Stellantis officially reveals its Ram 1500 EV concept truck

There’s finally an electric Ram truck — or at least a concept of one. Stellantis is the world’s fifth largest automaker with a stable of more than a dozen North American and European brands including Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Maserati and Fiat. The company has set extremely ambitious goals to drastically reduce its carbon footprint by the end of the decade, as part of Dare Forward 2030, with 100 percent of its European sales and half of its US sales to be of the fully-electric variety. As part of that effort, Stellantis has already teased us with an EV concept from Chrysler, came right out and showed us next year’s electric Jeep and, on Thursday, unveiled the Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept.

The Ram 1500 BEV will be available in the 2024 model year alongside the as-of-yet-unnamed Jeep (with which it also shares a STLA EV frame). The Concept shown off Thursday will serve as a design template for the upcoming production vehicle.

Stellantis

Stellantis describes the Ram BEV’s exterior as “brutiful,” a portmanteau of “brutal yet beautiful.” I think that prominent split between the cabin and quarter panels just makes it look like an Autobot who hasn’t quite fully finished transforming yet.

Stellantis

Of course as a concept vehicle, Ram has affixed every bell and whistle it can to the vehicle’s exterior, from “grand saloon style” doors to an animated RAM grille logo and fully animated LED tail lamps and badging. The sideview mirrors are 3D-printed to reduce weight and drag.

Stellantis

You’re goddamn right it has a frunk. And a powered tailgate, flush-mounted door handles, power side and rear steps and why does your truck have to be so big it requires built-in step ladders. Hey so how much gravel are you planning on hauling in your luxury electric pickup truck, exactly. The one with a self-leveling suspension, 24-inch rims and little light up center caps.

Stellantis

Under the hood, the Ram will offer dual-motor AWD and four wheel steering with up to 15 degrees of articulation. The company hasn’t revealed the battery size yet but did confirm that the system will use an 800V architecture enabling it to add up to 100 miles of range in about 10 minutes on a 350 kW DC fast charger.

Stellantis

The Ram BEV Concept’s interior benefits greatly from its flat cabin floor. Ram’s “one space environment” theme centers on flexibility with a rail attachment/floor track system that allows the seats and consoles to shift and even be removed entirely. The concept vehicle also has space for a set of third-row jump seats — like a minivan but with lower utility. With the passthrough window open, the Ram concept can fit 18-foot items without needing the rear liftgate lowered. Yeah, all the bells and whistles.

The Ram concept’s center console consists of two 14-inch screens. The upper screen can be shifted between three positions as the driving situation calls for — or even be pulled off entirely and reaffixed elsewhere in the vehicle. The lower screen also slides around. An augmented reality heads-up display projects relevant driving details onto the front windscreen. It’s got an exterior projector that doubles as an outdoor movie theater. I feel bad for whoever breaks the rearview mirror in this truck because it houses “a smart backup camera with 360-degree views, speakers, and receivers compatible with voice assistants such as Alexa and Siri.” That’s not going to be cheap to replace.

Stellantis

The steering wheel is collapsible (a la Demolition Man) for when it engages its supposed Level 3+ ADAS. Remember, this is a concept vehicle, they can just make capabilities up. The wheel also incorporates capacitive controls while, “tactile swiping technology enables occupants to configure the sun visors or the entire electro-chromatic roof with the ability to adjust the opaqueness.” Why do some people have to sleep outside?

Stellantis

The BEV features an AI assistant because this is hell, we are in hell and we deserve our incoming highway HALs. It responds to voice commands. With a 3D RAM avatar which serves, per the release, “as the vehicle’s face.”

The driver doesn’t even have to be in the vehicle to issue verbal commands. The BEV concept has a dedicated subset of exterior controls like “close the windows, play music, take a picture” and “follow me,” which is literally ghost whipping that has somehow gotten past Stellantis’ legal department. It “allows the vehicle to automatically follow the driver walking ahead of the vehicle,” using a mix of voice commands, onboard sensors and cameras. The feature, RAM argues, “can be useful in situations where the driver needs to move a short distance and doesn’t want to get back in the truck.” So c’mon you lazy blockheads, show us your best Jeremy Renner impression.

