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00:00Hey, how's it going guys? This is Dave2D, and this is the 2016 Razer Blade Pro.
00:10Now before I get into the review, I want to address the guy that goes into the comments and talks about how
00:15they can build an equivalent PC for like $7. I get it, custom PCs are awesome, they have their place,
00:20I'm running a Hackintosh back there, I like builds myself, but this is a laptop.
00:25Let's just focus on the engineering marvel that it takes to stuff this kind of technology into a package this small.
00:31Here's the review.
00:32Okay, this is a Razer product, so the build quality is great.
00:36Aluminum all around, but it actually feels like a step up from the Razer Blade Stealth and the regular 14-inch blade.
00:42Maybe because it's thicker, it feels sturdier. It still has the same black anodized finish, so you want to protect that.
00:48You should get a sleeve or a bag if you carry this thing around.
00:52The port selection is okay for a 17-inch device. It has Ethernet, and three USB 3s, and HDMI 2.0, and it has an SD card reader.
01:00There is a Thunderbolt 3 port, but there's only the one.
01:03I wish there were more, because on a device like this, you kind of want it to last as long as possible,
01:07and USB-C is the future, but yeah, there's only the one.
01:11This uses a 17-inch IGZO touch panel. It has excellent color gamut and accuracy.
01:16Visually, it's actually one of the best screens I've used on a laptop for content creation.
01:20It's nice and big, pretty bright, and it supports G-Sync at 60 frames per second, so games look really nice on this thing.
01:26The 2-megapixel webcam up top looks like this.
01:29The keyboard is a mechanical keyboard, and it's very tactile, but I wouldn't say it's as enjoyable to use as a regular mechanical keyboard.
01:37People tend to fall in love with those really easily. This keyboard isn't like that.
01:41It has good travel, but the response on the keys aren't as snappy as you might expect.
01:46I still like it a lot, especially with the individually lit keys, but I wouldn't call it like the universally best laptop keyboard.
01:52Most people will like it, but there are some people that won't.
02:00There is one issue I have with the layout.
02:02When I'm trying to type a question mark, I often press Shift-Up instead of Shift-Question Mark because of the location of that up arrow.
02:09Aside from that, though, it's a great keyboard.
02:11The trackpad is good. It uses Windows Precision Driver, so that's a win.
02:15Great texture and button mechanics.
02:17Having it located on the right is really weird at first.
02:20You do get used to it pretty quickly, though.
02:22There are media keys and a programmable scroll wheel here.
02:25I have it set to control the volume because I like being able to adjust game sound on the fly.
02:29Like, if I'm the last person left on my team and it's 1v1 time, I gotta focus, right?
02:34I gotta get my game on, so I crank up the volume real quick to listen for footsteps a little better.
02:38And I usually still get owned, but seriously, it's a really cool feature.
02:44And as usual, you can customize all of this stuff through software.
02:47The lighting, the key mapping, how the scroll wheel functions, all of it can be controlled through Razer Synapse.
02:52But I've said this before, RGB lighting is cool, and Razer actually does it the best,
02:56but the novelty of it wears off relatively quickly, so don't purchase this thing just because it looks really cool.
03:01You probably won't, though, because the price tag is $3,700 at the base model.
03:07That's expensive. It's expensive for a laptop. It's even expensive for a laptop from Razer.
03:11But with that price tag come some really good components on the inside.
03:15The RAM is soldered on. It's running 32 gigs.
03:17Now, my video edits aren't crazy complex or anything, but I haven't been able to max it out on RAM usage.
03:22There are two SSDs. They're upgradable, and they come set up in RAID 0 out of the factory.
03:27It's super fast, faster than the 2016 MacBook Pro.
03:30Granted, it is RAID 0, but even if you ran the two drives individually without RAID, they're still very fast.
03:36It has a 99 Wh battery over here, which is the legal limit to bring it onto a plane,
03:40and battery life is around 3, 3.5 hours of regular use with screen at 250 nits.
03:46It's decent for a 17-inch gaming laptop, certainly not amazing,
03:49but remember, it is running a G-Sync panel, so there's no Nvidia Optimus for power savings.
03:54The CPU is here, and the GPU is here, the laptop GTX 1080.
03:58This graphics chip fitted into a system this thin is why the price tag is so high,
04:03because it's incredibly difficult and expensive to do this properly.
04:06This is why Razer is the only company to have a GTX 1080 in a laptop this thin.
