The Razer Blade 15 (2021) looks nice and performs excellently in demanding games
At the moment, the Razer Blade 15 (2021) is a well-known gadget. Razer improves on its well-known gaming laptop design year after year by combining the most up-to-date and cutting-edge technologies, and the 2021 edition is no different.
Thanks to Nvidia Ampere and Intel 11th-era CPUs, the Razer Blade 15 is now more powerful than ever, and it can now power the 4K display that the top-stop alternative uses in-game. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 in the version we’re looking at here is the perfect match for this 4K display, and this PC proves that 4K gaming laptops may also find a role in the future.
All of the additional features that set the Razer Blade 15 (2021) apart in the past still apply. For the amount of power it provides, it’s still a very tiny and light gaming laptop, and it’s one of the very few gaming laptops that we don’t mind using at a coffee shop.
With a 4K show and a number of the maximum power-hungry pc hardware available, the Razer Blade 15’s battery existence remains a problem. We’re nonetheless a long way from being capable of taking the Razer Blade 15 (2021) to paintings and going away the charger at home. That’s much less of a problem now that you may fee it with a traditional USB-C charger — as a minimum to a degree.
Razer Blade 15 (2021) review: Price and availability
Prices for the Razer Blade 15 (2021) begin at $1,799. Behind a 1080p 144Hz monitor, you’ll find the Intel Core i7-11800H, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSSD, and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060.
That’s a hefty beginning price, but it only gets better from there. The model we have in stock, which is mentioned to the right, costs $3,399. Creative pros, on the other hand, will undoubtedly find the 32GB of RAM and Core i9 processor extremely handy in this configuration.
But, as continuing with the Razer Blade 15 (2021), you are procuring a luxurious computing device, as opposed to only for the capacity to play your video games on the road. There are lots of different gaming laptops available which could offer comparable specifications and performance, without even dropping out plenty on portability.
This time, though, the Razer Blade 15 (2021) is being directly challenged by Razer. At the same pricing point, the Razer Blade 14 and the Razer Blade 15 (2021) are nearly identical in performance. It’s also a lot more transportable. Furthermore, if you’re performing a lot of creative work that requires a lot of CPU power, the Blade 14’s 5th-generation AMD Ryzen processors easily outperform Intel technology.
The only advantage the 15-inch Razer Blade has over the 14-inch Razer Blade is the 4K screen, which we could take or leave on a laptop display anyhow.
Razer Blade 15 (2021) review: Design
The Razer Blade 15’s layout hasn’t been modified an awful lot in the latest years, and we are now no longer precisely complaining. It nevertheless has the all-black unibody aluminum chassis and the Razer emblem illuminated at the pinnacle of the computer. There’s additionally a big trackpad and a number of nice audio systems in a gaming computer today. And, of course, a keyboard that is virtually to die for.
For a computer that homes such effective hardware, it is also distinctly skinny and light, weighing in at simply 4.4lb and measuring simply 0. sixty-seven inches thick. This makes the Razer Blade 15 (2021) one of the maximum transportable laptops in its class, and game enthusiasts that do not need to sacrifice overall performance at the same time as traveling are going to locate lots to like here.
However, this portability is betrayed as a minimum a bit via way of means of the big charging brick. It’s truly smaller than a few beyond variations of this laptop, however, it nonetheless provides a piece of bulk to the package – mainly for the reason that Razer Blade 15 nonetheless cannot get you a complete day of labor on battery power, greater on that later.
The version we are searching for right here is the only one with the 4K contact OLED show, and wow is it gorgeous. It has a mean brightness of 313 nits, which isn’t the brightest anywhere on the planet.
However, while mixed with its capacity to hit 109% of the sRGB color spectrum, it is absolutely a stunning show to appear at, whether or not gambling video games or simply binging Netflix in bed.
Fortunately, the media attraction does not stop with the display; the speakers are as impressive. We brought the laptop to Colorado for a two-week vacation and used it to watch TV, listen to music, and, of course, play games, and the speakers performed admirably in all of those situations.
And during bass-heavy songs or action-packed situations in movies and games, not much detail is lost in the high-end. It’s still not going to beat investing in a good gaming headset or anything, but the speakers do the job.
When it comes to trackpads, other Windows laptops are catching up to Razer, but the Razer Blade 15 (2021) still offers one of the best trackpads outside of the best MacBooks.
It’s precise, smooth, and big enough for you to make gestures without accidentally brushing your fingers outside the box.
