The New Blade Stealth NAILS It.
The Razer Blade Stealth 2019: A Perfect Laptop for Gaming and Productivity
Hey guys, this is Austin. Today, I'm excited to share with you my thoughts on the 2019 Razer Blade Stealth, a laptop that has been on my wishlist for quite some time. As someone who's always on the lookout for a thin, light, and powerful laptop, I was thrilled to see how well the Blade Stealth stacks up against its competitors.
The closest thing to this laptop I've found so far is the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, but at $1,800, it still lacks dedicated graphics. Fast forward to 2019, though, and we have the Razer Blade Stealth, which pretty much checks all my boxes.
The Blade Stealth is a 2019 model, and as you can see from its name, it's been designed with gaming in mind. However, I should note that it's still an Ultrabook and not a full-fledged gaming PC. That being said, Razer has done a great job of including dedicated graphics, courtesy of the NVIDIA MX150.
Now, I know what you're thinking - isn't this just a mid-range laptop? Well, let me tell you, the Blade Stealth is anything but that. The MX150 may not be the most powerful graphics card out there, but it's certainly enough to handle most games at high resolutions and frame rates.
One of my favorite features of the Blade Stealth is its display. On paper, it looks like a downgrade from the 1800p touch screen on some other laptops, but trust me when I say that this 1080p non-touch panel is actually one of the best things about this laptop. Not only does it help improve battery life, which is always a plus, but it also provides excellent color accuracy and a snappy response time.
Of course, no review would be complete without mentioning the keyboard and mouse. I'm happy to report that both are top-notch. The Razer BlackWidow Lite switches are incredibly smooth and responsive, making them perfect for gaming and productivity alike. And if you're looking for something to complement your laptop, the Windows Precision Touchpad is among the nicest I've ever tried.
Now, let's talk about performance. The Blade Stealth may not be the most powerful laptop out there, but it more than holds its own against some of the biggest names in the industry. Whether you're playing games, watching movies, or working on a project, this laptop is up to the task.
But what really sets the Blade Stealth apart from other laptops is its price. At $1,600, it's certainly not cheap, but considering everything you get for that price - including the MX150 graphics card - I think it's a steal.
So, if you're in the market for a new laptop and are looking for something that can handle gaming and productivity with ease, I highly recommend checking out the Razer Blade Stealth. Just keep in mind that you'll need to opt for the mid-spec model to get that sweet MX150 graphics card.
In conclusion, the Razer Blade Stealth is a laptop that truly lives up to its hype. With its powerful performance, stunning display, and top-notch keyboard and mouse, it's an absolute must-have for anyone who wants a laptop that can handle anything they throw at it.
WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys, this is Austin.This is the 2019 Razer Blade Stealth,and it might just be my perfect laptop.What I've been looking for isa thin, light 13-inch laptopwhich has a quad-core processor,dedicated graphics, anddecent build quality.Now the closest to somethinglike that I've foundwould be the 13-inchMacBook Pro with Touch Bar,but at $1,800, it still lacksthose dedicated graphics.Fast forward to 2019, though,and we have the Razer Blade Stealthwith pretty much everythingI've ever dreamed of.- It's a 2019, it says the2019 Razer Blade, it counts.Razer have been making the Blade Stealthfor a few years at this point,and while they steadily tweaked the designas well as improved the performance,it's still been an Ultrabookand not a gaming PC.Sure, you could plug in a RazerCore with the external GPUand be able to get somedecent game performance,but up until the 2018 model,you were still limited to dual-core,and it just wasn't quite the full package,whereas this guy cangame right out of the boxbecause it does havethose dedicated graphics.The base model does still comewith Intel integrated graphics,but if you opt for the mid-spec or higher,you do get the NVIDIA MX150 inside.Of course you're not going to blow awaythe 15-inch Blade as faras gaming performance goes,but it is a huge step upover just having integrated graphics.Not only does it unlocka fair bit of gamingas well as some video editing,but, importantly, this isnot the standard MX150.It is the higher 25-watt TDP versionwhich does come with fourgigs of GDDR5 memory.For example, Fortnite is no problem.We're easily able to playat 1080p Medium here,and we're getting anywhere between45 to 60 frames per second.Black Ops 4 is also totallyplayable here at 1080p on Low.Now the framerate's pretty solid.We're getting 45 to 50.If it was me, I would sacrificejust a little bit of resolutionto smooth it out andget a solid locked 60,but it is totally playable.The Stealth has also been updatedwith the latest Whiskey Lake processors.In