Gaming laptops have always been bulky and heavy. It can be challenging from an engineering perspective to cramp high-performance hardware inside a thin case and make it lightweight at the same time. This is the case for most 17 inch gaming laptops. The vast majority are bulky and anything but portable. One of the few exceptions to the rule is the Razer Blade 17. It has plenty of things going for it thus here are the most important things you should care about if you are considering getting one.
1. Form Factor and Design
The Razer Blade 17 is a very thin laptop for what it offers. It has a slim profile and a very thin display case. The bezels are also thin making the display as large as possible for this particular form factor. Compared to most other 17 inch gaming laptops, the Blade 17 is thicker. The base is just a few millimeters thicker than a regular USB port. If it would have been a couple of millimeters thinner, it would step into the ultrabook territory.
The design of the laptop is equally impressive. It is the perfect example of less is more. With a minimalist design, rounded corners, and premium materials, the Razer laptop feels as premium as an Apple laptop.
2. Performance
The laptop is available in 6 different configurations. There are two CPUs in total to choose from. Razer makes the Blade 17 with either an i7-11800H or an i9-11900H. Both CPUs are more than capable of handling anything you throw at them. As for video card options, it can come equipped with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, 3070, or 3080. Given how much desktop video cards have exploded in pricing, getting a Blade equipped with a 3070 or 3080 feels like a bargain.
In terms of ram and storage, the laptop is available with a 1TB SSD regardless of which version you choose but you can get it with either 16 GB or 32 GB of RAM.
3. Display and Features
Being one of the most compact 17-inch gaming laptops does not mean it is short on features. Razer used an illuminated keyboard. Sadly, there is no num pad although there is enough room to fit one onto the laptop. What was done instead is to add speakers on the sides of the keyboard which takes away the space that could have been used for a num pad. The sound quality is impressive for a laptop. Also, because of its efficient cooling, the keyboard and touchpad do not get as hot as most would expect.
Lastly, the display is equally impressive. It is one of the few 17-inch gaming laptops that was designed with creators in mind. This means that it gets a stellar display that can be used by professional video editors, photographers, and gamers alike. While the laptop is available with a full HD, QHD, or UHD resolution, all of them deliver an equal image quality. The refresh rates are different depending on which one you get. If this matters to you, the mid-range one offers the least compromises in terms of resolution and refresh rate.
