After a week of press conferences, announcements, and parties, over 130,000 tech and gadget exhibitors, together with investors, members of the press, and tech enthusiasts, are leaving Las Vegas to return home.
One of the most exciting aspects of the annual CES is seeing what PC and console gaming gear manufacturer Razer has on display at their exhibit. This year, the business debuted new models in its Blade Windows gaming laptop collection, including several with eye-catching OLED screens.
The business also has a new USB C Dock available for purchase.
Blade 16 goes OLED
The Blade 16’s best news is the previously reported 2560 x 1600 240Hz OLED display. The Blade 16 will also be available with the dual-mode mini-LED panel, which will now include a local dimming option to be toggled into software.
The Blade 16’s CPU has also been upgraded from the 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13950HX to the 14th Gen (Raptor Lake) Intel Core i9-14900HX. Intel hasn’t yet revealed the new CPU’s specifications, but leaked benchmarks show it’s comparable to the 13th Gen processor.
The Blade 16 will continue to support an RTX 4090 GPU with a total power demand of up to 175W. The Razer Blade 16 is now available for presale at Razer.com, with prices beginning at $2,999.99.
Blade 14 gets Ryzen AI!
The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS is being replaced with the Ryzen 9 8945HS, which is effectively the same CPU but with improved integrated AI processing.
Razer claims that this can “boost AI workloads,” such as Windows Studio or Copilot (its examples), which is probably true for workloads that can’t be offloaded to the GPU. Still, it feels more like Razer seeks to provide the latest CPU and needs to find something to say about it.
Like the rest of the series, the Blade 14’s 2560*1660 size with 240Hz display will now be Calman Verified, which means it’s factory-calibrated.
Otherwise, the Blade 14 remains mostly unchanged: it can still be configured with up to an RTX 4070 GPU and up to 140W total power usage (115W base, 15W boost, according to Razer). It will be available for presale on January 23rd, 2024, at a lower price than last year’s model.
Blade 18 brings Thunderbolt 5
The Blade 18 promises to be a game changer, bringing unrivaled performance and adaptability with the world’s first 18″ 4K 165Hz display and leading the charge with Thunderbolt 5, the latest from Intel’s high-performance communication standard.
Thunderbolt 5, which was first announced in September 2023, lets users connect numerous high-resolution game displays, high-speed storage, and all-in-one docks via Bandwidth Boost at up to 120 Gbps, which is three times more bandwidth than the current leading connection protocol.
The Blade 18 ushers in the future of networking by vastly increasing connectivity speed and capacity, allowing gamers and producers to enjoy the highest-quality images and immersive experiences.
A new USB-C dock
In addition, Razer is releasing an 11-port USB-C dock with an aluminum shell. It offers Gigabit ethernet, HDMI 2.0, UHS-1 SD and microSD card slots, a 3.5mm audio jack with 7.1 surround sound compatibility, four USB-A ports, and two USB-C ports.
The USB-C and two USB-A ports have 10Gbps transfer speeds, while the other USB-A ports are 2.0 (480Mbps). The dock will offer HDMI 4K/60Hz display output and 85W power passthrough.
The USB-C dock is now available for $119.99.