I think your production quality has gone up 1000% in 12 months, I didn't expect to find myself watching a video about a laptop I couldn't afford, well done
No worrie at all, I see it I call it out. You guys have nailed transition graphics, audio quality and timing between chapters. Can't remember previous videos where I didn't notice time passing, The current methodology is a great recipe!@@MashITTech
Its been a steep learning curve but getting our own large studio this time last year has really helped! we have so much more room which makes filming easier and gives us many more options! When things quieten down at xmas we plan on changing the studio around a little!
Not having MiniLED or OLED as a display option is the biggest reason I held back from buying the 18 this year. I’m not paying $4000+ for something that can’t even display HDR when my $500 PS5 can do it when hooked up to a capable TV.
Hi! I also have the Razer 18 with a 4090 and 32GB of ram and 2TB SSD. Wanted to point out the camera is (Windows® Hello built-in IR 5MP Webcam) not 1080p. I love this laptop as it is such an immersive experience when using. I am so happy I went with the 18 as opposed to the 16 like you said. I was able to find mine open box from Best Buy in black (I wanted the mercury but took this in black due to the great pricing) for $3,499 with 0 defects. Also have 0 backlight bleed. Overall, after a few months and a trip to Europe with this I am so happy with this laptop.
@@go4kmedia I would say it is definitely on the quite side. By far the quietest gaming laptop for sure IMO. I have the Asus G14 and Alienware M16 as well.
Heads-up the laptop doesnt blow all of the air on the screen, it mosty depends on how far back the screen is. If its in a normal position that you would use it blows it down the back and if its all the way open it'll blow out the front
I am also planning to get my hands on a Razer Blade 16 though I am conflicted in choosing between the mercury and the black. The mercury gives off the same vibe as a macbook but I do like the glowing logo on the front. Which one would you recommend?
After having them both I prefer the Mercury but you can only buy the Mercury direct from razer (at least here in the U.K.) the other option is to get the black and apply a skin like I did with the razer blade 14, that also looks amazing, stops finger prints and scratches and still gives you the green logo
Thank you for the review. It was really helpful. Can you please tell me which M.2 SSD does it come with? I see that is is Samsung from you video, but do you mind sharing the specs. Thanks!
Fantastic Review, Mash ! Hope all is well ! Just wondered how you got on with your 2023 model blades in the end after a good few months of use ? And would you recommend to undervolt or are stock settings good to use ?
What is your new daily driver laptop? Is this going to replace your previous daily driver? Your content and channel is amazing. Also are you going to get in a base Alienware M18, since I am wondering whether it is worth the money!
Thanks mate. I have kept two laptops for me this year (Yes I am incredibly lucky) The blade 14 is my daily driver because of its power and portability and the Blade 18 has become my dedicated games machine. I was hoping to get the Ryzen m18 in for review but Dell for some reason have decided not to sell them here! I did get a case m16 in which will give you the performance results you would get on the m18 if it helps
What would you pick for this year, Legion 9, M18, Scar 18, Razer 18? In terms of performance and Temperature.. without the needing to tweak down anything.
Awesome video - I was waiting for it!!! 🙂 Really curious to see your comparison of the M18 vs this one - should be fun. Also - if you DO a comparison between the Blade 16 and 18, please find a way to mention the problems with the mini LCD I mentioned to you in the past - it's just SO bad outside of gaming. It made the 16 a deal breaker (I finally returned it). Great job again!
@@MashITTech all good. and if you need any feedback on the mini LED just let me know. There was a whole chatter / feedback about which screen they were sourcing, and the differences - just let me know if you want the details. Keep up the great work!!!
I started out with the blade 18 and realized the blade 16 was just better. the blade 18 has better thermals and better ssd setup (not stacked). on the other side it's just ridiculously big. and there's a big chunk of plastic on the back. and I felt the blade 16 had a better screen option/gimmick. It's not a bad laptop (as far as hardware goes) and it was my first choice. I still prefer the blade 16 with all its flaws. (you need to re-benchmark the blade 16. razer released a bios update that improves CPU performance)
You are right, I do. I also benchmarked the blade 18 before and after and it did improve cpu. Don’t get me wrong I love both laptops but having used both for a while and with my use the 18” screen was so much better for gaming, the laptop fans rarely spin up on idle (my blade 16 fans spin up when I just look at it) and I love having the Ethernet port back! No idea why they didn’t give the 16 an Ethernet as they made it so much thicker
I wanted the 16 but the IPS display is not a deal breaker to me and this one has better speakers. I think this 18 worth the money and the internals are easy to swap and keep them updated.
If only they allowed you to fully customize it regardless of color. In the 2024 RB18, only the black version has the 300Hz QHD+ mini-LED screen, and the mercury color is locked to the 200Hz 4K+ screen... I heavily prefer the QHD+ mini-LED screen and so can't get the mercury color, even though the mercury color is better in every way.