 

Amazon’s Kindle Scribe drops to $295 with its first discount

If you’ve been looking to grab Amazon’s Kindle Scribe but didn’t want to jump in at full price, the company has rolled out the first set of discounts on its new top-end e-reader with note-taking support. Depending on which configuration you want, the deals take $45 to $60 off the device’s typical going rate. This brings the base model with 16GB of storage and Amazon’s “Basic Pen” stylus down to $295 from its usual $340. Adding the company’s “Premium Pen” — which includes a dedicated shortcut button and eraser function — brings that up to $320, while higher-capacity models with 32GB and 64GB of storage (which come with the Premium Pen as standard) are on sale for $335 and $360, respectively. The offers include four months of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited e-book service, too, but note that the subscription will be set to auto-renew by default. These prices are also available at Best Buy

Amazon unveiled the Kindle Scribe late last year, and we gave it a review score of 85 this past November. It’s still far from cheap even with these discounts, but its big hook is that it’s the only Kindle with note-taking support through the included stylus. You can add notes to e-books or PDFs, create to-do lists or doodle sketches, and we generally found the experience to feel smooth and natural. There’s no handwriting-to-text functionality, annoyingly, and the process of editing and syncing your notes on other devices is limited. Digital artists are better off with an iPad and Apple Pencil, too. But for simple note-taking while reading, it’s good.

While there are other e-ink devices that can work better as a writing tool — and others on the way — the Scribe has the benefit of also being a high-end Kindle. It is by far the largest of Amazon’s e-readers, but its 10.2-inch display is roomy and bright, with more LEDs used in its front light than other Kindle models and the ability to tweak the display’s color temperature. There’s a large border on one side to make one-handed use easier, and Amazon rates the battery life at up to 12 weeks (though that’ll vary depending on how much writing you do). The big disappointment is that the Scribe isn’t waterproof like the cheaper Kindle Paperwhite or Oasis. It also lacks the latter’s dedicated page turn buttons.

Most people in need of an e-reader should still opt for the Paperwhite or the recently refreshed entry-level model, both of which are smaller and offer far more value for money. But for those willing to pay for a larger screen and note-taking support, we found the Scribe to be satisfying, and these discounts lower the premium at least a little bit.

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Ring offers a first look at its home security drone

At the back end of 2020, Ring showed off a concept device it promised would be coming to homes at some point in the future. The Always Home Cam is a mini drone, designed to zoom around your home, patrolling for intruders when you weren’t in. Now, at CES 2023, the company offered us a first real-world look at the hardware in flight, although it’s still reluctant to commit to a release date, or a price.

The whole package looks more like a kitchen countertop gadget, a smart bread bin or similar, rather than a security drone. It’s a little larger than it looks in Ring’s initial demo videos, although not by very much, and while it doesn’t look like any other drone on the market, it certainly sounds like one. If you’ve ever annoyed a pet with a toy mini drone, then you can expect a similarly disgruntled animal whenever this thing is on patrol.

Daniel Cooper

Ring’s team did explain how this would work when it eventually made its debut, like the fact it’ll cover one floor — ideally the ground floor — in your home. You’ll train it by holding it (without obscuring the camera) and walking around your home in a series of flightpaths. You’re able to set multiple paths, and individual waypoints, so if you want to check the back door, or if you’ve left the stove on, you can without having to wait too long.

Should you spot something amiss, you can also set the camera to pause in mid-air and rotate around to surveil the local area. And there won’t be another app dedicated to controlling the drone, it’ll all be folded in to Ring’s existing app, at least when we finally see it in the real world. Sadly, Ring isn’t yet ready to share its thoughts on that matter, but the fact it’s ready to show off prototypes means it has to be closer to sale than not. 

 

TikTok users can now tag movies and TV shows, so you can quit asking ‘what is this from’

TikTok users in the US and the UK can now tag movies and TV shows in their videos. Each tag (up to five can be included per video) will point to an in-app page that includes details from the film or series, as well as some related videos.

This is all powered by a new partnership with IMDb, which is providing info including cast members, directors, genres, release dates, runtimes and user ratings for each movie and show. TikTok users can add films and TV series to the favorites tab of their profile too.

You can tag a show or movie when you tap the “add link” option right before you post a video. If you select “movie and TV,” you’ll be able to search the more than 12 million titles that are on IMDb and add the one you’re looking for.

This should come in useful for users who share a lot of movie and TV-related posts, as well as those looking for content about their favorite titles. So, if you share a clip from The Menu, a meme from The White Lotus or a Glass Onion explainer, you may not need to reply to people who drop a “what is this from 💀” in the comments. They can just tap the tag for more details (and then maybe watch The Menu, because it’s a blast).

