The Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition is a departure from Razer's traditional gaming laptops. The stylish gaming manufacturer has been making laptops for several years now, but has always put gaming performance first; the Blade 15 Studio Edition has a more creative user in mind, if the laptop's $4,300 starting price is anything to go by, more affluent demographic in mind.

Razer announced the Blade 15 Studio Edition in a press release today (May 28), clearly outlining impressive specs for a premium price.

First, the Blade 15 Studio Edition is a pretty laptop with a silver casing, a tiny keyboard surrounded by two speakers, and a huge touchpad. The keys have RGB backlighting, and the laptop's 4K, 15.6-inch screen is also touch-sensitive. As for ports, there is an SD card reader, two USB-A ports, HDMI out, standard USB-C, and Thunderbolt 3 compatible USB-C. For the first time on a Razer system, users can also charge the laptop (albeit slowly) via USB-C. via USB-C. The system is only 0.7" thick.

The specs also help justify the high asking price: the Blade 15 Studio Edition is powered by an 8-core 10th generation Intel Core i7-10875H processor, an Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 Studio Edition GPU (16 GB GDDR6 VRAM), and an Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 Studio Edition GPU (16 GB GDDR6 VRAM). GDDR6 VRAM), 4K OLED touchscreen, 1 B SSD storage, 32 GB RAM, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, 80 Wh battery, and 720p webcam. It also has a 3.5 mm audio jack, so any headset can be used without problems.

The only thing that might deter animators and designers is the Blade 15 Studio Edition's price. Part of the price is due to components that exceed those found on standard gaming desktops, but the stylish and durable design is also part of the price, which seems to attract a user base that generally prefers Apple products.

In terms of design and use, the Blade 15 Studio Edition is not entirely dissimilar to the MacBook Pro 16-inch. However, in terms of raw power, the Blade 15 Studio Edition outperforms Apple's competitors in many areas. CPU and Radeon Pro graphics in the MacBook Pro, and the 4K OLED screen is a significant improvement over Apple's Quad HD LEDs.

Meanwhile, the MacBook Pro 16 is also more affordable, starting at $2,399.

Regardless of how the two products stack up directly, it will be interesting to see Razer throw its hat into the productivity laptop ring. It may be too expensive to attract a broad user base, or it may be powerful enough to facilitate tasks normally left to desktops. The product is currently available in the U.S. and Canada, with worldwide availability expected later this year.