Razer Blade 2016 Review: So Much Power in a Small Package (Video)
Keyboard
Going back to the keyboard, whether you have the colors on or not, it is easily the most satisfying keyboard I’ve used in a while. The keys have a good amount of travel and click to them that just makes typing quickly feel fluid. I’m sure a lot of people won’t understand what I mean by that, but think of it like the feeling you get when watching a power cleaning video.
Trackpad & Mouse
The trackpad on the other hand, is hard for someone coming from the beautiful track pad experience that is using a Macbook. It’s precise enough, but the buttons for the mouse instead of the trackpad just being clickable isn’t something I’m a fan of. I’d just much rather be able to click where ever on the track pad to select instead of having to use the mouse in what only feels to me like an older input method. Now, frankly, pretty much all Windows computers I have to use a separate mouse anyway, there’s just something about the way Windows handles them that just doesn’t feel the same. So I’m just going to do that with this one as well and that solves that and again, if you’ve never used a Mac track pad, there’s nothing for you to miss.
You can get the Razer Blade 2016 here.
Screen
The screen comes in a matte 1920×1080 version or a, let’s call it 3K (3200×1800), touchscreen version. I went for the 3K one because I wanted the bit higher resolution and like having a touchscreen as an input option but since it adds $300 to the price of the laptop and no other specs change (including that amazing graphics card and processor) if you don’t need that, you can save some cash to spend on an external 4K monitor if you want.
Performance
Speaking of that amazing graphics card and processor, it’s the graphics power that led me to this laptop in the first place.
With a Nvidia GTX 1060 somehow shoven into this 0.7″ chassis, it can handle my 4.6K footage in Premiere like butter. The top model Surface Book, which is similarly priced, for example, couldn’t play it at all without skipping, freezing, and just generally pissing me off. It makes total sense thanks to the much less powerful Nvidia 965m mobile graphics card compared to the 1060 but gives you some idea of where the priorities lie when choosing between those laptops (detachable display vs power etc.).
Now, without getting into a full blown spec war over laptops, I’m working on doing a real world editing test comparing the new Macbook Pro, Surface Book, this laptop and some others because I am generally curious and I know I’m not the only person editing footage wondering what laptops will make that workflow faster so stay tuned for that.
In the meantime, for those that are curious, here’s some benchmarks to play with.
