Razer Blade 15” Base (2021) | RZ09-0369x Support & FAQs
Razer Blade 15” Base (2021) | RZ09-0369x Support & FAQs
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The lowest price for Razer Blade 15 Advanced Core I7 RTX 3060 15.6in 240Hz Laptop right now is $1,949.73 at Amazon.com.au, compared across 2 retailers.
The all-time low was $1,949.73 on 20 Oct 2026. That's the lowest price we've ever tracked — a great time to buy.
Prices last updated 20 Oct 2026.
Razer Blade 15 Advanced Core I7 RTX 3060 15.6in 240Hz Laptop
Razer Blade 15” Base (2021) | RZ09-0369x Support & FAQs
Razer Blade 15” Base (2021) | RZ09-0369x Support & FAQs
Last updated at 20/10/2026 05:49:02
Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model (CH8NT/15.6" 240Hz QHD Matte, 2560 x 1440/ 12th Gen i7-12800H/ RTX 3060 6GB VRAM/ 16GB DDR5 RAM/ 1TB PCIe Gen4 SDD +
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
Razer Blade 15 (2022) Gaming Laptop RZ09-0421 i7-12800H 14-Cores 1TB 16GB RAM 6GB GeForce RTX 3060
Delivery between 22–29 Oct $9.99
originally posted on bestbuy.com
Note this review is about the product and nothing to do with Best Buy, where I purchased it. 11 months after purchasing, I’ve had the motherboard due twice. The first time, Razer replaced it with little hassle, the second time was a nightmare, taking 3.5 ti get to the actual repair department due to extremely slow and unresponsive customer service - a contender for the worst I’ve ever experienced. At this point they’ve told me that they don’t have another motherboard or the same laptop in stock so can online send me another 15 with slightly different specs (lower refresh rate, higher resolution) and a 3 month warranty. These machines run HOT and I’m guessing that it’s doing a lot of internal damage. I play an MMO a few hours a day and have never had these problems ... MoreNote this review is about the product and nothing to do with Best Buy, where I purchased it. 11 months after purchasing, I’ve had the motherboard due twice. The first time, Razer replaced it with little hassle, the second time was a nightmare, taking 3.5 ti get to the actual repair department due to extremely slow and unresponsive customer service - a contender for the worst I’ve ever experienced. At this point they’ve told me that they don’t have another motherboard or the same laptop in stock so can online send me another 15 with slightly different specs (lower refresh rate, higher resolution) and a 3 month warranty. These machines run HOT and I’m guessing that it’s doing a lot of internal damage. I play an MMO a few hours a day and have never had these problems on another machine. I will never buy or recommend Razer after this terrible experience. I chose this laptop because it made the top of the list of gaming laptops for the last couple years.
originally posted on bestbuy.com
Finally, a laptop worth writing about. I picked up the Razor over the holidays at a good price, even decided to try an open box and save even more. When the item arrived, it was as expected... no damage, no scratches, fingerprints on the casing but nothing a quick wipe down couldn't fix. After doing the honors of cleaning the machine and booting it up, It felt brand new, perfect.First let me say I've tried Macbook Pro's and they're beautiful machines but I just couldn't adapt to the OS, even though i use an iPad and an iPhone there's nothing like the control a PC gives you. Let start with the aluminum casing, check... I don't really like plastic specially after trying a MacBook pro. A lit-up keyboard that changes colors grabbed my kid's attention. The screen on ... MoreFinally, a laptop worth writing about. I picked up the Razor over the holidays at a good price, even decided to try an open box and save even more. When the item arrived, it was as expected... no damage, no scratches, fingerprints on the casing but nothing a quick wipe down couldn't fix. After doing the honors of cleaning the machine and booting it up, It felt brand new, perfect.First let me say I've tried Macbook Pro's and they're beautiful machines but I just couldn't adapt to the OS, even though i use an iPad and an iPhone there's nothing like the control a PC gives you. Let start with the aluminum casing, check... I don't really like plastic specially after trying a MacBook pro. A lit-up keyboard that changes colors grabbed my kid's attention. The screen on this is plenty bright, I find myself turning it down. The fans are pretty quiet. The speakers need improvement, Razer could have done better at this price point. My iPad sounds better. Connectivity is reasonable, I wish the charging cable wasn't at an angle. The battery life on laptops truly lag behind the MacBook pro, I just don't understand why there's such a disparity when it comes to battery life. The touchpad is somewhat sensitive to surrounding pressure from your palms resting.At first, I felt the software