 

Sorry, but you still have to push this $3,800 electric-assist stroller

Non-parents may not believe it, but pushing a pram around can be a fairly strenuous task, especially when the train gets rough. It’s a full body workout to push two kids under four in my old Uppababy Vista, which weighed the same as an iceberg and had the turning circle of the Titanic. To remedy this, Canadian startup GlüxKind has developed an electrically-assisted stroller that’ll make pushing easier, and can even drive itself, albeit only when your kid isn’t on board.

The GlüxKind Ella is the brainchild of Anne Hunger and Kevin Huang, a couple who were less than whelmed when looking for a stroller for their own daughter. They decided to build their own device by strapping an electric skateboard to a regular stroller, and started developing their product from there. The device has three modes, the first of which is to add electric assist to the wheels as you’re pushing it around.

Trying this in an admittedly limited demo at CES, it feels very much like the sort of power boost you get with an e-bike. You still have to push this thing around, but you only have to make a fairly meager level of effort before the motor kicks in and helps you out. As well as easier forward motion, you’ll also find turning to be a lot snappier than you may expect, useful too when you’re trying to maneuver your rugrat in tight spaces. It’ll also prove useful when going uphill, or if you’re carrying lots of groceries in Ella’s surprisingly large cargo space.

I’m told that the battery will last for around eight hours of mixed use, and you’ll need to charge it at the end of every day, more or les.

You can also set the pram to rock your baby to sleep, moving backwards and forwards by about a foot. This, I’m sure, will be a godsend to parents who are otherwise praying for divine intervention at 3am as their precious child refuses to sleep. I’m aware that there are some safety caveats about using such a feature on a regular basis, but being able to call on the feature in a pinch will surely be an instant-sell to some harangued parents.

The last mode, and the most eye-catching, is self-driving, where the stroller will drive ahead of you by a couple of feet. It’ll maintain power when going up hill, and brake so it stays close to you when you’re going down the other side. But crucially, the system is designed to not work if you put your kid in the seat and expect the pram to do all of the work. A weight sensor in the bassinet and stroller chair will block the function if it detects the presence of a child.

A product like this is, understandably, going to be at the higher end of the price scale, and when it hits Kickstarter this spring, the first 100 units will set you back $3,800. Once that early bird special is done with, the price is likely to climb a little higher, but for that you’ll also get built-in GPS so you can track where your pram is if you’ve asked friends and family to babysit. GlüxKind also has plans to build out a community feature to find and connect like-minded parents — the sort of whom are also prepared to spend north of four grand on a self-driving stroller.

 

WhatsApp adds proxy support to help bypass government crackdowns

Iran blocked Instagram and WhatsApp access last year to subdue protests following 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s death at local authorities’ hands. When authoritarian governments crack down on online communications — which often includes blocking VPNs — it helps to have a backup plan. So WhatsApp is adding proxy support to help those living under oppressive regimes keep using the service.

The company explained today in a blog post, “Choosing a proxy enables you to connect to WhatsApp through servers set up by volunteers and organizations around the world dedicated to helping people communicate freely.” To use a proxy, make sure WhatsApp is updated to the latest version, and follow these instructions. (Note that the setting is found in slightly different places on Android and iOS.)

As part of the setup, you’ll need to enter a proxy server address, which you’ll need to track down through friends or by scouring social media once news of the feature spreads. WhatsApp also points anyone interested in hosting a proxy server toward these steps.

WhatsApp says all proxied messages will still be protected with end-to-end encryption. That allegedly means neither WhatsApp, its parent company Meta, nor proxy-server owners can read your content.

“Our wish for 2023 is that these internet shutdowns never occur,” the company said. “Disruptions like we’ve seen in Iran for months on end deny people’s human rights and cut people off from receiving urgent help. Though in case these shutdowns continue, we hope this solution helps people wherever there is a need for secure and reliable communication.”

 

Razer’s Leviathan V2 Pro PC soundbar can adjust 3D audio based on your head position

Razer has shown off its first slate of products for 2023 at CES. Along with new gaming laptops, the company revealed the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro beamforming PC soundbar. The company says it has an infra-red camera that can detect where the user is. Razer claims the soundbar can adjust the 3D audio beams in real-time based on your position to make sure optimal audio is reaching your ears.

