{"video_id":"-ROu_fBmfoQ","title":"I am biased against this laptop - Razer Blade 18","channel":"ShortCircuit","show":"ShortCircuit","published_at":"2025-08-07T14:58:16Z","duration_s":887,"segments":[{"start_s":0.24,"end_s":8.24,"text":"If there was just one laptop manufacturer toward which I would carry","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":4.16,"end_s":9.76,"text":"some bias, it would probably be Razer.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":8.24,"end_s":14.559,"text":"Not because of my investment in Framework, but because of the history","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":11.679,"end_s":18.72,"text":"there. See, in spite of being personally misled by an executive at the very","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":16.8,"end_s":24.16,"text":"highest level about the marketing around their initial mechanical keyboards, I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":21.76,"end_s":29.359,"text":"was one of the biggest fans of the original Razer Blade. So much so that I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":26.88,"end_s":34.96,"text":"bought one for every member of my team only to have basically all of them die.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":32.88,"end_s":39.92,"text":"But this is some pretty eco-friendly packaging. So I'm ready to let bygones","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":37.84,"end_s":44.719,"text":"be bygones and take a look at the new Razer Blade 18, which they claim is the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":42.8,"end_s":53.92,"text":"very first in the world to feature a dual mode display running at either full","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":47.76,"end_s":55.84,"text":"HD plus 440 Hz or a whopping 4K plus.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":53.92,"end_s":62.239,"text":"And that's because it has a 16 by10 aspect ratio, which personally I love at","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":59.28,"end_s":67.119,"text":"240 hertz. Even more impressive though is the fact that this machine might even","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":64.4,"end_s":74.24,"text":"have the horses to power that display. It features an RTX 5090 mobile with a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":71.119,"end_s":76.799,"text":"vapor chamber cooling design that is so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":74.24,"end_s":82.32,"text":"cool that they had to put a window on the bottom so you could look at it. It","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":78.799,"end_s":83.84,"text":"allows that GPU to run at a whopping 175","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":82.32,"end_s":90.4,"text":"watts of total power while still reserving 105 watts for the Core Ultra 9","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":87.759,"end_s":94.479,"text":"CPU. Dang, what does it come with though? Hey, look at that. They still","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":92.88,"end_s":99.04,"text":"include stickers, though. Take that, Apple. What? I like stickers. I mean, if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":96.72,"end_s":103.92,"text":"I'm going to pay $5,000 for a laptop, I should get some cut tang","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":101.52,"end_s":107.52,"text":"stickers. Did I mention that? Yeah, that's right. You're watching this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":105.52,"end_s":111.6,"text":"unboxing for the sheer porn of it, not because you're considering buying one.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":109.36,"end_s":118.479,"text":"What I mean, why else would they take its clothes off? Look at that.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":114.799,"end_s":120.24,"text":"Now, that's a big power brick. 400 watt.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":118.479,"end_s":125.36,"text":"I mean, I shouldn't be that surprised. They did tell me that it will do","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":123.119,"end_s":129.759,"text":"wait, yeah, 260 watts. But I guess you got to be able to charge and game at the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":127.92,"end_s":132.959,"text":"same time. I don't love proprietary power connectors, but in this case, I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":131.28,"end_s":136.8,"text":"can at least see why they did it. It's not like you can do 400 watts through a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":134.56,"end_s":140.319,"text":"USBC. These are the worst cable management straps ever though. Like I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":138.56,"end_s":143.28,"text":"literally cut them off of every blade that I have ever owned. It's one of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":141.76,"end_s":148.72,"text":"those things that they started doing at one point and then just I guess no one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":145.92,"end_s":152.8,"text":"ever stopped to consider how like utterly inconvenient they are when","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":150.56,"end_s":157.2,"text":"you're packing the thing up. Oh, let's not plug it in yet. First, I want to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":154.56,"end_s":163.519,"text":"take a look at IO. And before I do that, Razer skins. Huh.