The new Razer Blade 17 packs more GPU power into the same slim chassis
Razer’s largest laptop is getting big upgrades. The new mid-2021 refresh of the Blade 17 will add newer CPUs, higher-powered GPUs, and an updated webcam.
The new Blade 17, which drops the “Pro” designation of earlier models, catches the larger laptop up to the Blade 15 Advanced released earlier this year. It now comes equipped with the same Intel 11th Gen H-Series processors, with a choice of the Core i7 11800H (2.3GHz base clock, 4.6GHz boost clock), or the top-tier Core i9 11900H (2.5GHz base, 4.9GHz boost), which isn’t available on Razer’s smaller models.
The laptop also features GPUs from Nvidia’s latest RTX lineup, including the 3060, 3070, and the 3080, with up to 16GB of video memory. Crucially, Razer has increased the Blade 17’s GPUs’ total graphics power to 130 watts, up from the 95 watts of the Blade 15 Advanced. That additional power means more heat generated, which might be mitigated in part by the Blade 17’s larger chassis. But we can’t say for sure whether heat will be an issue until a full test of the laptop.
Speaking of the laptop’s size, it stays the same with dimensions of 0.78 inches (19.99mm) x 15.5 inches (395mm) x 10.24 inches (260mm) and weighs 6.06 pounds.
Razer has built the Blade 17’s RAM and storage drives to be user-upgradeable. The laptop ships with a 1TB PCIe NVME drive, with an extra M.2 slot for expanded storage, and up to 32GB of RAM. The motherboard supports up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage.
The Blade 17’s display options range from a 1440p display with a 165Hz refresh rate to a 1080p resolution with a quicker 360Hz refresh. One variant of the Blade 17 also packs a 4K touch display, though it only has a refresh rate of 120Hz. The sweet spot for most people is probably the 1440p model.
Some of the new features that round out the Blade 17 are the addition of anti-fingerprint coating previously added to the Blade 15 Advanced as well as an upgraded 1080p webcam with Windows Hello. The speaker system has also been upgraded, now with two speakers on each side of the laptop instead of just one.
The Blade 17 will charge through USB-C at 100W and will ship with Razer’s standard 230W charger.
There are also upgrades to the Blade 15 Base model as well, including the option of an i7-11800H processor and two PCIe 4.0 SSD slots.
You can preorder the Blade 17 and Blade 15 starting today, and Razer expects the laptops to ship in July–August.
Razer’s largest laptop is getting big upgrades. The new mid-2021 refresh of the Blade 17 will add newer CPUs, higher-powered GPUs, and an updated webcam. The new Blade 17, which drops the “Pro” designation of earlier models, catches the larger laptop up to the Blade 15 Advanced released earlier this…
