My Laptop Version: Razer Blade 15 Base Gaming Laptop 2020: Intel Core i7-10750H 6-Core, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q, 15.6" 4K OLED, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, CNC Aluminum, Chroma RGB, Thunderbolt 3, Creator Ready, Black
My uses for this laptop are video editing (Davinci Resolve), gaming, word processing, and web browsing.
PROS:
-Dat screen. I mean...have you seen a better one on a laptop? Any 4K movies or shows you watch on this are sure to dazzle on that practically unrivaled OLED screen. Sure, it's only a 60hz refresh rate but very few computers can run 4K at 60FPS anyway. You have to see the look of the screen in person to really understand. Very bright and vivid colors. Especially if you are into video editing or Photoshop, this will add a whole new dimension to your workflow.
-Build quality. I've never owned a laptop that was built better and looked snazzier than the Razer Blade 15. Everything about it screams quality. It's as if Apple designed it, and you caught them during a year when they like black and high-end gaming. It's a high compliment to the team at Razer. Besides, I needed a gaming laptop that I could also bring around clients, and this meets that need bigtime. Slap a dBrand skin on it if you don't like the snake logo.
-Performance. Outriders came out yesterday. I played it at 4K 30fps; it was gorgeous, and rarely ever had a hitch or stutter. It was surprising how smooth it played. Not every game is this way though, it may depend on how the game is optimized. Crackdown 3 for example, CHUGS at 4K Ultra or High, and there are just some games where you have to turn the overall graphics/texture quality down to achieve a stable framerate. OR you could downscale to 1440p and be totally fine. I don't count that against the Razer Blade. Because then I check out other games like Forza Horizon 4 in 4K, and I drool all over again.
Keyboard: There has been a lot said about if this is a good keyboard or not, is this enough travel distance for the keys, blah blah blah. Me personally, I really like this keyboard. I have been doing some intense writing on it lately, and I am FLYING on it. At no point did I think to myself that this isn't comfortable or I don't like this keyboard. I wasn't even thinking about it, just typing away. I was worried that I wouldn't like the design of the arrow keys, but I ended up having zero problems with it when actually using it.
Trackpad: Before this laptop arrived at my door, I was shopping for which Razer mouse to pair with this. Now that I have tried the trackpad, I genuinely don't know if I will go through with ordering an additional mouse (I mostly game on the laptop with an Xbox Controller for Windows, so no need for a gaming mouse). The trackpad is that good, and I typically hate using trackpads. The trackpad is huge, and does everything you need it to. There have been a few instances where some part of my hand will accidentally brush against it as I am typing, and my cursor in Word will warp me to earlier in my paragraph. But it is not a huge issue whatsoever.
-RGB Lighting: For the Base model, it is not per-key lighting, it is the same RGB lighting for the entire keyboard, and you pick your color and/or how you want the color cycle to go. It's all very easy through the Razer Synapse app. This kind of lighting is really sharp looking and more than enough for me.
CONS:
-As many reviewers have mentioned, the laptop runs a little hot when gaming, video editing, or doing some other intensive task. IMHO, the major hot spot is not where the hands should rest in front of the keyboard, it is the space between the screen and the keyboard that gets surprisingly hot. But that's a spot you would rarely ever touch. The heat is virtually non-existent if you are doing something like web browsing or word processing. Me personally, I bought a laptop cooling pad and never looked back. I have gotten precisely zero BSODs or game crashes.
-There may be times you open up your laptop and the OLED screen is acting like it just woke up from a nap and is not all there yet. It's dimmer than you remember, or just suddenly looks like a normal laptop screen. One of two things will happen. Either the OLED screen will eventually brighten all on it's own after sufficiently waking up, or you can tap that brightness Function key to make it snap out of it. This setting is on by default and I have not yet discovered how to prevent the auto-dimming, but it is not a major issue, just a slight annoyance to have to wait a moment to see that OLED greatness.
- As beautiful as the laptop design is, the black aluminum chassis is a fingerprint magnet. It does come with a Razer branded microfiber cloth to buff them out, and it does work. But I personally recommend some kind of non-alcoholic wet wipe, such as a Dude Wipe or Baby Wipes, as it dries quickly and the end result is spotless. But what will likely happen instead is that you just accept it how it is, fingerprints and all. Who has the time to constantly buff all that out?
-Speakers? I don't know, I see reviewers complaining about lesser quality speakers on this, but I watched Zack Snyder's Justice League on the Razer Blade and enjoyed the heck out of the audio. I'm kind of an audiophile myself and I never noticed an issue with the sound quality or volume level. But if you do notice something, use headphones. You were probably going to anyway.
In conclusion, this is quite simply the best laptop I've ever owned, and I do not regret the purchase one iota. Sure there are some slight cons, but there are workarounds to each of them, I've shown you what they are. Besides, any perceived con you think that this laptop has will be washed away by the 4K OLED goodness. It's a treat to use it, and I don't think you'll regret it.
| Standing screen display size | 15.6 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels |
| Max Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Processor | 5 GHz core_i7_family |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR4 |
| Memory Speed | 2933 MHz |
| Hard Drive | 512 GB SSD |
| Graphics Coprocessor | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q |
| Chipset Brand | NVIDIA |
| Card Description | Dedicated |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 8 GB |
| Wireless Type | Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 3 |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 6 Hours |