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":160.8,"end_s":169.04,"text":"exclusive razor designs. Are they are are they starting a war","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":166.4,"end_s":173.599,"text":"with Dbrand? Oh my god, they're going right after Dbrand. This is just X-ray","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":171.599,"end_s":180.48,"text":"but green. At least they're not Caseify allegedly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":176.48,"end_s":182.08,"text":"and using Dbrand's actual imagery.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":180.48,"end_s":185.68,"text":"I assume that Razer knows what the inside of their own laptops look like.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":184.0,"end_s":190.64,"text":"They don't include an applicator. That's an oversight.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":187.36,"end_s":193.599,"text":"All right, I've done this before. I'm","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":190.64,"end_s":200.08,"text":"aware of how long an inch is, right? But like, oh my god, this laptop is huge.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":197.76,"end_s":204.4,"text":"It's kind of a lot, right? Let's have a look at the IO. Okay, over on the left","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":202.319,"end_s":210.48,"text":"side, we've got our power inlet as well as 2 and 1/2 gig networking, a couple","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":206.56,"end_s":214.0,"text":"USB 3 type A's, as well as a USB.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":210.48,"end_s":216.4,"text":"Can you just label things, Razer? God, I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":214.0,"end_s":221.599,"text":"know it's not stealthy and cool, but like which one is the Thunderbolt 5, you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":219.599,"end_s":227.68,"text":"know? Uh 3 and a half millimeter audio jack. And over on the other side, we got","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":223.76,"end_s":230.159,"text":"uh Kensington lock, HDMI, another USBA,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":227.68,"end_s":235.519,"text":"and Thunderbolt something along with a UHS2 SD card reader. At the back, we got","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":233.599,"end_s":241.439,"text":"a whole lot of nothing except look at that ventilation. This is cool. My notes","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":239.04,"end_s":247.76,"text":"on this are kind of snarky. The lab's like, \"Well, you know, I like it.\" Okay.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":245.92,"end_s":253.519,"text":"It would be cooler if I could actually see the vapor chamber.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":250.799,"end_s":257.04,"text":"Okay, I agree with the lab. I'm just looking at the back of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":254.879,"end_s":259.68,"text":"motherboard. Should we open it before we even turn it on? Let's open it before we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":258.56,"end_s":263.84,"text":"even turn it on. >> And don't open the laptop cuz if you break it, we're hooked.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":262.16,"end_s":266.96,"text":">> I'm not going to break it. Just like I'm not going to break this segue to our","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":265.199,"end_s":270.32,"text":"sponsor. Thanks to Secret Lab for sponsoring this video. The pain of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":268.32,"end_s":274.479,"text":"losing a game is bad enough. Don't let your back hurt, too. Secret Labs Titan","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":272.32,"end_s":278.479,"text":"Evo ergonomic gaming chairs are built to promote proper posture for all those","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":276.4,"end_s":282.0,"text":"long late night sessions. And they know if you take your gaming seriously,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":280.0,"end_s":285.52,"text":"you've got to constantly adapt your play style to your surroundings. Kind of like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":283.6,"end_s":289.6,"text":"how the Titan Evo has so many different options that you can adjust that it can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":287.199,"end_s":292.8,"text":"conform to just about any body type. Oh yeah, and it looks pretty darn awesome,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":291.199,"end_s":295.919,"text":"too. You can pick one up for yourself using our link in the video description.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":294.72,"end_s":301.199,"text":"I'm really looking forward to seeing this vapor chamber design. They say this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":298.16,"end_s":304.4,"text":"is the biggest vapor that they have ever","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":301.199,"end_s":307.44,"text":"chambered and that it is overclock","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":304.4,"end_s":309.199,"text":"ready. I mean, when every laptop is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":307.44,"end_s":313.12,"text":"thermally constrained, I don't really understand what that means, but that's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":310.88,"end_s":316.56,"text":"for them to know and me to never understand. I do like how easy it is to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":315.12,"end_s":321.6,"text":"get the bottom off. Look at that. Definitely sliding it forward.