Razer Blade 15 Quartz 2020 Pink Gaming Laptop Review
This is not a sponsored post. I purchased this laptop direct from Razer and used my own hard earned money to pay for it. I have never owned anything by Razer but the company has long been the gold standard for gaming PCs, gaming laptops, and accessories.
Here is my unboxing video:
And a bit of my “gaming history” on previous laptops, sprinkled in with some pictures of the new 2020 Razer Quartz Blade 15 Inch Laptop. Followed by some Specs, Benchmarks, and recommended accessories.
The pictures and videos sometimes don’t reflect how pink this computer really is. My own pictures, Razer official pictures, and other people’s pictures really show this laptop as more of a rose gold with a hint of pink, but in person, it’s EXTREMELY pink. Not rose gold at all. So keep that in mind :). None of my pictures or videos have any filters or editing. I tried different lighting and different camera angles to try to get a good idea of how pink it was, but no matter what I did, the laptop is much pinker in person than in the pictures lol. Which is a good thing i think :).
Prior to owning this laptop, I was most recently using an HP Spectre. It was not a gaming laptop by any means. But for me, someone who does not play twitchy games or fps games, etc, it was fine. It has an Nvidia graphics card and enough ram and so on to run the games I wanted to play – which by most people’s standards are casual games – I’m a casual gamer and I’m not ashamed to admit it lol. I love games for girls, otome games, RPGs, Strategy Games, Simulation Games, JRPGs, Visual Novels, and so on. The only time I might need a bit of OOMPH is if I decided to play an online game, like an MMORPG for example. But even then, most of them are designed to run on medium powered computers to capture more sales and reach a broader audience.
Prior to my HP Spectre I had an Asus Rog Strix. It was a nice gaming rig but it was bulky and heavy. And prior to the Asus, I had 3 Dell Alienwares. My first Alienware was my first laptop ever, probably like 20 years ago almost now when Alienware released one of its first laptops. And it lasted quite awhile. But I paid for their top of the line care package and they sent technicians to fix it a few times over the years. At one point it had to get sent in for repairs, and then it was gone for a long time, 2-3 months.
During that time I blogged about my negative experience and one of the Dell Customer Advocates at the time reached out to me “wanting to make it right”. It turned out it was so old (probably between 5-6 years at that time) they were having trouble getting components needed to fix it so they upgraded me to a brand new Alienware with better specs obviously than my outdated one. I was happy so after a few years when it was time to upgrade again I naturally bought another Dell Alienware. It too served me well. I had each Alienware for over 5 years. The only reason I moved away from Alienware was there were more options on the market at a more affordable price point.
I also realized that although I consider myself a gamer, most people would not consider me a gamer because I’m not playing FPS or Arena styled games where every millisecond of response time truly matters. Obviously for the types of games I play, I don’t need a fricken Alienware (or Razer for that matter lol).
My Asus Rog didn’t last as long as my Dell Alienwares. I’m not sure why, but after 2 or 3 years it was dead, wouldn’t even turn on – I’m guessing it was the graphics or motherboard or battery or power supply. I didn’t have any kind of care package and yeah I could have taken it to somewhere like Best Buy and had their technicians look at fixing it. But I decided to just replace it.
HP Spectre had the Nvidia graphics and RAM and Intel processors to get the job done for the types of games I play. and my HP Spectre is still fully working and functioning to this day. My HP Spectre was maybe $700. Half the price of my new Razer.
I really only bought Razer initially because it was so pink. I also know it to be a brand that can play most modern games on high settings. I know as far as specs go it will last me a long time, especially for the type of games I enjoy.
In theory as long as there’s no hardware failures, I should not need to upgrade for probably 7-8 years because I don’t play the types of games that demand the latest and greatest newest technology.
And I’m fine with that because I don’t want to upgrade away from this beautiful pink color.
Before purchasing the 2020 Razer Quartz Blade 15 inch laptop, I was also considering the MSI Prestige Pink Laptop. In all the videos I seen online, the MSI Prestige Pink Laptop looked more pink than the Razer Quartz edition laptops. But after seeing the Razer Quartz in person, I can tell you that it is more pink than it appears in any video.
I think it photographs and videographs as a metallic rose gold, but that is not how it looks in person at all. It is as pink as bubblegum, a flamingo, raspberry icecream, or whatever other pink description you could want to use lol. It’s absolutely not rose gold. It’s full on PINK. I owned a Rose Gold Iphone, and my HP Spectre was Rose Gold (just the lid though). So I know what Rose Gold is and what it isn’t. And this isn’t rose gold. It’s absolutely PINK. But I can’t really show you how Pink it is, because the metallic finish throws it off on camera, but trust me when you get your hands on one, you’re going to be blown away by how pink it actually is. If you want pink this has you covered.
