Razer Blade 15 Base Model review

Razer has a strong pedigree in gaming notebooks, with plenty of devoted fans that like the company's approach to notebooks with a strong performance. Typically in the notebook space, that would equate to yearly updates that mirror that year's best CPUs and GPUs and not much else.

That's not quite what Razer has done with its 2020 Razer Blade 15 lineup, with a choice of configurations for both the "Base" and "Advanced" models that can get a little confusing. What we've reviewed here is the Razer Blade 15 Base Model, but it's neither the cheapest nor the most expensive Base Model that you can buy. It's really important to check the spec sheet of any of these laptops before you buy, as there's quite a range of power options and specifications, even within the most basic of Razer's updated laptop line.

That being said, the model we tested performed pretty well for its price point, as well as having a few little quirks.

Design

Design

• Striking black design is still standard
• Keyboard layout is less cramped than older Razer models

• Read our full review of the Razer Blade 15 Base Model's design

  Closed up, the Razer Blade 15 Base Model looks like any other Razer laptop – or indeed any other Razer product you've seen. We're talking a hefty use of black, lots of harsh straight lines and of course that iconic Razer snake logo on the back. At 19.9mm x 235mm x 355mm and a carrying weight of just over 2kg not including its power adaptor, you're still lugging around a hefty little unit. It's all very solid aluminium, which gives it plenty of scope for durability, as well as a striking ability to quickly pick up fingerprints along the way.

  At the sides, Razer packs in an HDMI port, three USB A-type ports, two USB C 3.2-type ports and a gigabit ethernet port, as well as Razer's own custom charging input. One oddity here is that if you do prefer wired networking, there's no ethernet port on the more expensive Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model. Both models are 802.11ax-ready (AKA "Wi-Fi 6") out of the box.

  For the three cheapest models, the Razer Blade 15 ships with either a 15-inch full HD 144hz LCD panel with claimed 100% sRGB coverage or an optional 4K OLED 15-inch display. Naturally, that 4K panel will cost you more, and we've just tested out the more vanilla LCD model. The Advanced variant has the same LCD/OLED split, but with refresh rates pumped up to a very compelling 300Hz, again, for more money.

  The big design change with the Razer Blade 15 across all models is the redesigned keyboard layout, most notably the directional keys that sit at the bottom-right of the laptop.

  Prior Razer Blades tended to jam everything in together, which meant that if you were touch typing, you could often hit the upper arrow key when looking for the backslash or question mark key. What you now get are smaller up/down keys flanked by larger left/right keys. There's a learning curve there as well, but it's one that's less likely to see you jumping up a page in a document or failing to respond because you hit a character key instead.

  To the sides of the keyboard, Razer has placed stereo speakers. The output is decent enough for a laptop, but every time I looked at them, I couldn't help but think that this was a laptop with sideburns. I found it oddly annoying, but that's totally a taste call.

Performance

Performance

• Plenty of performance power
• Gets very hot under sustained load

• View test results and read our full review of the Razer Blade 15 Base Model's performance

  The Razer Blade 15 Base Model that we tested was the top-tier LCD model, which comes with 512GB of onboard storage, 16GB of dual-channel DDR4-2933Mhz RAM and a 10th generation 6-core Intel Core i7-10750H processor. Onboard graphics are handled by an 8GB NVIDIA RTX-2070 Max-Q GPU, and you can get a lot of variance here, depending on your spend.

  The cheapest of the 2020 Razer Blade 15 Base Models comes with just a GTX 1660 Ti and an RTX 2060. Jumping up to the Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model scores you either a GeForce RTX 2070 Super Max Q or, at the very priciest end of the scale, an RTX 2080 Super Max Q GPU. Again, it's really important to make sure that you're getting the variant that you pay for at these prices.

  While it's not the top tier of Razer's offerings, the Razer Blade 15 Base Model that we tested performed very well in both a benchmark and real-world gaming test scenario. Here's how it benchmarked across a range of popular synthetic benchmarks:

  While Razer builds its laptops to appeal to the gaming crowd, there's little doubt that most of us would have to push laptops like these into effective double duty as general productivity machines, and the Razer Blade 15 Base Model has plenty of power for those duller times when you're busier filling out spreadsheets than filling your enemies with lead.

