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Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus Laptop Review: The Cheaper GeForce MX150 is Faster

Ice to meet you.

Razer has jumped in on the 10 nm Ice Lake bandwagon to exploit the new power-efficient Intel Iris Plus GPU. While the resulting performance is where we expect it to be, the $1500 starting price makes this a tough buy when the less expensive Blade Stealth GeForce MX150 version is the better gaming machine.

Razer announced two Blade Stealth Ice Lake SKUs back in September: the 25 W Core i7-1065G7 configuration with Iris Plus graphics for $1500 and the 15 W Core i7-1065G7 configuration with the GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics for $1800 USD. This review will focus on the 25 W configuration and the any advantages and disadvantages it brings to the table when compared to the last generation Whiskey Lake-U and GeForce MX Blade Stealth options. Expect our review on the Blade Stealth Ice Lake GTX 1650 Max-Q SKU to come soon.

Aside from the processor swap, the Blade Stealth Ice Lake is visually identical to last year's Blade Stealth with only a few differences that we will note below. Thus, we recommend checking out our existing review pages to learn more about the chassis, keyboard, clickpad, display, speakers, and ports since these remain unchanged. 

Major competitors to the Blade Stealth Ice Lake include other flagship Ultrabooks like the Dell XPS 13, Huawei MateBook X Pro, Asus ZenBook S13, Lenovo Yoga C940, or HP Spectre 13.

More Razer Blade reviews:

(Source: Razer)
(Source: Razer)
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus (Blade Stealth Series)
Processor
Intel Core i7-1065G7 4 x 1.3 - 3.9 GHz, Ice Lake-U
Graphics adapter
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), Core: 300 MHz, RAM: 1800 MHz, 25.20.100.7060
Memory
16 GB 
, DDR4, 1866 MHz, 20-20-20-45, Dual-Channel
Display
13.30 inch 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixel 166 PPI, Sharp LQ133M1JW41, IPS, SHP14B8, glossy: no
Mainboard
Intel 495 (Ice Lake-U PCH-LP Premium)
Storage
Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ, 256 GB 
Soundcard
Intel Ice Lake-U/Y PCH-LP cAVS
Connections
4 USB 2.0, 4 USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, 2 USB 3.1 Gen2, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20Gbps, 2 Thunderbolt, 2 DisplayPort, Audio Connections: 3.5 mm combo
Networking
Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (a/b/g/h/n = Wi-Fi 4/ac = Wi-Fi 5/ax = Wi-Fi 6/), Bluetooth 5
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 15.3 x 304.6 x 210 ( = 0.6 x 11.99 x 8.27 in)
Battery
53.1 Wh Lithium-Polymer
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
Camera
Webcam: 720p
Primary Camera: Windows Hello
Additional features
Speakers: Quad speakers, Keyboard: Chiclet, Keyboard Light: yes, Razer Synapse, 12 Months Warranty
Weight
1.35 kg ( = 47.62 oz / 2.98 pounds), Power Supply: 294 g ( = 10.37 oz / 0.65 pounds)
Price
1500 USD
Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

 

Rating
Date
Model
Weight
Height
Size
Resolution
Price
86.3 %
v7 (old)
10 / 2019
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
i7-1065G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
1.4 kg15.3 mm13.30"1920x1080
86.3 %
v7 (old)
10 / 2019
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
i7-1065G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
1.3 kg13 mm13.40"1920x1200
88.2 %
v7 (old)
10 / 2019
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
i7-1065G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
1.4 kg14.95 mm14.00"1920x1080
86.6 %
v6 (old)
05 / 2019
Asus ZenBook S13 UX392FN
i7-8565U, GeForce MX150
1.1 kg12.9 mm13.90"1920x1080

v (old)
04 / 2020
MSI Modern 14 A10RB
i7-10710U, GeForce MX250
1.2 kg16 mm14.00"1920x1080

Case - Now Slightly Thicker

The chassis for the Blade Stealth Ice Lake SKUs is 0.5 mm thicker than the chassis for the Blade Stealth Whiskey Lake SKUs. Razer says the change in thickness was necessary in order to accommodate the new Ice Lake and optional Turing GPU processors. Otherwise, everything else about the chassis looks and feels just as it did on last year's model.

Currently, the base Iris Plus SKU comes only in Mercury White while the higher-end GTX 1650 Max-Q SKU comes only in Black.

355 mm / 14 in 235 mm / 9.25 in 19.9 mm / 0.783 in 2.1 kg4.63 lbs345 mm / 13.6 in 235 mm / 9.25 in 17.9 mm / 0.705 in 2 kg4.41 lbs320.3 mm / 12.6 in 215.6 mm / 8.49 in 14.95 mm / 0.589 in 1.4 kg3.09 lbs316 mm / 12.4 in 195 mm / 7.68 in 12.9 mm / 0.508 in 1.1 kg2.43 lbs304.6 mm / 12 in 210 mm / 8.27 in 15.3 mm / 0.602 in 1.4 kg2.98 lbs304.6 mm / 12 in 210 mm / 8.27 in 14.8 mm / 0.583 in 1.3 kg2.89 lbs296 mm / 11.7 in 207 mm / 8.15 in 13 mm / 0.512 in 1.3 kg2.93 lbs297 mm / 11.7 in 210 mm / 8.27 in 1 mm / 0.03937 in 5.7 g0.01257 lbs

Connectivity - Symmetrical Port Positioning

Both HDMI and an SD reader are still missing on the Blade Stealth. Thus, you'll have to rely on DisplayPort over USB or Thunderbolt 3 for connecting external monitors and SD card reader adapters.

Front: No connectivity
Front: No connectivity
Right: USB Type-A 3.1, Thunderbolt 3
Right: USB Type-A 3.1, Thunderbolt 3
Rear: No connectivity
Rear: No connectivity
Left: USB Type-C 3.1 Gen. 2, USB Type-A 3.1
Left: USB Type-C 3.1 Gen. 2, USB Type-A 3.1

Communication - Wi-Fi 6 Now Standard

Wireless has been updated from the Intel 9560 on last year's model to the Intel AX201 for Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. Should your network support it, theoretical transfer rates can be up to 2.4 GHz compared to "only" 1.73 Gbps on the Intel 9560. We experienced no connectivity issues during our time with the test unit.

Maintenance

Blade Stealth Ice Lake Base Model
Blade Stealth Ice Lake Base Model
Blade Stealth i7-8565U with GeForce MX150 for comparison
Blade Stealth i7-8565U with GeForce MX150 for comparison

Input Devices

Keyboard and Touchpad

There are no changes to the keyboard or clickpad. The white key caps and gray font colors, however, contrast more poorly when compared to the standard black Blade Stealth. Other white laptops like the HP Spectre 13 or Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 share this same disadvantage as well.

