Guts for gaming
Vampyr, a very cool new game from Focus
Sarah Tew/CNETSlim gaming laptops with decent specs are still rare, but not as rare as they used to be. Still, the Razer Blade outdoes much of the competition in terms of packing the most gaming power into the least conspicuous chassis. The Asus Zephyrus is a similarly slim gaming laptop with similar parts, but requires a giant air vent to open up when in use. MSI comes close with its Stealth series laptops, as does this extra-thin Origin PC model.
In this configuration, we have the Max-Q version of the Nvidia 1070 GPU and a 2.2GHz Intel Core i7-8750H CPU, plus 16GB of RAM. The performance slotted in as expected, usually between bulkier laptops with the non-Max-Q version of the 1070 and laptops with the more mainstream Nvidia 1060.
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, a new take an on old-school RPG
Sarah Tew/CNETIn hands-on testing I tried a variety of games, including new ones like the expansive RPG Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire and the new gothic vampire game, Vampyr. Those and others all ran smoothly at high detail settings and the full 1080p resolution.
Battery life was a nice surprise, lasting 7 hours, 53 minutes in our video playback battery drain test. That's longer than most gaming laptops we've tested, but keep in mind playing a game, rather than streaming video, will cut that life span down considerably.
The Razer and Blade model
After a couple of years of mostly static designs, this is a very pleasing reworking of the Razer Blade. The bigger screen and touchpad and other aesthetic improvements all add up to a very modern-feeling laptop.
My only real concern is that it's a major investment, even for a gaming laptop. A laptop with an Nvidia 1060 GPU can be easily found for under $1,000, although with a slower CPU, less RAM and storage, and none of the bells and whistles found here. But like Apple, Razer has never catered to the budget end of the market, and so far it's working. And if the company is looking for a new challenge, now I want to see a GPU in the 13-inch Razer Blade Stealth ($1,590 at Amazon).
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Geekbench 4 (Multi-core)
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Longer bars indicate better performanceCinebench R15 CPU (Multi-core)
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Longer bars indicate better performanceStreaming video playback battery drain test
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Longer bars indicate better performance (in minutes)3DMark Fire Strike Ultra
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Longer bars indicate better performanceDeus Ex: Mankind Divided gaming test
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Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)System configurations
| Razer Blade (2018) | Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.2GHz Intel Core i7-8750H; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,660MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeFroce GTX 1070 with Max-Q Design; 512GB SSD |
|---|---|
| Asus ROG Zephyrus M GM501 (2018) | Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (64-bit); 2.2GHz Intel Core i7-8750H; 32GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,660MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeFroce GTX 1070; 512GB SSD |
| Alienware 15 R3 (2017) | Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,666MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070; 512GB SSD + 1TB HDD |
| Dell Inspiron 15 7577 Gaming (late 2017) | Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-7300HQ; 8GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with Max-Q Design; 256GB SSD |
| Origin PC Evo 15-S (2017) | Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,666MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 with Max-Q-Design; 512GB SSD |
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