Razer has gaming laptops large and small, often pushing the edge of what a portable PC can do when it comes to performance and design. With the 2024 models of the Razer Blade laptops already out, the 2023 Razer Blade 14 and Blade 15 are on sale.

Several versions of the Razer Blade 14 and Blade 15 are discounted. The most affordable of the bunch is a Blade 14 with an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. Of course, that raises the question of if you can refer to any laptop in this price range as affordable, but I digress. That model is currently listed at $2,199.99 but you can get it for $1,999.99 using our exclusive promo code "BLADE200" added at checkout. The Razer Blade 15 starts at $2,199.99, but it's also down to $1,999.99 with the same promo code.

Razer Blade 14 review highlights

The Razer Blade 14 got refreshed with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics last year, packing in enough juice to power the best PC games. Add in a 240Hz panel that hits 100% DCI-P3, and you have an excellent gaming laptop. The main drawback of the Blade 14 was its price.

I'll rip the band-aid off right away. Even with a discount the Razer Blade 14 is not a cheap laptop. What it is, however, is one of the best Windows laptops you can buy, especially if you're into gaming.

Our Channel Editor Ben Wilson addressed the price tag of the laptop in his Razer Blade 14 review:

"The Blade 14 does everything it claims to. If you're pondering whether it'll be a disappointment after buying, it won't, but those with this kind of money to burn are arguably uninterested in the finer details.

For a limited time, our exclusive promo code takes $200 off the Razer Blade 14. That takes a bit of the sticker shock away and gets the laptop under the $2,000 mark.

One of the standout features of the Razer Blade 14 is its display. The 16:10 panel has a QHD+ (2560 x 1600) resolution, a 240Hz refresh rate, and a 3ms response time. While there are quicker panels available now, 240Hz is more than enough for most people, including hard core gamers.

Color accuracy is a standout for the screen as well. "Razer tells no lies, with benchmarks proving the Blade 14 can hit 100% accuracy in the DCI-P3 color gamut," said Wilson. That screen can reach up to 552 nits as well, which is quite bright for a laptop.

Razer Blade 15

As its name suggests, the Blade 15 is a larger laptop with a 15-inch display. 14 inches is about as small as you can get a laptop these days, so a 15-inch screen is noticeably larger. A few different versions of the Blade 15 are on sale, all of which run an Intel Core i7-13800H processor. Each of them also has a screen with a 240Hz refresh rate.

The differences between the different Blade 15 laptops are memory, storage, and GPU. The more affordable options have an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 while the pricier model has an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070. The high-end Blade 15 also has 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage.

Labor Day is an excellent time to pick up a PC. It's also the last time that we'll see some of the best laptops on sale until Black Friday. Back to school sales are wrapping up and other promotions are in the rearview mirror, making Labor Day a last hurrah for laptop shoppers.

Right now, you can save hundreds of dollars on a budget-friendly HP laptop, a powerful gaming laptop from Razer, and much more. While many of these discounts were attached to Labor Day, they're still available on the Tuesday after the holiday.

Some of the prices have gone up by $20, such as the HP ENVY 2-in-1 at Best Buy. Others, like the Razer Blade 17 (up $300) have seen bigger price shifts since Labor Day.

Best Labor Day laptop deal

All of the deals above are worth a look and the best one for you will depend on your specific needs. But if I had to recommend one deal out of the bunch, I'd suggest the HP ENVY 2-in-1 15. Finding a great laptop for under $500 used to be almost impossible. With the right deal, however, you can get a solid PC in that price range. That's the case with the ENVY 2-in-1 at $499.99 on Labor Day.

The ENVY 2-in-1 is a convertible PC that's good for schoolwork or general productivity. Its specs aren't spectacular, but they're enough for everyday computing. The laptop also has a nice design, support for fast charging, and can flip around into different positions.

If my friend or family member asked me which laptop to get on Labor Day, I'd recommend the HP ENVY 2-in-1 15. It delivers a solid experience without breaking the bank.

A massive Razer sale slashes prices on laptops spanning across sizes. Both the Razer Blade 15 and Blade 17 are all on sale as part of Intel Gamer Days. Discounts save you up to $1,200, which is 40% off on certain models. There are also some benefits for those who pick up a newer Blade 16 or Blade 18.

With powerful internals, speedy screens, and sleek designs, Razer laptops often make our list of the best gaming laptops. Today's deals are a good way to upgrade your gaming setup without breaking the bank.

Before you jump in and pick up a laptop, note that only the older Blade 15 and Blade 17 are on sale. You can, however, get a free copy of Assassins' Creed: Mirage and Nightingale when you purchase any of the laptops on Razer's Intel Gamer Days page, including the Blade 16 and Blade 18.

The Razer Blade 15 and Blade 17 are available with 12th Gen Intel Core processors and NVIDIA RTX 30-series GPUs (the Blade 15 also has an option with newer internals but it's not discounted). Those aren't the latest processors on the market, but they're still enough to handle the best PC games. The Razer Blade 16 and Blade 18 run on 13th Gen Intel Core CPUs and RTX 40-series graphics cards.

The Razer sales went live today and run through September 4, 2023, giving you a little over one week to see if any of the laptops deserve a spot in your bag.

As we near the end of July, many sites are already boasting Back to School deals to help prepare us for September's onslaught of life admin. Amongst the drudgery of school uniform and stationary deals are some genuinely exciting discounts to be had, none more inviting than the 40% discount being offered via the Razer Education Purchase Program.

This amazing discount of some of Razer's best gaming laptops is not just for students, but parents of students, and educational staff. If you have access to a valid edu email address you can take advantage of these discounts off laptops such as the Razer Blade range. Read on for our best picks and how to access these incredible deals from July 19 to September 9 only.

In addition to the above laptops, there is 15% off periphials and accessories, and 50% off RazerCare with any purchase of a RazerBlade laptop.

What is RazerCare?

RazerCare is a plan that extends the protection of your Razer products past the standard limited warranty. You benefit from 24-hour claim support, free shipping for repairs, unit replacements and free transfer of the plan to a new owner. Some products also include surge protection and accidental damage cover. The price of RazerCare varies depending on your chosen item, but with the Razer Education Purchase Program you'll get 50% off. 

How can I join the Razer Education Purchase Program?

• Step 1 - Register - Check your place of education is a Razer Education Partner, if not you can express your interest. Alternatively, log in with UNiDAYS.
• Step 2 - Login to your account with your edu email address.
• Step 3 - Shop at Razer.com and add products to your cart, the Education Purchase Program pricing will already be applied to eligible products.

Are you ready?

If you're not looking to go all out on a Razer laptop, we've got other options in our Back to School section such as the Best Budget laptops for under $500 and for even more portable solutions check out the Best Tablets for engineering students. 

It's Gaming Week at the Razer Store on Amazon. That means you can save big on gaming laptops and accessories. It's worth browsing the entire sale to see if anything sticks out for your particular gaming setup, but the Razer Blade 15 offers some of the biggest savings.

The biggest savings, at least by percentage, is the model with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU. It's discounted to $2,000, which is a savings of $1,000 (33%).

While those internals are now one generation old, they are still powerful enough to handle the best PC games. Your favorite titles should look great as well on the QHD display with a refresh rate of 240Hz.

When the Blade 15 launched, it was the only gaming laptop on the market with a 240Hz QHD display. Paired with its 1ms response time, the screen of the Blade 15 is a lovely canvas for fast gameplay.

If you want portable power in a bigger laptop, the Razer Blade 17 is also discounted right now. The model with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 and RTX 3070 Ti is on sale for 38% off, bringing its price from $3,200 to $2,000.

If you prefer to have the latest tech, the Razer Blade 18 launched earlier this year. While it isn't discounted right now, it is a powerful and stunning piece of hardware. It runs on up to a 13th Gen Intel Core i9 and NVIDIA RTX 4090.

What you need to know

• Razer just launched its Blade 15 model for 2023.
• The laptop runs on a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40-series graphics.
• The Razer Blade 15 starts at $2,500 and is available starting today.

Razer has a new thin-and-powerful laptop on the market. The company just launched the 2023 model of its Razer Blade 15. The PC features a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13800H CPU paired with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40-series graphics. Those looking for the most powerful model available can order the Blade 15 with up to an RTX 4070. The Razer Blade 15 can be purchased today with a starting price of $2,500.

Despite its powerful internals, the Razer Blade 15 comes in at under 4.5 lbs. It features a 16:9 QHD display with a refresh rate of 240Hz. That screen has a response time of 2.5ms and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. It's also NVIDIA G-SYNC Ready.

We'll have to see the Razer Blade 15 in real-world tests to fully judge it, but based on its spec sheet, it should make our list of the best Windows laptops.

The storage and memory of the Blade 15 are upgradeable. It's possible to swap the storage of the laptop to up to 4TB and the RAM up to 64GB.

Enhanced vapor chamber cooling and the laptop's exhaust fins should help prevent overheating when running the best PC games or other demanding applications.

The new Blade 15 has an 80Wh battery and Razer states that the laptop should get up to six hours of battery life. Of course, that figure will depend greatly depending what games or apps the PC is running.

