Why You Can Trust CNET Razer Blade review: Razer Blade
Razer Blade
- Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps
You can't accuse Razer of playing it safe. The first laptop from the longtime PC gaming accessories maker, the $2,800 Blade is an eye-catching, innovative, expensive gaming PC that looks the part thanks to its thin design, gorgeous 17-inch screen, and the LED-based touch pad and hot-key layout Razer calls its Switchblade UI. The thin design gives the Blade uncommon portability for a gaming laptop, but the Switchblade UI doesn't achieve enough of its potential to justify the Blade's cost in relation to its performance.
Razer Blade
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The Blade is a capable-enough gaming laptop, and if you're willing to sacrifice performance for the Blade's seductive looks and the novelty of its interface, you may come to like it. But if you're a PC gamer who puts performance first, you'd be better off with a different laptop.
Razer's bold gaming-laptop debut is undeniably thin: at 0.88 inch, it's practically ultrabook-sized. From all angles, it resembles a matte-black metal 17-inch MacBook Pro fused with the design sensibility of an Alienware laptop. It's nearly the same weight as a 17-inch MacBook Pro, too, at 6.46 pounds.
Open the Blade up, and what will strike you is its minimalism: the green-accented keyboard is backlit in a neon glow, but the Blade generally leaves off the rocketship/carnival/car grille absurdities that tend to grace most gaming laptops. That minimalism won't appeal to everyone; the Blade achieves its thinness in part by not including an optical drive, and the only ports line the left side of the laptop.
Still, even if you're annoyed by having to snake the USB cable around the back, it's hard to deny that the Blade is a real design achievement for Razer. No other gaming laptop I know offers this degree of portability. It's a design that puts pressure on other vendors.
| Price as reviewed | $2,800 |
| Processor | 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2640M |
| Memory | 8GB, 1,333MHz DDR3 |
| Hard drive | 256GB SSD |
| Chipset | Intel HM65 |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GT 555M (2GB) |
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) |
| Dimensions (WD) | 16.8x10.9 inches |
| Height | 0.88 inch |
| Screen size (diagonal) | 17.3 inches |
| System weight / Weight with AC adapter | 6.46 pounds / 7.16 pounds |
| Category | Desktop replacement |
Switchblade UI
Reach for a touch pad below the Blade's keyboard and you'll get nothing but palm rest. That's because Razer moved the touch pad to the right side, incorporating it into the Switchblade UI. The touch pad is in fact a second color LCD screen, enabled with multitouch gesture support. Above the Synaptics-powered touch pad are 10 buttons that have their own embedded color LED displays, which you can customize with programmable functions and icon graphics. These work like hot keys, or the extra buttons on a gaming mouse.
Sound exciting and confusing? It is. While the concept shows potential for offering second-screen functionality in games, the actual use cases for the Switchblade UI in its current offering are pretty limited.
A set of 10 "apps" mapped to the Switchblade's 10 buttons show off some of the Blade's potential. A YouTube button launches YouTube right in the Blade's touch-pad screen, where you can browse videos the way you would on a smartphone. Facebook, Twitter, and Web browser buttons work the same way.
These ideas aren't that earth-shattering. Being able to browse the Web without switching out of a game is useful, but it's nothing you can't do with a smartphone. Still, the included apps do whet your appetite for the novelty of games that could use the Switchblade UI in a truly innovative way. Razer demos of the Blade have shown the touch pad displaying in-game inventory and map screens from the competitive multiplayer game League of Legends, for example.
Unfortunately, Razer has yet to deliver on the full promise of the Switchblade touch pad. In order for the screen to work with a game, a developer would have to write code for it. Here, two months after the Blade's release (and after presumably multiple years in development), Razer says only that discussions with developers are ongoing. At press time, the Switchblade UI has no games that take advantage of its second display. Even the preview code Razer showed with League of Legends is unavailable.
