NEW Razer Blade 18 (4090) Review - Pricey Performance

Here is my review after one week using the Razer Blade 18 with RTX 4090.
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[@devyn.johnston]

UPDATE: A few days after posting this review, my unit started encountering the same screen flicker issue reported by other users. It appears that it's related to the Intel display drivers and a fix is in the works, as reported by Jarrod's Tech. Hopefully it's resolved soon, because it's really distracting!

[@alsoeris]

As expected with Razer

[@flamingkillermc2806]

@@alsoeris Razer hater lol, razer didn’t have this issue last 2-3 years of their laptops, but as soon as a driver just needs updating you start talking in the comments. What will you do when they fully fix the issues? LLL you🤡 Also *BROKIE*

[@alsoeris]

@@flamingkillermc2806 I’ve owned 6 Razer products and I’m currently using their most expensive laptop

[@alsoeris]

@@flamingkillermc2806 oh and a driver update won’t fix battery bloat forcing the trackpad and the bottom case displacing, plus multiple other common hardware issues such as the in-built microphone and camera suddenly going dead, mouse side buttons going dead all within/just over one year (commonly) I will say their support team is great though.

[@flamingkillermc2806]

@@alsoeris I have a 2021 early razer blade pro 17, it has been 2 years and I have never experienced any battery bloat, this is due to the 4 fans the 17” used to have (they have 3 now, bigger battery). This is also due to the fact that 17 and 18 inch have a dual cell battery rather then a single cell, I also have never seen a 17” 2021 models have battery bloat anywhere on reddit.

[@davidlu9918]

Shocked to hear there is no empty slot in this version. If these 1t ssd are set in raid0, upgrading one of them will cost more time and steps..

[@Krenisphia]

Wow, this thing costs more than my whole 4090 desktop rig.

[@WeatherxCalipha]

@@typerightseesight A lot of people do, just because you don’t doesn’t mean high-end laptop gamers are outliers.

[@typerightseesight]

@@WeatherxCalipha I'm saying there are starving kids in Africa that need water filtrators not smartphones. But yeh same gig

[@GrimAbstract]

@@typerightseesight were you perhaps, thrown down the stairs and into a trash bin as a baby?

[@typerightseesight]

@@GrimAbstract You literally sound like a rich kid unhappy with his $3000 smartphone. lol.

[@GrimAbstract]

@@typerightseesight you sound like a broke kid who’s never had anything 🤷‍♂️ maybe get a job or something?

[@leechurchill5182]

Be interesting what razer will charge when they release the LED screen.

[@cemsengul16]

I have a small gripe with the Razer Blade 17 and the newly released 18. I have a bit of OCD and I can not stand the speaker gap on the left and right side of the laptop chassis. The Blade 14, 15, and 16 have a proper speaker section on the chassis. Why can't Razer just drill fake holes like Apple and everyone else does for design continuity?

[@tachithenx4117]

Thanks so much for the fantastic review! Just one small question, could you turn off the discrete graphics card entirely to save more energy when just doing light tasks? 5-6hours is impressive to be fair, I am just curious if more battery life could be made possible via more aggressive settings.

[@devyn.johnston]

For bios settings, you can only choose between Advanced Optimus and the dedicated graphics. That should only use the dedicated graphics when needed. But if you wanted to, you could go to the NVIDIA control panel, under "Manage 3D Settings" and select the integrated graphics as the preferred graphics processor. I would need to test to see if that would result in better battery life than Advanced Optimus, but could be worth trying.

[@devyn.johnston]

Which 4000 series laptops do you want to see reviewed?

[@Terieni-q7c]

Does synapse work for you? I have reinstalled windows for 3 times and still it gets crashed at some point soon.

[@devyn.johnston]

Synapse wouldn't load for me at one point, but I logged out and logged back in to Razer Central and haven't had the problem since.

[@RpeShadow]

Alienware m18 please!

[@Terieni-q7c]

@@devyn.johnston Omg, I wasted 3 days on this and you gave me the hint on how to solve this. Guest mode helped to get around this. Thanks.

[@tilu8696]

Scar 18! Rtx 4090 or 4080 as u want

[@jailbreakoverlander]

Just ordered the 4080 version, selling off my RBP17 2022 and early 21 3080 I9 I hope its worthy.