If you're looking for a laptop with a larger display, Razer launched its Blade 16 and Blade 18 earlier this month. Both of those PCs also feature NVIDIA RTX 40-series GPU and high-end specs.

What you need to know

• Razer just announced the Blade 15 featuring a 240Hz QHD OLED display.
• The gaming laptop runs on an Intel Core i9 CPU paired with an RTX 3070 Ti GPU.
• The Razer Blade 15 will be available in Q4 2022 with a starting price of $3,500.

Razer just announced a powerful new version of the Blade 15 gaming laptop with a QHD OLED display with a refresh rate of 240Hz. Inside, the Razer Blade 15 runs on a 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H CPU and an NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti laptop GPU. Those internals are paired with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 1TB of SSD storage.

While the internals of the Razer Blade 15 stack up comparably to the best gaming laptops, the standout of the device is its display. Razer calls the screen of the Blade 15 the world's first 240Hz QHD OLED laptop display. That panel covers 100% DCI-P3 and reaches 400 nits of brightness. In addition to its swift 240Hz refresh rate, the Blade 15's screen has a response time of 1ms.

Razer rounds out the Blade 15 with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an additional M.2 slot for storage. The laptop has Thunderbolt 4, USB-C, and USB-A ports, as well as full-sized SD and HDMI ports.

The new Razer Blade 15 will launch in Q4 2022 with a starting price of $3,500.

Both the XPG Xenia 15 KC and the Razer Blade 15 are excellent gaming laptops, but the XPG Xenia 15 KC is ultimately the better choice if you're looking for a device equipped with an RTX 3070. The Razer Blade 15, meanwhile, is better for other configurations.

XPG Xenia 15 KC vs. Razer Blade 15: Pricing and specs

In many ways, both the XPG Xenia 15 KC and the Razer Blade 15 are incredibly similar — as long as you're only looking at the mid-range RTX 3070 configurations of the Blade 15. In this instance, both laptops have an RTX 3070, a powerful Intel Core 11th Gen i7-11800H CPU, plenty of RAM and storage (notably, the Xenia 15 KC has 32GB of memory compared to the Blade 15's 16GB), a healthy selection of great I/O ports, and top-notch 1440p 165Hz displays (you can opt for a FHD 360Hz display on the Blade 15 if you want). In this spec range, the XPG Xenia 15 KC is a few hundred dollars cheaper than the Blade 15, giving it a clear advantage. The only benefit of buying a Razer Blade 15 with these specs is that its nine-hour battery life trumps the six to seven hours that the XPG Xenia 15 KC is capable of.

Where the Razer Blade 15 takes the lead is in situations where you'd prefer to either have a more powerful RTX 3080 GPU or a more affordable RTX 3060. The Razer Blade 15 has configurations with these graphics cards available, but the XPG Xenia 15 KC does not. This prevents you from getting a Xenia 15 KC with the hardware that you want, making the Razer Blade 15 the clear choice in this scenario. The Blade 15 also has an option for the i9-11900H CPU, which offers considerably better performance than the i7-11800H. Note that regardless of configuration or model, both the XPG Xenia 15 KC and Razer Blade 15 have excellent keyboards, an enjoyable trackpad, and sleek, premium designs with RGB-backlit keys.

XPG Xenia 15 KC vs. Razer Blade 15: Which should you buy?

Both of these gaming laptops are fantastic, and the one that will be the best for you largely depends on context. Do you want a mid-range gaming device that's more affordable than the Razer Blade 15's RTX 3070 configuration? The XPG Xenia 15 KC will be a better pick since it offers near-identical performance for a lower price.

However, you should opt for the Razer Blade 15 if you're looking for longer battery life, a more budget-friendly RTX 3060 system, or a beefy RTX 3080 system with an i9-11900H. The wider array of configurations mean that the Blade 15 is perfect for people who aren't looking for a mid-range RTX 3070 system.

For more fantastic options, check out our roundup of the best gaming laptops available.

What you need to know

• Razer launched the Razer Book and Razer Blade 15 Advanced laptops today with Windows 11 preinstalled.
• The Razer Book now has a starting price of $1,000, compared to its previous starting price of $1,200.
• Razer also clarified that Windows 11 upgrades will roll out to existing laptops starting today.

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced and Razer Book laptops are now available with Windows 11 preloaded. Both devices rank among the best Windows laptops. Now, people who order a Razer Blade 15 Advanced or the Razer Book don't have to worry about the upgrade process; they'll receive their laptops with Windows 11 preinstalled.

The Razer Book has a 16:10 4K display made with Corning Gorilla Glass. Its chassis is made from milled aluminum. On the inside, it runs on an 11th Gen Intel Core processor with Intel Xe graphics. Alongside the news that the Razer Book will now come with Windows 11 preinstalled, the laptop has a new starting price of $1,000.

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced laptop gains new display options today, featuring QHD resolution, 240Hz refresh rates, 100% DCI-P3 color space, NVIDIA Advanced Optimus, and NVIDIA G-Sync.

Razer also confirmed that all of its software and peripherals are fully compatible with Windows 11. Many Razer laptops will also be able to upgrade to Windows 11. You can check Razer's website for a full list of compatible laptops.

From the outside, these two laptops look very similar but its underneath where the differences lie. For the most part, the Blade 15 is still the best gaming laptop. The Blade 14 is insanely powerful, but it has some quirks you simply don't get on the Intel-powered Blade 15 and a higher base asking price.

Razer Blade 15 vs. Razer Blade 14: Tech specs

Both laptops offer powerful CPUs and GPUs paired with fast storage, RAM, and great displays. But besides the size, the biggest difference is the AMD CPU in the Razer Blade 14. And that makes more difference than you might expect.

Razer Blade 15 vs. Razer Blade 14: Performance

Ultimately the exact performance differences will come down to which GPU option you go for. The Razer Blade 14 is limited to the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080, while the Blade 15 has a broader choice beginning with the RTX 3060. But for a gaming laptop, this is no slouch. Going up to the higher end you have the choice of an RTX 3070 or RTX 3080 in each, up to 1TB of PCIe SSD storage and 3200MHz RAM.

RAM is limited to 16GB in the Blade 14 on account of its smaller size — the memory is soldered to the motherboard. 16GB is plenty though for gaming, even other heavy workloads, just know there's no upgrade path.

It's the CPU really that makes the difference. As you can see in these benchmark charts, the Intel-powered Blade 15 is on par or slightly in front in two tests, but the AMD Ryzen 9 absolutely destroys any other laptop chip in the Cinebench R23 benchmark. The 10-minute, multi-core render test shows just how much CPU power is on tap in the Blade 14.

When it comes to gaming, the two are evenly matched. In most titles, you're going to be GPU not CPU bound, and while Intel traditionally does a little better than AMD, it's not going to be anything significant between the two.

The problems lie with the Blade 14 on battery power, and this one could end up being a make-or-break decision. AMD implements a number of restrictions on a system level when on battery, even to the point of slowing down the SSD by about half. All in the name of extending battery life as much as possible.

As such it makes it a harder recommendation to anyone who will be working away from a power outlet. You'll never notice during gaming, as without being powered you won't be able to max out performance regardless, but as a work tool or for something like editing photos and videos on the go, it becomes less attractive.

The good news is you don't get any of these artificial slowdowns on the Razer Blade 15. Intel systems are generally very good at power management, and it makes this the one to get for folks who will be going truly mobile.

What you need to know

• The Razer Blade 17 and Razer 15 Base Model are getting updated with Intel's latest H-series processors.
• The Razer Blade 17 starts at $2,399.99, gets a new HD webcam, faster memory, and an anti-fingerprint coating.
• The Razer Blade 15 starts at $1,799.99 with an updated CPU and GPU.

The Razer Blade 17's always been a lightweight monster of a machine, and Razer intends to keep it that way in 2021, jamming it full of new hardware to help keep it on the cutting edge of tech. If you're interested in learning about two of the best gaming laptops' latest iterations, here's the rundown of what to expect.

First, there's the big get of both machines having the latest Intel 11th Gen H-series processors. You'll get a Core i7-11800H with the Blade 15 Base Model and a Core i9-11900H with the Blade 17, meaning that with either system, you'll be more than equipped to run games and stay relevant in laptop circles for a good few years.

Those processors will be accompanied by the RTX 3070 and 3080, respectively. But powerhouse processors and GPUs aren't everything. There are other bells and whistles accompanying these refreshed laptops, including an updated Full HD 1080p webcam for the Blade 17. The Blade 17 also sports an anti-fingerprint resistive coating to help ensure you don't smudge up the chassis. Both machines boast Thunderbolt 4 connectivity and faster memory compared to their predecessors.

Razer Blade 15 Base Model

Razer Blade 17

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These aren't the only Razer machines to receive updates in recent memory. Just a few short months ago, the regular Blade 15 got its refresh. Expect the cycle to continue for the foreseeable future, meaning if you miss out on this update, there'll always be another one a few months later to help make you a couple thousand dollars lighter. And keep in mind that Razer laptops frequently crop up in Black Friday and Prime Day sales. If you want a portable gaming machine with Intel's latest hardware and are eager to save a few bucks along the way, consider waiting for those event periods.

