Blade Shadow – the future proof gaming PC you never own

I have just had word from French start-up, Blade. It has a rather interesting PC called Shadow and it is coming to the UK.

Shadow transforms any internet-connected device with a screen into a high-end, full-featured, always-updated and upgraded PC. Furthermore, they say its ideal for intensive usage, such as gaming.

Equivalent to a £1,500 computer, Shadow is equipped with a dedicated high end GPU from NVIDIA (Equivalent to a GTX 1080), 12GB of RAM, 256GB storage and eight threads from an Intel Xeon processor.

This is all very interesting, but not really anything groundbreaking. Until you find out that you don’t actually get that physical machine in your home, or have to actually buy it outright.

Confused?

Blade Shadow

Shadow frees users from the constraints of physical PC hardware but still gives you what you need: access to a powerful, secure, top-of-the-line computer anytime, anywhere and on any device.

Using clever Cloud tech, you can access Shadow on any desktop PC, laptop, Mac, tablet, smartphone or smart TV. This is, of course, accomplished via dedicated Windows, macOS and Android apps.

This is a glimpse of the desktop app. I am assuming we’d get it in English 😉

If you want to game on your mobile, this is the app.

Being Cloud-based means the Blade’s hardware never becomes outdated or obsolete. This takes away your need to enter the cycle of spending and upgrading.

It also brings massive computing power — high-speed, low latency, crystal-clear graphics and data security. All that is acheived through partnerships with Microsoft, Intel, NVIDIA, AMD, and Equinix.

Shadow is powerful enough to meet the demands of pro gamers, according to Blade.

Box

Don’t worry though. If you still like to be able to see and touch your kit, Blade have you covered.

They also have a small, sleek box featuring ports and an AMD Accelerated Processing Unit. This is still happy to real-time decode in 1080p at 144Hz or 4K at 60Hz.

Whether using its box or cloud service, Shadow can be adapted to every PC need and usage.

Furthermore, Blade will be offering numerous opportunities for members of the Shadow community to request, and try, new features and functionality.  Additionally, the first 500 subscribers in the UK will receive a free Shadow box!

Words

Emmanuel Freund, co-founder and CEO of Blade, comments:

We are delighted to introduce Shadow to the UK where there is a passionate and buzzing gaming community. Shadow revolutionises the way we think about and use the typical PC; we are on the verge of replacing every computer in the world with something faster and smarter. We’re committed to building a loyal and engaged community which is why we’re giving a free Shadow Box to our first customers in the UK – we know they’re going to love it.”

Shadow pricing

Designed to be the last PC you ever need, Shadow is the only computer that improves over time. Once you have subscribed you can use your Shadow whenever you want without any time limitation. Shadow eliminates an expensive upfront purchase by offering its cloud-based PC via simple, affordable subscription options that tackles obsolescence:

• £26.95/month for a one-year commitment
• £32.95/month for a three-month commitment
• £39.95/month for no commitment

After the first 500 units, the Shadow box will available to buy for £109.95 or for rental at £7.95 per month.

Shadow has already proven hugely successful in France where it now has over 15,000 users. The pre-sale of the technology in the US was recently announced at CES in Las Vegas and met with a very positive reception, with additional market launches to be announced in the coming months.

For more information, head on over to Shadow’s website.

Shadow technical specifications

An extremely powerful, full-featured Windows 10 PC, Shadow is always at the cutting edge of technology and safe from hardware failures due to its cloud approach. Shadow provides access to:

• A dedicated high-end NVIDIA graphics solution for a perfect image in 1080p at 144fps or 4K at 60fps (8.2 TFLOPS, performance equivalent to a GTX 1080)
• Eight dedicated threads on an Intel Xeon server processor equivalent to a Core i7, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage space
• Proprietary technology delivers a seamless experience for any Internet connection above 15 Mbps