My video review of the Razer Blade Advance mid 2021 with the FHD 360 hz display.
I have been using this for a month and will share my experience in this video on not only gaming performance but also productivity and office work. I’ve also included some benchmarks from 3DMark FireStrike and TimeSpy, Control, Shadow of Tomb Raider and CyberPunk 2077.
I’m working on a video review of this laptop and it should be up soon. Below are my notes so far on the Razer Blade Advance 15 mid 2021 (FHD RTX 3070).
Buyer beware for quality control issues (screen flickering and overheating on first blade I received). Second Blade was also flickering but I had to downgrade the intel UHD driver. The new intel drivers that just came out a few days ago however are working fine. If you are to buy this, get it from a reputable retailer and with an extended warranty!
Build Quality: very good. new coating is more fingerprint resistant, not 100% but a huge improvement and easy to clean.
Ports: 2 USB-C Thunderbolt with power delivery, 2 USB-A, full sized HDMI, SD Card Reader, headphone jack
Screen: 360/FHD – looks great, really fast. Going back to 60hz displays suck. Really wanted the 240 QHD but not available anywhere.
Webcam: worst 1080 webcam I’ve ever used. They skimped out on this which is disappointing for a laptop at this price
Speakers: they suck ass. Think of two mono cell phone speakers on each side, they sound hollow and tinny. Need to remove that THX sticker because it’s embarrassing.
Keyboard: They are OK. Key travel is decent, but I like the Zephyrus G14 a lot better and this is obviously nowhere near the MacBook lines.
Mouse: I like it a lot. Large, responsive, no issues. Hard going back to another laptop trackpad and is up there with the MacBook’s.
Heat: Second Blade did not burn like the first one I had to return. Temps are good on productivity software. It gets in the 90s, close to 100 when gaming and the fans come on loud. Don’t ever use on your lap for gaming, place on a desk. Fans come on about 45-50db and to me it’s not so bad while gaming. Runs quiet on productivity so no problems in an office environment.
Battery life: For productivity you will get about 5-6 hours on 75% brightness. Gaming is less than a few hours and you obviously won’t get the max performance without plugging it in. Not the greatest, wish they put in a 100whr battery instead of the 80whr.
Gaming Performance: Basically, can run every game I through at it over 60fps even on an external 3440×1440 external display. No problem at the native 1080 display on the laptop. Control, MW, Paladins, Overwatch, Shadow of Tomb Raider fly on this.
Gaming Benchmarks (in Windows 11)
Upgradeability: This is why I got it over the Blade 14. I upgraded to 64GB and added another 1TB SSD (it can take a PCIE4). Able to run multiple Virtual Machines for work no problem and being able to take that with me in a package in this form factor to me is amazing.
Overall, So Far: 7.5 out 10.
Good: Performance, upgradability, build quality, design, ports, Love the trackpad
Bad: Quality control is crap, razer support is notorious for being poor, heat can be concerning, keyboard could be better, speakers are a joke. Mediocre battery life. Have a hard time believing the webcam is 1080…
My first video in 3 months! It’s been crazy for the past few months but finally have time to put a video together.
Every time I work on a video, I’m reminded of how much fun I have doing these and also makes me appreciate the work content creators put into everything involved in these projects and believe me, there is a lot going on even in a 3-5 minute video.
First step is the hardest, which is getting off your ass to do these. Next step is getting inspiration and coming up with an idea on what to create. Then comes writing out the script/storyboard or if it will be structured/unstructured or ad-libbed, etc… then finally comes recording time and then add some more hours out of your day in editing the video.
Every time I click UPLOAD… it’s an amazing and satisfying feeling. Sometimes 10 people will see my video, sometimes it could be in the hundred thousands… and then eventually one day it will be in the millions. I have a great time either way.
Thanks for watching and thanks for your continued support. Please hit LIKE on the video as it helps me a lot!
Review of the LG Puricare Mini. Really great device for those who have allergies and easy to take with you when traveling. It was also small enough to fit in my Desktop PC!
My review of the Samsung Air Dresser Steam Closet!
I’ve had this giant refrigerator looking thing for about a month and it’s been fantastic. My wife and I have put in several clothes in our wardrobe and love how fresh our clothes come out such as our jackets for the winter.
Yes it’s quite pricey and it’s definitely not for everyone. It does not remove stains and does not replace a washer or dryer but it is very useful for working professionals that need to dry clean their clothes, or have stuff you don’t want to damage by tossing into a washer or dryer.
My one month review of the ROG Asus Zephyrus G14. Short version? Buy it. Yeah it’s really that good. In the review I talk about benchmarks, gaming performance, battery life, portability, upgradeability, speakers, trackpad, keyboard, the built in mic, the lack of a built in webcam, etc and overall value.
I picked up the the Bose NC700s to compare against the Sony WH-1000XM4s right now and first impressions so far:
Going to try these out for a week. Might just return both and see what Apple will announce or release later this month.
Works pretty great. Not sure why Microsoft half assed their phone app for windows. Dell Mobile connect can be installed on any PC with an easy work around through the Microsoft App Store.
Here’s what I did:
1. Login to Windows App Store on your BROWSER, not the actual app store application on Windows.
2. Search Dell Mobile Connect
3. Click on the 3 dots located next to GET, and select add to cart.
4. Check out (it’s a free app, don’t worry)
5. After checking out and “purchasing,” open the Microsoft Store application on Windows.
6. Login if you haven’t logged in on the Microsoft Store app. Click the three dots on the top right hand corner, go to My Library and download Dell Mobile Connect.
7. Follow the instructions after you install it. It will also make you download the app onto your phone from the AppStore
8. After you install it, make sure you allow all the requested permission on your phone (again follow the instructions carefully), download the required Dell Mobile App drivers and restart.
9. Launch the app on your phone and Windows
10. Congratulate yourself
A week after building my first PC in 20 years, I decided to benchmark my new gaming PC against my previous gaming setup… the MacBook Pro 16-inch with an eGPU + NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super.
In this video, I benchmarked both of them on Shadow of Tomb Raider, Call of Duty Warzone, Control, and 3D Mark Time Spy and Firestrike. I knew there was going to be a performance variance between the two setups but I did not expect that much of a performance hit when using the eGPU!
If you want to jump right into the benchmarks, it starts at 3:32 of the video. Or if you don’t feel like watching here are my results:
Tomb Raider
Modern Warfare Warzone
Control (DirectX 12)
3D Mark Time Spy
3D Mark Firestrike
This is my first PC Build in 20 years. This is a time lapse, of me building the PC. The whole process took about 3 hours, but if I could have completed it in probably less than 2 if I didn’t make idiot mistakes. And yes I did some cable management and I adjusted the orientation of the cooler after the build!
