Item: Razer Blade 18 Updated, Now With World’s First Thunderbolt 5 Support
Rating: 0
Author: Low Boon Shen

Razer Blade 18 Updated, Now With World’s First Thunderbolt 5 Support

The Razer Blade 18 has gotten a refresh today with hardware updates, and inside this 22mm chassis packs some of the most powerful hardware a laptop can offer.

First revealed at CES earlier this year, the latest Blade 18 comes packed with Intel Core i9-14900HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU with full-fat 175W TGP, cooled via a triple-fan vapor chamber cooling system that Razer says is the biggest for its laptops to date. All of its power is supplied through a 330W GaN charger that is up to 60% smaller than equivalent conventional silicon-based chargers. Elsewhere, it also comes with Wi-Fi 7 support, upgradable DDR5 SO-DIMM memory, a 6-speaker array, and a 5MP webcam.

The laptop also comes with two world’s firsts – the first one is the 18-inch 4K 200Hz panel with a resolution of 3840 x 2400 (16:10), 3ms response time, and 100% DCI-P3 color space with factory calibration and Calman Verified certification. There’s an alternative display option in the form of a QHD+ 300Hz Mini-LED panel, which boasts 2,000 dimming zones with an on/off toggle (Razer didn’t specify what it does exactly, however), a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, and the same color performance as the 4K panel.

Another world-first for the Razer Blade 18 is the Thunderbolt 5 support. As the next generation over current Thunderbolt 4 ports, the new protocol – still uses the USB-C form factor – can deliver up to 120Gbps of bandwidth via Bandwidth Boost mode (0r 80Gbps duplex in normal conditions). For reference, the current Thunderbolt 4 protocol maxes out at 40Gbps.

The Razer Blade 18 is now available on Razer.com, with RazerStores and authorized retailers soon to follow. No word on local pricing just yet, but it should be well into five figures given the US pricing which starts from $3099.99.