Razer Blade 15 Advanced (11th Gen Intel) review

Our Verdict

The Razer Bract fifteen Advanced is all the same an excellent gaming laptop, with a sleek design and impressive functioning. It too still costs a whole lot of coin.

For

Meaty design
Powerful components
High-refresh rate screen
Good performance (more often than not)

Against

Keyboard and touchpad could be improve
Extremely expensive

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Razer Blade 15 Avant-garde is yet an excellent gaming laptop, with a sleek blueprint and impressive performance. Information technology as well still costs a whole lot of money.

Pros

+
Compact blueprint
+
Powerful components
+
High-refresh rate screen
+
Good functioning (mostly)

Cons

-
Keyboard and touchpad could be better
-
Extremely expensive

Information technology seems like we just reviewed the Razer Bract 15 Advanced — and, to be fair, we did. The latest version of Razer'due south popular laptop comes merely months after its previous refresh, and now you tin get the car with an 11th-gen Intel processor. In terms of functioning, it's not quite as adept every bit before; otherwise, it'due south the aforementioned design that players know and dearest.

Of class, that level of performance commands a cost to match. Razer's laptops have never been specially inexpensive, and the Bract 15 Advanced is no exception. You could notice yourself dishing out more than $three,000 for a high-end model — and Razer'due south next refresh could be but around the corner, given the company's usual cadence.

At the risk of being unimaginative, the Razer Bract 15 Advanced with 11th-gen Intel processors is nearly identical to the Razer Blade Advanced 15 from earlier this twelvemonth. Whether it's worth dishing out more money depends on how interested you lot are in having the latest components. Read on for our full Razer Blade 15 Advanced review.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced review: Price and configurations

At present, Razer sells nine different Razer Blade fifteen Advanced configurations with 11th-gen Intel processors. Rather than give an exhaustive clarification of each one, it may be helpful to compare the cheapest and nigh expensive models.

On the bottom rung, in that location'due south an $1,800 model, which comes with an Intel Core i7-11800H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, xvi GB RAM, a 512 GB SSD and a full HD display at 144 Hz.

The highest-stop model, on the other hand, costs $3,400 and comes with an Intel Core i9-11900H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, 32 GB RAM, a 1 TB SSD and a 4K OLED touchscreen brandish at threescore Hz.

Our review model was toward the higher end every bit well, with an Intel Core i7-11800H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, 32 GB RAM, a one TB SSD and a full HD display at 360 Hz. Information technology costs $3,100, which is absolutely a lot, even considering the powerful GPU and high-refresh screen.

Razer Bract 15 Advanced review: Design

If you've seen a Razer Blade laptop earlier, the Razer Blade 15 Advanced holds few surprises. It'southward a sleek, sparse device that's both meaty and lightweight.

Image i of 2

Razer blade 15 advanced review — (Image credit: Tom'due south Guide)

Image 2 of two

At xiv.0 ten 9.iii x 0.7 inches and 4.5 pounds, information technology'due south pocket-size and light plenty to keep in a backpack, and should fit on but about whatever desk-bound, table or temporary workspace.

Aesthetically, the Blade xv Avant-garde keeps things both simple and elegant, with an all-black chassis and an illuminated Razer logo on the lid. As in the previous model, the speakers surround the surprisingly small keyboard, which seems like a questionable utilise of infinite.

The gigantic touchpad (5.1 ten three.one inches) is easy to hit by error, while the keyboard has a shallow travel distance and positively tiny upwardly and downward arrow keys. Considering that the Blade xv Advanced's speakers are nothing to write home about, a slightly larger keyboard probably would take been a better use of infinite.

In terms of ports, the Blade xv Advanced has a healthy selection. On the right side, there'due south an SD card reader, a USB-C port, a USB-A port and an HDMI port.

Image 1 of 3

Paradigm 2 of 3

Image iii of three

On the left side, there'south a 3.5 mm audio jack, another USB-C port, two more USB-A ports and a ability port. I never had any trouble finding enough infinite for my peripherals, and I can't recall of any other ports I really wanted to see.

Razer Blade 15 Avant-garde review: Display

Every bit noted higher up, you can become the Razer Blade 15 Advanced with a diverseness of dissimilar screen options. Ours came with a 15.6-inch 1080p screen with an impressive 360 Hz refresh charge per unit. (Good luck getting games to run that smoothly, notwithstanding; the best I managed was about 150 fps.)

While nosotros can't speak for every configuration of the Blade 15 Avant-garde, here's how ours fared against both the previous Blade 15 Advanced model, as well as some other close competitor: the Alienware m15 R4.