What you need to know

• Razer is refreshing its Blade 15 and Blade Pro 17 laptops.
• New 360Hz display options are being offered.
• Both will have options for the new NVIDIA RTX 3080 GPU.
• Blade 15 goes on sale Jan 12; Blade 17 Pro in the coming months.

CES 2021 is taking a very different form this year to the norm but the support from the usual names is as big as ever. Razer is a CES regular and this year has once again come out swinging by updating its two larger gaming laptops ready for the year ahead.

Laptop hardware advancements don't stay still for long and both the Blade 15 and Blade Pro are always on the bleeding edge. This is as true for early 2021 as ever.

Starting first with the Blade 15 and the big story here is upgraded displays, better internal options from the factory, and NVIDIA's latest and greatest laptop GPUs. The choice between lower resolution with high refresh rates and high-resolution panels remains, but now the upper limit is a whopping 360Hz, while the lower tier is now up to 165Hz.

These aren't IPS panels but are "IPS grade" in so much as they maintain the good color reproduction and excellent viewing angles you would associate with such displays. Whether you really need 360Hz is a different question, as I found when looking at 2020's 300Hz Razer Blade 15. Nevertheless, with NVIDIA continuing to turn up the heat with graphics power, more frames are certainly coming.

What's new in the Blade 15 line is the high refresh rate QHD display option that will be available on the Blade 15 Advanced. This panel will offer both a 240Hz refresh rate and G-Sync, for fast, smooth, tear-free gaming. And as is traditional on a Razer Blade 15, all displays have high color accuracy, with at least 95% sRGB support and 100% DCI-P3 on the Base Model and 4K OLED variants.

Getting over to the graphics power, and thanks to NVIDIA, the Blade 15 will contain up to the next generation RTX 3080 GPU with up to 16GB of VRAM on tap and NVIDIA's second-generation ray tracing technology. This is particularly noteworthy for Razer since the only previous 16GB Blade 15 was the Quadro RTX 5000 spec Studio Edition. As ever, the Blade 15 uses Intel's top Core i7 H-Series chips.

Also new for the Blade 15 lineup is the option to get 32GB of RAM out of the box and choose an upgrade to 64GB, but the RAM is still user upgradeable so you don't have to decide right away. Under the hood the newest Blade 15 will also have an empty NVMe SSD slot available to add a second drive if you wish.

Connectivity remains as good as ever, with a multitude of I/O onboard, including HDMI 2.1 and USB-C 3.2 Gen 2.

The new Razer Blade 15 starts at $1,700 and will be available for pre-order exclusively at Razer.com and Razer Store locations on January 12 and for purchase from select third-party retailers beginning January 26.

Also updated at CES 2021 is the Razer Blade Pro, the 17-inch powerhouse which gets a similar treatment to the Blade 15 on the internals front. Of course, the big draw is the larger display, and being able to get both 4K and 120Hz on the same panel is sure to be a draw to the most demanding gamers or content creators.

In between the 1080p 360Hz and 4K 120Hz options is a new QHD 165Hz panel, so both gamers and content creators have plenty of options. It also sports 16GB or 32GB of RAM, which is upgradeable, and up to a 1TB NVMe SSD, paired with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7.

Like the Blade 15, the Blade Pro also gets the latest NVIDIA laptop GPUs up to the RTX 3080, while retaining the same great design, I/O, and internal options as last year's model.

The new Razer Blade Pro 17 starts at $2,300 and will be available first exclusively at Razer.com and Razer Store locations in the first half of 2021 with third-party retailers to follow.

What you need to know

• Razer announced a new Blade 15 Base model with a lower starting price.
• The most affordable Blade 15 Base model has an Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics.
• The new Blade 15 Base model costs $1,500 and is available for preorder now.

Razer announced a new Blade 15 Base model that's more affordable than its more powerful siblings. The new Blade 15 Base model still features the same design, including its CNC-finished aluminum body and matte black anodized finish, but it costs just $1,500. The previous lowest price of the Razer Blade Base model was $1,600, so you shave off $100 while still being able to get an excellent laptop.

The Razer Blade 15 is on our best Windows laptops list, is the top pick on our best gaming laptops list, and was crowned the best gaming laptop in our best of 2020 list. In other words, we love the laptop, and now you can grab one for less than before.

The new Blade 15 Base model has a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10750H 6 core processors and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti with 6GB of GDDR6 VRAM. The display of the new Blade 15 Base model is a 15.6-inch display with a refresh rate of 120Hz. It covers 100 percent sRGB, so you should expect excellent color accuracy. The laptop also comes with a 256GB SSD and 16GB of RAM.

The new base model is a nice addition to the Blade 15 lineup that makes it just a bit easier and more affordable to grab such a highly-rated device. It's worth noting though, that right now you can grab a slightly better model for the same $1,500 thanks to a sale. It has the same processor, GPU, and other core components, except it has a faster 144Hz display.

The more affordable Blade 15 base model has a lower starting price, and that price should stick around even after the holidays, but if you're picking a Blade 15 up right now, it's a better bargain to grab the 144Hz model.

We've talked much over the years about the Razer Blade 15 and with good reason. It's one of our favorite laptops and has been our pick for best gaming laptop for quite some time now. And so what follows isn't a review, because the Blade 15 in question isn't technically new.

What is new is the 300Hz display option that comes with it and that's the reason that Razer sent it our way. In what feels like no time at all, gaming laptop displays have reached ludicrous speeds. I still use a pair of gaming monitors on my desk that 'only' have 144Hz.

But 300Hz? That's crazy. Having never actually seen one of these super ultra lightning fast displays in person, I snapped up the chance. Is a 300Hz display the next thing you should be putting on your gaming laptop shopping list? That really depends if you're going to spend more for it, because right now I'd say it's certainly filed under "luxury purchase."

Does that mean the Razer Blade 15 300Hz display isn't worth it?

Far from it. Razer's attention to detail on the Blade laptops is first-rate and this is no exception. It's a gorgeous looking 1080p matte display with great colors and brightness. And yes, it's fast. Absolutely ridiculously fast.

When it comes to buying a gaming laptop for, you know, gaming, this is also a far better option than the 4K OLED, both in terms of refresh rate, and ditching the gloss.

What does it actually look like, though? Considering it's over twice as fast as the display I spend every day looking at, I don't know if I was expecting more, or whether it's just so fast that your eyes can't really decipher it. Or a combination of both.

That's not to say it's disappointing, but rather that it's hard to quantify exactly why it's good beyond just saying "it's really fast." Games look amazing, everything is sharp and fluid and just really, really smooth. It's pretty amazing to be able to run any PC game at whatever frame rate you can achieve and just see all those frames on the screen.

High frame rate gaming on the Razer Blade 15

What's extra fancy with this particular model is the NVIDIA RTX 2080 Super Max-Q GPU stuffed inside, pushing as many frames to that display as you're going to find on any laptop right now.

Perhaps more impressive, at least to me, is how relatively quiet the Blade 15 is when it's gaming. I've had a few different laptops in recent months with high-end NVIDIA GPUs inside, and out of the box they've been pretty loud. Usually, some tweaking of fan curves is required to not sound like an airplane taking off.

The Blade 15 doesn't put out nearly as much noise pollution and hasn't needed tweaking of any kind. Razer is happy to talk up its cooling system and it continues to not only expel the heat efficiently, but also fairly quietly.

So what kind of performance can you get from this combination of 10th Gen Intel Core i7 and RTX 2080 Super Max-Q? As you might expect, a lot, and it's certainly a workout for that 300Hz panel. But nowhere near 300 FPS.

A couple of examples for you. Far Cry 5 maxed out averaged 101 FPS while Borderlands 3 managed an average of 81 FPS when maxed out. Neither of those figures are disappointing, certainly not for a laptop, and both look incredible. But it's still a a long way from the most this display can handle. Even turning all the settings down didn't come close to breaking 200 FPS.

I really did want to try and find something that wasn't League or Legends or CS:GO to try but the truth is there just isn't really anything out there to match a display like this.

A bunch of games you might think would absolutely fly on this, like Enter the Gungeon or the original Risk of Rain are capped in game it seems at 60 FPS.

But the RTX 2080 Super in this thing? Incredible. To think we're able to play demanding games at max settings on a laptop without breaking sweat is a remarkable thing. But the display is certainly way ahead of its time in terms of the frame rates it can handle.

Should you buy one?

At this point in time I'm pretty comfortable in saying that nobody needs a 300Hz display. There comes a point where you're looking at diminishing returns. If you're spending more to get one of these panels in your life, it just won't deliver any ground-breaking difference to your gaming.

That's not a knock on Razer or the Blade 15, it would apply to any laptop boasting a 300Hz display. 300Hz looks great on the box and in the marketing, but with middling results in reality. You can't push 300 FPS in the majority of current games, and is it worth the added spend to be able to flex about your CS:GO performance? That's up to you.

The bottom line is that you should buy the Razer Blade 15 for everything else it offers and take the 300Hz display as a bonus feature. It truly is a very good display, the quality is outstanding. Just like everything else on this king of gaming laptops.

