Why You Can Trust CNET Razer Blade (14-inch, 2017) review: Razer Blade is the MacBook Pro of gaming laptops
Razer updates its 14-inch Blade laptop for a higher-end take on slim gaming.
Razer Blade (14-inch, 2017)
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The major changes for the 2017 version are a new processor from Intel's 7th-generation of Core i-series, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1060 GPU and 16GB of faster 2,400MHz DDR4 memory. It's also cheaper, starting at $1,899 (£1,799.99 or AU$2,799.95), and a tenth of a pound lighter, weighing 4.1 pounds (the 4K screen version weighs a bit more).
The stock model has a Full HD screen with 256GB of solid-state storage, upgradable to 512GB ($2,099, £1,999.99, AU$3,099.95) or 1TB ($2,499, £2,399.99, AU$3,699.95). There's also the option of a model with a 4K touchscreen variant with either 512GB ($2,399, £2,299.99, AU$3,499.95) or 1TB ($2,799, £2,699.99, AU$4,099.95) of SSD. The model reviewed here costs $1,899. 4K screens look cool, but they can really knock down your battery life. The CPU and GPU (really the most important things for a gaming PC) remain the same in each of these configurations.
The Razer Blade looks like a badass black MacBook.
Dignified design
To fit a full graphics card in a small frame understandably requires compromises. However, the Blade is smaller and more portable than almost any other PC gaming machine. Its design is also elegantly restrained in comparison with current gaming laptop aesthetics, which can have a lot of overblown logos, glowing lights and, yes, alien heads.
The green accents are tastefully demure, unlike my manicure.
Just like last year's model, it's compact enough to bring on a daily commute, but powerful enough for gaming, video editing and other serious tasks.
The Blade has a minimalist matte-black shell and slim profile with smoothly rounded edges. Razer's unmistakable green logo on the lid and matching accents are bold, but not too in-your-face. I'd say it looks inconspicuously cool. Unfortunately, the matte black finish attracts a lot of fingerprints.
Cool keys
The 14-inch Razer Blade's keyboard is part of the company's Chroma line, and is similar to other Razer laptop keyboards and standalone desktop keyboards. The Blade colorfully provides more backlighting flexibility and features than any other comparable laptop.
The included Chroma app allows specific sections of the keyboard to be programmed to show different colors -- such as highlighting WASD keys in a different color than the rest of the keyboard. There's the option to program your own custom keyboard backlight scheme, but most people will be able to find a solid preset that works well.
The colorful Chroma keyboard is comfy to type on.
The keyboard not only looks cool, it feels great for typing, with the right amount of spring and travel time. The multicolored flat keys are well-spaced and touchpad movement was smooth movement with accurate gestures, including two-finger scroll and three-finger swipe.
Gamer's delight
The Razer Blade performs as we'd expect a high-end laptop with these components to. The last Razer Blade we reviewed in 2016 used older 900-series Nvidia graphics, which have been brought up-to-date here.
The Razer Blade has updated graphics from last year's model.
Handling the graphical heavy lifting is the Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics card with 6GB of video RAM. That's the best price-versus-performance card in the current Nvidia lineup. It also comes with 16GB DDR4 RAM, which is pretty standard for a laptop of this caliber. The Blade kept up with the game Doom at high settings when frame rate was locked at 60fps, with almost no dropped frames, even in chaotic situations. The Nvidia 1060 will also support VR headsets like the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive, which is a relatively new feature for laptops.
The newer Intel Core i7-7700HQ is also a big plus. One big advantage of Intel's latest CPUs is better battery life, and the Razer Blade's battery lasted 8 hours and 15 minutes in our CNET Labs battery testing, up from 5 hours and 41 minutes in the previous model. Note that gaming off the battery will give you much shorter battery life, usually a couple of hours at most in our experience.
The Blade is a portable gaming powerhouse.
The Blade doesn't have a huge storage hard drive in its default config, but thanks to high-speed ports, using external storage isn't a big hassle. Quick transferring is available via the Thunderbolt 3 port and three USB 3.0 ports. There's no Ethernet port on this bad boy, which can be an issue if you want to download 25GB or larger games from Steam or other online game stores.
It can competently double as a workstation in a professional environment, though it's overpowered as a work or family computer. While running Chrome, I had about 20 tabs open, while streaming HD video, before it started to show any signs of lag.
The Blade's aluminum chassis gets hot easily when gaming, making it uncomfortable to have on your lap. It does cool down pretty quickly after you're done playing. It has two fans on the bottom that deal with the heat the graphics card generates. They can get very loud. The fans spin up a frenzy for all tasks, not just gaming, though they're a little quieter in those cases.
The matte screen is easily visible in bright environments.
All-matte everything
The Blade's 1080p display has a matte finish that's sharp and bright. Just because it's matte doesn't mean it's lackluster. The Blade's full HD screen displays clear details, vibrant colors and satisfying brightness, no matter if you're playing Doom or watching the "Black Panther" trailer for the 89 millionth time. It's visible in direct sunlight and doesn't reflect a lot of ambient light in bright environments.
Built-in stereo speakers produce decent sound without much distortion at max volume. The top-mounted speakers aren't as loud as I'd like but they are clear and crisp, with warm soundscapes during gameplay.
Any way you slice it
While the Razer Blade is a gorgeous gaming laptop, it lacks the customization of a full-size gaming laptop or desktop, and costs more than other gaming laptops with similar specs. That makes it hard to recommend for either very serious or very budget-minded gamers. But if portability and style are top priorities, the Razer Blade hits those marks while still playing most of today's games at high settings and full-HD resolution.
Razer Blade performance charts
| Razer Blade | |
| Price as reviewed | $1,899 |
| Display size/resolution | 14-inch 1,920x1,080 display |
| PC CPU | 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ |
| PC memory | 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz |
| Graphics | 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 |
| Storage | 256GB SSD |
| Networking | 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 4.1 |
| Operating system | Windows 10 Home (64-bit) |
Multimedia multitasking test 3.0
Geekbench 3 (Multi-Core)
3DMark Fire Strike Ultra
Bioshock Infinite
Video playback battery drain test
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
System configurations
| Razer Blade | Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060; 256GB SSD |
|---|---|
| Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming (2017) | Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-7300HQ; 8GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti; 256GB SSD |
| Alienware 13 R3 (OLED late 2016) | Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060; 512GB SSD |
| Dell XPS 15 (2017) | Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.8GHZ Intel Core i7-7700HQ; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050; 512GB SSD |
| HP Omen (17-inch) | Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070; 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD |
| Asus ROG Strix GL753VE-DS74 | Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti; 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD |