The 2015 Razer Blade Review
by Brett Howse on February 11, 2015 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Razer
- Razer Blade
- Notebooks
- GTX970M
Design and Chassis
Internally, Razer outfitted the new Blade with a new CPU, GPU, and more system memory. But the chassis of the 2015 Blade has not changed at all. That is not really a bad thing though, since the Razer Blade already carried with it a fantastic CNC aluminum body. Comparisons are often made with the Retina MacBook Pro, and for good reason. Both are solid computers made of nicely crafted aluminum, and the overall dimensions of the Razer Blade are very similar to the 15 inch Retina MacBook Pro.
Also identical to the 2014 Blade is the matte black finish of the anodized aluminum, which feels great and resists fingerprints. The accents are all in “Razer Green” which is consistent across their product line. The USB accents, the keyboard backlighting, the power LED, and the Razer symbol on the back of the LCD are all represented in this shade.
The body of the Razer Blade is very strong, with no flexing or creaking to be had. The top of the lid keeps the two ridges running down the length of the display, which give a nice effect and likely increase rigidity.
The cooling system is also similar. Underneath the Razer Blade, there are two air intakes, which cool the CPU and GPU and push the heated air out into a vent between the display and the back of the laptop. This keeps the vent hidden from view, and makes for a great looking laptop, although the hot air can heat up the top part of the keyboard when the laptop is being worked hard.
We will see how well the cooling system handles the changes later in the review. It now has an additional ten watts of power to dissipate from the new CPU, and an even more powerful GPU, albeit one that is more power efficient as well.
The keyboard is also unchanged, and while it is a great keyboard, with good key travel, and nice feel, this is one area where Razer may have a chance to allow more customization. The “Razer Green” is adjustable as far as intensity, but it would be great to allow more user customization like the Razer Chroma keyboard, or at least color adjustability by the end user.
The trackpad on the Razer Blade is very large, and incredibly smooth. This is not a clickpad, and keeps the dedicated left and right click buttons under the trackpad. This is a layout that I prefer, but this is a preference and others may prefer the added real estate that a clickpad affords them. Regardless, it is a great trackpad. The smooth surface is very easy to move around on, and there were no issues that I found with two finger scrolling or other gestures.
Beside the keyboard is the front facing stereo speakers, and the sides of the device carry the three USB 3.0 ports, the 3.5 mm headset jack, HDMI 1.4 port, and the Kensington lock. An SD card slot would be nice, but is still lacking on the 2015 model. Those hoping for HDMI 2.0 are out of luck. In order to enable NVIDIA Optimus graphics switching, the output actually comes from the integrated GPU. Since Haswell only supports HDMI 1.4, the Razer Blade outputs on the HDMI 1.4b spec which limits the output to 3840x2160 at 30 Hz. Razer has told me that their data shows that more people prefer HDMI at this time, so they are sticking with this over DisplayPort for the external monitor connection.
Razer latops continue the elegant look of the black anodized aluminum, with no garish extras. Though it would be nice to allow for more user customization, it is difficult to fault Razer when they have been so consistent in their styling. The green perfectly matches their other products such as mice and headsets. Though they made no changes to the design of the laptop for 2015, there was little need to, since it was already very high quality, and with great components.
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cptcolo - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link
Please make a 15" version similar to the MacBook Proj5689 - Sunday, February 22, 2015 - link
This review has me thinking about getting a Razer Blade Pro when they release an updated version of that. A 14" screen is too small for me but the Pro is also missing the QHD+ screen so it's a tough choice. In the 17" range, Alienware might be a better deal too, they come with most of the same stuff and a 1TB HDD plus the optional GTX 980M for around the same as the 2014 Blade Prosna1970 - Thursday, February 26, 2015 - link
1- No HDMI 2.0 ?2- no PCIe SSD ?
3- No Killer LAN ? No Killer WLAN with Class one Bluetooth (100m range) many people miss the 100m Bluetooth part , Intel is 10m Range only and 100m range headsets Exist and are wonderful.
4- No Mechanical Keyboard ?
5- No Docking Station with Dedicated High End Card.
ummm Razer are being lazy lately.
SourDo - Thursday, February 26, 2015 - link
I own a 2013 Razer Blade 14". Does anyone know if there is an option whether from Razer or some source for upgrading the built-in LCD panel (extremely crappy 1600x900 TN) to 1080p IPS? My laptop is already out of warranty, so voiding warranty is not concern. Thanks! Fingers-crossed hoping for a miracle.deeps6x - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Of course the major hurdle is to get a high quality 1080P IPS matte screen version of the laptop at a reasonable price. Yeah, QHD checks some marketing checkboxes, but it isn't something that 90% of the buyers would actually prefer (at least not if they could use both for gaming and compare).Blame Microsoft for not solving the scaling issue. At least if it was quad full hd 3840x2160 (ah who are we kidding, it should be 3840x2400), you could scale it back to a usable 1080P for gaming and non-gaming both, and have it remain sharp. But even then, scaling would be a bugger of a problem in a lot of programs/websites. Nope, imho, it should only be offered with an excellent 1080P, non-touch screen. At least until Microsoft catches up to Apple on scaling abilities.
My two bits. Otherwise, nice laptop.
nasqb112 - Thursday, March 5, 2015 - link
So I'm thinking of ditching my main pc/gaming rig and replacing it with the Razer Blade. About 90% of the time, I'd hook it up to a HDTV/monitor and would like to use my mechanical keyboard and gaming mouse. The other 10% I'd take it with me while traveling/vacationing. Is this feasible? I'm curious if anyone can comment on performance when hooked up to an external monitor. Would the performance suffer? Thanks!Majeh3363 - Saturday, March 7, 2015 - link
Is the battery removable? So we can carry a additional battery with us n if yes what will be the price of the battery? Or an extra source so that it can last longer without any electric ports near by ......... Please help really curiousGolddiggie - Sunday, March 8, 2015 - link
Can the SSD's be upgraded? That way one could buy the 256GB version today, and upgrade to bigger SSD's later once available (at a good price point).I'm also trying to decide between this laptop and the MSI GS60 GHOST PRO 4K-079 15.6-Inch... Both have the same GPU, close to the same thickness (MSI is thicker) and weight. I'll be using the laptop for more work tasks (VMware Workstation, Photoshop CS6) and maybe get into some video production tasks (not sure how much of that I'll be doing). I could see getting into gaming on the PC again with this system. Of course, I'll also want to upgrade the video card in my tower if that's the case.
Wask - Sunday, March 22, 2015 - link
Anyone who buys a macbook pro to use as a gaming machine needs a good slap around the head with a large slimy trout... Be good to see how much more battery life the 1080 spec gets? Who needs 2k on a 14" screen? shame about only having the 8gb memory option...LordSnow55 - Friday, May 1, 2015 - link
There's a free giveaway for a Razer Blade going on right now. Only takes a second to enter http://bit.ly/1I34DRF