Razer today took the wraps off of its latest refresh to the Blade Stealth, and it's a heck of an upgrade. With thin bezels and a new squared look, the Blade Stealth (2019) takes a lot of design cues from its bigger brother, the Blade 15.
The new Razer Blade Stealth 13 laptop is now available with a more powerful NVIDIA ® GeForce ® MX150 4GB graphics and the new Whisky Lake Intel ® Core™ i7 processor for up to 4X performance increase in gaming and content creation.¹ Featuring up to 4K resolution in a thin bezel 13.3” display, a new Razer Chroma™ keyboard, the Razer. The Razer Blade Stealth includes a USB 3.1 Type-C port with Thunderbolt 3 support for more convenient connectivity options, as well as external desktop graphics and super-speedy charging, transfers, and downloads. Do more with Windows 10.
But along with a new design, the latest Blade Stealth also comes with some solid boosts to its internals. If you're looking to get deep in the spec weeds, you can check out everything powering the new Blade Stealth below.
Category | Razer Blade Stealth (2019) |
---|---|
OS | Window 10 Home (64-bit) |
Display | 13.3' FHD matte (100% sRGB) 13.3' 4K touch (100% sRGB) |
Processor | 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8565U (1.8 GHz / 4.6 GHz) |
Graphics | Intel UHD Graphics 620 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 w/ 4GB GDDR5 VRAM |
RAM | Up to 16GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 |
Storage | Up to 512GB PCIe M.2 (Graphics model) 256GB M.2 SATA (Base model) |
Security | Intel PTT TMP 2.0 |
Ports | Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) (power, 4 lanes of PCI Express), USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 (power), 2x USB 3.1 Type-A, headphone jack |
Keyboard | Razer Chroma w/ single-zone full key backlighting Anti-ghosting |
Camera | 720p webcam Windows Hello infrared camera |
Connectivity | Intel Wireless-AC 9560 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac) Bluetooth 5.0 |
Audio | Stereo, 4 speakers + Smart Amp Dolby Atmos |
Battery | Up to 13 hours |
Dimensions | 0.58' x 11.99' x 8.27' (14.8mm x 304.6mm x 210mm) |
Weight | From 2.82 lbs. (1.28kg) |
Colors | Black |
Power | 65 W USB-C power adapter |
Price | Starts at $1,399 |
The Razer Blade Stealth (2019) is available starting December 4 in the U.S. and Canada, and it's coming soon to Europe and select markets in Asia.
The 2019 Blade Stealth, the smallest laptop in Razer's lineup, strays even more than past versions from the company's image of delivering goods for hardcore gamers only.
Milled from high-grade aluminum, the 13.3-inch ultraportable has an elegant, streamlined chassis. Thinner bezels around the display helped shrink its overall footprint and further clean up its appearance. And on the iconic three-headed snake logo on the lid is now in basic black instead of glowing green.
The Stealth isn't really for gaming, either. There are three configurations, starting at $1,399 (£1,300, AU$2,449), all of which use a quad-core Intel i7-8565U processor. The base model 8GB RAM, a 256GB SATA M.2 SSD, a 1,920x1,080-pixel full HD display and integrated graphics. Another $200 doubles your RAM, swaps the SATA SSD for a PCIe M.2 and adds a 4GB version of Nividia's entry-level GeForce MX150 graphics card. (It's also the only one that comes in a limited-edition quartz pink.)
If you're willing to go up to $1,899 for the config reviewed here (£1,800 in the UK and currently not available in Australia), storage gets bumped up to a 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD and the display changes to a beautiful UHD-resolution touchscreen (though you do get less battery life, unfortunately). That is definitely expensive, especially if you're simply after the most graphics power you can get for your money.
However, it's still not as high as a similarly configured 2018 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro, which is hundreds more and doesn't even have the option for discrete graphics. In other words, the price isn't as ridiculous as it sounds (or at least not as ridiculous as Apple's pricing) and the performance doesn't disappoint. As far as Windows alternatives for the MacBook Pro go, none quite hit the mark like this Stealth update.
Maybe it's the metal body combined with its compact size and 3-pound weight (1.38kg), but the Stealth feels sturdy. The lid is stiff and there's no discernible flex to the base, adding to the high-quality feel. Though I know there are plenty of people out there who simply don't care about what their laptop looks like, I do, and really appreciate the clean simplicity of the Stealth.