Razer Blade Late 2016 - It cost me $25,000
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,160 words · ~5 min read
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I've had a review unit of the Razer Blade late 2016 since launch. In fact, I
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bought a dozen of the first ones off the production line back in October so I
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could box them up and give them out at my staff Christmas party. So, why then
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did it take me so long to do this review? because I was waiting for a very
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special blade. A one-of-a-kind signed LT
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edition blade that will soon be in the hands of a very lucky winner who
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graciously agreed to let me showcase his beautiful prize in my review before
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sending it along. So, here we go.
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enjoy a more open internet. To try Tunnel Bear for free, check out the link
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in the video description. The unboxing experience
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really hasn't changed a lot since the original Razer Blade 14. You get a
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laptop, Razer's characteristically compact 165W power adapter, and some
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papers to accidentally throw away before you remember about the Earth. And in
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fact, not much has changed outwardly about the machine either, aside from the
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textured LT design by Ed, which you
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won't find on the one that you buy at the store anyway. It still rocks a
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normal non-magnetized power cord. [ __ ] magnets. Hint hint Razer to go
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with its three USB 3 ports, audio jack, Thunderbolt 3 port, and HDMI port. And
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like it basically looks like the same damn computer, still with the black,
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still with the rubber feet, still with the dime thickness, and still with the
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bright green Razor logo on the back that causes gamers to rush the stands and
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professionals to refuse to go into meetings with their laptops because
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they're too embarrassed. Even most of the key specs are the same. CPU same,
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RAM same, battery same. Though the
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maximum NVMe SSD size got doubled to 1
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TB and the GTX 970M from last gen has
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been bumped to a GTX 1060, which means
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the newest Blade is a very capable little VR machine, and that both the
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Thunderbolt and HDMI port can handle 4K
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60 Hz. Now, not that a 1060 will run
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most games at 4K 60 frames pers anyway,
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which is where my favorite difference from the last gen comes in. The Blade is
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now available with a glass topped 3200 by800 touchscreen or a matte 1920x 1080
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non-touchscreen that's cheaper, saves a little battery, avoids any issues with
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poor resolution scaling in Windows, and translates to up to double the frame
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rate in games. Now, obviously, you can
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turn down the touchscreen model to 1080p, but then you're dealing with
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interpolation instead of a crisp native resolution image. And for me personally,
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the difference in sharpness has a much much smaller impact on my gaming
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experience than the massive difference in frame rates that make animations on
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the 1080p late 2016 two to three times
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faster than other blades. I mean, sure,
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a Razer Core upgrade would boost performance as well, but that things
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like 500 bucks plus a video card, so it
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got some upgrades, but many of the complaints from previous Blades do still
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exist. They run hot. Interestingly, the
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higher frame rates of the 1080p model puts more strain on the CPU while
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gaming. They are loud when you're pushing them hard, and the input lag on
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the mere 60 Hz display with no G-Sync is
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far from the best I've seen on what is purportedly a gaming notebook. With that
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said, the webcam is still pretty good, even if it hasn't improved much, if at
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all. The trackpad took a major leap forward in responsiveness and
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acceleration curve tuning in both 2016 models. And the keyboard thankfully
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bears no resemblance whatsoever to the one in the higherend Blade Pro. It's one
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of my favorite laptop keyboards ever in
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spite of the lack of illumination of the secondary functions. a downgrade from
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the 2015 model that seems to have been born from a desire for RGB backlighting
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and one that bothers me pretty much every day. So, on the surface then, not
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a lot has changed, even going back a few generations. But when you look closer,
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Razer has been absolutely refining the experience with the improvement to
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surface temperatures of the device during use being one of the most
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noticeable day-to-day. And while the Blade has been good enough for a while
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for me to use as a work first, game
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second kind of person, it wasn't until
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this generation that it was good enough for me to spend real money on it,
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dropping over $25,000 on these machines for my entire
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staff. So, in spite of the very small
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improvements, do I think the Blade Late 2016 is the best blade yet? You're damn
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right I do. Let's just hope that they don't trash the 2017 model by putting
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that awful keyboard from the Blade Pro on it. Or the next time my employees get
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new computers, they might be from
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Apple. Okay, so you run your own business. Let's say you got uh you know,
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invoices you got to send, expenses you got to track, and hours you've got to
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TechTips in the how did you hear about us
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section. So, thanks for watching, guys. If this video sucked, you know what to
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do. But if it was awesome, get subscribed, hit that like button, or
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check out the link to where to buy the stuff we featured at Amazon in the video
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description. Also linked in the description is our merch store, which
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has cool shirts like this one, and our community forum, which you should
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totally join. Now that you're done doing all that stuff, you're probably wondering what to watch next. So, click
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that little button in the top right corner to check out my review of the
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Blade Pro, the bigger, better brother.