This is a laptop that should be able to handle 4K and VR gaming at high settings with aplomb. In order to cut down the heat in such a small chassis without throttling, Razer has also outfitted the Blade Pro with a vapor cooling chamber.

All that power in a thin frame does come with some sacrifices. Mainly, Razer had to abandon its SwitchBlade secondary display system from previous iterations, which gave the trackpad and a few keys embedded displays. It does have an even bigger trackpad with a scroll wheel and shortcut keys in its place though.

Being thin doesn’t mean light, mind you; the laptop weighs 7.8 pounds. And as big as the battery is, it’s hard to imagine it will get great longevity. There’s only so much engineering you can do.

Oh and it starts at $3,700. Now where did I put my piggy bank…