[@The_MEMEphis]

Why upgrade so often

[@henryviiifake8244]

​@@The_MEMEphis Bro casually had two top-tier laptops to trade out? In _THIS_ economy?!😂 I think they have more money than sense, because upgrading a whole gaming laptop every generation is CRAZY! (Even upgrading a desktop GPU every generation is wild, but it's not like you have to get new storage, new RAM, a new motherboard and a new CPU at the same time 💀)

[@vlone_slatt3504]

@@henryviiifake8244the day you realize some people have more money than others and not everyone is broke your world will change lol 😂 I upgrade every 2 years and get the top spec

[@Bin0mar]

The difference between the 4080 and the 4090 does not exceed 12% at best, and it is more expensive by at least 60%. I feel that it is a waste of money. The good deal this year is the 4080. It is more powerful than the 4070 by no less than 50%. And do not forget that the 4070 is as powerful as the 3070TI. It was issued last year and is now 30% cheaper than the 4070

[@jonsnow-r7k]

Between ROG SCAR 18, Alienware M18 and Razer Blade 18, which one do you recommend?

[@masdi727]

AW

[@alexthomas3622]

Really happy to see you again.Keep it up sir.

[@fadoobabadpl]

It is now 2400... Should be bought or not?

[@AndyBakos82]

I love the way this looks, great performance, etc. What is the verdict on Razer reliability lately? I heard their customer service wasn't the best and their components tend to fail. I'd like to buy a laptop that will last 4-5 years.

[@sorrai]

Given that these laptops just came out, we'll have to wait and see. But I'm truly hoping they fixed many of the hardware issues that used to plague them, especially that battery bloat issue.

[@flamingkillermc2806]

@@sorrai I have a 2021 early Razerblade 17 and now it’s 2023 and had no battery bloat at all. This is due to the 4 fans the 17” used to have, the newer has only 3 like the 18 inch. It keeps it cool.

[@flamingkillermc2806]

Customer service is only bad when you ask for a “loaner” device while you have your computer in for a repair or a replacement. Because now you have to go through 3 laptops, and breaking the loaner is a big issue. Anyway customer service is good, make sure to clean your laptop when sending it to them especially the keyboard. And components tend to fail if you use the gaming laptop on bed or carpet because it has no airflow and components just overheat and die

[@StampedingSteve]

I have one I bought in the beginning of 2019. It's held up good. Had the battery bloat issue but that may have been my fault... accidentally left the laptop powered on stuffing it into my bag and taking it on a flight. The bottom part of the case bloated out and I had to replace the battery and the bottom panel... didnt cost much though (I did the work myself). That was 3-4 years ago and have had no issues since. Held up well. I keep wanting to buy a new laptop and browsing around but don't really have a need because I can still play every game I want to

[@mysterenigma9361]

Great video. I am interested in either the Razer 16 4090 or the Razer 18 4090. Is the 18 much more powerful? I prefer the size and screen tech of the 16. Also with the 16 can you do 2k resolution at 240hz or is does it max out at 120hz when using the 4k resolution setting . Thanks

[@mikep2298]

The 18 will run significantly quieter than the 16 as far as I know. I suggest going to a microcenter or local equivalent and trying them out. You can open razer synapse and manually turn up fan speed to the max to see how loud they get to make your decision

[@Matt-bg5wg]

@@mikep2298 i dont think you can get 4K resolution with the 18" sadly

[@Bin0mar]

The new semster what this means?? new laptop i want ask u 4080 laptop asus g18 2000$ its good deal its on sale

[@Arnoldveerkamp]

Looks good but isnt it anoying the sharp points at the trackpad? You can see it in my hand after using the trackpad.

[@30Cal-Cam]

Why do people complain about it fitting it in a bag? Just get a bigger bag

[@StevenRiseNYC]

When you travel on a plane, the size of your bag makes a big deal.

[@monikabarbosa7473]

does this Blade 18 get hotter and louder than the Zephirus M16 or Scar 18? Please help my tough decision ..Thanks!!

[@alejandrovillegas8537]

Annything gets hotter than a zephyrus. 😂😂

[@KanishkaWijesuriya]

Would've loved this if the keyboard had a numpad, with all that space.

[@blu6]

Should I get this or the scar 18? I really like the stealth look of razer

[@franruizcarbonara6661]

A like just for the Zelda books at the beginning. Great review!

[@derrenversoza2016]

Do you know if you can connect it to an Apple Studio Display via the thunderbolt port?

[@synstark6858]

Thanks! Scar 18 RTX 4090 review!

[@cnunezproductions]

The sound track had my head bobbin

[@steeveabitbol2466]

Great review! I have this exact laptop. How do you play games in 4k if this isnt a 4k screen?

[@devyn.johnston]

Thanks! I tested with an external monitor.

[@storm9k]

You can use DSR in Nvidia Control Panel

[@fejotore]

Do you think the battery bloat era is over with this year releases?