was a little buggy, especially with power control/sleep mode etc... until I upgraded the OS from Windows 11 home to Windows 11 Pro. This is what prompted me to write this review. the OS upgrade seemed to have fixed a lot of glitches that were happening. Before the OS upgrade, I was tittering on whether I wanted to return it from the constant glitches it was having. Now I find myself impressed. the touchpad works better, the computer actually goes to sleep when i tell it too, it seems to run cooler, and the battery is lasting longer. After using third party software to update drivers I'm really liking this thing.I highly recommend using a 6e router the connectivity speed is insane.I didn't buy this laptop to game on, but I need to see what all the heat was about, and the verdict is it gets hot really hot. I booted up Steam loaded Sackboy for my kid plugged it into the Oled and let her play. After running your hand over the keyboard, you know exactly where the GPU lives. I have read that the chips are more than capable of handling the level of thermals that we can feel coming through the aluminum chassis, just don't expect to be comfortable with this thing on your lap while gaming for long periods of time. I also recommend a lap board so the machine can breathe if sitting on the couch is your preference like mine.My closing thoughts, I've watched plenty of reviews on YouTube and also read them on Razer laptops in particular this model and they seem to be mixed. Another reason why i wanted to share my experience. The laptop is spec'd out, feels solid, and looks good. Would I pay asking retail price for it, NO. I personally feel it can benefit from an OS upgrade as you've read. Is it the best gaming laptop out there, no. Do you feel like you have an elite machine when you pull it out, absolutely. Everybody wants to touch it. I'm now happy with my purchase after the OS upgrade and third-party driver updates. A machine can't just look good it has to work as well.
originally posted on bestbuy.com
I've tried this laptop twice and it has a beautiful display, but both laptops had problems out of the box. The first laptop had problems whenever I would launch Nvidia GeForce. As soon as I would open GeForce the computer would slow way down and get glitchy. I would click on something and it would take around 5 seconds for the computer to register the click. I uninstalled GeForce a couple times, and even reinstalled windows, but nothing worked. I returned the computer and waited a couple of weeks and then reordered the computer again to see if maybe I had just received a lemon.The second one I received had the same problem with GeForce as the first one did, along with restarting issues and the screen would not dim. Everytime I needed to restart the computer for an ... MoreI've tried this laptop twice and it has a beautiful display, but both laptops had problems out of the box. The first laptop had problems whenever I would launch Nvidia GeForce. As soon as I would open GeForce the computer would slow way down and get glitchy. I would click on something and it would take around 5 seconds for the computer to register the click. I uninstalled GeForce a couple times, and even reinstalled windows, but nothing worked. I returned the computer and waited a couple of weeks and then reordered the computer again to see if maybe I had just received a lemon.The second one I received had the same problem with GeForce as the first one did, along with restarting issues and the screen would not dim. Everytime I needed to restart the computer for an update the laptop would restart and then the keyboard lights would come on but the display would not come on, it would just stay dark. I would have to hold the power button down and do a hard reboot to get it to restart. The display brightness would also not dim. The display is beautiful, but when working in a darker setting the display was so bright it would hurt my eyes and start to give me a headache. I'm not sure if this is a Windows issue or not, but all drivers were updated and I even looked online and tried all the fixes I could find, but nothing worked. I made sure all of my driver's were up to date and even reinstalled windows again, but nothing fixed the issues above. So sadly I had to return it a second time.I know Razer can make a good laptop as my daughter has a 2020 Razer Blade 15 Base 2060 model that has worked flawlessly for the last year for gaming, video editing, school work, and streaming. The problem is that Razer has QC problems so you have to make sure and look everything over closely when you first purchase a laptop to make sure you don't get stuck with a lemon. For this reason alone your best bet when buying a Razer is to buy it from Best Buy, Amazon, or the Microsoft store so you can return easily and get your money back quickly in the event you have problems and need to do a return.
