Razer Blade review: Not too big, not too small, but just right

The outstanding middle child

If you look at Razer’s current Blade notebooks, you’ll notice a distinctive tiered approach to the market. With just three different models, there’s little confusion as to the target audience of each notebook, and this has enabled Razer to cover nearly all the bases.

Situated right between the 12.5-inch Blade Stealth ultrabook and the 17.3-inch Blade Pro with its NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, the 14-inch Razer Blade is the middle child of the brood. You know what they say about middle children – overlooked, underestimated, and ultimately unremarkable.

At first glance, it’d be easy to say that of the Razer Blade. It’s not as portable as the Blade Stealth, nor is it as powerful as the Blade Pro, so it seems like a compromise on both ends of the spectrum.

But sometimes compromise isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and the middle road that the Razer Blade has struck out on may turn out to be the one most traversed.

A gaming powerhouse you can tote around

Razer last refreshed the Blade in March, updating its internals with Intel’s latest Kaby Lake processors while keeping the design the same. In recent months, we’ve also seen a renewed focus from various brands on releasing relatively slim – generally under 20mm thick – and portable notebooks to cater to those who want both power and mobility.

There’s the Aftershock PRIME-15 (18.6mm), Acer Triton 700 (18.9mm), and Gigabyte Aero 15 (19.9mm), all of which have joined the MSI GS63VR 6RF Stealth Pro (17.7mm) in packing a 15.6-inch screen onto svelte and light bodies.

The Razer Blade rubs shoulders with this crowd, but it’s slightly more compact with a 14-inch frame and 17.9mm thick body.

The FHD model also weighs just 1.86kg, which is quite impressive for any laptop that features an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB. It isn’t the lightest – that honor goes to the MSI notebook at 1.8kg – but it makes up for that with a smaller chassis that will fit into just about any backpack.

Here’s a quick overview of its specifications:

• 14-inch 1,920 x 1,080-pixel matte IPS display
• Intel Core i7-7700HQ (2.8GHz, 6MB L3 cache)
• 16GB DDR4 2,400MHz RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
• 256GB PCIe M.2 SSD
• Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
• 345 x 235 x 17.9mm

Another nice design decision is the compact 165 watt power brick that comes with the notebook. Most gaming notebooks come with clunky adapters that add their fair share of weight to the baggage you’ve to lug around, but the Blade’s power adapter is among the most portable we’ve seen. For one, it’s just a bit thicker than the Blade itself at 22mm.

It also doesn’t hurt that it looks good as well, and its matte finish and contoured edges fit in nicely with the overall aesthetic of the notebook.

Unlike the smaller Blade Stealth that charges over USB-C Thunderbolt 3 however, the Blade relies on a more conventional charging port, but it does still have a separate 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 port. The Blade may come with a GeForce GTX 1060, but you’ll still be able to hook up a Thunderbolt 3-compatible dock like the Razer Core for still more graphics horsepower.

The Thunderbolt 3 port also doubles as a versatile display output connector, with the ability to connect to DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort and even VGA displays with the right adapter. That said, Razer has included a dedicated HDMI port –  arguably the most common connector used right now – so you don’t have to run to get an adapter all the time.

Other than that, you get three USB 3.1 (Gen 1) Type-A ports, two of which are on the left of the notebook alongside the 3.5mm headphone and microphone combo jack. Razer’s attention to detail is evident here, and both ports have been colored with the company’s signature bright neon green. It’s a small detail, but it gives the notebook a nice bit of flair.

It’s also difficult not to love the gorgeous unibody aluminum chassis, and the Blade’s design plays a big part in its appeal. However, its ebony body does pick up smudges and fingerprints quite easily, so you’ll have to put some work into keeping the Blade in pristine condition.

One drawback of the thin design is the noise, and the two bottom-mounted fans can whip up quite the storm, to the point that you might risk alarming someone with the misfortune to be in the vicinity.

The only consolation is that all that noise isn’t for nothing, and the Blade didn’t give us any troubles with heat. Still, some reviewers have noted that the Blade can become uncomfortably warm when under load, and while this wasn’t a problem for us, your mileage may vary (we only used the notebook in an air-conditioned room).

The trackpad works well enough for most purposes, but it’s not the most reliable or accurate. For one, it sometimes behaved erratically, and often did not select the text we wanted (it took on a mind of its own and selected something else) when we attempted to browse the web or edit a document with it. We’d also have preferred to see the physical left- and right-click buttons removed as they don’t really add anything to the user experience. After all, it's not like any real gamer would be caught using the trackpad. Instead, Razer should have opted to go with a single-piece trackpad that has the left and right button functions integrated to the bottom.