What you need to know

• Razer announced new colors for several of its accessories today.
• The Razer Viper Ultimate, Hammerhead Wireless headphones, Core X, and Laptop Stand received updates with Quartz and Mercury colors.
• The Razer Blade 15 is also getting a Quartz edition in October.
• You can check out the full Quartz collection and Mercury collection at Razer now.

Razer is adding another pop of color to several of its accessories and the Blade 15 gaming laptop today. The company announced that its Quartz pink and Mercury white color schemes are now available on more accessories. Included are the Razer Viper Ultimate wireless gaming mouse, Razer Hammerhead wireless headphones.

The Viper Ultimate and Hammerhead are now available in both Quartz and Mercury, while the Razer Core X and Razer Laptop Stand now come in Mercury. Meanwhile, the Razer Blade 15, which is our pick for the best gaming laptop and is already available in black and Mercury, is getting a new coat of paint in Quartz soon.

The Quartz Blade 15 will be available for $1,600 in the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China starting in October. However, there's no precise release date available just yet.

Razer has quite an extensive collection of accessories and devices available in its signature trio of colors. You can pick up a lot of what the company offers in the standard black, Quartz pink, and Mercury white already, and these just add to that lineup.

The Razer Viper Ultimate and Razer Hammerhead in Quartz and Mercury are available for $150 and $100, respectively. The Razer Core X and Laptop Stand in Mercury are available for $300 and $50, respectively.

We're big fans of the Razer Blade 15, it's been our top gaming laptop now for, well, some time, and Razer just keeps on making it better. But as good as it is, it's still out of budget for some, so when deals like this roll around it's the best time to strike.

This deal only applies to folks in the UK, but for one day only, the base model Razer Blade 15 has been dropped to just £1,199. And that's a ton of gaming laptop for an extremely attractive price.

For your money you're getting the version with a 9th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU, paired with 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for storage, but there's also scope to upgrade that as you see fit. GPU wise we're talking about the NVIDIA GTX 1660 Ti, perfectly capable for 1080p gaming, which is good since you also get a blazing fast 144Hz 1080p display.

And lets not forget the Blade 15 is also one of the best looking gaming laptops you'll find anywhere, with it's all metal chassis, matte black paint job and a splash of Chroma RGB across the keyboard. It doesn't look out of place in the meeting room, either, making it truly a laptop for everyday use.

The deal price is only valid until 23:59 BST and you don't want to miss out on this.

What you need to know

• Razer is updating the Blade 15 Base and Advanced for 2020.
• New Intel 10th Gen 6- and 8-core CPUs.
• NVIDIA RTX Super series graphics.
• 300Hz display option and SD card reader.

Razer is announcing a significant refresh to its popular Blade 15 Base and Advanced gaming laptops. Coinciding with news from Intel and NVIDIA, it is of little surprise that Razer is dropping in the latest hardware from both companies.

The result? A substantial boost in computing power, including up to a 25 percent increase in graphics performance over the last-gen for the Advanced model. That's all thanks to the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER.

Both the Advanced and Base Models are updated with many small but significant changes. Here's what's new.

The big daddy

Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model is an 8-core beast

By utilizing Intel's just-announced 8-core 10th Gen Core i7-10875H with a top speed of 5.1GHz and 16MB of onboard cache, the new Blade 15 Advanced should be a powerhouse when combined with NVIDIA's latest GPUs.

The previous gen's CPU could only go up to 4.5GHz, for reference (see our review). Add more speed and two more cores, and you have juggernaut.

Matching that bump is speed is the expected, albeit overkill, 300Hz full HD display up from last year's 240Hz. For creators and pros, the 4K OLED touch option with 100 percent DCI-P3 and 1ms response is also still an option.

Besides the new hardware, though, Razer is doing some other smart things that its fans have requested.

Last year, the Advanced Blade 15 did not have an SD card reader (but the new Blade 15 Studio does). No longer is that the case. Razer is ditching the Mini DisplayPort 1.4 and instead is giving pros a full UHS-III SD card slot like the Studio edition and Blade Pro 17.

There's also now a second Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 port in addition to the Thunderbolt 3 one.

Base storage also jumps from the entry-level 256GB to 512GB and maxes at 1TB now instead of 512GB. Additionally, Razer has confirmed with us that the new Blade 15 Advanced Model can support a 4TB SSD, too, should you wish to upgrade it yourself.

Even the keyboard gets tweaked. One major complaint from users of the last Blade 15 (both Base and Advanced) was the gimped right shift key, which is shorter than on most laptops. Razer did that to accommodate full-sized directional arrow keys. Now, that is revered, making the Blade 15 a bit more normal.

Pricing has jumped slightly to $2,600 for the entry-level version up from $2,400 before due to the increased storage and features. Sadly, as of now, the mercury white edition is not part of this updated series.

The more affordable version

Razer Blade 15 Base Model gets 144Hz display

Razer is also updating the more affordable base model with some similar changes. Instead of an 8-core Intel processor, Razer is using the new 6-core Intel Core i7-10750H with turbo up to 5.0GHz. The previous Core i7-9750H was also six cores, but it maxed out at 4.5GHz.

For graphics, options range from the GeForce GTX 1660Ti, RTX 2060, and RTX 2070, some of the best graphics cards out there. RAM is also the faster 2,933MHz variety with 16GB (upgradable to 64GB), and storage is either 256GB PCIe or 512GB PCIe, and both have an open M.2 slot for user-added storage. That also means no slower HDD, thankfully.

Matching the Blade 15 Advanced Model, the Base Model gets the new layout options with the full-sized shift key and smaller directional arrows. However, unlike the Advanced, the Base only gets single-zone RGB instead of the Advanced's per-key Chroma RGB.

Perhaps the most significant change, however, is the shift away from a slow 60Hz display to a much better 144Hz full HD as a starter. Users can also now grab that 4K OLED panel with touch with a starting price of $2,299 ($1,000 less than the similar Advanced Model).

Instead of a Mini DisplayPort, there is also now a second Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 one (in addition to the Thunderbolt 3 port).

The Razer Blade 15 Base Model starts at a modest $1,599 for that new Core i7, GTX 1660TI, 144Hz display, 256GB SSD, and 16GB of storage.

Availability

The all-new Razer Blade 15 will start at USD 1,599.99 / 1,799.99€ MSRP and will be available beginning in May at Razer.com and through select retailers in the United States and Canada. The Razer Blade 15 will come soon to Razer.com and select retailers in Europe, China, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East.

Unless you're in the Apple ecosystem already and reliant on apps like Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro, then you should definitely consider getting a Blade 15 Studio Edition instead. It's got a more potent GPU, a better display (if you can believe it), doesn't cost much more on balance for what you get and has all the hardware perks like Thunderbolt 3 and a 6-core CPU. On balance, it's probably the smarter choice, but if you're locked into Apple's ecosystem, even this king among laptops probably won't tear you away.

Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition vs. MacBook Pro 2019 tech specs

Comparing the pricing of the Razer Blade 15 Studio and MacBook Pro

The price is high, whichever way you look at it, but the Blade 15 Studio Edition in particular still represents fairly solid value for the right buyer. And Apple is hardly selling a budget laptop with a MacBook Pro 16-inch with similar specs costing around $3,200. And it has a substantially less powerful GPU onboard and a not-4K and not-OLED touch display as well. For the same money in a Blade you get an RTX 2080 and a 4K OLED display.

It's not a straight forward comparison, but creators and professional buyers have flocked to the expensive MacBook Pro for years, seemingly ignoring the number of dollars needed to be laid down. And in truth, that's because, for the kind of buyer each of these laptops is targeted at, the price is less relevant than the ability to get their work done. Fast.

The only real downside to the hardware of the Blade 15 Studio Edition, especially considering its price tag, is that there's no Core i9 option. Apple has the edge for those looking to push their CPU the hardest.

Why the Blade 15 Studio is special (and expensive)

What makes the Blade 15 Studio Edition different from the regular Razer Blade is its focus on professionals and creators. The normal Blade 15 is the best gaming laptop you can buy right now, but the Studio Edition has some key hardware changes.

For one, the Blade 15 Studio Edition comes with a 4K OLED touch display as standard, and to ensure its the best it can be for the target audience, it's factory calibrated and supports 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

The big upgrade for the Studio Edition, though, is the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 GPU, which is also the most expensive bit of equipment inside. It's not the same as the desktop version of the RTX Quadro 5000, but for context, that GPU alone for a desktop workstation costs over $2,000, and its performance isn't a massive amount higher than the mobile version. And NVIDIAs drivers are tuned for optimization in a host of popular apps, including suites from Autodesk and Adobe.

The Quadro RTX 5000 comes with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM, 3072 Cuda cores, a peak performance of 9TF, and 48 ray tracing cores. The less-expensive model trades the Quadro for an RTX 2080, which is still no slouch. Despite the performance, power draw is low, and the Blade 15 Studio is powered by just a regular old 270W power brick.