	Razer Blade 15 Advanced (11th Gen)	Razer Blade xv Advanced (10th Gen)	Alienware m15 R4
Brightness (nits)	313	244	460
sRGB Color Gamut (%)	109	124	211
Delta-E	0.24	0.23	0.32

While the Razer Blade 15 Advanced 11th-gen model is a chip brighter than its predecessor, it displays somewhat less of the sRGB spectrum — and both brightness and color gamut pale in comparison to the m15 R4. On the other hand, the colour accurateness is about the same (for Delta-E, closer to zero is better.)

However, for our review model, the big depict wasn't how gorgeous the screen looked; it was how fast the refresh charge per unit could get. If you're willing to fiddle with the settings to get frame rates in the 200 (or even 300) fps neighborhood, rich color is arguably a secondary concern.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced review: Functioning

In terms of gaming performance, we measured how the Razer Bract 15 performed on graphical benchmarks by measuring its frame rate at 1080p resolution and Ultra settings. Hither's how it compared:

	Razer Blade 15 Advanced (11th Gen)	Razer Blade xv Avant-garde (10th Gen)	Alienware m15 R4
Assassinator'due south Creed Valhalla	66	74	Not measured
Grand Theft Auto Five	106	107	108
Red Expressionless Redemption two	61	70	68
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	82	88	77

Information technology's unusual that the Blade 15 Advanced (11th-gen) didn't perform likewise as the Blade 15 Advanced (10th-gen), but in that location are a few potential explanations for this. The Nvidia drivers have inverse over time, and the 11th-gen Intel chips are arguably not that large of an upgrade. Still, there's no denying that the GPU and RAM on the new Blade 15 Advanced are identical to the model we tested earlier this year, and the older model got better scores.

Qualitatively, however, I had no complaints most the Blade 15 Advanced's performance. I tested the machine with four of my go-to games on Nvidia-recommended settings, and had good experiences beyond the board: Age of Empires 3 (140 fps), Doom Eternal (130 fps), Baldur's Gate Three (100 fps) and Final Fantasy Xiv (95 fps). All the games ran smoothly, and the Bract fifteen Advanced was non terribly loud, even with the fans going at full blast.

(It's worth noting that during bodily gameplay, the 11th-gen Bract xv Advanced had ameliorate frame rates for some games, and worse frame rates for others, compared to the tenth-gen model. Once once more, information technology'southward hard to account for the discrepancy.)

Here's how the Bract 15 Advanced stacks upwardly in terms of bogus benchmarks and productivity:

	Razer Blade 15 Avant-garde (11th Gen)	Razer Bract fifteen Advanced (10th Gen)	Alienware m15 R4
Geekbench v.4 (bogus functioning benchmark)	6,924	vi,531	Not measured
Copying 25 GB from flash drive (MBps)	one,796	890	ane,147
Handbrake video encoding (minutes:seconds)	8:46	ix:57	vii:07

Unlike gaming, the 11th-gen Blade 15 Avant-garde is better in every category than its predecessor (fifty-fifty though it tin't encode video quite every bit quickly as the m15 R4). From a qualitative perspective, I used the Blade 15 Advanced as my everyday work car for more than a calendar week, and found that it ran every app I could throw at information technology with ease, whether I was typing manufactures, listening to music, watching media or tweaking obscure Windows features.

At this juncture, information technology's also worth mentioning that the Bract 15 Advanced'south built-in speakers are fine. The Razer Synapse software lets yous access optional THX sound features, but even these algorithms tin can do only so much for small laptop speakers. The mic, on the other hand, is perfectly serviceable, as is the 1080p webcam.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced review: Battery life and estrus

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced can concluding for upward to 5 hours and 22 minutes on a battery accuse, and reaches temperatures of 82 degrees Fahrenheit during everyday apply. Here'southward how that compares to similar models:

	Razer Blade fifteen Advanced (11th Gen)	Razer Blade xv Avant-garde (10th Gen)	Alienware m15 R4
Battery life – productivity (minutes:seconds)	5:22	five:14	iv:01
Bombardment life – gaming (minutes:seconds)	i:35	1:02	ane:fourteen
Heat – productivity (°F)	82	xc	109
Heat – gaming (°F)	123	115	133

Beyond the board, the Razer Bract 15 Advanced has improve battery life than its shut competitors, although yous'll want to stay plugged in while gaming. Furthermore, at 82 degrees, the Blade 15 Advanced is cool enough to keep in your lap for piece of work purposes. (Again, you won't want to do then while gaming — merely that'due south the case with whatsoever gaming laptop.)

Razer Blade 15 Advanced review: Verdict

Generally speaking, the Razer Blade xv Advanced (11th-gen) has a lot going for information technology. It looks neat, packs the latest components and even works well every bit a productivity accompaniment. Nevertheless, its gaming operation is comparable to the 10th-gen model — and in some cases, information technology's a niggling weaker.

However, the Razer Bract fifteen Advanced is the newest version of an splendid laptop, and if you tin can afford it, information technology should support both your gaming and work habits for years to come.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and engineering science. Afterward hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on archetype sci-fi.