| Standing screen display size | 15.6 Inches |
| Max Screen Resolution | 2560 x 1440, 1920 x 1080, 3840 x 2160 |
| Processor | 4.8 GHz apple_ci7 |
| RAM | DDR5 |
| Hard Drive | SSD |
Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model (CH8NT/15.6" 240Hz QHD Matte, 2560 x 1440/ 12th Gen i7-12800H/ RTX 3060 6GB VRAM/ 16GB DDR5 RAM/ 1TB PCIe Gen4 SDD +
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
Razer Blade 15 (2022) Gaming Laptop RZ09-0421 i7-12800H 14-Cores 1TB 16GB RAM 6GB GeForce RTX 3060
Delivery between 22–29 Oct $9.99
Note this review is about the product and nothing to do with Best Buy, where I purchased it. 11 months after purchasing, I’ve had the motherboard due twice. The first time, Razer replaced it with little hassle, the second time was a nightmare, taking 3.5 ti get to the actual repair department due to extremely slow and unresponsive customer service - a contender for the worst I’ve ever experienced. At this point they’ve told me that they don’t have another motherboard or the same laptop in stock so can online send me another 15 with slightly different specs (lower refresh rate, higher resolution) and a 3 month warranty. These machines run HOT and I’m guessing that it’s doing a lot of internal damage. I play an MMO a few hours a day and have never had these problems ... MoreNote this review is about the product and nothing to do with Best Buy, where I purchased it. 11 months after purchasing, I’ve had the motherboard due twice. The first time, Razer replaced it with little hassle, the second time was a nightmare, taking 3.5 ti get to the actual repair department due to extremely slow and unresponsive customer service - a contender for the worst I’ve ever experienced. At this point they’ve told me that they don’t have another motherboard or the same laptop in stock so can online send me another 15 with slightly different specs (lower refresh rate, higher resolution) and a 3 month warranty. These machines run HOT and I’m guessing that it’s doing a lot of internal damage. I play an MMO a few hours a day and have never had these problems on another machine. I will never buy or recommend Razer after this terrible experience. I chose this laptop because it made the top of the list of gaming laptops for the last couple years.
Finally, a laptop worth writing about. I picked up the Razor over the holidays at a good price, even decided to try an open box and save even more. When the item arrived, it was as expected... no damage, no scratches, fingerprints on the casing but nothing a quick wipe down couldn't fix. After doing the honors of cleaning the machine and booting it up, It felt brand new, perfect.First let me say I've tried Macbook Pro's and they're beautiful machines but I just couldn't adapt to the OS, even though i use an iPad and an iPhone there's nothing like the control a PC gives you. Let start with the aluminum casing, check... I don't really like plastic specially after trying a MacBook pro. A lit-up keyboard that changes colors grabbed my kid's attention. The screen on ... MoreFinally, a laptop worth writing about. I picked up the Razor over the holidays at a good price, even decided to try an open box and save even more. When the item arrived, it was as expected... no damage, no scratches, fingerprints on the casing but nothing a quick wipe down couldn't fix. After doing the honors of cleaning the machine and booting it up, It felt brand new, perfect.First let me say I've tried Macbook Pro's and they're beautiful machines but I just couldn't adapt to the OS, even though i use an iPad and an iPhone there's nothing like the control a PC gives you. Let start with the aluminum casing, check... I don't really like plastic specially after trying a MacBook pro. A lit-up keyboard that changes colors grabbed my kid's attention. The screen on this is plenty bright, I find myself turning it down. The fans are pretty quiet. The speakers need improvement, Razer could have done better at this price point. My iPad sounds better. Connectivity is reasonable, I wish the charging cable wasn't at an angle. The battery life on laptops truly lag behind the MacBook pro, I just don't understand why there's such a disparity when it comes to battery life. The touchpad is somewhat sensitive to surrounding pressure from your palms resting.At first, I felt the software was a little buggy, especially with power control/sleep mode etc... until I upgraded the OS from Windows 11 home to Windows 11 Pro. This is what prompted me to write this review. the OS upgrade seemed to have fixed a lot of glitches that were happening. Before the OS upgrade, I was tittering on whether I wanted to return it from the constant glitches it was having. Now I find myself impressed. the touchpad works better, the computer actually goes to sleep when i tell it too, it seems to run cooler, and the battery is lasting longer. After using third party software to update drivers I'm really liking this thing.I highly recommend using a 6e router the connectivity speed is insane.I didn't buy this laptop to game on, but I need to see what all the heat was about, and the verdict is it gets hot really hot. I booted up Steam loaded Sackboy for my kid plugged it into the Oled and let her play. After running your hand over the keyboard, you know exactly where the GPU lives. I have read that the chips are more than capable of handling the level of thermals that we can feel coming through the aluminum chassis, just don't expect to be comfortable with this thing on your lap while gaming for long periods of time. I also recommend a lap board so the machine can breathe if sitting on the couch is your preference like mine.My closing thoughts, I've watched plenty of reviews on YouTube and also read them on Razer laptops in particular this model and they seem to be mixed. Another reason why i wanted to share my experience. The laptop is spec'd out, feels solid, and looks good. Would I pay asking retail price for it, NO. I personally feel it can benefit from an OS upgrade as you've read. Is it the best gaming laptop out there, no. Do you feel like you have an elite machine when you pull it out, absolutely. Everybody wants to touch it. I'm now happy with my purchase after the OS upgrade and third-party driver updates. A machine can't just look good it has to work as well.
I've tried this laptop twice and it has a beautiful display, but both laptops had problems out of the box. The first laptop had problems whenever I would launch Nvidia GeForce. As soon as I would open GeForce the computer would slow way down and get glitchy. I would click on something and it would take around 5 seconds for the computer to register the click. I uninstalled GeForce a couple times, and even reinstalled windows, but nothing worked. I returned the computer and waited a couple of weeks and then reordered the computer again to see if maybe I had just received a lemon.The second one I received had the same problem with GeForce as the first one did, along with restarting issues and the screen would not dim. Everytime I needed to restart the computer for an ... MoreI've tried this laptop twice and it has a beautiful display, but both laptops had problems out of the box. The first laptop had problems whenever I would launch Nvidia GeForce. As soon as I would open GeForce the computer would slow way down and get glitchy. I would click on something and it would take around 5 seconds for the computer to register the click. I uninstalled GeForce a couple times, and even reinstalled windows, but nothing worked. I returned the computer and waited a couple of weeks and then reordered the computer again to see if maybe I had just received a lemon.The second one I received had the same problem with GeForce as the first one did, along with restarting issues and the screen would not dim. Everytime I needed to restart the computer for an update the laptop would restart and then the keyboard lights would come on but the display would not come on, it would just stay dark. I would have to hold the power button down and do a hard reboot to get it to restart. The display brightness would also not dim. The display is beautiful, but when working in a darker setting the display was so bright it would hurt my eyes and start to give me a headache. I'm not sure if this is a Windows issue or not, but all drivers were updated and I even looked online and tried all the fixes I could find, but nothing worked. I made sure all of my driver's were up to date and even reinstalled windows again, but nothing fixed the issues above. So sadly I had to return it a second time.I know Razer can make a good laptop as my daughter has a 2020 Razer Blade 15 Base 2060 model that has worked flawlessly for the last year for gaming, video editing, school work, and streaming. The problem is that Razer has QC problems so you have to make sure and look everything over closely when you first purchase a laptop to make sure you don't get stuck with a lemon. For this reason alone your best bet when buying a Razer is to buy it from Best Buy, Amazon, or the Microsoft store so you can return easily and get your money back quickly in the event you have problems and need to do a return.