It's also worth noting that the Blade has a UHS III SD card reader built in, so for creators working with these in their equipment, it's a big bonus. On a MacBook Pro you'll need a dongle or a dock to have any kind of access to SD cards.

The case for the MacBook Pro

The case for buying a MacBook Pro essentially hinges around Apple's software and ecosystem. If it's something you're already invested in, then switching away might not be for you, and not even the Blade 15 Studio Edition will probably sway you. You can always dual-boot Windows 10 on it if you do also need to be able to access Windows for whatever reason.

While in most areas the MacBook Pro matches or, on the CPU, beats the Blade 15 Studio Edition, you're really buying a MacBook Pro less for the hardware (though it is good) and more for what Apple gives you on top. Something like Final Cut Pro, for example, if you're into video editing, may well be reason enough to get a Mac.

The GPU in the Blade 15 Studio Edition is a lot more impressive than AMD's offerings for Apple. The Radeon Pro 5300M and 5500M are both excellent, extremely capable GPUs, and Apple's optimizations to its own software will make it a dream pairing. Final Cut Pro alone is still reason to fork out thousands on a MacBook Pro for many videographers.

Two awesome laptops

Both of these laptops are incredible. But the days of Apple having the premium, creator-focused market on lockdown are over. If you're all in on their ecosystem, then you'll probably still be best with the MacBook Pro.

But if you're not, or you're willing to take a risk, the Blade 15 Studio Edition is insanely good. The display is phenomenal, the power inside is almost impossible to understand, and it's still a sleek, slim, highly portable machine. There's never been a better time to shop for a high-end laptop.

On the outside, these two laptops look virtually identical, and that's a good thing. The form factor of the Blade 15 is already pretty special. Still, with the Studio Edition, Razer and NVIDIA crammed in a ridiculous workstation GPU, more RAM, more storage, and a gorgeous 4K OLED display as standard to make it the ultimate laptop for creators. But at $4,000, it's expensive, and gamers should still look towards the regular Blade 15.

Razer Blade 15 vs. Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition tech specs

Why the Blade 15 Studio is special (and expensive)

What makes the Blade 15 Studio Edition different from the regular Razer Blade is its focus on professionals and creators. The normal Blade 15 is the best gaming laptop you can buy right now, but the Studio Edition has some key hardware changes.

For one, the Blade 15 Studio Edition comes with a 4K OLED touch display as standard, and to ensure its the best it can be for the target audience, it's factory calibrated and supports 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

The big upgrade for the Studio Edition, though, is the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 GPU, which is also the most expensive bit of equipment inside. It's not the same as the desktop version of the RTX Quadro 5000, but for context, that GPU alone for a desktop workstation costs over $2,000, and its performance isn't a massive amount higher than the mobile version.

The Quadro RTX 5000 comes with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM, 3072 Cuda cores, a peak performance of 9TF, and 48 ray tracing cores. Despite the performance, power draw is low, and the Blade 15 Studio is powered by just a regular old 270W power brick.

NVIDIA also gets a ton of credit for the Studio program as well. It's not just about slapping massive, powerful GPUs into laptops; the Studio drivers are about optimizing performance for several popular applications, such as the Adobe suite. These drivers are available for several GPUs, covering the entire ten series GeForce lineup, so you can even use them on the regular Razer Blade 15 if you wish.

But the combination of the drivers, the insanely powerful workstation GPU, and other features like the calibrated 4K OLED display is what makes the Blade Studio stand out.

The regular Blade 15 is better for gaming

If gaming is your number one preference, then the regular Blade 15 is the one to get, and not just because it's substantially less expensive to buy. You have more choice over the spec you want to meet the type of games you want to play and the budget you want to keep to.

There are a range of GPUs and display options to choose from, with the GTX 1660 Ti at the bottom end, a sweet spot RTX 2060 in the middle, and an RTX 2080 at the highest end. You also get an entry-level model that's relatively affordable and some fantastic display options, including 144Hz panels and even a 4K OLED just like the Studio Edition.

Even if you fancy a bit of content creation as well as gaming, NVIDIA allows you to install Studio drivers to improve optimization for the apps and processes you'll be using here. It's also incredibly easy to switch between Studio and GeForce drivers, so you always have the best experience whatever you're doing.

Sat side by side with the Blade 15 Studio Edition, the regular model is virtually indistinguishable. But it's the best choice for gamers.

What you need to know about the battery

The Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition is equipped with a very large 80Wh battery, which may at first make you think the device has a long battery life. However, the truth is that it needs a big battery just to achieve average battery life due to how much power is underneath the laptop's hood. Since the device is designed with workstation-level hardware, it takes a lot of power to keep it running.

For general use, you'll be able to get anywhere between 5-6 hours of use out of the Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition before needing a charge. However, if you put its hardware to work by performing tasks like video editing or 3D rendering, you'll deplete the battery faster. As such, it would be best to keep the device's charger on-hand and to stay near an outlet when possible.

Why you should get the Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition

The Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition is one of the most powerful portable workstation devices available right now. Armed with a superpowered NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 GPU, a beefy Intel i7-9750H CPU, and 32GB of RAM, it's an absolute monster of a laptop that can handle any creative task, from high-quality video editing to powering civil engineering apps and everything between.

Complementing the device's immense hardware power is its fantastic 4K 60Hz OLED touch display that sports HDR support and a perfect 100% DCI-P3 color accuracy. This screen allows you to view your projects in stunning detail, giving you the ability to evaluate every pixel of your work. The 1TB solid-state drive (SSD) is perfect for storing your work, too, and the four USB ports (including one Thunderbolt 3) allow you to transfer data to and from the laptop with ease.

Aside from being perfect for creative tasks, the Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition's top-notch specs make it a stellar gaming device as well (though that's not what it's meant to be). You can download the NVIDIA GeForce Experience software and use it to swap between studio and gaming drivers at will, enabling you to play today's best-looking games if you feel like taking a break from working.

An absurd amount of hardware on offer

What makes the Blade 15 Studio Edition different from the regular Razer Blade is its focus on professionals and creators. The normal Blade 15 is the best gaming laptop you can buy right now, but the Studio Edition has some key hardware changes.

For one, the Blade 15 Studio Edition comes with a 4K OLED touch display as standard, and to ensure its the best it can be for the target audience, it's factory calibrated and supports 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. You also get an SD card slot supporting UHS III, which doesn't necessarily sound like a lot to expect, but the Razer Blade hasn't always offered an SD card reader at all, and creators are going to want one.

The big upgrade for the Studio Edition, though, is the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 GPU, which is also the most expensive bit of equipment inside. It's not the same as the desktop version of the RTX Quadro 5000, but for context, that GPU alone for a desktop workstation costs in excess of $2,000, and its performance isn't a massive amount higher than the mobile version.

Why so expensive? Well, it's got quite the spec list. The Quadro RTX 5000 comes with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM, 3072 Cuda cores, a peak performance of 9TF, and 48 ray tracing cores. Despite the performance, power draw is low, and the Blade 15 Studio is powered by just a regular old 270W power brick.

NVIDIA has a good comparison chart detailing the key specs of the Quadro RTX 5000 compared to its other Quadro laptop GPUs. Essentially the RTX Quadro 5000 is tailored at complex applications and intensive workloads such as video rendering, delivering extraordinary performance to workflows that need this kind of power.

Compared to a MacBook Pro...

The price is high, whichever way you look at it, but it still represents a fairly solid value for the right buyer. You can also look to Apple for some comparison on the price front, with a MacBook Pro 16-inch with similar specs costing around $3,200. It has a substantially less powerful GPU onboard and a not-4K and not-OLED touch display.

It's not a simple apples to apples comparison, but creators and professional buyers have flocked to the expensive MacBook Pro for years, seemingly ignoring the number of dollars needed to be laid down.

However, if you put the $4,000 Blade 15 Studio Edition next to it, suddenly the price doesn't look so astronomical. In fact, the only weaker point on a hardware front is the lack of a Core i9 option for the CPU on the Blade 15 Studio.

Just don't get it for gaming

It's a Razer Blade, so of course, it can game, and it can game well. However, if gaming is your preference and all you need powerful specs for, then you're wasting money buying the Blade 15 Studio Edition over the regular Blade 15.

NVIDIA allows you to install the Geforce gaming drivers on Quadro GPUs like this, just as you can install Studio drivers on some Geforce gaming GPUs. Nevertheless, if gaming is the priority, the regular Blade 15 is a smarter choice.

There are a range of GPUs and display options to choose from, with the GTX 1660 Ti at the bottom end, a sweet spot RTX 2060 in the middle, and an RTX 2080 at the highest end, along with a 4K OLED display. Each of these is significantly less expensive than the Blade Studio.

What makes the laptop so good for editing (and more)?

The Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition is jam-packed with beefy hardware that makes editing visual media like photos and videos a piece of cake. Between the monstrous Quadro RTX 5000 GPU, the 9th Gen Intel i7-9750H CPU, and the included 32GB of RAM (can be upgraded to 64GB later), it's got all the horsepower a media editor could possibly want. It can go far beyond photo and video editing, too. With this beast, you can also render high-quality models, create complex digital artwork, and even power civil engineering apps for architectural design.

