Razer's kicking off the new year in style with two world's firsts when it comes to gaming laptops. In a collab with Samsung, its new Blade laptops are going to sport two new panels, a 16-inch 240Hz OLED and an 18-inch 165Hz 4K LCD. The full details of Razer's new 2024 Blade gaming laptop lineup are getting a proper announcement early next week, in line with other manufacturers' embargos.
But today it's just talking about the screens going into two of those new Blade machines. The first is arguably the one I'm most interested in, especially considering how much I liked looking at last year's Razer Blade 16 model. That UHD+ panel wasn't without its faults—chiefly the weird dual-mode thing which only worked as a marketing bullet point—but the 3840 x 2400 mini-LED display was gorgeous.
But it was only 120Hz in terms of refresh, so I'm keen to see how the world's first 16-inch 240Hz refresh, 0.2ms response OLED panel looks.
The Blade 16's new panel is a lower resolution, however, clocking in at 2560 x 1600 (so, still a 16:10 aspect ratio), though on the 16-inch display that's still going to look crisp and sharp. Which I guess is the point of all the verification badges Razer is looking to slap onto its new gaming laptops.
There's the VESA ClearMR and DisplayHDR True Black certifications to start with, all about clarity and deep OLED black reproduction, and then there are going to be full Calman Verified certifications across all Razer's upcoming laptop panels. That's all about colour accuracy with individual factory calibration that's certified by a third party.
So yeah, Razer wants you to know it's serious about its new laptop screens. And one of the really interesting things is that this panel is going to be the base option for the Blade 16, not some super special expensive upgrade. I mean, a base Blade 16 is still going to be a pricey option, but it's still good to hear.
But if the QHD+ res of the Blade 16 is a little low res for your needs, the Blade 18 is finally coming with a proper 4K 165Hz panel. Razer reps explained that as a desktop replacement laptop, first introduced last year, the main complaint about the big boi Blade was that it didn't have a desktop replacement panel. Users wanted to replace their monitor as well.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Blade 16 | Blade 18 |
|---|---|---|
| Panel type | OLED | LCD |
| Size | 16-inch | 18-inch |
| Native resolution | QHD+ (2560 x 1600) | UHD+ (3840 x 2400) |
| Refresh rate | 240Hz | 165Hz |
| Response time | 0.2ms | 3ms |
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.
Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
And this represents the second of Razer's promised world firsts for 2024—an 18-inch 4K display that's capable of running at up to 165Hz. It's a little bit more than straight 4K, too, with a 3840 x 2400 native resolution giving you an almost edge-to-edge display with itty bitty bezels.
Razer will be formally launching its latest lineup of Blade gaming laptops at CES 2024 next week, when we'll be able to spill the beans on which processors from which companies it's jamming into its new notebooks. Stay tuned, but you can probably make an educated guess.
