The Razer Blade Pro is a fairly thin and powerful 17 inch gaming laptop with a 120Hz display,
so let’s see what it can do and find out how well it performs in some gaming benchmarks.
Let’s start by checking out the hardware specs, it’s got an Intel 7700HQ quad core
CPU running at 2.8GHz which can turbo upto 3.8GHz.
There’s 16GB of DDR4 memory running in dual channel at 2,400MHz, although the two slots
can be upgraded to support 32GB.
For storage there’s a 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD and a 2TB 5,400 RPM hard drive installed.
For the graphics we’ve got Nvidia’s 1060 with 6GB of memory in combination with a 17.3
inch 1080p 120Hz IPS panel, and we’ll see how this performs later in the benchmarks.
For the network connectivity there’s a gigabit ethernet port, and Killer Wireless with 802.11AC
support as well as Bluetooth 4.1.
The whole laptop is made of solid aluminium, or aluminum depending on where you’re from,
and the lid has a matte black metallic look to it and features the Razer logo, which lights
up green while the laptop is powered on, and the interior has the same matte black look,
which I thought was quite nice and not too “gamery”.
The physical dimensions of the laptop are 42.4cm in width, 28.1cm in depth, and just
2.25cm in height, so although it’s quite large it’s also fairly thin for a 17 inch
laptop.
The total weight is listed at 3.07kg, which is exactly what I got, and this increases
to around 3.6kg when you include the small power brick and cable for charging.
As mentioned the screen is a 17.3 inch 120Hz 1080p IPS matte panel, no G-Sync here unfortunately.
The viewing angles are really good, the colours are still clear even on sharp angles.
I’ve also measured the colours produced by the screen using the Spyder 5 Pro, and
my results returned 97% of sRGB, 67% of NTSC and 73% of AdobeRGB, so it pretty good in
terms of colour reproduction, I’d have no issues using it for content creation in addition
to gaming.
I’ve also performed my usual backlight bleed test, which involves having the screen completely
black in a dark room to help emphasize any bleeding around the edges.
I then take a long exposure photo to display any bleed, so this is a worst case scenario
test.
As you can see there was no bleed at all, the screen was basically perfect in this regard,
although this may of course vary between laptops.
While moving the display there was almost no flex, it was very sturdy as it’s solid
metal with quite a wide hinge, and you can also open the laptop with one finger, demonstrating
a fairly even weight distribution.
Above the display is a Full HD camera capable of 1080p video.
The camera looks pretty blurry, even with some decent lighting, although the microphone
sounds alright, but you’ll be able to judge both for yourself.
I found the keyboard pretty good to type with, and the keys were clicky with RGB backlighting.
The lighting can be customized through the included Razer Synapse software with a number
of built in effects including breathing, fire, reactive, spectrum cycling, starlight, static,
wave, and ripple, and you can also sync and control other Razer chroma devices.
The keys are individually backlit too, so you can open the Chroma configurator and customize
any key to whatever colour you like.
It was also cool that while playing games like overwatch it would automatically change
the colours of the keys based on what I’d be using.
There was almost no keyboard flex while pushing down fairly hard, thanks to the solid metal
body of the laptop.
As you’ve probably noticed the touchpad is placed towards the right hand side of the
keyboard, so there’s no numpad here.
The positioning did take some getting used to, I kept putting my hand in the usual touchpad
spot before realising my mistake many times.
Just above the touchpad there’s also a wheel which can be scrolled up or down to change
the volume level and some other media buttons.
Moving onto the I/O on the left there’s the power input, ethernet port, two USB 3.0
Type-A ports, a 3.5mm audio combo jack and the left speaker.
Over on the right there’s the right speaker, an SD card reader, USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt
3 support, a third USB 3.0 Type-A port, HDMI 2.0 port and kensington lock.
There’s nothing at all on the front other than a single status LED, and on the back
there’s just some air exhaust vents.
Underneath there’s a couple of air intakes towards the back corners, otherwise the base
is all flat, with the exception of some rubber feet which run the full length of the laptop
at the front and back, and these help prevent the laptop from moving around on flat surfaces
when in use, and also rise it up slightly to help let cool air in.
The speakers are found on the left and right sides, and I found them to sound quite good
for laptop speakers, there was a little bass, and even at higher volumes they still sounded
fairly clear.
Powering the laptop is a 70 Watt hour battery, and with a full charge and just watching YouTube
videos with the screen on half brightness, keyboard lighting off and background apps
disabled, I was able to use it for 4 hours and 8 minutes.
While playing the Witcher 3 with medium settings and Nvidia’s battery boost set to 30 FPS
the battery lasted for 1 hour and 3 minutes.
Overall I thought the battery life was pretty good, thanks to that fairly large battery.
During normal use with an ambient room temperature of 24 degrees celsius, the CPU idled at 46
degrees while the GPU sat at around 51, although I had to configure the laptop to only use
the 1060 all the time, by default the integrated graphics are in use and the 1060 switches
off.
Here are the external temperatures of the laptop where you’ll actually be putting
your hands, getting to around 36 degrees or so.