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":319.68,"end_s":327.52,"text":"Okay, so we've got the highest spec of this machine with 4 terb of built-in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":324.72,"end_s":331.6,"text":"storage, but there are two TB and 1 TB versions that come with a free M.2,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":329.68,"end_s":334.96,"text":"which is honestly probably the way that I would go if I were you, because then","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":333.199,"end_s":340.0,"text":"you could just put up to like an 8 TB in that second slot and get more overall","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":337.12,"end_s":344.24,"text":"storage. Now, it is a little thicker. Razer acknowledges that to accommodate","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":341.759,"end_s":347.919,"text":"the big fat cooling solution, but they used that extra thickness to include","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":346.4,"end_s":351.759,"text":"more modularity than I might have expected from them. Not only do we have","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":349.759,"end_s":357.36,"text":"the replaceable SSDs, but we have replaceable SODM memory that comes at","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":354.4,"end_s":363.28,"text":"5600 mega transfer per second, but can run up to 5600 with 96 gigs or 6400","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":361.12,"end_s":367.36,"text":"megat transfer per second with 64 gigs of RAM and a replaceable Wi-Fi module.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":365.68,"end_s":371.84,"text":"It's Wi-Fi 7, so you won't be replacing it with anything today, but hey, in the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":369.919,"end_s":375.36,"text":"future you could. Even the Steam Deck can't boast that. And that's a very","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":373.199,"end_s":379.52,"text":"repairable machine. Look at the freaking size of these fans. Is it still a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":377.759,"end_s":383.56,"text":"competition to see who can have the most fins on their laptop fans?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":383.84,"end_s":391.12,"text":"Sorry. The keyboard I am very excited about. Razer says that they have","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":388.56,"end_s":397.12,"text":"redesigned it with much longer key travel and this is pretty cool. They","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":394.16,"end_s":402.96,"text":"have dual LED backlights behind some of the keys so that if you hold function or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":400.319,"end_s":409.52,"text":"shift or control, it actually lights up what the function of the key will be.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":404.88,"end_s":412.8,"text":"Remember guys, this is an 18inch laptop.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":409.52,"end_s":414.319,"text":"That's a big trackpad. Apparently has","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":412.8,"end_s":418.4,"text":"excellent palm rejection according to lab. So, can't wait to try that out as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":416.4,"end_s":423.36,"text":"well. Wow, that's a big screen. It's kind of wild cuz I remember when my","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":420.319,"end_s":427.68,"text":"desktop monitor was not this big. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":423.36,"end_s":430.16,"text":"16x10, man, is so flipping nice. I only","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":427.68,"end_s":433.84,"text":"wonder which mode of display we're in because uh you have to do a full reboot","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":432.4,"end_s":439.36,"text":"in order to change it. So, I guess we'll see.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":435.44,"end_s":441.599,"text":"Notepad feels not bad. Just cannot find","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":439.36,"end_s":445.16,"text":"the path specified. Relax, notepad. You're not that cool.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":447.12,"end_s":454.199,"text":"They're a little on the stiffer side, so you'll have to really type with purpose.