Whether developer support is likely to thrive on the Blade is debatable. Organic market pressure won't be enough given that the Blade is an expensive niche product, and thus won't likely drive enough game sales to offset a developer's coding costs. Razer itself could offer developers an economic incentive to support Switchblade, but with no compatible games so far, at the very least Razer hasn't been aggressive enough in courting that support. With no games using the touch pad at launch, it's worth asking whether Razer can offer enough value over the life of the Blade to justify its high price tag.
Even if broad game support does materialize, Razer still needs to improve the software behind the Switchblade UI.
Razer includes an application called Synapse 2.0 that, even without developer support, you can use to assign custom commands, macros, and even custom imagery to Switchblade's 10 LED hot keys. And although Razer has not tied up any feature-oriented game support for the touch pad, it did apparently come to an agreement to use graphics assets from Electronic Arts' Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Red 5 Studios' Firefall. Synapse 2.0 software includes a set of icons from each of those games that you can assign to the LED buttons. You can also assign your own image files to the buttons, at least in theory.
In practice, Synapse 2.0 and the Switchblade UI have problems communicating. I set up a profile in Synapse that was supposed to use the Star Wars:The Old Republic icons when I launched the game. I tried associating the profile with multiple files, including the game's shortcut, launcher.exe, and swtor.exe, but the software never repopulated the Switchblade icons with the SW:TOR images.
Equally frustrating is that Razer offers essentially no documentation online or in the box to walk you through Synapse 2.0. Experienced PC gamers will understand the idea of profiles and the involved task of assigning custom commands and launch files, but a less experienced gamer enticed by the Blade's sleek looks will feel completely lost. The fact that Synapse 2.0 doesn't work as reliably as it should is, of course, also a problem.
Despite all of these difficulties, I still feel the pull of the Switchblade UI's potential. The best route for Razer might be to follow Logitech's example with its G15 gaming keyboards. The first gaming keyboards to include a separate, programmable LCD display, the G15 series also launched with a free, publicly available software developer's kit. Gamers embraced the kit and came up with all sorts of useful mini applications displaying ammo counts, inventory lists, chat logs, and other in-game info. It helped that the G15s cost only about $100, and that their software worked reliably, but given the Blade's high price, its niche appeal, and Razer's extremely limited success partnering with developers so far, a public software development kit might be the most effective way to produce some useful Switchblade functionality.
The touch pad as input device and the Blade's real killer feature
Judged purely as a cursor control device, the touch pad works much better than the average PC touch pad. It has more surface area, for one. Placing it off to the right side where a number pad usually exists seems odd, but it has a certain gamer's logic: you won't accidentally activate it while you're typing on the keyboard, and its side placement mimics the feel of a separate gaming peripheral like a mouse, at least for right-handed mouse users. You may also appreciate that Razer is currently throwing in one of its Orochi notebook gaming mice with the purchase of a Blade.
Despite all the effort Razer put into the touch pad, the Blade's real killer app is the 17.3-inch, 1,920x1,080-pixel-resolution matte display: it's radiant, bright, and has excellent viewing angles. Colors and graphics pop.
For audio output, the stereo speakers aren't as good as those on Alienware laptops or on higher-end media laptops like the Dell XPS 15, but they hold their own.
| Razer Blade | Average for category [Desktop replacement] | |
|---|---|---|
| Video | HDMI | VGA plus HDMI or DisplayPort |
| Audio | Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jack | Stereo speakers with subwoofer, headphone/microphone jacks |
| Data | 1 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0 | 2 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3.0, SD card reader, eSATA |
| Networking | Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
| Optical drive | None | DVD burner, optional Blu-ray player |
The Razer Blade's collection of ports is pretty bare-bones for a 17-incher: one USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, HDMI, and an Ethernet port. It doesn't have additional display outputs, extra USB ports, or even an SD card slot. The fact that all these ports line the left side might annoy those who want peripheral-plugging flexibility or easy monitor docking.
The Blade comes in a single fixed configuration: 2.8GHz Core i7-2640M processor, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, GeForce GT 555M graphics, and a 256GB SSD. Though a solid-state drive (SSD) rather than a larger-capacity hard drive means faster boot times and zippier performance, gamers with large libraries could find 256GB limiting. It depends on your priorities.
