Sorry, Razer... I’m not switching - Blade Stealth 2018 Review
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2019-05-06
·
1,718 words · ~8 min read
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when the razer blade stealth was first released several years ago i was like
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wtf razer a laptop without a dedicated graphics
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card i thought you guys were like four gamers by gamers
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what's your excuse but then between the hardware upgrades and whether i like to
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admit it or not the benefits of not having a GPU like a slimmer design and
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better battery life the stealth actually grew on me to the point where for the
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last year my blade stealth has been in my backpack going everywhere this job
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takes me so needless to say i was stoked
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about the new 2018 razer blade stealth
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that is until i got one it will not be going
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into my backpack and i guess we should take a look at why
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save money on games and help support charity through humble bundle you can
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learn more through our partner link in the video description
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i'm still really undecided about razer's new boxy design language that's made its
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way from the razer phone over to their laptops in the last year and a half on
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the blade 15 it made a bit more sense to
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me because there are thermal advantages oh and
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i do appreciate the slimness of the bezels but on the stealth i'm gonna be
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carrying it with me like in my hand a lot and the sharp edges just aren't as
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comfortable in the hand subjectively though it looks damn fine
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with an exceptionally rigid chassis and an overall premium feel and they've
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removed the lighting on the rear razer logo a change that will help users avoid
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the uh potentially embarrassing situation where they show up for an
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important meeting and they've got like this weird gamery looking thing on the
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table compared to last year's model there have been some sacrifices made to the i o
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HDMI being the notable cut but with two
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usbc connections now one with Thunderbolt 3 and both of them with
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charging support along with two usb type a's and a headphone jack it's hard to
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complain too much about the extra dongle that you'd have to carry
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what i will complain about though is the increase in power
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yes you heard me right i hate that razer made the stealth more
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powerful and more power hungry by
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including a dedicated GPU i mean sure
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the mx 150 four gig is better than
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nothing but the issue here is that it's not in an experience changing way like
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casual games like rocket league and dota they will run in some cases multiple
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times faster than onboard graphics but for anything
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aaa you can expect to run at 720p resolution low settings
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and then be thrilled if you get over 30 frames per second one of razer's other
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justifications here is that it improves performance for content creators for you
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know editing videos on the go and such but i just don't see it like the quad
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core core i7 CPU is able to hold its own
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pretty well in light video editing on the old stealth or in the surface laptop
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too but our guidance has still always
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been that if you want to do any serious video editing then you should consider
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either the full-blown razer blade or something like the ASUS strix scar which
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has six cores and a full-blown gaming
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GPU for the same price
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which brings us perfectly to the most offensive part of all of this the fact
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that the mx 150 is a 200
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upgrade option that must be selected in order to get touchscreen functionality
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along with the 4k display option which adds an extra 300 on top of the already
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ballooning price on that note i hate the direction that
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they've gone with the display options in general here i mean sure 4k is awesome
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and makes a difference on a 77-inch tv
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but on a 13-inch laptop those extra pixels just
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mostly reduce battery life and the most galling part of this is that razer
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already had found a great balance my 2017 model has an 1800p panel that has a
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noticeable boost in clarity over 1080p without the drawbacks of 4k and it has
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touch i mean if they were gonna change things up why not do something good like put in
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a taller display like on the new macbook air and the surface laptop to increase
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productivity you know that second reason why it has a dedicated GPU i mean they
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added some stuff that we've been asking for like Windows hello facial
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recognition which is imho the best way to unlock a laptop
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currently but then they just continue to do more
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things that are frustrating like the webcam next to it
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it's pretty schmidt to put it mildly and speaking of schmidt the keyboard
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it's great that they were able to backlight the secondary functions i was
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really excited when i saw this at ces but the layout
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sucks and the switches are inconsistent
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so to start again the new boxy design
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means that people with larger hands will actually have their palms rest on the
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sharp edge of the laptop so we're not off to a great start here and while the
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switches i would say have above average stabilization and a nice tactile feel if
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a little bit mushy the tactile bump happens before the actual key actuation
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and the actuation force is noticeably
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different from one key to the next so i
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ended up having to kind of hulk mode type in order to make sure that every
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stroke got registered honestly though
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i could live with all of that if it wasn't for the layout like
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who thought this shift key was okay
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i would actually like to speak to that individual and i will personally pay for
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him or her to attend both a typing and a
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grammar workshop so that he or she can become more familiar with the home row
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method of typing and the importance of proper capitalization
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like i've gotten used to weird layouts before and i'll probably do it again but
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this one is just it's worse in ways that are
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just unnecessary like if they had just
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kept the key layout this keyboard might have still gotten an
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a minus or a b plus but as it is i think
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we're in c-plus territory but let's bring it back for a moment because you
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know what gets a solid a-plus this trackpad
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every other Windows notebook maker should be paying close attention right
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now and taking note of how razer used all of the available vertical space to
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enlarge their touch pad it really does make a big difference and it's awesome
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another area where razer has beaten out most of the competition is upgradability
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removing the stealth's bottom gives you easy access to the solid 54 watt hour
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battery which should be able to keep you going for a full work day assuming
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you're not gaming or video editing haha and you can upgrade the m.2 drive as
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well and i mean okay the RAM is still soldered but
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that really does say more about the state of the industry as a whole than it
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does about sort of razer because
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i'm finding myself saying at least they didn't glue the whole thing together
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microsoft bottom line though is this
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i've actually been pretty hard on the stealth for this entire review and some
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people at razer might even use the word unfair but there is a reason for it
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the price if you're making the most expensive
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Windows ultrabook you also need to be making the best
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Windows ultrabook which means that we're going to go a little
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harder on it doesn't it so the base price for this thing without
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the GPU is 1400
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and for that kind of money you could buy an xps 13 or a surface laptop too you
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get the same performance along with better keyboards and screens in either
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case then if you do throw the GPU in
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here which i guess is razer's kind of main differentiating point you are up to
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sixteen hundred dollars now for that money you can buy a surface laptop too
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and a nintendo switch since then you can get a better notebook experience and a
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better casual gaming experience or you could even get a 13-inch macbook pro
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since somehow that's starting to look like a reasonably priced option now and
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then if you upgrade to the 4k touch display which is when this thing does
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finally become a very competent notebook no touch on the lower end ones come on
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it's up to 1900 us dollars
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at that price you could get a surface book to 13-inch with the much better gtx
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1050 ti or like basically any other perfectly good
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notebook a nintendo switch and take your mom to a nice dinner or something
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it really does seem like a better way to spend your hard-earned dollars to me
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since for my part even not having paid for either of these it's pretty clear to
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me which one is going back in my backpack
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at least until lg tries to knock it out with the next gram
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