PCs & Laptops

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2020) gaming notebook in review

Razer redesigns the Blade 15 Advanced and adds new, even more powerful hardware. We have already tested the basic version of the notebook from last year, so we can say in advance that nothing has changed on the case. Otherwise, the notebook has a 300 Hertz display, an RTX 2080 Super and an Intel Core i7-10875H as a highlight.

Packaging and accessories

The Blade 15 Advanced is very well packed and the presentation of the notebook is, as always, very high quality. Razer does without a lot of additional material in the delivery. Included is the power supply unit including power cable as well as some additional material like a manual. The usual Razer stickers and a cleaning cloth are also included, the latter is also important.

Features

As mentioned earlier, the Razer Blade 15 Advanced has powerful hardware, the best currently available for notebooks. The Advanced model is still available in a less potent variant, the tested model has a GeForce RTX 2080 Super with 8 GB GDDR6 graphics memory, an Intel Core i7-10875H and 16 GB DDR4 memory. Memory is provided by a NVMe SSD with 512 GB, which is also supposed to transport the data quickly.

The Blade 15 also has enough connections. Three USB 3.2 and one USB-C (Thunderbolt) port provide enough possibilities to connect peripheral devices. Differently than with the basis model only WLAN and Bluetooth 5.0 over the Intel Wireless-AX201 network card is supported, without LAN must be done without.

The displays used are also becoming more and more powerful. The Razer Blade 15 Advanced already has a matt Full-HD display with 300 hertz.

Design and workmanship

Although our tested model is the Blade 15 Advanced and we tested the base model last year, the case hasn’t changed. This is partly due to the high quality and the very good workmanship of the aluminum unibody. The black anodized one attracts fingerprints, but we at Razer have the cleaning cloth in the scope of delivery.

The illuminated Razer logo on the back of the display and the green USB ports remain eye-catching, as does the freely configurable RGB-illuminated keyboard.

More about the case and the workmanship can be found in our review of the Razer Blade 15 Base (2019).

Display

In addition to updated hardware in the Advanced model, Razer also relies on a great display. The 15-inch FullHD display is rated at 300 hertz. The matt coating is intended to counteract reflections, which also works well.

But in our opinion, the display does not come with the best color settings. Some fine tuning is necessary to get the best possible result.

Software

The software of the Blade 15 Advanced is still Razer Synapse, as it was when testing the Razer Blade 15 base (2019). Users of peripheral devices from the manufacturer know this software too. With Razer Synapse the RGB lighting can be freely configured. You can also choose different performance modes that give you either more processor or graphics power.

Technical details

processor Intel Core i7-10875H
graphics card NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 Super 8 GB
working memory 16 GB (2 x 8) DDR4 SDRAM
display 15.6 inch (39.6 cm) Full HD 240Hz
connections 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (USB-A), 1x Thunderbolt™ 3 (USB-C), 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x mini DP 1.4
battery 94Wh Li Polymer
dimensions 356 mm (W) x 250 mm (D) x 25 mm (H)

Performance in practical test

System performance

It should be clear that the Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2020) can easily handle current games in FullHD with a high level of detail, given the hardware used. The i7-10875H does a good job in terms of photo and video editing, and the GTX 2080 Super adds the necessary bit of power.