Of more concern is the Razer Blade's uninspiring graphics card. I played a variety of games on the Razer Blade, from Skyrim to Star Wars: The Old Republic to Battlefield 3. The Blade was able to run each title with acceptable frame rates, but I had to lower the graphics quality on some of the more demanding games. The overall performance and image quality never felt like what I would expect from a $2,800 computer.
The Nvidia GeForce GT 555M is a decent graphics card, but it's a midrange chip from Nvidia's soon-to-be-replaced 500-series. Street Fighter IV running at native 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution and 2x AA ran at 60.1 frames per second, so the Blade is at least competent, but the more graphically intensive Metro 2033 ran at 8.7fps in 1080p, with graphics settings at High, DX11 turned on, 4x anti-aliasing, and 16x AF.
Comparatively, the Origin PC Eon17-S, which we reviewed last year and which featured a far more robust Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M GPU, handled that same Metro 2033 test at 39fps. The Origin weighed 8.5 pounds and cost $3,599, but that was in summer of 2011. Today, you can configure a 17-inch laptop from Alienware or Origin with that same GTX 580 chip and come in under $2,500. It's reasonable that Razer would charge a premium for the Blade's portability and its unique UI, but without the gaming performance of its competitors, it feels overpriced.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 | 1,366x768, High, DX11, AAA, 4X AF | | 1,920x1,080, High, DX11, 4X AA, 16X AF |
Another issue with the Blade's configuration is the timing of its release. Its December 2011 on-sale date was just three months prior to the debut of Nvidia's new GeForce 600-series graphics cards, and four months before that of Intel's next-generation Ivy Bridge CPUs. Razer has not commented on whether it will adopt those components in a future iteration of the Blade. If it doesn't, the Blade will be out-of-date very soon. If Razer does issue an update, owners of this model would be right to feel disappointed.
 Juice box | |
| Razer Blade | Avg watts/hour |
| Off (60%) | 5.67 |
| Sleep (10%) | 6.03 |
| Idle (25%) | 19.95 |
| Load (05%) | 68.78 |
| Raw kWh number | 151.68 |
| Annual power consumption cost | $17.22 |
The integrated battery on the Razer Blade lasted 3 hours and 17 minutes in CNET's continuous video-playback battery drain test. That's better than most gaming laptops, especially considering the large, bright screen. In comparison, the Origin Eon17-S, a far larger laptop, only lasted 2 hours and 19 minutes. The Blade won't let you play games for the entire duration of a cross-country flight, but I welcome any improvement in high-end laptop battery life.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
The Razer Blade comes with a one-year limited warranty, which you can extend to two years for an additional $299 at the time of purchase on Razer's Web site. Razer promises more hands-on customer service than some larger companies, and the customer care phone number (855-877-BLADE) is prominently displayed. All of that is great, but I still wish it came with more thorough documentation for the Switchblade UI.
The Razer Blade is a living concept laptop of sorts, a thinner and more portable design that shows Razer, as a company, can build a laptop of quality. However, its compromises in onboard graphics, the high cost of the system, and the embryonic nature of the Switchblade UI make the Razer Blade a collector's item; I wouldn't recommend it as a high-end gaming laptop.
System configurations
Razer Blade
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2640M; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz;
2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 555M / 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 3000; Lite-On IT 256GB SSD
Toshiba Qosmio X775-3DV78
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz;
1.5GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M; HDD #1: 500GB Seagate 7,200rpm + HDD #2: 750GB Toshiba 5,400rpm
Alienware M18x
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-2920XM; 16GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz;
(SLi) 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M (x2) + 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 3000; 750GB Seagate 7,200rpm (x2)
Asus G74SX-A2
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM; 16GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz;
3GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M; HDD #1: 160GB Intel SSD + HDD #2: 750GB Seagate 7,200rpm
Origin Eon17-S
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-2920XM; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz;
2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M; HDD #1: 500GB Seagate 7,200rpm + HDD #2: C300-CTFDDAC 128GB SSD
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