Razer Announces new 15.6-inch Blade Laptop with Nvidia Max-Q Graphics

Razer rose to prominence making gaming accessories and peripherals, but it launched the first generation of its Blade laptops in 2013. No surprise, these devices were (and still are) designed with gamers in mind, but the external design is overdue for a refresh. That’s what you’ll get with the new Razer Blade. It has a bigger screen with smaller bezels, a faster CPU, and improved GPU performance courtesy of Nvidia Max-Q technology.

Razer’s matte black laptops have always looked rather slick, but the screen bezels were out of control. There was a great deal of wasted space compared with many other laptops in the $1,000+ price range. The new Blade has a 15.6-inch display, but the slimmer bezel around it keeps the laptop from getting too bulky.

The laptop’s display starts at 1080p 60Hz in the least expensive version of the laptop. There are also 1080p 144Hz and 4K display options. Those will cost you quite a bit extra. There’s also no Nvidia G-Sync technology to reduce screen tearing. Razer says it omitted that to save battery.

According to Razer, the new Blade with its larger LCD is only 0.4-inches wider than last year’s model. That apparently makes it the smallest 15.6-inch gaming laptop on the planet. The aluminum chassis is also getting a streamlined look. The rounded corners are squared off now, and the ridges on the lid around the Razer logo are gone.

Since this is a gaming laptop, the GPU is a major selling point. The Blade comes with several versions of the Nvidia GTX 1060 and 1070, but the real upgrade over the last-gen Blade is the inclusion of Max-Q optimizations. That means Razer worked directly with Nvidia to customize the design of its laptop and eke out the most performance and lowest power envelope possible.

All versions of the Blade come with the same Intel i7-8750H CPU. That chip has six cores and 12 threads with a clock speed of 2.2GHz and turbo boost up to 4.1GHz. The base model laptop comes with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. You can push it to as much as 32GB and 2TB if you’re made of money.

The new Razer Blade is available for purchase today, starting at $1,900. That’s the version with a 60Hz display, GTX 1060, and 256GB of storage. If you want the best Blade with a 4K screen and GTX 1070, that’ll run you $2,900.