The 1080p screen is good, but is otherwise unremarkable. We're also not a fan of the thick bezels framing the screen. Still, the matte display is useful in cutting down on the glare, unlike the glossy coating on the 4K model. Maybe the colors aren't as punchy as on some of the other laptops (that's not to say that they're not accurate) we've reviewed, but the screen is definitely bright enough for most situations.

The large stereo speakers flank the keyboard on either side, and we’d characterize them as above average for pair of laptop speakers. They can go reasonably loud while maintaining decent clarity, and it's difficult to expect much more from traditionally lackluster notebook speakers.

Finally, the Blade sports Razer’s excellent Chroma lighting effects on its keyboard. We’ve covered what you can do in greater detail in our review of the Razer Blade Stealth, and those comments pretty much apply here. This means per-key customizations and plenty of brilliant effects that will add tons to your street cred (or so you wish).

The chiclet-style keyboard is one of the best parts of the notebook. The Chroma lighting is very, very cool, if gimmicky, and Razer still has one of the best implementations of keyboard backlighting on the market now. That said, the keyboard itself is serviceable, but it can still feel a little shallow, so it’s good for a few hours of work, but maybe not an entire day's worth of typing or gaming.

Test setup and performance

We put the Razer Blade through our usual suite of performance and gaming benchmarks to see how it fared against the competition. For comparisons, we turned to other notebooks equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, such as the Aftershock S-15, ASUS ROG Strix GL502, and the MSI GS63VR 6RF Stealth Pro.

However, our numbers for those models are from older Skylake-equipped versions, so they’re intended as just a rough guideline.

Here’s a list of the benchmarks used:

• PCMark 8
• 3DMark
• VRMark
• Ashes of the Singularity
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
• Tom Clancy’s The Division

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PCMark 8

PCMark 8 attempts to measure the real-world performance of various test systems by putting them through real-world programs and productivity applications. However, because it is reflective of the average workload of a typical user, it does not really highlight the strengths of the respective gaming systems.

The Razer Blade did not outperform its Skylake-equipped counterparts despite its newer processor, which is slightly disappointing. That said, its performance was more or less in line with the other notebooks. The numbers it turned out were also closest to the MSI notebook (the only other notebook under 20mm), and both of them underperformed in the Creative benchmark, so it’s possible that a thinner design does come with a small penalty.

That said, the gaming benchmarks are far more pertinent, and all the PCMark benchmarks show is that the Blade is up to snuff against the competition in basic computing tasks.

3DMark (2013)

3DMark is far more relevant in assessing gaming performance, and it puts the system through a range of graphics and computational performance tests at different resolutions, starting at 1080p and going all the way up to 4K.

The Razer Blade was just marginally behind the other notebooks, and we wouldn't set too much expectations behind those few percentage points in difference. Still, it does look like the more compact form factor of the Blade is a small drag on performance, perhaps due to the limitations on cooling.

VRMark

Futuremark’s new VRMark benchmark is designed to assess a PC’s ability to handle high-performance headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. If a PC passes the Orange Room test, it is ready for the latter two systems.

The performance differential was more significant here, with the ASUS ROG Strix GL502 coming in at around 9 per cent faster than the Razer Blade and Aftershock S-15. That said, the Blade still comfortably passed the Orange Room benchmark, so it’s fit for use with the Vive and Rift, which is nothing to turn your nose up at, especially for a 14-inch laptop.

Ashes of the Singularity

The Blade more or less held its own against the competition, but it was still slightly behind the ASUS and MSI laptops by a few frames. Again, that is no amount to lose sleep over, but it’s still something to be aware of if you’re considering buying it.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

All the tested notebooks did well in Shadow of Mordor, pushing well in excess of the 60fps needed for a decent gaming experience. At Ultra settings, the Blade again trailed the others by a hair, whereas the ASUS notebook did especially well.

Tom Clancy’s The Division

As expected, performance was very close here as well, although Razer’s notebook barely edged ahead of the ASUS and Aftershock laptops at Ultra settings.

With margins as slim as those we’re seeing, it’s difficult to attribute too much import to them, but you could interpret them in one of two ways. The Blade is either a very compact gaming machine with a small performance trade-off, or it delivers great gaming performance for its size.

Temperature

We measured the external temperatures of the four quadrants of the notebook after looping the 3DMark Fire Strike stress test for 15 minutes. This amount of time is more than enough to get an idea of your average maximum running temperature for this workload.

