Razer’s new Blade 14, 15 and 17 laptops have improved design, faster performance, better displays and more: Digital Photography Review

At CES 2022, Razer has unveiled refreshes for its performance-oriented Blade notebooks. The Razer Blade 14, 15 and 17 feature new components and improvements, including the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs, faster memory and faster Intel processors.

The different sizes of the Razer Blade laptops include different improvements. The 15-inch and 17-inch models receive the latest 12th-generation Core H-series Intel processors. The larger two models have included 4K display options before, but the 4K display now has a 144Hz refresh rate, which is great for gaming.

The Razer Blade 17 also has some notable improvements unique to the largest model. The notebook now comes with a larger 82-watt-hour battery, a sizable increase over the previous 70.5-watt-hour battery. The chassis includes additional intake vents and a redesigned internal fan cooling system, which should help the notebook more reliably utilize the powerful Intel CPU and NVIDIA GPU options. The Blade 17 also includes an improved audio system. The laptop now has eight speakers, up from four.

The refreshed Razer Blade series includes a 1080p webcam and an improved keyboard with slightly larger keys. The notebooks also include laser-cut speakers, an improved hinge design that is thinner and rubber feet to help keep the laptop slightly off a desk to have better ventilation.

The Razer Blade 14 may not include the latest Intel processors, unlike the Blade 15 and Blade 17. However, the smaller notebook does come with AMD Ryzen 6000 series processors and DDR5 memory, so it’s still a faster and more powerful notebook than the previous iteration. When you need even more performance, the device includes a new MUX Switch, which disabled integrated graphics in exchange for reduced battery life.

Looking closer at the Blade 15, it now offers a configuration with a 14-core Intel i9 processor, up from 8-core in the previous iteration. In addition to the new 4K UHD 144Hz display option, customers can choose between FHD 360Hz and QHD 240Hz options. The new 4K/144Hz screen displays 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is good news for content creators.

The refreshed Razer Blade notebooks all ship with Windows 11. The Razer Blade 14 will be available to pre-order beginning February 10, and it starts at $2,000. The Razer Blade 15 and 17 will be available to preorder on January 25, and they start at $2,500 and $2,700, respectively. Precise release date information is unavailable, although Razer expects the notebooks to begin shipping in Q1.