1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:08,240 If there was just one laptop manufacturer toward which I would carry 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:09,760 some bias, it would probably be Razer. 3 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:14,559 Not because of my investment in Framework, but because of the history 4 00:00:11,679 --> 00:00:18,720 there. See, in spite of being personally misled by an executive at the very 5 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:24,160 highest level about the marketing around their initial mechanical keyboards, I 6 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:29,359 was one of the biggest fans of the original Razer Blade. So much so that I 7 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:34,960 bought one for every member of my team only to have basically all of them die. 8 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:39,920 But this is some pretty eco-friendly packaging. So I'm ready to let bygones 9 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:44,719 be bygones and take a look at the new Razer Blade 18, which they claim is the 10 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:53,920 very first in the world to feature a dual mode display running at either full 11 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:55,840 HD plus 440 Hz or a whopping 4K plus. 12 00:00:53,920 --> 00:01:02,239 And that's because it has a 16 by10 aspect ratio, which personally I love at 13 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:07,119 240 hertz. Even more impressive though is the fact that this machine might even 14 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:14,240 have the horses to power that display. It features an RTX 5090 mobile with a 15 00:01:11,119 --> 00:01:16,799 vapor chamber cooling design that is so 16 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:22,320 cool that they had to put a window on the bottom so you could look at it. It 17 00:01:18,799 --> 00:01:23,840 allows that GPU to run at a whopping 175 18 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:30,400 watts of total power while still reserving 105 watts for the Core Ultra 9 19 00:01:27,759 --> 00:01:34,479 CPU. Dang, what does it come with though? Hey, look at that. They still 20 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:39,040 include stickers, though. Take that, Apple. What? I like stickers. I mean, if 21 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:43,920 I'm going to pay $5,000 for a laptop, I should get some cut tang 22 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:47,520 stickers. Did I mention that? Yeah, that's right. You're watching this 23 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:51,600 unboxing for the sheer porn of it, not because you're considering buying one. 24 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:58,479 What I mean, why else would they take its clothes off? Look at that. 25 00:01:54,799 --> 00:02:00,240 Now, that's a big power brick. 400 watt. 26 00:01:58,479 --> 00:02:05,360 I mean, I shouldn't be that surprised. They did tell me that it will do 27 00:02:03,119 --> 00:02:09,759 wait, yeah, 260 watts. But I guess you got to be able to charge and game at the 28 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:12,959 same time. I don't love proprietary power connectors, but in this case, I 29 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:16,800 can at least see why they did it. It's not like you can do 400 watts through a 30 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:20,319 USBC. These are the worst cable management straps ever though. Like I 31 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:23,280 literally cut them off of every blade that I have ever owned. It's one of 32 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:28,720 those things that they started doing at one point and then just I guess no one 33 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:32,800 ever stopped to consider how like utterly inconvenient they are when 34 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:37,200 you're packing the thing up. Oh, let's not plug it in yet. First, I want to 35 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:43,519 take a look at IO. And before I do that, Razer skins. Huh. 36 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:49,040 exclusive razor designs. Are they are are they starting a war 37 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:53,599 with Dbrand? Oh my god, they're going right after Dbrand. This is just X-ray 38 00:02:51,599 --> 00:03:00,480 but green. At least they're not Caseify allegedly 39 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:02,080 and using Dbrand's actual imagery. 40 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:05,680 I assume that Razer knows what the inside of their own laptops look like. 41 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:10,640 They don't include an applicator. That's an oversight. 42 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:13,599 All right, I've done this before. I'm 43 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:20,080 aware of how long an inch is, right? But like, oh my god, this laptop is huge. 44 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:24,400 It's kind of a lot, right? Let's have a look at the IO. Okay, over on the left 45 00:03:22,319 --> 00:03:30,480 side, we've got our power inlet as well as 2 and 1/2 gig networking, a couple 46 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:34,000 USB 3 type A's, as well as a USB. 47 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:36,400 Can you just label things, Razer? God, I 48 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:41,599 know it's not stealthy and cool, but like which one is the Thunderbolt 5, you 49 00:03:39,599 --> 00:03:47,680 know? Uh 3 and a half millimeter audio jack. And over on the other side, we got 50 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:50,159 uh Kensington lock, HDMI, another USBA, 51 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:55,519 and Thunderbolt something along with a UHS2 SD card reader. At the back, we got 52 00:03:53,599 --> 00:04:01,439 a whole lot of nothing except look at that ventilation. This is cool. My notes 53 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:07,760 on this are kind of snarky. The lab's like, "Well, you know, I like it." Okay. 54 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:13,519 It would be cooler if I could actually see the vapor chamber. 