Razer has made massive laptops up to now — however they apparently weren’t sufficiently big. The Razer Blade 18 is the biggest-screened Razer Blade ever launched, and it’s exhausting to overstate how immersive that 18-inch, QHD, 16:10, 240Hz show is. That huge 2560 x 1600 display is the first draw of the system, however a number of different staples of the Blade line — the six-speaker array, the per-key RGB keyboard, one of the best construct high quality you’ll discover within the high-end gaming area — in addition to some options coming newly to the 18, together with a CPU overclocking function, a battery well being optimizer, and a completely huge touchpad, all make for a strong package deal.

Whereas the smaller Blade 16, with its dual-mode Mini LED display, could also be a flashy and fancy reimagining of what a Razer Blade might be, the Blade 18 is a extra conventional providing — Razer took the Blades we knew and liked and simply sort of blew them up. Whereas some might aspire to the best of a fully-specced RTX 4090 Blade 16, I feel this toned-down, 2560 x 1600, RTX 4080 Blade 18 is a extra pragmatic purchase for high-end customers. It’s a complete lot cheaper, however the expertise delta isn’t that huge. 

Earlier than I get into my outcomes, I do must make one caveat: Blades are costlier than they was. The Blade 18 I examined was the cheaper of two at present out there Blade fashions, and it features a 24-core Core i9-13950HX, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, 1TB of storage, and the RTX 4080. It at present prices $3,799.99; in case you assume that’s costly, don’t even click on on the RTX 4090 mannequin, which goes for $4,499.99. 

For context, the most costly QHD RTX 3070 Ti mannequin of final yr’s Blade 17 goes for $3,399.99 — a full $400 cheaper. I do know that eight is technically a much bigger quantity than seven, however that’s nonetheless a comparable mannequin to our take a look at unit with regards to the tiers they occupy in Razer’s lineup. If you happen to examine the highest chips on provide, Razer bought a QHD 3080 Ti Blade 17 for $3,999.99 (although this was discontinued within the U.S.), which is $500 cheaper than the 4090 Blade 18. There’s not at present a Blade 18 you may get for the worth of final yr’s QHD 3070 Ti fashions.

Mainly, these gaming laptops are getting higher — however they’re additionally getting costlier (and so they have been for the previous few generations). 

Diving into the gaming efficiency, which is presumably the explanation you’re right here: The Blade 18 did properly. At QHD decision, it ran each recreation at over 60fps — even Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing on, which is bonkers. Peruse the offered benchmark chart at your leisure. However what sort of a efficiency penalty do you see when shifting from the 4090 all the way down to the 4080? The reply, so far as I can inform, is… not a giant one. 

On most of the video games we ran, the Blade 18 bought an analogous (and similar, in some instances) rating to the Blade 16. (Our Blade 16 unit had this similar Core i9 however an RTX 4090 inside.) In instances the place the 4090 machine received, the deltas had been usually in single-digit percentages. That always means body fee will increase of single digits — nothing that’s going to considerably affect most individuals’s gameplay. 

The Blade 16 is a smaller machine than the Blade 18, so issues like cooling and energy limits may be coming into play there. For what it’s price, although, MSI’s Titan GT77 HX, which has an RTX 4090 and is huge, can also be solely single-digit percentages forward of the Blade 18 on many of those titles. All in all, the RTX 4080 is wanting like a solidly higher worth than the RTX 4090 based mostly on these outcomes. 

Oh, the Blade 18 additionally put up an enormous 43 p.c improve in Horizon Zero Daybreak efficiency over our Blade 17 evaluation unit from final yr (which had an RTX 3080 Ti). I’m simply sharing that as a result of I discovered it humorous. Anyway, video games appeared nice on this QHD+ display, which reached 574 nits of peak brightness in testing (significantly greater than the common gaming laptop computer) — and can also be, I’ve to remind you, 18 inches, which is so massive.

In Premiere Professional, the Blade 18 completed our 4K export take a look at in simply over two minutes. It handily bested each the Blade 16 and the Titan on PugetBench, an artificial benchmark that checks export and playback efficiency at 4K and 8K, scoring a 1413. In actual fact, it additionally beat the latest M2 MacBook Professionals (and that’s speculated to be like, their entire factor). I’m scratching my head a bit at this outcome, I’ll admit. I even ran the take a look at a number of instances to verify I hadn’t messed one thing up. My finest guess could be, to borrow my earlier phrasing, cooling and energy limits. Anyway, the takeaway: The Blade 18 is nice at Premiere.

