Razer Preps for Blade Gaming Laptop Pre-Orders

Razer's first gaming laptop, , could be in your hands before Christmas (or Hanukkah) as the company is planning on opening up its Web site for pre-orders soon.

According to a recent post by Kotaku, the Razer Blade has already landed in the laps of a few "selected friends and game publishing CEOs." And while the rest of us will have to wait a few days before we get to pay $2,799 for our units, there has been word that the will ship before the holidays.

Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan also came forward to announce that the company has swapped out the 320GB spinning hard drive for a 256GB solid-state drive (SSD). While they provide less storage space, SSDs generally help improve overall performance and are less prone to cracking or wear and tear. The 2.8-GHz Intel Core i7-2640M processor, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GT 555M (2GB) discrete graphics chip with Optimus technology still remain the same. It also comes complete with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0 (for connecting wireless peripherals), Ethernet jack, a USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, and 3.5mm headphone and mic combo jack.

The Razer Blade's most attractive feature, aside from the internal components and the black aluminum chassis, is the touchpad that resides to the right of the chiclet keyboard. The touchpad doubles as a secondary screen, displaying your character's stats and health in-game. Above this touchpad are 10 dynamic tactile buttons that can be programmed as hotkeys to execute commands.