Razer Blade Stealth of Razer, also known as the Lingren Stealth, first appeared at CES 2016. Now it has a small update. The CPU has been upgraded to Intel's latest architecture, Kaby Lake. We are satisfied with this update. If it is connected to the Razer Core external graphics card, the performance will be more cracked.
Blade Stealth can be said to be a super extreme model belonging to the upper class society, because its current price is 1210 US dollars (about 8216 yuan). In terms of price, it can compete with Dell's XPS 13 and Acer Aspire S13, and is the same as the XPS 13, Blade Stealth also has a very rich range of configurations to choose from. In addition to the QHD display version in our hands, there are 4K versions to choose from. All configurations include Intel i7-7500U and 16GB of memory. You can choose your own storage capacity, up to 1TB of storage space, but the price will become very scary, which can go to $2420 (about 16444 yuan).
Our evaluation machine is equipped with a QHD display, 256GB SSD and i7-7500U. The price of this configuration is $1540 (about 10464 yuan).
Parameter list
Processor: Intel Core i7-7500U 2.7GHz
GPU：Intel HD 620
Memory: 16GB, LPDDR3-1866MHz
Display screen: 12.5 inch, 2560 x 1440 resolution, 235ppi, support multi touch, Sharp SHP142F (LQ125T1JW02), IGZO LED
a main board: Intel Kaby Lake-U Premium PCH
Storage space: Samsung PM951 NVMe MZVLV256256GB
Interfaces: 2 x USB 3.0/3.1 Gen1, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2/Lightning interface, 1 x HDMI, headphone interface
Body size: 13.1 x 321 x 206mm
Battery: 53.6 Wh lithium ion polymer battery
Weight: 1.3kg net weight, power adapter: 320g
Price: US $1540 (about RMB 10464)
Appearance design
Like the previous generation of products, this Blade Stealth has a very good texture aluminum alloy one-piece shell, which is very good both in terms of body workmanship and firmness. The only disadvantage is that its surface is very easy to be stained with fingerprints, and it is difficult to clean.
Come and enjoy the picture
Blade Stealth has a Thunderbolt 3 interface, and a USB 3.0 interface on the left and right sides. Although the interface is quite sufficient, it is still a relatively new specification, but if you are an image processing personnel, you will certainly want to have an SD card reader. By the way, because it uses Thunderbolt 3 for charging, if you want to use this interface to expand, It will be a little more troublesome, but like Razer Core Dock of Thundersnake, it can provide power for laptops while expanding performance.
(Left side interface)
(Right side interface)
We used Kensington's USB-C Dock SD4600P to test the USB C interface on the Blade Stealth. We can use this docking station to connect to a 4K display screen with a 60Hz refresh rate. There is no problem at all. At the same time, this docking station can also power the notebook.
Thundersnake has a very rich range of peripherals to choose from. It has always been a paradise for game enthusiasts. The Razer Core graphics card expansion dock was born for notebooks like Blade Stealth. Users can add a desktop GPU to the Razer Core, and then connect to the notebook through the lightning interface. After the connection, even a thin ultrabook like Blade Stealth can play some of the current large-scale games with high image quality and without frame dropping. Unfortunately, we haven't got Razer Core so we can't test it.
(Razer Core expansion dock)
screen
The 4K screen on the previous generation Blade Stealth left us a very deep impression, and the performance was very satisfactory in terms of brightness, contrast, color and color gamut. What's the performance of the QHD screen we have now?
(Brightness distribution)
The 2560 x 1440 resolution is very high for a 12.5 inch notebook, and the ppi is 235. The subjective feeling is that the pictures displayed are very clear, and the things displayed on the desktop are very small at 100%, so we suggest going to 150%, which will look comfortable. In addition, the Blade Stealth screen also supports touch control.
（ColorChecker）
（ColorChecker）
(Gray scale)
(Gray scale)
(Outdoor visibility)
In terms of brightness, this QHD panel is comparable to the 4K version, but the latter is slightly better in contrast. In our test, the screen of Blade Stealth has a brightness of 400 nits and a very excellent contrast of 893:1, and has 95.7% sRGB and 62.3% Adobe RGB, which are very beautiful data.
It uses a mirror screen, and outdoor visibility is not too bad. Even when the battery is running out, it can provide 400 cd/㎡ brightness. However, depending on the location of the notebook, reflection may become a nuisance.
performance
All models of Blade Stealth are equipped with the new Kaby Lake Intel Core i7-7500U processor. In the category of 14W TDP ULV, it is one of the CPUs with the strongest performance. The GPU is equipped with the integrated display Intel HD 620, which can reach the maximum frequency of 3.5GHz.
