Today, Razer is releasing a new iteration of its Blade 15 Advanced gaming laptop with a few tweaks. The most notable difference between this and the one released earlier in 2019 is the new keyboard, which has mechanical switches that offer a clickier typing experience, as well as deeper travel – 50 percent more, in fact, at 1.7mm.
Typing is one of those things that’s oh so subjective; but generally, more travel in the keys equates to a more satisfying typing experience. According tomy colleague Dan Seifert’s review of the early (Blade) Advanced, that was something its shallow keys desperately needed.
If you’re a gamer, this might worry you, since more travel could lead to a higher error rate when it comes to registering quick key presses. Razer is attempting to allay this worry in two ways. First, these keys have a short 1mm actuation point, only requiring you to press them a little more than halfway down to be recognized. Additionally, Razer has implemented optical switches into each key, which should result in faster and more accurate reads of each key press.
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Razer says that it will offer multiple configurations of the laptop in 2020, but as of today, just one is available, which costs $ 2, 649 in the US.
Here are the specs:
- Display: 15 .6-inch 1080 p matte display with 16: 9 aspect ratio and 240 Hz refresh rate
- Processor: Intel Core i7 – 9750 H hexa-core CPU
- Graphics card: Nvidia RTX 2070 Max-Q
- Memory: (GB RAM) DDR4 2, (MHz)
- Storage: (GB NVMe SSD) expandable up to 2TB, M.2 2280 form factor)
- Ports: One Thunderbolt 3, one USB-C 3.2 (gen two), two USB Type-A 3.2 (gen two), HDMI 2.0B, Mini DisplayPort
- Webcam: Windows Hello-ready 1MP / (p camera)
- Battery: (Wh)
- Power adapter: (W)
Not much has changed from the last iteration. The last model of the Blade 15 Advanced also had most of the specs you see above. The 240 Hz refresh rate display option, the 9th Gen Intel Core i7, Nvidia RTX 2070, RAM, and storage count are all nothing new, aside from the fact that they now come standard.
Unfortunately, the keyboard layout looks to be unchanged, so as with the last model, the up arrow is still to the left of the right shift key. Also, Razer stuck with the same 80 Wh battery from the previous version, which didn’t meet its battery life claims in our review. Seeing as how the RTX 2060 graphics card really put a strain on the battery, I’m skeptical that this new model will fare better with a more demanding RTX 2070.
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