NVIDIA's GeForce RTX graphics chips are finally ready for laptops, and Razer is gearing up to take advantage of their increased power with a new member of its Blade family debuting at CES 2019: the Razer Blade 15 Advanced.
On the outside, the Razer Blade 15 Advanced largely resembles the standard Blade 15 that came before it. The 15.6-inch IPS display is available with either a 1080p 144Hz matte panel or a 4K 60Hz multi-touch panel. It also supports up to 2TB of SSD storage and 16GB of RAM (expandable up to 64GB).
Despite the similarities to its predecessor, the Razer Blade 15 Advanced really steps things up when it comes to graphics. Whereas the Blade 15 includes NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-series graphics, the Blade 15 Advanced can be equipped with one of three offerings from NVIDIA's powerful RTX 20 Series chips. Those include:
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB GDDR6 VRAM)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 with Max-Q Design (8GB GDDR6 VRAM)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 with Max-Q Design (8GB GDDR6 VRAM)
On the processing side of things, the Blade 15 Advanced leverages Intel's 8th Gen Core i7-8750H processor on all available models.
The Blade 15 Advanced also features some advanced cooling tech, using vacuum-sealed vapor chambers to dissipate heat from the CPU, GPU, and other components around the laptop. The vapor chamber tech is combined with a set of fans with 0.1mm thin fins, which should help to efficiently move heat without making a ton of noise.
Rounding things out is a selection of ports that includes one USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3, three USB 3.1 Gen 1 USB-A ports, a single HDMI 2.0b port, and Mini DisplayPort 1.4. A Windows Hello-enabled IR webcam is also onboard, along with per-key RGB lighting on the keyboard powered by Razer Chroma.
The Razer Blade 15 Advanced is expected to launch on January 29 with prices starting at a hefty $2,300 and topping out at $3,000, depending on the configuration. The original Razer Blade will remain on sale as an entry point, sporting NVIDIA GTX 1060 Max-Q graphics, starting at $1,600. And while they won't be available to buy, Razer says it is also showing off some display tech being "evaluated" for the Blade 15 in the future, including 240Hz 1080p and a 4K OLED panels, at CES 2019.
