As quoted by Laptopmag.com. Like Will Smith
in the film Men in Black, Razer makes this look good. Someshow, the company
manages to maintain its razor-thin (pun definitely intended) margins while
cramming in some of the most powerful specs in the land. With the latest Razer
Blade Pro (starting and reviewed at $3,999), the company has added an
overclocked Intel i7 processor while keeping the Nvidia GTX 1080 GPU, fantastic
4K Nvidia G-Sync display and proprietary ultra-low-profile mechanical keys. If
that wasn’t enough, the slim stunner is also the first mobile device to feature
THX audio certification. In other words, one of the best in the business just
got better.
Design
There’s just
something about a Razer laptop that makes the pulse quicken ever so slightly
when you see it. Constructed from black CNC aluminum, the Blade Pro follows the
Razer design dictates to a T, just on a bigger scale. The center of the
laptop’s lid is slightly recessed, creating a pair of subtle ridges that help
accentuate the glimmering emerald three-headed snake emblem.
The system’s
interior offers more ebony aluminum, with the center of the deck housing the
full-size keyboard and rather large touchpad in a slightly recessed
compartment. A power button sits at top center on the device, daring you to
press it.
The Blade Pro
isn’t loaded up with ports like other desktop replacements, but what it has is
vital for multi-display setups and virtual reality. Along the right is a USB
3.0 port, Thunderbolt 3, a card reader, an HDMI 2.0 port and a Kensington
security lock slot. There are two more USB 3.0 ports on the left along with a
Gigabit Ethernet port, a headset jack and a proprietary power jack.
At 7.7 pounds,
the 16.7 x 11 x 0.89-inch Blade Pro is still the slimmest and lightest 17-inch
gaming laptop in the land. The 16.9 x 12.2 x 1.3-inch Asus ROG G701VI is almost
as slim at 7.9 pounds. The Alienware 17 (16.7 x 13.1 x 1.2 inches) is on the
heavier end of the spectrum at 9.6 pounds as are the Acer Predator 17 X and the
Origin PC Eon 17-X, both of which weigh 9.8 pounds.
Display
Staring at the
Blade Pro’s 4K panel is like looking into a fever dream of color. The Nvidia
G-Sync tecknology made sure that Geralt’s ashen-white hair cascaded
realistically over his broad shoulders as he ran toward a cadre of flesh-eating
Ghouls in Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. When I watched the Wrinkle in Time trailer on
this panel, the detail was so sharp, i could see the micro plaits in Mindy
Kaling’s hair. The actress’ plum lipstick and bright blue sapphire ropped
against her warm brown skin.
The splash of
color comes from the Blade Pro’s ability to reproduce 178 percent of the sRGB
gamut, which is well above the 123-percent desktop-replacement average and the
113 percent achieved by the Alienware 17 and G701VI. The Predator 17 X and the
Eon 17-X were even more vivid, with results of 182 and 192 percent,
respectively.
There’s just something about a Razer laptop that makes the pulse quicken ever so slightly when you see it.
Scoring 0.3 on
the Delta-E test, the Blade Pro’s screen is fairly accurate (0 is perfect).
It’s definitely better than the 1.3 average and the 0.5 and 1.6 obtained by the
Alienware 17 and the G701VI. The Eon 17-X and Predator 17 proved to have the
more accurate panels at 0.14 and 0.18.
You’ll never have
a prolem seeing the Blade Pro’s screen as it averaged a glistening 320 nits of
brightness, easily topping the 291-nit category average, the Predator 17 X (318
nits), the Eon 17-X (289 nits) and the G701VI (277 nits). The Alienware 17 has
the brightest screen in the land at a whopping 340 nits.
Audio: Now with THX Certification
The Blade Pro’s
audio keeps getting better. This iteration of the system has THX certification
– a world’s first. That means that the unassuming 3.5mm jack on the side of the
laptop is capable of supporting high-performance headphones, so feel free to
pull out those 7.1 Dolby-powered headsets you have lying around.
Sans headgear,
the Blade Pro’s pair of top- and side-mounted speakers are definitely
showstoppers. Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble” practically exploded from the speakers
with a surprising amount of bass, filling the lab with the rapper’s
braggadocious exposition. The synthesized instruments on Ciara’s “Body Party”
started out distorted, but once I adjusted the settings on the Dolby Digital
Plus software, I was able to even out the highs for a more balanced
performance.
When I was
fighting my way through a bandit camp in Witcher 3, the accompanying music was
loud, energetic and balanced. The frenzied violin and yelps melded with the
clashing of swords and maces to fill the lab and make me feel like I was in the
middle of the action.
Keyboard
I’m always on the
fence when it comes to Razer’s keyboards. They’re notoriously shallow, which can
be a bit uncomfortable at first, but manageable once you get used to it. The
Blade Pro’s ultra-low-profile keys have just 1 millimeter of key travel
(between 1.5 and 2mm is ideal) with 71 grams of actuation (60 grams is the
minimum). However, those ultra-low switches are comfortable and deliver a
pleasing click when you start typing. I managed 68 words per minute on the
10fastfingers typing test, which is a tad higher than my usual 65 wpm.