55 00:04:10,799 --> 00:04:17,040 Okay, I agree with the lab. I'm just looking at the back of the 56 00:04:14,879 --> 00:04:19,680 motherboard. Should we open it before we even turn it on? Let's open it before we 57 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:23,840 even turn it on. >> And don't open the laptop cuz if you break it, we're hooked. 58 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:26,960 >> I'm not going to break it. Just like I'm not going to break this segue to our 59 00:04:25,199 --> 00:04:30,320 sponsor. Thanks to Secret Lab for sponsoring this video. The pain of 60 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:34,479 losing a game is bad enough. Don't let your back hurt, too. Secret Labs Titan 61 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:38,479 Evo ergonomic gaming chairs are built to promote proper posture for all those 62 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:42,000 long late night sessions. And they know if you take your gaming seriously, 63 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:45,520 you've got to constantly adapt your play style to your surroundings. Kind of like 64 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:49,600 how the Titan Evo has so many different options that you can adjust that it can 65 00:04:47,199 --> 00:04:52,800 conform to just about any body type. Oh yeah, and it looks pretty darn awesome, 66 00:04:51,199 --> 00:04:55,919 too. You can pick one up for yourself using our link in the video description. 67 00:04:54,720 --> 00:05:01,199 I'm really looking forward to seeing this vapor chamber design. They say this 68 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:04,400 is the biggest vapor that they have ever 69 00:05:01,199 --> 00:05:07,440 chambered and that it is overclock 70 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:09,199 ready. I mean, when every laptop is 71 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:13,120 thermally constrained, I don't really understand what that means, but that's 72 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:16,560 for them to know and me to never understand. I do like how easy it is to 73 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:21,600 get the bottom off. Look at that. Definitely sliding it forward. 74 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:27,520 Okay, so we've got the highest spec of this machine with 4 terb of built-in 75 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:31,600 storage, but there are two TB and 1 TB versions that come with a free M.2, 76 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:34,960 which is honestly probably the way that I would go if I were you, because then 77 00:05:33,199 --> 00:05:40,000 you could just put up to like an 8 TB in that second slot and get more overall 78 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:44,240 storage. Now, it is a little thicker. Razer acknowledges that to accommodate 79 00:05:41,759 --> 00:05:47,919 the big fat cooling solution, but they used that extra thickness to include 80 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:51,759 more modularity than I might have expected from them. Not only do we have 81 00:05:49,759 --> 00:05:57,360 the replaceable SSDs, but we have replaceable SODM memory that comes at 82 00:05:54,400 --> 00:06:03,280 5600 mega transfer per second, but can run up to 5600 with 96 gigs or 6400 83 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:07,360 megat transfer per second with 64 gigs of RAM and a replaceable Wi-Fi module. 84 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:11,840 It's Wi-Fi 7, so you won't be replacing it with anything today, but hey, in the 85 00:06:09,919 --> 00:06:15,360 future you could. Even the Steam Deck can't boast that. And that's a very 86 00:06:13,199 --> 00:06:19,520 repairable machine. Look at the freaking size of these fans. Is it still a 87 00:06:17,759 --> 00:06:23,560 competition to see who can have the most fins on their laptop fans? 88 00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:31,120 Sorry. The keyboard I am very excited about. Razer says that they have 89 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:37,120 redesigned it with much longer key travel and this is pretty cool. They 90 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:42,960 have dual LED backlights behind some of the keys so that if you hold function or 91 00:06:40,319 --> 00:06:49,520 shift or control, it actually lights up what the function of the key will be. 92 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:52,800 Remember guys, this is an 18inch laptop. 