With its new Blade 16 and 18, Razer wants to prove that size makes all the difference


Nathan Le Gohlisse

Hardware Specialist

January 05, 2023 at 7:05 p.m.

5

Razer Blade 16 & 18 © © Razer

© Razer

It’s all the rage this CES 2023, and Razer is no exception. As alienware, ASUS or Acer, the brand with the three snakes is growing its gaming laptops to make them adopt new formats of 16 and 18 inches.

The Blade 15 and 17 are over, make way for the Blade 16 and 18. Bigger and more powerful, Razer’s two spearheads are evolving in a nice way by (finally) adopting the 16:10 format to offer better comfort in use. current… while getting up to speed with the competition. This change in ratio is also accompanied by an upward revision of screen diagonals without the frames becoming much bulkier than on the 2022 15 and 17 inch models. Here is in detail what Razer is offering us this year.

Blade 16: always more power… and Mini-LED

Let’s start with the Blade 16. The device relies heavily on display quality. Like its competitor, the Acer Predator Helios 16, the device adopts, in its best configuration, a 16-inch Mini-LED panel in 16:10 format.

This display technology, adopted by Apple on the latest MacBook Pros, offers both better maximum brightness and more precise backlighting to achieve better contrast. Without quite equaling the image quality offered by OLED, Mini-LED screens outperform on many points the IPS panels that are usually found on laptops.

In this case, the Blade 16 can count on a Mini-LED Ultra HD+ panel, 100% DCI-P3, 120 or 240 Hz (depending on the definition selected), and capable of going up to 1000 nits of luminance in HDR mode . Note that it is also possible to opt for a QHD + IPS screen, 100% DCI-P3 and 240 Hz, both technologies being offered by Razer on the Blade 16.

Razer Blade 16-1 © © Razer

© Razer

Razer Blade 16-3 © © Razer
Razer Blade 16-4 © © Razer

© Razer

For the rest, the device does not exceed 21.99 mm thick for 2.45 kg. It embeds within it a Core i9-13950HX, coupled with a maximum of 32 GB of DDR5 at 5600 MHz and can be equipped with 2 TB of SSD. On the GPU side, we have the choice between the four best NVIDIA solutions: RTX 4060 (140 W), RTX 4070 (140 W), RTX 4080 (175 W) or RTX 4090 (175 W). Finally, the device is powered by a 95.2 Wh battery and a 280 or 330 W mains unit depending on the configuration chosen.

The Blade 16 will hit the market in the first quarter of 2023, with a starting price set at $2,699 across the Atlantic.

Blade 18: a new XXL format for the pros

With 21.9 mm thick and 3.2 kg on the scale, the Blade 18 also remains compact, which does not prevent it from adopting a very large 18-inch format. With this product, Razer mainly seeks to woo professionals and advanced users looking for a machine capable of replacing a desktop computer. To do this, the device opts for a QHD + and 240 Hz IPS screen, capable of fully covering the DCI-P3 spectrum while rising to 500 nits of luminance.

Razer Blade 18-1 © © Razer

© Razer

Razer Blade 18-3 © © Razer
Razer Blade 18-2 © © Razer
Razer Blade 18-4 © © Razer

© Razer

There is also a technical sheet similar to that of the Blade 16, but with more RAM and more optional storage. Count on a Core i9-13950HX, up to 64 GB of DDR5, and a maximum of 8 TB of SSD. Of course, the latest RTX 4000 graphics cards from NVIDIA are also in the game, and to cool all these beautiful people, Razer cleverly exploits the large format of its laptop to add a triple fan dissipation system. However, the brand is not the first to do so: ASUS also does it on certain references and Alienware even offers up to 4 fans on its X15 and X17.

Either way, the Blade 18 will be available starting in Q1 2023 starting at $2,899.99 in the US.

Source: Razer Briefing / Razer Release



Source link -99