Razer just retooled its 13.3-inch Blade Stealth laptop with a new chassis and few key hardware upgrades, including for the first time a discrete GPU option. Specifically, two of the three new SKUs feature a GeForce MX150 GPU.
That's not an appropriate GPU for hardcore gaming, but it's certainly better than integrated graphics, as we saw in our evaluation of Acer's Aspire E 15 laptop with a GeForce MX150 inside. Compared to similar 13-inch systems, however, Razer points out that it opted for the more powerful 25W GeForce MX150 with 4GB of GDDR5 memory, whereas the 15.6-inch Aspire E 15 and several similarly configured 13-inch laptops use the 2GB version.
Razer also upgraded the processor on the Blade Stealth to a Core i7-8565U. It's a 4-core/8-thread processor like the Core i5-8250U found on the previous version (and also the Aspire E 15), but clocked significantly faster at the top-end with a 4.6GHz boost clock (1.8GHz base clock), compared to the Core i5-8250U's 3.4GHz boost clock (1.6GHz base clock).
There are three versions of the refreshed Blade Stealth:
- Blade Stealth w/ Full HD display, Intel UHD Graphics 620, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD
- Blade Stealth w/ Full HD display, GeForce MX150, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD
- Blade Stealth w/ 4K touch display, GeForce MX150, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
Beyond the raw specs, the updated Blade Stealth now comes in a spiffier chassis with 60 percent thinner bezels on the sides, which now measure 4.9mm. This puts more emphasis on the display. Razer says it custom calibrates the screens before the laptops leave the factory for improved color accuracy, with 100 percent of the sRGB color space.
On the outside, gone is the glowing Razer logo, replaced with a non-LED logo that blends into the lid.
From what we can tell, it's a nicer looking laptop than the previous version, which speaks to Razer's focus on productivity and build quality, as the company told us. It's apparently aiming for students and working professionals, essentially the MacBook Pro and Dell XPS crowd, who still want a bit of gaming juice.
Finally, Razer says users can expect longer batter life than before—up to 13 hours, versus up to 10 hours on the older models.
Pricing starts at $1,399.99, more than double the cost of Acer's Aspire E 15, which goes for $579.99 on Amazon. You're paying a premium for a smaller and sleeker design, and faster hardware. The GeForce MX150 model with a Full HD display costs $1,599.99, and the 4K model goes for $1,899.99. All three are available now direct from Razer.