Same keyboard and clickpad
Same keyboard and clickpad
Clickpad is large, but feedback could be firmer and less spongy
Clickpad is large, but feedback could be firmer and less spongy
White key caps don't contrast as well with the gray font
White key caps don't contrast as well with the gray font
Full-size directional keys
Full-size directional keys

Display - Same Familiar Sharp Panel

No changes have been made to the display as the Blade Stealth Ice Lake uses the same Sharp LQ133M1JW41 1080p panel as found on the Blade Stealth Whiskey Lake-U. Brightness, contrast, colors, and response times are therefore nearly the same between them as shown by the table below. Uneven backlight bleeding is slightly worse on our Ice Lake test unit and so it's still a gamble if you're looking for that perfectly uniform backlight.

Narrow side bezels with a relatively thick "chin" bezel
Narrow side bezels with a relatively thick "chin" bezel
Edge-to-edge 4K UHD glass touchscreen available only on the GTX 1650 Max-Q SKU
Edge-to-edge 4K UHD glass touchscreen available only on the GTX 1650 Max-Q SKU
Matte subpixel array
Matte subpixel array
Slight-moderate uneven backlight bleeding
Slight-moderate uneven backlight bleeding
426.8
cd/m²
416
cd/m²
396.6
cd/m²
392.9
cd/m²
422.6
cd/m²
373.4
cd/m²
401.1
cd/m²
407.5
cd/m²
396.7
cd/m²
Distribution of brightness
Sharp LQ133M1JW41 tested with X-Rite i1Pro 2
Maximum: 426.8 cd/m² (Nits) Average: 403.7 cd/m² Minimum: 10.57 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 87 %
Center on Battery: 422.6 cd/m²
Contrast: 1207:1 (Black: 0.35 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 1.02 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.92, calibrated: 0.95
ΔE Greyscale 1 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
97.1% sRGB (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
62.1% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
67.1% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
97.2% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
66.2% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.21
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Sharp LQ133M1JW41, IPS, 13.3", 1920x1080
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
Sharp LQ133M1JW41, IPS, 13.3", 1920x1080
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Sharp LQ134N1, IPS, 13.4", 1920x1200
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
LP140WF9-SPE2, IPS LED, 14", 1920x1080
Asus ZenBook S13 UX392FN
Tianma XM, IPS, 13.9", 1920x1080
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
BOE NV156FHM-N4K, IPS, 15.6", 1920x1080
Display
-1%
5%
0%
1%
-3%
Display P3 Coverage
66.2
65.5
-1%
69.9
6%
66
0%
67.5
2%
65.3
-1%
sRGB Coverage
97.2
96.3
-1%
99.2
2%
97.9
1%
95.8
-1%
91.8
-6%
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage
67.1
66.3
-1%
71.5
7%
67.3
0%
69
3%
66.5
-1%
Response Times
-10%
-27%
0%
11%
14%
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% *
45.2 ?(22.4, 22.8)
57.6 ?(29.2, 28.4)
-27%
47.6 ?(23.2, 24.4)
-5%
49.6 ?(23.6, 26)
-10%
47.2 ?(23.6, 23.6)
-4%
13.6 ?(7.2, 6.4)
70%
Response Time Black / White *
33.2 ?(17.6, 15.6)
34 ?(17.6, 16.4)
-2%
29.2 ?(16, 13.2)
12%
30 ?(16.4, 13.6)
10%
24.8 ?(14, 10.8)
25%
10 ?(6, 4)
70%
PWM Frequency
22730 ?(24)
22730 ?(24)
0%
2500 ?(25)
-89%
200 ?(99)
-99%
Screen
-6%
-24%
-51%
-23%
-95%
Brightness middle
422.6
429.8
2%
549.8
30%
384
-9%
466
10%
312.7
-26%
Brightness
404
403
0%
520
29%
363
-10%
462
14%
305
-25%
Brightness Distribution
87
89
2%
86
-1%
90
3%
90
3%
90
3%
Black Level *
0.35
0.32
9%
0.39
-11%
0.17
51%
0.33
6%
0.27
23%
Contrast
1207
1343
11%
1410
17%
2259
87%
1412
17%
1158
-4%
Colorchecker dE 2000 *
1.02
1.08
-6%
2.12
-108%
3.5
-243%
1.93
-89%
4.57
-348%
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. *
3.06
3.96
-29%
3.66
-20%
5.5
-80%
4.26
-39%
6.81
-123%
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated *
0.95
1.21
-27%
1.37
-44%
1
-5%
1.99
-109%
2.91
-206%
Greyscale dE 2000 *
1
1.3
-30%
2.6
-160%
4.6
-360%
1.7
-70%
4.3
-330%
Gamma
2.21 100%
2.23 99%
2.3 96%
2.32 95%
2.15 102%
2.29 96%
CCT
6502 100%
6452 101%
6884 94%
6884 94%
6382 102%
7098 92%
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998)
62.1
61.4
-1%
65.4
5%
62
0%
62.2
0%
59.4
-4%
Color Space (Percent of sRGB)
97.1
96.3
-1%
99.7
3%
97.7
1%
95.7
-1%
91.3
-6%
Total Average (Program / Settings)
-6% / -6%
-15% / -19%
-17% / -35%
-4% / -15%
-28% / -60%

* ... smaller is better

vs. sRGB
vs. sRGB
vs. AdobeRGB
vs. AdobeRGB

Razer calibrates each unit at factory and our independent X-Rite results confirm this. Average DeltaE values are some of the lowest we've seen on any subnotebook. Attempting to calibrate the display even further ourselves improves grayscale and colors just marginally from DeltaE values of 1.0 to and 1.02 to 0.8 and 0.95, respectively.

Grayscale before calibration
Grayscale before calibration
Saturation Sweeps before calibration
Saturation Sweeps before calibration
ColorChecker before calibration
ColorChecker before calibration
Grayscale after calibration
Grayscale after calibration
Saturation Sweeps after calibration
Saturation Sweeps after calibration
ColorChecker after calibration
ColorChecker after calibration

Display Response Times

Display response times show how fast the screen is able to change from one color to the next. Slow response times can lead to afterimages and can cause moving objects to appear blurry (ghosting). Gamers of fast-paced 3D titles should pay special attention to fast response times.
       Response Time Black to White
33.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined↗ 17.6 ms rise
↘ 15.6 ms fall
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers.
In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 89 % of all devices are better.
This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (21 ms).
       Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey
45.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined↗ 22.4 ms rise
↘ 22.8 ms fall
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers.
In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 75 % of all devices are better.
This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (32.9 ms).

Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)

To dim the screen, some notebooks will simply cycle the backlight on and off in rapid succession - a method called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) . This cycling frequency should ideally be undetectable to the human eye. If said frequency is too low, users with sensitive eyes may experience strain or headaches or even notice the flickering altogether.
Screen flickering / PWM detected 22730 Hz ≤ 24 % brightness setting

The display backlight flickers at 22730 Hz (worst case, e.g., utilizing PWM) Flickering detected at a brightness setting of 24 % and below. There should be no flickering or PWM above this brightness setting.

The frequency of 22730 Hz is quite high, so most users sensitive to PWM should not notice any flickering.

In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8747 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured.

Outdoors on a cloudy day
Outdoors on a cloudy day
Outdoors under shade
Outdoors under shade
Outdoors on a cloudy day
Outdoors on a cloudy day
Wide IPS viewing angles
Wide IPS viewing angles

Performance

The 10th gen Core i7-1065G7 is a successor to the 9th gen Core i7-8565U and also a direct competitor to the AMD Ryzen 7 3700U. Its integrated Iris Plus GPU is an enormous improvement over the UHD Graphics 620 while being comparable to the AMD Radeon RX Vega 10. Unlike the Blade Stealth GTX 1650 Max-Q SKU, this Iris Plus-only configuration uses the faster 25 W version of the Core i7-1065G7.

LatencyMon shows no DPC latency issues.

 

Processor - Just Barely Ahead of the Core i7-8565U

CPU performance is where we expect it to be when compared to the Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL equipped with the same Core i7-1065G7 processor. CineBench scores remain the same between Auto fan mode and Maximum fan mode meaning that the main benefit from Maximum fan mode will be the lower temperatures. The i7-1065G7 in the XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 benefits from faster initial Turbo Boost performance because Dell allows the CPU to run much warmer.

Raw multi-thread performance is only about 5 to 6 percent faster than the Core i7-8565U on the older Blade Stealth to be essentially unnoticeable during day-to-day use.

See our overview on the Core i7-1065G7 for more information on the processor.

CineBench R15
CineBench R15
CineBench R20
CineBench R20
04590135180225270315360405450495540585630675720765810Tooltip
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ; CPU Multi 64Bit: Ø671 (663.4-722.7)
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7 Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Toshiba BG4 KBG40ZPZ512G; CPU Multi 64Bit: Ø672 (632.81-836.68)
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB512HAJQ; CPU Multi 64Bit; Performance Mode: Ø702 (693.71-740.11)
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB512HAJQ; CPU Multi 64Bit: Ø672 (659-720)
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, Lite-On CA3-8D256-Q11; CPU Multi 64Bit: Ø627 (623.29-676.66)
Cinebench R15
CPU Single 64Bit
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
Intel Core i7-8565U
174 Points +17%
Dell G3 3590
Intel Core i5-9300H
172 Points +15%
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
Intel Core i7-9750H
170 Points +14%
MSI Modern 14 A10RB
Intel Core i7-10710U
170 Points +14%
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2018-20KGS5DU00
Intel Core i7-8550U
167 Points +12%
Lenovo ThinkBook 13s-20R90071GE
Intel Core i5-8265U
162 Points +9%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Core i7-1065G7
149 Points
Dell Latitude 14 5495
AMD Ryzen 7 2700U
148 Points -1%
Razer Blade (2017) UHD
Intel Core i7-7700HQ
146 Points -2%
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U
135 Points -9%
CPU Multi 64Bit
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
Intel Core i7-9750H
964 Points +43%
Dell G3 3590
Intel Core i5-9300H
790 Points +17%
Razer Blade (2017) UHD
Intel Core i7-7700HQ
747 Points +11%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
Intel Core i7-8565U
677 Points 0%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Core i7-1065G7
676 Points
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U
672 Points -1%
Dell Latitude 14 5495
AMD Ryzen 7 2700U
670 Points -1%
Lenovo ThinkBook 13s-20R90071GE
Intel Core i5-8265U
655 (546min - 658max) Points -3%
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2018-20KGS5DU00
Intel Core i7-8550U
653 Points -3%
MSI Modern 14 A10RB
Intel Core i7-10710U
513 (528.77min - 559.75max) Points -24%
Cinebench R20
CPU (Single Core)
Dell G3 3590
Intel Core i5-9300H
422 Points +9%
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
Intel Core i7-9750H
419 Points +8%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
Intel Core i7-8565U
418 Points +8%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Core i7-1065G7
388 Points
Lenovo ThinkBook 13s-20R90071GE
Intel Core i5-8265U
386 Points -1%
Dell Latitude 14 5495
AMD Ryzen 7 2700U
381 Points -2%
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U
334 Points -14%
CPU (Multi Core)
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
Intel Core i7-9750H
2074 Points +47%
Dell G3 3590
Intel Core i5-9300H
1864 Points +32%
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U
1499 Points +6%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Core i7-1065G7
1411 Points
Dell Latitude 14 5495
AMD Ryzen 7 2700U
1392 Points -1%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
Intel Core i7-8565U
1267 Points -10%
Lenovo ThinkBook 13s-20R90071GE
Intel Core i5-8265U
1202 Points -15%
MSI Modern 14 A10RB
Intel Core i7-10710U
1181 Points -16%
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64Bit
70.3 fps
Cinebench R15 Ref. Match 64Bit
97.8 %
Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64Bit
676 Points
Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64Bit
149 Points
Cinebench R20 CPU (Multi Core)
1411 Points
Cinebench R20 CPU (Single Core)
388 Points
Help

System Performance

PCMark benchmarks are indeed marginally higher than on last year's Whiskey Lake-U-powered SKU with GeForce MX150 graphics by 2 to 15 percent. The differences become much larger if comparing to the older Kaby Lake-R Blade Stealth with integrated UHD Graphics 620 only.

It's worth noting that we experienced a couple of glitches on our test unit. Firstly, some games took a couple of tries before successfully loading including Rocket League and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Secondly, the system abruptly entered Sleep mode or auto-rebooted two to three times during our testing period. We're unable to reliably reproduce these bugs, but readers should definitely share their own accounts if they've experienced anything similar with their personal Blade Stealth Ice Lake systems.

PCMark 10 Standard
PCMark 10 Standard
PCMark 8 Home Accelerated
PCMark 8 Home Accelerated
PCMark 8 Work Accelerated
PCMark 8 Work Accelerated
PCMark 10
Score
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
5301 Points +15%
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Toshiba BG4 KBG40ZPZ512G
4677 Points +1%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
4609 Points
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB512HAJQ
4583 Points -1%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, Lite-On CA3-8D256-Q11
4219 Points -8%
Asus ZenBook S13 UX392FN
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-512G
3970 Points -14%
Razer Blade Stealth QHD i7-8550U
UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U, Samsung PM961 NVMe MZVLW512HMJP
3262 Points -29%
Razer Blade Stealth QHD i7-8550U
UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U, Samsung PM961 NVMe MZVLW512HMJP
3212 Points -30%
Essentials
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB512HAJQ
9678 Points 0%
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Toshiba BG4 KBG40ZPZ512G
9678 Points 0%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
9664 Points
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
9405 Points -3%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, Lite-On CA3-8D256-Q11
8373 Points -13%
Asus ZenBook S13 UX392FN
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-512G
7962 Points -18%
Razer Blade Stealth QHD i7-8550U
UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U, Samsung PM961 NVMe MZVLW512HMJP
6743 Points -30%
Productivity
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
7290 Points +1%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
7245 Points
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Toshiba BG4 KBG40ZPZ512G
7179 Points -1%
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB512HAJQ
6924 Points -4%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, Lite-On CA3-8D256-Q11
6575 Points -9%
Asus ZenBook S13 UX392FN
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-512G
6398 Points -12%
Razer Blade Stealth QHD i7-8550U
UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U, Samsung PM961 NVMe MZVLW512HMJP
4962 Points -32%
Digital Content Creation
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
5898 Points +55%
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Toshiba BG4 KBG40ZPZ512G
3998 Points +5%
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB512HAJQ
3900 Points +3%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
3796 Points
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, Lite-On CA3-8D256-Q11
3704 Points -2%
Asus ZenBook S13 UX392FN
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-512G
3334 Points -12%
Razer Blade Stealth QHD i7-8550U
UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U, Samsung PM961 NVMe MZVLW512HMJP
2689 Points -29%
PCMark 8
Home Score Accelerated v2
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
4074 Points +1%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
4030 Points
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB512HAJQ
4003 Points -1%
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Toshiba BG4 KBG40ZPZ512G
3982 Points -1%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, Lite-On CA3-8D256-Q11
3873 Points -4%
Asus ZenBook S13 UX392FN
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-512G
3712 Points -8%
Razer Blade Stealth QHD i7-8550U
UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U, Samsung PM961 NVMe MZVLW512HMJP
3268 Points -19%
Work Score Accelerated v2
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
5480 Points +6%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
5173 Points
Asus ZenBook S13 UX392FN
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-512G
5159 Points 0%
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB512HAJQ
5158 Points 0%
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Toshiba BG4 KBG40ZPZ512G
5086 Points -2%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, Lite-On CA3-8D256-Q11
5065 Points -2%
Razer Blade Stealth QHD i7-8550U
UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U, Samsung PM961 NVMe MZVLW512HMJP
4184 Points -19%
PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated v2
4030 points
PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated v2
5173 points
PCMark 10 Score
4609 points
Help

Storage Devices - No Secondary Slots

Whereas our Whiskey Lake-U Blade Stealth unit came equipped with a 256 GB Lite-On SSD, our Ice Lake unit comes with the Samsung PM981 much like on all the newer Blade 15 and Blade Pro 17 models. Expect this drive to fill up quickly after installing just a small handful of games.

See our growing list of HDDs and SSDs for more benchmark comparisons.

AS SSD
AS SSD
CDM 5.5
CDM 5.5
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
Lite-On CA3-8D256-Q11
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Toshiba BG4 KBG40ZPZ512G
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB512HAJQ
Asus ZenBook S13 UX392FN
WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-512G
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
AS SSD
16%
-12%
106%
70%
74%
Seq Read
1989
1617
-19%
1801
-9%
2525
27%
1224
-38%
1829
-8%
Seq Write
827
1017
23%
1125
36%
1253
52%
907
10%
1315
59%
4K Read
40.12
40.03
0%
39.7
-1%
59.1
47%
41.46
3%
51.3
28%
4K Write
135.1
103.4
-23%
67
-50%
134.1
-1%
126.2
-7%
106
-22%
4K-64 Read
531
477.3
-10%
1253
136%
1010
90%
1021
92%
917
73%
4K-64 Write
309.9
281.5
-9%
209
-33%
1461
371%
1251
304%
1212
291%
Access Time Read *
0.085
0.069
19%
0.069
19%
0.052
39%
0.053
38%
0.063
26%
Access Time Write *
0.09
0.063
30%
0.625
-594%
0.029
68%
0.027
70%
0.104
-16%
Score Read
770
679
-12%
1472
91%
1322
72%
1185
54%
1152
50%
Score Write
528
487
-8%
388
-27%
1721
226%
1468
178%
1450
175%
Score Total
1644
1495
-9%
2583
57%
3670
123%
3250
98%
3177
93%
Copy ISO MB/s
1418
1595
12%
1293
-9%
2016
42%
1404
-1%
1539
9%
Copy Program MB/s
382.7
485.8
27%
560
46%
542
42%
402.4
5%
513
34%
Copy Game MB/s
334.2
1029
208%
927
177%
1278
282%
902
170%
1150
244%

* ... smaller is better

Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
CDM 5/6 Read Seq Q32T1: 3481 MB/s
CDM 5/6 Write Seq Q32T1: 1104 MB/s
CDM 5/6 Read 4K Q32T1: 559 MB/s
CDM 5/6 Write 4K Q32T1: 440.6 MB/s
CDM 5 Read Seq: 1644 MB/s
CDM 5 Write Seq: 1332 MB/s
CDM 5/6 Read 4K: 48.38 MB/s
CDM 5/6 Write 4K: 176.8 MB/s

GPU Performance - Good Benchmark Results

3DMark benchmarks are great for comparing GPUs within the same product family. For comparing two different GPUs from two different families, however, 3DMark becomes more unreliable. As an example, Fire Strike and Time Spy scores for our Iris Plus system are only 14 percent and 30 percent slower than the 25 W GeForce MX150 or MX250, respectively, to suggest that we can expect similar deficits when running actual games. In practice, the Iris Plus will be substantially slower than the GeForce MX150 or MX250 in most cases.

Strangely, Fire Strike would crash after running Windows Update which Razer says they are looking into. This thankfully does not occur when launching games.