Complementing the laptop's stellar horsepower is its 4K 60Hz OLED display, complete with touch support, HDR support, and 100% DCI-P3 color accuracy. This screen ensures that you'll be able to view your work with jaw-dropping detail as you go, allowing you to perfect even the tiniest details. Thanks to the 1TB solid-state drive (SSD) for fast and large storage and four USB ports (one of which is Thunderbolt 3), you can transfer your projects to and from the device with ease, while also keeping several peripheral devices connected.

It's also important to highlight that, like the other Razer Blade 15 laptop models, the Studio Edition variant is very thin and fairly light, coming in at 0.70 inches thick and 4.88 pounds. This means that you can take this excellent workhorse anywhere you want to without much effort, which will benefit traveling professionals greatly.

You can use it for gaming, too

Aside from its incredible performance as a creative workstation, the immense horsepower and killer display of the Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition mean that it can also double as a spectacular gaming device. The Studio drivers that the laptop comes with aren't optimized for gaming, but thankfully, you can download the NVIDIA GeForce Experience software and install gaming-specific drivers. Then, all you have to do is use the software to switch between the Studio and gaming drivers depending on what you're doing.

What makes the laptop a good choice for gaming?

The Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition is packed with cutting-edge hardware designed to make the editing and modeling process for visual media a breeze. However, this hardware also doubles as incredible pieces of kit for gaming. The most notable part of the laptop is its NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 GPU, which is the most powerful GPU available for laptops out there (it even edges past the beefy RTX 2080).

In addition to this, the device also has a top-notch 9th Generation i7-9750H CPU and 32GB of RAM. If you want, you also have the option to upgrade that to 64GB on your own, but that's overkill for gaming.

The power to run modern games at high settings is fantastic, but none of that matters if you don't have a nice display. Thankfully, the Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition comes with a gorgeous 4K 60Hz OLED display (touch-enabled) that has support for HDR and also 100% DCI-P3 color accuracy. This will allow you to enjoy smooth, 4K gaming at 60 FPS without any problems.

Switch to gaming drivers for best results

The Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition is primarily designed as a creative workstation, which is reflected by the fact that the Quadro RTX 5000 GPU is intended to be used to crush processes like video editing and complex, intensive applications like rendering and CAD. That being said, it's still a GPU, which means you can use it to game. NVIDIA makes the whole experience smoother by allowing you to switch easily between the Studio drivers and the GeForce game-ready drivers. As long as you have NVIDIA's GeForce Experience application installed, you can choose which driver you want to be installed, and switch between them as you see fit.

You can play games on the Studio drivers, but it's not optimized in any way. Switching to the GeForce drivers will make sure you have the best time.

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced is a premium gaming- and creator-focused laptop that is almost in a class of its own.

For 2019, it gets 4K OLED and full HD 244Hz screen choices. While the Blade's slightly updated internals, including 9th Gen Intel processor and Windows Hello IR camera, are welcome, the shallow keyboard can be problematic.

I spent the last few weeks with the Blade 15 with the 240Hz refresh rate. While you won't game at anything near 200 frames per second (FPS) – even with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 270 – the added CPU boost helps make the extra $100 price increase more bearable.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2019) features, display, and specs

Arguably, Razer's most important laptop is the Blade 15. It's the one gamers will want, as the Blade Stealth is more Ultrabook than gaming PC, and the new 17-inch Blade Pro is likely too much for many people. Because of that, there are many configuration options for the Blade 15. It can be a bit puzzling and frustrating, depending on what you want.

Starting at the bottom is the Blade 15 Base, which costs $1,599. It's a great entry point. But you're getting mostly last year's tech, a slightly thicker design, GTX 1060 Max-Q, and some minor tradeoffs compared to the more premium Advanced model.

The Blade 15 Advanced can be configured with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, RTX 2070 Max-Q Design, or RTX 2080 Max-Q design for the GPU. Some of the lower versions of the Advanced model ship with an 8th Gen Intel i7, while the more expensive ones have the latest 9th Gen chip. You shouldn't focuse on this too much, though, as the difference is minimal in real-world usage.

For displays, there are choices for matte full HD at 144Hz, matte full HD at 240 Hz (new), glossy 4K touch, or a glossy 4K OLED with touch (new). There is an even a choice between Razer's traditional black color scheme or the newer, more professional Mercury White. But if you want the latter, you are limited either to the 144Hz or 240 Hz display options and cannot get the 4K OLED, which is only in black and with a GeForce RTX 2080 video card.

The RAM options are fixed at 16GB (user-expandable up to 64GB), with storage at either 256GB or 512GB (also user-upgradable), with a strange omission of 1TB.

All these choices are a bit overwhelming but not unusual. However, if you had your heart set on a 4K OLED in Mercury White with an RTX 260 and 1TB SSD, you're out of luck.

Ports remain mostly unchanged, with three USB Gen 2 Type-A, Thunderbolt 3 Type-C, HDMI 2.0B, and Mini DisplayPort. There is no SD card slot. And while the Blade 15 Base has a full Ethernet port, the thinner Blade 15 Advanced does not.

Other new additions for 2019 include Intel Wireless AX200, Bluetooth 5, Windows Hello IR camera, 2,667 MHz DDR4 RAM, and a modest 80WHr battery.

For design, Razer finally settled on one aesthetic for all its laptops. The Blade 15 Advanced is perfectly symmetrical, with a solid, metal chassis, and squared edges. If you opt for the white chassis, you lose the glowing snake logo, which is a blessing for some (the black versions can be disabled, though). Between the hinge, display bezels, and overall look, Razer easily makes the best-looking gamer laptops around.

The Blade 15's weight hovers between 4.73 lbs. and 4.87 lbs. (2.15 kg to 2.21 kg) depending on configuration, making this one of the heavier 15-inch gaming laptops. But you can chalk that heftiness up to the premium metal chassis – this thing is built like a tank.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2019) keyboard, trackpad, and audio

In my recent review of the Blade Stealth, I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed using it, despite the run-of-the-mill Ultrabooks specificationas. I don't quite feel as strongly about the Blade 15 Advanced. More specifically, I don't love the keyboard and trackpad.

In photos, the look and layout of the Blade 15's keyboard is nearly perfect. Even the per-key RGB Chroma now lights up the function keys – an infamous oversight on previous Blades. But in typing, the keyboard is lacking. Travel is shallow, and it just doesn't have the spring-back I want. You would think that Razer would make the Blade Stealth's keyboard bigger for the Blade 15, but that's not the case. In using the Blade 15, I yearned for the SteelSeries keyboards that MSI laptops use, which set the benchmark for both gamers and touch-typists.

To a lesser extent, the same goes for the trackpad. It's massive, smooth, and uses Precision drivers – all good things. But the clickiness feels slightly softer compared to the more satisfying Blade Stealth.

The quad, top-firing speakers are on the high-end – especially for gaming laptops, which frequently lack good speakers due to the "gamers just headphones" excuse. Dolby Atmos software is also a nice touch.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2019) power and battery

I don't want to dwell too much on the battery life of the Blade 15 Advanced. For one, it's primarily a gaming laptop with a decently sized 80WHr battery (quite a bit smaller than the Dell XPS 15's 97WHr). The battery life also depends on GPU choice, whether you're actively using that GPU, and if you opt for full HD or one of the 4K panels. Our review unit with an RTX 2070 and full HD 240Hz display was able to get between five and six hours of regular, non-gaming usage. That battery life falls short of productivity Ultrabooks, but it is not bad either for this class of PC.

That 240Hz display can be set for 60Hz if you are concerned about battery life, but in my usage, I rarely saw a significant difference in non-gaming computing. If you're staring at a mostly static web page, Word document, or email, that 240Hz panel is not doing a lot of work.

In the box is a good-sized 230-watt charger with a braided cable, ensuring that even when maxing the CPU and GPU while gaming, you can still positively charge the laptop.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2019) hits 240Hz ... but rarely

There are two primary display trends in 2019 for laptops: 15-inch 4K OLED panels by Samsung, and 240Hz full HD. Razer offers both. Unfortunately, no one has figured out a way to combine them, so if you opt for 4K OLED, you will get a basic 60Hz refresh rate.

The jump from 144Hz in 2018 to 240Hz in 2019 is significant, but if you were hoping that you can push 200 FPS in your favorite AAA shooter, you would be disappointed. In most titles I tried – even when going down to medium graphics – games would still hit well below 140 FPS, making a 240Hz panel odd. A laptop Core i7 CPU paired with a Max-Q Design RTX 2070 GPU is still not enough power to push newer games that high.

If you enjoy using Windows 10 at 240Hz, that's cool, but it's not the aim if you're buying this laptop. For those reasons, it seems natural to dismiss 240Hz as mostly a gimmick in notebooks these days. But the catch here is price. Were Razer to charge an extra $200 or $300 for the 240Hz panel, it'd be a no brainer to skip. But Razer makes it only a $100 upgrade. You're not only getting that 240Hz panel but are also getting a 9th Gen Core i7 for that extra Benjamin (the 144Hz display ships only with the 8th gen Intel).

