WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:08.240 If there was just one laptop manufacturer toward which I would carry 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:09.760 some bias, it would probably be Razer. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:14.559 Not because of my investment in Framework, but because of the history 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:18.720 there. See, in spite of being personally misled by an executive at the very 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:24.160 highest level about the marketing around their initial mechanical keyboards, I 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:29.359 was one of the biggest fans of the original Razer Blade. So much so that I 00:00:26.880 --> 00:00:34.960 bought one for every member of my team only to have basically all of them die. 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:39.920 But this is some pretty eco-friendly packaging. So I'm ready to let bygones 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 00:00:42.800 --> 00:00:53.920 very first in the world to feature a dual mode display running at either full 00:00:47.760 --> 00:00:55.840 HD plus 440 Hz or a whopping 4K plus. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:01:02.239 And that's because it has a 16 by10 aspect ratio, which personally I love at 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:07.119 240 hertz. Even more impressive though is the fact that this machine might even 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:14.240 have the horses to power that display. It features an RTX 5090 mobile with a 00:01:11.119 --> 00:01:16.799 vapor chamber cooling design that is so 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 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:23.840 allows that GPU to run at a whopping 175 00:01:22.320 --> 00:01:30.400 watts of total power while still reserving 105 watts for the Core Ultra 9 00:01:27.759 --> 00:01:34.479 CPU. Dang, what does it come with though? Hey, look at that. They still 00:01:32.880 --> 00:01:39.040 include stickers, though. Take that, Apple. What? I like stickers. I mean, if 00:01:36.720 --> 00:01:43.920 I'm going to pay $5,000 for a laptop, I should get some cut tang 00:01:41.520 --> 00:01:47.520 stickers. Did I mention that? Yeah, that's right. You're watching this 00:01:45.520 --> 00:01:51.600 unboxing for the sheer porn of it, not because you're considering buying one. 00:01:49.360 --> 00:01:58.479 What I mean, why else would they take its clothes off? Look at that. 00:01:54.799 --> 00:02:00.240 Now, that's a big power brick. 400 watt. 00:01:58.479 --> 00:02:05.360 I mean, I shouldn't be that surprised. They did tell me that it will do 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 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:12.959 same time. I don't love proprietary power connectors, but in this case, I 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 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:20.319 USBC. These are the worst cable management straps ever though. Like I 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:23.280 literally cut them off of every blade that I have ever owned. It's one of 00:02:21.760 --> 00:02:28.720 those things that they started doing at one point and then just I guess no one 00:02:25.920 --> 00:02:32.800 ever stopped to consider how like utterly inconvenient they are when 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 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:43.519 take a look at IO. And before I do that, Razer skins. Huh. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:49.040 exclusive razor designs. Are they are are they starting a war 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:53.599 with Dbrand? Oh my god, they're going right after Dbrand. This is just X-ray 00:02:51.599 --> 00:03:00.480 but green. At least they're not Caseify allegedly 00:02:56.480 --> 00:03:02.080 and using Dbrand's actual imagery. 00:03:00.480 --> 00:03:05.680 I assume that Razer knows what the inside of their own laptops look like. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:10.640 They don't include an applicator. That's an oversight. 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:13.599 All right, I've done this before. I'm 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. 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 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 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:34.000 USB 3 type A's, as well as a USB. 00:03:30.480 --> 00:03:36.400 Can you just label things, Razer? God, I 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:41.599 know it's not stealthy and cool, but like which one is the Thunderbolt 5, you 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 00:03:43.760 --> 00:03:50.159 uh Kensington lock, HDMI, another USBA, 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:55.519 and Thunderbolt something along with a UHS2 SD card reader. At the back, we got 00:03:53.599 --> 00:04:01.439 a whole lot of nothing except look at that ventilation. This is cool. My notes 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. 00:04:05.920 --> 00:04:13.519 It would be cooler if I could actually see the vapor chamber. 00:04:10.799 --> 00:04:17.040 Okay, I agree with the lab. I'm just looking at the back of the 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 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. 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 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:30.320 sponsor. Thanks to Secret Lab for sponsoring this video. The pain of 00:04:28.320 --> 00:04:34.479 losing a game is bad enough. Don't let your back hurt, too. Secret Labs Titan 00:04:32.320 --> 00:04:38.479 Evo ergonomic gaming chairs are built to promote proper posture for all those 00:04:36.400 --> 00:04:42.000 long late night sessions. And they know if you take your gaming seriously, 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:45.520 you've got to constantly adapt your play style to your surroundings. Kind of like 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:49.600 how the Titan Evo has so many different options that you can adjust that it can 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:52.800 conform to just about any body type. Oh yeah, and it looks pretty darn awesome, 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:55.919 too. You can pick one up for yourself using our link in the video description. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:01.199 I'm really looking forward to seeing this vapor chamber design. They say this 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:04.400 is the biggest vapor that they have ever 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:07.440 chambered and that it is overclock 00:05:04.400 --> 00:05:09.199 ready. I mean, when every laptop is 00:05:07.440 --> 00:05:13.120 thermally constrained, I don't really understand what that means, but that's 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 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:21.600 get the bottom off. Look at that. Definitely sliding it forward. 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 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, 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:34.960 which is honestly probably the way that I would go if I were you, because then 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 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:44.240 storage. Now, it is a little thicker. Razer acknowledges that to accommodate 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:47.919 the big fat cooling solution, but they used that extra thickness to include 00:05:46.400 --> 00:05:51.759 more modularity than I might have expected from them. Not only do we have 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:57.360 the replaceable SSDs, but we have replaceable SODM memory that comes at 00:05:54.400 --> 00:06:03.280 5600 mega transfer per second, but can run up to 5600 with 96 gigs or 6400 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:07.360 megat transfer per second with 64 gigs of RAM and a replaceable Wi-Fi module. 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 00:06:09.919 --> 00:06:15.360 future you could. Even the Steam Deck can't boast that. And that's a very 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:19.520 repairable machine. Look at the freaking size of these fans. Is it still a 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:23.560 competition to see who can have the most fins on their laptop fans? 00:06:23.840 --> 00:06:31.120 Sorry. The keyboard I am very excited about. Razer says that they have 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:37.120 redesigned it with much longer key travel and this is pretty cool. They 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:42.960 have dual LED backlights behind some of the keys so that if you hold function or 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:49.520 shift or control, it actually lights up what the function of the key will be. 00:06:44.880 --> 00:06:52.800 Remember guys, this is an 18inch laptop. 00:06:49.520 --> 00:06:54.319 That's a big trackpad. Apparently has 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:58.400 excellent palm rejection according to lab. So, can't wait to try that out as 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 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:07.680 desktop monitor was not this big. And 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:10.160 16x10, man, is so flipping nice. I only 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 00:07:12.400 --> 00:07:19.360 in order to change it. So, I guess we'll see. 00:07:15.440 --> 00:07:21.599 Notepad feels not bad. Just cannot find 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:25.160 the path specified. Relax, notepad. You're not that cool. 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. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:44.400 Basically that. Oh, it's a little bright. Ooh, we can try out the keyboard 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:46.720 function. So, function 00:07:44.400 --> 00:07:52.319 So cool, huh? That must cost a fortune. You know 00:07:49.919 --> 00:07:56.400 how I know? Because when you delve into the tech. No, just kidding. Because the 00:07:54.080 --> 00:08:02.319 price is really high. Hey, there you go. My oneline review of the keyboard. Now, 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:05.520 let's try typing, moving my cursor, and 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:07.840 then typing and brushing it with my Oh, 00:08:05.520 --> 00:08:11.520 okay. Well, you can't activate the click. It's hard for me to actually type 00:08:09.840 --> 00:08:15.360 with my palm resting on a trackpad because I guess I've trained myself over 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 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:24.160 make a conscious decision to accidentally palm the trackpad while I'm typing. 00:08:21.280 --> 00:08:29.440 I am moving 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:32.880 a little. Yeah, pretty good actually. And the second you have a finger on it, 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 00:08:34.640 --> 00:08:42.399 built-in like click. Trackpads on Windows haven't necessarily 00:08:39.760 --> 00:08:46.240 been as good as Mac, but have been not hugely problematic for many years now, 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 00:08:48.959 --> 00:08:54.640 at this display. Razer, for some reason, 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:58.560 does not advertise a peak brightness for it, which I don't really understand 00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:03.279 because it performed pretty well in our testing. It's not an HDR display. It's 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 00:09:05.680 --> 00:09:11.279 at around 550 nits peak brightness, depending on the mode that it's 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:16.880 operating in, that's very respectable and is good enough to use outdoors. Of 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:23.360 course, that's not the main attraction. The main attraction is its dual mode 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:27.519 operation. So, its native resolution is 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:29.519 3840x 2400 kind of a 4K plus to account 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 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 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:44.880 my own. Through Razer Synapse, you can 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:47.040 change it to 1920 x 1200 440 Hz. So, you 00:09:44.880 --> 00:09:52.080 click that and then you're going to need to restart the computer. This is nice 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:56.480 though. Different color profiles. You can view the calibration report. This is 00:09:53.920 --> 00:10:01.120 a verified display. We didn't find that it was the most color accurate display. 