So for me, personally, specs aren’t that important, give me a newish Nvidia graphics card, and a hefty amount of RAM and a decent intel processor and I’m good to go. I also have owned some Radeon computers/laptops and I prefer Nvidia. It’s a personal preference but I’ve had smoother experiences on Nvidia. I think some of Radeon’s problems come from some driver issues, but they’re both fine and acceptable graphics cards for gamers.
But for most of you, you’re going to want to know the specs.
Here’s the link to the 2020 Limited Edition Razer Blade Quartz laptop so you can see the specs for yourself: https://www.razer.com/gaming-laptops/Razer-Blade-15/RZ09-03289EQ1-R3U1
And these specs were pulled right off that page:
Specifications
- 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H 6 Core (2.6GHz/5.0GHz)
- Windows 10 Home
- 15.6″ Full HD 144Hz, 100% sRGB, 4.9 mm bezel, factory calibrated
- NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (6GB GDDR6 VRAM)
- 256GB SSD (M.2 NVMe)
- 16GB Dual-Channel (8GB x 2) DDR4-2933MHz
- Single-zone RGB Powered by Razer Chroma™ anti-ghosting keyboard
Given the portability of the Razer Blade, connection to online gaming is always a concern. As long as you’ve got a strong enough internet connection and a reasonably good router you should always be ready to game. The Razer Blade features Intel’s new flawless Wi-Fi 6E so it’s important to ensure you have a good internet speed to make the most of it. You can compare broadband deals if your speeds just aren’t cutting it.
The only thing I didn’t like was the small hard drive. I have over 1,000 steam games and I am also a graphic artist and work with large files all day. But I learned a trick: You can play steam games on an external hard drive. So I bought an 8 TB external hard drive at Best Buy that was on sale for $139 regularly $199. And I’m good to go. Things I don’t like about my external hard drive, it’s big, it’s heavy, the cords both the power adapter and usb cable are short, so how could I play it in bed or on the couch. I probably at some point will get a portable external hard drive. They make them as small as a credit card these days up to 2-3TB which is plenty. I think they also make wireless external hard drives… I probably bought mine too soon without really researching what I was buying. Also it’s not pink lol. I have seen pink external hard drives, especially the small portable kinds. But whatever, it works lol. As long as I’m at a desk or a table or have an outlet close to the bed or couch it’s fine.
This was the external hard drive I purchased here from Best Buy:
This is not the first time Razer has released a pink laptop and probably won’t be the last. But each time they launch the Razer Quartz it sells out quickly as it is a limited edition. Older even used Razer Quartz laptops still resell for their original price or even higher on sites like Ebay because it’s so highly sought after.
Other than MSI Prestige Pink there is no other gaming laptop in this color. Some might have colored lids, but the keyboard and bezel is grey or white or black. These two, MSI and Razer are the only ones that are fully from edge to edge truly pink.
There are other Pink laptops out there sure, don’t get me wrong, but not ones designed for gaming. Most other Pink Laptops you see like HP Stream or cheap laptops on sites like aliexpress, have onboard graphics. Intel graphics MIGHT be fine for the types of games I play, maybe, I dunno. I’ve never owned a laptop with onboard intel graphic cards. I hear they’ve gotten better in recent years too, but still light years behind Nvidia when it comes to gaming. But since I play lower end games with less demanding graphics, it might work for me. lol If Microsoft or Intel want to send me one to test, I’d be happy to test it for them and do a nice review :). But until then, I’m gonna stick to Nvidia because it’s made for gamers.
So I know that the pink is pretty and all, but can you play games on this laptop? The answer is yes. Yes you can. Here are some benchmark tests I did to prove that you can play games on the Razer Blade Quartz laptop.
First I tried UserBenchmark.
Here’s a screenshot:
Here’s the text from the test:
UserBenchmarks: Game 63%, Desk 97%, Work 56%
CPU: Intel Core i7-10750H – 88.5%
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti (Mobile) – 65.1%
SSD: Nvme CA5-8D256 256GB – 202.6%
RAM: Samsung M471A1K43DB1-CWE 2x8GB – 83.9%
MBD: Razer Blade 15 Base Model (Early 2020) – RZ09-0328
Next I ran a test with Novabench. Here are the screenshots from that test. As you can see it is 3% slower than the standard “high end gaming PC” which I’m guessing is comparing desktop specs. So not bad for a laptop. It’s moderately higher than a mid-level gaming PC – again am assuming the benchmark is using desktop specs. And is more than double the recommended specs to run VR. The laptop is labeled as VR ready, which it clearly is capable of here.
Lastly, I tried Passmark benchmarking software. It scored the lowest on this benchmark. The palm rests got a LITTLE warm, but not hot, and the fans sped up to where you could hear them a little, but not like super loud. Could still hear the TV in the next room, etc.