93 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:54,319 That's a big trackpad. Apparently has 94 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:58,400 excellent palm rejection according to lab. So, can't wait to try that out as 95 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:03,360 well. Wow, that's a big screen. It's kind of wild cuz I remember when my 96 00:07:00,319 --> 00:07:07,680 desktop monitor was not this big. And 97 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:10,160 16x10, man, is so flipping nice. I only 98 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:13,840 wonder which mode of display we're in because uh you have to do a full reboot 99 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:19,360 in order to change it. So, I guess we'll see. 100 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:21,599 Notepad feels not bad. Just cannot find 101 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:25,160 the path specified. Relax, notepad. You're not that cool. 102 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:34,199 They're a little on the stiffer side, so you'll have to really type with purpose. 103 00:07:37,199 --> 00:07:44,400 Basically that. Oh, it's a little bright. Ooh, we can try out the keyboard 104 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:46,720 function. So, function 105 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:52,319 So cool, huh? That must cost a fortune. You know 106 00:07:49,919 --> 00:07:56,400 how I know? Because when you delve into the tech. No, just kidding. Because the 107 00:07:54,080 --> 00:08:02,319 price is really high. Hey, there you go. My oneline review of the keyboard. Now, 108 00:07:58,639 --> 00:08:05,520 let's try typing, moving my cursor, and 109 00:08:02,319 --> 00:08:07,840 then typing and brushing it with my Oh, 110 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:11,520 okay. Well, you can't activate the click. It's hard for me to actually type 111 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:15,360 with my palm resting on a trackpad because I guess I've trained myself over 112 00:08:13,039 --> 00:08:17,759 the years to not touch the trackpad of my laptop. Okay, I'm going to have to 113 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:24,160 make a conscious decision to accidentally palm the trackpad while I'm typing. 114 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:29,440 I am moving 115 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:32,880 a little. Yeah, pretty good actually. And the second you have a finger on it, 116 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:37,519 it's not bad. There's no haptics in it. So, you just have kind of the uh the 117 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:42,399 built-in like click. Trackpads on Windows haven't necessarily 118 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:46,240 been as good as Mac, but have been not hugely problematic for many years now, 119 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:52,480 and the Blade 18 looks like it is no exception. Now, let's take a closer look 120 00:08:48,959 --> 00:08:54,640 at this display. Razer, for some reason, 121 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:58,560 does not advertise a peak brightness for it, which I don't really understand 122 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:03,279 because it performed pretty well in our testing. It's not an HDR display. It's 123 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:08,080 IPS with no local dimming, so you know, it is what it is. But for an SDR display 124 00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:11,279 at around 550 nits peak brightness, depending on the mode that it's 125 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:16,880 operating in, that's very respectable and is good enough to use outdoors. Of 126 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:23,360 course, that's not the main attraction. The main attraction is its dual mode 127 00:09:19,279 --> 00:09:27,519 operation. So, its native resolution is 128 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:29,519 3840x 2400 kind of a 4K plus to account 129 00:09:27,519 --> 00:09:35,360 for the extra pixels at the bottom of a 16x10 display. And you can do up to 240 130 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:40,480 Hz in that mode. And I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to do this on 131 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:44,880 my own. Through Razer Synapse, you can 132 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:47,040 change it to 1920 x 1200 440 Hz. So, you 133 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:52,080 click that and then you're going to need to restart the computer. This is nice 134 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:56,480 though. Different color profiles. You can view the calibration report. This is 135 00:09:53,920 --> 00:10:01,120 a verified display. We didn't find that it was the most color accurate display. 136 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:05,760 It does vary a little bit across its modes. In its best one, its delta E 137 00:10:03,519 --> 00:10:11,120 averages were under two, which is what we would consider to be accurate, but it 138 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:15,920 has a bit of a blue cast and its grayscale tracking was not amazing. 139 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:20,880 meaning that sometimes shadows are lost and sometimes highlights are 140 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:23,680 overboosted. So make of that what you 141 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:29,600 will. We also found that Razer is over marketing the gamut coverage. They claim 142 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:30,800 100% DCIP3, but we got 97% and we 143 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:38,079 contacted them about it and they're like, "Yep, that's within our expectations." 