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wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook Cinebench R20 Cinebench R15
1 Acer Predator Helios 300 2.061 1.183
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 2.461 1.183
3 Alienware Area-51m 4.246 1.838
4 Razer Blade 15 2019 1.895 842
5 Aorus 15G XB 3.383 1.526
6 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 2.615 1.214
7 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 3.630 1.342
8 Razer Blade 15 Advanced 2020 2.158 955
9 Aorus 5 KB 2.278 989
Gaming-Notebook Cinebench R20 Cinebench R15
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook VRMark Orange Room
1 Acer Helios 300 5.902
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 8.183
3 Alienware Area-51m (1 Netzteil) 7.201
4 Alienware Area-51m (2 Netzteile) 10.225
5 Razer Blade 15 2019 6.133
6 Aorus 15G XB 8.323
7 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 7.397
8 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 9.581
9 Razer Blade 15 Advanced 2020 8.158
Gaming-Notebook VRMark Orange Room
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook VRMark Cyan Room
1 Acer Helios 300 457
2 Schenker XMG NEO 15 5.033
3 Alienware Area-51m (1 Netzteil) 3.919
4 Alienware Area-51m (2 Netzteile) 8.427
5 Razer Blade 15 2019 2.718
6 Aorus 15G XB 6.486
7 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 5.548
8 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 6.463
9 Razer Blade 15 Advanced 2020 7.344
Gaming-Notebook VRMark Cyan Room
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook VRMark Blue Room
1 Acer Helios 300 1.861
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 1.680
3 Alienware Area-51m (1 Netzteil) 1.261
4 Alienware Area-51m (2 Netzteile) 3.012
5 Razer Blade 15 2019 1.597
6 Aorus 15G XB 2.199
7 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 1.794
8 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 2.468
9 Razer Blade 15 Advanced 2020 2.453
Gaming-Notebook VRMark Blue Room
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra
1 Acer Helios 300 3.500
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 3.418
3 Alienware Area-51m (1 Netzteil) 2.927
4 Alienware Area-51m (2 Netzteil) 5.697
5 Razer Blade 15 2019 2.976
6 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 3.502
7 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 4.368
8 Razer Blade 15 Advanced 2020 4.758
9 Aorus 5 KB 6.809
Gaming-Notebook 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra
1 Acer Helios 300 7.011
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 6.650
3 Alienware Area-51m (1 Netzteil) 5.582
4 Alienware Area-51m (2 Netzteile) 10.182
5 Razer Blade 15 2019 6.242
6 Aorus 15G XB 8.740
7 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 6.852
8 Gigabyte Aero 17 hDR XB 8.308
9 Razer Blade 15 Advanced 2020 9.149
10 Aorus 5 KB 7.087
Gaming-Notebook 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook 3DMark Fire Strike
1 Acer Helios 300 13.710
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 12.890
3 Alienware Area-51m (1 Netzteil) 11.072
4 Alienware Area-51m (2 Netzteile) 21.098
5 Razer Blade 15 2019 12.452
6 Aorus 15G XB 16.876
7 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 13.629
8 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 15.983
9 Razer Blade 15 Advanced 2020 16.676
10 Aorus 5 KB 13.975
Gaming-Notebook 3DMark Fire Strike
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook 3DMark Time Spy
1 Acer Helios 300 5.915
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 5.308
3 Alienware Area-51m (1 Netzteil) 9.186
4 Alienware Area-51m (2 Netzteile) 9.411
5 Razer Blade 15 2019 5.473
6 Aorus 15G XB 7.116
7 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 5.830
8 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 6.795
9 Razer Blade 15 Advanced 2020 7.424
10 Aorus 5 KB 6.061
Gaming-Notebook 3DMark Time Spy
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook 3DMark Sky Diver
1 Acer Helios 300 33.824
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 30.659
3 Alienware Area-51m (1 Netzteil) 32.631
4 Alienware Area-51m (2 Netzteile) 48.708
5 Razer Blade 15 2019 26.793
6 Aorus 15G XB 40.857
7 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 34.249
8 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 43.653
9 Razer Blade 15 Advanced 2020 38.186
Gaming-Notebook 3DMark Sky Diver
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook Overall Essentials Productivity Digital Content Creation
1 Acer Helios 300 5.394 8.908 7.187 6.654
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 5.223 8.290 6.606 7.062
3 Alienware Area-51m (1 Netzteil) 6.326 9.640 8.006 8.839
4 Alienware Area-51m (2 Netzteile) 6.855 9.648 8.767 10.338
5 Razer Blade 15 2019 4.302 8.549 6.648 3.782
6 Aorus 15G XB 6.290 9.530 8.101 8.747
7 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 4.851 9.030 7.724 4.443
8 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 6.210 9.237 7.616 9.241
9 Razer Blade 15 Advanced 2020 4.760 8.780 7.333 4.546
Gaming-Notebook Overall Essentials Productivity Digital Content Creation
[/tab]

Mass storage

The basic model (2019) has delivered sufficient speed, but is not worth comparing with the advanced model (2020). The NVMe SSD provides enough bandwidth for the hardware and with 1TB of storage you can get by long enough, even though the storage requirements of current games are getting bigger and bigger.