Again it is probably comparing it also to desktop machines which isn’t really fair or accurate because desktop is always going to win. But for me, personally, I wouldn’t want a desktop. I travel and I need to be mobile. I don’t like hunching over a desk all day, etc. I need to be comfortable when I game. I game to relax.
Speaking of that, I ordered a few accessories to help me relax with my new laptop.
I ordered a pink fan to help dissipate heat. It just sits right under the laptop. It plugs into the USB and it’s pretty quiet. It does have a switch to turn up the fan speed. It has six fans, it’s pink, and quiet, it has a nice ledge that helps my laptop not slide forward too when on my lap.
It’s this one from amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08F2NT7KR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I ordered also a large pink lap desk with room for a mouse and my external hard drive. It hasn’t arrived yet. Hopefully it will be large enough for my needs. I chose this one.
I haven’t ordered a mouse yet. I have a cheap walmart wireless mouse that’s already pink. I know I want wireless which is what my current mouse is. I’m thinking of ordering the razer quartz atheris mouse although ideally I think I would like Razer Viper Ultimate Quartz wireless mouse. But that price is crazy. And I worry it would be too big and/or heavy. I think I’ll just stick with my little walmart mouse for now.
Someday maybe buy one of these two:
That’s it for my review of my new Razer Quartz 2020 Blade 15 Inch Laptop.
Thanks for reading. I’ll leave you with this video of my cat making biscuits next to my laptop this morning :).
GeekySweetie, I value and respect your viewpoint on this laptop. I hope your views will help readers looking to buy it. Isn’t the trackpad and internal speakers are below average?
Actually, I find the speakers are very loud. I have mine turned down to 60% because they’re too loud for me. Trackpad seems about average. I hate trackpads in general. I bought a cheap wireless mouse for like $10 that gets the job done and is also pink :).
What kind of games would you say aren’t used for this pc? I mostly play Sims, lots of steam games I would like to play world of warcraft. How much can it handle? Im no expert.
This computer can definitely run both The Sims and World of Warcraft. That said, you do not need this expensive and powerful of a computer to run these games. You can walk into any walmart, Target, Best Buy, Costco or Sams Club and pick up almost any Windows Computer off the shelf and it will be able to run those games. Both of those games are very old, and although yes, there are newer expansions, most of the expansions will still run on most “entry level” PCs. Having either AMD or NVIDIA graphics is a plus especially for the newer expansions, and having at least 4GB of Ram, more if you can afford it, will be fine. Processor doesn’t matter as much for these older games, so an I5 or even some newer I3 can probably run most of them just fine. This Dell for $649 will run both games just fine, but of course it’s not Pink lol. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-victus-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-12450h-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1650-512gb-ssd-mica-silver/ This HP for $379 will also run both games just fine and is a great price. It actually looks really attractive in a nice silver color – but again is not pink. https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/7613146/HP-15-gw0123od-Laptop-156-Screen/ – With that said, if you love Pink, you will love the Razer pink gaming laptop as it’s one of the only laptops on the market that is completely pink. I’ve owned mine for 2 or 3 years and it still plays every game I buy just fine. I do not play “twitchy” games (I’m not talking about the streaming platform). I mean games where FPS (frames per second) really impact gameplay such as most FPS (First Person Shooter) games, or super competitive arena games (I was into Smite for awhile back in the day, but I’ve never played DOTA or Fortnite or etc). For these types of “twitchy” games, I would not recommend this particular Razer laptop. Razer has better systems dedicated more to “professional gaming” or “competitive gaming”. But I run adobe, including adobe Premeiere and do heavy long video editing and everything on my little pink Razer and I love it. My only two gripes are 1. The small hard drive, because games take up a lot of space, especially if you like modding the Sims, I love modding the sims, downloading custom skins, etc. I bought an external Hard-drive but then it makes my laptop, more like a desktop, less mobile because the harddrive has to plug into the electrical outlet and into the PC – They make wifi/wireless hard drives now, but I haven’t updated mine yet. It would still have to plug into electricity and your laptop would have to be in range of that wifi connection to connect to the Hard drive. and 2.) It does get hot. I bought a cheap pink fan for mine on amazon for like $10 and it’s never crashed or anything from that heat, but it’s not the kind of laptop you’d want sitting on your lap – plus it’s heavy lol. I bought a Surface Laptop for drawing and it runs much cooler, quieter, and has less heat. I actually use my Surface Laptop much more than my Razer these days. Unfortunately it’s not pink, but it is much more portable :). The higher end models also come with NVIDIA graphics and can also run the sims and world of warcraft. I enjoy the Surface Laptop a lot. Bought it mostly for work related taks (I’m a graphic designer), but really enjoy it. So yeah I would only recommend the Pink Razer if you’re deadset on pink :). In which case, there’s almost no laptop in the world like it, except MSI – which is also a good gaming laptop and similarly priced to the Razer. https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/8633686/MSI-Prestige-14-14-Rugged-Gaming/