Were you aware there's a brand new Razer Blade out there? Check out our Razer Blade 2019 review.

The 2018 Razer Blade declared a massive revolution for Razer's light and thin device, already one of the greatest gaming laptops. Razer abandoned the 14-inch model for, well, another 14-inch Razer Blade now round, technically speaking.

Together with the Razer Blade 2018, Razer has managed to push a 15.6-inch display into a 14-inch chassis, very similar to the the finest Ultrabooks -- and of course the Razer Blade Stealth. This results in the tiniest 15-inch gaming laptop thus far, at least before the Razer Blade 2019 hit the roads. The Razer Blade 2018 was redesigned from the bottom up, and frankly, we are impressed.

The Razer Blade 2018 came one of a laptop scene that's fully evolved through the years. In that moment, the rivalry evolved, and is currently composed entirely of comparable gaming laptops, which begs the question: is the Razer Blade 2018 value the focus ?

Price and availability

Razer has priced the hottest Blade similarly to its prior laptops -- marginally exorbitantly. The 2018 Razer Blade starts at $1,899 (£1,699, AU$2,899), that gets you a full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display at 60Hz powered with the exact same processor as the other versions, though paired using an Nvidia GTX 1060 and 256GB of storage.

There's a new'Base' dual-storage model of the Razer Blade, that's much such as the starting model, but using an SSD and HDD. This dual-storage Razer Blade will put you back $1,599 (£1,479, AU$2,499) using a 128GB SSD plus a 1TB hard disk. You may get as much as some 256GB SSD paired using a 2TB HDD for $1,799 (£1,649, AU$2,799).

To get the model that we reviewed , you are going to need to devote a big $2,599 (£2,329, AU$3,999). In between that is a model together with the 144Hz display, the GTX 1060 and 512GB of storage for $2,199 (£1,979, AU$3,299), and also one with whatever you see our spec sheet, but using less storage for $2,399 (£2,149, AU$3,699).

In the same way, the pricest version of the Asus ROG Zephyrus GX501 will put you back $2,899 (about £2,199, AU$3919), getting you a much more powerful GTX 1080GPU in addition to Nvidia G-Sync -- all else is the same. The entry level version costs $2,299 (about £1,749, AU$3,100), using a GTX 1070 behind a 120Hz display. To get the very same graphics card at the Razer, you are going to need to shed another 100 dollars or quid.

At the exact same period, the MSI GS65 Stealth -- additionally upgraded at CES 2019 -- comes in at only $1,799 (£1,790, AU$2,599) in the entrance level, using the exact same processor as the Razer Blade's starting option, just using a faster 144Hz display. At the maximum end, the GS65 doubles the Razer Blade's memory and storage to get $2,999 (£2,349, about AU$4,080).

It is not tough to come across the identical hardware for less money in a less brassy chassis. It is not enough to convince this particular editor to cough up the excess money, but we are not everybody.

Design

Nonetheless, the new Razer Blade is the best looking gaming laptop we have seen from Razer. Still clad in an all-black, unibody aluminum casing, the Razer Blade adopts a far more angular shape this time round, while toning down the light to the keyboard and Razer logo on the lid.

Simultaneously, Razer has set a great deal of work into reducing down the Razer Blade, together with the producer claiming to have created the'world's tiniest 15.6-inch gaming laptop' in 0.66 inches (16.76mm) lean on the GTX 1060 model. Additionally, it comes in at below 14-inches broad, as a result of a brand new, thinner screen bezel.

Luckily -- and other laptop manufacturers, listen -- the Razer Blade retains the webcam into its proper position over the screen whilst implementing lean bezels.

However, despite just how lean the Razer Blade is, it is surprisingly compact -- coming in at half a pound heavier than the MSI GS65 Stealth. While Razer has also managed to reduce the size of the charging brick, it is still thicker overall than equal light and thin gaming laptops, and it was thicker than we would have liked.

Beyond an extreme streamlining, the Razer Blade design is a lot of what has been found before, just bigger. Of course, the keyboard feels fantastic, offering some of the punchiest opinions and easy travel we have experienced in an island-style keyboard.

On the other hand, the key layout is somewhat baffling, with all the'up' arrow key sitting involving the Shift and'?' keys. It has left typing out queries a significant pain, as we always hit the arrow at hurry, including a question mark into the line over where we're typing. We'd conveniently take shrunken arrow keys when it meant that a more practical layout otherwise.