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wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook Seq (lesen in MB/s) Seq (schreiben in MB/s) 4K (lesen in MB/s) 4K (schreiben MB/s) 4K-64-Thrd (lesen in MB/s) 4K-64-Thrd (schreiben in MB/s)
1 Acer Predator Helios 300 2.742,67 2.400,22 40,28 99,36 1.254,29 1.565,67
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 2.149,34 2.507,69 48,59 114,00 1.348,03 2.382,59
3 Alienware Area-51m 2.482,36 1.244,27 37,46 91,42 1.000,63 791,61
4 Razer Blade 15 2019 521,26 391,33 22,75 74,71 191,60 137,74
5 Aorus 15G XB 2.813,86 2.484,79 47,01 113,67 1.423,68 1.821,86
6 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 2.961,19 2.329,00 57,50 127,23 484,83 727,93
7 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 2.795,30 2.463,12 47,45 113,21 1.462,00 1.819,14
8 Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2020 2.435,87 2.034,28 46,85 89,28 1.777,74 1.890,85
9 Aorus 5 KB 2.628,31 1.964,67 52,18 119,51 712,29 1.259,84
Gaming-Notebook Seq (lesen in MB/s) Seq (schreiben in MB/s) 4K (lesen in MB/s) 4K (schreiben MB/s) 4K-64-Thrd (lesen in MB/s) 4K-64-Thrd (schreiben in MB/s)
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook Seq Q32T1 (lesen in MB/s) Seq Q32T1 (schreiben in MB/s) 4K Q32T1 (lesen in MB/s) 4K Q32T1 (schreiben in MB/s) Seq (lesen in MB/s) Seq (schreiben in MB/s) 4K (lesen in MB/s) 4K (schreiben in MB/s)
1 Acer Predator Helios 300 3.235,60 2.546,00 1.331,90 1.278,10 537,50 353,90 45,72 106,70
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 3.295,00 3.173,00 558,30 470,20 1.066,00 2.346,00 41,05 117,00
3 Alienware Area-51m 3.045,60 1.350,10 1.017,50 931,10 334,90 287,40 37,63 86,08
4 Razer Blade 15 2019 557,20 362,60 201,20 196,00 537,30 355,10 29,95 72,53
5 Aorus 15G XB 3.529,00 2.985,00 579,10 492,10 2.185,00 2.644,00 44,84 124,00
6 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 3.453,00 2.586,00 557,90 428,50 2.814,00 2.467,00 64,29 160,10
7 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 3.521,00 2.856,00 562,50 485,10 2.345,00 2.521,00 48,21 142,00
8 Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2020) 3.206,00 2.966,00 525,40 461,20 2.058,00 2.246,00 48,98 134,20
9 Aorus 5 KB 3.375,00 2.465,00 5.000,90 357,60 2.695,00 2.268,00 58,24 145,30
Gaming-Notebook Seq Q32T1 (lesen in MB/s) Seq Q32T1 (schreiben in MB/s) 4K Q32T1 (lesen in MB/s) 4K Q32T1 (schreiben in MB/s) Seq (lesen in MB/s) Seq (schreiben in MB/s) 4K (lesen in MB/s) 4K (schreiben in MB/s)
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook 512 B 1 KB 2 KB 4 KB 8 KB 16 KB 32 KB 64 KB 128 KB 256 KB 512 KB 1 MB 2 MB 4 MB 8 MB 12 MB 16 MB 24 MB 32 MB 48 MB 64 MB
1 Acer Predator Helios 300 - SSD 10,20 26,72 64,45 355,47 633,18 1.090,00 1.560,00 1.810,00 1.340,00 1.830,00 1.410,00 1.410,00 1.740,00 1.420,00 1.560,00 1.270,00 1.100,00 966,96 958,08 956,64 979,61
2 Acer Predator Helios 300 - HDD 21,97 44,08 67,70 116,60 117,96 166,60 117,19 117,37 118,48 117,65 117,65 119,19 119,83 120,70 120,52 120,63 120,56 120,32 120,21 120,25 120,13
3 Schenker XMG Neo 15 - SSD 38,70 72,51 142,78 282,37 553,02 1.118,00 2.420,00 2.700,00 2.980,00 3.020,00 3.010,00 3.000,00 3.000,00 3.000,00 3.020,00 3.010,00 3.020,00 3.010,00 3.000,00 3.000,00 2.670,00
5 Alienware Area-51m 10,51 25,15 50,76 362,45 592,08 937,53 1.280,00 855,33 1.410,00 2.030,00 2.760,00 2.350,00 2.840,00 2.780,00 2.630,00 2.440,00 2.390,00 2.240,00 2.380,00 2.500,00 2.500,00
6 Razer Blade 15 2019 33,69 68,88 126,01 201,77 294,33 339,53 374,69 390,83 392,67 394,26 392,98 393,85 393,85 392,98 393,85 392,36 394,71 393,19 393,85 394,52 393,85
7 Aorus 15G XB 45,29 84,26 174,88 336,74 653,67 1.430,00 2.680,00 2.750,00 2.780,00 2.730,00 2.790,00 2.780,00 2.780,00 2.780,00 2.780,00 2.780,00 2.790,00 2.790,00 2.790,00 2.790,00 2.780,00
8 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 50,54 100,59 193,36 375,00 740,23 1.390,00 2.110,00 2.370,00 2.390,00 2.400,00 2.390,00 2.390,00 1.620,00 1.820,00 2.390,00 2.400,00 2.370,00 2.320,00 2.340,00 2.400,00 2.330,00
9 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 48,26 81,12 181,11 345,12 632,58 1.372,00 2.590,00 2.548,00 2.698,00 2.701,00 2.750,00 2.780,00 2.782,00 2.769,00 2.699,00 2.720,00 2.750,00 2.746,00 2.735,00 2.771,00 2.783,00
10 Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2020) 44,31 89,39 168,53 335,63 613,11 1.280,00 2.480,00 2.770,00 2.790,00 2.790,00 2.740,00 2.700,00 2.600,00 2.620,00 2.620,00 2.650,00 2.580,00 2.620,00 2.620,00 2.666,00 2.590,00
11 Aorus 5 KB 41,99 84,04 165,60 323,10 613,11 1.250,00 1.930,00 2.180,00 2.240,00 2.240,00 2.230,00 2.210,00 2.200,00 2.180,00 2.230,00 2.210,00 2.200,00 2.180,00 2.180,00 2.200,00 2.150,00
Gaming-Notebook 512 B 1 KB 2 KB 4 KB 8 KB 16 KB 32 KB 64 KB 128 KB 256 KB 512 KB 1 MB 2 MB 4 MB 8 MB 12 MB 16 MB 24 MB 32 MB 48 MB 64 MB
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Gaming performance

As mentioned in the beginning, the built-in hardware can handle all kinds of games without breaking a sweat. If you want a higher resolution than FullHD, an external display is necessary, but the Blade 15 Advanced should not get into trouble here either. You may not be able to get the highest level of detail in 4K in some games.

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wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook Settings: Ultra Settings: Hoch Settings: Mittel Settings: Niedrig Settings: Sehr Niedrig
1 Acer Predator Helios 300 85 104 113 122 127
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 80 110 118 129 138
3 Alienware Area-51m 115 119 125 139 145
4 Razer Blade 15 2019 97 112 118 123 134
5 Aorus 15G XB 102 113 121 130 139
6 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 91 81 85 102 140
7 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 95 108 123 129 134
8 Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2020) 94 92 115 121 129
9 Aorus 5 KB 87 91 125 129 131
Gaming-Notebook Settings: Ultra Settings: Hoch Settings: Mittel Settings: Niedrig Settings: Sehr Niedrig
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook Settings: Hoch Settings: Mittel Settings: Niedrig
1 Acer Predator Helios 300 230 255 275
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 260 275 290
3 Alienware Area-51m 289 310 389
4 Razer Blade 15 2019 213 234 259
5 Aorus 15G XB 274 298 325
6 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 165 220 207
7 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 261 305 319
8 Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2020) 251 289 305
9 Aorus 5 KB 224 267 294
Gaming-Notebook Settings: Hoch Settings: Mittel Settings: Niedrig
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook Settings: Episch Settings: Hoch Settings: Mittel Settings: Niedrig
1 Acer Predator Helios 300 50 75 80 85
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 55 70 89 91
3 Alienware Area-51m 69 74 95 99
4 Razer Blade 15 2019 47 60 75 81
5 Aorus 15G XB 61 71 92 94
6 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 86 93 101 99
7 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 65 74 89 93
8 Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2020) 70 82 92 99
9 Aorus 5 KB 61 69 75 91
Gaming-Notebook Settings: Episch Settings: Hoch Settings: Mittel Settings: Niedrig
[/tab] tab]
wdt_ID Gaming-Notebook Settings: Episch Settings: Hoch Settings: Mittel Settings: Niedrig
1 Acer Predator Helios 300 41 75 145 198
2 Schenker XMG Neo 15 45 74 150 185
3 Alienware Area-51m 98 201 265 374
4 Razer Blade 15 2019 31 69 119 142
5 Aorus 15G XB 74 98 149 207
6 Aorus 7 KB-7DE1130SH 70 94 122 141
7 Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB 71 102 142 182
8 Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2020) 69 98 131 161
9 Aorus 5 KB 69 87 135 172
Gaming-Notebook Settings: Episch Settings: Hoch Settings: Mittel Settings: Niedrig
[/tab]

Battery life and performance

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2020) with its 80 Wh battery has a battery life of about 5 1/2 hours for office work (surfing, Word, etc.). Of course, this is not at all possible in gaming mode, although the hardware is downclocked and does not run at full power (Windows energy saving mode). Here it is “only” two hours, exactly the time the notebook needs for a full battery charge.

Conclusion

We were already convinced by the Razer Blade 15 base (2019). All the better is the rating for the Advanced model. In comparison, the workmanship is the same, it was already really good before. Both cannot be compared in terms of performance, but the Blade 15 Advanced (2020) can also be seen very well. The gaming notebook from Razer is priced at 2,800 Euros, but you get a great display, powerful hardware and best workmanship. And the mouse pad could also convince us in this test.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2020)

Workmanship
Display
Noiseness
Performance
Battery
Value for Money

93/100

Razer delivers again a great workmanship including potent hardware.

Simon Lüthje

I am co-founder of this blog and am very interested in everything that has to do with technology, but I also like to play games. I was born in Hamburg, but now I live in Bad Segeberg.

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