Razer Updates The Razer Blade And Razer Blade Stealth At PAX
by Brett Howse on September 2, 2016 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Gaming
- Razer
- Razer Blade
- Razer Blade Stealth
Today Razer is announcing some refreshes to it’s system lineup as well, with both the Razer Blade and Razer Blade Stealth getting significant updates. The Razer Blade makes the obvious jump to Pascal graphics, but let’s dig into the Stealth updates first.
Earlier this year, Razer took their first jump into the Ultrabook ring with the Razer Blade Stealth. Announced at CES, this was an incredibly thin and light notebook which featured a Core i7 U series processor, an aluminum chassis, and optional UHD display. The really interesting part was that Razer priced it at just a $999 starting price, which isn’t inexpensive, but for a Core i7 Ultrabook, it was below similar models from other manufacturers.
The Razer Blade Stealth is a pretty good Ultrabook too. It can be docked with the Razer Core over USB Type-C using Thunderbolt 3, allowing a full desktop GPU as well as a docking station and power, all over a single cable. The one major disappointment on the Stealth was the battery life, which was well below other Ultrabooks. With just a 45 Wh battery, it was under capacity on battery, and not as well optimized as competitors, so it was a double blow against it. Razer has taken this to heart, and have tried to address both concerns. First, they’ve increased the battery capacity from 45 Wh to 53.6 Wh, which is about a 19% increase in battery capacity. This alone should help a great deal, but Razer has said that they’ve also optimized the power of the laptop to get better battery life as well. This one isn’t as easy to give a number for without actually testing the device, but any work here would be welcome, since it was one of the least optimized Ultrabooks we’ve tested in a while.
In addition, Razer is updating to the latest Kaby Lake processors, with the Core i7-7500U being the only CPU option. The storage starts at 128 GB for the QHD version, and 512 GB for the UHD model, with the UHD offering a 1 TB PCIe SSD now as well. System memory is also doubled to 16 GB of LPDDR3-1866, which is excellent to see, especially since the price has not changed. The rest of the product hasn’t changed, with the same dimensions and weight, even with the higher capacity battery. Check out our review of the first gen here. It keeps the same starting price of $999 and is available to order now.
Next up is the Razer Blade, Razer’s flagship gaming notebook. It got a nice upgrade last year, with the same per-key RGB keyboard as the Stealth, but it is now available with the NVIDIA GTX 1060 graphics, compared to the outgoing model’s GTX 970M. This is the same number of CUDA cores and same 192-bit memory bus as the outgoing GTX 970M, but it now offers 6 GB of RAM at 8 Gbps, and a much higher core and boost clock compared to the GTX 970M and should be a significant performance upgrade.
Razer is also bringing back the non-touch 1920x1080 model in addition to the 3200x1800 model, but this time with higher storage than the 128 GB it was originally stuck with. System memory is 16 GB for all models as well, with the Core i7-6700HQ as the only CPU. It is compatible with the Razer Core through USB Type-C.
Razer has kept the same basic design for the Blade for several generations now, but it’s a solid design that suits them well, and it’s still one of the nicest laptops around with a CNC aluminium chassis and excellent display. The latest Razer Blade starts at $1799, available for order now and shipping in October.
Source: Razer
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wolrah - Friday, September 2, 2016 - link
Welp, now the Blade Stealth is actually something I'll consider. I was very interested when the first generation was launched, but only offering 8GB of RAM was a huge failure on their part. 8GB is a bare minimum if one wants to even think about gaming, so considering the external GPU support was a major point of that machine it never really made sense. I consider 16GB to be the minimum I'll accept in a computer these days, and really since it's fixed and non-upgradeable I'd still really prefer more. If I can't upgrade I want to be sure I have more than I need.negusp - Saturday, September 3, 2016 - link
Huh? Gaming on an IGP should require less than 4 GB RAM. Gaming with an external dock should require about the same given the GPU's integrated memory. The CPU is still a massive limiting factor in terms of frame rates. But for gaming 8 GB is all you need, unless you're doing extremely intensive work in which case you wouldn't use a laptop with a ULV CPU.Seems like you got a ton of bloatware if you need 16 GB to game.
lewisl9029 - Friday, September 2, 2016 - link
Everything else about the new Blade Stealth looks so great. Why did Razer have to ruin everything by using a Killer NIC...MrSpadge - Friday, September 2, 2016 - link
You've got a weird definition of "everything".TheinsanegamerN - Friday, September 2, 2016 - link
the blade stealth looks nice, but I feel razer missed the boat by not using an iris part in it. Razer is a gaming company, why not include a 15 watt iris part so that gaming away from the dock isnt on par with 2013 era integrated graphics?TheinsanegamerN - Friday, September 2, 2016 - link
Also, why DDR3L and not DDR4? DDR4's lower voltage is always a good thing to have, along with higher speeds.ImSpartacus - Friday, September 2, 2016 - link
I thought the same thing. Possibly a cost issue.dakishimesan - Friday, September 2, 2016 - link
I don't think there is a 15W U-Series with Iris GPU? Certainly not from Kaby Lake yet, although they could have waited -- but as far as I know there was never a 15W w/ Iris. Correct me if I'm wrong.negusp - Saturday, September 3, 2016 - link
There are 18 W and 22 W Iris I think; and yes, they should have definitely incorporated those into the Stealth.Brett Howse - Friday, September 2, 2016 - link
It's very likely a cost issue. I think Razer should offer a second model with Iris, but that would cost them to have another SKU which required a different motherboard (since the CPU is soldered down).