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":457.199,"end_s":464.4,"text":"Basically that. Oh, it's a little bright. Ooh, we can try out the keyboard","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":460.8,"end_s":466.72,"text":"function. So, function","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":464.4,"end_s":472.319,"text":"So cool, huh? That must cost a fortune. You know","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":469.919,"end_s":476.4,"text":"how I know? Because when you delve into the tech. No, just kidding. Because the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":474.08,"end_s":482.319,"text":"price is really high. Hey, there you go. My oneline review of the keyboard. Now,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":478.639,"end_s":485.52,"text":"let's try typing, moving my cursor, and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":482.319,"end_s":487.84,"text":"then typing and brushing it with my Oh,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":485.52,"end_s":491.52,"text":"okay. Well, you can't activate the click. It's hard for me to actually type","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":489.84,"end_s":495.36,"text":"with my palm resting on a trackpad because I guess I've trained myself over","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":493.039,"end_s":497.759,"text":"the years to not touch the trackpad of my laptop. Okay, I'm going to have to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":496.56,"end_s":504.16,"text":"make a conscious decision to accidentally palm the trackpad while I'm typing.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":501.28,"end_s":509.44,"text":"I am moving","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":506.72,"end_s":512.88,"text":"a little. Yeah, pretty good actually. And the second you have a finger on it,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":510.8,"end_s":517.519,"text":"it's not bad. There's no haptics in it. So, you just have kind of the uh the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":514.64,"end_s":522.399,"text":"built-in like click. Trackpads on Windows haven't necessarily","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":519.76,"end_s":526.24,"text":"been as good as Mac, but have been not hugely problematic for many years now,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":524.32,"end_s":532.48,"text":"and the Blade 18 looks like it is no exception. Now, let's take a closer look","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":528.959,"end_s":534.64,"text":"at this display. Razer, for some reason,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":532.48,"end_s":538.56,"text":"does not advertise a peak brightness for it, which I don't really understand","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":536.72,"end_s":543.279,"text":"because it performed pretty well in our testing. It's not an HDR display. It's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":541.04,"end_s":548.08,"text":"IPS with no local dimming, so you know, it is what it is. But for an SDR display","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":545.68,"end_s":551.279,"text":"at around 550 nits peak brightness, depending on the mode that it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":549.36,"end_s":556.88,"text":"operating in, that's very respectable and is good enough to use outdoors. Of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":554.24,"end_s":563.36,"text":"course, that's not the main attraction. The main attraction is its dual mode","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":559.279,"end_s":567.519,"text":"operation. So, its native resolution is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":563.36,"end_s":569.519,"text":"3840x 2400 kind of a 4K plus to account","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":567.519,"end_s":575.36,"text":"for the extra pixels at the bottom of a 16x10 display. And you can do up to 240","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":573.36,"end_s":580.48,"text":"Hz in that mode. And I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to do this on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":577.12,"end_s":584.88,"text":"my own. Through Razer Synapse, you can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":580.48,"end_s":587.04,"text":"change it to 1920 x 1200 440 Hz. So, you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":584.88,"end_s":592.08,"text":"click that and then you're going to need to restart the computer. This is nice","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":589.12,"end_s":596.48,"text":"though. Different color profiles. You can view the calibration report. This is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":593.92,"end_s":601.12,"text":"a verified display. We didn't find that it was the most color accurate display.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":599.2,"end_s":605.76,"text":"It does vary a little bit across its modes. In its best one, its delta E","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":603.519,"end_s":611.12,"text":"averages were under two, which is what we would consider to be accurate, but it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":609.2,"end_s":615.92,"text":"has a bit of a blue cast and its grayscale tracking was not amazing.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":613.76,"end_s":620.88,"text":"meaning that sometimes shadows are lost and sometimes highlights are","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":617.68,"end_s":623.68,"text":"overboosted. So make of that what you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":620.88,"end_s":629.6,"text":"will. We also found that Razer is over marketing the gamut coverage. They claim","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":625.76,"end_s":630.8,"text":"100% DCIP3, but we got 97% and we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":629.6,"end_s":638.079,"text":"contacted them about it and they're like, \"Yep, that's within our expectations.