There are two modes for the 3D audio: THX Spatial Audio Virtual Headset and THX Spatial Audio Virtual Speakers. Razer promises to deliver “crisp, clear treble and deep, punchy bass” with the help of multiple drivers and an included subwoofer. There’s Razer Chroma RGB support too. You’ll be able to pick up a Leviathan V2 Pro for $400 later this month.

Next up is the Kiyo Pro Ultra. Razer claims it has the biggest sensor ever used in a webcam. It has a Sony 1/1.2″ STARVIS 2 sensor with a 2.9 μm pixel size. According to Razer, that helps the USB 3.0 plug-and-play webcam to offer DSLR-level detail. It should perform well in low light too. There’s an F/1.7 aperture lens that Razer says can capture nearly four times more light than other webcams.

Razer

In addition, the company claims the Kiyo Pro Ultra offers face tracking, auto-focus and background blur features without the need for additional hardware or software. However, you’ll be able to adjust the settings to your liking in Razer Synapse. The webcam, which arrives almost two years after the Kiyo Pro, is available starting today for $300.

By the end of March, Meta Quest 2 users in the US will be able to get their hands on Razer-made peripherals. The company designed the Adjustable Head Strap System and Razer Facial Interface to make it more comfortable to use the headset. Razer says the latter has medical-grade hypoallergenic materials to help reduce skin irritation. It’s said to offer ventilation while blocking out external light.

Razer also revealed Project Carol, a head cushion with near-field 7.1 surround sound and HyperSense haptic feedback. Razer says the cushion can fit on any gaming chair and convert game audio into haptic feedback in real-time. It’s a concept design for now, but if and when Project Carol comes to market, it could offer a deeper level of immersion when you’re playing games.

Elsewhere, Razer confirmed the release date for its cloud gaming device, the Razer Edge. We had the chance to try out the new, high-performance Blade 16 and Blade 18 gaming laptops too. Take a gander at our hands-on coverage for more details.

 

CES 2023 Day 1 recap: Catch up on the biggest news from the year’s biggest tech show

We’re back in Vegas for CES, and while the show doesn’t officially open until tomorrow, many exhibitors have already unveiled their new products at various press conferences and media events. Today, we’re starting to see some of the early car news that frequently dominates CES, as well as more from TV makers, gaming laptop brands, smart home companies and more. If you haven’t fully caught up yet, here’s a recap of the biggest news from Day 1 of CES 2023.

From last night

But first, even though we already recapped most of yesterday’s launches in another video, there was still more stuff unveiled last night that was announced after we had shot that. For example, Withings showed off the U-Scan, a $500 toilet computer that will… scan your pee.

It’s a 90mm block that you place inside your toilet bowl like a deodorizer, and uses a litmus-test-like microfluidic system to detect what substances are in your urine. You’ll have to choose which specific tests you want to be running in your module, though Withings is making a consumer-centric version that will analyze your nutrition and hydration levels, while also predicting your ovulation and period cycles. It’s still waiting on US regulatory approval before bringing this stateside, and will launch first in Europe.

In less… icky news, we also saw the Fufuly pulsating cushion by Yukai Engineering. A vibrating cushion might sound straight out of an anime, but the idea is really that hugging something that can mimic lifelike pulsing could have calming effects. Something else that could relieve anxiety? Watching a video of birds being cute! Bird Buddy also launched a new smart feeder that comes with a camera so you can spy on your feathery friends while they nest up. The latest model is designed for hummingbirds and uses AI to understand what breeds are within view and, together with a motion sensor, determines when they’re ready for a snack.

Speaking of snacks, there was plenty of food-related tech news last night, including GE Profile’s $1,000 stand mixer that has a digital scale and voice controls built in. We also saw OneThird’s freshness scanners that use near infrared lasers and proprietary algorithms to tell if produce is fresh. It can even calculate an avocado’s shelf life in real time, and help reduce food waste!

We also saw Loreal’s robotic lipstick applicator for those with limited hand or arm mobility, Valencell’s blood pressure monitor that clips onto your finger and Wisear’s neural earbuds that let you control playback by clenching your jaw. There were smart lights, smart speakers, smart pressure cookers, smart VR gloves and more. Make sure to go to Engadget.com to get all the details!

