With the launch of NVIDIA Ampere desktop graphic cards back in October, there would no doubt be a push for upping graphical prowess with laptops. NVIDIA brought over the RTX 30 Series for mobile computing so players could have access to improved DLSS and Ray Tracing technology. Razer announced that its Blade line of laptops would receive the latest mobile versions of the RTX 30 Series during CES 2021 as it includes improvements to Razer’s own technologies. Razer offers two solutions for the RTX 30 Series with the Blade 15 and Blade Pro 17 that both offer different variants. Razer sent the Blade 15 Base Model over for review that includes the RTX 3070. The specs look good on paper, but does this laptop translate into a premiere experience?
The Razer Blade laptop, itself, maintains the same design as its predecessors for better or worse. The matte black design encompasses the entire unit as the green backlit Razer logo on the top cover continues to showcase how Razer products look. Green USB-A 3.1 ports accentuate the sides as the laptop features three of them. Users can also expect a Thunderbolt 3 port along with another USB-C 3.2 port. Razer has added HDMI 2.1 to the Blade for outputting video with a greater bandwidth. Underneath the body features two extended rubber feet for protection that makes this laptop sit higher than others. There are two vents for fan ventilation along with smaller vents running across the top for airflow.
When I reviewed theRazer Blade Advanced Modelfrom last year, there was a major problem with heat. The surface in certain areas would run extremely hot to the touch while gaming that it practically required a separate keyboard. That isn’t an issue with this Blade Base Model, but may still be an issue with the higher-tier laptops. This keyboard was acceptable to use for gaming and it includes single zone RGB that can be customized through the Razer Synapse software. The touchpad is what Razer calls Precision Glass and it’s still one of the most comfortable touchpads out there, albeit somewhat large. The Blade design continues to offer a low profile look that’s sleek yet prone to fingerprints and dust, but the improvements to the heat problems are an excellent change.
For the audio department, Razer has included THX Spatial Audio to provide gamers an edge. This audio technology allows for positional noise that provides a boost in shooters in terms of identifying footsteps or gunfire. This is powered either through built-in stereo speakers on the Blade or the 3.5mm audio jack for headphones. The speakers, themselves, are above average for laptop speakers. The sound is loud enough and the THX Spatial Audio provides an upgrade when playing games. You would still be best off using a headset, but the speakers do get the job done.
As for the core components that power the Razer Blade Base Model for 2021, they look solid when looking for a laptop. The processor is an Intel Core i7-10750H that features 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock speed of 2.6 GHz and up to 5.0 GHz with Turbo Boost. The RAM included is 16GB of dual-channel DDR4-2933 MHz that’s expandable up to 64GB. The system board offers two RAM slots, so achieving the 64GB would require two 32GB sticks. Also included is a 512GB SSD NVME for storage that will quickly fill up, but the Blade Base Model includes a second M.2 slot for expanding storage. I was able to install five AAA titles, but this includedCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warand not all of its components.
To finish off what powers this machine is the new NVIDIA RTX 3070. This is NVIDIA’s latest Ampere architecture with its latest Ray Tracing cores to help gamers on-the-go enjoy Ray Tracing in titles with an enjoyable performance experience. The RTX 3070 also allows for the latest in DLSS technology to help boost performance or improve visuals where needed. This all is displayed on your choice of a 15-inch FHD 144hz display or a QHD 165hz option. There’s a caveat to the laptop version of the RTX 3070, though. These cards measure quite a bit lower than its desktop version in performance. There are also two different versions of the mobile RTX 3070 being used on laptops, and the Blade Base Model gets the lesser version. The two options of the card are based on wattage as the RTX 3070 included in this version maxes out at 90 watts as it puts it closer to a desktop RTX 3060ti.
The review unit that was sent featured the FHD display, and it matches up well with this card, but also leaves questions. Typically, when gaming at 1080p, you are more CPU-bound for gaming performance. It seems like using the 3060 option on the Base Model may save you some money if you don’t care about Ray Tracing. Having this mobile RTX 3070 did allow for using high settings for Ray Tracing titles to provide an excellent gaming experience. This means you will hover in the 50-60 FPS range with Ray Tracing cranked up versus getting 100+ FPS with it off depending on the title. Razer Synapse offers performance options to either increase frames or focus on the battery, but the net result in performance wasn’t huge.
The battery included on the Blade Base Model is only a 65W battery, so running directly off of it won’t allow for a superb amount of gaming. Razer has included a few options to help with this including the Advanced Optimus technology. Razer has also returned to using both an integrated GPU from Intel and the RTX 3070 as the system will swap back and forth for battery performance. This can be disabled in Razer Synapse as it may cause sporadic issues. This was an issue with the review in last year’s game, but I did not encounter any for this model.
In terms of every day usage or video editing capabilities, the Razer Blade works great. There’s enough power under the hood to make video encoding work well. Loading programs and just using the computer to do work or surf the web is fast and responsive. The keyboard does the job along with the track pad and it’s even better that it doesn’t get hot to the touch. The screen itself looks excellent across the board, but does lack HDR and some of the other aspects of a desktop display.
As for the benchmarks, I used three tools and five games. While Userbenchmark may not be the best judge of a build, it’s still widely used to get a better idea of where a user’s build stands. The Blade Base Model came in at 93% for gaming, 94% for desktop and 81% for workstation. The component categories all hovered around the average bench. The other two tests were ran using 3DMark as I used Time Spy for pure gaming in DirectX 12 and Port Royal to test the Ray Tracing. Time Spy came back with a score of 8566 with graphics nabbing a 9257 and the CPU a 6020. These are solid scores for pure gaming and it’s backed up by the performance in games. Port Royal checked in with a score of 5453, which is still solid but sits below the average of other RTX 3070 Laptop GPU setups.
The temperatures during the tests still sat in the average yet solid category. The maximum peak temperature of the CPU hit 84 degrees on a spike as the processor hit only 4.5 GHz of the maximum 5.0 GHz that it was rated at turbo. The CPU averaged around 78 degrees during the test. The GPU, however, stayed extremely cool under full load clocking in at 67 degrees on average with one random spike hitting 77. During gaming, however, the CPU would sit higher. Temperatures ranged from 70-80 degrees while the GPU would go between 70-85. All the games that were tested had the graphical options maxed out for 1080p resolution and if Ray Tracing was enabled, it was tested with the best settings outside of Cyberpunk 2077’s highest. Besides Cyberpunk 2077, I tried to test a fair variety of titles. Cyberpunk 2077 was tested with both Ray Tracing on and off and the same was done with Control. Focusing on the eSports side of things, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was tested with both options but specifically on multiplayer. Lastly, Apex Legends was tested as it doesn’t offer Ray Tracing but further backs the right balance of the Blade Basic seemingly aiming for eSports performance levels while maximizing the visuals. You can see the breakdown below.
Closing Comments:
The one aspect that will garner a user’s attention in picking this laptop is going to be the RTX 3070 option. NVIDIA had stated that the desktop version of this is geared for 1440p gaming. Unless the user does their homework, they may feel shorthanded after spending the MSRP $1,999.99 on this and seeing better-priced options with similar specs on the market. This GPU does make the most of upping the visuals, but at 1080p, going with the RTX 3060 option may be the better option if you don’t care about Ray Tracing. Even if you did, you would look in the RTX 3080 direction. If you elect to go with the QHD screen with higher refresh rate, you’re spending more but also getting hampered by the fact that the RTX 3070 in this model is the lower watt version. With the Razer Blade Base Model for 2021, you’re getting modern gaming performance and an extremely fast laptop that also offers expandability options under the hood and doesn’t overheat.