Talking of cooling, a nice shock all through my testing was that in comparison with the Blade 16, the Blade 18 is… cooler. The 18’s bigger chassis, in spite of everything, doesn’t simply lend itself to extra pixels; it additionally has room for a fancier cooling system. Razer claims that this system’s cooling system is “thinner and extra environment friendly than conventional warmth pipe strategies,” using a vacuum-sealed copper chamber with deionized water, in addition to numerous particular supplies meant to cut back hotspots. So, looks as if that’s all doing one thing. 

I wouldn’t go as far as to name it cool — it definitely will get warmish throughout gameplay within the hinge space — nevertheless it’s not the worrisome fireball that I’ve discovered different skinny gaming laptops (just like the Blade 16) to be. The keyboard and palm rests largely stayed snug. The CPU did hit 100 (Celsius) a few instances whereas I performed, nevertheless it was not spending practically as a lot time there because the Blade 16 did, and was largely hanging out within the mid-70s to mid-80s.

To be clear, that doesn’t imply this laptop computer is quiet. It’s loud. You’ll hear the followers going — in all probability from throughout the room in case you run the system at full energy as you recreation. If you happen to discover that too annoying, you may swap to Silent Mode in Razer’s Synapse software program.

Talking of battery life: It’s not nice. I bought three hours and 46 minutes out of this system, utilizing it solely for Chrome multitasking and a few streaming (with the discrete GPU off). On the one hand, it’s higher than what we noticed from the Blade 17 final yr (which is smart since, if nothing else, the battery is greater). And battery life isn’t as essential on big gaming rigs as it’s within the ultraportable market. 

However 3:46 continues to be not nice, and definitely mitigates the advantage of the Blade’s comparatively skinny and light-weight stature considerably. This system, whereas removed from tiny, is compact in comparison with the Titans and Strixes of the world, at 0.86 inches thick and a hair over seven kilos. You’re not prone to discover a lot thinner or lighter within the 18-inch gaming area, and I assume that portability will likely be not less than some a part of the enchantment for people who find themselves contemplating the product.

Whereas the Blade 18 is technically a brand new system, it’s at present the closest factor we’ve to a sequel to final yr’s Blade 17. One of the vital noticeable modifications is that the touchpad has elevated by 50 p.c in dimension from the Blade 17’s touchpad. The brand new touchpad is 15.74 x 10.84 x 0.86 inches — it’s enormous. It’s truly nearly too massive for me, to the purpose the place I’ve to consciously attain with a view to left click on with my proper hand. I acknowledge that that is largely a me downside. As with previous Blades, this trackpad has a considerably mushy click on, however is definitely attentive to gestures and fast to scroll.

Port choice is pretty much as good because it will get: there’s a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port, along with the USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, Thunderbolt 4, three USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and UHS-II SD card reader. The Blade 18 can cost by way of USB-C (as much as 100W) in case you don’t really feel like carrying its devoted 330W adapter round — although it’s pretty compact as gaming laptop computer bricks go. And sure: I do know plenty of folks have erased USB-A from their lives, however talking as somebody who nonetheless has previous gaming peripherals that they haven’t any want to dispense with, these ports make my life simpler.

The 5MP webcam is one other new function, and it does look fairly good. It delivered a pointy, clear image of me in a vivid workplace setting the place I look washed out on many laptop computer cameras. That stated, it’s nonetheless a laptop computer webcam, and the image stays considerably grainy as photos go. I’m truthfully about as bummed concerning the lack of a bodily shutter (the Blade 16 has one) as I’m excited concerning the webcam’s high quality.

These are a lot of the new issues, and the remainder of this laptop computer is sort of just like massive Blades previous. This appears to be like, for all intents and functions, like a giant Blade. The signature inexperienced emblem is there on the lid. The black end is easy and a significant fingerprint magnet. 

It’s a bit complicated to me that Razer isn’t at present promoting a 4K mannequin of the Blade 18. It’s promoting a 4K Blade 16, in spite of everything, and a much bigger display will get much more profit from these additional pixels. However the truth that this specific unit has a QHD display makes an amazing case for it. As a result of whereas it’s potential that the RTX 4090 stands out as the proper choice for people who desire a 4K gaming expertise, the RTX 4080 is totally the QHD purchase. 

I may summarize my impressions of the Blade 18’s numerous elements right here, however I’m unsure they’re tremendous essential to most individuals procuring on this class. The underside line is that if you would like an 18-inch gaming laptop computer and also you don’t need it to be coated in obnoxious lights, the Blade 18 might be considered one of your solely choices. It’s a good choice — and also you shouldn’t spend extra on it than you must. As the costs of those laptops shoot by means of the roof, I’m doing quite a lot of fascinated by simply how a lot an extra body is price. I feel customers ought to too.