Razer Studio and Razer Blade Advanced
Razer Studio Edition
Razer Advanced
Razer is a gaming computer and accessories maker. They started producing laptops in 2011. In the time since then, they have grown as a manufacturer to offer very well engineered products, being one of the only PC laptop makers fabricating machines with aluminum mono block chassises, improving device rigidity. As a gaming company targeting consumers rather than enterprise customers, Razer struggles to offer the quality of support that Lenovo, Dell, and HP can offer.
In addition to build quality, the spec-sheet is top notch. Modeling is typically limited by the strength of the CPU and this laptop has one of the fastest available. Along with the vapor chamber cooler, so long as you keep it plugged in, this machine will fly through models of any complexity. Unplugging it will result in significantly reduced performance. However, it should still offer enough to do even some live walk throughs of models for a client on site without a power connection, if the settings are reduced. Note that to get the most out of the laptop, you will need to tweak the power usage settings in the included Razer Synapse software.
If you want to use a GPU renderer, such as Enscape, Lumion, Octane, Unreal Engine, Twinmotion, or Redshift, then the 16 GB of VRAM on the RTX 5000 graphics card that the Studio offers will provide ample space for complex buildings with complex entourage. That makes the graphics card complete overkill for modeling and drawing tasks, but at least you have room to grow into alternative workflows.
The Advanced model offers the 2080 Super GPU, which is a similar chip to the RTX 5000 offered on the Studio edition, but with half the VRAM of the larger card. The Advanced model should be able to handle fairly complex buildings, but it may struggle with extensive context and entourage in GPU rendering tasks. If you are not using a GPU renderer, then this is a moot point. The only other difference is the inclusion of 16GB rather than 32GB of RAM. The RAM is user-upgradable, however, and an upgraded kit can be had for less than $300. Budget half an hour to perform the upgrade and you’re still saving $700 compared to the Studio.
The display on both models is an OLED, offering excellent black levels paired with good but not great brightness, uniformity, and color accuracy. Gamut is a bit smaller than advertised, but still fairly high. It should not be too difficult to match up colors on screen to those coming out of the plotter. At this screen size, 4K can be scaled to 200%, minimizing HiDPI issues in programs slower to adopt scalable interfaces. Sound is acceptable for a video call, but not particularly loud. The keyboard, with customizable backlighting, and touchpad are good.
In previous years, this laptop suffered from odd keyboard layouts and some engineering issues. I would therefore only suggest getting the Studio Edition or the 2020 Razer Blade Advanced.
Sources and Further Reading
Max Tech Review Max Tech review
Just Josh Review Just Josh