That extra $100 seems justified in that sense, and in my testing, there were no negatives with the 240Hz panel. It's downright glorious. The matte design is easy on the eyes, viewing angles are great, color accuracy pushes near 100 percent sRGB, and brightness goes well above 300 nits.

Choosing between the 240Hz option and the 144Hz option is no big deal. The tougher decision is between going 60Hz 4K OLED with touch versus matte, non-touch at full HD. I tested the 4K OLED option with touch, too, and it's very bright with punchy colors and very glossy. Those who edit video and create content will love the near-perfect sRGB and Adobe RGB color accuracy, as well as the exceptionally wide color gamut it offers.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2019) performance

A real gaming laptop needs to perform well to be worth the cost – especially with what Razer is charging. Luckily, Razer's new vapor chamber technology with dual fans lets the Intel Core i7-9750H and RTX 2070 do their jobs with very little thermal throttling. In my tests, after extended running, I saw about a 10 percent reduction overall in system performance with heavy gaming – that's quite good. The Intel Core i7-9750H is a hexa-core processor that peaks at 4.5GHz. Some may wonder why Razer does not offer an i9-9980HK processor, but the i9 is a money-wasting gimmick, as almost no laptop has the thermal capacity to maintain that chip's performance.

While there is a debate about the usefulness of a GeForce RTX GPU these days (versus the older, non-raytracing GTX series), there are no downsides either, just improvements. On average, RTX cards use around 10 percent less energy – which means less heat – than GTX ones. As game makers add raytracing to more and newer games, the Blade 15 is there to handle it.

3DMark

Time Spy (Higher is better)

No surprises here, as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q falls right in line with other RTX 2070 cards in gaming laptops.

3DMark

Fire Strike (Higher is better)

CPU

Geekbench 4.0 Benchmarks (Higher is better)

The 9th Gen Intel Core i7-9750H does a solid job, especially in single-core results, but it falls a bit below on multi-core compared to some other gaming laptops. Those scores are typical for Razer, which rarely offers the fastest machines, but they're still often near the top.

PCMark

PCMark Home Conventional 3.0

SSD

CrystalDiskMark (Higher is better)

Razer likes to use the excellent Samsung PM981 SSD in its Blade 15 laptops, and the results speak for themselves. Besides having excellent read speeds, which is important for gaming, Samsung SSDs tend to be very reliable.

Fan noise is perfectly fine, though if you are gaming in a warm room expect to hear them whooshing. Razer also makes it easy to control the cooling when plugged in through its Synapse software. The app gives options to ramp up or down their speed depending on your goals: performance versus quietness. That said, the Blade 15's bottom can get very hot. As with all of the best gaming laptops, when you game, you don't want it in your lap.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2019) bottom line

The Blade 15 is one of my favorite overall laptops – either for gaming or video production. It's one of those PCs that successfully pulls off both categories. Razer's competition is increasing – companies like MSI and Acer are both taking their gaming laptops and modifying them for "creators" with more subtle design and colors. While an MSI laptop pales in build quality to a Razer, they are fun to use, making them legit contenders.

The Blade 15, though, maintains its position as best for first-class gaming . The display options are excellent, performance is still great, audio with Dolby Atmos support is the best in this class, and that Mercury White looks hot.

The one thing that keeps me from running out and buying a Blade 15 Advanced myself is the keyboard. It's OK, but I've used too many other ones – including from Razer – to know that this one could be much better. The Blade 15 deserves a great keyboard. This keyboard is not one.

The 240Hz display craze this year is disappointing, since its full potential is rarely realized, the cost bump (which also nabs you that 9th Gen CPU) makes it an easier sell. If that $100 makes it just too expensive for you, 144Hz panel with an 8th Gen CPU is still a great option.

Each year Razer makes small iterations on its Blade lines that I appreciate. Past issues like thick bezels, no Windows Hello, poor audio, lack of a Precision touchpad, function keys that don't light, high-pitched fans, even quality control all have been fixed over these last few years. The Blade 15 just needs a better keyboard now. Once that happens, it will indeed be king.

What you need to know

• The Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition is now available.
• Built for content creators, the Blade 15 Studio Edition packs an NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000, 32GB of RAM, and a 4K OLED display.
• You can order the Blade 15 Studio Edition for $4,000 at Razer now.

Razer is jumping on board NVIDIA's RTX Studio program today with the launch of the Blade 15 Studio Edition. The laptop caters to content creators by packing a ton of powerful hardware inside of the Blade 15, resulting in a PC that can handle multitasking with resource-heavy tasks ranging from video rendering to 3D model creation and beyond.

The Blade 15 Studio Edition comes with an Intel Core i7-9750 processor, up to 64GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of storage. Where the laptop stands out is with the inclusion of NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 Studio Edition graphics, which are backed up by 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM. There's also a 15.6-inch 4K OLED display, which should make content stand out with inky blacks and poppy colors.

Elsewhere, you'll get what is basically a standard Blade 15. That includes per-key RGB Razer Chroma lighting, Windows Hello support with an IR webcam, along with a bevy of ports that include Thunderbolt 3 among them.

For all of that power, you'll have to pay a pretty penny, however. The Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition starts at $4,000 and is available in Razer's Mercury White finish.

What you need to know

• Razer announced the Quartz Pink Razer Blade 15.
• The unique color is exclusive to the Razer Blade 15 Base model.
• The laptop is available starting today for $1,999.

Razer is known for its love of color, but usually in relation to RGB lighting. Now, gamers can get a Razer gaming laptop with some flair in the form of the Quartz Pink Razer Blade 15. The new color option is exclusive to the Razer Blade 15 base model and is available starting today for $1,999.

The Quartz Pink Razer Blade 15 has a CNC milled aluminum chassis and a unibody design with an anodized pink finish. The Razer logo is a slightly different shade of pink than the body, and the keyboard of the laptop is Quartz Pink. You can customize the colors using Razer Chroma RGB lighting. There's also a custom Quarts Pink OS theme for users who want to extend pink even further into their gaming experience.

On the inside, the Razer Blade 15 Quartz Pink Base model has an Intel Core i7 9750H processor, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB PCIe SSD. The RAM and storage of the device are upgradeable. When it comes to connectivity, the laptop supports Gigabit Wi-Fi speeds, Bluetooth 5, Thunderbolt 3, and ethernet.

The Razer Blade 15 Quartz Pink Base model is available starting today for $1,999. It's available in the U.S., Canada, and China.

What you need to know

• Razer announced the "world's first optical laptop keyboard."
• The keyboard brings the speed and precision brought by optical switches to a traditional laptop.
• The keyboard is available on the Razer Blade 15, which starts at $2,649.

Razer announced the "world's first optical laptop keyboard" according to Razer. The new keyboard delivers fast keystrokes without requiring much force by users. The keyboard is available on select models of the Razer Blade 15 Advanced, starting at $2,649. It will be available on more devices in 2020.

Optical switches utilize light to capture keystrokes instantly. Each key has an infrared light beam that detects when an actuation occurs, providing a fast and precise keystroke. Razer highlights that this new optical keyboard has an actuation point of only 1mm and only requires 55g of actuation force. Optical switches are often preferred by gamers that want a quick keyboard experience.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2019) review

The Razer Blade 15's optical keyboard also has N-Key Rollover with anti-ghosting. Thanks to its optical design, the keyboard also has zero debounce, which makes sure that only one keystroke is registered at a time.

The keyboard features Razer Chroma lighting on each individual key. There are 16.8 million colors to choose from through Razer Chroma RGB.

In our recent review of the Blade 15 Advanced we criticized the keyboard as being below our expectations. It'll be interesting to see if this optical one addresses our complaint.

The Razer Blade 15 is available starting today for $2,649. The laptop has a 15.6-inch 240Hz display and several ports, including an HDMI port, Mini DisplayPort, a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port, a USB-C port, and two USB-A 3.1 Gen 2 ports. It's available for purchase in the U.S., Canada, and China. In the future, it will be available in select countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Recently (and begrudgingly), I switched to a Razer Blade 15 laptop from my Surface Book 2. As much as I love the Book 2 form factor and inking, the lack of raw computing power was beginning to hold me back.

The exceptionally warm summer months were particularly hellish on my Surface Book 2, where throttling was cratering performance to an unworkable level. As such, I went and picked up a Razer Blade 15 (2019 series). While perhaps not as elegant as the Book 2, the Blade 15 simply gets the job done, with far beefier specs, and far more powerful cooling. For those who have asked me on social media and beyond, I thought I'd put together a list of the accessories I'm using to augment my Razer Blade experience. For the most part, it's pretty similar to my list of accessories I was using with my Surface Book 2, but the inclusion of USB-C on the Blade 15 makes for some exciting additional options.

Razer edge

Razer provides many of its own accessories, like the beefy external GPU housing Razer Core, and various Razer mice and headsets, but I've always found them to be a little pricey for what you get in return. My favorite accessories aren't necessarily the best out there, either, but they're the products that I find give the most bang for your buck, along with the versatility my job demands.

