Razer Book 13 Core i7 Laptop Review: Like an XPS 13, But Faster
At first glance, one might assume that the Razer Book 13 is simply a Mercury White Blade Stealth rebranded for professionals and productivity. In reality, it's actually a brand new chassis and 16:10 form factor found nowhere else in the Blade series. Razer is rightfully dedicating a distinct new family of laptops for professionals separate from the Blade name so that the Blade series can continue focusing on gamers.
Of course, the Book 13 naturally inherits more than a few features from the Blade Stealth which we will go over in detail for this review. SKUs start with the Core i5-1135G7 CPU, 1200p matte display, 8 GB of LPDDR4x RAM, and 256 GB PCIe storage for $1200 USD up to the Core i7-1165G7, 2400p glossy touchscreen, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB SSD for $2000. Our unit is the middle option in the table below.
Competitors to the Book 13 include other 13-inch "prosumer" subnotebooks or office-centric laptops like the Dell XPS 13, HP Spectre 13, Huawei MateBook X Pro, Asus ZenBook S, Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13, or the Lenovo ThinkBook series.
More Razer reviews:
potential competitors in comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
86.6 % v7 (old) | 12 / 2020 | Razer Book 13 FHD i7-1165G7, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.4 kg | 15.15 mm | 13.40" | 1920x1200 | |
88.1 % v7 (old) | 10 / 2020 | Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD i7-1165G7, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.3 kg | 14.8 mm | 13.40" | 1920x1200 | |
85.1 % v7 (old) | 10 / 2020 | Asus Zenbook S UX393JA i7-1065G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU) | 1.4 kg | 15.7 mm | 13.90" | 3300x2200 | |
87.4 % v7 (old) | 06 / 2020 | Huawei MateBook X Pro 2020 i7 i7-10510U, GeForce MX250 | 1.3 kg | 14.6 mm | 13.90" | 3000x2000 | |
87.3 % v6 (old) | 10 / 2018 | Lenovo Yoga C930-13IKB i5-8250U, UHD Graphics 620 | 1.4 kg | 14.9 mm | 13.90" | 1920x1080 | |
85.5 % v7 (old) | 10 / 2020 | Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q i7-1165G7, GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | 1.4 kg | 15.3 mm | 13.30" | 1920x1080 |
Case
From a quality, texture, and rigidity perspective, the Book 13 is essentially identical to the Blade Stealth since they use the same metal materials. If you love the feel and design of the Blade, then the Book 13 isn't going to disappoint.
The biggest chassis difference between the Book 13 and Blade Stealth lies in the new hinges. Razer had to redesign them for the new display aspect ratio without increasing the thickness of the bottom bezel. The end result is similar to the ZenBook S where the hinges are tucked underneath the base and the base itself will lift slightly when opened. Hinge rigidity doesn't feel any better or worse than on the Blade Stealth, though we noticed slight creaking when adjusting the angles on our unit. The 140-degree maximum angle is a bit shallow as well for our tastes.
The Blade Stealth is already one of the smallest 13-inch laptops in the market and the Book 13 continues the trend by being even smaller without needing to reduce screen size. Dimensions are very close to the XPS 13 to be just a tad thicker (15.2 mm vs 14.8 mm) and heavier (1.3 kg vs. 1.4 kg).
Connectivity
Port options are better than most subnotebooks as the Book 13 integrates USB-C, Thunderbolt, full-size HDMI, 3.5 mm audio, MicroSD reader, and USB-A with no strings attached. Many competing subnotebooks lack one or more to push owners into using dongles or adapters. Even the Blade Stealth doesn't have HDMI or a MicroSD reader as Razer knows Book 13 owners are more likely to be transferring photos and videos from cameras.
SD Card Reader
SD Card Reader | |
average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 64 GB UHS-II) | |
Razer Book 13 FHD (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 32 GB UHS-II) | |
Asus Zenbook S UX393JA (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 64 GB UHS-II) | |
maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 64 GB UHS-II) | |
Razer Book 13 FHD (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 32 GB UHS-II) | |
Asus Zenbook S UX393JA (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 64 GB UHS-II) |
Communication
The Intel AX201 comes standard for Wi-Fi 6 which is one of the requirements for being an Intel Evo laptop. We experienced no connectivity issues when paired to our Netgear RAX200 test router.
Webcam
Maintenance
The bottom panel requires a T5 Torx wrench to remove. However, there isn't much to upgrade or service other than the battery and M.2 SSD.
Accessories and Warranty
The retail box includes a small velvet wipe and a Razer logo sticker in addition to the usual AC adapter and paperwork. The manufacturer promises full compatibility with the Razer Core eGPU docking station as well.
