Custom PC - UK (2020-01)

Thermalperformanceis reasonabletoo.TheBladedid

producenoiseduringgaming,butit’sa littlequieterthanlast

year’smodelandyou’lleasilydrownit outwitha headset.

Similarly,whilethemetalontheoutsidedoesgetwarm

duringgaming,theheatlevelsaren’tdangerousandthey’re

a littlecoolerthanlastyear.TheCPUandGPUdeltaTsof57°C

and51°Carefine.

Meanwhile,thespeakershavegoodvolume,loadsof

high-endpunchanda strongmid-range.However,bassis

weak.Oneareathathasn’tgotbetter,though,is batterylife.

TheBladelastedaroundsixhoursina low-intensitytest,but

only 90 minuteswhengaming.You’ll needtoplugit intothe

mainsfora gamingsession.

Conclusion

Razer has made decent changes to its latest Blade 15. The

240Hz screen offers good quality and sensational speed,

and the RTX 2070 Max-Q is fast. It’s cooler and quieter than

its predecessor, and it still looks fantastic. However, the CPU

sometimes throttles, the keyboard is light and shallow, and

battery life remains weak.

The price is high too. RTX 2070 Max-Q laptops with

bulkier, uglier designs can be found for under £2,000, and

240Hz models can be purchased for around £2,200. Still,

the Razer justifies the extra outlay with its slick, lightweight

design and a great screen. It’s a solid option if you’re willing

to spend a little extra on a stylish, eye-catching laptop.

MIKE JENNINGS

VERDICT

Great gaming performance in a slick, lightweight

package, although you pay a high price for it.

OVERALLSCORE

86

PERFORMANCE

22 / 25

DESIGN

23 / 25

HARDWARE

22 / 25

VALUE

19 / 25

SHARP

+ High-quality

240Hz screen

+ Fast RTX

2070 GPU

+ Robust and

stylish design

BLUNT

• Light and
  shallow keyboard


• CPU occasionally
  throttles


• High price

BENCHMARK RESULTS

GIMPIMAGE

EDITING

51,244

HANDBRAKEH.264

VIDEO ENCODING

325,893

LUXMARK

OPENCL

103,313

HEAVYMULTI

TASKING

148,928

SYSTEM

SCORE

136,681

our single-threaded image editing test and heavily multi-

threaded Handbrake test.

It’s not a clean bill of health though. The Core i7-9750H

should achieve a peak speed of 4GHz across all cores, but

it sometimes throttled to speeds between 2.5GHz and

3.2GHz, with its scores sitting a little behind what we expect

from this CPU – we’ve seen Handbrake results around

50,000 points ahead from competing machines using the

older (and lower-clocked) Core i7-8750H.

The screen impresses, though. Its brightness level of

333cd/m² is high enough to handle any task, and the black

level of 0.27cd/m² is low enough to give games sufficient

depth. The contrast ratio of 1,233:1 is good too, providing

great punch and vibrancy. The delta E of 1.91 is excellent,

and it means colours are accurate – although the colour

temperature of 8,560K is a little chilly, but you don’t notice

it in general use, and games still look great on this screen

thanks to the colours and contrast.

SHADOWOFTHETOMBRAIDER
1,920x 1,080,HighestDetail, TAA

0255075100

25 50 75 100

25 50 75 100

Razer Blade 15 64fps 84fps

BATTLEFIELDV
1,920x 1,080,UltraDetail,DX11

0

Razer Blade 15 73fps 91fps

25 50 75 100

1,920x 1,080,Ultrasettings, DX12, HighDXR,DLSS

0

Razer Blade 15 43fps 66fps

TOTALWAR:WARHAMMER II
1,920x 1,080,UltraDetail,DX11

0

Razer Blade 15 58fps 70fps

Minimum Average

INTELPERFORMANCE

INDEX

119.42%