3DMark 11
3DMark 11
Cloud Gate
Cloud Gate
Time Spy
Time Spy
3DMark
1280x720 Cloud Gate Standard Graphics
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
98452 Points +469%
Razer Blade (2017) UHD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, i7-7700HQ
48409 Points +180%
Asus ZenBook 15 UX534FT-DB77
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q, i7-8565U
46686 Points +170%
Huawei MateBook 14 KLV-W29
NVIDIA GeForce MX250, i7-8565U
22615 Points +31%
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, R7 3700U
20784 Points +20%
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7
18881 Points +9%
Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i5
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i5-8250U
17552 Points +1%
Lenovo Yoga 530-14ARR-81H9000VGE
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, R7 2700U
17440 Points +1%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7
17299 Points
Dell Vostro 15-5581
NVIDIA GeForce MX130, i5-8265U
13240 Points -23%
Razer Blade Stealth QHD i7-8550U
Intel UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U
9349 Points -46%
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
14753 Points
Razer Blade (2017) UHD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, i7-7700HQ
10715 Points
Asus ZenBook 15 UX534FT-DB77
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q, i7-8565U
7593 Points
Huawei MateBook 14 KLV-W29
NVIDIA GeForce MX250, i7-8565U
3664 Points
Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i5
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i5-8250U
3263 Points
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7
3144 Points
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, R7 3700U
2999 Points
Lenovo Yoga 530-14ARR-81H9000VGE
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, R7 2700U
2376 Points
Dell Vostro 15-5581
NVIDIA GeForce MX130, i5-8265U
2267 Points
2560x1440 Time Spy Graphics
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
5335 Points +574%
Razer Blade (2017) UHD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, i7-7700HQ
3478 Points +339%
Asus ZenBook 15 UX534FT-DB77
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q, i7-8565U
2836 Points +258%
Huawei MateBook 14 KLV-W29
NVIDIA GeForce MX250, i7-8565U
1130 Points +43%
Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i5
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i5-8250U
971 Points +23%
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, R7 3700U
852 Points +8%
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7
833 Points +5%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7
792 Points
Lenovo Yoga 530-14ARR-81H9000VGE
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, R7 2700U
679 Points -14%
Dell Vostro 15-5581
NVIDIA GeForce MX130, i5-8265U
649 Points -18%
Razer Blade Stealth QHD i7-8550U
Intel UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U
335 Points -58%
1920x1080 Fire Strike Score
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
12926 Points +348%
Razer Blade (2017) UHD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, i7-7700HQ
9247 Points +221%
Asus ZenBook 15 UX534FT-DB77
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q, i7-8565U
6698 Points +132%
Huawei MateBook 14 KLV-W29
NVIDIA GeForce MX250, i7-8565U
3350 Points +16%
Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i5
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i5-8250U
2954 Points +2%
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7
2925 Points +1%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7
2883 Points
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, R7 3700U
2694 Points -7%
Lenovo Yoga 530-14ARR-81H9000VGE
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, R7 2700U
2125 Points -26%
Dell Vostro 15-5581
NVIDIA GeForce MX130, i5-8265U
2115 Points -27%
3DMark 11
1280x720 Performance GPU
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
19329 Points +355%
Asus ZenBook 15 UX534FT-DB77
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q, i7-8565U
10761 Points +153%
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7
4594 Points +8%
Huawei MateBook 14 KLV-W29
NVIDIA GeForce MX250, i7-8565U
4459 Points +5%
Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i5
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i5-8250U
4252 Points 0%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7
4252 Points
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, R7 3700U
4165 Points -2%
Lenovo Yoga 530-14ARR-81H9000VGE
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, R7 2700U
4045 Points -5%
Dell Vostro 15-5581
NVIDIA GeForce MX130, i5-8265U
2476 Points -42%
Razer Blade Stealth QHD i7-8550U
Intel UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U
1675 Points -61%
1280x720 Performance Combined
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
11416 Points +187%
Asus ZenBook 15 UX534FT-DB77
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q, i7-8565U
8563 Points +116%
Huawei MateBook 14 KLV-W29
NVIDIA GeForce MX250, i7-8565U
4552 Points +15%
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7
4143 Points +4%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7
3971 Points
Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i5
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i5-8250U
3845 Points -3%
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, R7 3700U
3247 Points -18%
Lenovo Yoga 530-14ARR-81H9000VGE
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, R7 2700U
2780 Points -30%
Dell Vostro 15-5581
NVIDIA GeForce MX130, i5-8265U
2169 Points -45%
Razer Blade Stealth QHD i7-8550U
Intel UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U
1681 Points -58%
3DMark 11 Performance
4581 points
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score
12126 points
3DMark Fire Strike Score
2883 points
3DMark Time Spy Score
898 points
Help

Gaming Performance - Wildly Different Depending on the Game

Gaming with the Iris Plus sounds promising on paper especially when looking at its 3DMark scores as a jumping off point. Unfortunately, real-world performance when running games is a mixed bag with no clean consistency. We're seeing 20 percent and 30 percent slower performance than the Ryzen 7 3700U and GeForce MX150, respectively, when running Shadow of the Tomb Raider on its lowest 720p settings while higher Medium settings will crash the game. On the other hand, performance in Rocket League can be slower than the Ryzen 7 3700U on lower resolutions and faster when on higher resolutions. Running Fortnite at 1080p Medium settings will net similar average frame rates as the aforementioned Ryzen at about 32 FPS. Attempting to run the game at the lowest 1080p settings results in an average frame rate of 50 FPS.

Idling on Witcher 3 for one hour shows steady frame rates save for a sudden dip to around 14 FPS before recovering as shown by our graph below. Undesirable background activity is likely to blame here as this does not occur on most other gaming laptops including on the Whiskey Lake-U-powered Blade Stealth.

