The 2019 Update of the Razor Blade: A Gaming Laptop Review

So, this is it - the 2019 update of my very favorite gaming laptop from last year - the 15-inch Razor Blade. And, it's coming just six months later and it introduces those R-TX graphics that are appearing in just about every gaming laptop into this design that I love so much. So, if this isn't a huge overhaul or anything like that but there are a few things that you need to know about that sweeten the deal on this gaming laptop even more.

First of all, let's talk about build quality and design. Because when we talk about Razer products, it's got to start with build quality and design. The Razor Blade is still one of the best-built laptops you can buy - basically outside of the MacBook Pro. It's still made out of that machined aluminum and you're gonna have a hard time finding any flexes or creeks in this device. Which, when it comes to gaming laptops, that's a really common problem. You are paying for a really high-quality well-made device.

So, Asil uses that same matte black finish that a lot of people love myself included. And even though it picks up the fingerprints pretty easily still - this is just one of my favorite designs. It's just so clean and so sleek. Same thing goes for port selection - it's still great. You saw plenty of options for USB, and this does come with a Thunderbolt 3 port which Razer is pushing big for its external graphic support. And we always love to see that on gaming laptops.

When you open it up on the inside, you're not going to notice anything new particularly about this device. Still has that awesome 15-inch 1080p display with thin bezels around the side and the great keyboard and touchpad design - both of which are really high quality. Great typing experience, great touchpad experience there. I did want to point out one thing that's new under the surface though - up top you still have your same webcam but next to it, you don't have an infrared camera meaning you have support for Windows Hello facial recognition.

Which was something that you know it's not standard with every gaming laptop but it's nice to see Razer put this in this laptop because again this is a very expensive premium machine. Also on the keyboard, you have some new RGB lighting - it's the same Croma perky lighting that you normally would get on a Razor product specifically the Razor Blade but this time they've actually done that thing that a lot of people have been asking for - which is when you hit the function key and the keyboard lights up. It's just a nice touch.

So, let's talk about performance now. The 2019 Razor Blade is a significant improvement over last year's model in terms of game performance. We're seeing anywhere to around eighteen to twenty percent in some games - however it's not the most powerful gaming laptop you can buy. Nobody should be surprised by that. You can pick up a 17-inch gaming laptop with has a lot of tricks in terms of cooling and ventilation, and something like the SFForums for example that we reviewed recently.

But that's never been what the Razor Blade has been about it's not why people flocked to it - it's all about how Razer balances thermals performance and fitting that into a chassis that looks as great as this one does. But, that is gonna cost you. And it's even gonna cost you more than it did in the past. Our review unit here came in at $2,600 and that was for the 16 gigabytes of RAM, a 512 gigabyte SSD, and again that RT X 2060 graphics card.

But you do have options - you can go down to the RT X 2060 which starts at $2400. Or all the way up to the 2080 which costs a ridiculous $3,000. I think that's too much money for this laptop. Let me be clear - that's too much money for anybody to spend on a gaming laptop. However, I do think one of those other options are pretty good value for what you're getting here. This is a laptop that works as well as a gaming machine as it does as a laptop. You could use in every other part of your life. And that's not what everybody is looking for in a gaming laptop for sure.

But, for me this is still the gaming laptop that I would choose every time. The 2019 version is better than ever. So, there you have it - the 2019 Razor Blade make sure to let us know what you think in the comments below and head over to Digital Transcom for our full in-depth review where we go into all the details about how this thing performs and while you're here his subscribe for more videos from us

