The Razer Blade 15 family is expanding with a new dual-storage model and colorway

The Razer Blade 15 is a great gaming laptop for both work and play, but there’s always room for improvement. Normally when a laptop gets a refresh, it means updating the existing model, but Razer has gone with something different by unveiling an alternate version called the Razer Blade 15 “Dual Storage Edition.”

It’s called that because Razer included an SSD and a traditional hard drive, so you have two storage options. This isn’t a remotely new feature in the laptop space, but in the case of the Blade 15, you’re gaining a feature that heavier, bulkier gaming laptops usually have but with the benefit a 0.78-inch laptop’s smaller footprint.

However, the dual-storage Blade 15 is actually a newer, lower-end gaming laptop with the same name and a “more affordable” $1,599 price to match. It looks like the original Blade 15 and has nearly the same name, but this new base model isn’t identical; it’s slightly thicker, and it lacks some higher-end parts.

This Blade 15 will be the new entry-level model in the Blade lineup, while the higher-spec models will remain at the same prices. It’s an interesting strategy that could bring in buyers who might have been wary of the previous $1,899 starting price, or it could convince buyers who just don’t need as much power.

Image: Razer

In order to bring costs down, Razer removed the following: the 144Hz display, vapor cooling chamber (in place of a unibody fan exhaust that makes it slightly thicker), and it reverted to an older Chroma backlighting technique so function keys also stay backlit (unlike the more expensive models).

But Razer didn’t remove everything that the more expensive Blade 15 had in its arsenal. The Core i7-8750H processor remains, including the lower-end GTX 1060 Max Q graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a pretty decent 1920 x 1080 screen with a 60Hz refresh rate. With these specs, the dual-storage Blade 15 might not have the same pixel-pushing power as the higher-end models, but you should still be able to play most games at medium-high settings without too much hassle.

Oh, and Razer also added an Ethernet port, which is useful, I suppose. Wired internet connections are still useful in 2018, especially in home or office setups.

The dual-storage Blade 15 is available for purchase today, starting at $1,599 in the US, Europe, and China. It will also become available in several European and Asia-Pacific countries sometime in November 2018.

Also getting a minor refresh in the form of a new color is the existing Blade 15. I know this might be confusing, but this is what Razer is going with. The better, thinner, and more expensive Razer Blade 15 (that you might already know about) will also come in a new “Mercury white” color. And it looks great.

Image: Razer

The new paint job brings an all-white keyboard, non-illuminated tone-on-tone Razer logo, black ports instead of the usual green, and it comes in both GTX 1060 and GTX 1070 Max Q graphics configurations. It will launch in Q4 of 2018 exclusively via the Razer Store in the US and Canada and at select retailers in China.

This article is from The Verge