Razer’s 13-inch Blade Stealth from late 2018/early 2019 marketed itself as one of the most powerful “true” ultrabooks, as it packed Intel’s 8th generation Whisky Lake quad-core CPUs and modest dedicated Nvidia MX150 into a 0.58″ x 12″ x 8.3″ and 2.82 lb design.
It looks like that the Singaporean OEM may have outdone themselves with this September’s update of the “world’s first gaming Ultrabook” — if the specs are anything to go by, anyway.
That’s because all of the new Blade Stealth configurations make use of Intel’s 10th Generation “Products formerly Ice Lake” Core i7-1065G7 Processors. The $1499 (ouch) entry level configuration does away with the MX150 or even MX250 graphics of yesteryear and instead relies entirely on the new Iris Plus graphics, which early hands-on impressions have outpacing the entry-level options from Nvidia. Most impressively, however, is Razer cramming in an Nvidia GTX 1650 (not clear if it’s Max-Q or not) into the higher-end SKUs of the new Stealth.
Nvidia’s GTX 1650 is a very capable mobile GPU, easily outpacing the venerable GTX 970m found in desktop replacements of old.
As the company touts, this would indeed be the first 13-inch laptop ever with a GTX 1650 GPU. As far as gaming performance is concerned, that should also make this the most powerful 13-inch laptop on the market.
All that power comes at a price, however. While the Iris-only version will cost $1499, the GTX1650-equipped SKU will set you back $1799 for the FHD panel or $1999 for the 4K touch version.
Interestingly, the Iris-only version is set at a 25W TDP while the GTX1650 version’s CPU will be set to 15W. This is for both power requirements (the Iris GPU and the CPU share the same Power Limit) and thermal performance, as it’s likely that allowing the CPU more than 15W while the GTX1650 is being fully utilized will be more than the cooling solution of a 13-inch ultrabook can handle.
Speaking of cooling solutions, the late-2019 Stealth with GTX 1650 now uses 3 heatpipes to help control all that extra heat.
Another feature that’s nice to see Razer add is the Windows-hello-compatible IR camera, which has been lacking on all their machines until now.
If you’re looking for buying advice and you’re set on one of these, the smart buy seems to be the $1799 FHD/GTX1650 configuration. $1499 is just far too much for what is basically just an Ice Lake ultrabook, while $1999 for a 4K ultrabook with only a 53 Wh battery just doesn’t make sense to me.
The new Stealth should start shipping in late September into early October.
Sources:
https://www.razer.com/hk-en/campaigns/gaming-ultrabook
https://www.engadget.com/2019/09/04/razer-blade-stealth-gtx-1650/
