It’s Ultra Fast. Ultra Small. Ultra Powerful! The new Razer Blade 15 laptop is an insanely compact laptop built for high-end performance. When we spoke to Lalor McMahon, the ANZ Regional Marketing Manager for Razer at IEM Sydney, he told us how Razer is looking to gain a hold over the broader tech market. Laptops like the Blade aren’t just for gamers. They are for everyone – “gamers, power users, and office users.” McMahon further expressed his excitement about the Blade series and called it his favorite piece of tech coming from Razer in 2019. Well, we got our hands on that tech and have a neat review just for you.
Balance, power, performance
No matter whether you’re gaming or doing some high-end graphics rendering, performance is something you need to worry about. It’s no good if your system dies when you’re about to win a battle royale or if it crashes while trying to render your day’s work. Performance is always key! The Blade 15 delivers just that. It’s got the 9th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and some nice graphics to boot. The baseline model comes with the GeForce RTX 2060, or you can get the advanced model with the GeForce RTX2080. Both versions look almost identical. The advanced model is slightly thinner (at just 17.8mm). Regardless of the model you choose, this laptop is super slick. It looks nice, and its lightweight nature makes it easy to carry around. Plus, it’s the smallest 15.6″ gaming laptop on the market!
If you’re running between meetings or flying to different cities, the Blade will fit nicely into your backpack or luggage. It isn’t big and cumbersome like some of the workstations on the market. But it’s powerful enough to get your work done. Lots of users will pair their laptop with the Razer Core X while they’re at the office. Essentially, this gives you the portability of a laptop while you’re on the go and the power of a desktop at your office desk. It’s the perfect combination.
Screen time
As our phones become larger and displays have higher fidelity, the importance of good screen resolutions is a must. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to play games or do your office work, you want good resolutions that are easy on the eyes. The Blade 15 is equipped with a 15.6″ edge-to-edge display. You can get it in either the 240Hz refresh rate or 4K OLED resolution. We can definitely say playing Apex Legends looks slick on this pretty display.
What’s really cool about the Blade 15 is the 4K version supports 100% of the Adobe RGB space. That means you can create your beautiful videos or graphics on this laptop while experiencing the full range of colors the Adobe Design suite offers.
All good displays are backed by amazing graphics. We’ve already mentioned which graphics cards this computer comes with, but what you might not know is the NVIDIA RTX platform has ray-tracing! This means your games have cinematic-quality rendering with AI-enhancing features. When we fired up Battlefield V, we could see the difference. While there’s a lot of room for improvement in graphically enhancing games, it’s still pretty awesome to see it in action. It makes games like Battlefield seem much more realistic. Light and shadows look more lifelike, making for a more cinema-type experience. It’s definitely something you need to try out!
Blade 15, other bits and pieces
Like most gaming laptops, the Razer Blade 15 comes with all the usual connections – HDMI port, Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C), USB 3.2, mini displayport, and audio output. There’s also a reason the advanced model is slightly thinner than the baseline model. The base model (19.9mm) comes with an ethernet adapter. Many gamers like to stay hardwired in, and Razer accounted for this. If you really want ethernet and you just have to own the advanced model, you can always use a Thunderbolt-3-to-ethernet adapter to stay connected.
In terms of storage space, you’ll have plenty. The Blade has up to 512GB SSD built-in, giving you tons of room to hold all your games and video files. If you’re doing a lot on the fly and worried about overheating, have no fear. This machine comes with dual fans and a vapor-filled chamber to keep your computer cooled and running smoothly.
There’s also a webcam equipped for streaming on the fly or video conference calls. Plus, the Blade has a very sweet keyboard. You can choose from the usual 16.8 million backlit colors, and the advanced model comes with more control. Instead of simply choosing your color style, you can individually program and light every single key on the advanced edition. Cool, right?
Colors and prices
And finally, if you’re based in Canada or the US, you have the option to choose the exclusive Mercury White color.
Complete your collection with the newest addition—the limited edition Razer Blade 15 in Mercury White: https://t.co/RjA7rfz8Jo pic.twitter.com/SNCbzEs5vD
— R Λ Z Ξ R (@Razer) October 19, 2018
We think the only real downside to this computer is the battery power. Most gaming laptops will only ever run somewhere between 1 and 5 hours with all the high performance they are outputting. The Blade 15 will run about 4 hours, which is just enough to get you through half a day’s worth of meetings. In reality, most places you travel to – airport, cafes, coworking space, gaming arena – all have power outlets, so we figured battery probably isn’t the biggest concern these days.
So if you think this is the computer for you, what are you waiting for? The Razer Blade 15 starts at $1,599 USD ($2,499 AUD).
