Razer Blade 15 OLED Review – Packing Power in an Understated Design

The Razer Blade 15 OLED is one of the newest laptops from the ubiquitous brand, with an impressive array of hardware including a 12th Gen Intel i9-12900H (14 cores 20 threads, up to 5GHz clock speed), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti with 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM, 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 2560×1440 display that support 240Hz refresh rate and OLED panel. By their powers combined, it sure sounds like a good time for performance.

SLEEK AND SLIM

Razer’s laptops have always looked quite stylish, with the Razer Blade 15 OLED being no exception. It’s a super thin and light machine that can easily be mistaken for a regular working laptop for those of you closet gamers. It’s 16.99mm thick and weighs a mere 2kg, which makes it all the more impressive that they’ve managed to cram in all that hardware in such a compact chassis.

The laptop has a matte finish for its aluminum build, making it quite sturdy with minimal bending, which has certainly crossed my mind when it comes to something as slim as this. The screen barely flexes too, so you don’t need to worry about regular wear and tear warping the laptop out of shape.

With minimal RGB lighting and only the Razer logo being the most obvious indicator that yes, this is indeed a gamer laptop, it’s basically an understated beauty in simplicity.

PLUGGING IN

When it comes to the array of ports, it comes with 3 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 1 Thunderbolt 4, 1 SD card reader, 1 3.5mm headphone jack, and 1 HDMI 2.1. The HDMI 2.1 port is arguably the biggest highlight here, since there are many laptops that have yet to make the transition despite it being available since 2017. Second monitor enthusiasts rejoice!

Of course, there’s also the option to utilize DisplayPort via the Thunderbolt 4 port which you’d want to look up its location, as it’s not labelled. The SD card reader is also a welcome sight.

The keyboard takes a little time to get used to, but once you do, it feels like one of the best typing experiences you can get for a laptop. Its layout is hardly any different from others of its type, with the spaces between keys not being too narrow, and half-sized arrow keys.

While there was no mention of the key travel distance, it’s a deceptively large one compared to how compact it looks. It’s a highly tactile experience with good feedback. Granted, I do understand if the idea of large key travel distance is unappealing to some.

I would expect most people getting this laptop to be using an external mouse instead of the touchpad, which in itself is quite smooth to use. It being in the center of the chassis does feel like it can disrupt typing if it’s not disabled, which can only be done through Razer Synapse.

YOUR EYES AND EARS AND SETTINGS

The 15.6″ 2K 240Hz OLED screen boasts a 1ms response time, with amazing colours. Seeing as it has 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut with an average brightness of 400 nits, it better. There’s a little hitch in that the screen seems really reflective.

Aside from that, the colours are so impressively life-like, and can seem even more “real” than the real thing. Rest assured that if you require any level of smooth visuals, you’ll get it right here. The experience is further complemented with THX Spatial Audio for incredibly accurate stereo sound effects for that immersive gaming experience.

Razer Synapse will be the central hub to tweak a variety of settings, such as your keyboard’s RGB lighting. The Performance setting doesn’t have too many bells and whistles, but it does make it more straightforward to adjust. You can’t adjust your power settings if you’re running on battery – fixed to Balanced mode – with Silent and Custom opening up once plugged in. The fan speed can be customized or left to the system (provided you’re plugged in) in Balanced mode. Silent is the self-explanatory hush hush option with no customization available, while Custom is where the CPU, GPU and fan speed tweaking can be done.

Last but not least is the GPU mode section, giving you the options between NVIDIA Optimus or Dedicated GPU Only. NVIDIA Optimus uses the integrated GPU which is definitely not recommended when you’re gaming. Just stick to Dedicated GPU, adjust your screen refresh rate if need be, and turn on gaming mode to disable things like your Windows key when you really get into the zone.

SHOWING UP THE NUMBERS

To recap, the Razer Blade 15 OLED carries a a 12th Gen Intel i9-12900H CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8GB and 16GB of DDR5 RAM. In summary:

3DMARK: 10317

PCMARK 10: 7223

That’s just some raw tests. How does it run games? At 2560 x 1440 (2K) resolution, expect:

MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES

• Very High Setting (Highest) without DLSS and Ray Trace Off: 70FPS average

• Very High Setting without DLSS and Ray Trace Lowest: 50FPS average

• Very High Setting with DLSS Ultra Performance and Ray Trace Lowest: 60FPS average

FORZA HORIZON 5

• Extreme Setting (Highest) without DLSS and Ray Trace Off: 68FPS average, depending on location can reach 75 or even 80FPS

• Extreme Setting without DLSS and Ray Trace Extreme: 60FPS average

• Extreme Setting with DLSS Ultra Performance and Ray Trace Extreme: 70FPS average

OVERWATCH 2

• Epic Setting: 100 FPS average

• Medium Setting: 220FPS average

With things running so smooth, what else is there to say? It’s got the OLED screen, THX Spatial Audio and 240Hz refresh rate for some of the most satisfying laptop gaming possible.

Well, maybe it does lack a bit in the cooling, to be more critical about it. The i9-12900H CPU, with all its computing power, can be quite prone to heating up. During testing, the GPU managed to hover under 83 degrees Celsius while the CPU maintained a toasty 90 Celsius. However, considering the laptop’s form factor and no signs of performance throttling, it is at least acceptable, if not understandable.

Thankfully, the fan isn’t overly loud either that makes a headset mandatory. Your palms will always feel a little warm, but not uncomfortable. In a cooler environment, it might actually keep you from feeling chilly.

Last but not least, the battery life for a 80Whr battery accompanied by a 230W power brick. Without gaming, a screen at 100 brightness, speaker volume at 20 with no music playing and Dedicated GPU Only, tanked a 95% charge to 20% in around 1 1/2 hours. Battery saver kicks in automatically, but another 5 minutes is enough to make it dip to 15%. Lowering the brightness and swapping to NVIDIA Optimus will help with conserving battery, though switching the GPU mode requires a restart which you could be too lazy for. I know I am.

Charging it back up from 15% to 79% took 1 hour 44 minutes which is fair enough.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

It bears reiterating about just how powerful the Razer Blade 15 OLED is. Remember, it’s got a 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and 16GB DDR5 RAM. At this point, it’s unlikely it wouldn’t be able to run a game, unless it’s somehow poorly optimized. Even without DLSS, it’s not lagging far behind the hallowed 60 FPS minimum for a AAA game. Throw in the 2K OLED panel with up to 240Hz refresh rate, and you have some really immersive gaming possible.

If you have the opportunity to get this laptop, then by all means, do.

Join Us!