The gaming show GDC has just begun, and Razer used the opportunity to unveil the fifth generation of its popular Blade gaming laptop . The new edition will offer significant performance improvements over its predecessor from 2014, with fresh specs that include an Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a GeForce GTX 970M GPU powered by 6GB of video memory, 802.11 AC WiFI and a PCIe solid-state drive. Additionally, the machine has a 3, 200 x 1, 800 QHD+ display and Chroma backlit keyboard, with a slimmed-down CNC-milled aluminum case that’s less than three-quarters of an inch thick and weighs just 4.25 pounds. In addition, with the release of the its Blade Stealth Ultrabook, which we recently reviewed, Razer is dropping the price on the Blade from $2, 400 to $2, 000 for the 256GB capacity (it’ll be $2, 200 if you want a 512GB drive). What’s more, the Blade will be compatible with Razer’s new “Core” external GPU dock as well, though you won’t get the $100 discount offered with the Stealth. You can pre-order the Blade from Razer’s website starting today. It will begin shipping in April.
Original post:
Razer’s updated Blade gaming laptop has a slimmed-down design
KingofGnG writes: The developers of ScummVM have announced a new version for the virtual machine preferred by graphic adventure fans: also known as “Lost with Sherlock, ” ScummVM 1.8.0 is hailed as one of the heftiest releases ever prepared by the team, with the addition of many games and game engines, the substantial update of graphics and sound sub-systems and the availability of new conversions for minor platforms. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
SlappingOysters writes: Preorders open today for the HTC Vive virtual reality headset and while the device has been well-received by critics, little is known about the games coming to the device. We know that Job Simulator, Fantastic Contraption and Tilt Brush will be bundled in with the HTC Vive for those who preorder it, but Finder has discovered a further 104 games that have also been earmarked by their creators as coming to the device. For those considering a preorder, the site also provides a useful HTC Vive vs. Oculus Rift vs. PlayStation VR comparison table. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
MojoKid writes: Late last year marked the introduction of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) DRAM courtesy of AMD’s Fury family of graphics cards, each of which sports 4GB of HBM. HBM allows these new AMD GPUs to tout an impressive 512GB/sec of memory bandwidth, but it’s also just the first iteration of the new memory technology. Samsung has just announced that it has begun mass production of HBM2. Samsung’s 4GB HBM2 package is built on a 20 nanometer process. Each package contains four 8-gigabit core dies built on top of a buffer die. Each 4GB HMB2 package is capable of delivering 256GB/sec of bandwidth, which is twice that of first generation HBM DRAM. In the example of NVIDIA’s next gen GPU technology, code named Pascal, the new GPU will utilize HBM2 for its frame buffer memory. High-end consumer-grade Pascal boards will ship with 16GB of HBM2 memory (in four, 4GB packages), offering effective memory bandwidth of 1TB/sec (256GB/sec from each HMB2 package). Samsung is also reportedly readying 8GB HBM2 memory packages this year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.