With the CPU and GPU maxed out for half an hour with the low fan profile using the heaven
benchmark and Aida64 stress test at the same time with the same room temperature, the CPU
reached a maximum of 84 degrees celsius, while the GPU peaked at 77, and no thermal throttling
was observed.
The keyboard area got a fair bit warmer, mostly in the center, up to around 46 degrees.
The gaming result was from playing PUBG at high settings, and we can see that the CPU
is is a bit cooler, but the GPU is slightly warmer when playing a real game rather than
using a benchmark tool, and the temperatures of the keyboard area are about the same.
As for the fan noise produced by the laptop, I’ll let you have a listen to each of these
tests.
At full load and while gaming it was sitting around 54 decibels, which is around the same
as other gaming laptops I’ve tested.
Overall the temperatures were quite good though, it didn’t get too hot under full load so
it seems to have a decent cooling solution.
It was a little warm while at idle, but the fans were basically silent.
Finally let’s take a look at some benchmarks.
All tests were run at the 1080p resolution with all Windows and Nvidia updates to date
installed.
Overwatch ran quite well here, with ultra settings or lower required to take full advantage
of the 120Hz panel, and even at Ultra settings the 1% lows are only just under 120 FPS.
CS:GO runs great, even on max settings we’re averaging well above what the screen is capable
of, with minimum settings increasing the 1% lows a little.
Dota2 isn’t too demanding but I’m testing with a fairly intensive replay, and the frame
rates are still above 60 FPS, so it plays fairly well.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was tested with the latest 1.0 version using the replay
feature, and although we’re getting pretty decent frame rates the 1060 isn’t enough
to push much above 60 FPS, although this can dip quite a bit depending on what’s going
on in the game.
Battlefield 1 ran very smoothly, even at max settings the 1% lows are sitting around 60
FPS, with medium settings required to make the most out of the 120Hz display.
Shadow of war was tested with the built in benchmark and it’s running quite well, I’d
argue that you don’t really need a high frame rate to enjoy this game..
The Witcher 3 is another game I’d say runs well without a high frame rate, and I personally
thought it was nice and smooth at high settings or lower.
Watchdogs 2 is a fairly resource intensive game, and another that I think doesn’t need
a super high frame rate to enjoy, I had a good time playing at very high settings or
lower.
Rise of the Tomb raider was tested with the built in benchmark tool, and at the lower
settings we were actually able to get some fairly high frame rates.
Ghost recon was also tested with the built in benchmark and is another fairly resource
intensive game, although at very high or lower settings we’re getting acceptable frame
rates.
DOOM was tested with Vulkan, and at minimum settings we can get the average frame rate
high enough to utilize the 120Hz display, but I thought that it felt nice and smooth
regardless of setting level.
In the past I’ve said the 1060 is a great option for 1080p 60FPS gaming at high settings,
and as we’ve seen here in many of the games this remains true.
To take full advantage of the 120Hz panel in modern games you’ll probably want to
look at better graphics card like the 1070 or above, and this is made possible by connecting
an external enclosure like the Razer core, however in E-sports titles like Overwatch
or CS:GO the 1060 is enough to average over 120 FPS, as we’ve seen here.
You’ll still be able to play basically all games at great settings with the 1060, and
as mentioned many of the games tested don’t need a high frame rate to enjoy, but if you
do want higher frame rates you’ll either need to play less demanding games, or lower
the settings a bit.
Now onto the benchmarking tools, we’ll start with the Unigine benchmarks, here’s how
the laptop performed in Heaven benchmark with the tessellation set to extreme, and anti-aliasing
set to x8, here’s how Valley benchmark performed with anti-aliasing on x8 at various graphics
settings, and finally these are the results from their newest Superposition benchmark.
For the final graphics benchmarks I ran Fire Strike and Time spy from 3DMark, as well as
VRMark and got some decent scores with the 1060.
In Crystal Disk Mark the 256GB NVMe M.2 SSD performed just under 1600MB/s in sequential
reads but just 300MB/s in sequential writes, so really excellent read speeds, but lower
writes in comparison.
The 2TB hard drive gets around 130 MB/s in sequential reads and 100 MB/s in sequential
writes, fairly average for a 5,400 RPM hard drive.
I’ve also tested the SD card reader and we get over 70 MB/s read and write.
As for the price the Razer Blade Pro with these exact specs comes in at $3,199 AUD,
which translates to about $2,400 USD for my international viewers, though our prices also
include tax, and overall things in Australia just cost more than the US.
At the time of recording the laptop is available for $1,999 USD on Amazon, so you’re definitely
paying for the high build quality and features like the 120Hz display and NVMe SSD.
So what did you guys think of the Razer Blade Pro?
Personally I’d be looking at the lower priced Razer Blade, as it’s got similar specs,
but in a smaller 14 inch footprint, and portability is important to me.
The Razer Blade Pro probably makes more sense with the 4K model, at that’s available with
an overclockable 7820HK CPU, Nvidia 1080 graphics and better screen with G-Sync, which I think
better justifies the size as that would be one powerful beast, however there is a step
up in cost there.
In any case, the thin form factor and solid aluminium body of the Razer Blade Pro was
very nice, the overall build quality was really impressive.
Let me know what you guys thought down in the comments, and leave a like if you found
the review useful.
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one.