@@MashITTech cool, I have blade 18 too same specs except on matte black. However I can't get the same fps you had with your testing. I wonder if I forgot to set something.
Hey Mash, just a question for you. I've got the max spec 18 with 13950HX and 4090, and for some reason CPU package power in Cinibench refuses to go above 95W, and is hovering between 90-95W consistently, and it hit 100C and thermal throttle instantly - as in within 1s after pressing the start button. The final score was 24,500 points which seems awfully low for a 13950HX. Does this sound like a bad paste job to you potentially? All P-cores are capping out, not just 1-2 of them so I'm not sure if it's a hot spot. Do you think it could be worth repasting?
Wow that seems very low and much worse than my blade 16 with inferior cooling system! You are definitely thermal throttling. Have you tried an undervolt yet?
@@MashITTechI undervolted with an offset of - .125 (highest it'll go without becoming unstable), and the score bumped up to 27,800 which is a bit better, but given that I've seen people posting 30k+ from the blade 18 I'll probably repaste and swap to PTM to see if it's as good as everyone says it is 😂
I think getting this a few months after release has really helped as the initial bugs seemed to have been ironed out (such as screen flickering and Optimus bugs) the only thing I feel they could improve now is the touchpad palm rejection. The updated firmware improved it but its still not perfect
Great review as always.. I love razer but would never buy one since no num pad.. a shame on an 18 inch laptop with all that space..And the price is so high end, not sure it is worth it..
I can understand since you do not mind the absence of the Num pad.. But is it worth 7000 euros ? That is the price of a car.. Still looks great but not for me / my budget..
No, I agree! I wouldn’t be able to justify buying it with my own money and would personally wait for next years model and would buy it heavily reduced (this was what I used to do before I made this RUclips channel!
When you do your ssd and ram upgrade could you please show how to remove the existing ssd. Can you also put the 96 gb ram kit in this laptop? And could you demonstrate how. Thank you very much Keep up the great and very informative content.
Im struggling to get 2 hours on my Razer Blade 18 even with battery saver enabled, 4090 gpu disabled and running on 60hz. I think my battery may be faulty...
i have the 4090 variation. i was gaming on the weekend for 10 hours straight and my battery dropped of 80% to 32% plugged in after my session of gaming. battery charges fine and quickly when not gaming but when gaming my battery slowly drops in percentage. wonder if anyone else experienced this? im gonna return my laptop cause i don't want any issues down the road.
So, if the Blade 18 doesn't have Mini Led, or Oled, then what is the panel called? Im not really knowledgeable with these things, but im learning slowly. I am thinking about getting one of these in the future.
You really do see the wattage limits though Dave.... Compared to my MSI GT77... I routinely hit 179 watts on the GPU on that, yep, 179, and never below 170w in 4K gaming, and the cpu us is still maintaining all clock 5.2ghz on P cores during heavy games (latest August bios), and no thermal throttling at all. The lowest I have seen the CPU hit during intensive gaming is 4.7ghz and that was a power limit, not a thermal one. You can see the Razer averaging in the mid 3ghz range and that's when the GPU is nowhere NEAR 175w... So once again they have heavily artificially limited it and not given the user the option to run a bit higher temps and better CPU performance when GPU also loaded. That's all that stopped me from buying this machine, despite my previous Razer horror story - I really would have bought one of these in a heartbeat if they even allowed say 175 GPU and 70 CPU simultaneously. Was a showstopper for me, especially wanting to do heavy 4K Switch, PS3 and 360 emulation which can max out the GPU and be very demanding on CPU.
agreed, Razer are always too conservative and yes there is no way it can match a GT77, that thing is a beast. I find the Blade 18 can hold about 170w tgp and 65w TDP simultaneously but without breaking a sweat, they could easily have given it more. And sorry for slow response, took a day off for my Birthday :)
@@MashITTech Happy birthday matey! Hope it was a great one. Well 65W and 170 isn't too bad at all.. that means they have improved it for sure, as the CPU used to have a 40W limit when the GPU was loaded.. too many requests to improve it I guess! So why was the cpu speed so low in video? Perhaps it wasn't on boost mode?
I agree a full sized keyboard on this sized laptop would be great, there is so much space it seems crazy they didn't include it. Personally I am ok with a keyboard without num pad as I like the fact the keyboard and touchpad is centred, I hate the Legions approach with a full keyboard crammed in and the touchpad shifted to the left
@@MashITTech Call me crazy but I imagine a full sized keyboard shifted to the right of the frame (there is 1-2" space on the left of the keyboard) and a touch pad on center of the frame in an 18" laptop.
Besides over paying for the sharp uncomfortable build for no good reason, Razer was the only laptop in my life that had battery bulged so bad it warped the whole laptop. Never ever am I buying one.
