I'grand a big fan of Razer hardware. Their peripherals are top notch, in item their outstanding Deathadder mice, while their laptops have surprised me in terms of how solid and well built they are. Razer seems to know what gamers are subsequently and the latest Razer Blade is no exception.

Information technology's a powerful gaming automobile, with a Kaby Lake Core i7 and GeForce GTX 1060 graphics giving you enough grunt for the latest games. Merely you get this hardware in a beautiful metal unibody chassis: a phrase I wouldn't use to describe many other gaming laptops on the market.

Granted, the Razer Bract is an expensive laptop, at over $two,000 for a usable configuration, though in many ways you become what y'all pay for.

The build quality of the Razer Blade is exquisite, making information technology the nigh bonny gaming laptop you lot tin can purchase. Virtually every corner of this laptop is constructed of black aluminum, which is sleek, minimalist and sexy. The base is substantially a unibody construction, with aluminum curving seamlessly around the edges, although the bottom plate can be removed to reveal the internals. The matte end makes this device look expensive, and its texture doesn't disappoint either.

One matter I strongly dislike nigh most PC gaming products is their apply of unnecessary 'gamer' elements, like weird angles and atrocious patterns. You lot get none of that with the Razer Blade. The only aspect to this laptop that could even potentially exist described as 'gamer' is the acrid green Razer logo on the laptop hat. Bated from that, this device looks like a typical everyday laptop, and that's great.

Another reward to Razer'south pattern is its compact nature. The Blade tips the scales at 1.86kg/4.1lbs (i.95kg for the touchscreen model) with a thickness of 17.9mm, making it 1 of the thinnest and lightest laptops in its grade. Some competing 14-inch laptops from Gigabyte and MSI have tried to hitting the same marks, and while the MSI GS43VR is lighter, information technology'due south not as slim and its build quality is a mile backside what Razer offers in the Blade.

The Blade compares favorably confronting current generation 15-inch MacBook Pros (ane.83kg heavy and xv.5mm thick), so despite its primary focus on gaming, the Blade can easily be transported and used as a portable workstation without much fuss.

In fact, the Blade is a fair bit more than powerful than the latest MacBook Pros thanks to its GTX 1060 graphics. The combination of operation and portability is why the Razer Blade line has been then pop, and it's currently the standout choice in this regard.

Yous won't take to worry near lugging around a massive power brick with the Razer Blade. Razer'southward current-generation 165W power supply for this laptop is remarkably compact and weighs but over 300 grams, and so it's not a burden like many other gaming laptop power bricks.

The Blade includes a nigh perfect range of I/O: on the left are two USB 3.0 Blazon-A ports, complemented by a third port on the right side; as well on the right is a HDMI 2.0 port and a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port, while a 3.5mm audio jack is on the left. It's a great mix of current and emerging interconnect technologies, and the full-sized display output makes it easy to connect external displays on the go. The main omission here is Ethernet, although clearly this laptop is too thin to fit an RJ45 jack.

I was impressed with the speaker system, which is a rarity for any laptop. The Bract isn't loud, though its speakers are surprisingly decent quality, with a level of depth in the mid-tones and bass that you lot don't usually become. To be clear, headphones or external speakers will still requite a far amend audio experience, but for the occasional video or song, the Razer Blade isn't awful.

My one major gripe about the design of the Blade is its massive bezels around the xiv-inch brandish. In that location is conspicuously enough room here to include a larger display, something in the 15-inch range, however Razer haven't bothered to practice so. Considering how portable the chassis of the laptop is, it'd look even improve with a larger screen in the same grade factor.

Speaking of the display, my review unit was equipped with the xiv.0-inch IPS LCD non-bear on model with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. In that location'due south also a 4K model available, which packs a touchscreen. Because this laptop includes merely a GTX 1060 inside, for the best gaming experience, information technology'south worth sticking with 1080p, although you could but run the 4K model at 1080p if you lot desire.

My master effect with the Blade's display is its color performance. Before scale, this display is tinted noticeably dark-green, which leads to poor accurateness. A greyscale dE2000 average of 7.6 is particularly bad, every bit is a saturation average of four.43 and a ColorChecker average of v.476. Ideally you'd want all three values below 2.0 (or below 1.0 for professionals) to achieve the best experience.

The skilful news is that this IPS display produces a decent contrast ratio of 1270:1, and there was no noticeable backlight drain from my review unit. Brightness was respectable, at 320 nits peak, as were viewing angles. When calibrated, the Razer Blade performed well, striking a greyscale dE2000 average below 1.0. However, equally the display is coming from a fair style back, I couldn't reach a dE2000 value nether 1.0 in SpectraCal CALMAN 5's color tests.

Razer has included a decent keyboard on the Blade, similar in travel distance to most modernistic ultrabooks. The actuation forcefulness required for each key is lower than you'd unremarkably discover from a laptop keyboard, making it more geared towards gaming than typing, though the typing experience is solid nonetheless due to a reasonably sharp response. Keys are fairly sized, especially the important left modifiers, although the up/downwards arrows are bit squished on the right side.

This wouldn't be a Razer product without RGB lighting, so of grade the Blade comes with individually-customizable RGB LEDs backside each key. The functionality provided here is identical to Razer's desktop keyboards, with RGB controls provided by Razer Synapse. The lighting is highly customizable, and pretty much any color looks fantastic upwardly against the deep black chassis. I was disappointed to find that symbols and secondary key functions are non backlit, so it can be tricky to find which keys are for brightness, which are for punctuation, and so forth when in a dark room.

The trackpad on the Blade is excellent, providing a responsive experience with perfect gesture recognition. The physical keys located along the lesser border are even and clicky, which enhances the trackpad'south usability. Of grade, I still expect gamers to apply an external mouse, but the trackpad is perfect for work on the go.