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Razer unleashes new gaming laptops with overhauled Blade Pro 17 and OLED Blade 15

These offer a lot more than just updated processors and graphics.

Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
Expertise Photography, PCs and laptops, gaming and gaming accessories
Lori Grunin
2 min read
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The 2019 Razer Blade Pro 17 (left) compared to its 2017 predecessor. It's prettier on the inside, too.

Sarah Tew/CNET

While every laptop and its brother is partying with a bump to ninth-gen Intel Core mobile processors and Nvidia's new, cheap mobile gaming GPUs, Razer's gone beyond, launching a major overhaul of its 2-year-old 17-inch Blade Pro, which shrinks both in size and price. It takes on the same design as the most recent Blade 15 Advanced, bringing slim display bezels and a conventionally located center trackpad to decrease its volume. And, of course, make it thinner.

Watch this: Razer makes its Blade Pro gaming laptop future-ready

The price is down, too -- it was $4,000 when it launched in 2017, but now it will start at $2,499 with an RTX 2060.

Unfortunately, the drawback of its shrinkage is we lose a couple of our favorite features: the volume scroller on the keyboard and the side-lighting on the touchpad. But Razer has also replaced the meh keyboard of its predecessor with a better version.

Razer packs it with the most-recent technologies in a lot of areas, to future-proof it against another few years -- they include 2.5GB Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6 (aka 802.11ax), a UHS-III SD slot and upgradable memory. Those, plus the RTX GPUs, make this sound like a potentially great option for video editing, not just for playing the AAAs.

We'd love an OLED display to round out that package, but, alas, the technology isn't here for 17-inch panels yet. But it is for 15 inches, and the Blade 15 Advanced's getting one as an option: a 60Hz 4K touchscreen with 100% DCI P3 gamut coverage, though it's available on the RTX 2080-based model only. Plus, the Advanced models now have a 240Hz HD option, Wi-Fi 6 and 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2.

Razer's mid-2019 Blade gaming laptops glide along the cutting edge

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