It’s a lovely touch, but we’re still not at the point where trackpads are suitable for playing PC games, so you’ll almost certainly want to use a gaming mouse with this laptop.
The keyboard is likewise as wonderful as it has always been, with enough travel and some lovely RGB lighting. Travel is smooth and deep, and we can type quickly and correctly on it, which is more than we can say for the 2018 MacBook Pro we typically use.
In terms of ports, considering how tiny this laptop is, there are quite a few. A Kensington lock, HDMI, USB-A, and a Thunderbolt 4 port are located on the right side.
The charging port, another Thunderbolt 4, two more USB-A ports, and a combo 3.5mm audio jack are all on the left.
Many laptops are removing many of these ports in the name of making them thinner and lighter, but Razer has so far resisted the urge – let’s hope it does so in the future.
Razer Blade 15 (2021) review: Performance
Whatever gaming computer with an 11th-technology Core i7 processor and an RTX 3080 could truly weigh down any recreation you placed at it, however, what became sudden became how efficiently this computer dealt with 4K video games.
Because the cell model of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 isn’t always as sturdy because of the computer model, it struggles a bit in 4K, especially whilst ray tracing is used.
We had to drop the graphics settings on a number of particularly demanding games, including The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, but those games are incredibly demanding and only the most powerful desktop computers can run them at 4K anyhow.
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Our standards mostly reflect this, with Total War: Three Kingdoms and Metro Exodus getting 72 and 65 frames per second, respectively. Although some games are technically older, they continue to push hardware to its limits, which is why we incorporate them in our testing.
It’s also a strong PC in general, with Cinebench scores of 8,555 and PCMark 10 scores of 6,797, which are only surpassed by the Razer Blade 14.
Razer Blade 15 (2021) review: Battery life
It wasn’t lengthy in the past that we really anticipated that each gaming pc might have a terrible battery lifestyle, however, this is not the case.
There are many gaming laptops that may final longer than 8 hours on a charge, just like the Asus ROG Strix G15, that’s even quicker than the Razer Blade 15.
Instead, the 2021 Razer Blade 15 lasts simply six hours and sixteen mins withinside the PCMark 10 battery lifestyles test, and cannot even finalize 5 and a 1/2 of hours in our video playback test.
It’s a disgrace due to the fact this pc is in any other case an amazing choice for taking with you at the move.
Six hours of battery life isn’t bad. Even while you’ll be able to get a lot of work done before the laptop dies, it’s still less than we’d like to see when compared to similar products.
Razer Blade 15 (2021) review: Camera and microphone
One of our most important puppy peeves over the past yr or so of trying out computer systems in lockdown is that computer cameras, pretty simply, stink.
Especially with Ultrabooks, which prioritize almost undetectable bezels that serve little use aside from appearance nice. Fortunately, the Razer Blade 15 boasts a brilliant webcam.
You’ll get hold of a 1080p webcam, which appears pretty excellent in calls – at the least higher than we might count on from a computer.
While we are on Discord or chatting thru Zoom, the microphone additionally sounds amazing, choosing up our speech without an excessive amount of historical past noise distracting our pals.
Razer Blade 15 (2021) review: Features and software
Fortunately, the Razer Blade 15 would not have loads of baggage. It does come pre-set up with Razer Synapse, which you could or won’t like, however, this is wherein the preinstalled software program ends.
With that approach, the computer will boot up fast the primary time you are taking it out of the box, and the SSD can be your canvas to put in something you want, so long as you do not set up something you do not need.
The webcam additionally functions as an IR sensor, permitting it to guide Windows Hello, even though we want Razer to have additionally included a fingerprint sensor. Facial unlocks are nevertheless snappy, and putting them up is as easy as ever.
Razer Blade 15 (2021) review: Outlook
You can’t get much more luxury than the Razer Blade 15 when it comes to gaming laptops. This is an incredible piece of gear.
The Razer Blade 15 is narrow and mild sufficient to be healthy without difficulty right into a backpack, making it an extremely good opportunity for game enthusiasts in the past who need to play their favored PC games.
If you’re a lover of the Razer brand, you’re probably already planning on purchasing a blade.
If you don’t have a lot of money to spare, the Razer Blade 15 is still a very pricey gaming laptop.
If you’re looking for a laptop that will last all day without needing to be charged, the Razer Blade 15 (2021) falls short. Every year, however, it gets closer.