\"","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":634.0,"end_s":639.44,"text":"So yeah, with that said, for an 18inch","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":638.079,"end_s":643.839,"text":"machine with this kind of performance, it's not it's not bad. It's not as thin","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":642.0,"end_s":648.32,"text":"as it kind of looks though because you got these feet that stick up off the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":646.24,"end_s":653.2,"text":"bottom and this kind of like hump for the vapor chamber cooler. Still not bad.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":651.279,"end_s":659.04,"text":"Not bad. Pretty impressed. Oh, we should plug it in. All right. And now the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":655.519,"end_s":661.12,"text":"window on the bottom is RGB lit.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":659.04,"end_s":664.64,"text":"We're in performance mode now, boys. With that said, we didn't get quite the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":662.72,"end_s":668.32,"text":"frequency out of the CPU that Razer advertised. They set up to 5.4 GHz, but","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":666.959,"end_s":672.88,"text":"that seems to be the spec for this silicon. not what you can actually","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":670.88,"end_s":678.48,"text":"expect in this chassis. We only got up to 5.2, which to be clear is still a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":676.16,"end_s":681.839,"text":"very fast chip. Well, I have to wait to game on it until I get out of this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":679.76,"end_s":686.079,"text":"stupid hover car. But you guys don't have to wait to know how it performs.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":683.76,"end_s":692.32,"text":"When we compared it to another pretty comparable machine from HP, it performed","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":689.76,"end_s":695.68,"text":"about like you would expect. In CPUbound games, we found that they were both","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":693.68,"end_s":700.8,"text":"around the same at the same resolution. But in GPUbound games, we did find that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":698.24,"end_s":704.8,"text":"Razer's cooler was worth the extra work. We did find that it outperformed that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":702.959,"end_s":711.04,"text":"other comparable laptop with similar specs by up to 10% at 1200p in certain","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":709.12,"end_s":714.959,"text":"titles. So, it's probably not what I would choose this machine for. That","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":712.64,"end_s":718.079,"text":"would come down to the IO and the size of the display and the creature","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":716.48,"end_s":721.839,"text":"comforts, like the really cool thing with the keyboard keys illuminating or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":720.24,"end_s":725.68,"text":"whatever else. But, it's better than a kick in the teeth or braces on your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":723.839,"end_s":731.56,"text":"teeth. Okay, I gave up on the tutorial, but while we wait for this, why don't we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":726.959,"end_s":731.56,"text":"check out the speakers? Rave of crabs.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":733.12,"end_s":738.56,"text":"The bottom part seems to be a grill and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":736.399,"end_s":742.8,"text":"then there's a grill here and the grill on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":741.12,"end_s":749.37,"text":"the bottom. So, I guess that's how they're getting","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":744.8,"end_s":757.04,"text":"that pretty impressive sound stage.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":757.04,"end_s":765.68,"text":"falls a little short once the bass drop hits, but loud and decent clarity. And I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":763.92,"end_s":770.639,"text":"think the most impressive part is just how big the sound is, how immersive it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":768.56,"end_s":773.639,"text":"feels. Oh, we could try out the webcam, too.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":773.839,"end_s":780.48,"text":"Yes. Ooh, yeah. There's a hardware switch, by the way. Uh there's also the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":778.0,"end_s":783.92,"text":"uh IR tracker for Windows Hello if you're into that sort of thing. Now","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":781.839,"end_s":788.32,"text":"seems like as good a time as any to have a look at the image quality and I guess","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":786.0,"end_s":793.92,"text":"we'll be recording sound on it as well. It is fine, I guess. 