... well, I would really like to see an OLED display on this machine. I very much like the "non-bezel" design (well known from Macbooks) which looks really cool. And Razer is really something like Apple among Windows laptops with this Mercury color finish after all. So, Razer, please give us OLED "infinite" displays. In fact, this was the only reason why I decided NOT to get the Blade 14 2023, which is otherwise a great laptop (quite expensive though), but we are talking about Razer here, right? But, Razer, please, give us also a better speakers and webcam, (not mentioning the Razer Synapse, which needs to get much better, and the poor Customer Service we all know about), so we can really start feeling the Apple magical touch on your devices - so not just being great on the outside, and yet with some disappointments inside.
I wouldn’t say it was better but different. Razer runs the cpu at a lower wattage so temps are cooler but alienware let it max out til 100c then throttles! In all honesty the power budget razer gives is more than enough for everything but high benchmark scores
This is an absolutely fantastic video! Love the content on your channel, keep up all the good work! Personally, I am not a fan of the mercury colour scheme. These videos about gaming laptops are always entertaining and are always interesting to watch which keeps me engaged especially as fewer and fewer channels review all of the latest gaming laptops. Keep up the great content and keep reviewing 18 inch gaming beasts! Really looking forwards to that comparison video!
no number pad ....!!!! is a deal breaker for me, the keyboard looks cheap and extremly small, the Aestetics make the laptop look like its from the mid 2000s. I will stick with the M18
@@MashITTech i have seen Razor blade in london and fell in love with mercury. Unfortunately no show room of alienware 18 to compare hence I will look for your comparison. The price you mentioned in the video is it 4090 or 4080 version?
@@MashITTechThank you. After many reviews on youtube especially on your channel I got the Blade 18/4090 Mercury in London. It is a beauty, shame no light on function keys though.
that is a great price! where is that from? I have the 14, 16 and 18 from last year still and the 18 is the one I use personally, it is an amazing machine
@@MashITTech not sure whether to get the 2023 version with a 4080 for £2400 or the 2024 version for £2700. Think the only differences are thunderbolt 5, mini led display and WiFi 7
I have the blade 18 4090 and i want to oculink using m2 slot. I wanted to make a custom hole in bottom plate to make a quick connection. Will that void my warranty? I have even payed for razer care elite for 2 years cover... most annoying if i cannot mod my case when i have payed all this money for my own laptop
I have a horrible feeling they won’t allow you to make a hole in the base plate but I would definitely pop them a question. As an alternative could you 3D print a base or try and pick a spare base plate from eBay or something?
I want to see OLED or mini LED options for sure, but I cannot use current OLED technology because of the PWM flicker which gives me terrible migraines! I love the picture quality but man that PWM kills me :(
@@MashITTech yes, my idea is do the same as Apple. Tablet separate from laptop. Laptops no need for touchscreen. Make it powerhouse. If people need touchscreen and pen they will buy the surface products. I want so badly to go to MS ecosystem but the way they’re acting with the phones and laptops is a deal breaker for me. For example the 28inch studio was great idea but what a poor hardwares, and expensive for nothing. With that price should’ve put pc specs in it.
That is possible but I feel at the moment people are blowing this out of proportion and in two years what are the chances you will be playing the new games at a high res and high textures as even if you have more VRAM the 4080 probably won't have the power anyway. I agree that 8 is on the small side now and I think high end GPUs should be 16gb (its not as if the ram is that expensive) but it hasn't stopped me buying a 4080 for myself and in two years I may just have to run medium settings
I think it will as Nvidia seems to be getting a lot of criticism for this generation and it looks like they are about to drop 4070 and 4080 super cards for the desktops with much higher VRAM! We just need AMD to keep pushing forward then Nvidia is forced to keep up
@MashITTech I have this exact same laptop in mercury as well, only with a 4090. I'm very curious if you have tested the Crucial 96GB Ram kit yet in it, and if so how did it fair. Did it downclock to 5200Mhz? I currently run the Fury 64GB kit CL40 and it downclocks to 5200Mgz, I am highly considering the 96GB Crucial kit, I use the laptop primarily for CAD work and also in our music studio both of which are very Ram intensive.
I am actually working on the Blade 18 upgrade video as we speak and will be testing the 96gb ram and fury as well as different SSDs. Hope to be able to confirm for you soon
@@MashITTech Thanks so much Im looking forward to that. I'm actually on my 3rd Razer 18 replacement now, the left speaker went bad and lost volume on the last one it appeared to be a driver issue but the issue would reappear even after deleting and updating the audio drivers, worked on restart then would lose all bass, the other had a loose track pad and bad LCD screen blooming issues. However I love the machine beyond those initial headaches and so far #3 is behaving well.
oh wow, sorry to hear that, lets hope its 3rd time a charm! I am also loving the machine way more than I thought I would, I was going to keep the blade 16 for me but since having the blade 18 I just haven't used it
Razer is the BMW of laptops; overly expensive for what they are, good performers, and rapidly go to shit in many cases and never quite work right thereafter. No offense to BMW owners, you know what you bought in for, and I think the same applies here.
