Razer is kicking off the new year with a bang by announcing two new models that are world firsts in gaming laptops: in collaboration with Samsung, the new Blade laptop will feature two new panels, a 16-inch 240Hz OLED and an 18-inch 165Hz 4K Full details of Razer's new 2024 Blade gaming laptop lineup will be announced early next week to coincide with the embargo on other manufacturers.

Today, however, we're talking about the screens on two of these new Blade machines. The first is definitely the one I'm most interested in, especially considering how much I loved seeing the Razer Blade 16 model last year. Its UHD+ panel was not without its flaws, mainly the odd dual-mode thing, which only served as a marketing bullet point, but the 3840 x 2400 mini LED display was gorgeous. [We'd love to see what the world's first 16" OLED panel with 240Hz refresh and 0.2ms response looks like.

But while the Blade 16's new panel has a lower resolution, clocked at 2560 x 1600 (i.e., the aspect ratio remains 16:10), it will still look crisp and sharp on a 16-inch display. This is probably the point of the validation badge that Razer is trying to put on their new gaming laptops.

There are VESA ClearMR and DisplayHDR True Black certifications, which are about clarity and the reproduction of deep blacks on OLEDs. It concerns color accuracy with individual factory calibration certified by a third party.

Yes, Razer wants you to know that they are serious about their new laptop screens. And one of the really interesting things is that this panel will be a base option for the Blade 16, not a particularly expensive upgrade. In other words, the base Blade 16 is still going to be an expensive option, but it's still a good story.

But if the Blade 16's QHD+ resolution is a bit low for your needs, the Blade 18 will finally have a proper 4K 165Hz panel, and Razer reps are hoping to make it a desktop replacement laptop, first announced last year, with a large He explained that the main complaint about the Blade was the lack of a desktop replacement panel. Users wanted to replace their monitors as well.

And this represents the world's second first, an 18-inch 4K display capable of running at up to 165 Hz, which Razer has promised for 2024, with a native resolution of 3840 x 2400 and a smaller display with nearly edge-to-edge bezels.

Razer will officially unveil its latest lineup of Blade gaming laptops next week at CES 2024. Stay tuned.