Razer Blade 15 and Blade 17 Pro (2021) get next-gen RTX 30-series GPUs

Razer has updated its popular Razer Blade 15 and Razer Blade 17 Pro laptops with the latest GPUs from Nvidia, in a move that no-one could have predicted, ever.

The new laptops will feature the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q, 3070 Max-Q and 3080 Max-Q GPUs, which have also just been unveiled at CES 2021, alongside a few new display options. They won’t feature AMD’s Ryzen 5000-series CPUs, however, or Intel’s 11th gen silicon.

Razer fans Razer hoping for a design change are going to be disappointed, too, as the chassis hasn’t change a jot. You’re still getting the same  (admittedly fairly attractive) black slab with green highlights as you have for the past two years.

Internally, however, thanks to a motherboard revamp, all models will now offer one free SSD slot for user storage upgrades; that’s something that wasn’t universally offered in Razer’s 2020 laptops.

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Razer Blade 15 (2021): What’s new?

Aside from the new Ampere-powered Nvidia RTX 30-series GPUs, the new Blade comes with more display options than ever

On the “Base” model you can choose from an sRGB 144Hz Full HD screen with a response time of 8ms or the new 165Hz QHD screen with a faster 3ms response time and “up to” 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut.

The Advanced model, meanwhile, sees a new ultra-smooth 2ms 360Hz Full HD 100% sRGB screen take pride of place with the option of a 240Hz QHD (2.5ms, 95% sRGB) screen or a 60Hz OLED 4K (100% DCI-P3) display.

As usual, prices start high (from 1,799 Euro) and reach astronomical levels once you reach the higher echelons of specification.

Here’s how the rest of the specification breaks down for the base and Advanced models:

Razer Blade 15 Base (2021) specifications

• 6-core 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-10750H CPU
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 or 3070
• 16GB of dual-channel 2933MHz DDR4 RAM
• 15.6in display:
  • 144Hz Full HD, 100% sRGB, 8ms response time
  • 165Hz QHD, 100% DCI-P3, 3ms response time
• 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD (free M.2 SSD slot)
• Dimensions: 355 x 235 x 19.9mm (WDH)

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2021) specifications

• 8-core 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-10875H CPU
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 or 3080 (8GB/16GB)
• 16GB or 32GB of dual-channel 2933MHz DDR4 RAM
• 15.6 in display:
  • 360Hz Full HD, 100% sRGB, 3ms response time
  • 240Hz QHD, 95% sRGB, G-Sync, 2.5ms response time
  • 60Hz 4K OLED touchscreen, 100% DCI-P3, 1ms response time
• 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD (free M.2 SSD slot)
• Dimensions: 355 x 235 x 19.9mm (WDH)

Razer Blade Pro 17 (2021): What’s new?

It’s a similar story with the Razer Blade Pro 17 in 2021. The chassis remains the same but there are more configurations and more screen options available for customers to choose from, with all models including RTX 30-series GPUs.

As with the Blade 15, the Blade Pro 17 (2021) will offer the new 165Hz QHD display and 360Hz Full HD displays alongside a 120Hz, 400nit 4K IPS touchscreen.

Prices for the Razer Blade Pro 17 will start at 2,599 Euros for the most basic model and rise well above 3,000 Euros for the priciest machine.

Razer Blade Pro 17 (2021) specifications

• 8-core 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-10875H CPU
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, 3070 or 3080
• 16GB or 32GB of 2933MHz DDR4 RAM, upgradeable to 64GB
• 17.3 in display:
  • 360Hz Full HD, 100% sRGB, 300nit
  • 165Hz QHD, 100% sRGB, 300nit
  • 120Hz 4K, 100% Adobe RGB, 400nit, touchscreen
• 512GB or 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD, upgradeable to 2TB (free M.2 SSD slot
• Dimensions: 395 x 260 x 19.9mm (WDH)
• Weight: 2.75kg

The 2021 Razer Blade 15 and 17 Pro will be available to pre-order from this month and will ship from February 2021.