Blade Stealth models are Razer’s brand look on the ultrabook concept. Although the company has a motto «For gamers. By gamers», this model is not a gaming laptop. Let’s look at the disadvantages and advantages of our today’s hero, first Razer`s ultrabook in comparison with some other laptops.
Design and Build
Razer laptops are often liked by fans of Apple devices compared to devices from other companies. The answer is all too simple, we can get it from measuring sticks. Blade Stealth is almost similar in size to the popular MacBook Air, including the size of the case, and weight. The devil is in details, from a metal one-piece case to the huge frames around the display. The metal has a subtle satin texture which makes it a pleasure to touch and after hours of use, it didn’t give me any discomfort. The only bad thing is a fingerprint magnet. I would not say that this is critical because the design is still quite attractive and the screen (12.5-inch) is just perfect! Despite this, the laptop still looks somehow outdated in comparison with, for example, the Dell XPS`s 13 almost frameless display. The minimalistic design of the laptop and the build quality are excellent. The case is completely made of anodized black aluminum and has a pleasant to the touch surface.
Razer Display
The buyer has a two-options choice. This is either a regular quad HD matte screen or a touch, glossy 4K screen. Both sound good, still there are some issues with 4K resolution on Windows. Whatever you choose, both have multi-touch and backlighting. Even though the LED backlight is bright enough, I would not recommend using this laptop outside. Brightness and contrast are above the average on the market. The screen is glossy, so it would be great to offer a non-touch matte screen. Nevertheless, the glossy screen has an excellent angle view, bright accurate colors, and an excellent level of contrast.
Keyboard and Trackpad
Maintaining high productivity and using a laptop on the go, is important for you?
A high-quality trackpad and keyboard is a must. In our laptop, the keyboard is worthy, while the trackpad is not so perfect.
The Razer Blade Stealth uses an island-type keyboard with Chroma technology providing an individual LED backlight for the keys, each of which can display the entire RGB color model. This allows you to create a ton of lighting options using one color or a combination of them, as well as accompany it with a variety of effects, for example, smooth transfusion from one color to another.
It’s hard to imagine who might need so many backlight options in the laptop keyboard (16.8 million colors), but there are tons of customization options.
Besides, the laptop is equipped with Razer Synapse gamer-oriented software. Thus, players can control the color of individual keys and snap programs with the keyboard. Highlighting the desired shortcut keys and snapping keyboard profiles to a specific game is also possible.
Drawbacks. You will need time to get used to typing with much less force as the keys don’t have much travel. Razer`s trackpad is quite good but is not a perfect one.
I would say it is very tough also there is no normal click and lack of trackpad travel. Apple, for example, worked out this issue by adding small motors to simulate a click. In my opinion, the biggest drawback of the trackpad is palm rejection. When I wrote a review, I accidentally launched the tap-to-click feature and typed a bunch of text in the middle of the other sentences where my cursor was hovering.
It is not for gaming
Razer Blade works on integrated graphics, so using it for gaming would be disappointing. Of course, you can run games like League of Legends at 1080p. However, you shouldn’t expect to play modern «heavy» games. I am sure, gamers will be disappointed with the graphics, but the ordinary user will be satisfied with the performance of the laptop.
Battery life
The brand is rated to perform at 8 hours of autonomous work. However, our test showed just 6 hours even with the brightness level of 25 %. If you need longer battery life, opt for the quad HD display instead of the 4K option. Since lower resolution will extend the work of the laptop for several hours.
Conclusion
However, the ultrabook itself turned out to be successful in many respects. The Razer Blade Stealth offers a healthy balance: it is not only ultra-compact but also very productive. Another important difference is the 4K display. Unfortunately, its characteristics disappointed us. In comparison with the Quad HD panel, it does not bear any advantages. The increased resolution creates another drawback: increased power consumption. As a result, the model’s autonomy is low. If you want to launch new games on it, then it is better to opt for a modern gaming laptop.
