Razer Broken Into, Robbed of Two Blade Laptop Prototypes
Someone broke into Razer and snagged a couple of its sexy Razer Blade protoypes.
Peripheral company Razer this week revealed that it suffered a break-in and had some very important property stolen from its premises: Two Razer Blade laptop prototypes. Speaking via an open letter to the Razer community, the company stressed that the return of the prototypes was of huge importance and appealed for information regarding the incident. The company also said it would 'discourage' anyone from buying a Razer Blade prototype if they happen to come across one online or off.
Kotaku cites Heathcliff Hatcher, Razer's director of global product marketing as saying one of the stolen prototypes was actually undergoing a weekend-long thermal test and that the thieves disconnected it from the tracking equipment to steal it. Hatcher said that this is one of the main reasons the company made the theft public knowledge -- it's hoping to not only recover the prototypes, but recover that missing testing data too. Police are currently investigating the break-in and are waiting to look at the log that tracks the use of entrance cards to gain access to the building. While the perpetrators did pry open the doors to the Razer office during their raid, they did not have to force their way into the lobby of the building.
The 17-inch Razer Blade was announced by Razer in August of this year. The machine boasts a 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 2640M Processor, 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 Memory, a 17.3-inch LED Backlit Display (1920x1080), Nvidia GeForce GT 555M graphics with Nvidia Optimus Technology, 2GB Dedicated GDDR5 Video Memory, an integrated HD Webcam, a built-in 60Wh Battery, a 320GB 7200rpm SATA HDD, and Wireless Network 802.11 b/g/n support. The laptop measures 16.81-inches (W) by 10.9-inches (D) by 0.88-inches (H) and weights just 6.97lbs. Expected in Q4 of this year, Razer says the break-in shouldn't affect its release schedule for the Razer.
Check out Razer's full statement below:
Dear Razer Community,
Over the weekend of 11/4/11, we had a break-in at one of our Razer offices. Two Razer Blade prototypes were stolen from our Bay area R&D lab.
As you can imagine, the return of these prototype units is very important to the company. We have already reported this to the authorities who are working closely with us on this matter.
We take this act of theft seriously and would like to appeal for its return and discourage anyone from buying the Razer Blade prototypes from the perpetrators, whether online or otherwise, as they are stolen property.
We appreciate any and all information anyone may have on the incident. Please contact us at cult@razerzone.com if you have any information.
Thank you for all your support.
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Man...Its hard time but please..they can`t do this..its making it even harder for everyone of us...
The laptops were stolen to protest the "GeForce GT 555M" from being used.....560M is min for this product....shame shame razor
wow thats pretty crazy
obviously an inside job
so how does it have a 17.6" inch screen ?
the screen is measured diagonally just like your TV
I hate thieves... hope they get caught and given at least 15 years without the possibility of parole.
Key cards can be stolen / lost i know that all to well. This tends to happen more often if the company does't enforce an policy to discourage negligence regarding the cards and security in general.
old news, I was thinking of getting one of these (but not this way), but a 555M is such a turn off. I like the idea of programmable buttons because that would be sweet for like Photoshop and Illustrator even if not for gaming.
Olaf they don't measure screen size from edge to edge (horizontally) the measure corner to corner (diagonally). So the screen size can be bigger than the laptop is wide.
I hate thieves... hope they get caught and given at least 15 years without the possibility of parole.
15 years for stealing a computer?! This is what is wrong with you people! That's 15 years of your life gone! Obviously you have never been in jail or known anyone who has!
For sale: Really nice Razer Laptop. Slightly used. $2000 OBO.
Looks like a nice system minus the GPU as others have mentioned. Also, the HDD is kind of small, but not a huge deal.
15 years for stealing a computer?! This is what is wrong with you people! That's 15 years of your life gone! Obviously you have never been in jail or known anyone who has!
I would have said, give them the death penalty. Why waste taxpayer money for greedy bastards! Stealing is not OK. At the very least, cut off their hands so they can't break in and steal things very easily anymore.
