Razer Unveils 2026 Blade 18 Laptop at $3,999 Start

Razer on Thursday unveiled the 2026 Razer Blade 18, positioning the 18-inch laptop as a desktop-class machine for gamers and AI developers. The device features an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor with 24 cores, a boost clock up to 5.5 GHz, and an integrated NPU delivering up to 13 TOPS of AI compute power. It is configurable with NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs ranging from the RTX 5070 Ti with 12GB GDDR7 VRAM in the base model to the RTX 5090 with 24GB GDDR7 VRAM in the top configuration.

Starting at $3,999.99 for the entry-level setup with 32GB DDR5-6400 RAM and a 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD, pricing climbs with upgrades. The RTX 5080 model adds $500, while the RTX 5090 variant starts at around $5,130 with 2TB storage. Maximum configurations with 128GB RAM reach $6,999.99. All models include a 99Whr battery, though previous versions lasted only about 2.5 hours in productivity benchmarks, and the capacity remains unchanged.

The laptop retains its signature dual-mode 18-inch display, switchable between 3840x2400 resolution at 240Hz and 1920x1200 at 440Hz. Razer reports the screen is 20 percent brighter this year, reaching up to 600 nits with 100 percent DCI-P3 color coverage and Calman...