144 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:39,440 So yeah, with that said, for an 18inch 145 00:10:38,079 --> 00:10:43,839 machine with this kind of performance, it's not it's not bad. It's not as thin 146 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:48,320 as it kind of looks though because you got these feet that stick up off the 147 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:53,200 bottom and this kind of like hump for the vapor chamber cooler. Still not bad. 148 00:10:51,279 --> 00:10:59,040 Not bad. Pretty impressed. Oh, we should plug it in. All right. And now the 149 00:10:55,519 --> 00:11:01,120 window on the bottom is RGB lit. 150 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:04,640 We're in performance mode now, boys. With that said, we didn't get quite the 151 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:08,320 frequency out of the CPU that Razer advertised. They set up to 5.4 GHz, but 152 00:11:06,959 --> 00:11:12,880 that seems to be the spec for this silicon. not what you can actually 153 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:18,480 expect in this chassis. We only got up to 5.2, which to be clear is still a 154 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:21,839 very fast chip. Well, I have to wait to game on it until I get out of this 155 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:26,079 stupid hover car. But you guys don't have to wait to know how it performs. 156 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:32,320 When we compared it to another pretty comparable machine from HP, it performed 157 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:35,680 about like you would expect. In CPUbound games, we found that they were both 158 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:40,800 around the same at the same resolution. But in GPUbound games, we did find that 159 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:44,800 Razer's cooler was worth the extra work. We did find that it outperformed that 160 00:11:42,959 --> 00:11:51,040 other comparable laptop with similar specs by up to 10% at 1200p in certain 161 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:54,959 titles. So, it's probably not what I would choose this machine for. That 162 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:58,079 would come down to the IO and the size of the display and the creature 163 00:11:56,480 --> 00:12:01,839 comforts, like the really cool thing with the keyboard keys illuminating or 164 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:05,680 whatever else. But, it's better than a kick in the teeth or braces on your 165 00:12:03,839 --> 00:12:11,560 teeth. Okay, I gave up on the tutorial, but while we wait for this, why don't we 166 00:12:06,959 --> 00:12:11,560 check out the speakers? Rave of crabs. 167 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:18,560 The bottom part seems to be a grill and 168 00:12:16,399 --> 00:12:22,800 then there's a grill here and the grill on 169 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:29,370 the bottom. So, I guess that's how they're getting 170 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:37,040 that pretty impressive sound stage. 171 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:45,680 falls a little short once the bass drop hits, but loud and decent clarity. And I 172 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:50,639 think the most impressive part is just how big the sound is, how immersive it 173 00:12:48,560 --> 00:12:53,639 feels. Oh, we could try out the webcam, too. 174 00:12:53,839 --> 00:13:00,480 Yes. Ooh, yeah. There's a hardware switch, by the way. Uh there's also the 175 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:03,920 uh IR tracker for Windows Hello if you're into that sort of thing. Now 176 00:13:01,839 --> 00:13:08,320 seems like as good a time as any to have a look at the image quality and I guess 177 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:13,920 we'll be recording sound on it as well. It is fine, I guess. 5 megapixels they 178 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:18,160 say. I mean I can count the megapixels in 179 00:13:16,399 --> 00:13:22,240 there. Okay. Yeah, now that I'm out in the world this is definitely not enough 180 00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:25,600 performances. Yep. 181 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:32,720 Nope. Yep. That's fine. And this is why we actually play the game. So, let's 182 00:13:30,399 --> 00:13:39,519 turn it down to balanced. Yeah, this mobile GPU is uh she's struggling. She's 183 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:45,839 struggling to game at 4K. Okay, now we know that. At least in Cyberpunk with 184 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:49,279 ray tracing on and all of that. Let's go 185 00:13:45,839 --> 00:13:51,519 maybe 2560 by600. 186 00:13:49,279 --> 00:13:58,639 At that resolution, I really don't think that I should need balanced 187 00:13:55,680 --> 00:14:04,639 DLSS. No, this is more like it. Now, we're gaming here, folks. Yeah, we're 188 00:14:00,639 --> 00:14:07,279 getting around 60 plus FPS. We do see 1% 189 00:14:04,639 --> 00:14:12,240 lows dip below, you know, like 55 from time to time, but 1600p in a very 190 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:18,959 demanding game with ray tracing like Cyberpunk, these kinds of frame rates 191 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:23,600 very acceptable on a mobile sort of technically mobile gaming device. My one 192 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:28,959 objection to all of this is of course the price. It starts at like three grand 193 00:14:27,279 --> 00:14:32,000 plus and that's for the option with less RAM and less storage. And the 194 00:14:30,399 --> 00:14:36,560 configuration we're running here today is over $5,000 195 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:42,880 US. That's right. You couldn't afford to have an H in the word thousand anymore 196 00:14:40,639 --> 00:14:48,720 because you spent it on your laptop. May your future choices be more fiscally 197 00:14:44,959 --> 00:14:48,720 responsible. Subscribe to ShortCircuit.