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[] [ ]RADARRazer Blade Stealth (2017)
A RATHER STEALTHY UPGRADE.
WITH ITS ORIGINAL Blade Stealth back in
2016, Razer delivered an impressive ultrabook
with a whole lot of style and an affordable price
tag to go with it. Now, the American gaming
hardware-maker has returned with an update
that largely provides more of the same, albeit
with a few notable improvements.
For starters, its processor has been seen
a generation bump, going from an Intel
Core i7-6500U to the more energy-efficient
i7-7500U. You’ll also find that the new Stealth
now offers 16GB of memory as an option
(up from last year’s 8GB), alongside PCIe
SSD storage up to 1TB. It’s also got a larger
battery which promises a 15% higher capacity
— a number that our battery life benchmark
tests largely proved to be accurate.
While the previous Stealth had a 3:25 hour
battery life under intense usage, the new
Stealth kept on trucking for a full half hour
longer. When subjected to constant 1080p
video playback at 50% brightness, the Stealth
lasted 5 hours and 42 minutes, putting it
directly in line with the Acer Swift 7 laptop
(see issue 62, page 12) — a welcome
improvement, given the previous model’s
battery life shortcomings.
Like the previous Stealth, this updated
version isn’t really aimed at gamers, though
it can still be used in conjunction with the
Razer Core peripheral, an external enclosure
that lets you plug in and use a desktop graphics
card via the Stealth’s Thunderbolt port.
That said, even without the Core plugged in,
the Stealth still outclassed many of its
ultrabook competitors in our 3DMark tests,
although it’s still a long way behind dedicated
gaming laptops.
In terms of build quality, the new Stealth
is nearly identical to the version that released
last year, with a beautiful (and highly durable)
CNC aluminium body that sports Razer’s
signature matte-black finish and light-up
green logo. With a thickness of only 13.1mm,
this little ultrabook is around 4mm thinner
than the MacBook Air, which Razer sees as
its main competition. Razer’s signature
Chroma keyboard LED backlighting is also
included, letting you customise colours,
with 16.8 million options per key. If you want
to get deep into keyboard customisation,
you can personalise your keyboard lighting
effects in any way you like, including having
pulsating, cycling colours under your
fingertips.
The new Stealth packs the same impressive
1440p IGZO touchscreen display as its
predecessor, offering 100% RGB colour
coverage and 150-nit display brightness,
though regrettably, it’s still hampered by anunusually wide bezel that keeps the device’s
screen size at 12.5-inches. It’s also available
with a 4K display, though we’d expect
that version to eat through the battery at
a much quicker rate.
As before, we would’ve loved to have seen
this bezel reduced and the display bumped up
to a MacBook Air-matching 13-inches. As it
stands, it’s the one visual aspect of the Razer
Blade Stealth that feels dated, despite the rest
of the unit looking utterly gorgeous and
cutting edge from a design standpoint.
Regardless, given its wonderful QHD touch
display, impressive specs, stylish design and
solid build quality, at a starting price of $1,499
($50 less than a bottom-tier MacBook Air),
the Razer Blade Stealth is still an absolute steal
if you’re shopping for a Windows ultrabook.
[ STEPHEN LAMBRECHTS ]RAZER BLADE STEALTH (2017)
From $1,499
http://www.razerzone.com
CRITICAL SPECS
Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 12.5-inch IGZO touchscreen
display @ 2,560 x 1,440 pixels (or optional 4K display);
Intel Core i7-7500U CPU; Intel HD Graphics 620 GPU;
8GB/16GB RAM; 256GB/512GB/1TB SSD; RGB backlit
keyboard; 1.3 x 32.1 x 20.6cm; 1.29kgGENERAL
PERFORMANCEGENERAL
PERFORMANCEDISK SPEED GAMING
PERFORMANCEBATTERY LIFE BATTERY LIFEPCMARK 8 -
HOME (SCORE)1080P MEDIA
ENCODING:
HWBOT X265
(AVG FPS)CRYSTAL DISKMARK 3
SEQUENTIAL READ/WRITE
(AVG MB/S)3DMARK SK Y
DIVER (SCORE)PCMARK 8 - HOME
(HRS:MINS)1080P VIDEO
PL AYBACK
(HRS:MINS)2,795 8.61 1,575/314.3 4,063 3:41hr 5:42hr
4WINNERAPPROVED
AWARD