The RAZER Blade 15 (2018) 4K (UHD)

Fuelhandler
I just got an update email from amazon.ca. My Razer Blade 2018 4K shipping date has been changed to sometime between August 13 to 28.

That’s similar thing happen like last year, I ended up buying FHD and 4K external Monitor. 4K Blade 15 sales will be bad if they release it later, maybe nvidia by the time will announce next gen GPU, and poeple will hold buying Pascal laptops for this.

I had QHD+ Blade 14 2015, first time when I changed to Blade 14 2016 FHD I felt Resolution downgrade but since i use for gaming, QHD+, 1800p games doesn’t play well on gtx 1060 and it was fine with FHD 60Hz, but now with 144Hz panel, this time their selling point is on 1080p 144Hz panel, 4K for video editing media consumption etc i can do on external monitor. So unless you’re really need 4K editing machine on the go I don’t see it’s worth to wait. Btw I thought I would also miss the touchscreen function and glossy screen like my old MacBook Pro, but I didn’t and literally this year I don’t even touch my touchscreen ultrabook. Windows touchscreen isn’t as responsive as Apple touchscreen so I’m good with that feature, you’ll get better screen for outdoor usage, Blade glossy screen is very reflective from previous devices, not mentioning battery life and extra weight disadvantage.

Fuelhandler
Alert! 4K 2018 Blade 15 just popped up as available on the Razer.com website.

Where? Still shows "available in july" , unless there's some caching issue

Now I see it - nevermind!

https://www.razer.com/comparisons/blade-15 still shows the July date so I suspect they just put the page up to stop bitching

Synclide
Hi, I'm just wanting to know if you ended up changing your mind regarding the 4k version, are you still waiting for it to be released in the UK or have you got another laptop now? I am also seriously considering cancelling my pre-order for it on amazon UK as razer just keep failing to meet release promises, 1st week of august is now up and there no sign of change. Thank you.

My 2018 Razer Blade 4K arrived Fromm Amazon.ca this past Friday. One word: "Wow". First off, I have to say that I am VERY picky and OCD when it comes to build quality issues. I've owned two 14" Razer Blades (860m and 960m) that I've kept with minor build quality issues (dead pixels, and detaching lid insignia). I've also returned two 4K 2017 Razer Blade Pro's and one 2017 14" Razer Blades in the past year due to build quality issues. As far as I can tell, this is the first completely defect free Razer laptop I have owned. Before purchasing this Razer Blade, I purchased and returned 2 2018 1070 Max-Q Gigabyte Aeros because of screen issues (severe backlight bleed, keyboard backlighting unevenness and what appeared to be a hair laminated under one of the screens.)

Pros:
- The 4K touchscreen is vibrant, detailed, colour accurate and defect free (as far as I've noticed so far.) Touch input is accurate. Absolutely no backlight bleed (yay!) Screen is definitely brighter and sharper than the 1080p 144hz model (same LCD is used on both the 1080p 2018 Gigabyte Aero and 1080p 2018 Razer Blade by the way.)
- I had some issues at first with battery life (2~2.5 hours). Unit ran hot and fans would spin up under light load. I upgraded to the most recent build of Windows 10 April Update (1803) and battery life has improved drastically to around 7~8 hours, laptop is running cool as I write this review, and fans are turned off unless under gaming load. Fabulous!
- Everything seems to be running fine. Wifi is rock solid. Speakers are working good (had an issue when I first put headphones in the jack where there was no sound from the headphones, and when I removed the headphones there was no sound from the speakers, but this seems to have self corrected and switches over with no issues again so far.)
Cons:
- Trying to type without hitting the trackpad, as it causes the cursor to jump around, is difficult (palm rejection isn't so great.) I just have to make sure I maintain a proper hand posture while typing (my highschool keyboarding teacher would be proud!)
- The black finish is a real skin oil stain magnet (purely cosmetic and can be easily wh removed.) I actually think it's worse than earlier Razer laptops.

Final Thoughts:
- I had an issue where the battery wouldn't charge with the computer turned off. After uninstalling and reinstalling the battery management driver, it is charging while turned off (A quick google search identified the solution.)
- This is a great hybrid gaming and office computer. If you can afford the premium, it's definitly worth the price.