A one-year warranty comes standard compared to three years on more traditional business laptops.
Input Devices
Keyboard
The Book 13 keyboard is identical to the Blade Stealth in terms of overall size and key feedback. Even the per-key RGB Chroma backlight is present to make this the only productivity subnotebook we know of with such a feature. On one hand, this is excellent for existing Blade Stealth owners as typing on the Book 13 will feel natural and familiar. On the other hand, we're not fans of the shallow travel and weak key feedback. The HP Spectre, EliteBook, ThinkPad, and MateBook X Pro all have firmer keys that we prefer for long typing sessions.
Touchpad
The clickpad is the same as on the Blade Stealth meaning it inherits all the same pros and cons. In short, we like the spacious surface (~11.1 x 7 cm) for such a small form factor while the weak and spongy click feedback could use some work. More traditional business laptops like the ThinkPad T490 or HP EliteBook 735 G6 still integrate dedicated mouse buttons which we find to be easier and more accurate to use if an external mouse is not available.
Display
As we predicted, the Book 13 uses the same or very similar Sharp LQ134N1 IPS panel as found on the Dell XPS 13 9300/9310. In fact, both laptops share almost the same maximum brightness levels and even the same pulse-width modulation frequency when at low brightness settings. This isn't a bad thing, however, as this display is a highlight of the XPS 13 and now also the Book 13. Colors pop, text is crisp, and contrast is high for great first impressions.
The display is also a big reason why the Book 13 doesn't work so well as a gaming laptop. Black-white and gray-gray response times are slower than the display on the Blade Stealth despite the excellent attributes mentioned above. Thus, ghosting is more noticeable when gaming even if the Book 13 is more powerful on paper than some older Ice Lake or GeForce MX-powered Blade Stealth SKUs.
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Brightness Distribution: 88 %
Center on Battery: 545.3 cd/m²
Contrast: 1759:1 (Black: 0.31 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 1.39 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.92, calibrated: 2.72
ΔE Greyscale 1.3 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
99.6% sRGB (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
65.9% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
71.6% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
99.3% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
70.1% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.2
Razer Book 13 FHD Sharp LQ134N1JW48, IPS, 13.4", 1920x1200 | Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD Sharp LQ134N1, IPS, 13.4", 1920x1200 | Asus Zenbook S UX393JA AU Optronics B139KAN01.0, IPS, 13.9", 3300x2200 | Huawei MateBook X Pro 2020 i7 JDI LPM139M422A, LTPS, 13.9", 3000x2000 | Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13 Core i5-1035G7 Sharp LQ135P1JX51, IPS, 13.5", 2256x1504 | Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus Sharp LQ133M1JW41, IPS, 13.3", 1920x1080 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Display | 1% | 21% | -3% | -4% | -5% | |
Display P3 Coverage | 70.1 | 70.9 1% | 97.7 39% | 66.6 -5% | 65.7 -6% | 66.2 -6% |
sRGB Coverage | 99.3 | 99.1 0% | 99.8 1% | 99.4 0% | 98.6 -1% | 97.2 -2% |
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 71.6 | 72.9 2% | 87.9 23% | 68.6 -4% | 67.8 -5% | 67.1 -6% |
Response Times | 7% | 1% | 370% | 256% | 284% | |
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 56.8 ? | 52 ? 8% | 56.4 ? 1% | 49.6 ? 13% | 59.2 ? -4% | 45.2 ? 20% |
Response Time Black / White * | 38.8 ? | 33.2 ? 14% | 38.8 ? -0% | 30.8 ? 21% | 41.6 ? -7% | 33.2 ? 14% |
PWM Frequency | 2475 ? | 2475 ? 0% | 29070 ? 1075% | 21740 ? 778% | 22730 ? 818% | |
Screen | -52% | -45% | 1% | 2% | 0% | |
Brightness middle | 545.3 | 543.3 0% | 444.1 -19% | 557 2% | 403.4 -26% | 422.6 -23% |
Brightness | 507 | 524 3% | 423 -17% | 532 5% | 397 -22% | 404 -20% |
Brightness Distribution | 88 | 92 5% | 89 1% | 87 -1% | 89 1% | 87 -1% |
Black Level * | 0.31 | 0.38 -23% | 0.37 -19% | 0.33 -6% | 0.34 -10% | 0.35 -13% |
Contrast | 1759 | 1430 -19% | 1200 -32% | 1688 -4% | 1186 -33% | 1207 -31% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 1.39 | 3.02 -117% | 2.94 -112% | 1.4 -1% | 0.94 32% | 1.02 27% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 2.61 | 7.61 -192% | 7.37 -182% | 2.5 4% | 2.92 -12% | 3.06 -17% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 2.72 | 1.23 55% | 3.05 -12% | 0.7 74% | 0.99 64% | 0.95 65% |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 1.3 | 5 -285% | 2.9 -123% | 2 -54% | 0.9 31% | 1 23% |
Gamma | 2.2 100% | 2.02 109% | 2.1 105% | 2.14 103% | 2.13 103% | 2.21 100% |
CCT | 6476 100% | 6550 99% | 6766 96% | 6689 97% | 6620 98% | 6502 100% |
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 65.9 | 66.8 1% | 78.2 19% | 62.5 -5% | 62.3 -5% | 62.1 -6% |
Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 99.6 | 99.6 0% | 99.8 0% | 99.5 0% | 98.7 -1% | 97.1 -3% |
Total Average (Program / Settings) | -15% /
-32% | -8% /
-27% | 123% /
66% | 85% /
46% | 93% /
49% |
* ... smaller is better
Color space covers almost all of sRGB and approximately 66 percent of AdobeRGB not unlike the Blade Stealth or most flagship Ultrabooks. Nonetheless, the MacBook Pro 13 is able to offer deeper colors covering 77 percent of AdobeRGB while certain larger 4K panels as found on the HP Spectre 15 or XPS 15 can cover all of AdobeRGB. It's worth noting that the 4K option on the Book 13 does not offer wider color coverage than the FHD option.