With so many options, it was not a clear-cut decision to go with the Razer Blade Advanced 15. The cost is high and I heard horror stories with customer support, hardware and software issues, etc. with buying a Razer. The reason I bought the laptop from Best Buy was because of the long return time (I think 45 days) thus if I experienced a problem within this period, I could return it.I will say that my experience with the laptop in the last 45 days has been mostly great. I did discover two dead pixels in the screen although when I contacted Best Buy support they offered me a 10% discount to compensate me for the issue which I felt was reasonable and accepted it. Aside from that, the laptop has been great. It is true that it is a finger print magnet but really not a ... MoreWith so many options, it was not a clear-cut decision to go with the Razer Blade Advanced 15. The cost is high and I heard horror stories with customer support, hardware and software issues, etc. with buying a Razer. The reason I bought the laptop from Best Buy was because of the long return time (I think 45 days) thus if I experienced a problem within this period, I could return it.I will say that my experience with the laptop in the last 45 days has been mostly great. I did discover two dead pixels in the screen although when I contacted Best Buy support they offered me a 10% discount to compensate me for the issue which I felt was reasonable and accepted it. Aside from that, the laptop has been great. It is true that it is a finger print magnet but really not a huge deal in my opinion. I would say that it runs hot but considering the hardware I am not surprised and when comparing it to the Alienware laptop, it handles the heat MUCH better. There is a specific spot where it heats up (right above the keyboard between the F4 - F9 keys but doesn't really affect the keyboard or other areas of the laptop. I've been using a laptop stand which absolutely helps with heat management and airflow.I LOVE the keyboard. I feel that the speakers are really good (I've been complimented on the sound). The screen resolution is amazing (even w/ the dead pixel), and it has the best trackpad I've ever used on a PC laptop. Lastly, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the webcam as I heard it was poor but it has been the highest quality webcam I've ever had on a laptop.I thought that the placement of the ports would bother me as I like to have the majority in the back of the laptop (like my previous Alienware) but they have been surprisingly not bothered me.Overall, I would say that so far this has been the best laptop I've ever owned. Let's just hope I don't have something break and have to deal with their customer support LOL!
The laptop is by no means cheap so I'm expecting a top quality.I contacted customer service because the touchscreen was not working and they told me to try and reset it. I'm certain that the issue is not in the software. It's a hardware malfunction.Not only that but now the touchpad is not working. It is not clicking, the touch is okay but when I try to click it doesn't physically click, another hardware issue!I take good care of my electronic devices and I never had something similar with much cheaper laptops!It's really a disappointing experience and I will never repeat the same mistake and buy something from Razer as they don't even offer customer support once the product is out of warranty!I'm attaching a photo of the touchpad when I'm pressing hard on it. ... MoreThe laptop is by no means cheap so I'm expecting a top quality.I contacted customer service because the touchscreen was not working and they told me to try and reset it. I'm certain that the issue is not in the software. It's a hardware malfunction.Not only that but now the touchpad is not working. It is not clicking, the touch is okay but when I try to click it doesn't physically click, another hardware issue!I take good care of my electronic devices and I never had something similar with much cheaper laptops!It's really a disappointing experience and I will never repeat the same mistake and buy something from Razer as they don't even offer customer support once the product is out of warranty!I'm attaching a photo of the touchpad when I'm pressing hard on it. As can be seen, it doesn't really go down.
