Hands on: Razer Blade Pro 17 Review

Hands-on: A desktop gaming PC in laptop form

The new Razer Blade Pro 17 is monster of a laptop, not just in size, with that 17-inch whopper of a screen, bit also in terms of performance.

Razer has updated the largest laptop in its range with all the latest and most powerful components currently available. With Nvidia’s range of RTX cards under the hood, the new Razer Blade Pro 17 is capable of ray tracing, which means in-game lighting effects look a lot more realistic.  

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Despite the ‘Pro’ moniker and larger screen, the Blade Pro 17 looks and feels razor-sharp and razor-thin

Factor in the Intel 9th Generation Intel Core processor and the 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and you’ve probably got one of the most powerful laptops on the market. Can I confirm this? Not yet, as I’ve only been able to try out a model during a preview event and haven’t been able to use any benchmark software.

During my brief time with the Razer Blade Pro 17, I can tell that this is a classy gaming laptop, which is no surprise given Razer’s growing reputation for producing premium products. But with a steep £2,399.99 base price, do the extra inches in screen size really justify the added cost over the already fantastic Razer Blade 15?

Razer Blade Pro 17 2019 price – how much will the new Blade Pro cost?

The cheapest Razer Blade Pro 17 cost you £2,399.99. That gets you an RTX 2070 graphics card.

If you want something slightly more powerful, you can buy a Razer Blade Pro 17 with an RTX 2070 Max-Q for £2,679.99 and an even more powerful RTX 2080 Max-Q for £3,079.99. That’s an eye-watering price, but you’re getting one of the best portable performing laptops in return.

Razer Blade Pro 17 2019 release date – when will the new Blade Pro be available to buy?

The Razer Blade Pro 17 has already been released, but at the time of writing it isn’t currently in stock. If you go to Razer’s website, you’ll be able to set up an notification alert for your preferred configuration so you can leap to the font of the queue.

What is the Razer Blade Pro 17 2019?

The Razer Blade Pro 17 is the largest of Razer’s dedicated gaming laptops, boasting a gargantuan 17-inch display. Nobody wants to be squinting at a small screen when gaming, especially in the era of ultra-wide TV sets, so the prospect of such a large display is a very tempting upgrade from the more typical 15-inch offering.

Rather surprisingly though, the Razer Blade Pro is limited to 1080p Full HD resolution. This was likely done to keep down costs, but it’s still disappointing there are no 1440p Quad HD or 4K options here, especially considering that performance-wise, the RTX 2070 is capable of delivering Quad HD at 60fps. 

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The Matrix called, it wants its mis-en-scene back: the Razer Blade Pro 17 is all right angles and matt black finishes offset with lime green accents

The display does at least have a 144Hz refresh rate, with my playthrough of Apex Legends looking eye-pleasingly smooth. Everything looked sharp too, with the brightly coloured guns and scenery popping off the display.

The Razer Blade Pro 17 is also packed with premium components. Intel’s 9th Generation i7 Intel Core processor and 16GB of DDR4 RAM ensure lightning fast performance whether you’re browsing the web, editing video or playing CPU-intensive video games such as Warhammer or Civilization 6.

The ray tracing capable RTX range of Nvidia’s graphics cards ensure the Razer Blade Pro 17 is one of the most powerful laptops available. With GPU options ranging up to an RTX 2080 Max-Q, you’ll be able to play the latest AAA titles with graphics settings cranked up to the max.

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Battle royales like Apex Legends don’t require seriously high end systems to run, but playing them on one is lots of fun

I played a few rounds of Apex Legends on the Pro, and as expected, it ran flawlessly. This obviously isn’t a challenging title to run though, and there was no frame rate counter at the hands on event, so this doesn’t really offer any useful insight on performance. Once we get the Blade Pro 17 in for testing, we’ll be able to show off some in-depth benchmark results.

One thing I can judge is the spec sheet though, and it’s disappointingly limited. Aside from the graphics card, you don’t get any other component options. You’re stuck with the default processor and RAM, which isn’t too much of an issue considering how powerful they are, but it means you won’t be able to sacrifice performance for a cheaper model.

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The keys suffered from a slight bit of wobble, but the Blade Pro 17 didn’t feel particularly cramped or hard to type on

In terms of design, the Razer Blade Pro 17 is almost identical to previous Pro editions. It has shed a few pounds though, now weighing in at 2.75kg instead of weighty 3.5kg. That’s still pretty hefty, and after picking it up from the stand, I really wouldn’t want to lug it around London on a frequent basis. But this is a 17-inch gaming portable – what else would you expect?

That black aluminium chassis looks seductive though, expertly contrasting the RGB keyboard that’s sandwiched by two up-firing speakers. There’s plenty of port options too, including slots for HDMI, Thunderbolt 3, USB-C, USB-A and Ethernet.

First Impressions

Overall, the Razer Blade Pro 17 looks a really stellar premium package. While it’s still pretty hefty, this looks to be one of the most powerful 17-inch gaming laptops that is actually a portable by both name and design.

My only concern is the limited configuration options, particularly the lack of a 4K display as the Full HD panel won’t take advantage of the power on offer here.

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