15 years for stealing a computer?! This is what is wrong with you people! That's 15 years of your life gone! Obviously you have never been in jail or known anyone who has!
How about we cut off their hands instead. Thieves are one of the worst kinds of people, they deserve any punishment coming their way.
so how does it have a 17.6" inch screen ?
Do you not know how they measure screens? It's measure diagonally
The Razor was interesting when they created 7-9" thumb typing gaming devices, but I find little to no interest in their corei7 model, as it would be cheaper and easier to get a laptop, and use that for gaming with a decent game controller!
What was interesting about the small devices was portable gaming, with battery life.
A 17" model hardly is portable.
Too bad for them though... They had a great product if they only released it before the netbook craze!
The Razor was interesting when they created 7-9" thumb typing gaming devices, but I find little to no interest in their corei7 model, as it would be cheaper and easier to get a laptop, and use that for gaming with a decent game controller!What was interesting about the small devices was portable gaming, with battery life.A 17" model hardly is portable.Too bad for them though... They had a great product if they only released it before the netbook craze!
The pocket sized model they were making, even though its specs sucked, seemed worth it but this is to big..
15 years for stealing a computer?! This is what is wrong with you people! That's 15 years of your life gone! Obviously you have never been in jail or known anyone who has!
Its also a couple years worth of R&D + wages of those doing the R&D + any property damage... While I believe 15 years is strong for theft (compared to things like rapists and so on getting less time).
This certainly does such for Razer, although it seems like the laptops would have some kind of lojack installed on them though considering the importance of them. Also shouldnt there be some security cameras to help the police catch the ones who stole these? The security seems poor imho.
Sounds like a marketing stunt to me.
Interesting touchpad placement. Sadly this only works on cumbersome 17" laptops.
The Razor was interesting when they created 7-9" thumb typing gaming devices
PC gaming on a 7" screen does not sound like fun to me. Might as well buy a Nintendo or Sony handheld.
I call "publicity stunt"
I think someone was in the know on this one. As far as cutting off hands and whatnot, the Bible says to give back 4-5x the value of the object if it can't be recovered. I think that's good incentive to not steal! Better than going to prison, but still hefty
Another thought, sounds like a great product! Wonder if those prototypes will overheat on the theives or not. Wouldn't u wanna wait till after the thermal tests to steal it? Haha
Everyone keep an eye out on bar and pub floors!
Inside job!!
If someone wants to steal it, even if it is sitting in the middle of langley, Virginia, it will be stolen.
Poor Razer and poor all of us! I am so excited when they announce this for it is the closests thing to a Macbook Pro killer.
Nothing like a stolen prototype to draw up some free press. Do you think Apple has this patented. Lawsuit in 3 2 1 ...
the clening lady did it, lol
15 years for stealing a computer?! This is what is wrong with you people! That's 15 years of your life gone! Obviously you have never been in jail or known anyone who has!
I have, and I do. And yeah, breaking and entering, stealing of unreleased hardware...pretty much sums up to corporate espionage. String em up. The morons shoulda thought about it before breaking in and stealing.
Anything with "prototype" attached to it should be lock jacked, GPS tracked, remote lock, wipe, etc etc.
I really want Razor to bring this product out soon so I can sell my macbook pro XD
obviously an inside job
that was my 2nd vote
but my first... is publicity... yes/no? seems to be a trend by some *cough tech companie(s)...
oh noooos our thermal data... blah blah... right as if they dont have another or so... this is computer tech we are talking about... its not like something had to be machined from raw goods and it had something super difficult to manufacture and/or had hard time to produce yields and well it will set u back a lot if you dont get it back... /sarcasm
of course if it was really stolen i would go with inside job, and those ppl really suck, should get the max
I have, and I do. And yeah, breaking and entering, stealing of unreleased hardware...pretty much sums up to corporate espionage. String em up. The morons shoulda thought about it before breaking in and stealing.
I bet you have. Couple hours in a holding cell is a nightmare. 15 for stealing a computer. Yep. You kids sure are reasonable.
It's a prototype and a company's IP, but this isn't rape. Cmon.