Razer Blade 15 2020

[faust]

Hey all, so right now my daily driver is my desktop(Ryzen 3700X, 32 GB RAM, 2080 Ti, lots of storage), and a 16" MBP. I also own a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Extreme(gen 2) which I am using with Ubuntu at the moment. I just purchased a Razer Blade Advanced 2020 model with a 2070 and so on, and I was wondering what y'all experiences with it were?

 

[SteveJUAE]

I have the Razer Blade 15 - Quadro Studio Edition and no issues so far

 

[maflynn]

I own the 2019 Advanced, its rocking with a RTX 2070, 16 GB of ram. I'm quite pleased with it, the optical keyboard too some adjustment, and unlike the 2020, my keyboard layout is non-standard (the / ? key is not in the right location) but as I said, I'm happy with it.

Many reviews have mentioned that the 10th gen CPU cannot be undervolted, if that is the case for the Razer, that would be the only fly in the ointment, so to speak

 

[faust]

I seem to have accidentally bought the Base Model with the Intel 10th Gen i7, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, and RTX 2070 and not the Advanced model as I had thought, but that's alright with me. I'm fairly excited to get it.

 

[kazmac]

^Nice, enjoy the new Razer.

I think they release the Base and Advanced at different times, no?

Solid machine.

If I can trade in my Lenovo for credit, I may use toward one of these now that the keyboards are fixed. Sadly, that Asus G14 apparently has a dim screen.

 

[nikster0029]

I have the Razer Blade 15 - Quadro Studio Edition and no issues so far

Looking to get the new Quadro Studio Edition and I was SHOCKED at the new $4300 MSRP

 

[SteveJUAE]

Looking to get the new Quadro Studio Edition and I was SHOCKED at the new $4300 MSRP

Yes the $300 more for the new version as 10th Gen and slightly faster ram, not for the faint-hearted LOL

But if you want these specs, and sexy build plus OLED your in this price territory

If you live in the US I would buy it from https://www.hidevolution.com/ especially if it can't be undervolted and they will take care of all warranty issues for you

 

[faust]

Today is delivery day! I am very excited.

 

[GoldfishRT]

Today is delivery day! I am very excited.

Initial thoughts?

 

[faust]

Initial thoughts?

I had to pick it up from a Fedex location after they decided to mess around with delivering it in a timely manner, so I grabbed it on Thursday. It's a very good laptop. I haven't really begun pushing it yet, but everything is snappy from what I've seen so far. I really like it. I like the charger, key switches, and the display is uber bright but not negatively so. I returned my 16" MBP as a matter of fact. I think people should buy it though.

 

[nikster0029]

I had to pick it up from a Fedex location after they decided to mess around with delivering it in a timely manner, so I grabbed it on Thursday. It's a very good laptop. I haven't really begun pushing it yet, but everything is snappy from what I've seen so far. I really like it. I like the charger, key switches, and the display is uber bright but not negatively so. I returned my 16" MBP as a matter of fact. I think people should buy it though.

What screen did you order

 

[faust]

What screen did you order

Well, I want to play some games with high graphics settings, but also I want to do e-sports, so I paired my 2070 with the 144Hz screen.

 

[maflynn]

Here's Dave2D's review:

How's the temps? The base model doesn't have the vapor chamber, which is a disappointed in my book, and also with 10th Gen CPUs you can't undervolt which is another bummer

 

[c0ppo]

9th gen is way better then 10th gen, just because of undervolting.
And now that AMD is crushing Intel, 10th gen is so easy to skip. Either wait for new architecture from Intel, or for premium AMD laptops. Only thing that would get me off from my X1E is an AMD version, but with AMD GPU as well. Otherwise I'm good for 2-3 years. Unless I break it

 

[maflynn]

9th gen is way better then 10th gen, just because of undervolting.

Agreed, it was serendipitous, that I ended up with the 9th gen, I was kicking around debating to buy or wait earlier this year and I chose to buy.

For me the downside of having the 9th gen is the non-standard key placement, but I've gotten used to it

 

[faust]

Here's Dave2D's review:

How's the temps? The base model doesn't have the vapor chamber, which is a disappointed in my book, and also with 10th Gen CPUs you can't undervolt which is another bummer

Temps are good. I watched the Dave2D review, and I agree with him. I had intended to buy the Advanced model, but I'm sorta glad I didn't because now I can slap another m.2 SSD in it.

 

[maflynn]

I can slap another m.2 SSD in it.

I do think having a single drive option for the advanced is questionable and definitely something that I miss

 

[faust]

I do think having a single drive option for the advanced is questionable and definitely something that I miss

Yeah, for sure. not sure why they're being so weird between the Advanced and Base model. I think the Advanced should be privvy to better options for the system, sure, but I think both would've benefited from the vapor chamber cooling and also the additional m.2 slot.

