Nerds like me know that Razer, a popular video game accessory company, does not mess around. If you aren’t familiar, just know that it is a powerhouse and its products are gorgeous pieces of technology. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it unveiled its newest project: the Razer Edge gaming tablet. It gained attention from gamers everywhere and swept up the Best of CES Award (I would give it an award too, but I’m not quite as powerful).
The Razer Edge is a 10-inch multi-touch tablet designed specifically for PC gaming. It allows you to play any Windows game or run any Windows application in several different modes, making it the most versatile gaming system ever created. Razer’s slogan is “for gamers, by gamers,” and this tablet definitely appears to follow that simple logic. Razer claimed to have received over 10,000 emails and survey responses from fans while designing the device. I trust a lot of the nerds in the world.
I’m going to keep you drooling for a little bit longer over this monster. There are four different modes that the Edge can be used in: tablet, mobile console, keyboard and home console. My personal favorite is the mobile console, which turns the Edge into its own console with a handy dandy controller add-on that is far too overpriced. At first I thought that holding a two-plus-pound device to play on would be a bit strenuous, but thinking about being able to play Skyrim while lying on my couch and watching How I Met Your Mother reruns on TV made me forget all about it. I’m a girl who is all about that kind of laziness (whoops, I totally meant to say convenience).
Home console mode seems intriguing to me as well. It allows you to plug the Edge directly into your TV through a HDMI port and play with up to four people with your controllers. I’m interested to see how certain PC-specific games will make the switch to using a controller. You can also plug it straight into a monitor and keyboard and use it as a desktop computer. Dorm-room PC gamers, I’m talking to you.
Razer has not yet set a release day for the Edge, but has promised that it will drop in the first quarter of this year. Now, take a deep breath before I tell you the price of this beast. The base Edge with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage will start at $999. Do I still have you? Take another breath. The Pro model (8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage) is $1,299. Get the Pro and the Gamepad bundle for $1,499. Start saving those pennies now, folks.
I can’t wait for the Razer Edge. I also probably will never be able to afford one, so I should just get the pretty little thought out of my mind. For now, I’ll have to resort at gawking in wonder at the gorgeous beast of a tablet, and maybe accept a few donations for it (I may or may not be kidding about that one).
Sophie Kruse is a freshman journalism student at Ohio University and a columnist for The Post. What excited you most at CES? Email Sophie at sk139011@ohiou.edu.