I bought this in the fall of 2021. I needed a machine powerful enough for software development and PC gaming. This fit, though I might have chosen a slightly lower end model if we hadn't been in the tech shortage.What I like about it is that the RTX 3080 mobile GPU is powerful enough to play games at 4k and the machine's screen is 4k OLED 60 Hz touch panel. This laptop is pricier than the 3070 models they had BUT the screen is of such a quality that I can use it as a portable TV.Also, Razer made this laptop upgradeable, a sadly rare feature today (*cough* Apple). I swapped out the included 32GB RAM for a 64GB kit and was able to add a second Nvme ssd bringing total storage from 1TB to 3TB.A drawback to this model is that it is Intel 11th gen and draws a lot of ... MoreI bought this in the fall of 2021. I needed a machine powerful enough for software development and PC gaming. This fit, though I might have chosen a slightly lower end model if we hadn't been in the tech shortage.What I like about it is that the RTX 3080 mobile GPU is powerful enough to play games at 4k and the machine's screen is 4k OLED 60 Hz touch panel. This laptop is pricier than the 3070 models they had BUT the screen is of such a quality that I can use it as a portable TV.Also, Razer made this laptop upgradeable, a sadly rare feature today (*cough* Apple). I swapped out the included 32GB RAM for a 64GB kit and was able to add a second Nvme ssd bringing total storage from 1TB to 3TB.A drawback to this model is that it is Intel 11th gen and draws a lot of power. If I had been able to wait until early '22 I could have gotten a 12th gen model w/3080 Ti.No regrets. This machine is used for gaming & entertainment by me away from home and by my kids for school and fun at home. We'll make use of it for a long time.
I bought this laptop to play games and to work on my own computer graphics projects. The build quality is outstanding, the keyboard feels great to type and the screen is crisp and bright (I read reviews of folks complaining about brightness but quite frankly I don't see how this was an issue). In my opinion the RTX 3070ti is good enough for gameplay and work, doesn't drain the battery too fast when unplugged. I've been using this laptop for a month now and the battery lasts about 3.5 hours when I'm working non-stop with Visual Studio compiling and running programs. The laptop could have come with more memory (just 16Gb) but I upgraded the memory and it was a really straightforward process. The laptop runs quiet and the fans turn on only when the gameplay is intense. ... MoreI bought this laptop to play games and to work on my own computer graphics projects. The build quality is outstanding, the keyboard feels great to type and the screen is crisp and bright (I read reviews of folks complaining about brightness but quite frankly I don't see how this was an issue). In my opinion the RTX 3070ti is good enough for gameplay and work, doesn't drain the battery too fast when unplugged. I've been using this laptop for a month now and the battery lasts about 3.5 hours when I'm working non-stop with Visual Studio compiling and running programs. The laptop could have come with more memory (just 16Gb) but I upgraded the memory and it was a really straightforward process. The laptop runs quiet and the fans turn on only when the gameplay is intense. I didn't notice any overheating issues, it does get warm sometimes between the top of the keyboard and the bottom of the screen during gameplay, but nothing unusual (similar to other laptops I owned in the past). Overall this is a great laptop, a bit expensive but well worth it in my opinion.
I've had this laptop for a year now. Every day, I run it plugged into power with an external 24" monitor, external keyboard and mouse, and I quite often have 10-30 tabs open, multiple server processes running at once, Slack, Spotify, and an IDE, and it doesn't so much as blink. I bought this for work mainly and it does everything I need it to do, and more.As far as gaming goes, I am a very very casual gamer who doesn't need anything special since I'm just playing things like The Sims, Stardew Valley, and Stray. I will say, running any game makes the laptop get very very hot, very quickly, but I've researched and tweaked my settings as much as I can to try and mitigate that. Additionally, there was an issue where the battery power when I take the laptop off the ... MoreI've had this laptop for a year now. Every day, I run it plugged into power with an external 24" monitor, external keyboard and mouse, and I quite often have 10-30 tabs open, multiple server processes running at once, Slack, Spotify, and an IDE, and it doesn't so much as blink. I bought this for work mainly and it does everything I need it to do, and more.As far as gaming goes, I am a very very casual gamer who doesn't need anything special since I'm just playing things like The Sims, Stardew Valley, and Stray. I will say, running any game makes the laptop get very very hot, very quickly, but I've researched and tweaked my settings as much as I can to try and mitigate that. Additionally, there was an issue where the battery power when I take the laptop off the power doesn't last very long at all -- sometimes under 2 hours. Again, this was a setting that I needed to tweak and I figured out a way to make it last longer, but I wish these processes that cause battery drain wouldn't be running in the first place without explicitly starting them.