Synclide
hey thank you for your input, I was of the understanding that no one who pre-ordered the 4k version from any amazon had yet recieved their product. Knowing that the orders of amazon.ca customers are being fulfilled has given me some reassurance that it won't be too much longer that the uk amazon domain recieves and starts delivering blade 15 4k's to their clientele (hopefully in the next fortnite). That being said, I appreciate your in-depth review of your 4k unit and upon seeing many good points about it in your post I have decided to keep my pre-order in place as i think it's worth the money as you said. If you don't mind I have a few questions, I am glad you confirmed that the screen of the 4k version is very vibrant and detailed as It was one of the main reasons I wanted this laptop, so in your opinion does the 100% aRGB on this laptop make for a better visual experiance when watching videos/movies/anime/netflix etc than other sRGB laptops you have owned? Also, since I would like to game on this laptop aswell as doing productivity work, I was wondering if you could play a game like fortnite/leagueoflegends/pubg and let us know how the laptop does? does it run smoothly? im planning on lowering the screen res to 1080p on the in game settings anyway when in game, are refresh rates close to the claimed 60 fps when your gaming in 4k or 1080p?
Thank you!

Just to let you know, Scan have a date of 20th of August for the 4k in the UK - I've put the link and details in this post: /unofficial-new-blade-15-4k-20th-august-in-uk.39865/#post-452052

Jimbo2506
Could somebody please specify a specific release date for this year's 4K Blade 15 in the UK because i have been waiting for it and, although Razer said July on their website, the month is almost up and there is no sign of change or release. Pls reply if you know more than I do because it would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

looks like 20th August in the UK for the 4k version
/unofficial-new-blade-15-4k-20th-august-in-uk.39865/#post-452052

misterg36
Just to let you know, Scan have a date of 20th of August for the 4k in the UK - I've put the link and details in this post: /unofficial-new-blade-15-4k-20th-august-in-uk.39865/#post-452052

Seems convincing, not too long left in that case, honestly can't wait to recieve it, the wait has seemed like ages XD, thanks for your input :D

Fuelhandler
Hello Synclide,
Glad to hear you are keeping your pre-order. In my opinion it is definitely worth the wait. In my case, the question I had to ask is whether or not I would be disappointed once the GeForce GTX 1170 (or 2070 depending on the nomenclature Nvidia decides to go with) comes out. In my case the 1070 max-q hits my requirements, so the decision made sense for me as this computer should be sufficient for the next 2-3 years for my needs.
To answer your questions:
- Yes, I believe that the 100% colour range on this laptop makes for a vastly improved viewing experience. I'm only an amateur digital photographer, and dabble very limitedly with video production, but from my "pro-sumer" vantage point, this is probably the 2nd best display I have used on a laptop (and very well calibrated to boot.) The only more visually stunning display I've used was the OLED display on my 13" Alienware which was unbelievable in the way it could make colour "pop" (but in my opinion the size trade off vastly trumps the slight increase in visual fidelity (of course this is purely subjective and not a quantified opinion.)
- In regards to your second question, E-Sports games fly on this machine at 1080p, and it barely breaks a sweat. 60 fps at 1080p are constant and fans whirl at a hair above whisper quiet (once again purely a non-scientific assessment.) 4K is definitely achievable at 60 fps with some minor tweaking of settings. If hard core e-sports are the main use, then the 144hz might be some gamers preference, but at the cost of muddy drab display and fuzzy text in anything other than frantic game play use (the 4K in my opinion is the clear winner, as games can always be scaled to 1080p and 60hz is more than sufficient and not worth the 144hz trade-offs.)
I must reiterate that for general office computing, the fans turn completely off which is a nice feature.
In summation, I think you will be very pleased with your pre-order once it ships to you. I am very glad I waited, as I almost cancelled my pre-order too (in order to buy the 144hz variant.) As pre-orders are shipping to Canada (and the US now), I'm sure the UK won't be far behind.) Happy gaming!

