Razer Broken Into, Robbed of Two Blade Laptop Prototypes

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. Min