The 2015 Razer Blade Review
by Brett Howse on February 11, 2015 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Razer
- Razer Blade
- Notebooks
- GTX970M
Design and Chassis
Internally, Razer outfitted the new Blade with a new CPU, GPU, and more system memory. But the chassis of the 2015 Blade has not changed at all. That is not really a bad thing though, since the Razer Blade already carried with it a fantastic CNC aluminum body. Comparisons are often made with the Retina MacBook Pro, and for good reason. Both are solid computers made of nicely crafted aluminum, and the overall dimensions of the Razer Blade are very similar to the 15 inch Retina MacBook Pro.
Also identical to the 2014 Blade is the matte black finish of the anodized aluminum, which feels great and resists fingerprints. The accents are all in “Razer Green” which is consistent across their product line. The USB accents, the keyboard backlighting, the power LED, and the Razer symbol on the back of the LCD are all represented in this shade.
The body of the Razer Blade is very strong, with no flexing or creaking to be had. The top of the lid keeps the two ridges running down the length of the display, which give a nice effect and likely increase rigidity.
The cooling system is also similar. Underneath the Razer Blade, there are two air intakes, which cool the CPU and GPU and push the heated air out into a vent between the display and the back of the laptop. This keeps the vent hidden from view, and makes for a great looking laptop, although the hot air can heat up the top part of the keyboard when the laptop is being worked hard.
We will see how well the cooling system handles the changes later in the review. It now has an additional ten watts of power to dissipate from the new CPU, and an even more powerful GPU, albeit one that is more power efficient as well.
The keyboard is also unchanged, and while it is a great keyboard, with good key travel, and nice feel, this is one area where Razer may have a chance to allow more customization. The “Razer Green” is adjustable as far as intensity, but it would be great to allow more user customization like the Razer Chroma keyboard, or at least color adjustability by the end user.
The trackpad on the Razer Blade is very large, and incredibly smooth. This is not a clickpad, and keeps the dedicated left and right click buttons under the trackpad. This is a layout that I prefer, but this is a preference and others may prefer the added real estate that a clickpad affords them. Regardless, it is a great trackpad. The smooth surface is very easy to move around on, and there were no issues that I found with two finger scrolling or other gestures.
Beside the keyboard is the front facing stereo speakers, and the sides of the device carry the three USB 3.0 ports, the 3.5 mm headset jack, HDMI 1.4 port, and the Kensington lock. An SD card slot would be nice, but is still lacking on the 2015 model. Those hoping for HDMI 2.0 are out of luck. In order to enable NVIDIA Optimus graphics switching, the output actually comes from the integrated GPU. Since Haswell only supports HDMI 1.4, the Razer Blade outputs on the HDMI 1.4b spec which limits the output to 3840x2160 at 30 Hz. Razer has told me that their data shows that more people prefer HDMI at this time, so they are sticking with this over DisplayPort for the external monitor connection.
Razer latops continue the elegant look of the black anodized aluminum, with no garish extras. Though it would be nice to allow for more user customization, it is difficult to fault Razer when they have been so consistent in their styling. The green perfectly matches their other products such as mice and headsets. Though they made no changes to the design of the laptop for 2015, there was little need to, since it was already very high quality, and with great components.
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Oxford_Guy - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
For me 14" is the perfect size, not too big, not too small. 15.6" laptops have become even more bloated these days, as everyone seems to add a pointless numpad to thempuppies - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
Is "only" 8GB of RAM really a problem? What % of people that buy these machines ever get close to utilising anywhere near that amount? These are gaming machines, i'm sure the odd graphics designer buys one for 3d rendering but i'm sure that 99% of people that spec the 16GB haven't got a clue that it does nothing to speed up BF4 and facebook.sviola - Sunday, February 15, 2015 - link
Well, I was to buy a laptop a couple of weeks ago, and did not buy the Razer because it did not have a 16 GB option. Part of my decision was based on the price (at this price, 16 GB is a must) and, more important, due to my usage of the laptop (I'm always running at least one VM, a app server, ide and db server, so 16 GB do come in handy).MGSMiami - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
."...$2700 for 512 GB. It is a lot of money for a 14” gaming laptop. Luckily the quality of the components really are top notch. For the money, you get a great display," Personal preferences aside, I don't believe the kind of gaming experience for which this laptop is built can be savored on a 14" high-rez screen...So many people use their laptops as desktop replacements, I just can't imagine the experience of the game on an itsby-bitsy weeny-teeny screen with all those powerful components aside. I game on a 55" LG and the experience is thrilling. My notebook is 17.3" Asus ROG and that is about the limit for screen real estate, resolution issues aside. I'm not a fan of razer products, nor their marketing strategy...Now let's wait for a similar review for the new iteration coming in February of 2016.DanB1 - Sunday, February 15, 2015 - link
This laptop is obviously a niche product, and whilst you have selected a 17" as your choice, I'm sure there are others that this laptop would suit better. I've had a 17" gamin laptop, and it's hardly what you would call portable for a day to day role. Additionally the size of a 15" laptop can be a drawback also in terms of specific size requirements for carriage, in my example, I don't want to carry around a larger backpack just to facilitate the size of my laptop. The 14" size for me is great. In my view this laptop fits into what I would like in a laptop, the ability to casually play the latest AAA games at night whilst I'm on the road, combined with just enough battery to facilitate my work needs during the day. Combined with the build quality, tiny PSU and the fact it isn't a Mac makes this one of two laptops I am currently considering purchasing. I think I would prefer the 1080p version, especially it provides slightly longer battery life, although as with all gaming laptops I am not expecting to be able to game whilst unplugged... you can't even do that in a 17" example...GekkePrutser - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
One thing I really don't get: why didn't they go for Broadwell??Brett Howse - Sunday, February 15, 2015 - link
The quad-core Broadwell CPUs are not out yet. Just the dual-core 15w versions.Shadowmaster625 - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
$2199.99 for 128GB QHD+ Model$2399.99 for 256GB QHD+ Model
WTF Why are companies still pulling this kind of crap in 2015? Two hundred dollars for 128GB?
Coldkilla - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link
When can we expect to find this on Amazon? I have $200 in gift cards I'd like to apply to purchasing one of these but all I see is the 2014 model currently.colint13 - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link
Will there be a review of the Gigabyte P34W v3? Similar specs as the 1080p 2015 Blade but for $300 less.