fortunately I haven't had to use their warranty! but I agree, I have heard horror stories (though I also have with ASUS, Dell and Acer) and on such a premium product you expect a premium warranty experience to match it
@@MashITTech Thank you for the comment. I would buy in on Razer over Alienware were it not for this issue. For all its faults (and they are many), Dell/Alienware have overall better support and as you have said (and I have had maybe half a dozen support calls since 2010) Dell will repair on site. I even had them totally replace a motherboard for an Alienware 13 in a hotel lobby one time in I think 2019 while on a business trip. Good luck doing that with any other vendor. But I can't fault Razer for cosmetics, their systems are gorgeous.
Numpads sucks, it makes it totally weird and uncomfortable to use the laptop in the lap. This is like the only big powerful laptop you can get with a centered keyboard, so hands off! Stop complaining about that! It's a feature, not a problem! Numpads are for boomers.
haha I would like a world where you could configure either. I do a lot of accounts so having a numberpad is really handy for me but I totally get your point
@Tech Yeah, when I do my companies book keeping I actually use a numpad. Guilty as charged... But that is desk work for me so I use an external keyboard for that. Basically I only use the laptop keyboard when I am traveling or do my daily evening internet warrior routine from the couch... LoL. Serious trolling demands a centered keyboard!
I think your production quality has gone up 1000% in 12 months, I didn't expect to find myself watching a video about a laptop I couldn't afford, well done
Thank you mate, Gary and I have worked so hard this year to improve the video quality, so glad you noticed!
No worrie at all, I see it I call it out. You guys have nailed transition graphics, audio quality and timing between chapters. Can't remember previous videos where I didn't notice time passing, The current methodology is a great recipe!@@MashITTech
Its been a steep learning curve but getting our own large studio this time last year has really helped! we have so much more room which makes filming easier and gives us many more options! When things quieten down at xmas we plan on changing the studio around a little!
haha thanks mate, that is greatly appreciated! Hope the channel goes well for you :)
well let me know when you get some videos up and I will come by and show some support :)
Not having MiniLED or OLED as a display option is the biggest reason I held back from buying the 18 this year. I’m not paying $4000+ for something that can’t even display HDR when my $500 PS5 can do it when hooked up to a capable TV.
that's a fact
Usually the same reason I steer towards macbooks when I compare them to the other similar priced laptops.
Hi! I also have the Razer 18 with a 4090 and 32GB of ram and 2TB SSD. Wanted to point out the camera is (Windows® Hello built-in IR 5MP Webcam) not 1080p. I love this laptop as it is such an immersive experience when using. I am so happy I went with the 18 as opposed to the 16 like you said. I was able to find mine open box from Best Buy in black (I wanted the mercury but took this in black due to the great pricing) for $3,499 with 0 defects. Also have 0 backlight bleed. Overall, after a few months and a trip to Europe with this I am so happy with this laptop.
Thanks mate, I missed that, I felt sure it was 1080p this year
Does this get noisy when playing games?
@@go4kmedia I would say it is definitely on the quite side. By far the quietest gaming laptop for sure IMO. I have the Asus G14 and Alienware M16 as well.
Imagine typing the registered trademark symbol in your comment.
Has your notebook held up well?? Im thinking of getting the 2024 Razer 18 I hope they still have a 18 version when the RTX 5090 launches.
Looks amazing 😍 the only thing I hate is horrible arrow keys 😢
yeah, I wish they would separate them from main keyboard and give them more space like Lenovo or Asus
Heads-up the laptop doesnt blow all of the air on the screen, it mosty depends on how far back the screen is. If its in a normal position that you would use it blows it down the back and if its all the way open it'll blow out the front
I picked up the same machine in black. I'm very excited to receive it.
Has it held up well??
I am also planning to get my hands on a Razer Blade 16 though I am conflicted in choosing between the mercury and the black. The mercury gives off the same vibe as a macbook but I do like the glowing logo on the front. Which one would you recommend?
After having them both I prefer the Mercury but you can only buy the Mercury direct from razer (at least here in the U.K.) the other option is to get the black and apply a skin like I did with the razer blade 14, that also looks amazing, stops finger prints and scratches and still gives you the green logo
Thank you for the review. It was really helpful. Can you please tell me which M.2 SSD does it come with? I see that is is Samsung from you video, but do you mind sharing the specs. Thanks!
It’s an oem version of the 990 pro 👍
Fantastic Review, Mash ! Hope all is well ! Just wondered how you got on with your 2023 model blades in the end after a good few months of use ? And would you recommend to undervolt or are stock settings good to use ?
What is your new daily driver laptop? Is this going to replace your previous daily driver? Your content and channel is amazing. Also are you going to get in a base Alienware M18, since I am wondering whether it is worth the money!