Now, onto the news that came out today. We had a small trickle of car news ahead of the outpouring is likely to come tomorrow. Volkswagen unveiled its upcoming ID.7 EV sedan, teasing us with a general body shape and the name, but not much else. BMW, meanwhile, shared more about its futuristic i Vision concept vehicle program by revealing the i Vision Dee, or “Digital Emotional Experience.” It’s a pared-down concept featuring a heads up display running the full width of the front windshield. Many of the Dee’s features are also expected to make their way into production models, specifically BMW’s new NEUE KLASSE (new class) EV platform, starting in 2025. The Dee will also feature BMW’s Mixed Reality slider to control how much digital content appears on the display.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

TVs

Samsung also waited till the evening to reveal its premium 2023 TVs, focusing on MiniLED and 8K technologies for this year’s series. It also brought more sizes to its portfolio and introduced new soundbars that offer Dolby Atmos support on both the entry level and the highest end. Meanwhile, rival LG showed off a 97-inch M3 TV that can wirelessly receive 4K 120Hz video so you can deal with fewer wires in your living room, as well as… more soundbars. Leave it to LG and Samsung to basically do the same things as each other.

Relatively smaller TV competitor Hisense today unveiled its UX Mini LED TV, an 85-inch set that can hit 2,500 nits at peak brightness and features more than 5,000 local dimming zones. Meanwhile, startup Displace showed us a new wireless 55-inch OLED TV that attaches to any surface via vacuum suction, eliminating the need for a wall mount or stand altogether. Plus, thanks to its four onboard batteries, you can do without a power cord, too. This is essentially a complete, standalone portable TV.

Laptops

We also saw more laptops from ASUS, MSI and HP. ASUS made a laptop with glasses-free 3D, a large Zenbook Pro 16X with plenty of room for thermal dissipation, as well as a Zenbook 14X with a ceramic build. Both the latter Zenbooks also come with OLED screens. Meanwhile, HP launched a new series of Dragonfly Pro laptops that are supposed to make the shopping process easier for consumers by eliminating most configuration options. The Dragonfly Pro Chromebook has an RGB keyboard and Android-like Material You theming features, while the Windows version exclusively uses an AMD chip and has a column of hotkeys on the right of the keyboard that offer shortcuts to camera settings, a control center and 24/7 tech support. The last of these buttons is programmable, so you can map it to launch your favorite app, file or website.

Finally, we’re seeing the first of some audio news, starting from JBL. The company unveiled its 2023 soundbar lineup, all five models of which will support Dolby Atmos. It also launched new true wireless earbuds with a “smart” case that has a 1.45-inch touchscreen on it that offers controls for volume, playback, ANC and EQ presets. Almost coincidentally, HP also showed off the Poly Voyager earbuds that also have a touchscreen on the carrying case and offers similar controls to the JBL. But the Voyager also has a Broadcast mode that lets you use the included 3.5mm to USB-C cable to connect the case to an older device with a headphone jack (like when you’re on an airplane), so you can watch movies during a flight without needing to carry a second set of headphones around.

There’s plenty more news coming out of CES not just today but the rest of the week. I didn’t even get to tell you about Samsung’s new budget-friendly Galaxy A14 smartphone, or Citizen’s new smartwatch. For all the details on anything you might have missed today, check out our comprehensive coverage on Engadget.com or our YouTube channel. And stay tuned for all of the news from CES 2023.

 

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Satellite will let Android phones text off the grid

Last year, Apple introduced Emergency SOS, which allows the iPhone 14 to connect to satellites to send emergency calls and texts. Now, Qualcomm has unveiled its own satellite messaging features for Android phones. It’s called Snapdragon Satellite, and it will allow devices equipped with the company’s X70 modems to connect to satellites in order to send messages when no cellular signal is available.

The feature, which is expected to be available on phones beginning in the second half of 2023, is the result of a partnership with longtime satellite phone maker Iridium. Thanks to the partnership, Android phones equipped with the X70 modem and Qualcomm’s SOC will be able to connect to Iridium’s satellite network for off-grid texting in both emergency and non-emergency situations.

As with much of Qualcomm’s tech, exactly how these features will look and feel will largely be determined by the individual phone makers. Device makers will have considerable flexibility in terms of how they implement satellite messaging, particularly for person-to-person texts. But while we don’t know exactly how it will look when it launches, Qualcomm offered an early look at the technology at CES, which provided a pretty good idea of what to expect in terms of functionality.

Karissa Bell / Engadget

As with Apple’s Emergency SOS, you’ll need to be outside with a clear view of the sky in order to use satellite messaging. When enabled, an on-screen message will offer guidance for where to point your device in order to connect to a satellite.