Laptop defective out of the box, laptop keyboard does not work. I’m going trough Razer’s customer support and it is an ordeal! I have gone through three different representatives and now finally received a response from a “specialist,” asking me to perform a TRILLION more troubleshooting steps (none of the troubleshooting has fixed the keyboard by the way.)Next time I’m afraid they’ll ask me to take the laptop apart and repair it myself.They even want a video replicating the problem plus a million other troubleshooting steps before they even talk about sending in the laptop for repair. Yes, the laptop is still under warranty.I can guarantee anyone that buys a Razer laptop is someone who knows their way around a PC- I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING TO FOX THIS KEYBOARD ... MoreLaptop defective out of the box, laptop keyboard does not work. I’m going trough Razer’s customer support and it is an ordeal! I have gone through three different representatives and now finally received a response from a “specialist,” asking me to perform a TRILLION more troubleshooting steps (none of the troubleshooting has fixed the keyboard by the way.)Next time I’m afraid they’ll ask me to take the laptop apart and repair it myself.They even want a video replicating the problem plus a million other troubleshooting steps before they even talk about sending in the laptop for repair. Yes, the laptop is still under warranty.I can guarantee anyone that buys a Razer laptop is someone who knows their way around a PC- I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING TO FOX THIS KEYBOARD even before reaching out to Razer support [if it can even be called “support.”]The troubleshooting steps sent by Razer are ridiculous. For example, “restart” your PC -are you serious?Cheapskate company with outsourced customer support in some Fourth World country, yet they charge a premium for their defective brand name.
TL;DR: The RTX 3070 Razer Blade 15 2021 Advanced Model is pricey, but you get what you pay for in both performance and package. If you can afford it and you need a high-powered mobile computer, this is well worth the splurge. This review covers both my general opinions of the laptop, and a few notes on its improvements over last year's RTX 2070 Super-equipped Blade 15 2020 Advanced Model.An acknowledgement to start: this is indeed a very expensive laptop. Could you get comparable performance in a self-built desktop for much less? Most definitely (provided that you can find an RTX 30-series card for anywhere close to MSRP - I'm looking at you, eBay scalpers). In my opinion, though, you're paying for the portability, not just the performance, when buying a gaming ... MoreTL;DR: The RTX 3070 Razer Blade 15 2021 Advanced Model is pricey, but you get what you pay for in both performance and package. If you can afford it and you need a high-powered mobile computer, this is well worth the splurge. This review covers both my general opinions of the laptop, and a few notes on its improvements over last year's RTX 2070 Super-equipped Blade 15 2020 Advanced Model.An acknowledgement to start: this is indeed a very expensive laptop. Could you get comparable performance in a self-built desktop for much less? Most definitely (provided that you can find an RTX 30-series card for anywhere close to MSRP - I'm looking at you, eBay scalpers). In my opinion, though, you're paying for the portability, not just the performance, when buying a gaming laptop.Out of the box the reason for this high price tag is quickly evident; all those expensive, high-performance components touted by Razer are enclosed in a sleek single-block, precision-milled aluminum chassis, cool to the touch and providing a premium feel definitely not matched by the plastic often found on lower-grade Windows laptops (it compares favorably to family and friends' MacBooks, I've found). The one downside to the black anodized-aluminum finish in previous years has been its status as an absolute fingerprint and smudge magnet; I found myself using the included microfiber cloth to wipe down my laptop after almost every use with last year's model. Razer quietly advertised this year's finish as improving this flaw, and to my pleasant surprise they've followed through - fingerprints appear much less frequently with this new, visually-identical finish. The touch pad is large and satisfyingly responsive, though I prefer using a mouse. The keyboard is nice and clicky; I've heard complaints about the travel depth of the Blade's keyboard but I personally find it a welcome change to the last Dell I used. The beautiful RGB Chroma for the