Razer’s latest Blade 17 features 11th-gen Core i9 CPUs
Razer has unveiled its latest Blade 17 with the latest NVIDIA and Intel parts targeted at both gamers and content creators. It also launched the more mild-mannered, but much cheaper and still pretty well-equipped Blade 15 Base, also equipped with Intel's latest 11th-generation CPUs.
The Blade 17 is certainly the star of this show, as it comes with Intel's 8-core 11th-generation Core i9-11900H, the same we saw in its Blade 15 laptop earlier this year. As Intel's first 10-nanometer gaming PC chips, it delivers a 19 percent speed bump over equivalent last-gen CPUs, Intel claims. You can also clock the chip up to 4.9 GHz while seeing a stock PL1 power draw of 65 watts. All of that means you should see more performance and power efficiency at the same time, according to Razer and Intel.
To compliment that CPU, you can get the Blade 17 with up to an RTX 3080 GPU in either 8GB or 16GB configurations, depending on the display. And there are three display choices: you can get it with a 120Hz 4K HDR 400 nit touch display for content creation (with the 16GB VRAM RTX 3080 configuration), a 360Hz 1080p display for the fastest gaming possible, or a 240Hz 2,560 x 1,440 display for a blend of the two.
Other specs include 32GB of 3,200 MHz Dual-Channel DDR4 RAM (upgradeable to 64GB), up to a 4TB NVMe SSD (with an open M.2 slot) and numerous ports: Two Thunderbolt 4 ports (USB-C 3.2 Gen2), three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type A ports, HDMI 2.1 and a UHS-III SD card reader. It also comes with WiFi6, a 1080p webcam with Windows Hello IR, THX spatial audio support, a 4-mic array and a 70.5 WHr battery.
All of that fits in a 6.06 pound squarish body with typical Razer styling that's relatively slim at 19.9 mm. The Blade 17 is now available for pre-order at $2,400, but you'll pay up to $3,700 for the 4K display-equipped model with 32GB of RAM and an RTX 3080 with 16GB of DDR6 VRAM.
The Blade 15 Base (below) is more modestly equipped than either that model or the Blade 15 we saw in May. However, it still has respectable components including Intel's 8-core i7-11800H processor and up to RTX 3070 8GB graphics. It also comes with either a 144Hz 1080p IPS, THX certified display or a 165Hz QHD display with up to 100 percent DCI-P3 coverage.
Other features on the Blade 15 Base include a single Thunderbolt 4 port (USB-C), three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, HDMI 2.1 and Gigabit ethernet. That's a bit of a letdown from the Blade 15 advanced, which has an extra Thunderbolt port and an SD UHS III card reader. However, you'll also pay considerably less, as the Blade 15 Base starts at $1,800, compared to the $2,300 starting price of the Blade Advanced.
Razer has unveiled its latest Blade 17 with the latest NVIDIA and Intel parts targeted at both gamers and content creators. It also launched the more mild-mannered, but much cheaper and still pretty well-equipped Blade 15 Base, also equipped with Intel's latest 11th-generation CPUs. The Blade 17 is certainly the…
