A mild refresh for Razer’s slimmer, lighter gaming ultrabook with small improvements, not major upgrades
Hot on the heels of the launch of the 2020 Razer Blade 15, Razer has now unveiled this year’s version of its thin and light laptop – the Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2020).
And just like the Blade 15, the new Stealth is stuffed with a raft of new features and upgrades to core components, including a new improved keyboard layout and fresh display options.
Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2020) preview: Specifications, prices and release date
- 15in, 120Hz 1080p non-touch or 120Hz 4K touch display
- 8-core Intel Core i7-1065G7 (1.3GHz base/3.9GHz max)
- 16GB 3,733MHz LPDDR4X RAM
- 512GB PCIe SSD
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti with 4GB of GDDR6 RAM
- Prices: $1,799 (13.3in 1080p 120Hz); $1,999 (13.3in 60Hz 4K)
- Availability: April 21st in the US and Canada; coming “soon” to Europe and elswhere
Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2020) preview: Key features and first thoughts
Like the Razer Blade 15 (2020), there isn’t much new about the design of the new Stealth. It’s CNC carved from aluminium with that oh-so-gorgeous anodised matte black finish and trademark green Razer detailing. It’s still as light and slim as before, too, weighing 1.4kg and measuring a mere 15.3mm thick when closed.
The CPU has been left well alone as well, with no move to the high power 10th gen chip of the Blade 15. Razer has, instead, stuck stolidly with the 25W 1.3GHz Intel Core i7-1065G7 chip, backed with 16GB of LPDDR4X dual-channel RAM.
Razer’s tweaked EU keyboard layout is in evidence here, however, with the right shift key now extending over the top of the cursor key cluster instead of being tucked over to the right of the up arrow, which is how it should have been in the first place.
So far, so hey-ho. The big changes, however, come in the GPU and the display department. As far as graphics go, you’re now getting a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti with 4GB of GDDR6 memory. That should give your games a healthy frame-rate boost with Razer claiming up to a 10% performance boost over the GTX 1650 in the previous models.
Displays-wise, meanwhile, you have a choice of two options and, as before, these comprise a 13.3in 1080p non-touch display or a 13.3in 4K touchscreen. Both are factory calibrated, to sRGB for the 1080p screen, and Adobe RGB for the 4K.
Where the difference lies is that the 1080p display option is now a 120Hz gamer-friendly panel, which allows for – potentially – smoother, slicker frame rates in your favourite games. That is, of course, assuming the new GPU is powerful enough to take advantage and the chassis is efficient enough at cooling to keep the laptops internal temperatures down to a level where thermal throttling doesn’t occur.
Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2020) review: Early verdict
With prices starting at $1,799 for the model with the 120Hz 1080p display and $1,999 for the 4K version, the 2020 Razer Blade Stealth 13 is not going to be a cheap option. Indeed, at those prices it’s set to be a good deal more expensive than the outgoing model, the cheapest version of which you can currently get hold of for a more affordable £1,099.
The Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2020) will be available from mid May. Keep an eye out for the full review, which we’ll update this piece with just as soon as we can get our hands on a laptop to test.
Source: expertreviews.co.uk
