When Razer introduced its lineup of Razer Blade gaming notebooks, they were seemingly built without compromise with a price tag to match. Before today, anyone looking to get their hands on a Razer Blade 15 would need to shell out at least $1,900. However, Razer introduced a new base model to the lineup, saving potential shoppers a few hundred dollars; starting at $1,600, the new Razer Blade 15 base model still packs a punch under its hood.
As one might expect, the base model looks nearly identical on the outside featuring the same black aluminum chassis and port selection, but now offers a new single-zone RGB keyboard. Gamers on a budget need not worry as the keyboard still reacts with Razer’s Chroma standard for immersive in-game lighting effects, but merely doesn’t offer the ability to control different areas of the keyboard separately.
On the inside, gamers will be pleased to see an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, an Intel eighth-generation i7 6-core CPU, and 16 GB of memory. However, Razer needed to cut somewhere to bring the bring down, and they began with the unit’s storage. Instead of featuring a single SSD drive, the new Razer Blade 15 base model will offer a dual-storage system with either a 128GB SSD and 1TB HDD, or a 256GB SSD and 2TB HDD.
Razer is known to offer some excellent displays on their units including 1080p 60Hz, 1080p 144Hz, and 4K 60Hz displays. As expected, the base model will feature the lower-end 1080p 60Hz display, but tests of the screen on previous units lead us to believe that most consumers will be quite happy with the offering, not to mention the machine’s razor-thin bezels (pun intended).
If the thought of an expensive budget machine isn’t getting you excited, you might be interested in the company’s latest design effort. Later this year, Razer will be offering a mercury white (which appears grey) limited edition of its Razer Blade 15 machine. The new creation will feature a matte-white finish with black USB ports and a non-illuminated, tone-on-tone Razer logo on the cover.
The new Razer Blade 15 base model will be available for purchase on Wednesday, October 10 in the United States, Canada, and China. European and Asian-Pacific countries should see the product arrive sometime in November. Fans of the mercury white edition will need to stay tuned for an exact launch date.