HiGame

This article is the first of a planned two-part project. Part 1 will focus on the Razer Blade Stealth ultrabook and its built-in characteristics, while Part 2 will measure the performance of the Razer Core, the GPU add-on product for the Razer Blade Stealth.

The Razer Blade Stealth is the first ultrabook from a company that’s typically focused on building gaming laptops, but there are precious few signs that the Stealth represents a major new product area for the enthusiast-focused company. It’s significantly less expensive than the New Razer Blade, which currently starts at $1,999, or the Razer Blade Pro, which has a $2,499 base price. In contrast, the Razer Blade Stealth we’ll be reviewing today starts at $999.



The specs on the Razer Blade Stealth are nothing to sneeze at. Razer sells two versions of the laptop, but they’re more alike than they are different. Both are equipped with a Core i7-6500U, 8GB of RAM, a 12.5-inch display, and Intel HD 520 graphics (and neither version has gaming prowess on its own as a result). The differences are in screen resolution and available storage — there’s a 2560×1440 panel variant that conforms to the sRGB color standard and ships with 128-256GB of storage as well as a 4K panel variant that conforms to the Adobe RGB wider color gamut and offers either 256GB or 512GB of storage. Both versions use the Killer Networking Killer 1535 802.11ac wireless modem and offer Bluetooth 4.1 support.



Specs on the two system configurations.

We’re reviewing the 2560×1440 version of the laptop today, which comes with a 256GB SSD for $1,199. We’re not thrilled with the price you pay to upgrade your storage — while all OEMs gouge on storage and memory upgrades, charging $200 to step from 128GB to 256GB works out to $1.56 per gigabyte of additional storage. It’s been a long time since SSDs were anywhere near that expensive.

The Blade Stealth measures 12.6 x 8.1 x 0.52 inches and weighs in at 2.75 pounds. All versions of the Razer Blade Stealth have the same port configurations: one USB Type-C 3.1 port with Thunderbolt 3 (useful for the Razer Core peripheral), a pair of USB 3 ports, a headset jack, a 2 megapixel webcam, and an HDMI output. Both the 1440p and 4K versions of the laptop are touchscreens, and while I generally prefer a keyboard and mouse, a touchscreen is genuinely useful when working on an airplane or in any confined space.

External design, Razer Chroma

The Razer Blade Stealth’s all-aluminum chassis has a matte black finish that gives the ultrabook a sleek, understated look. This is somewhat spoiled by the glowing Razer logo on the top of the laptop, but the glow can be disabled if you don’t fancy it. The one downside to the laptop’s finish is that it picks up fingerprints and oils easily. This isn’t a system you want to use without washing your hands first, unless you want to spend a non-trivial amount of time polishing it to get oil off later.



The bottom of the laptop is well-designed, with two “feet” that run the entire length of the chassis. This helps ensure that the system won’t overheat — and that’s not a trivial consideration given how thin modern laptops have become.



The Razer Blade Stealth mounts its speakers on the actual keyboard area instead of on the bottom of the system and the sound quality from them is surprisingly good for a design*of this type, provided you don’t expect amazing subwoofer-quality bass. PC laptops are infamous for weak trackpads, but again, Razer’s is better than average.




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