Razer Blade 15 (2019) first look: Ray tracing arrives on the gaming laptop king
What is the Razer Blade 15 (2019)?
The 2019 edition of the Razer Blade 15 isn’t too different to last year’s awarding-winning gaming laptop. It sports the same design, same display options and even the same 8th-Gen Intel Core processor. The major difference here is the introduction of Nvidia’s new RTX graphics cards, but that brings with it a meaty frame rate boost and ray tracing capabilities to really enhance those visuals.
Don’t fancy stumping up the price for an RTX laptop? You can still grab a Razer Blade 15 with an integrated GTX 1060 GPU – although, sadly, the GTX 1070 configuration we previously reviewed is no longer available.
With the boosted price, are any of the new RTX range of Razer Blade 15 laptops still worth your cash, or is it worth holding on to last year’s edition instead?
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Razer Blade 15 – Design
Why alter perfection? This was clearly Razer’s thinking, since it hasn’t changed a single thing about the physical appearance of this gaming laptop. It still has the same ultra-thin black chassis and iconic illuminated green logo on the lid. In fact, it’s best to think of the 2019 iteration of the Razer Blade 15 as an additional model rather than a brand-new entry to the Razer lineup.
You needn’t be concerned about this design stagnating in 2019 either, with the impossibly thin screen bezel remaining as trendy as Fortnite and avocados. The top bezel is still slightly bulky in comparison, but that’s to accommodate the 1-megapixel webcam, which features Windows Hello support.
The same ports make a comeback too, including Thunderbolt (Type-C), USB 3 and HDMI mini-DisplayPort. Don’t worry, there’s also a headphone jack, so you won’t be forced to make the jump to Bluetooth cans just yet.
The only real physical difference between each model is the dimensions. The base GTX model is slightly thicker than the RTX range, with the former sizing up at 19.9mm and the latter being 17.8mm thin. The difference in size is likely due to the base model’s dual-storage SSD, giving you 1TB of more space to store your game collection.
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Razer Blade 15 – Display
Every RTX Blade 15 laptop is available with a Full HD display with a 144Hz refresh rate, ensuring a super-smooth experience for any game you load up. As a bonus, there’s also the option of a 4K display with a 60Hz refresh rate, just in case you want to fill your screen with as many eye-pleasing pixels as possible. Note that will cost you a whopping £2749.99, though.
Disappointingly, there’s no option of an RTX laptop with a 60Hz display. This would have been an incredibly useful option for those who fancy feasting their eyes on the new ray tracing technology, but aren’t prepared to cough up the extra cash for all the other premium trimmings.
How does the display actually look? Just as eye-poppingly glorious as you’d expect. The panels on offer here are identical to those presented last year. I won’t be able to post the colorimeter scores and colour gamut coverage until I’ve secured my own test unit.
Razer Blade 15 – Performance
Ignoring the varying storage options, there are five configurations of the Razer Blade 15. The cheapest packs a GTX 1060 under its hood and a Full HD, 60Hz display for just £1479.99. The most expensive laptop, meanwhile, boasts a super-powerful RTX 2080 Max-Q Design GPU and a Full HD panel with a 144Hz refresh rate. That will set you back a bank-depleting £2849.99.
The difference between these two laptops totals up to a mighty £1370. Of course, there are plenty more options sitting between these two configurations. The whole range can be seen in the table below.
| Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | Option 4 | Option 5 | |
| Display | 15.6-inch Full HD, 60Hz | 15.6-inch Full HD, 144Hz | 15.6-inch Full HD, 144Hz | 15.6-inch 4K, 60Hz | 15.6-inch Full HD, 144Hz |
| CPU | 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8750H | 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8750H | 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8750H | 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8750H | 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8750H |
| GPU | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q | Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q | Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q | Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q |
| RAM | 16GB dual-channel SO-DIMM (DDR4, 2667MHz), expandable to 32GB | 16GB dual-channel SO-DIMM (DDR4, 2667MHz), expandable to 32GB | 16GB dual-channel SO-DIMM (DDR4, 2667MHz), expandable to 32GB | 16GB dual-channel SO-DIMM (DDR4, 2667MHz), expandable to 32GB | 16GB dual-channel SO-DIMM (DDR4, 2667MHz), expandable to 32GB |
| Storage | 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD
or 256GB SSD + 2TB HDD |
512GB SSD | 256GB SSD
or 512GB SSD |
512GB SSD | 512GB SSD |
| Price | From £1479.99 | £2199.99 | From £2299.99 | £2749.99 | £2849.99 |
I don’t have any performance figures to offer right now – until I get a review unit in for benchmark tests at least. I did get to play Battlefield V on the RTX 2080 model of the Blade 15, however, and the visuals looked magnificent in Full HD.
To my surprise, the reflective surfaces of the shimmering puddles that ray tracing has been able to render look every bit as impressive as they do with a gaming desktop running a RTX 2080 Ti card. Of course, you’ll probably notice a bigger difference in performance once the ray-tracing workload becomes more intensive. Still, to see ray tracing working on a portable device at all is a remarkable experience.
Related: Nvidia RTX 2080 Review
First impressions
Partnering one of the very best gaming laptops of 2018 with Nvidia’s new generation of RTX graphics cards seems a sure-fire way of hitting the jackpot. As long as the Blade 15’s new benchmark results match up to the lofty price points, I can see Razer retaining the crown of “best gaming laptop” for a successive year.
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