See our dedicated page on the Iris Plus GPU for more gaming benchmark comparisons.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 1280x720 Lowest Preset
MSI GF75 Thin 9SC
Intel Core i7-9750H, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile
128 fps +327%
Asus GL753VD
Intel Core i7-7700HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile
71 (48min) fps +137%
Asus TUF FX705GE-EW096T
Intel Core i7-8750H, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
63 fps +110%
MSI GL72 7QF
Intel Core i7-7700HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
60 (50min) fps +100%
Acer Aspire 5 A515-52G-723L
Intel Core i7-8565U, NVIDIA GeForce MX250
46 fps +53%
Acer Aspire 5 A515-52G-53PU
Intel Core i5-8265U, NVIDIA GeForce MX150
45 fps +50%
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
38 fps +27%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Core i7-1065G7, Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
30 fps
Acer Nitro 5
AMD Ryzen 7 2700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
24 fps -20%
Dell XPS 13 9380 2019
Intel Core i5-8265U, Intel UHD Graphics 620
15 fps -50%
Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i7
Intel Core i7-8550U, Intel UHD Graphics 620
13 (10min - 22max) fps -57%
Rocket League
1280x720 Performance
Schenker XMG A505
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
248 (223min) fps +166%
Lenovo IdeaPad S540-14IWL
Intel Core i5-8265U, NVIDIA GeForce MX250
176 (41min - 235max) fps +89%
Acer Aspire 5 A515-52G-723L
Intel Core i7-8565U, NVIDIA GeForce MX250
175.4 fps +88%
Huawei MateBook 13 i7
Intel Core i7-8565U, NVIDIA GeForce MX150
156 fps +67%
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
119.7 fps +28%
Lenovo IdeaPad S540-14API
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
106.5 fps +14%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Core i7-1065G7, Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
93.2 fps
HP ProBook 440 G6-5TK01EA
Intel Core i7-8565U, Intel UHD Graphics 620
25.5 fps -73%
1920x1080 Performance
Schenker XMG A505
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
201 (175min) fps +79%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Core i7-1065G7, Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
112.6 fps
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
94.3 fps -16%
HP ProBook 440 G6-5TK01EA
Intel Core i7-8565U, Intel UHD Graphics 620
58.4 fps -48%
1920x1080 High Quality AA:High FX
Lenovo IdeaPad S540-14IWL
Intel Core i5-8265U, NVIDIA GeForce MX250
80 (35min - 113max) fps +65%
Schenker XMG A505
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
76.8 (62min) fps +58%
Acer Aspire 5 A515-52G-723L
Intel Core i7-8565U, NVIDIA GeForce MX250
52.1 fps +7%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Core i7-1065G7, Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
48.5 fps
Huawei MateBook 13 i7
Intel Core i7-8565U, NVIDIA GeForce MX150
47.4 fps -2%
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
38.9 fps -20%
Lenovo IdeaPad S540-14API
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
35.3 fps -27%
Fortnite
1280x720 Low Preset
Asus GL753VD
Intel Core i7-7700HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile
181 (152min) fps +135%
MSI GL72 7QF
Intel Core i7-7700HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
160 (135min) fps +108%
Lenovo IdeaPad S540-14IWL
Intel Core i5-8265U, NVIDIA GeForce MX250
140 (77min - 190max) fps +82%
Acer Aspire 5 A515-52G-53PU
Intel Core i5-8265U, NVIDIA GeForce MX150
130.1 fps +69%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Core i7-1065G7, Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
77 fps
Acer Nitro 5
AMD Ryzen 7 2700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
56.9 fps -26%
Lenovo IdeaPad S540-14API
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
56.2 fps -27%
Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i7
Intel Core i7-8550U, Intel UHD Graphics 620
53.6 (38min - 80max) fps -30%
1920x1080 Medium Preset
Asus GL753VD
Intel Core i7-7700HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile
128 (108min) fps +296%
MSI GL72 7QF
Intel Core i7-7700HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
99.1 (89min) fps +207%
Lenovo IdeaPad S540-14IWL
Intel Core i5-8265U, NVIDIA GeForce MX250
55.4 (27min - 72max) fps +72%
Acer Aspire 5 A515-52G-53PU
Intel Core i5-8265U, NVIDIA GeForce MX150
52.5 fps +63%
Lenovo IdeaPad S540-14API
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
33 fps +2%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Core i7-1065G7, Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
32.3 fps
Acer Nitro 5
AMD Ryzen 7 2700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
32.2 fps 0%
Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i7
Intel Core i7-8550U, Intel UHD Graphics 620
22.4 (19min - 25max) fps -31%
1920x1080 Epic Preset
Asus GL753VD
Intel Core i7-7700HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile
38.7 (35min) fps +151%
MSI GL72 7QF
Intel Core i7-7700HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
30.5 (28min) fps +98%
Acer Aspire 5 A515-52G-53PU
Intel Core i5-8265U, NVIDIA GeForce MX150
22.7 fps +47%
Lenovo IdeaPad S540-14IWL
Intel Core i5-8265U, NVIDIA GeForce MX250
22 (17min - 26max) fps +43%
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Intel Core i7-1065G7, Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
15.4 fps
05101520253035Tooltip
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ: Ø33 (12-35)
lowmed.highultra
BioShock Infinite (2013) 112.2 70.7 60.4 20.9
The Witcher 3 (2015) 58 33.8 19.1 9.6
Rocket League (2017) 93.2 71.3 48.5
Fortnite (2018) 77 32.3 25.1 15.4
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018) 30

Emissions

System Noise - Very Quiet considering the Small Form Factor

Fan noise is noticeably quieter than the older Blade Stealth GeForce MX150 configuration especially when under medium loads or higher. Expect fan noise to top out at the 33 to 35 dB(A) range when gaming compared to over 40 dB(A) on the aforementioned GeForce MX150 model. Manually enabling Maximum fan mode will bump fan noise to over 49 dB(A), but this will not improve performance and it is effectively unnecessary. The Blade Stealth uses the same Razer Synapse software as does the Blade 15 or Blade Pro 17 and so Maximum fan mode will be more useful on these larger dedicated gaming machines.

We're able to notice some very slight coil whine on our test unit when placing an ear near the keyboard keys.

Twin ~40 mm fans
Twin ~40 mm fans
System is quiet and almost always silent during low-medium loads
System is quiet and almost always silent during low-medium loads
Empty spot for the discrete GTX 1650 Max-Q GPU and DRAM modules
Empty spot for the discrete GTX 1650 Max-Q GPU and DRAM modules
Soldered RAM modules receive cooling as well
Soldered RAM modules receive cooling as well
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, Lite-On CA3-8D256-Q11
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Toshiba BG4 KBG40ZPZ512G
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i7-1065G7, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB512HAJQ
Asus ZenBook S13 UX392FN
GeForce MX150, i7-8565U, WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-512G
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H, Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ
Noise
-5%
-1%
3%
-3%
-13%
off / environment *
28.3
28.4
-0%
28.1
1%
29.3
-4%
28.1
1%
28.5
-1%
Idle Minimum *
28.3
28.5
-1%
28.1
1%
29.3
-4%
28.1
1%
30.3
-7%
Idle Average *
28.3
29
-2%
28.1
1%
29.3
-4%
28.1
1%
30.5
-8%
Idle Maximum *
28.3
29.1
-3%
28.1
1%
29.3
-4%
29
-2%
30.5
-8%
Load Average *
33.5
42.8
-28%
31.7
5%
33.3
1%
41.1
-23%
41
-22%
Witcher 3 ultra *
34.5
41.4
-20%
43.4
-26%
41.1
-19%
48
-39%
Load Maximum *
49.4
41.6
16%
43.4
12%
33.3
33%
41.1
17%
51.9
-5%

* ... smaller is better

Noise Level

Idle
28.3 / 28.3 / 28.3 dB(A)
Load
33.5 / 49.4 dB(A)
  red to green bar
 
 
30 dB
silent
40 dB(A)
audible
50 dB(A)
loud
 
min: dark, med: mid, max: light   Audix TM1, Arta (15 cm distance)   environment noise: 28.3 dB(A)

Temperature - Warm to the Touch

Dual rear exhaust
Dual rear exhaust

Surface temperatures are lower than expected especially when compared to the older Blade Stealth Core i7-8550U SKU. Whereas surfaces can reach as high as 44 C to 55 C on the latter, the warmest spots on our Ice Lake unit reach just 36 C to 38 C when gaming. If Maximum fan mode is enabled, these two hot spots can drop to as low as 33 C each.