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:05.760 It does vary a little bit across its modes. In its best one, its delta E 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:11.120 averages were under two, which is what we would consider to be accurate, but it 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:15.920 has a bit of a blue cast and its grayscale tracking was not amazing. 00:10:13.760 --> 00:10:20.880 meaning that sometimes shadows are lost and sometimes highlights are 00:10:17.680 --> 00:10:23.680 overboosted. So make of that what you 00:10:20.880 --> 00:10:29.600 will. We also found that Razer is over marketing the gamut coverage. They claim 00:10:25.760 --> 00:10:30.800 100% DCIP3, but we got 97% and we 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:38.079 contacted them about it and they're like, "Yep, that's within our expectations." 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:39.440 So yeah, with that said, for an 18inch 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 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:48.320 as it kind of looks though because you got these feet that stick up off the 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:53.200 bottom and this kind of like hump for the vapor chamber cooler. Still not bad. 00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:59.040 Not bad. Pretty impressed. Oh, we should plug it in. All right. And now the 00:10:55.519 --> 00:11:01.120 window on the bottom is RGB lit. 00:10:59.040 --> 00:11:04.640 We're in performance mode now, boys. With that said, we didn't get quite the 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:08.320 frequency out of the CPU that Razer advertised. They set up to 5.4 GHz, but 00:11:06.959 --> 00:11:12.880 that seems to be the spec for this silicon. not what you can actually 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 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 00:11:19.760 --> 00:11:26.079 stupid hover car. But you guys don't have to wait to know how it performs. 00:11:23.760 --> 00:11:32.320 When we compared it to another pretty comparable machine from HP, it performed 00:11:29.760 --> 00:11:35.680 about like you would expect. In CPUbound games, we found that they were both 00:11:33.680 --> 00:11:40.800 around the same at the same resolution. But in GPUbound games, we did find that 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:44.800 Razer's cooler was worth the extra work. We did find that it outperformed that 00:11:42.959 --> 00:11:51.040 other comparable laptop with similar specs by up to 10% at 1200p in certain 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:54.959 titles. So, it's probably not what I would choose this machine for. That 00:11:52.640 --> 00:11:58.079 would come down to the IO and the size of the display and the creature 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:01.839 comforts, like the really cool thing with the keyboard keys illuminating or 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:05.680 whatever else. But, it's better than a kick in the teeth or braces on your 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 00:12:06.959 --> 00:12:11.560 check out the speakers? Rave of crabs. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:18.560 The bottom part seems to be a grill and 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:22.800 then there's a grill here and the grill on 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:29.370 the bottom. So, I guess that's how they're getting 00:12:24.800 --> 00:12:37.040 that pretty impressive sound stage. 00:12:37.040 --> 00:12:45.680 falls a little short once the bass drop hits, but loud and decent clarity. And I 00:12:43.920 --> 00:12:50.639 think the most impressive part is just how big the sound is, how immersive it 00:12:48.560 --> 00:12:53.639 feels. Oh, we could try out the webcam, too. 00:12:53.839 --> 00:13:00.480 Yes. Ooh, yeah. There's a hardware switch, by the way. Uh there's also the 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:03.920 uh IR tracker for Windows Hello if you're into that sort of thing. Now 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 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 00:13:12.160 --> 00:13:18.160 say. I mean I can count the megapixels in 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:22.240 there. Okay. Yeah, now that I'm out in the world this is definitely not enough 00:13:20.560 --> 00:13:25.600 performances. Yep. 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 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:39.519 turn it down to balanced. Yeah, this mobile GPU is uh she's struggling. She's 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:45.839 struggling to game at 4K. Okay, now we know that. At least in Cyberpunk with 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:49.279 ray tracing on and all of that. Let's go 00:13:45.839 --> 00:13:51.519 maybe 2560 by600. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:58.639 At that resolution, I really don't think that I should need balanced 00:13:55.680 --> 00:14:04.639 DLSS. No, this is more like it. Now, we're gaming here, folks. Yeah, we're 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:07.279 getting around 60 plus FPS. We do see 1% 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:12.240 lows dip below, you know, like 55 from time to time, but 1600p in a very 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:18.959 demanding game with ray tracing like Cyberpunk, these kinds of frame rates 00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:23.600 very acceptable on a mobile sort of technically mobile gaming device. My one 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:28.959 objection to all of this is of course the price. It starts at like three grand 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:32.000 plus and that's for the option with less RAM and less storage. And the 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:36.560 configuration we're running here today is over $5,000 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 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:48.720 because you spent it on your laptop. May your future choices be more fiscally 00:14:44.959 --> 00:14:48.720 responsible. Subscribe to ShortCircuit.