04:11Performance is obviously really good.
04:13In terms of video editing, the GTX 1080 is faster than any other laptop GPU I've used,
04:18but Adobe Premiere has its limitations with GPU acceleration.
04:21We're not getting massive performance gains over something like the GTX 1060,
04:25or even something like the 960M, at least not with GH4 footage.
04:29Now if you're working with RED RAW footage, the difference is more noticeable.
04:33Using 5K RAW footage from the Scarlett W, the GTX 1080 starts to show some bigger gains.
04:39But where the GPU really gets to flex its muscles is in games.
04:43Something relatively light like Overwatch will break 100 frames per second on ultra graphics
04:48while playing in 4K. It's nuts.
04:51Playing something heavier like Doom on ultra graphics in 4K,
04:54we're still looking at 65 frames per second.
04:57There's the G-Sync feature, and you'll have some of the smoothest
04:59and highest resolution blood animations you'll ever see.
05:02For really demanding AAA titles, playing at 4K is possible,
05:06you just won't have the best frame rates.
05:08Far Cry Primal on ultra at 4K isn't a very smooth experience,
05:11I'd recommend switching to 1080p here.
05:13And then really heavy stuff like Witcher 3, you'll need to drop down to 1080p,
05:17but when you do, you'll get around 75 frames per second on ultra,
05:20this is with Hairworks on.
05:22The hardware in here is very powerful and will easily handle VR.
05:26It has three fans, two of them to cool vapor chambers,
05:29and then one of them to circulate air internally.
05:31On idle, this thing is surprisingly quiet, it's nearly silent,
05:34which is crazy considering that there's a GTX 1080 in here.
05:37When you do more CPU demanding stuff, so something like Adobe Premiere,
05:41fan noise is louder, but still very tolerable.
05:44But when you're playing games and the GPU's going full tilt,
05:47it does get pretty loud, you're gonna want headphones.
05:49But one thing I noticed about this fan system,
05:51when you quit a game, normally, like on a lot of other gaming laptops,
05:55the fans will still spin for a minute or two after you've quit the game,
05:58to kind of cool everything down.
06:00Not this laptop, when you finish playing a game,
06:02the fans ramp down almost immediately, and I really like that.
06:05The CPU and GPU temperatures are good, even on stress tests.
06:08Externally, the temperatures are also very comfortable,
06:11it's actually way better than I thought it would be.
06:13Razer did an outstanding job on thermals here.
06:15The speakers are noticeably better than the 14-inch Razer Blade,
06:19they're definitely louder, and the bass is cleaner.
06:21You're getting audio firing up and out of the sides,
06:24but during games, if you need to hear positional audio,
06:26you still need headphones, the fans will drown out the audio details.
06:30The AC adapter is 250 watts, and it's pretty slim,
06:33it'll fit into your bag nicely.
06:35So, with the 2016 Razer Blade Pro,
06:37you're getting one of the best-built laptops on the market.
06:40Super powerful, super thin,
06:42the 17-inch touchscreen is fantastic for content creation and gaming,
06:46the mechanical keyboard isn't as clicky as you might expect,
06:48but it's still really good,
06:50the trackpad has a position that takes a bit to adapt to,
06:53but it's enjoyable to use, especially with the scroll wheel.
06:55The Skylake i7 and the GTX 1080 are extremely powerful,
06:59and are surprisingly well-cooled,
07:01considering how hot the components get,
07:03and how thin this laptop is.
07:05The 32 gigs of RAM are soldered on,
07:07the two SSDs are upgradable, but they're already super fast,
07:10the 99-watt-hour battery is big,
07:12but you'll only get around 3 hours of battery life.
07:14Now, is this thing like the best value in gaming laptops?
07:17Hell no.
07:18But, you are getting a very unique product in this market space.
07:21No one else was building a laptop this powerful
07:23into a chassis this thin.
07:25Literally, no one else was doing it.
07:27Apple, I mean, they're all about thin right now,
07:29they're not doing it, Alienware's not doing it,
07:31Gigabyte's not doing it,
07:33this is literally the only one that has a GTX 1080
07:35in something this thin.
07:37So, if that's what you're looking for,
07:39and you have the budget, go for it.
07:41You won't be disappointed, but for everyone else,
07:43there's probably a better laptop that's a better fit for you.
07:45That's the end of this video, hope you guys liked it,
07:47thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it,
07:49Peace, see you guys next time.