Razer's 2017 Blade Pro gets a hardware upgrade and THX certification

We have yet to see the full extent of what Razer is planning to do with its THX acquisition, but in the meantime, it makes for an interesting marketing bullet. In this case, Razer is touting its refreshed Blade Pro as the world's first THX-certified laptop.

The THX calibration at work here applies to both the display and the Blade Pro's audio output.

"Through the processes of THX, the Razer Blade Pro screen is calibrated and tested for resolution, color accuracy, and video playback performance. The result of the exercise is an unrivaled viewing experience in any instance, whether a person is playing an FPS game or enjoying a special effects-packed movie," Razer says.

We're not sure what exactly that means, so we've reached out to Razer for clarification. If and when we hear back we'll update this article.

On the audio side, Razer was a bit more clear about the laptop's THX certification. It doesn't extend to the system's built-in speakers. Instead, the Blade Pro sports a new audio jack that meets the THX requirements for voltage output, frequency response, distortion, signal-to-noise ratio, and crosstalk. According to Razer, the benefit of all that extends to headphones, where listeners are guaranteed clear sound.

Let's move on from THX, shall we? The 2017 model Blade Pro still features a 17.3-inch 4K IGZO panel with touch support. What's new is that it's now powered by an overclocked Intel Core i7-7820HK quad-core processor running at 2.9GHz, up from an Core i7-6700HQ clocked at 2.6GHz. Razer's also using faster memory—32GB of DDR4-2666, up from DDR4-2133.

The Blade Pro tackles gaming with a GeForce GTX 1080 GPU. And for storage, Razer offers three RAID 0 options:

512GB (2x256GB PCIe M.2)
1TB (2x512GB PCIe M.2)
2TB (2x1TB PCIe M.2)

It looks like Razer is all-in with SSD storage—there are no supplementary HDD options. And with this being a premium system, we're not surprised Razer stuck with PCIe options.

Razer kept the same thin CNC aluminum chassis as well. It measures 0.88 inches and checks in at 8 pounds.

The upgraded Razer Blade Pro will be available in April starting at $4,000 (£3,799.99 / €4,499.99).

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).