5 megapixels they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":792.16,"end_s":798.16,"text":"say. I mean I can count the megapixels in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":796.399,"end_s":802.24,"text":"there. Okay. Yeah, now that I'm out in the world this is definitely not enough","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":800.56,"end_s":805.6,"text":"performances. Yep.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":805.6,"end_s":812.72,"text":"Nope. Yep. That's fine. And this is why we actually play the game. So, let's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":810.399,"end_s":819.519,"text":"turn it down to balanced. Yeah, this mobile GPU is uh she's struggling. She's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":816.72,"end_s":825.839,"text":"struggling to game at 4K. Okay, now we know that. At least in Cyberpunk with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":822.72,"end_s":829.279,"text":"ray tracing on and all of that. Let's go","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":825.839,"end_s":831.519,"text":"maybe 2560 by600.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":829.279,"end_s":838.639,"text":"At that resolution, I really don't think that I should need balanced","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":835.68,"end_s":844.639,"text":"DLSS. No, this is more like it. Now, we're gaming here, folks. Yeah, we're","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":840.639,"end_s":847.279,"text":"getting around 60 plus FPS. We do see 1%","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":844.639,"end_s":852.24,"text":"lows dip below, you know, like 55 from time to time, but 1600p in a very","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":850.72,"end_s":858.959,"text":"demanding game with ray tracing like Cyberpunk, these kinds of frame rates","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":856.16,"end_s":863.6,"text":"very acceptable on a mobile sort of technically mobile gaming device. My one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":861.36,"end_s":868.959,"text":"objection to all of this is of course the price. It starts at like three grand","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":867.279,"end_s":872.0,"text":"plus and that's for the option with less RAM and less storage. And the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":870.399,"end_s":876.56,"text":"configuration we're running here today is over $5,000","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":875.04,"end_s":882.88,"text":"US. That's right. You couldn't afford to have an H in the word thousand anymore","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":880.639,"end_s":888.72,"text":"because you spent it on your laptop. May your future choices be more fiscally","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":884.959,"end_s":888.72,"text":"responsible. Subscribe to ShortCircuit.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"If there was just one laptop manufacturer toward which I would carry some bias, it would probably be Razer. Not because of my investment in Framework, but because of the history there. See, in spite of being personally misled by an executive at the very highest level about the marketing around their initial mechanical keyboards, I was one of the biggest fans of the original Razer Blade. So much so that I bought one for every member of my team only to have basically all of them die. But this is some pretty eco-friendly packaging. So I'm ready to let bygones be bygones and take a look at the new Razer Blade 18, which they claim is the very first in the world to feature a dual mode display running at either full HD plus 440 Hz or a whopping 4K plus. And that's because it has a 16 by10 aspect ratio, which personally I love at 240 hertz. Even more impressive though is the fact that this machine might even have the horses to power that display. It features an RTX 5090 mobile with a vapor chamber cooling design that is so cool that they had to put a window on the bottom so you could look at it. It allows that GPU to run at a whopping 175 watts of total power while still reserving 105 watts for the Core Ultra 9 CPU. Dang, what does it come with though? Hey, look at that. They still include stickers, though. Take that, Apple. What? I like stickers. I mean, if I'm going to pay $5,000 for a laptop, I should get some cut tang stickers. Did I mention that? Yeah, that's right. You're watching this unboxing for the sheer porn of it, not because you're considering buying one. What I mean, why else would they take its clothes off? Look at that. Now, that's a big power brick. 