As I flipped open the large 18-inch show of the brand new Razer Blade 18 gaming laptop computer, I used to be surprised by its massive, daring show. I had by no means seen something prefer it earlier than. Or had I? 

Sure, regardless that 18-inch gaming laptops are the scorching, new PC gaming development for 2023, this isn’t the primary time we have gone down this highway. I dug again in my psychological archives and recalled particularly the 18-inch Alienware 18 from Dell, a gaming laptop computer I reviewed again in 2013. 

Like a variety of the opposite experimental PC designs from that period (which additionally included big-screen pill/desktop hybrids just like the Dell XPS 18), the thought did not catch on on the time and rapidly pale away. 

Regardless that it has been 10 years since my final 18-inch gaming laptop computer assessment, I am glad the thought is getting a second go, because it’s an excellent various to the smaller 15-inch gaming laptops I have been utilizing for the previous a number of years. And it is the exact opposite of my favourite gaming PC from final 12 months, the small-screen Steam Deck from Valve. 

Razer Blade 18

$3,799 at Razer

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Like

• Large, vivid, 18-inch show
• Presents new Nvidia 4080 and 4090 GPUs
• Upgradable RAM and storage
• Numerous ports and connections

Do not Like

• Would not supply Razer’s Mini-LED display choice
• Lacks devoted media management buttons
• Very, very costly

Whereas this new model of the Razer Blade, which beforehand topped out at a 17-inch show, is not the one 18-inch gaming laptop computer we’ll see this 12 months, it is the primary one to hit our testing bench. Based mostly on that testing, the show is not even probably the most notable factor about it. That nod goes to the Nvidia GeForce 4080 GPU, making this the primary laptop computer we’re testing with the cellular model of Nvidia’s 4000-series graphics playing cards, beforehand solely accessible in desktop kind. That is a fairly spectacular set of firsts. 

Additionally spectacular, possibly not in such a great way, is the value. At $3,799 (£3,800, AU$7,099), that is the cheaper of two configurations Razer is presently providing. That features a new 13th-gen Intel Core i9 CPU, the Nvidia 4080, a 1TB solid-state drive and 32GB of RAM. Funnily sufficient, you already know what else had 32GB of RAM? That 18-inch Alienware from 10 years in the past. (It even had an identical value, round $4,200 as reviewed again then.)

The dearer Razer Blade 18 is usually equivalent. For $4,499 (£4,500, AU$8,499), it features a 2TB SSD and the even-better Nvidia 4090 GPU. Each have the identical 18-inch, 2,560×1,600-pixel show, each weigh a bit over 7 kilos, and each embody Razer’s well-known per-key Chroma RGB lighting system. The opposite 18-inch gaming laptops coming sooner or later this 12 months embody the Asus ROG Strix 18, the Acer Predator Helios 18 and the Alienware m18, all of which is able to supply their very own tackle backlit keyboards. 

Physique and keyboard

The physique is the often glorious Razer normal, CNC carved from aluminum with a black anodized end. It features a collection of ports that is fairly good, if not precisely desktop-level, as Razer describes it. It suggestions the size at 7 kilos and measures 22mm thick, most likely about as skinny as you are going to get in an 18-inch laptop computer. 

The keyboard is extra just like the shallow ones discovered on Razer’s smaller 14- and 15-inch laptops, not the deep mechanical (or mechanical-style) keys which are in style with gaming desktops and a few gaming laptops. That is most likely one of many shallower keyboards I’ve tried on a bigger gaming laptop computer in a while. 

My larger challenge was that the very plain (aside from the lighting results) keyboard contains neither a quantity pad nor devoted media management buttons. One among my favourite little touches is when a laptop computer has the amount up/down/mute buttons damaged out and simple to hit on the fly — it is a gaming must-have, in case you ask me. 

As a substitute, these capabilities are nonetheless mapped to the Operate key row. By default, meaning decreasing the amount is a matter of hitting Fn+F2. Thankfully, you’ll be able to swap that within the Razer Synapse app, making the media controls the default perform of these keys. Nonetheless inferior to having devoted media management buttons (and even assignable macro keys). 

The audio is supplied by way of six THX audio system (Razer owns the THX model now), however I did not love the sound out of the field. It felt skinny in comparison with another gaming laptops I’ve used currently, and I needed to mess around with the accessible EQ settings to get a richer sound. You may regulate by way of each the Realtek audio console and the THX app. (FYI, if you would like a punchier sound, strive turning off Spatial Audio within the THX app.) 

Show 

The display is an actual star of the present. However, it additionally pales (possibly actually) in comparison with the Mini-LED display within the new 16-inch model of the Razer Blade, which additionally presents Nvidia 4000-series GPUs. 

As a substitute, this can be a completely high quality LCD display with a powerful 240Hz refresh price and a 2,560×1,600-pixel decision. Sure, meaning this can be a 16:10 laptop computer, which is rapidly turning into the usual for laptops of every kind. The bezel surrounding the display may be very slim for a giant gaming laptop computer, however aspect by aspect, the Mini-LED within the 16-inch mannequin goes to be extra visually hanging. Particularly as it is a dual-mode show that may bounce between UHD-class (3,840×2,400 pixels at 120Hz) and FHD-class (1,920 x 1,200 at 240Hz) resolutions on the fly. The upper decision/decrease refresh price is meant for content material creators and inventive execs, whereas the decrease decision/greater refresh price is targeted at aggressive players. 

The 18-inch display right here has the benefit of pure measurement, and it very properly hits that candy spot while you need to recreation on an even bigger display than your normal 15- or 16-inch gaming laptop computer, however do not need to play on a big-screen TV or hook up with a cumbersome monitor. 

Gaming efficiency 

As configured, that is about as highly effective as a gaming laptop computer will get proper now (excluding its dearer GeForce 4090 cousin), and definitely quicker than most gaming desktops as effectively. 

The Blade 18 additionally takes a touch from gaming desktops in making its RAM and storage upgradable with solely modest effort. The bigger physique permits for higher cooling, and the warmth sinks, vapor chamber and followers will also be massive and environment friendly, so the CPU and GPU can function at greater temperatures, as an alternative of being clocked down as in some smaller laptops. 

In our first wave of gaming and efficiency benchmarks, the outcomes had been spectacular. I felt the identical manner testing video games like the brand new Lifeless House remake, simply hitting not less than 80-plus frames per second and as much as 140fps at full QHD decision and “extremely” element settings. The scores under are indicative of my expertise thus far, however I would like extra time with the system to run extra checks and kind a extra concrete opinion. 

The brand new 18-inch period

We have had the Razer Blade 18 for lower than per week, so take into account this a preliminary assessment as we proceed to run extra checks and check out new issues on it. I would name myself cautiously optimistic about this new period of 18-inch gaming laptops, and definitely hope that, not like a decade in the past, they do not die out straight away. 

As the primary of those new 18-inch laptops for 2023, it is tough to guage the Razer Blade 18 with out the competing fashions from Alienware, Asus and Acer to check it in opposition to. However primarily based on earlier expertise with all these manufacturers, when evaluating related laptops face to face, Razer is often at or close to the highest of my listing. 

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