Max. Load
 27.2 °C
81 F
30 °C
86 F
25.6 °C
78 F
 
 27 °C
81 F
32 °C
90 F
26.6 °C
80 F
 
 25.8 °C
78 F
24.2 °C
76 F
25.4 °C
78 F
 
Maximum: 32 °C = 90 F
Average: 27.1 °C = 81 F
29.8 °C
86 F
33.4 °C
92 F
29 °C
84 F
28.8 °C
84 F
33 °C
91 F
29.8 °C
86 F
28 °C
82 F
28.2 °C
83 F
28.6 °C
83 F
Maximum: 33.4 °C = 92 F
Average: 29.8 °C = 86 F
Power Supply (max.)  40 °C = 104 F | Room Temperature 20 °C = 68 F | Fluke 62 Mini IR Thermometer
(+) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 27.1 °C / 81 F, compared to the average of 30.8 °C / 87 F for the devices in the class Subnotebook.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 32 °C / 90 F, compared to the average of 36.1 °C / 97 F, ranging from 21.4 to 281 °C for the class Subnotebook.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 33.4 °C / 92 F, compared to the average of 39.4 °C / 103 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 25.1 °C / 77 F, compared to the device average of 30.8 °C / 87 F.
(+) Playing The Witcher 3, the average temperature for the upper side is 30.5 °C / 87 F, compared to the device average of 30.8 °C / 87 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are cooler than skin temperature with a maximum of 28.4 °C / 83.1 F and are therefore cool to the touch.
(±) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 28.3 °C / 82.9 F (-0.1 °C / -0.2 F).
System idle (top)
System idle (top)
System idle (bottom)
System idle (bottom)
Witcher 3 stress (top)
Witcher 3 stress (top)
Witcher 3 stress (bottom)
Witcher 3 stress (bottom)
Prime95+FurMark stress Maximum Fan mode (top)
Prime95+FurMark stress Maximum Fan mode (top)
Prime95+FurMark stress Maximum Fan mode (bottom)
Prime95+FurMark stress Maximum Fan mode (bottom)

Stress Test

We stress the laptop with synthetic loads to identify for any potential throttling or stability issues. When running Prime95, CPU clock rates jump to 3.5 GHz for the first 20 seconds before hitting a core temperature of 69 C. Thereafter, clock rates dip and stabilize at 2.5 GHz and 70 C instead. Enabling Turbo fan mode decreases CPU temperature to just 62 C while clock rate remains unchanged. In comparison, this same CPU in the XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 will run much warmer at over 95 C and with higher clock rates between 2.5 GHz and 3.0 GHz. It appears that Razer is taking a more reserved approach with its implementation of Ice Lake.

When running Witcher 3, CPU temperature will stabilize at 61 C and 54 C if on Auto fan mode and Turbo fan mode, respectively, compared to over 80 C on the Dell equivalent or ~60 C on the Blade Stealth i7-8565U SKU.

Running on battery power will limit performance. A 3DMark 11 run on batteries returns Physics and Graphics scores of 6360 2875 points, respectively, compared to 8980 and 4252 points when on mains.

System idle
System idle
Prime95+FurMark stress (Maximum fan mode)
Prime95+FurMark stress (Maximum fan mode)
Witcher 3 stress (Auto fan mode)
Witcher 3 stress (Auto fan mode)
Witcher 3 stress (Maximum fan mode)
Witcher 3 stress (Maximum fan mode)
Prime95 stress (Auto fan mode)
Prime95 stress (Auto fan mode)
Prime95 stress (Maximum fan mode)
Prime95 stress (Maximum fan mode)
CPU Clock (GHz) GPU Clock (MHz) Average CPU Temperature (°C)
System Idle -- -- 33
Prime95 Stress (Auto fan) 2.5 - 2.6 -- 70
Prime95 Stress (Maximum fan) 2.5 - 2.6 -- 62
Prime95 + FurMark Stress (Maximum fan) 1.4 - 1.5 1000 52
Witcher 3 Stress (Auto fan) 1.6 1100 61
Witcher 3 Stress (Maximum fan) 1.6 1100 54

Speakers

Pink noise at maximum volume
Pink noise at maximum volume
dB(A) 0102030405060708090Deep BassMiddle BassHigh BassLower RangeMidsHigher MidsLower HighsMid HighsUpper HighsSuper Highs204543.32543.444.53143.244.74042.245.65039.445.46338.948.38037.348.510036.949.912536.15116035.854.320034.856.125033.759.731532.563.240031.965.250031.467.663030.37380029.773.8100029.472.2125028.770.7160028.273.8200028.171.2250027.870.5315027.872.3400027.270.3500027.266.963002766.280002761.11000026.959.91250026.859.11600026.757SPL40.882.6N4.155.9median 28.7median 66.2Delta2.16.235.335.132.931.831.83236.535.132.428.93328.936.328.848.32761.52752.924.860.92462.822.763.32269.521.267.82174.82075.919.472.718.97117.770.117.86917.671.817.668.117.671.417.673.717.670.417.571.617.671.617.669.617.459.717.583.630.662.51.5median 69.6median 17.84.72.4hearing rangehide median Pink NoiseRazer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris PlusApple MacBook 12 (Early 2016) 1.1 GHz
Frequency diagram (checkboxes can be checked and unchecked to compare devices)
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus audio analysis

(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (82.6 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(±) | reduced bass - on average 10.5% lower than median
(+) | bass is linear (6.5% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 5% higher than median
(+) | mids are linear (6.5% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 3.8% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (5.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (18.4% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 51% of all tested devices in this class were better, 7% similar, 42% worse
» The best had a delta of 5%, average was 19%, worst was 53%
Compared to all devices tested
» 37% of all tested devices were better, 8% similar, 55% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%

Apple MacBook 12 (Early 2016) 1.1 GHz audio analysis

(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (83.6 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(±) | reduced bass - on average 11.3% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (14.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 2.4% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (5.5% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 2% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (4.5% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(+) | overall sound is linear (10.2% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 6% of all tested devices in this class were better, 2% similar, 92% worse
» The best had a delta of 5%, average was 19%, worst was 53%
Compared to all devices tested
» 4% of all tested devices were better, 1% similar, 95% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%

Energy Management

Power Consumption

Idling on desktop will demand anywhere between 6 W and 12 W depending on the power profile and brightness setting. When gaming, power consumption will be about 30 percent higher than the Blade Stealth with Core i7-8550U CPU and 30 to 35 percent lower than the Blade Stealth with Core i7-8565U and GeForce MX150 graphics. Since the latter offers superior gaming performance, its higher power consumption is reasonable in this case.

