PrashainRazer Blade Stealth scores in both the mobility and looks departments
After winning a cult following among gamers, high performance gaming hardware and software maker Razer looks set to secure a foothold in the ultrabook (short for ultra-portable notebook) market.
The California-based brand, co-founded by Singaporean Tan Min-Liang, has just launched its first ultrabook, the Razer Blade Stealth. UrbanWire puts the machine to the test and here’s what we like and dislike.
Mobility
We are most impressed by how light and slim the Stealth is. The 12.5-inch ultrabook which packs a powerful Intel Core i7 processor in aircraft-grade aluminium weighs a mere 1.25kg – 0.1kg lighter than a Macbook Air. It also measures only 13.1mm in thickness, making it slimmer than Macbook Air, Yoga 900 and XPS 13.
The Stealth is thus certainly great for those who are constantly on the go. You can carry it from classes to classes and meetings to meetings without feeling much strain. It also doesn’t take up too much space in your bag or on your desk.
Aesthetics
For those who have a soft spot for all things pretty, good news – the space-saving Stealth is also a stunner. We are particularly transfixed by its insanely vibrant colour display – both on its touch-enabled screen and its illuminated keyboard.
The Stealth’s screen display comes in two resolutions: Quad-HD at 2560 x 1440 pixels and 4K at 3840 x 2160 pixels. When the UrbanWire team viewed the same image on the Stealth and then MacBook Air, we found the color display on the Stealth much richer and livelier. When we enlarged the image on the Stealth, we also didn’t find problems with pixelation. The ultra-fine details in the picture remained crystal clear – even when we looked at it from various angles.
The individually backlit keys are even more of a sight to behold, especially when they are programmed to cycle through the 16.8 million color options powered by Razer Chroma. A keyboard that comes with color therapy – Anyone?
Glossy screen
We like the Stealth’s screen resolution and its generous viewing angle, but its highly reflective screen can be an annoyance if you can’t do anything to your sitting arrangement and the office / classroom lighting. We recommend that when you decide on getting the Stealth, buy an anti-glare screen protector as well.
Battery Life
For a light user (surfing the web, editing documents etc.), the Stealth can last for almost 8 hours while for a heavy user (video/photo editing, gaming etc.) , the Stealth can only last for a mediocre 3 to 5 hours.
Fingerprints-prone casing
The Stealth looks sleek and cool but its black casing is too prone to fingerprints. We haven’t found a solution to this, but if the smudges don’t get under your skin, the Stealth remains a good buy for its beauty, functionality and mobility.
External Graphic Card
Gamers can look out for the official store launch of the Razer Core, an external graphics processing unit (GPU) dock that can be linked to Stealth via the Thunderbolt 3 cable. A GPU is part of a graphic card and handles the processing of graphics and display on a computer or laptop screen.
This extension allows you to change to your preferred external graphic card and enhance the graphic performance of the Stealth by turning your Ultrabook into desktop quality. Screen displays will stay clear and sharp even when running videos (4K graphic Videos, Netflix 4K etc.) and games (Arkham night, Assassin’s Creed Unity etc.) with much higher graphics.
The Razer Core is available for pre-order and shipping.
Key Specifications:
Display – 12.5” IGZO 16:9 aspect ratio, LED backlight, capacitive multi-touch, up to 170° wide viewing angles
Display Resolution – QHD [2560 x 1440] or 4K [3840 x 2160]
Storage – 128/256 GB PCIe SSD [QHD] or 256/512 PCIe SSD [4K]
Size – [Height] 13.1mm by [Width] – 321mm by [Depth] – 206mm
Weight– 1.25kg
Price – QHD – $1,499.90 [128] or $1799.90 [256] / 4K – $2099.90 [256] or $2,399.90 [512]
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-6500U Dual-Core Processor with Hyper Threading 2.5GHz / 3.1GHz (Base/Turbo)
Graphics – Intel® HD Graphics 520
Memory – 8GB dual-channel onboard memory (LPDDR3-1866MHz)
Operating System – Windows® 10 (64-Bit)
Wireless – Wireless -AC (802.11a/b/g/n/ac + Bluetooth® 4.1)
Input & Output –
Thunderbolt™ 3 (USB-C™)
USB 3.0 port x2 (SuperSpeed)
Multi-point touchscreen interface
Built-in webcam (2.0MP)
HDMI 1.4b audio and video output
Audio –
Built-in stereo speakers
3.5mm headphone/microphone combo port
Array microphone
Dolby® Digital Plus Home Theater Edition
7.1 Codec support (via HDMI)
Keyboard – Chroma anti-ghosting keyboard with individually backlit keys
Security – Trusted Platform Module (TPM 2.0) security chip embedded
Power & Battery –
Compact 45W USB-C power adapter
Built-in 45Wh rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery