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Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) – Introduction
The Razer Stealth Blade was originally introduced as a non-playful alternative for gamers enjoying the design, but not the size, of other Blade notebooks. Over time, however, user-friendly features, such as more powerful graphics options, have begun to make their way into this range.
Now, with the late version of Blade Stealth 13, graphics are at the heart of the line. Add to that a high-end construction, long battery life, and the latest Intel Lake processor, and the new Stealth Blade is positioned as an attractive hybrid of an ultraportable and right computer.
Overall, I thought it was an ultraportable worthy of the name that had it in places that counted: a good screen, a correct keyboard (with a vast defect that prevented it from being excellent), and good build quality. Add some proper hardware specifications, and you will have a pretty solid machine.
Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) – Design
This year’s Stealth 13in looks a lot like, and it’s not a bad thing. Its sleek aluminum chassis measures only 304.6 x 210 x 15.3mm, virtually identical to the Stealth’s dimensions, despite the addition of GTX mobile graphics. At 1.47 kg, it is slightly heavier than the 1.31 kg FHD, but the weight gain does not make a noticeable difference.
Razer has once again opted for a matte dark anodized black finish, and the three dark snake logo (unlike the usual dazzling green) is also back. It’s about as subtle and elegant as a gaming laptop. Lift the lid and the sense of continuous quality. The hinge offers little resistance, but remains smooth and stable, while the glasses surrounding the 4K panel are as thin as last year. Stealth 13’s Windows Hello infrared sensor and webcam, which capture good 720p footage at 30 fps and fit well with excessive or low light.
The four speakers on the Stealth 13 are either keyboard-based, which uses “Smart Amp” technology to (supposedly) keep the sound clear and sharp, even at high volume. I’m not surprised by the audio quality: the speakers are suitable for watching YouTube, but they are not powerful enough to satisfy me, and they lack bass, which is not surprising given the little space occupied in.
Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) – Display
Unlike the matte, non-touch screen of last year’s FHD Stealth 13, the 4K features a highly reflective touchscreen with a brilliant Gorilla Glass. I think this is a mistake: light reflections are annoying when you play or watch movies, and I do not believe a touch screen is necessary for a laptop of this type. Our tests showed that the average screen brightness of the Stealth 13 was 396 nits, 48 nits above the average.
It is also 3.5 times brighter than the XPS 13 2-in-1 display, which reaches 113 mesh, while significantly outperforming the Specter x360 and ThinkPad X1 Carbon with an FHD display. Although the Stealth 13 display provides enough color for typical use, competitors are more colorful. The Stealth 13 covers only 106% of the sRGB color gamut. This result is below average and our comparison sample, especially the x360 spectrum, which covers an impressive 150% of the sRGB color gamut.
The contrast ratio remains at 1,365: 1 – extremely close to the last Stealth 13 that I reviewed, and the standard for high-end notebooks. The lights and lights are very separate from each other, so you can play very cool games and see what’s going on quickly. If you’re not happy with the Stealth 13’s FHD option, you can opt for a 4K touch screen option priced at $ 1,999.
Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) – Performance
It comes with a quad-core Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor, a 256GB PCIe-NVMe M.2 SSD, and 16GB LPDDR4-3733 RAM. In general, the Stealth 13 was up to the task. With 51 chrome tabs and open slack, the machine worked well. Although there are sometimes pauses of a few seconds when you swap quickly between the tabs.
In the Geekbench 5.0 Total Productivity Index, the Stealth 13 at 25W (score of 4,550) performed better than the Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 (3,546), which has the same processor and RAM but the same performance. 512 GB larger NVMe SSD. The Stealth 13 also beat the average (3,800) laptops in this price range of 750 points.
Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) – Ports
The connectivity options are unchanged from the previous year: on the right side, you will find a Type-A 3.1 USB port and a Type-C 3.1 USB port that also acts as a power port. The left contains another USB Type-A 3.1 port, a USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 port, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. It’s not an extraordinary network, but it’s enough to connect to an external monitor and a few devices while charging.
Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) – Audio
The Stealth 13 was well designed to produce a lot of noise in a small box. With four stereo speakers, including two front speakers, Dolby Atmos surround sound technology and a smart amp, and the machine was able to fill my little one-bedroom apartment, which is surprising for such a small thing.
The sounds of Overwatch were loud and clear on the Stealth 13. Even the voices were clear over the myriad of noises that were happening.
Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) – Battery
The new Stealth blade lasted more than nine hours during the degradation test, which is a positive result. In this test, we loop a video – a locally stored 720p file of Blender Foundation’s Tears of Steel short film – whose screen brightness is set to 50% and the volume to 100% until the system disappears. It was not the longest, but only laptops with built-in graphics worked longer, which is not a coincidence. Considering that this is at least partially ultraportable, the actual usability of the charger for general use and travel is a crucial feature.
Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) – Keyboard & Touchpad
It has been a year since I last tapped a Razer Blade Stealth, but I can say with confidence that the typing experience, with its compact layout and a minimal number of keys, is pretty much the same. That’s fine, but it can be difficult to adapt to if you are used to large layouts with keypads and lots of space between keys.
On the positive side, the keyboard plate is reassuring and barely depressed when you press it. And an upgrade since last year is the addition of the Razer Chroma software, which allows you to adjust keyboard lighting effects and synchronize your settings with other Razer devices.
As before, the highlight is the dive-style touchpad. Razer really makes the most of this space: there are not many laptops with such a generous touchpad, and it’s not only big, but it’s also smooth and responsive. The integrated left and right selectors also work perfectly.
Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) – Webcam
The 0.9-megapixel webcam, 1280 x 720 resolution on Stealth 13, is pleasingly precise in terms of color, beautifully capturing the fuchsia of my sweatshirt and reflecting in the shade of my hair. However, my hair and face were slightly blurry, lacking clean lines, and showing a touch of visual noise. The webcam also supports Windows Hello for connection via facial recognition.
Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) – Verdict
This refreshed Blade Stealth model allows for the attractive promise of a 13-inch gaming laptop. No, it’s not at the level of an enthusiast gaming platform or a 15-inch gaming laptop and more than $ 2,000, but it can clearly and legitimately play at big-budget titles in medium to high contexts. The rest of the construction is of the highest quality, the performance is good (if not quite great) and the battery lasts a long time.
However, the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 and HP Specter x360 13 servers offer approximately 2 and 3 hours longer battery life, respectively. You can also get high productivity and battery life with a Lenovo Thinkpad XI Carbon. Although an XPS 13 2-in-1 with the same specifications as our exam subject costs $40 more than the Stealth 13 at the time of writing, the Specter x360 is cheaper ($1,080 for i7-8565U/16GB/256GB), making the Stealth 13 a tougher sell.
But with a fast SSD, a bright screen and a fun keyboard, you’ll be happy to use the Stealth 13 for casual games with less challenging titles like Overwatch or League of Legends.