LAS VEGAS -- If you thought Razer was done tweaking and teasing the Blade 15, you were wrong. The company announced that its flagship model is making the jump to Nvidia's new RTX GPUs. Starting at $2,299, the new, improved laptop will go on sale starting Jan. 21.
Aesthetically, Razer hasn't made too many changes. The most notable change answers the long-standing consumer complaint of the secondary function keys lacking backlighting. Now, every key gets some much-deserved Chroma lighting. And if you’re a fan of Razer’s lovely Mercury White finish, the company is spreading the love beyond the Razer Store, making the unique variant available at Best Buy.
In terms of specs, each iteration of the Blade 15 will feature a 8th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU with 16GB of RAM. While most models will have a 512GB SSD, Razer is also offering one iteration with 256GB for $2,399. The Blade 15 will offer a full Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 GPU ($2,299), while the 2070 ($2,599) and 2080 ($2,999) GPU will be Nvidia's power-efficient Max-Q cards.
In case the Nvidia RTX is beyond your budget, Razer will continue to offer the Blade 15 with a GTX 1060 GPU for $1,599.
MORE: Which Razer Laptop Is Right for You? Blade vs Stealth vs Pro
And while that would already have been plenty to announce during CES, Razer gave us a little glimpse into its future as it pertains to displays. First off, the company is working on a panel with a 240-Hertz refresh rate, which is a big step up from 144Hz. That means you'll have incredibly smooth graphics rendering for buttery-smooth images.
But the biggest and prettiest surprise is that Razer is developing a 4K OLED panel. I had a chance to check out a prototype and, man, let me tell you, it's glorious, with incredibly intense color and really sharp detail. When I asked about battery liife, the Razer rep pointed to the overall efficiency gains of OLEDs over regular screens. So we'll definitely have to test it out whenever it launches.
Historically, Razer has been known for offering high-quality systems at premium prices. And make no mistake, that the Blade 15 refresh follows that tradition. But Razer is also working to reach gamers at every price point by offering several different models and retaining slightly older configs. It's a move that can only benefit the company and consumers.