Hey thanks for your reply, you've been a massive help. Releaved to hear it can game no problem 1080p at 60fps, massive bonus to hear that it could game at 4k at a high fps if settings are tweaked, though the 4k aRGB is more for eye popping videos/movies/anime and some light photo/video editting, and as you said the display is eye catching so thats great! 20th august is a potential release date for the UK, so yeah not long left now! thanks for your input once again!

pielover7434
I linked my reddit mini review on the next page. I think it answers most of your questions. The screen is not as color accurate as the XPS or Aero 4k. It's overly saturated and unfortunately can look strange with skin colors. Besides that it looks amazing for anime/movies/etc. It's definitely better than most panels out there, but not what I was expecting after seeing all the marketing promoting the 100 percent color accuracy/etc. I've done Fortnite/HOTS/Dark Souls 3. They all run like a charm and look phenomenal with 1080 scaling. Runs smoothly in 4k as well for the games I've listed. The temps are pretty high and that's the only other thing I can add

oh cool i'll give it a look! glad to hear games run like a charm, I am aware that the xps has a stunning display but that camera on the bottom of the screen will ruin my future job interviews XD. I'm also a big fan of the RGB keyboard as I have some applications I will utilise that for, the xps doesn't have that but then again its marketed as an office laptop, and im after something thats more 'gaming' build wise and hardware wise, but that I could also take into a workplace and not look like im asking for attention with my over the top looking gaming device XD with radical colours and sharp body work (i.e rog, alienware). The aero was definately a contender for me, but i prefered the sleak design of the razer and build materials used. thanks again for the advice!

The 4k blade is now available in the Razer store for the UK!!
https://www.razer.com/gb-en/gaming-laptops/razer-blade

Jimbo2506
Could somebody please specify a specific release date for this year's 4K Blade 15 in the UK because i have been waiting for it and, although Razer said July on their website, the month is almost up and there is no sign of change or release. Pls reply if you know more than I do because it would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Just in case you missed the thread warning Jimbo
You can now Buy one from the UK Razer store - Which means they are finally in the UK :D

The 4k blade is now available in the Razer store for the UK!!
https://www.razer.com/gb-en/gaming-laptops/razer-blade

I am trying not to hold my breath or hope too much but I'm hoping so too

It's been so tempting to get from Razer, or Scan, but I've held out too (I also go the 2 year protection plan for £130 - which sounded pretty good value as it covered accidental damage as well!)

Synclide
yeah same story here pre-ordered with that 2 year insurance, i read into it and it covers accidental damage so things like dropping it and shattering the screen or water damage I imagaine, most likely never gonna let anything like that happen to my 2.5k laptop but good to know I'm covered XD. Yeah same thing here in terms of waiting too, pre-ordered it very late in june thinking it would release 1st week of july and here we are late august lol, been waiting for well over a month and a half. Its the first razer product I'm buying and from reading that they have customer service that could do with improvements, amazon is much safer. I also think that I've been waiting far too long now for it to come out on amazon to order it somewhere else now. The coming working week, i have my hopes up that it will arrive at my door. The wait has literally seemed like a lifetime XD

If you got nothing from Amazon the other day (I didn't) I noticed Scan changed their date to 03rd September - so thats the new wish date https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-razer-blade-uhd-ips-60hz-i7-8750h-16gb-ddr4-512gb-m2-nvme-ssd-8gb-geforce-gtx-1070-thunderbolt3

Synclide
3rd of september and no sign of change lol

Yup, though I've asked them if they are fulfilling pre-orders or just dont have them.

I've been checking this: https://www.nowinstock.net/uk/computers/laptops/razer
and have seen the 144hz one go in and out of stock in Amazon - so don't know if anyone has had them in just for the pre-orders (and Amazon haven't got to mine yet) or if Razer haven't given any of the 4k ones to external suppliers.

More hoping and waiting

crypticc
Hello

Been watching this thread since ordering my blade in early June.

Popped to say hi and that my razer blade 15 4k has been dispatched from Amazon.
Arriving today so totally ruined the weekend plans. Lol

Cheers
Chris

Brilliant, 2 quick questions, like Synclide said is that Amazon UK?
and do you know when you ordered in June (I was on 16th so I just wondered if they are doing it in date order).?

Thanks again for letting us know.. it's been a long wait and it's great to see Amazon fuldilling orders

crypticc
Yes UK. Came this morning. However I think it might have come earlier but I'd changed my card since ordering, but failed to update my order to my new card number - they first attempted to invoice me on Wednesday but it bounced on the old card number. When I called to update and ask why they didn't just use the card that I'd already updated and used on other orders they gave me £5 which was nice.

8th June order

Brilliant, have fun with it

And thanks again for letting us know. I was starting to think Amazon was never going to get them in, but it looks like they have them and are fulfilling orders in a first come first serve - which is great.

Soooo many times I've been tempted to get the 144hz which still seems awesome but I'm glad I've waited as I need the 4k for coding