Is it worth it to spend $3,000 on a gaming laptop?

 

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE RAZER PRODUCTS

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced is designed to handle the most demanding PC games in their entirety, but it's also a fantastic workstation. That's because, unlike many gaming laptops, Razer's high-end notebook boasts a sleek and stylish design that you'll actually want to bring to work, as well as a superb keyboard and lots of production capability.

But make no mistake: with the high-end components jammed into its tiny shell, this machine is still a gaming beast capable of tearing through the newest blockbusters. It's also one of the few laptops with a 360 Hz display (the rate at which the screen refreshes itself), which provides a level of smoothness that can be game-changing.

Long hours of fighting killer robots (and taking breaks to catch up on email and Slack) have been a joy to use on Razer's laptop, but is it worth its expensive price? After a week of working and playing with Razer's premium powerhouse, here's what we think.

Who, what, and how are the questions that need to be answered.

Whom is it intended for: The Razer Blade 15 Advanced is for gamers who are ready to spend a little extra on a powerful and stylish gaming laptop that can run the newest blockbusters at high settings while yet looking professional enough to carry to work.

What you should know: Razer's 15-inch laptop crams a lot of high-end PC tech into its thin design, resulting in excellent gaming and multitasking performance. This contains the latest Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics processor, an Intel Core i7 CPU from the 11th generation, and a 360 Hz display that provides a level of smoothness not found in other laptops. It's also worth noting that the changeable keyboard lighting is a wonderful touch.

One of the tiniest and most beautiful gaming laptops we've ever seen is the Razer Blade 15 Advanced. It also has one of the top performances in its class. However, it falls behind competitors like the $2,599 Lenovo Legion 5 Pro and $1,677 Acer Predator Helios 300 in terms of battery life. And, at $2,699 and $3,099, respectively, the Blade 15 Advanced is one of the more expensive gaming laptops on the market.

A gaming laptop that you won't feel self-conscious about using in public.

Razer has long mastered the art of creating gaming laptops that you wouldn't be ashamed to bring into a Starbucks, and the Blade 15 Advanced is no exception. With a weight of roughly 4.5 pounds, this all-black aluminum notebook packs top-of-the-line components into an unbelievably small design that's easy to carry while still feeling durable and premium. There are no rough edges or bright colors like you'd find on other gaming laptops; instead, you'll find a sleek slab of metal that can run Call of Duty very well.

The Blade 15 Advanced manages to contain a decent array of useful ports while having edges that are just over half an inch thin. Two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 connections (the latest standard for fast transfer speeds and communication with 4K monitors), three USB-A ports for older devices, a full-size SD card reader, and an HDMI port for even greater external monitor flexibility are included. While a dedicated Ethernet jack would be good, you get almost everything you need for gaming and reliable work here.

The keyboard on the Razer Blade 15 Advanced is a dream to type on. The keys have just the right amount of snappiness and bounce to keep our fingers comfy while we write stories and respond to Slack chats quickly. In comparison to other gaming laptops we've tried (such as the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro), the Blade 15 Advanced's keys can feel narrow and cramped, and you won't get a full number pad as you would on many other 15-inch gaming laptops. However, the Blade's smaller size allows for a pair of massive, powerful speakers to flank the keyboard, and we considered the Blade's better overall feedback to be well worth the trade-offs.

You can customize the Blade's keyboard colors using the Razer Synapse program, which comes preinstalled. Whether you want your keys to cycle through the entire rainbow, sync with your laptop's audio output, or even pulsate in and out, you can choose from a variety of lighting configurations.

We went with a simple, static purple glow, but the alternatives are practically unlimited. Many Razer Chroma-compatible games (such as Gears 5 and The Sims 4) have special lighting effects that allow the keyboard to react to what's going on in-game, which is a great touch. Some of Synapse's finer details, such as the ability to choose whether the row of F keys performs its regular purpose or defaults to customized controls for things like brightness, volume, and media playback, were particularly appreciated.

One of the most fluid laptop displays available.

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced's display is one of the most responsive you'll find on a gaming laptop right now, and it helps to put the "Advanced" in the name. It offers fantastic brightness and color, but it truly stands out by being one of the most responsive you'll find on a gaming laptop right now. This is one of the few notebooks displays having a refresh rate of 360 Hz, which means that games and programs can run more fluidly. The majority of gaming laptops we've tested (including those on the higher end) have a maximum refresh rate of roughly 165 Hz. As a result, the Blade 15 Advanced can run games at a smoothness level that few competitors can match.

On Blade 15, running and gunning in Fortnite's colorful landscape felt wonderfully fluid, with the game running at upwards of 200 to 300 frames per second (fps) once we modified some settings. It's worth mentioning that you'll only get these types of frame rates if you're playing a less demanding game with the graphics turned down – these screens are primarily intended for professional players who favor smoothness and precision above overall fidelity.

Even if you're not a professional gamer, the Blade 15 Advanced's 360 Hz display will benefit you. Scrolling across webpages, switching between apps in multitasking mode, and even moving the mouse cursor around is far smoother than on other laptops we've tried, making everyday tasks that much more enjoyable. The change was instantly obvious when we reduced the refresh rate to 60 Hz. It's consistent with our testing of 60 Hz and 120 Hz phones.