Thanks mate. I have kept two laptops for me this year (Yes I am incredibly lucky) The blade 14 is my daily driver because of its power and portability and the Blade 18 has become my dedicated games machine. I was hoping to get the Ryzen m18 in for review but Dell for some reason have decided not to sell them here! I did get a case m16 in which will give you the performance results you would get on the m18 if it helps
What would you pick for this year, Legion 9, M18, Scar 18, Razer 18? In terms of performance and Temperature.. without the needing to tweak down anything.
Awesome video - I was waiting for it!!! 🙂 Really curious to see your comparison of the M18 vs this one - should be fun. Also - if you DO a comparison between the Blade 16 and 18, please find a way to mention the problems with the mini LCD I mentioned to you in the past - it's just SO bad outside of gaming. It made the 16 a deal breaker (I finally returned it). Great job again!
Hey mate, I have a lot of laptops stacking up for review but I do want to do a blade 16 vs blade 18, it might just take me a while
@@MashITTech all good. and if you need any feedback on the mini LED just let me know. There was a whole chatter / feedback about which screen they were sourcing, and the differences - just let me know if you want the details. Keep up the great work!!!
would it do well hooked up to a 36in curved monitor for streaming days?
I started out with the blade 18 and realized the blade 16 was just better.
the blade 18 has better thermals and better ssd setup (not stacked).
on the other side it's just ridiculously big.
and there's a big chunk of plastic on the back.
and I felt the blade 16 had a better screen option/gimmick.
It's not a bad laptop (as far as hardware goes) and it was my first choice.
I still prefer the blade 16 with all its flaws.
(you need to re-benchmark the blade 16. razer released a bios update that improves CPU performance)
You are right, I do. I also benchmarked the blade 18 before and after and it did improve cpu. Don’t get me wrong I love both laptops but having used both for a while and with my use the 18” screen was so much better for gaming, the laptop fans rarely spin up on idle (my blade 16 fans spin up when I just look at it) and I love having the Ethernet port back! No idea why they didn’t give the 16 an Ethernet as they made it so much thicker
I want a 4k miniLED screen with this.
yes me too! lets hope for 2024!
First of all thanks for doing this review. By the way at 13:17 your getting 173 fps, what was your settings during this game? Thank you.
Let me check shortly when I get in the office
Can you work with it for multiple hours on you lap? Does it get uncomfortable with the weight?
I wanted the 16 but the IPS display is not a deal breaker to me and this one has better speakers. I think this 18 worth the money and the internals are easy to swap and keep them updated.
I will do a video comparing them both soon if it helps?
right it is on the list then :)
always loved this silver colour, imho looks much more premium than black one
totally agree! Hope they keep releasing the mercury as I don't want to go back to black!
If only they allowed you to fully customize it regardless of color. In the 2024 RB18, only the black version has the 300Hz QHD+ mini-LED screen, and the mercury color is locked to the 200Hz 4K+ screen... I heavily prefer the QHD+ mini-LED screen and so can't get the mercury color, even though the mercury color is better in every way.
@MashITTech Great video! How did you get Magic Fluids app to play on your Razer 18? I have the same laptop love it!
It’s only the magic fluid video on RUclips 👍
Do you have this blade 18 undervolted during your performance test and gaming? Thanks
no, I decided to do it stock to show worst case scenario but you get a nice boost if you UV buy 100-125mv
@@MashITTech cool, I have blade 18 too same specs except on matte black. However I can't get the same fps you had with your testing. I wonder if I forgot to set something.
this is probably the most beautiful laptop I've ever seen,and the only Windows laptop that can compare with MacBook
Hey Mash, just a question for you. I've got the max spec 18 with 13950HX and 4090, and for some reason CPU package power in Cinibench refuses to go above 95W, and is hovering between 90-95W consistently, and it hit 100C and thermal throttle instantly - as in within 1s after pressing the start button. The final score was 24,500 points which seems awfully low for a 13950HX. Does this sound like a bad paste job to you potentially? All P-cores are capping out, not just 1-2 of them so I'm not sure if it's a hot spot. Do you think it could be worth repasting?
Wow that seems very low and much worse than my blade 16 with inferior cooling system! You are definitely thermal throttling. Have you tried an undervolt yet?
@@MashITTechI undervolted with an offset of - .125 (highest it'll go without becoming unstable), and the score bumped up to 27,800 which is a bit better, but given that I've seen people posting 30k+ from the blade 18 I'll probably repaste and swap to PTM to see if it's as good as everyone says it is 😂
Классный обзор! Видно, что впечатления самые лучшие
White color is good because not make user fell borring, and make look clean
But the bezel screen still black😅😅 if the color bezel are white maybe look cool😂😂
7:42 question : where is the CMOS battery? Is it the coin battery inside the grey fitting on the right above the fan ? 8:35
the biggest advantage of blade 18 over the blade 16 , blade 18 is more cooler when it works
I think getting this a few months after release has really helped as the initial bugs seemed to have been ironed out (such as screen flickering and Optimus bugs) the only thing I feel they could improve now is the touchpad palm rejection. The updated firmware improved it but its still not perfect
Hello, can you please provide a link to the backpack you used to store the Blade 18? I haven't had any luck finding a backpack that fits my Blade 18.