Thanks to Razer’s
Synapse software, the Chroma-lit keys are still some of the prettiest on the
market, able to reproduce a crazy 16.8 milion colors with a slew of captivating
effects. My favorite effect is Wave, which sends a rainbow tide rippling from
right to left.
Touchpad and Scroll Wheel
Like the 2016
model, the Blade Pro’s huge 4 x 3.3-inch touchpad is set on the right of the
keyboard, which takes some getting used to. But once I was adjusted, I had no
problem summoning Cortana, zooming in and out on pictures and performing
two-finger scroll and rotating on the responsive device. The programmable
scroll wheel continues to be one of my favorite components of the Blade. For
instance, to adjust the volume, you just need to push the wheel up or down.
Synapse
In addition to
programming keyboard color and special effects, Synapse also lets you record
and create macros or track your keystrokes. Since the Blade Pro is overclocked,
Synapse now has a Performance Control feature to allow you to switch between
the Balanced setting for optimal battery consumption and Performance Optimized
to increase the CPU clock speed. You also have the ability to control the fan
speed from Low to High to Auto. Because Synapse is cloud-based, you can access
your settings on any Razer device, meaning you don’t have to start from
scratch.
Gaming, Graphics and VR
Don’t equate the
Blade Pro’s slimness for weakness. On the contrary, this svelte stunner is
equipped with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, the most
powerful GPU you can get in a laptop. That means that when it was time for me
to go clear out a swamp of Foglets in Witcher 3, the laptop maintained a steady
37 frames per second on Ultra settings.
On the Rise of
the Tomb Raider benchmark, the Blade Pro notched 73 fps at 1080p on Very High,
trouncing the 53-fps average. It also managed to defeat the Alienware 17 (62
fps), the Predator 17 X (66 fps) and the Eon 17-X (66 fps), all of which have
GTX 1080 GPUs. The G701VI with its GTX 1080 GPU was the ultimate winner with 71
fps.
This iteration of the Blade Pro has THX audio certification – a world’s first.
On the Hitman
test, the Blade Pro notched 116 fps on Ultra, shattering the 88-fps
desktop-replacement average. Neither the Alienware 17 nor Predator 17 X could
match it at 87 and 60 fps, but the Eon 17-X delivered 129 fps for the win.
The Blade Pro hit
81 fps on Ultra during the Grand Theft Auto V benchmark, beating the 69 fps
category average. However, it wasn’t enough to top the Alienware 17 (82 fps),
the Predator 17 X (83 fps), the Eon 17-X (84 fps) or tje G701VI (90 fps).
But the Blade
ins’t just a beast on traditional games, it can also veliver some silky smooth
frames in VR, so feel free to strap on that Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. The system
maxed out the SteamVR Performance test at 11, matching its competitors.
Overall Performance
The Blade Pro’s
officially playing with the big boys, upgrading from last gen’s Intel Core
i7-6700HQ processor to an overclocked 2.9-GHz Intel Core i7-7820HK CPU with
32GB of RAM. So the laptop had no problem with me running a few Twitch streams,
with Tweetdeck, Slack and YouTube running in the remainder of my 20 Google
Chrome tabs as the system ran a full-system virus scan.
The laptop also
did well on synthetic performance tests like Geekbench 4, where it achieved a
score of 15,404, besting the 12,926 desktop-replacement average. Outfitted with
their own Core i7-7820HK CPUs, the Alienware 17, Predator 17 and G701VI scored
14, 154, 14,795 and 17,404 respectively. The Eon 17-X’s 4.2-GHz Intel i7-7700K
desktop processor delivered 14,491.
During the
OpenOffice Spreadsheet Macro test, the Blade Pro matched 20,000 names and
addresses in 3 minutes and 16 seconds, beating the 3:25 average, the Predator
17-X (3:41) and the Eon 17-X (3:47), The G701VI and the Alienware 17 were
faster at 2:59 and 1:47, respectively.
The Blade Pro’s
pair of 256GB PCle SSDs in RAID 0 configuration duplicated 4.97GB worth of
multimedia on our file copy test in 15 seconds; that works out to a transfer
rate of 339 megabytes per second. It’s not as fast as the 540.3 MBps average,
but is still better than Alienware 17’s (512GB SSD) 228 MBps rate. The Eon
17-X’s 512GB NVMe M.2 PCle SSD produced 1,018 MBps, while the Predator 17-X
(dual 256GB SSDs) and the G701VI (dual 512GB M.2 PCle SSDs) were in almost a
dead heat at 1,272.3 and 1,272.4 MBps, respectively.
Battery Life
With crazy specs
like these, you’re going to take a hit on battery life. The Blade Pro lasted
only 1 hour and 54 minutes on our battery test (continuous web surfing over
Wi-Fi), which is well below the 4:14 desktop-replacement average.
It was enough,
however, to outlast the Eon 17-X’s 1:39, but not the Predator 17-X (1:58), the
Alienware 17 (2:36) or the G701VI (3:27).