[@GrimAbstract]

Time will tell, I don’t think the 17/18 inches got it that much tho due to the fan in the battery

[@maximebarca9694]

Hi, great review !i'm wondering how do you enable overclocking in synapse? got the 16 inch, and when i'm turn off core isolation, nothing happen't..

[@devyn.johnston]

Once you turn off core isolation, you have to restart the pc. Then in synapse, go to the performance tab, select "plugged in" tab, choose custom profile and there should be a checkbox called "CPU Overclocking". Once that is checked, the overclock options should appear. Otherwise, you should at least get a "system incompatibility" popup letting you know what else needs to be disabled.

[@maximebarca9694]

@@devyn.johnston thanks for the tips, but i'm still having "system incompatibility". I don't understand why.. i've windows home so, hyper V is unattainable. Synapse is up to date, undervolt protection is on by default.. Are you just toggle on memory intégrity and things works?

[@professorenergy9490]

It's a joke ,18size like a monster of laptop and don't let customer have num pad

[@flamingkillermc2806]

No need for a number-pad, if you look at the size their will be no room for speaker holes, even if they shrink the keys it would be worse for typing. You can always use a external full keyboard.

[@song-uk9wo]

Hi, love your contents can you tell me what wallpaper on the thunbnail is? Best looking image i have ever seen

[@immersionsensei]

What can you say about overheat issues in contrast to other gaming laptop brands?

[@PusatBahasaUniversitasTelkom]

In some countries, you could buy a small house within that price range.

[@DEPEKTOP]

I don't understand why your results in time spy differ from the results of other bloggers

[@unknownmonkey8661]

Imagie paying 5+k for this and it comes with severe display problems. I don't care wheter it software or hardware - it inexcusable for this price. What a product launch, just wow. Good thing there are plenty of competitors and almost all of them are better all fronts RIP razer

[@henryviiifake8244]

Also: no num pad... on an _18"_ gaming laptop. My 16" Acer Aspire VX-15 (with a lowly GTX 1050) came with a num pad in 2017. Razer has no excuse for that omission.

[@Olibelus]

Thank you for the amazing review. I loved how you showed us whether it fits into bags! Top notch.

[@feddy8987]

Yeah that's one of my fav things about his reviews. When I watch other channels I'm left wondering; "would that fit tho?"

[@laszlobertapercy5210]

Have you experienced screen flickeing?

[@rickyshepard9342]

I got this same unit love it speed is great and wifi also I buy again

[@KTBLGaming]

Razer offers mercury white but not with 4090 models razer logic

[@jazmynemills2667]

Im torn between getting this laptop or another macbook pro. but I would love to see them make FULL keyboards on these larger laptops.

[@AverageJoe1006]

Want a good nice laptop you can easy upgrade and with a full keyboard? Buy a medion erazer gaming laptop . Cooling on these laptops is also very very good

[@gabrielgong2614]

我也是很纠结雷蛇的这个内存政策，明明可以给一条2t的，但他就是要给两条1t的

[@Convention_De_Geneve]

What's the second backpack you put the laptop into at 1:03?

[@alextam-kg5cn]

wish they'd put the mini LED on the 18".

[@plantpower3048]

So the Asus 18 is 4000 on sale in Canada and the razer is 7400....how do you justify paying almost double for this?

[@DavyDave1313]

It just looks too plain for me. I ended up ordering an Alienware M18 with i9 10980HX, RTX 4090 and 64gb ram. It looks so damn cool I can't wait to use it!

[@uziel900able]

I want an Alienware too, but I heard things can go wrong with the ports or charger and there goes everything. Who knows, but I had one from 2015 and it ended up frying my motherboard bc of my AC adapter getting pulled out by my cats.

[@DavyDave1313]

@@uziel900able it was cool but it got way too hot. Returned it. I really miss that laptop. Got an Alienware R15 desktop with the 4090 and a Samsung Odyssey Ark monitor and am loving every second of it. Best setup ever

[@StevenRiseNYC]

@@uziel900able I've used AW exclusively for the last 10 years before I bought my blade 18, never had an issue with my desktop or laptops. I was considering the M18 when i was going to buy a laptop, the reason I went with the blade was the faster ram, better screen, and upgradeable ram. The one thing I really like about AW is the charging port remained the same from older laptops, so when I travel with my M15, I can take the 65w charger from my old m11x and it will charge the latop.

[@brightoskar9469]

Beautiful review

[@Matt-bg5wg]

how did you get 4K results? the 18" can only go as high as 1440p

[@devyn.johnston]

external monitor

[@typerightseesight]

Why on gods green earth are they gunna pack it with a 240hz screen and still give you a 125hz polling rate keyboard and mouse trackpad?