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso this is it the 2019 update of my very favorite gaming laptop from last year the 15-inch razor blade and it's coming just six months later and it introduces those r-tx graphics that are appearing in just about every gaming laptop into this design that I love so much so if this isn't a huge overhaul or anything like that but there are a few things that you need to know about that sweeten the deal on this gaming laptop even more but any time we talk about Razer products it's got to start with build quality and design because the razor blade is still one of the best built laptops you can buy basically outside of the MacBook Pro still made out of that machined aluminum and you're gonna have a hard time finding any flexes or creeks in this device which when it comes to gaming laptops that's a really common problem in here you are paying for a really high-quality well-made device so Asil uses that same matte black finish that a lot of people love myself included and even though it picks up the fingerprints pretty easily still this is just one of my favorite designs it's just so clean and so sleek same thing goes for port selection it's still great you saw plenty of options for USB and this does come with a Thunderbolt 3 port which Razer is pushing big for its external graphic support and we always love to see that on gaming laptops so when you open it up on the inside you're not going to notice anything again particularly knew about this device still has that awesome 15 inch 1080p display with the thin bezels around the side and the the great keyboard and touchpad design both of which are really high quality great typing experience great touchpad experience there I did want to point out one thing that's new under the surface though which is up top you still have your same webcam but next to it you not have an infrared camera meaning you have support for Windows hello facial recognition which was something that you know it's not it doesn't come standard with every gaming laptop but it's nice to see Razer put this in this laptop because again this is a very expensive premium machine also on the keyboard you have some new RGB lighting it's the same Croma perky lighting that you normally would get on a razor product specifically the razor blade but this time they've actually done that thing that a lot of people have been asking for which is when you hit the function key and you get the light up on the top row you actually can see what each icon on the function road does so that when you're in the dark you can actually see you know what you're doing what you want to change brightness or change volume or anything like that that's just a little touch but it's nice to see razor take the feedback and implement it in a way that doesn't take away any features just add something new one other thing I have to mention about the keyboard this has been a complaint of mine on these for a while now but basically you have a full-size set of arrow keys which is great for gaming but not great in terms of the layout for the shift in the question mark location basically you're just gonna have to get used to the fact that those and now an arrow key in between those two keys which you know I'm slowly getting more and more used to I just wish that razor would find a way to get around that problem somehow but I guess I'm just gonna have to get used to it so those are just a couple of small things that are new on this version of the razor blade but there is one obvious one that's also here which is the new r-tx graphics this one in particular our review unit came with the r-tx 2070 max q you can also get it with a twenty eighty max q or just eight and our TX 2060 so those are kind of your options for this new 2019 razor blade all of which are brand new GPUs that should give you a level of graphic quality that you couldn't get in previous versions so obviously gaming on the razor blade is really really awesome especially again with these new r-tx graphics you're gonna have no problem getting over 60 frames per second I'm pretty much any game you want to play but especially in games were like battlefield 5 or fortnight you're gonna looking at closer to 100 or well over 100 depending on your graphics settings so you're gonna get to use that 144 Hertz refresh rate for all it's worth making for some really really smooth gameplay on this laptop so all that is great but there are two pretty important comparisons to consider when you're talking about game performance on this laptop which is how does it compare to last year's razor blade which maxed out at a 10 70 max q and how does it compare to other gaming laptops this year that have these same r-tx cards in them so here's what you need to know basically the 2019 razor blade is a significant improvement over last year's model in terms of game performance we're seeing anywhere to around eighteen to twenty percent in some games however it's not the most powerful gaming laptop you can fire right now and nobody should be surprised by that you can pick up a 17 inch gaming laptop with has a lot of tricks in terms of cooling and ventilation and something like the Sepphoris s for example that we reviewed recently but that's never been what the razor blade has been about it's not why people flocked to it it's all about how razor balances thermals performance and fitting that into a chassis that looks as great as this one does but that is gonna cost you and it's even gonna cost you more than it did in the past our review unit here it came in at $2,600 and that was for the 16 gigabytes of RAM a 512 gigabyte SSD and again that 20 70 max Q graphics card but you do have options you can go down to the RT X 2060 which starts at 2400 dollars or all the way up to the 2080 which costs a ridiculous $3,000 I think that's too much money for this laptop let me be clear that's too much money for anybody to spend on a gaming laptop however I do think one of those other options are pretty good value for what you're getting here which is a laptop that works as well as a gaming machine as it does as a laptop you could use in every other part of your life and that's not what everybody is looking for in a gaming laptop for sure but for me this is still the gaming laptop that I would choose every time and the 2019 version is better than ever so that's it the 2019 razor blade make sure to let us know what you think in the comments below and head over to digital Transcom for our full in-depth review where we go into all the details about how this thing performs and while you're here his subscribe for more videos from us\n"