Razer sharpens Blade gaming laptop range at CES 2021, targets Asus ROG scalp

Just when we thought the rivalry for the best gaming laptops crown couldn't get any fiercer, Razer goes and upgrades its Blade line at CES 2021 with buckets of powerful new tech. And, simply put, the current kings of the gaming laptop world, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 should worry.

That's because the all-new Razer Blade 15 and Blade Pro 17, first and foremost, now use the very latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards, with even the massively powerful GeForce RTX 3080 available. And, as anyone who is familiar with T3's best graphics cards buying guide, that is the number one GPU we recommend today.

Thanks to these graphics cards' new Ampere architecture, they offer an increase in energy efficiency by up to 2x and accelerate in-game performance significantly, with higher frame rates and resolutions, as well as delivering next-gen eye-candy like real time ray tracing and DLSS.

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Elsewhere both the Blade 15 and Blade Pro 17 comes with upgraded displays, too. The Blade 15 Advanced Model is available with three 15.6-inch display options, including a Full HD option with mind-breakingly fast refresh rate of 360Hz, a Quad HD option that runs at 240Hz and an Ultra HD 4K OLED panel with 60Hz.

Meanwhile, the Blade Pro 17 comes with three screen options of its own, including a Full HD panel with 360Hz refresh rate, a Quad HD display that runs at 165Hz, and a 4K Ultra HD 120Hz option as well.

In terms of sizing and ports both systems also offer big. For example, the Razer Blade 17 Pro measures in at a sleek 19.9mm x 260mm x 395mm, meaning despite its power and large screen it is still very portable. While both systems delivers connectivity options such as USB-C to HDMI 2.1 and a UHS-III SD card reader.

Space and RAM is also gamer-tier, with each system capable of being specced up to include 32GB of RAM and a very spacious 1TB boot drive.

As you would expect from Razer, these laptops also come with a bunch of premium features, too, including a 360-degree soundscape when listening to movies, music, or games with THX Spatial Audio, and keyboards powered by Razer Chroma RGB.

The new Razer Blade 15 starts at only $1699.99/1799.99€ MSRP and is now available to pre-order exclusively at Razer.com and Razer Store locations, with the system hitting select retailers starting January 26.

While the new Razer Blade Pro 17 starts at $2299.99/2399.99€ MSRP and is also now available to pre-order exclusively at Razer.com and Razer Store locations, before hitting  third-party retailers some time in Q1 2021.

More information about both new Blade systems can be found on Razer's official website.

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