[@cultserpent4501]

Spending at least 5k on a laptop just to be forced to wear headphones to use it, meaning that thing was never ment to be used by professionals, just for gamers who can function under closed-back headphones for hours to lose connection with reality. Professional audio engineers? NOPE. Its totally logical when u put 24 core cpu and top tier gpu inside a ridiculously thin laptop to end up with a portable oven who sounds like a jet engine. Who the fuck will spend that amount of money to see that laptop melt and get even louder in 2-3 years of time? Only the stupid ones. If im going for that top end hardware inside a laptop i definitely ask for a thick and large body. Until then, no money for these companies from me.

[@henryviiifake8244]

Even if this was within my budget, the lack of a num pad on a laptop this big and that expensive is _UNFORGIVABLE._ I would have opted for something like the new ROG Strix SCAR 18 instead. Razer, wtf were you thinking?

[@kenhew4641]

the lack of numpad has always been Razer's design philosophy in all of their laptops. You either have to accept it or get something else

[@TheSonoranSniper]

​@@kenhew4641 ehhh there's a few reasons to get something else either way

[@hornetIIkite3]

That power button position is really a deal-breaker for me.

[@frostgodx]

Mercury silver blade 18 release next week

[@MICHGO1]

THE MUSIC ISN'T NECESSARY.

[@user-wc7hl3qz9p]

yo anyone got link to that wallpaper?

[@Jacks9993]

I have the 16 “ model 2tb ssd I was very disappointed when I discovered that it's 1TB + 1TB, not a single 2TB

[@flamingkillermc2806]

Buy a single 2TB, remove the 1 TB, wipe the drive and reinstall windows 11 on the 2TB Use the 1 TB as gaming storage or backup’s And use the other 1 TB as a super fast external SSD, with a ssd enclosure

[@flamingkillermc2806]

Also it’s 1TB + 1TB in raid 0 so that it give you almost double the read and right speed

[@carlosmzapata8383]

ASUS ROG Strix Scar 18 2023 review? 🥺

[@_deadpool_reynolds_]

all laptops should have ethernet interface again

[@papagen00]

this or asus strix scar 18.

[@tonyk8163]

Not in everyone’s budget 😂 bro I’m make a lot of money and even I’m like imma have to credit card this just because I can’t part with almost 5k just cause 😂

[@razor19906]

5k dollar laptop with wack screen.. matte..please...

[@GrimAbstract]

I agree, idk what the gaming obsession is of having a matte screen, the nits are not enough to be gaming outside or work in my opinion lol.

[@razor19906]

@@GrimAbstract imagine putting matte cover for oled screen or a phone or a tv how bad it will look same story with laptops talking about oh its mini led so what lol once u cover it with matte its over

[@razor19906]

laptop screen with matte on looks worse than lcd screens from 2002

[@katangwechabalakaychabalak7407]

Awesome. Video lol you should send me one laptop

[@brobiv2452]

How can you afford it

[@brandonsargent7105]

Ordered the 4090 16 - just have a decent job and save!

[@gman7497]

@Brandon Sargent yeah I'm not making crazy money and I'm getting a 4090, had a couple fortunate things come together, tax return + a little saving up and I will have the money I need. I think the issue is that most desktop people don't think a laptop is worth that, but we have gotten to the point where the performance is mostly comparable combined with it being portable. May not be worth it to some, but it's worth it to me.

[@brobiv2452]

@@gman7497 I don't have the money for it, very sad

[@kurimiko]

money

[@nativerezmedia]

These laptops are definitely not worth 5k... wow.

[@AlexnicholasBlakely]

(basic musings) I feel laptops this powerful are pointless. The ceiling of performance is lower in laptops than desktops with the same spec due to its cooling, a fact known forever, it's more a tactic by companies to target the 'higher the number the better' mentality unknowing customers may hold. As tech advances people may tend to think a new age is here but reality is it's a slow development, built on the architecture of the past and it's limiting factors. The agenda of computer companies rarely goes beyond that of money acquisition of course, expecting them to create genuinely long living high performance products is never promised. Good vid btw.

[@skinnypete5158]

I love it. I’m selling my asus zephyrs g15

[@marianrazvanscurtu5071]

YOU don’t feel 90 degrees?😅😅 are you serious???

[@Tony-rz4ks]

omg how can you build something this large and not have not have number pad.....using the numbers at the top is not efficient. this is big deal maker...

[@Bin0mar]

scar 18 fix that

[@marianrazvanscurtu5071]

Look for ASUS or MSI , better performance than Razor 💪

[@hito6464]

Overpriced, just like the rest of 40xx laptops.