Here you go: geni.us/ao61
@@MashITTech thanks
Great review as always.. I love razer but would never buy one since no num pad.. a shame on an 18 inch laptop with all that space..And the price is so high end, not sure it is worth it..
Yeah the price is crazy! Price aside I am loving this laptop way more than I thought I would
I can understand since you do not mind the absence of the Num pad.. But is it worth 7000 euros ? That is the price of a car.. Still looks great but not for me / my budget..
No, I agree! I wouldn’t be able to justify buying it with my own money and would personally wait for next years model and would buy it heavily reduced (this was what I used to do before I made this RUclips channel!
When you do your ssd and ram upgrade could you please show how to remove the existing ssd. Can you also put the 96 gb ram kit in this laptop? And could you demonstrate how.
Thank you very much
Keep up the great and very informative content.
I certainly can. I planned on testing the fury 64gb and the crucial 96gb in there to make sure they both work for people
Im struggling to get 2 hours on my Razer Blade 18 even with battery saver enabled, 4090 gpu disabled and running on 60hz. I think my battery may be faulty...
what do you mean GPU disabled? you mean its in optimus mode or you disabled it in device manager?
i have the 4090 variation. i was gaming on the weekend for 10 hours straight and my battery dropped of 80% to 32% plugged in after my session of gaming. battery charges fine and quickly when not gaming but when gaming my battery slowly drops in percentage. wonder if anyone else experienced this? im gonna return my laptop cause i don't want any issues down the road.
I'm not a fan of green color so this is perfect for me
So, if the Blade 18 doesn't have Mini Led, or Oled, then what is the panel called? Im not really knowledgeable with these things, but im learning slowly. I am thinking about getting one of these in the future.
This is a standard IPS panel 👍
@@MashITTech Cool, thanks.
You really do see the wattage limits though Dave.... Compared to my MSI GT77...
I routinely hit 179 watts on the GPU on that, yep, 179, and never below 170w in 4K gaming, and the cpu us is still maintaining all clock 5.2ghz on P cores during heavy games (latest August bios), and no thermal throttling at all. The lowest I have seen the CPU hit during intensive gaming is 4.7ghz and that was a power limit, not a thermal one.
You can see the Razer averaging in the mid 3ghz range and that's when the GPU is nowhere NEAR 175w... So once again they have heavily artificially limited it and not given the user the option to run a bit higher temps and better CPU performance when GPU also loaded. That's all that stopped me from buying this machine, despite my previous Razer horror story - I really would have bought one of these in a heartbeat if they even allowed say 175 GPU and 70 CPU simultaneously. Was a showstopper for me, especially wanting to do heavy 4K Switch, PS3 and 360 emulation which can max out the GPU and be very demanding on CPU.
agreed, Razer are always too conservative and yes there is no way it can match a GT77, that thing is a beast. I find the Blade 18 can hold about 170w tgp and 65w TDP simultaneously but without breaking a sweat, they could easily have given it more. And sorry for slow response, took a day off for my Birthday :)
@@MashITTech Happy birthday matey! Hope it was a great one.
Well 65W and 170 isn't too bad at all.. that means they have improved it for sure, as the CPU used to have a 40W limit when the GPU was loaded.. too many requests to improve it I guess!
So why was the cpu speed so low in video? Perhaps it wasn't on boost mode?
Thanks Mash! great review
What about the fan noise when running something like netflix?
although it's 18", it doesn't look too big. like the color. I think professionals would want a full sized keyboard. I don't know
I agree a full sized keyboard on this sized laptop would be great, there is so much space it seems crazy they didn't include it. Personally I am ok with a keyboard without num pad as I like the fact the keyboard and touchpad is centred, I hate the Legions approach with a full keyboard crammed in and the touchpad shifted to the left
@@MashITTech Call me crazy but I imagine a full sized keyboard shifted to the right of the frame (there is 1-2" space on the left of the keyboard) and a touch pad on center of the frame in an 18" laptop.
So much of space and still they didn't add a full size keyboard.
Yup! the razer what. I think they copy Apple putting the same keyboard in each laptop :(
Besides over paying for the sharp uncomfortable build for no good reason, Razer was the only laptop in my life that had battery bulged so bad it warped the whole laptop. Never ever am I buying one.