We ran Cinebench 15 on Blade Stealth. In the single core test, it scored 139 points. The i7-7500U is better than the i7-6560U on XPS 13. In terms of multi-core testing, it performs very well. This new CPU has increased by 16% compared with the previous generation.
(PC Mark 8 Home, 3362 points)
Now let's take a look at the CPU frequency and temperature under full load operation. When running the CB15 single core test, the CPU reached the highest 3.5GHz, and then the temperature slowly rose to 70 ℃. At first, the fan was not very loud, but later, the noise became more and more loud. When the CPU kept at 3.5GHz, the core temperature remained between 50 ℃ and 70 ℃. Now let's take a look at the multi-core test. The CPU also jumped to 3.5GHz, but within a few seconds, the temperature went to 70 ℃, and the maximum temperature was 85 ℃. At this time, the fan noise was also very loud. At 85 ℃, the main frequency dropped to 3.3GHz.
Limit test
Similarly, now we use Prime95 to test the limits of Blade Stealth. At the beginning of the test, its main frequency jumps to 3.5GHz and the temperature flies to 87 ℃, then the main frequency will drop to 3.1~3.2GHz. After ten minutes, the core temperature will go to 90 ℃, then the main frequency is very unstable, hovering at 2.7~3.5GHz. When we turn on Furmark at the same time to run points, The main frequency drops to 1.5GHz, and the fan speed will gradually slow down.
(Cinebench R15 single core)
(Cinebench R15 multi-core)
(Score of each run)
storage device
Blade Stealth is equipped with a PCIe SSD. The specific model is Samsung's PM951 MZVLV256. From the reading performance, this is definitely a PCIe hard disk whose speed is fast enough to fly. In our test, the speed is up to 1178MB/s, and the reading speed of ordinary SATA SSD is only half of it. However, when we compare it with the XPS 13 (Samsung SM951), the latter has crushed the Blade Stealth, especially the writing speed gap.
GPU
Like many Ultrabooks, Blade Stealth is equipped with an integrated graphics card - Intel HD 620. Surprisingly, in our 3DMark score, it is faster than some devices that are also equipped with this integrated display.
(Score of each run)
(Frame rate of each game under different image quality)
Blade Stealth is designed to be used with Razer Core. Although we didn't get this graphics expansion dock for testing, the Intel HD 620 it comes with can also play games. It is still familiar with some lightweight and old games.
fever
Two heat pipes lead the heat generated by the notebook to two cooling fans, and air flows in from the two vents at the bottom. During use, be careful not to block the two air inlets, but in many cases, they will be blocked carelessly, especially when you use them on your lap, which is difficult to avoid. Under the condition of full load operation, It's better to put it on the table.
(Air inlet at the bottom)
According to our records, the temperature at full load operation is lower than 30 ℃, but under the limit test, it will exceed 50 ℃. The CPU and GPU are the hottest, that is, near the WASD key. These keys are often used when playing games.
(Heat generation during full load operation, left is the front of the fuselage, right is the back of the fuselage)
(Heating when idle, left is the front of the fuselage, right is the back of the fuselage)
Battery life
In this upgrade, Thundersnake has equipped Blade Stealth with a battery with a larger capacity, which is now 53.6Wh. In our WiFi online test, it can last about 8 hours, while in another test, it even has a 13 hour endurance.
Idle condition (turn off WiFi, medium brightness): thirteen hour thirty-seven minute
Surfing the Internet under WiFi: eight hour eighteen minute
Full load operation (maximum brightness): one hour forty-five minute
summary
With this laptop, Thundersnake has made up for some shortcomings in the previous generation of products. Now it provides longer battery life, which can even last a whole day depending on the use. The appearance design remains unchanged, but in terms of workmanship and touch, it is completely comparable to Apple's MacBook. The only disadvantage is that the shell is very easy to be stained with fingerprints and difficult to remove.
The QHD screen equipped with Blade Stealth is excellent, even compared with the 4K version, and the 12.5 inch QHD screen is just good. After all, the size of the screen is not large, and the price is more ideal. The performance is also satisfactory. The CPU score is actually quite good. If there is Razer Core, the potential of Blade Stealth can be fully unleashed.
Bonus points
√ High end metal housing
√ Internal components can be easily removed
√ Highly customized RGB keyboard
√ HDMI 2.0 and Lightning 3 interface
√ High brightness, high contrast screen
√ High color gamut
√ CPU performance is good
√ Long battery life
Negative equinox
× Too easy to get fingerprints
× The body of a 12.5 inch notebook is a bit too large
× No SD card reader
× The write speed of PCIe SSD is not completely released
The feedback of × key is general
Translation of pictures and texts from:
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