I adore the Astro A50's ability to combine PC and Xbox audio wirelessly, which is great for streaming and content creation. I love the sleek, subtle ergonomics on the Microsoft Classic IntelliMouse Pro, and the Vava USB-C dock makes up for all the ports the Blade 15 misses, such as SD-card reading.

What you need to know

• Blade 15 Studio Edition is available in Europe from October.
• Specs include Quadro RTX GPUs and 32GB of RAM.
• NVIDIA's Studio program brings high-powered hardware to laptops targeted at content creators.

Alongside Razer's stonking new Blade Stealth announced at IFA 2019, a smaller, yet not insignificant launch is coming along for the the ride. The previously announced Blade Studio Edition will finally be available in Europe starting in October.

It isn't cheap, at €4,399.99, but it's hardly underpowered. For your money, you're getting a 4K OLED display that looks absolutely stunning, an Intel Core i7-9750 processor, NVIDIA's new Quadro RTX 5000 mobile GPU with 16GB of VRAM, 32GB of RAM and 1TB of NVMe SSD storage. All crammed into the sleek chassis of the Blade 15. Mind-boggling, frankly.

The Blade 15 Studio Edition also comes in Razer's stunning Mercury White finish, and of course, the keyboard is fully lit by Razer Chroma. It'll be available from October, so you've got a month or so to start finding excuses to get one.

If you're looking for something a little more affordable, the new base-spec Blade 15 now comes with NVIDIA's GTX 1660 Ti, and starts at $1,600.

What you need to know

• The Razer Blade 15 Base model has received some solid upgrades.
• The base Blade 15 now comes with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics and a 144Hz display option.
• The new Blade 15 Base model is available now starting at $1,600 at Razer.

Along with some substantial upgrades to the Blade Stealth 13 today, Razer has unveiled some key upgrades to the base model of the Blade 15. Not only does the base Blade 15 now come with a more powerful graphics chip, but you'll also get a choice between a 60Hz or 144Hz 1080p display.

The biggest improvement over the previous base model is the upgrade to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics. That's up from the GeForce GTX 1060 graphics available in the previous base model, and it joins the optional upgrade to GeForce RTX 2060 graphics.

The rest of the Blade 15 base model remains the same. You'll still get a 15.6-inch 1080p display, albeit with the new 144Hz option. That's backed up by 16GB of RAM, a 9th Gen Intel Core i7-9750H processor, and up to 512GB of SSD storage or and combination of up to 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD storage.

The new Razer Blade 15 Base model is available now starting at $1,600 at Razer's website. If you need more power, you can step up to the Razer Blade 15 Advanced, which can be equipped with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, a 4K touch display, and more.

The summer has been particularly toasty in Europe this year, particularly living in a country that seemingly hasn't discovered domestic air conditioning yet. The ambient heat was particularly harsh on my Surface Book 2, which, with its slim form factor, simply hasn't been up to the task at dispensing the summer heat. I'm used to the Surface Book 2 not being a decent gaming option for anything current, but the throttling was beginning to spill over to regular productivity tasks, like Adobe Premiere, and even just browsing on Microsoft Edge. As such, I decided it was time for a change.

I've flipped between Razer and Surface a few times over the past few years for my daily-driver. This year's Razer Blade 15 is arguably the company's best effort thus far, both from a gaming and productivity standpoint. These are my early experiences with switching to the Blade from the Surface.

Related: Is it time for a gaming Surface?

Gorgeousness

The Blade 15 for 2019 is a big step up from the previous Razer laptop I used, most notably when it comes to the display. I picked up the 144hz RTX 2060 model, which has the smoothest display panel I've ever used. The bezels have been shrunk by a large amount, which looks far more modern than Razer's previous efforts.

Besides the display, the 2019 Blade doesn't revolutionize the brand's design direction. It's still super slim, although the rubber feet on the underside give the laptop greater floor clearance, creating better airflow. Razer also managed to ensconce a handy Windows Hello camera into the upper bezel, which makes for convenient log-ins.

Alongside the black variant I have, Razer offers a white option for some of its configurations. While I do like the black, if for no reason other that it matches my TV and Xbox One X, it attracts dust and smudges like a magnet. It looks sleek while closed, though, with harder corners than previous laptops, which makes it look a bit more mature.

Speaking of maturity, you can finally disable the green Razer logo lighting on the reverse of the display, even if I find the neon-green styling to still be a bit loud. You can also customize the chroma lighting on the keyboard in extreme ways, adding all sorts of ripples and rainbows if that's your thing. I tend to just leave it on a static red, matching my Windows 10 accent color.

Another area where the Razer Blades excel is sound. The Book 2 isn't exactly awful in the sound department, but the larger, upward-firing speakers on the Blade offer a far better sound profile. You'd probably hope so too, given that this is marketed as a gaming laptop first and foremost.

Gaming, power, and cooling

On paper, the Surface Book 2 with its GTX 1060 should be a far more capable gaming device than it is, but due to throttling and power draw, it struggles even with older, relatively mid-range games. The RTX 2060-powered Razer Blade 15 is far more potent, pushing modest games like Overwatch and World of Warcraft on ultra graphics well over 100 FPS. More demanding games like Metro Exodus also run flawlessly on the Blade 15 at 1080p, on ultra settings, with RTX ray-tracing and advanced PhysX physics enabled too, although you'll sacrifice some FPS for the privilege.

Even on the hottest days where ambient temperatures hit 38C (around 100F), the Blade 15 didn't buckle, with large internal fans that drive far more cooling onto the components than the Surface Book 2 is capable of achieving. Admittedly, the keyboard and surface area around the rear vent got worryingly hot, almost too warm to touch. You can manually jack up the fan speed in the Razer Synapse software to offset this heat generation, however.

Perhaps the most noteworthy boost for this Blade over my previous one is noise. Playing games on my old GTX 1060 Blade was infuriatingly loud, which isn't exactly unheard of in a gaming laptop. However, unless you're manually pushing the fans, the Blade 15 is curiously quiet, even while running all but the most intensive tasks.

This is all while plugged in, by the way. Gaming without wall power, you're looking at around 3-5 hours at most in real-world gaming time, depending on what you do to limit power use. You can lower graphical intensity, either manually or via NVIDIA's "whisper mode" automated settings in the GeForce Experience app.

Surface sacrifices

It's no wonder that a gaming laptop performs better at gaming tasks than a Surface Book 2. But given the internals in both devices, there is a convergence of gaming capability and productivity prowess between both devices. I have conceded some nice Surface Book features for the raw power of Razer, though.

I'm already missing the SD card slot on the Book 2. It's a minor thing, but having to use a USB-C dongle for basic productivity features like that is an annoyance. The Windows Hello camera is also nowhere near as rapid or sensitive as the Book 2's either, and the resolution is awful. In a world where game streaming has become the norm, it seems odd that Razer doesn't improve its webcam game a bit.

Of course, I've also sacrificed a touch screen, which at least for me, isn't that big of a deal. I do like inking, and dabbling in digital art, but I didn't do it often enough to justify sacrificing raw power for that digitizer. Some Blade variants do come with a touch screen. For light digital sketching, I'm deferring to my Surface Go for now, which is much easier to work with as a tablet even if the screen is nowhere near as good.

Perhaps the biggest sacrifice is in the keyboard itself. The Razer Blade keyboard is just nowhere near as pleasant to type on versus Surface, which accentuates Microsoft's attention to engineering detail. Additionally, for some reason Razer decided it would be a good idea to put the up arrow right next to the right shift key, which leads to all sorts of typing mishaps if you're a touch typist. I've started to get used to it after a couple of weeks, but at least twice per article I'll hit up by mistake, shifting my cursor halfway up the document by mistake.

Sticking with Razer... for now

As much fun as the Surface lineup is, I'm starting to feel like they don't represent good value for money unless you're absolutely going to use every single aspect of the form factor. I never detached the display, except to reverse it into canvas mode, and I rarely used inking or touch. Additionally, it was the second time a Windows Update had caused issues with the detachable d-GPU in the Book 2, following from the May 2019 Update, causing me Blue Screens of Death. This lack of attention to software quality is unforgivable in a $3000 laptop in my opinion but stems from the Surface Book 2's outlying detachable configuration more than anything.

The Razer Blade 15 has proven itself to be a powerhouse for video editing, gaming, and general use already, with the thermals and sleek design to match. The Surface line seems generally skewed towards fun "what if" form factor scenarios, rather than more pragmatic solutions. The hardware is stunning, but as I get older, I feel like I want something a little more serious than fun from my laptops. Ironically, Razer — a gaming brand — seems to represent that better than Surface right now.

Cheap PC accessories we love

Take a gander at these awesome PC accessories, all of which will enhance your Windows experience.

Anker 4 port USB 3.0 hub ($10 at Amazon)

Whether on a desktop or laptop PC, you always need more ports to connect things to. This hub gives you an additional four USB 3.0 Type A ports.

Ikea Fixa Cable Management System ($11 at Amazon)

This IKEA cable management kit is your ticket to a clean setup. It's simple and functional.

NZXT Puck ($20 at Amazon)

This clever little accessory has powerful magnets on the rear to make it stick to any of the metal panels on your PC case or anything else. It's great for hanging accessories like headsets.