Razer Blade 2016 Review: A sleek and lightweight gaming laptop

[Shawn Knight]

Shopping for a gaming notebook can be tough, especially if you’re looking to supplement a beefy desktop machine. On one hand, you can go all out with a massive system that rivals your trusty desktop but then again, who wants to haul around a 10+ pound brick all day? Conversely, there are plenty of slim notebooks to choose from but finding one that’s even halfway decent at gaming is a challenge.

With Razer’s refreshed Blade notebook, the gaming peripheral specialist aims to strike a blend of portability and power in a chassis that anyone would be proud to own. At just 4.5 pounds with a profile that’s thinner than a dime standing on its side, you’ll have no trouble tossing it in your backpack as you walk out the door.

Powering the new Razer Blade is Intel’s sixth generation Skylake Core i7-6700HQ processor with Intel HD Graphics 530, a quad-core, eight-thread chip that runs at 2.6GHz (Turbo up to 3.5GHz), 16GB of dual-channel DDR3, Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M graphics with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM and 256GB or 512GB of PCIe M.2 solid state storage.

Read the complete review.

 

[yRaz]

>still cheaper than gillette blades

 

[winjay]

Did anyone notice that it looks like a macbook pro retina? I mean, the vents expelling hot air under the screen is the same as on my macbook.

Also have the scaling issues on Windows resolved to be used at such high resolution?

 

[Nobina]

Did anyone notice that it looks like a macbook pro retina? I mean, the vents expelling hot air under the screen is the same as on my macbook.

Also have the scaling issues on Windows resolved to be used at such high resolution?

It looks like a laptop. Apple also has laptops. Apple should sue them for stealing their looks.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Did anyone notice that it looks like a macbook pro retina? I mean, the vents expelling hot air under the screen is the same as on my macbook.

Also have the scaling issues on Windows resolved to be used at such high resolution?

Yes, it is a macbook design. Has been since 2013.

And no, microsoft has never truly fixed their scaling issues, its better now, but not truly fixed, especially for anything that isnt a store app.

It looks like a laptop. Apple also has laptops. Apple should sue them for stealing their looks.

Apple sued samsung over having rounded corners on a PHONE, It is surprising they have not sued razer over the blade's design.

 

[Uncle Al]

The price of laptops is certainly swinging back upward; of course for the latest and greatest it is certainly expected. It may be the one thing that keeps a desk top viable for a long time .....

 

[BingoFishy]

Did anyone notice that it looks like a macbook pro retina? I mean, the vents expelling hot air under the screen is the same as on my macbook.

Also have the scaling issues on Windows resolved to be used at such high resolution?

Yes, it is a macbook design. Has been since 2013.

And no, microsoft has never truly fixed their scaling issues, its better now, but not truly fixed, especially for anything that isnt a store app.

It looks like a laptop. Apple also has laptops. Apple should sue them for stealing their looks.

Apple sued samsung over having rounded corners on a PHONE, It is surprising they have not sued razer over the blade's design.

Rounded corners and a grid pattern for apps. Like seriously, I can't think of a modern mobile that DOESN'T have those things. Even flip phones.

Also if they sued Google I'll bet they'd get more money. Just sayin'

 

[Kibaruk]

Am I the only one that noticed they are comparing it to an Alienware 15 that has a better video but almost 2 gen old proc? Am I the only one bothered with that?

You should compare oranges to oranges, test the new blade with a new alienware, I'm pretty sure that with a 980m setup it will blow it out of the way on that price range. For the same price as the blade (Or maybe cheaper) you can have an i7 6700 with a 980m.

It is true that the sleek design is awesome, but my alienware can barely handle the huge temps when it's on heavy duty mode, I wouldn't trust something that small to handle it too well sadly. Also, no synthetic temp test?

To add a bit more on the hate-wagon, Razer are not too well known for making high quality products anymore.

 

[jauffins]

Did anyone notice that it looks like a macbook pro retina? I mean, the vents expelling hot air under the screen is the same as on my macbook.

Also have the scaling issues on Windows resolved to be used at such high resolution?

The Blade, since the beginning, has basically been a black MBP running Windows and with more gamer-centric hardware. Two different machines, though.

 

[Vladislav]

Hurry, buy it now, before its becomes obsolete when Kaby Lake + Pascal models start coming out. Soon. Instant collector's item.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Mmm the CPU and GPU... would be nice to see one with the GTX1070.

I also wonder about upgrading the SSD - whether you can throw your own m.2 drive in?

 

[Darth Shiv]

It is true that the sleek design is awesome, but my alienware can barely handle the huge temps when it's on heavy duty mode, I wouldn't trust something that small to handle it too well sadly. Also, no synthetic temp test?

To add a bit more on the hate-wagon, Razer are not too well known for making high quality products anymore.

I was hoping they were getting better not worse because they were really bad before and their drivers and software division was really poor on polish.

 

[Nobina]

Yes, it is a macbook design. Has been since 2013.

And no, microsoft has never truly fixed their scaling issues, its better now, but not truly fixed, especially for anything that isnt a store app.
Apple sued samsung over having rounded corners on a PHONE, It is surprising they have not sued razer over the blade's design.

They got **** on pretty hard for suing Samsung for minor things so they learned their lesson, I guess.

 

[Capaill]

More likely it's that the Razer Blade is a niche laptop and not a mainstream item like a Samsung phone is.
Or possibly it's because Razer is a US company and Apple only hates Asians

 

[Kibaruk]

Mmm the CPU and GPU... would be nice to see one with the GTX1070.

I also wonder about upgrading the SSD - whether you can throw your own m.2 drive in?

Not that I have Dell shares or anything... but I'm super happy with my R15 2, i7 6820hk, 980m, 1tb 2" hard drive and 2 slots for M2 disks, 1 with 120gb for main drive (That came with it, it's a samsung branded Evo 850 for what I could tell) and another with a 500gb Samsung Evo 850. I did underclocked it like from 36x to 34x and the temps are super stable without noticing a performance hit.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Nice... yeah 980m is a beast and 500GB I think is min requirements nowadays for a higher end machine.

 

[winjay]

Rounded corners and a grid pattern for apps. Like seriously, I can't think of a modern mobile that DOESN'T have those things. Even flip phones.

Also if they sued Google I'll bet they'd get more money. Just sayin'

The Lumia 920 and 1020 running WP 8.1 did not have any of those. Granted, the new Lumias from MS gave up on originality of hardware design, but its certainly possible to do it. Stock android doesn't mandate rounded corners for app icons like touchwiz does, although I prefer all icons have rounded corners for consistency.

 

[Kibaruk]

Mmm I've been thinking about this notebook a lot lately, and even commented it with some friends and even though I love the 2 kilos mark and the small package and I'm still not completely comfortble with having such a high end device in such a small package due to thermal issues and, as much as I used to love razer hardware they've been putting up some really expensive pieces of...not good devices.

The Lumia 920 and 1020 running WP 8.1 did not have any of those. Granted, the new Lumias from MS gave up on originality of hardware design, but its certainly possible to do it. Stock android doesn't mandate rounded corners for app icons like touchwiz does, although I prefer all icons have rounded corners for consistency.

Dude... have you ever heard the expression don't bring a knife to a gun fight? Well this is kind of like that but you are talking about knifes when people are talking about bazookas, you went totally off road with that comment.

 

[cldmstrsn]

I have my laptop running at 1080p with a 980m. I wont accept any less than that kind of performance on my machine and to think they put a 970 in there for a qHD display is crazy and I got it for almost a thousand less than what they are pricing this at. Not even close to a good deal.