- [Host] I reviewed the Razer Blade and its smaller sibling,
the Razer Stealth, not too long ago and frankly, I loved
them both, albeit in different ways.
As someone who edits video in Premiere, the Blade is a
compact powerhouse and the Stealth is a super thin
ultra-portable that's made out of premium materials with an
attention to detail that only nerdy gaming-obsessed
engineers could have put together.
If there was one comment I had for Razer at the end of both
of those videos, it was that I wished they were just a
little less gamer-looking.
I don't game on a PC really, I haven't the time if, but the
same components used for that GPU in tensed games,
are the same that I need to render graphics
and video so the build-quality, price, and GPU are what
really drew me towards Razer in
spite of the glowing green snake.
Now though, the new Razer Stealth 2017 is here and
it seems someone at Razer was listening.
This is the new Razer Blade Stealth 2017 in, for the first
time ever, gunmetal gray with a white keyboard instead of
the rainbow one and a non-glowing logo on the lid.
And, I have to admit, it looks good.
The same CNC-milled aluminum chassis is here, and they've
now put a 13.3" QHD+ touchscreen into the same frame as
their 12.5" screen on the last model.
This means the screen has 50% less bezels, something plenty
of people complained about in the comments on my last video.
We also have 2 upward facing speakers that even when
the volume is all the way up, it still
sounds crisp which is great.
- [Man] We have slain the mighty beast.
(cheers)
There are many more to come.
(cheers)
We are coming!
(cheers)
(laughing)
- [Host] This 13.3" model also still does come in that same
black color with the colorful keyboard and glowing logo if
you want it, and there is also a less expensive 12.5"
non-touchscreen version and a more expensive 12.5" 4K
touchscreen version that both only come
in the black variety.
Now all of these models, just like last year's model, have
the same exact dimensions, with the 13.3" being only about
0.1 lbs heavier according to the spec sheet, but you'd be
hard-pressed to notice a difference if I didn't tell you,
and that means they're all still super light and thin.
The Stealth also still has the same clicky keyboard I loved
from the last model, but they've added a precision
trackpad, a welcomed addition.
I've touched on what that is in the past, but a quick
reminder, when you have a precision trackpad, it's
basically a standard that Microsoft built for Windows
and Windows then handles the input from the trackpad
as opposed to normally you would have your manufacturer
make their own drivers, do their own stuff, and then
transmit that to Windows.
Bottom line though, it gets updates from Windows directly,
it's way more precise it allows you to utilize special
gestures that I personally can't live without,
just overall it is better, period.
In terms of what's inside the laptop, the 13.3" and 12.5" 4K
models get the same Intel i7 7500U dual-core Kaby Lake
processor, 16 GBs of RAM, Razer said their users don't want
the measly 8GBs and since the price didn't really go up
because of this, I'm inclined to agree, Intel HD Graphics
620 GPU, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, a 3.5 mm
headphone jack, and a Thunderbolt 3 USB Type C port which
is also the charger which we'll talk about more in a second.
And for storage you get a choice between a 128 GB, 512 GB,
or 1 TB SSD for the 13.3" and 512 or 1 TB
for the 4K 12.5".
The razer blade stealth isn't really meant to be
a serious gaming laptop.
With the absence of a discrete GPU like say,
the razer blade has it's just not gonna be able to do
the same kinds of gaming things.
It can do all your everyday work tasks super fast and
super well thanks to all that RAM and the processor, etc.
But, don't expect to really sit down
and play Witcher 3 on it.
That is unless you don't mind sitting still.
Razer also sells their own slick external GPU housing
called the Core.
I personally have one as a docking station even for my Razer
Blade in my office, but the Core is really
meant for the Stealth.
Using that aforementioned USB-C Thunderbolt 3 port you can
plug into the Core, put in a serious desktop GPU inside, and
use it as if it was inside the laptop.
All of a sudden, those gaming benchmarks change drastically.
Crazy, right?
As you can see from the CPU intensive portions of the test
the Stealth does fine without the Core, but then gets
creamed when it needs GPU power and can't deliver.
The Core which I have a NVIDIA GTX
1080Ti in however, fixes that.
You could also go with a lower GPU to get a better cost to
score ratio than my 1080Ti, as well.
The Core itself costs $400, but doesn't include a GPU so
you'll have to spend another $200-$700 depending on which
one you want for that.
Now, I personally have to edit stuff on the road and
sometimes in other countries.
And the core itself is not very isn't very portable.
So the whole Stealth/Core combo for me as a
daily computer isn't that practical.
Also, when you think about it if you add
the cost of the Core and a GPU that you're gonna need
to put inside of it, then the Stealth's cost gets pretty
close to the cost of the Razer Blade which has a
GTX1060 built inside.
Now one of the big differences though is, well
the new Razer Blade Stealth compared to my Razer Blade
and even the old Stealth has battery life for ever.
When in Berlin for EFA I got to the point where I got
confident enough to leave the charger at home in the morning
and just take the laptop by itself.
It would last from when I left the house to when I would get
back without any issues.
I could easily get 8 hours of using it for writing and
research mostly using Chrome.
Compared to maybe the 6.5 I got on the old Stealth and the
4.5 I get with the Blade.
A lot of the performance over the Blade is due to the lack
of that GPU that's built inside, but the increase over the
older Stealth comes down to the newer processor and a
slightly larger battery.
So, let's talk about pricing real quick.
The non-touch 12.5" model is, $899 in the one
configuration on the site; the 13.3" model in either color
is $1399 for the 256 GB option, and it and the 12.5" 4K
version are both $1599 for the 512 GB and $2000
for the 1TB option.
Now of those options I would go for the 12.5" non-touch
screen for $899 if you're on a serious budget and
you don't really need the power and maybe also if you're
gonna get the Core cause then you can still
play games a little bit, etc.
Otherwise, I would say probably the lower end 13.3"
model in either of the colors really.
I like the gray, but if you wanna do the black,
totally understand that.
But, just because all the internals all the way up
the line up are gonna be the same regardless, so might
as well just go for the lower end model and then you
can figure out storage needs and stuff like that if you
need that as well.
Also, the 4K screen versus the 13.3" one is gonna
have much larger bezels and frankly I don't really
need a 4K screen, that's just my opinion.
So who is this laptop for?
Well, it's a well built stylish looking powerful
ultra book that has a great battery life and can
handle everyday tasks like a champ.
I think in that respect it has good appeal to people
who maybe like the aesthetic of the mac book air,
but don't necessarily wanna go to mac or can't go to mac
for what ever reason.
And then some of the ultra books market,
like say the DELL XPS13 which yes, has those very tiny
bezels and that's actually awesome.
But, in the same configuration the DELL XPS13
starts at $300 more.
And then there's also what I think Razer kind of envisions
for this laptop.
The type of person that maybe is a gamer, but then
has to go into a real office for like a real job and
wants to make sure when they sit this down on their
conference table in the room it doesn't scream gamer.
Then maybe when their down with work they run home
cause they have the Core and their crazy dual monitors
set up and they just frag some people, right?
I think actually this model with the new gray color
for their first time because of that concept, I think
deserves it's name more than ever.
Stealth.
And their guys, I hope you enjoyed that little review.
And if you did though, please thumbs up it at
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Also, let me know what you guys think of the Blade Stealth
of Razer of this laptop of the review in the comments below.
Would love to hear from you guys.
Regardless though, as always, thanks for watching.
(dance music)