Have fun with your broke boy looking laptops lol
... well, I would really like to see an OLED display on this machine. I very much like the "non-bezel" design (well known from Macbooks) which looks really cool. And Razer is really something like Apple among Windows laptops with this Mercury color finish after all. So, Razer, please give us OLED "infinite" displays. In fact, this was the only reason why I decided NOT to get the Blade 14 2023, which is otherwise a great laptop (quite expensive though), but we are talking about Razer here, right? But, Razer, please, give us also a better speakers and webcam, (not mentioning the Razer Synapse, which needs to get much better, and the poor Customer Service we all know about), so we can really start feeling the Apple magical touch on your devices - so not just being great on the outside, and yet with some disappointments inside.
Nice one, Thank you David.
great review but it would be nice if you benchmark'd some newer games, esp Cyberpunk and Alan Wake 2 with Path Tracing.
I have cyberpunk but will try and get Alan Wake 2 soon and add them
Can it handle a mega 5000 rows excel data sheet
is this razer blade 18 better cooling than m18r1 on max fan?
I wouldn’t say it was better but different. Razer runs the cpu at a lower wattage so temps are cooler but alienware let it max out til 100c then throttles! In all honesty the power budget razer gives is more than enough for everything but high benchmark scores
Great reviews always
Great extensive review as always!
Thank you
Great review! Keep up the good work. Love the content!!!
Thank you mate
This is an absolutely fantastic video! Love the content on your channel, keep up all the good work! Personally, I am not a fan of the mercury colour scheme. These videos about gaming laptops are always entertaining and are always interesting to watch which keeps me engaged especially as fewer and fewer channels review all of the latest gaming laptops. Keep up the great content and keep reviewing 18 inch gaming beasts! Really looking forwards to that comparison video!
Thank you for the kind comment, it really helps keep me motivated! Plenty more content coming soon :)
no number pad ....!!!! is a deal breaker for me, the keyboard looks cheap and extremly small, the Aestetics make the laptop look like its from the mid 2000s. I will stick with the M18
Great review as always 💯
does mercury version of razer blade 14 logo able to light up?
mo. none of the mercury models get lit logo
Thank you. Helpful review. Please screen comparison vs Alienware m18.
Blade 18 vs m18 will be late next week 👍
@@MashITTech i have seen Razor blade in london and fell in love with mercury. Unfortunately no show room of alienware 18 to compare hence I will look for your comparison. The price you mentioned in the video is it 4090 or 4080 version?
it was the 4080, the 4090 is £4.5k 😫
@@MashITTechThank you. After many reviews on youtube especially on your channel I got the Blade 18/4090 Mercury in London. It is a beauty, shame no light on function keys though.
@@hussainmahmoud7881 yeah it is a real shame and I moan about it a lot to razer, especially annoying as the USA get the secondary functions lit
You can pick one of these up brand new now for £2400, Im very tempted!
that is a great price! where is that from? I have the 14, 16 and 18 from last year still and the 18 is the one I use personally, it is an amazing machine
@@MashITTech not sure whether to get the 2023 version with a 4080 for £2400 or the 2024 version for £2700. Think the only differences are thunderbolt 5, mini led display and WiFi 7
@@bmwe39m5 Unless you really want the mini LED get the 2023 model and save teh cash. the 2023 still has a fantastic IPS panel anyway
@@MashITTech the worse battery life of the mini led version puts me off
@@MashITTech just got my razor blade 18 today, ended up getting the 4090 version for just over £2000 very pleased !!!
Great review
I have the blade 18 4090 and i want to oculink using m2 slot. I wanted to make a custom hole in bottom plate to make a quick connection. Will that void my warranty? I have even payed for razer care elite for 2 years cover... most annoying if i cannot mod my case when i have payed all this money for my own laptop
I have a horrible feeling they won’t allow you to make a hole in the base plate but I would definitely pop them a question. As an alternative could you 3D print a base or try and pick a spare base plate from eBay or something?
blade 18 bottom case non existent
@@MashITTech
7:30 You know There is something called 100% right ? Believe me there is ! . At least you opened it up 👍 for That !
yeah, would you prefer to hear more volumes or just say 50% and 100%? its hard to know what people prefer :)
@@MashITTech Well I just wanted to know if the 100% doesn't have distortion problems like many PC's !
the keyboard is smaller than one hand ..
Make it mini led and im in. Cmon Razer JUST DO IT
I'm hoping by 2025 OLED screens are pretty standard across all manufacturers. Kind of disappointing this didn't get an OLED display.
I want to see OLED or mini LED options for sure, but I cannot use current OLED technology because of the PWM flicker which gives me terrible migraines! I love the picture quality but man that PWM kills me :(
I have x17 r2 it has 64gb ddr 5 mhz ram, can i swap the 64gb ram with my new M18 with 32gb MT/s?
Yes you can but it will run at 4800mhz. In all honesty you won’t notice any difference in speed over 5200
@@MashITTech Thank you I really appreciate it!
