Hasta La Gadget!

[CES 2013] We think it is about time for Razer for finally launch its highly anticipated gaming tablet during this year’s CES. A year has passed since Razer first unveiled the concept, dubbed as Project Fiona, at CES 2012. Today, we are thrilled at the announcement that the crowdsourced gaming tablet is now launching at CES 2013. Officially called Razer Edge, it is marketed as a tablet, PC, and console rolled into one. Razer says that it intends to commence production and retail distribution this year in North America and Asia Pacific. (more…)

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Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan has been dreaming about building a true PC gaming portable for years. He’s cooked up prototype clamshells, controller-toting tablets, and built two top of the line gaming laptops along the way — but now his dream is almost ready: the Razer Edge. Look familiar? It should. It’s been handled, teased and even redesigned at the behest of Razer’s social legions. It’s Project Fiona evolved. Hoping to keep pace with community feedback, Razer is kitting out the Edge with a 3rd gen Intel Core processor, a 10.1-inch 1,366 x 768 display, an NVIDIA GT640M LE GPU, 4 to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, USB 3.0 and a 64, 128 or 256GB SSD, depending on the SKU. Min translated the slate’s build into some digestible framerates: 59 fps in Dishonored, he told us, and 41 fps in DiRT Showdown. Sound intriguing? It gets better — the baseline 1.7Ghz Core i5 variant of the Edge will sell for $999 and the beefed up 1.9GHz Core i7 Pro model will run for $1299, keeping the device well below the community’s $1,300 to $1,500 price expectations. Even better, the whole shebang is going to be available in the first quarter of this year.

Razer had to change more than Project Fiona’s name to stay under budget, of course — the prototype’s handlebar controllers have migrated to an optional gamepad dock. It’s a win and a loss — fans in Razer’s social media campaign demanded detachable controllers, but their absence makes obtaining the complete “Edge experience” a bit more of a chore — one that will cost $249 on top of the price of the slate itself. Even so, the move to modular is a good thing, and allowed Razer to develop other accessories: a keyboard dock, life-giving 40Wh battery packs ($69) and a $99 docking station, replete with three USB 2.0 ports, plus stereo and HDMI output for a “home console” experience. Razer says the Edge has specific “modes” based around these accessories — the tablet alone features the obvious multi-touch tricks of Windows 8, and the keyboard dock gives PC gamers access to the familiar WASD controls they’re used to. The launcher we saw at CES 2012 is still there too, giving the docking station a pseudo-console interface befitting of your television (and Steam Big Picture Mode, of course). As we said, collecting the whole set is a tall order, but Razer is hoping to make the task a little easier for gamers after the Pro model — offering the i7 tablet and controller dock for a bundled price of $1499 ($50 less than if purchased separately). Completionists will need to wait until Q3 to pick up the keyboard dock though, as its form and price still aren’t finalized.

Continue reading Project Fiona becomes Razer Edge, starts at $999, sans controller

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The other day we reported that Razer was looking to build Project Fiona based on feedback from the community, and last week the gaming peripheral company asked what sort of CPU/GPU configuration that gamers might prefer. Well now that that’s been settled, Razer is asking what sort of price point do gamers feel comfortable paying for such a device. The price points that Razer has offered range from $999-$1,299, to $1,999-$2,499 which we can’t help but feel will net you a pretty decent gaming desktop/laptop. If you’d like to add your opinion or to cast your vote, you can head on over to Razer’s CEO’s Facebook page and leave a comment.

For those unfamiliar, Project Fiona is a concept unveiled by Razer earlier this year at CES. It’s essentially a tablet with two controllers built on each side that come with analog controls and buttons to control the game with. Depending on what Razer ultimately ends up going with, there is a chance it could be powered by an ARM processor, or by an Intel processor that could go up to an i7. So what do you guys think? How much would you be willing to pay for Project Fiona?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Razer wants you to choose Project Fiona’s CPU/GPU configuration, RAZER Project Fiona Demo,

Earlier this year at CES, Razer revealed a concept that they had been working on dubbed Project Fiona. If this is the first time you’ve heard of it, Project Fiona is a gaming device concept cooked up by the folks at Razer which has been designed to combine the power of a PC, and the portability of a tablet into some sort of mobile gaming device. As you can see in the rendering above, the device will also come with dual handles on each side where buttons and analog sticks can be accessed. While that’s all good, a release date for Project Fiona has yet to be determined as it was unclear if Razer had plans to turn it into a reality.

Well if you love the idea of Project Fiona and wouldn’t mind getting your hands on the finished product in the future, Razer’s CEO, Min-Liang Tan, has posted on Facebook that if the Project Fiona post reaches 10,000 Likes/Shares in the next 7 days, Razer will be turning Project Fiona from a concept into a reality. This is not the first time that Razer has taken to Facebook to gauge the reactions of their customers, but it works, so if you want to see Project Fiona on the shelves in the future, give it a Like/Share! At the time of posting the Facebook post has 8,388 Likes and 3,343 Shares.

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