The demo we saw wasn’t exactly an off-grid location. The desert campground about 30 minutes away from the Las Vegas Strip may have looked the part, but it had full 5G service during our visit. However, Qualcomm reps demonstrated the process for connecting to satellites and it only took a few seconds to move the phone into position. And they claimed connecting in a true off-grid environment should be nearly as seamless.

Once connected to a satellite, the demo devices were able to send text messages to a preset whitelist of contacts. Qualcomm says that feature will remain in place to ensure spam texts won’t clog up the satellite networks. However, the company noted that OEMs could make the messaging feel more like a traditional messaging app than the demo interface we previewed. 

There are a few other limitations compared with standard messaging apps. Satellite messages are limited to 140 bytes or about 160 characters, making them more like an old-school SMS than what you’d expect with modern apps. And you can’t send photos or videos via satellite.

Karissa Bell / Engadget

It’s also worth noting that unlike Apple’s Emergency SOS, Qualcomm intends Snapdragon Satellite to be used for non-emergency messaging as well. That could make the Android version a little more useful as you could use satellite messaging to stay in touch with family and friends in areas where you’d normally be out of reach. However, there will likely be additional charges associated with non-emergency texts so you’ll probably still want to moderate your usage of the feature. (Qualcomm declined to speculate on how much these messages might cost, but it seems safe to assume these messages will be costlier than a typical SMS.)

Also, unlike Apple’s satellite communication features, which also allows people to make emergency voice calls, Snapdragon Satellite only allows for emergency texts, not calls. For truly urgent situations, the company has partnered with Garmin, which makes a satellite-based emergency communication device of its own called inReach. That means emergency texts will be routed to the same team that handles SOS calls from inReach devices.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get a lot of specifics about when we’ll see phones with Snapdragon Satellite hit shelves, or how many devices could have these capabilities. For now, Samsung says it expects to see satellite-ready phones from “multiple” OEMs starting in the second half of 2023. At the same time, that doesn’t mean the features are guaranteed for all Android phones with an X70 modem and Qualcomm SOC. According to Qualcomm, that’s because X70-equipped phones launching before the second half of the year don’t have all the necessary hardware to support Snapdragon Satellite connectivity.

But, now that we know the hardware requirements, in the coming months we should begin to get a better idea of which devices will have the satellite messaging capabilities.

 

Razer’s Blade 15 gaming laptops with 12th-gen Intel CPUs are $400 off

You can now save $400 on one of the best premium gaming laptop out there. The configuration of Razer’s Blade 15 we recommend in our latest gaming laptop guide combines bleeding-edge performance and speedy graphics, all wrapped up in a sleek and sturdy aluminum chassis. Usually $3,000, both Amazon and Razer are offering our recommended unit for $2,600, or 13 percent off the list price. That’s the lowest price this configuration has seen yet, and while it’s still not a cheap laptop, we think you get what you pay for, in a laptop that can game with the best of them

The quad-HD display is highly responsive with a 240Hz refresh rate, and NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics card is fast enough to keep up. It runs on a 12th-gen Intel i7-12800H processor, a powerful chip that’s focused on performance, and offers 16GB of dual-channel slotted (upgradable) memory. Storage is handled with 1TB of SSD, with an open M.2 slot should you want to add more. Windows 11 Home is loaded onto the unit and it has one of the best glass touchpads we’ve tried on a Windows laptop. The larger keys make the Blade 15 easier to use for both gaming and general productivity. Overall, this model of the Blade 15 not only excels at gaming, it makes for a worthy desktop replacement too. 

Other configurations of the Intel 12th-gen Blade 15s are also on sale right now. Razer announced the option to pair up a Blade with the first 240Hz OLED laptop screen earlier last year. If you want that display (with the same RTX 3070 Ti graphics plus a slightly faster Intel i9 processor) it’s on sale at both Amazon and Razer for $400 off, bringing the price down to $2,900. 

The fully loaded unit we tried out in our hands-on review is also $400 off at Razer’s site, bringing the $3,700 monster down to $3,300. It’s got a 12th-gen Intel i7-12800H processor, a faster RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, and the quad-HD 240Hz display. 

While none of these are budget options, if you’re looking for a big, luxury laptop that’s capable of holding its own while playing any of the latest gaming titles, now might be a good time to grab a Blade 15 — while you can keep $400 in your pocket. 

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