  That being said, yeah, I did run a lot of games past the Razer Blade 15 Base Model and it ran most of them very well. Obviously, if you're more into 4K-level gaming, you'd want to plump for the higher-end model or connect up to an external capable display. But I had few issues in terms of how the Razer Blade 15 performed across most gaming titles, or for that matter, using it for a lazy Sunday afternoon Netflix binge. However, there was one notable exception.

  A high-performance system like this was always going to have some fan noise, and I accepted pretty quickly that when I was putting it under heavier strain, the fans would kick in.

  What I did find slightly harder to accept was the level of heat that simply passes up through the body of the Razer Blade 15 Base Model when it's running hard. That's not just the classic "cooked lap" scenario, but also some really noticeable and uncomfortable warmth across the keyboard. If you were using any external controller or keyboard combo and the Razer Blade 15 Base Model was on a desk, you might not notice. But if you are using the embedded keyboard, it can get a touch uncomfortable, even in cooler weather.

Battery life

Battery life

• 65W battery gives ordinary performance
• Fast charging

• View test results and read our full review of the Razer Blade 15 Base Model's battery life

  Gaming laptops don't often make extensive battery life a key feature, and that's absolutely a trade-off between processing and GPU power and battery capacity constraints.

  Nobody buys a gaming laptop expecting exceptional battery life when they're designed to be more "luggable" devices for LAN party usage and the like, and the Razer Blade 15 Base Model fell into a rather predictable pattern. Its 65W non-removable battery managed more battery life than I honestly expected for our standard video test, looping a 1080p video at full brightness and in full performance mode. But it was still below that of many laptops we've put through this test before.

  Video processing isn't terribly power intensive, and most gamers will buy the Razer Blade 15 Base Model with the intention of running games instead.

  Using PCMark 10's gaming battery benchmark, the Razer Blade 15 Base Model lasted a scant 56 minutes of runtime before running out of power. That figure very much matched my own anecdotal observations where around an hour of intensive lap-based gameplay not only heated up the Razer Blade 15 Base Model, but also alarmingly affected its overall battery performance too.

  Opt for the Advanced Model and you can juice it up over USB C, but for the Base Model, you're stuck with Razer's custom charger. It's a big, thick, chunky insert plug that won't easily fall out, but the actual charger itself is quite hefty and it does invite the possibility of dragging the laptop off a table if someone trips over it. Actual charging at 230W is very nice and quick, however.

Verdict

Verdict

How we score our reviews

• Lots of fun – for a price

Should you buy it?

Razer knows its market very well indeed, and there's a lot to like about the Razer Blade 15 Base Model notebook, even if your budget can't quite match up to the even flashier Advanced or Studio Edition Blade Models.

While there are elements that are just specification bumps, they're bumps in all the right directions, with a generally excellent display, plenty of both processing and GPU power to play with and a subtle but welcome change in the keyboard layout. The Razer Blade 15 Base Model doesn't start anywhere near "cheap" in laptop terms, but it's pretty easy to see where its value lies.

Just don't take it too far away from any wall charger for too long.

Pricing and availability

Price

RRP: $3,399.00

Where to buy

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The Razer Blade 15 Base Model that we tested, which comes with a GeForce RTX 2070, a 15-inch 144Hz LCD screen, a 512GB SSD and an Intel Core i7-10750H processor, has a retail price in Australia of $4,099.

The top tier model that matches those specifications but adds a 4K OLED display costs $4,699.

There's also a $3,699 model that drops to an RTX 2060, 512GB of storage and a GeForce 1660Ti for $3,399.

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model ships in three configurations. All three feature an 8-core Intel Core-i7 10875 CPU, with the entry level model offering a 512GB SSD, a 300Hz full HD LCD screen and a GeForce RTX 2070 Super Max Q for $5,299.

The mid-range Advanced Model bumps up the GPU to a GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max Q and a 1TB SSD for $6,099 and for the fully cashed-up gaming fan, the top tier has all that plus a 4K OLED display for $6,699.

Specifications

Where to buy