X-Rite colorimeter measurements show that the display is already well-calibrated out of the box as promised in the advertisements with average grayscale and color DeltaE values of just 1.3 and 1.39, respectively, and a perfect gamma of 2.2. Attempting to calibrate the panel ourselves would result in essentially no changes.
Display Response Times
↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
---|---|---|
38.8 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 20.4 ms rise | |
↘ 18.4 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. » 96 % 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 | ||
56.8 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 29.2 ms rise | |
↘ 27.6 ms fall | ||
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 93 % 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)
Screen flickering / PWM detected | 2475 Hz | ≤ 25 % brightness setting | |
The display backlight flickers at 2475 Hz (worst case, e.g., utilizing PWM) Flickering detected at a brightness setting of 25 % and below. There should be no flickering or PWM above this brightness setting. The frequency of 2475 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. |
Outdoor visibility is a bit better than the Blade Stealth due to the brighter display on the Book 13. Nonetheless, this is negated somewhat by the glossy overlay of the touchscreen. The less expensive matte SKU may fare better in this regard.
Performance
The Book 13 comes with the Intel 11th gen Tiger Lake Core i7-1165G7 CPU or, for the first time ever on a Razer laptop, a lesser Core i5 option as well. The i7-1185G7 or Iris Xe Max, which would have made the laptop even faster, are not available.
RAM is soldered at up to 16 GB of LPDDR4X running at 4267 MHz. Both CPU-Z and HWiNFO report quad-channel memory while Razer's own specifications claim dual-channel only. We'll update this once we've double-checked with Razer.
We set our system to Performance mode via Razer Synapse prior to running any performance benchmarks below. We recommend becoming familiar with Synapse since key system settings can be found here.
Processor
Multi-thread performance is higher than the average Core i7-1165G7 in our database by about 20 percent to edge out even the Core i7-1185G7 in the MSI Prestige 14 Evo. The wide delta can be attributed to the decent Turbo Boost sustainability of the Book 13 as shown by our CineBench R15 xT loop graph below. Interestingly, the recent Blade Stealth with the same Core i7-1165G7 CPU returns lower scores than our Book 13 by about 10 to 15 percent.
Opting for the less expensive Core i5-1135G7 SKU will entail a 15 to 25 percent performance deficit by our estimates. It's too bad that there are no AMD options as the Ryzen 5 4500U, Ryzen 7 4700U, or Ryzen 7 4800U could have been excellent alternatives without needing to sacrifice multi-thread performance.
See our dedicated page on the Core i7-1165G7 for more technical information and benchmark comparisons.
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 -mmt1 | 7z b 4
Geekbench 5.5: Single-Core | Multi-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 -mmt1 | 7z b 4
Geekbench 5.5: Single-Core | Multi-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
* ... smaller is better
System Performance
PCMark results are slightly higher than the average laptop with the same CPU to edge out the XPS 13 9310 by just a few percentage points. We didn't experience any issues on our test unit save for a Razer Synapse bug where the application would always freeze if disconnected from the Internet after a system boot.
PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated v2 | 4437 points | |
PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated v2 | 3096 points | |
PCMark 10 Score | 5125 points | |
Help |
DPC Latency
DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
Razer Blade Stealth Core i7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 9300 4K UHD | |
Asus Zenbook S UX393JA | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX434FL-DB77 | |
Razer Book 13 FHD | |
Lenovo ThinkPad L14-20U50003GE | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ARE05 82A20008GE |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices
Most Razer laptops ship with Samsung SSDs while a select few SKUs ship with slower Lite-On SSDs instead. Our unit comes with the Samsung PM981a for much faster performance than the mid-range Intel 660p of similar capacity.
Razer Book 13 FHD Samsung SSD PM981a MZVLB256HBHQ | Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD Micron 2300 512GB MTFDHBA512TDV | Asus Zenbook S UX393JA Intel SSD 660p 1TB SSDPEKNW010T8 | Huawei MateBook X Pro 2020 i7 Samsung PM981a MZVLB1T0HBLR | Lenovo Yoga C930-13IKB SK hynix PC401 HFS256GD9TNG | Razer Blade Stealth i7-1065G7 Iris Plus Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AS SSD | 26% | 22% | 106% | -30% | -20% | |
Seq Read | 2329 | 2091 -10% | 1405 -40% | 2737 18% | 1850 -21% | 1989 -15% |
Seq Write | 1011 | 1396 38% | 1062 5% | 2530 150% | 661 -35% | 827 -18% |
4K Read | 53 | 49.29 -7% | 50.8 -4% | 54 2% | 38.04 -28% | 40.12 -24% |
4K Write | 188.4 | 104.2 -45% | 124.9 -34% | 152.5 -19% | 95 -50% | 135.1 -28% |
4K-64 Read | 546 | 827 51% | 590 8% | 2011 268% | 434.3 -20% | 531 -3% |
4K-64 Write | 416.4 | 1636 293% | 840 102% | 1260 203% | 266.3 -36% | 309.9 -26% |
Access Time Read * | 0.067 | 0.066 1% | 0.041 39% | 0.066 1% | 0.069 -3% | 0.085 -27% |
Access Time Write * | 0.058 | 0.365 -529% | 0.118 -103% | 0.024 59% | 0.056 3% | 0.09 -55% |
Score Read | 832 | 1086 31% | 781 -6% | 2339 181% | 657 -21% | 770 -7% |
Score Write | 706 | 1880 166% | 1071 52% | 1666 136% | 427 -40% | 528 -25% |
Score Total | 1914 | 3499 83% | 2251 18% | 5191 171% | 1373 -28% | 1644 -14% |
Copy ISO MB/s | 1664 | 1544 -7% | 1459 -12% | 539 -68% | 1418 -15% | |
Copy Program MB/s | 415.2 | 613 48% | 600 45% | 209.7 -49% | 382.7 -8% | |
Copy Game MB/s | 420.2 | 1451 245% | 1411 236% | 340 -19% | 334.2 -20% | |
CrystalDiskMark 5.2 / 6 | -4% | -20% | 8% | -38% | -5% | |
Write 4K | 138.1 | 97.5 -29% | 129.5 -6% | 165.6 20% | 94.5 -32% | 176.8 28% |
Read 4K | 44.97 | 50.9 13% | 54 20% | 50.2 12% | 39.95 -11% | 48.38 8% |
Write Seq | 1948 | 1811 -7% | 1265 -35% | 1905 -2% | 531 -73% | 1332 -32% |
Read Seq | 2225 | 1836 -17% | 1410 -37% | 1669 -25% | 1499 -33% | 1644 -26% |
Write 4K Q32T1 | 526 | 521 -1% | 420.3 -20% | 474.6 -10% | 315.3 -40% | 440.6 -16% |
Read 4K Q32T1 | 379.6 | 357.5 -6% | 357.7 -6% | 508 34% | 279.8 -26% | 559 47% |
Write Seq Q32T1 | 2258 | 2879 28% | 1799 -20% | 3007 33% | 829 -63% | 1104 -51% |
Read Seq Q32T1 | 3528 | 3204 -9% | 1616 -54% | 3556 1% | 2570 -27% | 3481 -1% |
Write 4K Q8T8 | 332 | |||||
Read 4K Q8T8 | 488.6 | |||||
Total Average (Program / Settings) | 11% /
15% | 1% /
7% | 57% /
65% | -34% /
-33% | -13% /
-15% |
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance
3DMark results are higher than the average Iris Xe in our database at the moment by about 10 percent. Scores are even higher than the GeForce MX250 or MX350, but actual performance in most games will vary greatly as detailed here.
See our dedicated page on Iris Xe for more technical information and benchmark comparisons.
3DMark 11 Performance | 7309 points | |
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 20886 points | |
3DMark Fire Strike Score | 5169 points | |
3DMark Time Spy Score | 1779 points | |
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