per-key lighting, enabled in the onboard Razer Synapse 3 software, looks gorgeous, and offers more customization options than I'll ever be able to figure out. The slim size of the laptop is lovely; my old laptops, despite having the same screen real estate, look like veritable bricks compared to the Blade, with its slim bezels and small footprint.You're spoiled for choice with ports: three zippy USB 3.2 Gen-2 Type-A ports with great transfer speeds, one latest-gen UHS-III SD card reader, an HDMI 2.1 port, two USB-C 3.2 Gen-2 ports (both now Thunderbolt 4-capable) able to power the laptop, a DisplayPort (via USB-C) and a 3.5mm audio jack. (For those comparing to previous models, the changes from last year port-wise were HDMI 2.0b to 2.1, and both UCB-C ports becoming Thunderbolt-capable, conforming to the Thunderbolt 4 standard and not Thunderbolt 3 like previously.) Even the charging cord speaks to the quality of the product, with a thick, wear-and-tear-resistant woven braid cord providing the power this machine needs (side note: battery life is highly dependent on your settings; to maximize it requires a lot of customization). The speakers are good for a laptop, now incorporating THX Spatial Audio for simulated surround sound. They get louder than I'll ever set them to, and the audio is clear, with decently punchy bass and distinct mid and high ranges. If you're gaming, though, you'll probably prefer a pair of headphones when the fans kick in (they're not airplane-takeoff level like some gaming laptops, but certainly audible). I love the 360Hz screen; its blistering refresh rate makes games buttery-smooth and leaves absolutely no screen tearing. I personally prefer this 1080p, high-refresh screen to the lower-refresh, 4K OLED models for gaming, but for the creators out there those options are available (consider, too, the middle ground 240Hz QHD screen options, sadly out of stock at the time I write this). Color accuracy is quite pleasant, with the screen covering 100% of the SRGB standard. The onboard video camera is better than last year's, thankfully. 720p was sad in 2020, but was also rather-disappointingly par for the course with most Windows laptops on the market. This year Razer finally made the jump to 1080p - here's hoping other laptop manufacturers follow suit. The infrared camera works brilliantly for Windows Hello; between the facial recognition and speedy M.2 SSD boot drive, I'm still surprised by how fast I'm logged in. If you'll be doing serious teleconferencing, I recommend a headset with a mic or a dedicated mic over the built-in set, but if you're only talking with friends on Zoom, the newly-improved stock 4-mic array should suffice.The performance of the laptop once you dive in is quite satisfying. The Intel 11th-Gen i7 processor is great. While Intel's 11th-Gen desktop processors delivered a lackluster performance increase, their mobile chips gained a marked improvement in single core scores when tested, a larger generational improvement than the last several years. The NVIDIA RTX 3070 graphics card provides just about all the frames I could want. Games run great at high graphics settings; at ultra settings with ray tracing on, Shadow of the Tomb Raider averaged 118 FPS over more than four hours of continuous gameplay last night. This mobile RTX 3070 delivers all the much-hyped performance increases between the 20 and 30-series cards as seen in the desktop variants. The 16GB of dual-channel DDR4 3200MHz RAM is more than enough for my needs, and for memory-heavy games you can download Razer's Cortex software, which optimizes your RAM and diverts it to the game you're playing at the moment by pausing unnecessary background processes. Connectivity is delivered through a new Intel Wi-Fi 6E chip, capable of much higher speeds than AT&T seems to feel like giving me through my modem. Booting on the SSD is incredibly fast, with programs opening quite responsively, and this tier of Advanced model now comes with 1TB out of the box. I added in the 1TB I'd bought to replace the stock 512GB SSD in last year's model, and am now happily sitting on 2TB of storage (Razer makes it easy to upgrade both RAM and storage if you so desire; you can look up tutorials on YouTube).I couldn't ask for much better performance than the Blade provides; you can look up professional reviewers for better benchmarks on speed and other performance factors (I'm just a college student here happy with a product).
| Standing screen display size | 15.6 Inches |
| Max Screen Resolution | 2560 x 1440, 1920 x 1080, 3840 x 2160 |
| Processor | 4.8 GHz apple_ci7 |
| RAM | DDR5 |
| Hard Drive | SSD |