Despite its small size, the Blade fared quite well in our temperature tests. CPU and GPU temperatures were right in the middle of the pack, so clearly its two bottom-mounted fans are putting in some work (as evinced by the noise they produce). That said, the temperatures on the left and right palm rest were slightly higher than the competition, which is probably to be expected, but we can say that they did not get excessively warm in our time with the laptop.

Battery life and power consumption

Our battery life tests involve running the battery life benchmark in PCMark 8 Home at 50 per cent screen brightness with Wi-Fi running.

The Razer Blade did respectably well in our battery life tests, coming in with the longest time of 4 hours and 19 minutes with the keyboard backlight off. In comparison, none of the other notebooks made it past the 200-minute mark. Razer managed to cram a good-sized 70Wh battery on board, and it’s paying off. However there are a few more reasons why the Razer Blade is looking good in this comparison.

First, take note that while the competitors we've put together use 15.6-inch screens, the Razer Blade is the only one that sports a 14-inch screen. Frankly speaking, there aren't many other 14-inch gaming-grade laptops to compare with and a smaller screen contributes to a much lower power consumption. Secondly, the Razer Blade is using a 7th generation Intel Core processor while the rest are still on the 6th generation models. The combination of a smaller screen and a new processor bring about a good deal of power savings as can be witnessed in the second graph below. Unsurprisingly, this translated into the strong battery life result that bodes well for the Blade as a portable machine. After all, it’d be a huge bummer for such a svelte notebook to have terrible battery life that chains you to your desk.

Portability index

Our portability index is an objective measure of how portable a notebook is, taking into account factors like size, weight, and battery life.

As the smallest notebook and the one with the longest lasting battery, it’s no surprised that the Razer Blade sailed to the top of the portability index. We thought the MSI GS63VR 6RF Stealth Pro did well when we first reviewed it, but the Blade absolutely takes the cake here. However, we have to stress again that these results should be taken in the right context. For a notebook with more real estate, the MSI GS63VR 6RF is definitely still king of the hill for portability. The Razer Blade with its smaller 14-inch screen automatically leaps ahead of all the comparisons we've put together and that's no surprise.

Portability isn't something you usually think about when getting a gaming notebook, but as recent trends have shown, it’s something that both companies and consumers want, and the Blade executes this intention beautifully if this is high on your gaming notebook wish list.

Portable gaming done right

The Razer Blade is a study in how to make a portable gaming laptop. That phrase is something of an oxymoron, and until recently, most laptops claiming to be such were only half-worthy of the term.

But the release of NVIDIA’s Pascal GPUs have unlocked a whole new level of performance for laptops, and it’s now possible to cram a desktop GeForce GTX 1060 into a notebook. Razer has taken full advantage of that fact with the Blade to create a truly portable gaming notebook.

Its 14-inch frame packs a respectable amount of performance, which while not class-leading, is much more than we could even expect from a notebook this size up until recently. The Blade is a very attractive proposition for those who game a lot away from their desks, or simply want a portable system for both work and play.

Of course, it has its flaws, such as very noisy fans and a rather shallow key travel distance, but those are ultimately small sacrifices for a very good and beautifully-crafted laptop.

Our review unit with a 1080p display and 256GB SSD costs S$2,899, which is hardly cheap, but that is still more affordable than the MSI GS63VR 6RF Stealth Pro that costs S$3,199. Razer also makes a 4K model, but that isn’t available to buy here, and we wouldn’t recommend it even if it were given that the GeForce GTX 1060 is still best paired with a FHD screen. Not to mention that you really can't appreciate the quality improvements for such a high resolution screen at only 14 inches across.

The recent slew of slim, portable notebooks also mean that the Blade is facing stiffer competition than ever, but the majority of those are 15.6-inch models. There’s the 14-inch Gigabyte Aero 14, but it’s difficult to match Razer’s build quality and polish, so you’re really paying for the premium construction and its compact frame.

Finally, you also get a gorgeous, eye-catching design and a blissfully clean operating system, which is more than can be said about a lot of the other gaming laptops. Bloatware is a huge drag on the initial experience, and it’s about time manufacturers realize that a laptop that looks like it dropped out of a spaceship from the 25th-century is not exactly a beacon of design excellence.

The only other point of contention is how much of a gaming experience can you appreciate from a 14-inch screen as opposed to the more common 15.6-inch gaming notebook models, for which there are plenty of choices. This clearly boils down to personal needs like high portability, yet wanting to have great gaming hardware equivalent to the larger notebooks. If so, the Razer Blade is your clear choice. However, if you clearly prioritize the need for a larger screen for better visual impact, which is quite important for gaming casually or professionally, you should consider the 15.6-inch gaming notebook tier instead.

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