400 watt. I mean, I shouldn't be that surprised. They did tell me that it will do wait, yeah, 260 watts. But I guess you got to be able to charge and game at the same time. I don't love proprietary power connectors, but in this case, I can at least see why they did it. It's not like you can do 400 watts through a USBC. These are the worst cable management straps ever though. Like I literally cut them off of every blade that I have ever owned. It's one of those things that they started doing at one point and then just I guess no one ever stopped to consider how like utterly inconvenient they are when you're packing the thing up. Oh, let's not plug it in yet. First, I want to take a look at IO. And before I do that, Razer skins. Huh. exclusive razor designs. Are they are are they starting a war with Dbrand? Oh my god, they're going right after Dbrand. This is just X-ray but green. At least they're not Caseify allegedly and using Dbrand's actual imagery. I assume that Razer knows what the inside of their own laptops look like. They don't include an applicator. That's an oversight. All right, I've done this before. I'm aware of how long an inch is, right? But like, oh my god, this laptop is huge. It's kind of a lot, right? Let's have a look at the IO. Okay, over on the left side, we've got our power inlet as well as 2 and 1/2 gig networking, a couple USB 3 type A's, as well as a USB. Can you just label things, Razer? God, I know it's not stealthy and cool, but like which one is the Thunderbolt 5, you know? Uh 3 and a half millimeter audio jack. And over on the other side, we got uh Kensington lock, HDMI, another USBA, and Thunderbolt something along with a UHS2 SD card reader. At the back, we got a whole lot of nothing except look at that ventilation. This is cool. My notes on this are kind of snarky. The lab's like, \"Well, you know, I like it.\" Okay. It would be cooler if I could actually see the vapor chamber. Okay, I agree with the lab. I'm just looking at the back of the motherboard. Should we open it before we even turn it on? Let's open it before we even turn it on. >> And don't open the laptop cuz if you break it, we're hooked. >> I'm not going to break it. Just like I'm not going to break this segue to our sponsor. Thanks to Secret Lab for sponsoring this video. The pain of losing a game is bad enough. Don't let your back hurt, too. Secret Labs Titan Evo ergonomic gaming chairs are built to promote proper posture for all those long late night sessions. And they know if you take your gaming seriously, you've got to constantly adapt your play style to your surroundings. Kind of like how the Titan Evo has so many different options that you can adjust that it can conform to just about any body type. Oh yeah, and it looks pretty darn awesome, too. You can pick one up for yourself using our link in the video description. I'm really looking forward to seeing this vapor chamber design. They say this is the biggest vapor that they have ever chambered and that it is overclock ready. I mean, when every laptop is thermally constrained, I don't really understand what that means, but that's for them to know and me to never understand. I do like how easy it is to get the bottom off. Look at that. Definitely sliding it forward. Okay, so we've got the highest spec of this machine with 4 terb of built-in storage, but there are two TB and 1 TB versions that come with a free M.2, which is honestly probably the way that I would go if I were you, because then you could just put up to like an 8 TB in that second slot and get more overall storage. Now, it is a little thicker. Razer acknowledges that to accommodate the big fat cooling solution, but they used that extra thickness to include more modularity than I might have expected from them. Not only do we have the replaceable SSDs, but we have replaceable SODM memory that comes at 5600 mega transfer per second, but can run up to 5600 with 96 gigs or 6400 megat transfer per second with 64 gigs of RAM and a replaceable Wi-Fi module. It's Wi-Fi 7, so you won't be replacing it with anything today, but hey, in the future you could. Even the Steam Deck can't boast that. And that's a very repairable machine. Look at the freaking size of these fans. Is it still a competition to see who can have the most fins on their laptop fans? Sorry. The keyboard I am very excited about. Razer says that they have redesigned it with much longer key travel and this is pretty cool. They have dual LED backlights behind some of the keys so that if you hold function or shift or control, it actually lights up what the function of the key will be. Remember guys, this is an 18inch laptop. That's a big trackpad. Apparently has excellent palm rejection according to lab. So, can't wait to try that out as well. Wow, that's a big screen. It's kind of wild cuz I remember when my desktop monitor was not this big. And 16x10, man, is so flipping nice. I only wonder which mode of display we're in because uh you have to do a full reboot in order to change it. So, I guess we'll see. Notepad feels not bad. Just cannot find the path specified. Relax, notepad. You're not that cool. They're a little on the stiffer side, so you'll have to really type with purpose. Basically that. Oh, it's a little bright. Ooh, we can try out the keyboard function. So, function So cool, huh? That must cost a fortune. You know how I know? Because when you delve into the tech. No, just kidding. Because the price is really high. Hey, there you go. My oneline review of the keyboard. Now, let's try typing, moving my cursor, and then typing and brushing it with my Oh, okay. Well, you can't activate the click. It's hard for me to actually type with my palm resting on a trackpad because I guess I've trained myself over the years to not touch the trackpad of my laptop. Okay, I'm going to have to make a conscious decision to accidentally palm the trackpad while I'm typing. I am moving a little. Yeah, pretty good actually. And the second you have a finger on it, it's not bad. There's no haptics