The trackpad finds itself at a similarly unfortunate circumstance. While we are celebrating the fact that Razer has implemented a clickpad design, dropping these delicate buttons such as a bad habit, the monitoring surface is possibly a bit too broad. We often find ourselves unintentionally moving the cursor when typing. Otherwise, it is a smooth and true Microsoft Precision monitoring surface.

In the end, while we appreciate the top-firing speakers to get their much fuller sound than most other notebooks, we are somewhat puzzled by the absence of Windows Hello protected login options. Razer also included the ideal placement: a grid button sits atop the right speaker also feels smooth to the touch. At this cost, secure login ought to be a shoo-in.

Display and screen

Razer knocked it out of the park when it has to do with the Razer Blade's display. Having a matte coating that does well at deflecting mild clare, this weapon might just be 1080p, but it is just gorgeous.

A good deal of that comes down to the 144Hz refresh speed, making games look extremely easy as the refresh rate outpaces the frame speed of most games conducted on the device. This permits the Razer Blade to shore up possible shortcomings of the GTX 1060 or 1070 in producing consistent frame rates at high detail settings.

The 100% sRGB colour gamut also aids the display only pop with a huge selection of colors supported at striking accuracy. The mill screen calibration that Razer provides to every one of these laptops goes a very long way, also.

Performance

It should not come as a surprise that the Razer Blade 2018 is a monster when it comes to the two computing and graphics performance. Frankly, we'd anticipate as much out of a machine that costs this much, juas because we'd of its own opponents. But we locate the laptop somewhat lacking when it comes to heat control -- even though Razer's best efforts -- and battery life.

The Blade was able to maintain parity in performance evaluation results together with the GS65 Stealth, even managing to outpace it with several frames per second (fps) in every graphics benchmark. Regrettably, we weren't able to check the Zephyrus laptop with the identical game, but its GTX 1080 handily outclassed the 1070 inside our Blade from the 3DMark tests -- expectedly.

Expect to have the ability to finish just about any computing task with this laptop short of ultra-high comprehensive gaming. With lots of RAM and Intel's newest Coffee Lake processor, you need to have the ability to go from making 4K video into playing a few rounds of Overwatch without a fuss.

But for many of Razer's (seriously remarkable ) attempts to better trendy its lighter and thinner gaming laptop, we locate the laptop gets rather unbearably hot on either side of the foundation only under the hinge after only a couple of minutes of gameplay. Regrettably, it appears that even Razer's new vapor room cooling system can not compete with the mixture of further processing and graphics power -- and therefore more heat generated -- along with a smaller distance through which it could pass.

Battery life

Additionally, the Razer Blade's battery life leaves much to be desired, lasting about an hour longer than the Zephyrus laptop in analyzing, but coming up short of the MSI GS65 Stealth by about just as much. Gaming laptops with inferior battery life is not anything new, of course, but things have changed in the past couple of years.

These days, it is normal to see gaming laptops provide battery lifetime beyond five hours, so Razer has fallen behind the curve . You would be lucky to get through many short flights utilizing this laptop without an outlet.

At this budget, we'd love to get at least four hours out of the laptop in either situation. Given how Razer is positioning its laptops as perfect for mixed use, this really is a variable worth seriously considering.

Apps and features

The single bit of pre-loaded software you'll discover about the Razer Blade -- that, without subsidies beyond an Intel sticker on the foundation, could clarify its pricing somewhat -- is Razer Synapse. Here is the company's app for controlling the laptop's different RGB lighting settings, but it's a fresh function now around: much more performance.

Together with the version of the software found in the Razer Blade, now you can activate a gaming mode that fosters the graphics processor's processor and video memory frequency by 100MHz and 300MHz, respectively. This will certainly provide you with a wholesome fps increase in games, but may just raise the heat put out from the device, so that ought to be considered before you overclock on the go.

General assessment

Razer has created its attractive and sexy laptop yet using the hottest Blade, but sadly still suffers from a few fundamental, common defects seen in the other gaming laptops in addition to Razer's own previous attempts. This gaming laptop will get you farther than most in terms of fps and smoothness, using its overclocking mode and 144Hz display.

But, lackluster battery life and some seriously hot temperatures, and of course the omission of Windows Hello support plus a somewhat goofy keyboard layout give us pause. That's particularly considering the expectedly lofty price tag.

Everything you've got here, then, is an incredibly fashionable and good-feeling laptop -- just one that this particular editor could even look at paying a premium for -- that is held back from a few defects that are hard to ignore. Razer is obviously at the top of its game using the hottest Blade, but the remainder of the gaming laptop world is obviously catching up.