Aside from the buttery smoothness, the Razer Blade 15 Advanced's display is simply stunning. From the candy green of the truck we drove recklessly in Dirt 5 to the lightning-blue arrows we shot out of Hawkeye's bow in Marvel's Avengers, colors had a bold and bright pop to them.

The Blade's clear screen is accompanied by an incredibly powerful set of speakers, which let Halo Infinite's gunfire sounds come through with plenty of punch and allowed us to hear our heroes share banter in Avengers with ease. We could readily make out our colleagues' voices on a video chat, and we had no trouble being heard via the notebook's inbuilt microphone after we finally put our controller down to join a conference.

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced's webcam is adequate for video calls, though not exceptional. The laptop's 1080p camera-generated images were reasonably detailed, and the lens was wide enough to pick up distant background features like the guitar on our wall. On Razer's webcam, however, we were pale and washed out, and the exposure would hop around constantly, making us appear overly dark.

The performance is fantastic for both work and play, but the battery life isn't amazing.

Don't be fooled by its tiny, unassuming appearance; the Razer Blade 15 Advanced is a performance beast. Nvidia's RTX 3080 graphics processor and an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 computer with 32GB of RAM are housed in a frame that is just over half an inch thick. All of this adds up to a machine capable of tearing through the most recent PC blockbusters while still packing plenty of muscle for serious multitasking.

Even while attackers and explosions inundated New York City, we had a blast playing games on Razer's laptop, which managed to run Marvel's Avengers at 90 to 110 frames per second at high settings (TLDR; that's extremely smooth). When we pushed the Blade 15 to its limits by turning up the graphics to very high settings, we still achieved a smooth and watchable 60 to 70 frames per second.

When we played Dirt 5 and an early peek of Halo Infinite, we saw a similar level of performance. When we ran the in-game benchmark for Shadow of the Tomb Raider, a demanding, cinematic action game, the Blade 15 delivered well over 100 frames per second, outperforming every gaming laptop we've tested thus far. Even more impressive is the fact that the Razer notebook remained quite quiet even throughout extended, intense gaming sessions. The laptop's underside, though, can become pretty hot while playing games, so we recommend putting it on a desk whenever possible.

The Blade 15 Advanced is one of the most capable Windows workhorses out there when it's time to pause what you're playing and attend to some emails or video chats. Even when we moved between a dozen or so apps and 20 Google Chrome tabs while running Marvel's Avengers in the background, the machine never showed any signs of substantial lag. The Blade 15's fans began to whirr as a result of the severe workload, but not to an unpleasant degree.

While the Blade 15 Advanced has enough power for gaming and multitasking on the road, it has regrettably short battery life. On our battery test, which consists of playing a 4K video on a loop at 50% brightness, Razer's laptop powered down after just two hours and 45 minutes with the display in 360 Hz mode. The Blade's endurance improved to a still-less-than-ideal three hours when we reduced the refresh rate to 60 Hz. 

It's worth noting that, in our experience, gaming laptops have worse battery life than nongaming laptops, owing to their complex internals, which can consume a lot of power. Other gaming notebooks, such as the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (near to six hours) and the Acer Predator Helios 300, have a longer battery life (close to four hours). The Surface Notebook 4 (eight and a half hours) and Dell XPS 13 OLED (six hours) both lasted substantially longer than a typical mainstream Windows laptop.

Which Razer Blade 15 is the right one for you?

The Razer Blade 15 is a high-end laptop in general, but there are a few different configurations depending on which features are most important to you — and how much you're willing to spend. Here's a rundown of the most recent models.

For solid 1080p gaming, get the Razer Blade 15 Base Model ($1,799; razer.com). With an Intel Core i7 CPU from the 11th generation, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and a 144 Hz 1080p display, it's a powerful machine. For $2,099. you can upgrade to an RTX 3070 model.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model ($2,699; razer.com): Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model ($2,699; razer): For the smoothest 1080p gameplay and the best visual performance imaginable. With an Intel Core i7 CPU from the 11th generation, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, and a 360 Hz 1080p display, it's a powerful machine.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model ($3,099; razer.com): Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model ($3,099; razer): Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model ($3,099; razer): Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model ($3,099; razer): The model we tested had the smoothest display, the greatest graphics, and the most multitasking capabilities. With an Intel Core i7 CPU from the 11th generation, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, and a 360 Hz 1080p display.

Bottom line

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced is one of the most powerful gaming laptops on the market — and one that you can take to work if you have the cash. or play with a coffee shop without drawing strange glances when it's time to get some work done. When you're out and about, just remember to pack your power cord. 

The Razer 15-inch laptop lets you play the latest major PC games to their full capacity, and its 360 Hz display provides a degree of fluidity that few other notebooks can match. It has plenty of brawn for getting work done, thanks to the latest Intel Core i7 processor and 32GB of RAM. It also doesn't hurt that all of this power is housed in a stunning design with many gamer-friendly features (like fun configurable keyboard illumination) that doesn't appear like something out of a science fiction film.

The Blade 15 Advanced's battery life is a letdown, as competitors like the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro and Acer Predator 300 Helios provide better endurance. If you're on a tight budget, the more cheap Blade 15 Base Models are also worth considering. However, if you're looking for a gaming notebook that combines excellent performance and features with a beautiful and appealing appearance, Razer's 15-inch notebook is one of the best options available.

Note: The prices stated above are the prices that the stores have listed on their websites.