in it. So, you just have kind of the uh the built-in like click. Trackpads on Windows haven't necessarily been as good as Mac, but have been not hugely problematic for many years now, and the Blade 18 looks like it is no exception. Now, let's take a closer look at this display. Razer, for some reason, does not advertise a peak brightness for it, which I don't really understand because it performed pretty well in our testing. It's not an HDR display. It's IPS with no local dimming, so you know, it is what it is. But for an SDR display at around 550 nits peak brightness, depending on the mode that it's operating in, that's very respectable and is good enough to use outdoors. Of course, that's not the main attraction. The main attraction is its dual mode operation. So, its native resolution is 3840x 2400 kind of a 4K plus to account for the extra pixels at the bottom of a 16x10 display. And you can do up to 240 Hz in that mode. And I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to do this on my own. Through Razer Synapse, you can change it to 1920 x 1200 440 Hz. So, you click that and then you're going to need to restart the computer. This is nice though. Different color profiles. You can view the calibration report. This is a verified display. We didn't find that it was the most color accurate display. It does vary a little bit across its modes. In its best one, its delta E averages were under two, which is what we would consider to be accurate, but it has a bit of a blue cast and its grayscale tracking was not amazing. meaning that sometimes shadows are lost and sometimes highlights are overboosted. So make of that what you will. We also found that Razer is over marketing the gamut coverage. They claim 100% DCIP3, but we got 97% and we contacted them about it and they're like, \"Yep, that's within our expectations.\" So yeah, with that said, for an 18inch machine with this kind of performance, it's not it's not bad. It's not as thin as it kind of looks though because you got these feet that stick up off the bottom and this kind of like hump for the vapor chamber cooler. Still not bad. Not bad. Pretty impressed. Oh, we should plug it in. All right. And now the window on the bottom is RGB lit. We're in performance mode now, boys. With that said, we didn't get quite the frequency out of the CPU that Razer advertised. They set up to 5.4 GHz, but that seems to be the spec for this silicon. not what you can actually expect in this chassis. We only got up to 5.2, which to be clear is still a very fast chip. Well, I have to wait to game on it until I get out of this stupid hover car. But you guys don't have to wait to know how it performs. When we compared it to another pretty comparable machine from HP, it performed about like you would expect. In CPUbound games, we found that they were both around the same at the same resolution. But in GPUbound games, we did find that Razer's cooler was worth the extra work. We did find that it outperformed that other comparable laptop with similar specs by up to 10% at 1200p in certain titles. So, it's probably not what I would choose this machine for. That would come down to the IO and the size of the display and the creature comforts, like the really cool thing with the keyboard keys illuminating or whatever else. But, it's better than a kick in the teeth or braces on your teeth. Okay, I gave up on the tutorial, but while we wait for this, why don't we check out the speakers? Rave of crabs. The bottom part seems to be a grill and then there's a grill here and the grill on the bottom. So, I guess that's how they're getting that pretty impressive sound stage. falls a little short once the bass drop hits, but loud and decent clarity. And I think the most impressive part is just how big the sound is, how immersive it feels. Oh, we could try out the webcam, too. Yes. Ooh, yeah. There's a hardware switch, by the way. Uh there's also the uh IR tracker for Windows Hello if you're into that sort of thing. Now seems like as good a time as any to have a look at the image quality and I guess we'll be recording sound on it as well. It is fine, I guess. 5 megapixels they say. I mean I can count the megapixels in there. Okay. Yeah, now that I'm out in the world this is definitely not enough performances. Yep. Nope. Yep. That's fine. And this is why we actually play the game. So, let's turn it down to balanced. Yeah, this mobile GPU is uh she's struggling. She's struggling to game at 4K. Okay, now we know that. At least in Cyberpunk with ray tracing on and all of that. Let's go maybe 2560 by600. At that resolution, I really don't think that I should need balanced DLSS. No, this is more like it. Now, we're gaming here, folks. Yeah, we're getting around 60 plus FPS. We do see 1% lows dip below, you know, like 55 from time to time, but 1600p in a very demanding game with ray tracing like Cyberpunk, these kinds of frame rates very acceptable on a mobile sort of technically mobile gaming device. My one objection to all of this is of course the price. It starts at like three grand plus and that's for the option with less RAM and less storage. And the configuration we're running here today is over $5,000 US. That's right. You couldn't afford to have an H in the word thousand anymore because you spent it on your laptop. May your future choices be more fiscally responsible. Subscribe to ShortCircuit."}