 

[Pangalactic]

I have a 2019 advanced Razer with a 2080 RTX inside. My experience:

First, for the non-gaming profile, go to power settings -> change plan settings -> cooling policy and set to passive.
Second, go to the razer cortex and turn on "auto" for the fan speed. These two actions eliminate all the annoying fan spinning when nothing intensive is happening, your laptop will be quiet as a mouse.

As for the laptop itself, I think it's great and the closest thing to a Mac on Windows.

Things I liked:
- VERY powerful, I could even game at 4K with some games
- the second best trackpad after Mac
- great speakers
- with some tweaking, you can get around 6 hours of battery life
- a pretty good 4K screen with a nice brightness
- RGB is now part of your daily vocabulary, it's very fun to look at and play with
- If you get a skin you can make it pretty official, unlike the majority of "LOOK IMMMA GAMMER!" bright orange transformer-looking laptops
- one of the lightest laptops with so much power inside

Things I disliked:
- the black matte coating is VERY easy to scratch, be careful! If it scratches it will be the metallic silver color, so it's very noticeable!
- Very easy to identify thieves if it gets stolen, because you can be sure you will see every single fingerprint ever left on it
- Can't charge on a plane with a standard plane socket (because a higher voltage is required)
- The keyboard is meh. Not the best, not the worst, a bit tiring for the fingers
- very small default SSD, I suggest you get an upgrade

Overall, I'm quite happy with the purchase and am looking forward to seeing where Razer goes next with its laptops

 

[SteveJUAE]

I think having better/more cooling in the Advance model is far more important than a 2nd m2 slot. adding another heat source is not good IMO

D2D and others have not tested thermal with the 2nd drive and as we know already one side of the laptop is noticeably warmer than the other ie where the SSD is. Not to mention 10th gen cannot be under volted to compensate. D2D was also a little misleading Mercury Silver was not available on all configurations in 2019 and there was a pink one too

It also contradicts so many review comments re TB3. This is a classic example of a reasonable large/heavy laptop that is somewhat more stationary at times so using an external TB3 is no real inconvenience and the new Samsung T7 is not too shabby. Everyone wants bragging rights of TB3 but so few are willing to pay the price for fast peripherals

 

[maflynn]

I think having better/more cooling in the Advance model is far more important than a 2nd m2 slot. adding another heat source is not good IMO

I won't disagree, but in 2019 both the base and advanced used the vapor chamber, and the base then had I believe a second SATA port (as opposed to a second M.2 slot).

 

[faust]

I think having better/more cooling in the Advance model is far more important than a 2nd m2 slot. adding another heat source is not good IMO

D2D and others have not tested thermal with the 2nd drive and as we know already one side of the laptop is noticeably warmer than the other ie where the SSD is. Not to mention 10th gen cannot be under volted to compensate. D2D was also a little misleading Mercury Silver was not available on all configurations in 2019 and there was a pink one too

It also contradicts so many review comments re TB3. This is a classic example of a reasonable large/heavy laptop that is somewhat more stationary at times so using an external TB3 is no real inconvenience and the new Samsung T7 is not too shabby. Everyone wants bragging rights of TB3 but so few are willing to pay the price for fast peripherals

Yeah, don't get me wrong. I thought I was buying the advanced model, but the base model is just fine. The heat isn't that much worse produced by my MacBook Pro 16", so it's fine for me.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Yeah, don't get me wrong. I thought I was buying the advanced model, but the base model is just fine. The heat isn't that much worse produced by my MacBook Pro 16", so it's fine for me.

You miss understand

Your base model as slightly thicker and seems to not need the Vapor chamber and only has one fan, but adding a 2nd drive will increase thermal load inside and you cannot under volt to assist on thermal load so something has to change most likely fan speed and overall temp from your current single drive config

I suspect your MBP runs hotter knowing Apple cooling profile

 

[maflynn]

Here's Lisa's review

 

[kazmac]

Beyond the fixed keyboard layout, how is the typing experience on the 2020 models? Lisa mentioned these are not her favorite keyboards to type on. I know the old layout was a dealbreaker for me, but I also remember just not being comfortable with the keyboard itself.

Yep, I am in the market for a PC laptop (probably gaming so I can juggle content creation (Affinity, Corel Painter, browser, ripping and converting video and blu ray). I know I've flip-flopped a lot, but with Apple's new direction and worse QC, it's time to try again.

Obviously, due to the Coronavirus I am not going inside Best Buy to test the Razers, but am wondering how long it took to get used to the 2020 keyboard.

Thanks.