Razer Blade 18 review: the price is going up

Razer has made big laptops in the past, but they clearly weren’t big enough. The Razer Blade 18 is the largest Razer Blade screen ever released, and we can’t overstate the immersiveness of the 18-inch, QHD, 16:10, 240Hz display. Its massive 2560 x 1600 screen is the device’s main draw, but a few other key elements of the Blade line — a six-speaker array, a per-key RGB keyboard, and the best build quality you’ll find on the high end. Gaming Space — A few new additions to the 18, including CPU overclocking capabilities, a battery health optimizer, and an absolutely massive touchpad, all make for a solid package.

The smaller Blade 16 with its dual-mode mini-LED screen might be a flashy, gaudy reimagining of what the Razer Blade could be, but the Blade 18 is a more traditional offering. blew them up.While some may aspire to the ideal of the full-spec RTX 4090 Blade 16, we think this toned-down 2560 x 1600 RTX 4080 Blade 18 is a more practical purchase for high-end shoppers. It’s a lot cheaper but the experience delta is not or width.

Before we get into the results, there is one caveat. Blades are more expensive than they used to be. The Blade 18 I tested is the cheapest of the two Blade models currently available and features a Core i9-13950HX with 24 cores, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, 1TB of storage, and an RTX 4080 . If you think it’s expensive, don’t click on the $4,499.99 RTX 4090 model.

For context, last year’s Blade 17’s most expensive QHD RTX 3070 Ti model was $3,399.99, which is $400 less. We know the 8 is technically bigger than the 7, but it’s still a model that rivals our test unit when it comes to the tier it occupies in Razer’s lineup. Comparing the top chips on offer, Razer sold his QHD 3080 Ti Blade 17 for $3,999.99 (although this has been discontinued in the US). That’s $500 less than the 4090 Blade 18. There are currently no Blade 18s available. Prices for last year’s QHD 3070 Ti model.

Basically, these gaming laptops are getting better, but they’re also getting more expensive (as they’ve been for the past few generations).

Perhaps the reason you’re here is to dive into gaming performance, and the Blade 18 did just fine, running all games at 60+ fps at QHD resolution. Cyberpunk 2077 With raytracing on, this is ridiculous. Feel free to browse the benchmark charts provided. But what kind of performance degradation will you see when you go from 4090 to 4080? As far as I can tell, the answer is… not much.

The Blade 18 scored similar (and sometimes identical) to the Blade 16 in many of the games we ran. Delta in general he was in the single digits as the machine won. This often means that the frame rate increases his by an order of magnitude. Nothing that will significantly impact most people’s gameplay.

The Blade 16 is a smaller machine than the Blade 18, so cooling, power limitations, etc. may be a factor. For what it’s worth, though, it’s MSI’s Titan GT77 HX with an RTX 4090. huge, and outperformed Blade 18 by just single digits in many of these titles. Overall, based on these results, the RTX 4080 looks like a solid better value than the RTX 4090.

Oh, and Blade 18 also delivered a massive 43% increase. Horizon Zero Dawn Performance of last year’s Blade 17 review unit (with RTX 3080 Ti). I found it interesting so I am sharing it. Regardless, gaming looks great on this QHD+ screen, reaching a peak brightness of 574 nits in our tests (which is considerably higher than your average gaming laptop) – and remembering it’s 18 inches. So big.

In Premiere Pro, Blade 18 completed the 4K export test in just over 2 minutes.that easily Beating both Blade 16 and Titan on PugetBench, a synthetic benchmark testing export and playback performance at 4K and 8K, scoring 1413. thing). This result is a bit of a headache, but I’ll admit it. I ran the tests over and over to make sure I wasn’t messing anything up. My best guess is to borrow the previous phrasing, cooling, and power limits. Anyway, the bottom line: Blade 18 is good at Premiere.

Speaking of cooling, a pleasant surprise throughout my testing is that the Blade 18 is… cooler compared to the Blade 16. After all, the 18’s bigger chassis isn’t just better for more pixels. There is also room for a more sophisticated cooling system. Razer says the device’s cooling system is “thinner and more efficient than traditional heat pipe methods,” utilizing a vacuum-sealed copper chamber containing deionized water and a variety of specialized materials to reduce hot spots. claims to be So it all seems to be doing something.

don’t even call nice — It does get warm during gameplay in the hinge area — but it’s not the annoying fireballs you’ll find on other thin gaming laptops (such as the Blade 16). The keyboard and palm rest remained mostly comfortable. The CPU hit 100 Celsius a few times while I was playing, but it didn’t spend as much time on it as the Blade 16.

To be clear, that doesn’t mean this laptop is quiet. noisyIf you run your device at full power while gaming, you can probably hear the fans running across the room. If that’s too intrusive, Razer’s Synapse software lets you switch to silent mode.

Speaking of battery life: it’s not great. I spent 3 hours and 46 minutes on this device, using it only for Chrome multitasking and streaming (with the discrete GPU turned off). On the one hand, it’s better than what we saw with last year’s Blade 17 (which makes sense, given its larger battery).

But 3:46 is still not great, and it certainly mitigates some of the Blade’s relatively thin and light stature advantage. The device isn’t small by any means, but it’s compact compared to the Titans and Strixes of the world, 0.86 inches thick and over 7 pounds of hair on his head. It doesn’t get much thinner or lighter than this in an 18-inch gaming space. I think portability will be at least part of the appeal for people considering this product.

The Blade 18 is technically a newer device, but it’s currently the closest thing to a sequel to last year’s Blade 17. One of the most noticeable changes is that the touchpad size has increased by 50% from the Blade 17 touchpad. The new touchpad measures 15.74 x 10.84 x 0.86 inches. Huge. It’s actually too big for me and I have to consciously reach in to left click with my right hand. I am aware that this is primarily my problem. Like Blades of the past, this trackpad’s clicks are a bit dull, but it responds reliably to gestures and scrolls quickly.

Port selection is the best. USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, Thunderbolt 4, three USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and UHS-II SD card reader. The Blade 18 can charge via USB-C (up to 100W) if you don’t want to carry around a dedicated 330W adapter. Yes: I know a lot of people have erased his USB-A from his life, but as someone who still has old gaming peripherals they don’t want to part with, these ports make my life easier They will do it for you.

The 5MP webcam is another new feature that looks pretty good. It provided sharp, clear pictures of me in a bright office environment that would look washed out by many laptop cameras. As excited as I am about the quality of the webcam, I’m honestly disappointed about the lack of a physical shutter (which the Blade 16 has).

These are mostly new, and the rest of this laptop is very similar to the big Blades of the past. There is a green logo on the lid. The black finish is smooth and the leading fingerprint magnet.

It’s a bit confusing that Razer isn’t currently selling a 4K model of the Blade 18. After all, Razer sells his 4K Blade 16 and the bigger screen gets even more benefit from those extra pixels, but we’re told this particular unit features his QHD screen. The facts strongly support it. While the RTX 4090 could be a good option for those looking for his 4K gaming experience, the RTX 4080 is entirely his QHD purchase.

I can summarize my impressions of the Blade 18’s various components here, but I’m not sure they’re all that important to most people who shop in this category. And if you don’t want to be surrounded by nasty lights, the Blade 18 is probably one of your only options. This is a decent option. You shouldn’t spend more money than necessary. As the prices of these laptops hit the ceiling, I think a lot about how much the extra frame is worth.