Razer Edge gaming tablet PC drops jaws but falls short

Razer’s gaming-dedicated tablet device, the Edge, is coming the UK territories later this year, and hardware aficionados Digital Foundry have finally given their opinion on the first-of-its-kind gaming tablet.

“Overlooking the noisiness of its fan-cooled innards, the actual build quality and outright graphical grunt of this Pro unit still manages to drop jaws,” explains Digital Foundry’s Thomas Morgan in his review.

“Its construction is sturdy, and the visual quality oozing from its IPS screen is beautiful. However, the price paid here is in the cumbersome weight of the device, which doubles once the gamepad extension is added.”

Morgan explains that all the extra extensions, battery pack and gamepad add-ons push the cost of the console up towards the $2000 mark, which is knocking on the door of buying a tablet and a more powerful gaming laptop.

“The biggest let-down is undoubtedly the price of entry to turn the device into a portable gaming machine, and the sub two-hour window we have to experience Metro: Last Light on the go before the battery flat-lines,” he said.

Razer gaming tablet

While the reviewer did find the battery-life to be a problem, he says Razer “earns major kudos for doing something which no other tablet does.”

“It’s the only portable of its kind to sport a dedicated graphics solution from Nvidia, while packing in all the usual bells and whistles of a touch-screen tablet device.”

Morgan further elaborates, saying that the Razer Edge is “a jack of all trades but a master of none, it’s not as comfortable to hold as most other tablets, nor is it powerful enough to stand up to gaming grade PCs at the same price,” but concludes with saluting Razer for its out-of-the-box project that will spur on a new era of gaming tablets.

“The fact of the matter is no other company has had the guts to give such a madcap idea a spin, revealing to the world the triumphs and pitfalls of such a device in action. In the future we could see a slew of copycat gaming tablets encroaching on the market, each approaching the same concept with the intention of making it cheaper or lighter. But as it stands, Razer deserves full credit for being first to a party which may or may not start.”