Heat
Razer’s retained
its special cooling system that features a hidden internal fan, vapor chamber
and dynamic heat exchanger, which helps keep the all-aluminum chassis cool. The
company also added copper-based cooling fins and some more heat spreaders to
accommodate the overclockable components.
But no matter how
much cooling Razer installs, it’s hard to keep an all-metal chassis cool. After
15 minutes of playing through Witcher 3, the touchpad measured 101 degrees
Fahrenheit, several degrees over our 95-degree comfort threshold. The center of
the system hit 119 degrees, while the undercarriage measured 121 degrees.
Once things
cooled down, we streamed an HD YouTube video for 15 minutes, and the touchpad
and space between the G and H keys hit 90 and 98 degrees. The bottom of the
system registered a toasty 103 degrees.
Webcam
The Blade Pro’s
1920 x 1080, 2-megapixel camera is one of the better integrated shooters. And
although the picture’s detail was a bit on the fruzzy side, the camera caought
the exact shade of my electric-blue dress and chocolate skin tone.
Software and Warranty
Razer employed a
light touch on the preloaded software bundle. It added only a few apps to
optimize your gaming, including Killer Network Manager, which lets you
configure your Wi-Fi card so you can obtain optimal performance. You also get
Nvidia’s GeForce Experience, whick has a suite of game-centric software,
including Shadowplay recording software. Game Optimization automatically tweaks
in-game settings to get the best performance and frame rates.
You’ll see only a
few bloatware apps, including Facebook, Fallout Shelter, Twitter and Drawboard
PDF. Buyers of the system also will be eligible for a free download of FL
Studio 12 Producer Edition, a professional music production suite.
The Razer Blade
Pro ships with a one-year limited warranty that includes parts and labor. See
how Razer fared during our Tech Support Showdown as well as our Best and Worst
Laptop Brands and Best and Worst Gaming Laptop Brands.
Configurations
I had a grand ol’
time reviewing the 3,999 base configuration of the Razer Blade Pro, which has
an overclocked 2.9-GHz Intel Core i7-7820HK processor with 32GB of RAM, a pair
of 256GB PCle SSD in RAID 0 configuration and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU
with 8GB of VRAM.
Want more
storage? It’s definitely going to cost you. A pair of 512GB PCle SSD in RAID
costs $4,399, while the RAID 0 1TB option brings the price up to $4,899.
Bottom Line
The $3,999 Razer
Blade Pro was already a superb notebook for gaming, VR and content creation.
The desktop replacement delivered a beautiful 4K Nvidia G-Sync display, great
graphics and overall performance into one of the thinnest, lightest chassis
we’ve seen on a system this size. This time around, Razer’s improved on a few
things, upgrading to an overclocked Intel “Kaby Lake” Core i7 processor and
adding THX-certification to its display and audio – making it the first mobile
device to hold the tittle.
However, for the
price, i do want a system that has a faster SSD and longer battery life, two
things that the $2,999 Asus ROG G701VI can provide. While it is significantly
cheaper, you do lose out on the 4K display and customizable mechanical
keyboard. There’s also the Alienware 17, which can be configured with similar
specs, including a 4K display for $3,649, but at 9.6 pounds, it’s not really a
portable system. Overall, if you’re looking for the ultimate mix of portability
and power, the buck stops at the Razer Blade Pro.
Credit : Shaun Lucas/ Laptop Mag
Razer Blade Pro Full Specification
CPU
|
2.9-GHz Intel Core
i7-7820HK processor
|
Operating System
|
Windows 10 Home
|
RAM
|
32GB
|
RAM Upgradable to
|
|
Hard Drive Size
|
Dual 256GB
|
Hard Drive Speed
|
n/a
|
Hard Drive Type
|
M.2 PCle SSD
|
Secondary Hard Drive Size
|
1TB
|
Secondary Hard Drive Speed
|
7200
|
Secondary Hard Drive Type
|
HDD
|
Display Size
|
17.3
|
Highest Available
Resolution
|
3840 x 2160
|
Native Resolution
|
3840 x 2160
|
Optical Drive
|
None
|
Optical Drive Speed
|
n/a
|
Graphics Card
|
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080
GPU
|
Video Memory
|
8GB
|
Wi-Fi
|
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
|
Wi-Fi Model
|
Killer
Wireless-n/a/ac-1535
|
Bluetooth
|
Bluetooth 4.1
|
Mobile Broadband
|
|
Touchpad Size
|
|
Ports (excluding USB)
|
|
Ports (excluding USB)
|
microSD
|
Ports (excluding USB)
|
Proprietary
|
Ports (excluding USB)
|
Security lock SLOT
|
Ports (excluding USB)
|
Thunderbolt 3
|
Ports (excluding USB)
|
Gigabit Ethernet
|
Ports (excluding USB)
|
HDMI 2.0
|
Ports (excluding USB)
|
Headset
|
USB Ports
|
4
|
Card SLOTS
|
3-1 card reader
|
Warranty/Support
|
|
Size
|
16.7 x 11 x 0.88 inches
|
Weight
|
7.7 pounds
|
Company Website
|
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