Yesterday, we covered the Alienware 15, Dell’s latest addition to the Alienware range and its cheapest model yet. The updated Razer Blade 18 sits on the other end of the spectrum. The company has updated the internals and increased the price to match. Interestingly, it also has two separate pitches to those looking at this thing for gaming or AI workloads.
As you’d expect from a flagship, this thing ticks pretty much every box. The CPU has been upgraded from Intel’s Core Ultra 9 275HX to the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus. This change only nets you around 100MHz higher clock speed, but that should still result in an increase to your fps. Even if only by a little.
The GPU remains unchanged, since Nvidia has elected not to release anything new since the RTX 50-series came out in January last year. It’s still packing an RTX 5090, which is still the fastest mobile GPU available, with 24GB of GDDR7 VRAM and a TDP of 175W, with an extra 25W waiting for its opportunity.
The Razer Blade 18 packs the power
The other notable upgrade comes to the display. The 18in 16:10 IPS panel is now 100 nits brighter, claims Razer, and offers the option of two configurations. It’ll do 4K (3,840 x 2,400px) with a refresh rate of 240Hz, or FHD+ (1,920 x 1,200px) with a 440Hz refresh rate. Razer claims it covers the full DCI-P3 colour space.
Elsewhere, you get a 99Wh battery, the largest you can legally carry on some aeroplanes, a glass-covered trackpad that supports multiple touches, a backlit per-key lit keyboard, and three internal fans and a large vapour chamber to stop everything from melting.
There are plenty of ports: three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A Ports (10Gbps), one Thunderbolt 5 port, one Thunderbolt 4 port, a 2.5Gb Ethernet port, a full-sized HDMI 2.1 port, and an SD card reader. The whole package comes out at 3.2kg, and that’s without accounting for the 400W power brick.
While it isn’t technically sold in South Africa, you can still buy it if your pockets are deep enough. How much you’ll have to pay depends on a few things, like how much RAM you want. It’s available with 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB kits. It’s also available with slightly weaker GPU options (down to the RTX 5070 Ti), last year’s Intel CPU, and 1TB or 2TB SSDs.
On the low end, you’re looking at a starting price of around R58,350 ($3,500) before any shipping and customs fees. If you want all the best parts, expect to pay closer to R116,700 (again, before any additional fees).