We're able to record a maximum draw of 50.2 W from the small (~10.8 x 3.5 x 2.7 cm) 65 W AC adapter. Unlike what we discovered on the older Whiskey Lake-U GeForce SKU, battery life will not slowly drain whilst gaming on AC power with this particular Ice Lake SKU.

Prime95 initiated at 10s mark. Consumption spikes to 50.2 W for about 20 seconds before dropping and stabilizing at 43.6 W
Prime95 initiated at 10s mark. Consumption spikes to 50.2 W for about 20 seconds before dropping and stabilizing at 43.6 W
Prime95+FurMark initiated at 10s mark. Behavior and numbers are very similar to running Prime95 only to suggest a TDP-limited balancing act between the CPU and Iris Plus GPU
Prime95+FurMark initiated at 10s mark. Behavior and numbers are very similar to running Prime95 only to suggest a TDP-limited balancing act between the CPU and Iris Plus GPU
Power consumption on medium load (3DMark 06)
Power consumption on medium load (3DMark 06)
Power consumption when running Witcher 3 at Ultra 1080p settings
Power consumption when running Witcher 3 at Ultra 1080p settings
Power Consumption
Off / Standbydarklight 0.72 / 0.8 Watt
Idledarkmidlight 5.9 / 8.1 / 11.2 Watt
Load midlight 44.3 / 50.2 Watt
 color bar
Key: min: dark, med: mid, max: light        Metrahit Energy
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
i7-1065G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ, IPS, 1920x1080, 13.3"
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
i7-8565U, GeForce MX150, Lite-On CA3-8D256-Q11, IPS, 1920x1080, 13.3"
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
i7-1065G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), Toshiba BG4 KBG40ZPZ512G, IPS, 1920x1200, 13.4"
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
i7-1065G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB512HAJQ, IPS LED, 1920x1080, 14"
Asus ZenBook S13 UX392FN
i7-8565U, GeForce MX150, WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-512G, IPS, 1920x1080, 13.9"
Razer Blade Stealth QHD i7-8550U
i5-8550U, UHD Graphics 620, Samsung PM961 NVMe MZVLW512HMJP, , 3200x1800, 13.3"
Power Consumption
-22%
22%
10%
6%
20%
Idle Minimum *
5.9
6.7
-14%
2.6
56%
3.2
46%
3.4
42%
5.6
5%
Idle Average *
8.1
8.6
-6%
5.3
35%
7
14%
6.3
22%
7.5
7%
Idle Maximum *
11.2
9.4
16%
7
37%
8.9
21%
10.4
7%
8.4
25%
Load Average *
44.3
64.1
-45%
43.1
3%
47.6
-7%
51
-15%
33.7
24%
Witcher 3 ultra *
41.9
63.7
-52%
43.1
-3%
39
7%
31
26%
Load Maximum *
50.2
64.1
-28%
49
2%
63.1
-26%
62.7
-25%
34.6
31%

* ... smaller is better

Battery Life - Not so Different from Last Year's Model

Expect around 9.5 hours of real-world WLAN use when set to the Balanced power profile to be very nearly the same as what we recorded on the older Blade Stealth i7-8565U with faster GeForce MX150 graphics.

Any of the two Thunderbolt 3 ports can be used to recharge the system. The AC adapter can be used to Quick Charge other USB Type-C devices as well including smartphones, tablets, the Nintendo Switch, and even other laptops with USB PD.

Small and versatile USB Type-C AC adapter
Small and versatile USB Type-C AC adapter
AC adapter temperature after gaming for an hour
AC adapter temperature after gaming for an hour
Battery Runtime
WiFi Websurfing
9h 43min
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus
i7-1065G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), 53.1 Wh
Razer Blade Stealth i7-8565U
i7-8565U, GeForce MX150, 53.1 Wh
Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 Core i7
i7-1065G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), 51 Wh
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
i7-1065G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), 60 Wh
Asus ZenBook S13 UX392FN
i7-8565U, GeForce MX150, 50 Wh
Razer Blade 15 GTX 1660 Ti
i7-9750H, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, 65 Wh
Battery Runtime
-2%
-8%
9%
-13%
-43%
WiFi v1.3
583
571
-2%
537
-8%
636
9%
506
-13%
330
-43%
Reader / Idle
1230
1710
Load
131
64
99

Pros

+ relatively cool and quiet even when gaming
+ Mercury White color hides fingerprints well
+ well calibrated display out of the box
+ 2x Thunderbolt 3 and 2x USB Type-A
+ sleek, strong, and stylish design
+ Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6 standard
+ upgradeable M.2 storage
+ full-size directional keys
+ long battery life
+ Windows Hello

Cons

- both slower and more expensive than the older GeForce MX150 option
- White key caps contrast poorly with the gray font
- no fingerprint reader, HDMI, or SD reader... again
- slightly thicker than last year's Blade Stealth
- no 3/5 ms or 120/144 Hz display options
- non-upgradeable RAM; soldered

Verdict

In review: Razer Blade Stealth Ice Lake Iris Plus. Test model provided by Razer
In review: Razer Blade Stealth Ice Lake Iris Plus. Test model provided by Razer

The Blade Stealth Ice Lake base model is stuck between a rock and a hard place. It supersedes last year's Blade Stealth Whiskey Lake-U base model and yet it is priced higher than last year's graphically superior Blade Stealth GeForce MX150 model. In other words, you will get an indubitably better gaming experience on the older, cheaper, and thinner MX150 model which makes this pricier Ice Lake base model a tough sell.

Even if you're not interested in gaming at all, WLAN battery life is nearly identical to the GeForce MX150 model while sporting the same display, keyboard, and port options. You'd be paying more for less in this regard.

To be fair, the Ice Lake SKU has a small handful of advantages when compared to the more powerful Blade Stealth GeForce MX150. The newer version is noticeably quieter and cooler when gaming and the CPU integrates AI features not found on Whiskey Lake-U. However, Windows has yet to fully exploit AI acceleration for common day-to-day workloads and so most users won't even notice. As sexy as it may look, the Ice Lake base model just doesn't offer enough over the GeForce MX150 model to justify its higher starting price.

It's $200 more expensive for slower gaming performance and only marginally better raw multi-thread CPU performance over last year's Blade Stealth GeForce MX150. If you want a Blade Stealth with Ice Lake, then you'd be better off with the GTX 1650 Max-Q option instead. Otherwise, skip this Ice Lake base model and go with the GeForce MX150 model.

Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus - 10/21/2019 v7 (old)
Allen Ngo

Chassis
87 / 98 →