Im getting this one ❤
This are the products that MS needs to make instead of the surface studio
yeah the surface laptop studio is a real disappointment for me and I love surface products usually :(
@@MashITTech yes, my idea is do the same as Apple. Tablet separate from laptop. Laptops no need for touchscreen. Make it powerhouse. If people need touchscreen and pen they will buy the surface products. I want so badly to go to MS ecosystem but the way they’re acting with the phones and laptops is a deal breaker for me. For example the 28inch studio was great idea but what a poor hardwares, and expensive for nothing. With that price should’ve put pc specs in it.
really beautiful
Maybe I am biased by the drama, but I would be nervous that in two years 12GB are not going to be enough.
That is possible but I feel at the moment people are blowing this out of proportion and in two years what are the chances you will be playing the new games at a high res and high textures as even if you have more VRAM the 4080 probably won't have the power anyway. I agree that 8 is on the small side now and I think high end GPUs should be 16gb (its not as if the ram is that expensive) but it hasn't stopped me buying a 4080 for myself and in two years I may just have to run medium settings
@@MashITTech I currently own a Razer Blade with 3070 Ti that in my country cost a small fortune. I still hope the RTX 50 will provide double the VRAM.
I think it will as Nvidia seems to be getting a lot of criticism for this generation and it looks like they are about to drop 4070 and 4080 super cards for the desktops with much higher VRAM! We just need AMD to keep pushing forward then Nvidia is forced to keep up
@MashITTech I have this exact same laptop in mercury as well, only with a 4090. I'm very curious if you have tested the Crucial 96GB Ram kit yet in it, and if so how did it fair. Did it downclock to 5200Mhz? I currently run the Fury 64GB kit CL40 and it downclocks to 5200Mgz, I am highly considering the 96GB Crucial kit, I use the laptop primarily for CAD work and also in our music studio both of which are very Ram intensive.
I am actually working on the Blade 18 upgrade video as we speak and will be testing the 96gb ram and fury as well as different SSDs. Hope to be able to confirm for you soon
@@MashITTech Thanks so much Im looking forward to that. I'm actually on my 3rd Razer 18 replacement now, the left speaker went bad and lost volume on the last one it appeared to be a driver issue but the issue would reappear even after deleting and updating the audio drivers, worked on restart then would lose all bass, the other had a loose track pad and bad LCD screen blooming issues. However I love the machine beyond those initial headaches and so far #3 is behaving well.
oh wow, sorry to hear that, lets hope its 3rd time a charm! I am also loving the machine way more than I thought I would, I was going to keep the blade 16 for me but since having the blade 18 I just haven't used it
please this vs m18 soon
late next week, currently half way through it 👍
I won one love the laptop, but the keyboard is terrible small and mouse pad is too big.
Yes, not sure why the went with the super sized touchpad and razer keyboards are always meh 😢
If i lived near u , i'd have really bought from you( if u'd sell)😊😅
Haha I do sell them regularly to buy the next lot!
Razer is the BMW of laptops; overly expensive for what they are, good performers, and rapidly go to shit in many cases and never quite work right thereafter. No offense to BMW owners, you know what you bought in for, and I think the same applies here.
😂
Yes indeed 😂 The lack of any form of decent warranty for such an expensive laptop is a big no no for me.
fortunately I haven't had to use their warranty! but I agree, I have heard horror stories (though I also have with ASUS, Dell and Acer) and on such a premium product you expect a premium warranty experience to match it
@@MashITTech Thank you for the comment. I would buy in on Razer over Alienware were it not for this issue. For all its faults (and they are many), Dell/Alienware have overall better support and as you have said (and I have had maybe half a dozen support calls since 2010) Dell will repair on site. I even had them totally replace a motherboard for an Alienware 13 in a hotel lobby one time in I think 2019 while on a business trip. Good luck doing that with any other vendor. But I can't fault Razer for cosmetics, their systems are gorgeous.
You forgot to mention the poor 1-year RTB warranty that comes with it - pity.
Yes you are right!
Numpads sucks, it makes it totally weird and uncomfortable to use the laptop in the lap. This is like the only big powerful laptop you can get with a centered keyboard, so hands off! Stop complaining about that! It's a feature, not a problem! Numpads are for boomers.
haha I would like a world where you could configure either. I do a lot of accounts so having a numberpad is really handy for me but I totally get your point
@Tech Yeah, when I do my companies book keeping I actually use a numpad. Guilty as charged... But that is desk work for me so I use an external keyboard for that. Basically I only use the laptop keyboard when I am traveling or do my daily evening internet warrior routine from the couch... LoL. Serious trolling demands a centered keyboard!
that laptop mic is horrendous
Yup
《Macbook plus》
😂
This is the wrong color for a Razer
No no no, this is pure MacBook!
looks like a macbook lol
haha yes it does
Pray for Gaza 🇵🇸🫂
one of best reviewer on tec zone keep going
Thank you so much :)