this case, the onlyoption is the Core i7 8650u.8660, 8565u.It's the new one!It's the one that boosts,like, 4.6 gigahertz.So on top of it beinga quad-core processor,the nice thing here isthat we actually havethat extra turbo boost speedto make it feel very responsive.Now I've taken a look ata lot of laptops lately,and some of them dofeel a little bit slowerwhen they don't quite boost as high,but this feels just as fast as pretty muchany kind of gaming PC that I would tryFor normal web browsing and stuffthat you do every single day.This mid-spec model I have hereis outfitted with 16 gigsof dual-channel memory,and that's backed up bya 256-gig NVMe drive,which is really quite fast.Put it all together, and if I was buildingmy dream 13-inch laptop,this is pretty much what I would choose:a great CPU, decent GPU speeds,as well as the rest of the specsall wrapped up in a nice aluminum package.The entire design is new this year,so this means that we have smaller bezels,which means that the entire laptopis a little bit less wide.It's also got a more squared-off design,and it's all, of course, made out ofthis matte black aluminum.I think not only does it look nice,but importantly it also feels nice.Part of the reason that it feels so goodis because it does start lifeas a giant chunk of aluminumwhich is then CNC milled downto the actual body that we have here.Razer is one of the veryfew companies who does thisin addition to Apple, andit does make a differenceto the build quality andjust the general heft and,you know, not heft, Iguess, but the general feel.Like, it's a very rigid sortof premium-feeling laptop.The only slight issue is thatwith my pre-production unit,there is a little bit of flexon the bottom of the chassis.However, I actually did get to take a lookat another Blade Stealth andthat didn't have this problem,so I'm assuming it's just an early issue.Remove a few torque screws on the bottom,and you have easy access tothe internals of the laptop.There's not a lot thatyou can work on here.The SSD is user-upgradeableif you would like.Unfortunately, the RAM is soldered down,but it is actually a reallynice little design here,and importantly you can seethey have completely redesignedthe thermal solution,mostly because, you know,they added a full GPU inside,so we've got two fans.There's also a decently-sized53-watt hour battery,and that's good in my experiencefor somewhere between six toseven hours of battery life.I just realized, why doesthis say Pro in the inside?This, like, a prototype?Oh, oh, yeah, it actuallyis a prototype. (laughing)What could Pro mean?Oh, right, 'cause they sentme a pre-production unit.The ports have also been slightly tweaked.In addition to the Thunderbolt3 port and two USB-As,we also now have a secondaryUSB-C port as opposed to HDMI.Good stuff.Then there's the screen.Now on paper, this isactually a downgrade.So we're going from an 1800p touchscreendown to a 1080p non-touch display.I actually prefer this, though,and a big reason is battery life,so going down to 1080p meanswe have to push a lot lesspixels, and on top of that,it's one of the newultra-efficient 1 1/2-watt panels,which helps to contributeto that pretty decentsix to seven hours of battery life.Now if you do really want atouchscreen and more resolution,there is a 4K touch panel option.As far as I'm concerned,this is the sweet spot.It's helped by excellent inputs,so not only do we have aWindows Precision Touchpad here,but I don't know what kindof wizardry Razer's doing,this is among the nicestI've ever tried on any Windows laptop.Not only does it have avery smooth glass surface,but the tracking is really, really on parwith a lot of the bestlaptops on the market.Then there's the keyboard.Now it is using custom Razerswitches, and to my tastes,I wish it would be justa little bit lighter,but I think a lot ofpeople will be very happynot only for typing but alsowith gaming on this guy.And, of course, it does havethe full Chroma RGB supportto customize it however you want.- Play Fallout, you knowwhat I'm talking about.A bunch of birds are getting lit on fireas they fly through the sky!- The speakers are also great.This actually has a quad speaker setup,so it has a pair of two-wattspeakers on either side.And as far as the laptop goes,again, it sounds really good.Are you sensing a trend here?The Razer Blade Stealthdoes a lot of things very, very well.What's not so great is the webcam.As you guys can see, it'sfine, and it is 720p,but the main issue here isthat the Windows Hello supportwhich is included just doesn'twork all that reliably.It's rare that I review a laptopthat does so much right.Razer definitely did their homeworkwith the Blade Stealth this year.The only thing I can reallyding them for is price.To get that MX150, whichyou really should opt forif you do have the Razer Blade Stealth,you have to get the mid-spec model,which does come in at apretty expensive $1,600.Considering the entire package, though,it's so dope that I reallycan't even complain.It's so dope, I can't complain.That's a tagline for the website.Razer, if you want to putthat on the accolades.It's so dope, I can't complain,Austin, 2018, feel free.