Razer Book 13 is the lovechild between a Dell XPS 13 and a Blade Stealth that we never knew we wanted
The Razer brand has always been associated primarily with dedicated gamers. More recently, however, the company has been branching out to mobile workstations to capture some of that lucrative professional market. The portable Razer Book 13 is the latest non-gaming laptop from Razer designed specifically for office or business use much like a traditional Ultrabook.
Of course, this wouldn't be a Razer laptop without some curveballs or surprises. The Book 13 is a completely new design with a 16:10 form factor in contrast to the existing 16:9 Blade Stealth series. Ports, keyboard lighting, and dimensions are all very different from the gaming-centric Blade Stealth. Razer attempted to market the Blade Stealth to a wider audience of office users with the iGPU-only Ice Lake option last year, but SKUs ended up being very confusing for anyone but enthusiasts. Branching off the iGPU-only option to a brand new category seems like the smarter move.
Razer Book 13 | Razer Blade Stealth (Late 2020) | |
---|---|---|
CPU | Core i5-1135G7 Core i7-1165G7 | Core i7-1165G7 |
GPU | Iris Xe | GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q w/ 4 GB GDDR6 VRAM |
Display | 13.4-inch 16:10 1200p matte non-touch 1200p Gorilla Glass 6 touch 2400p Gorilla Glass 6 touch | 13.3-inch 16:9 1080p 120 Hz matte 2160p 60 Hz glossy OLED |
RAM | 8 GB to 16 GB LPDDR4x 4267 MHz Dual-Channel (Soldered) | 16 GB LPDDR4x 4267 MHz Dual-Channel (Soldered) |
Ports | HDMI 2.0 2x Thunderbolt 4 MicroSD reader 3.5 mm combo audio USB 3.2 Type-A | 2x Thunderbolt 4 3.5 mm combo audio 2x USB 3.1 Type-A |
Storage | 256 GB to 512 CIe M.2 SSD | 512 GB PCIe M.2 SSD |
Speakers | Dual speakers | Quad speakers |
Keyboard | Per-key RGB lighting | Single-zone RGB lighting |
Dimensions | 295.6 x 198.5 x 15.15 mm | 304.6 x 210 x 15.3 cm |
Weight | 1.34 kg (non-touch) 1.4 kg (touch) | 1.41 kg |
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The move to 16:10 and an integrated vapor chamber cooler will inevitably draw comparisons to the popular Dell XPS 13 9300 or XPS 13 2-in-1 which feature similar specifications. Razer is betting that its per-key RGB lighting, full-size HDMI and USB-A ports, and sleeker visual style can persuade some companies or office users into considering the Book 13 instead of the usual Dell, Lenovo or HP. Nonetheless, the lack of a webcam shutter, fingerprint reader, and Kensington Lock may turn off the more serious business users.
The Razer Book 13 will be available by the end of this month in three SKUs with Core i5/i7, FHD/4K, 8/16 GB RAM, and 256/512 GB PCIe SSD configurations for $1200 USD all the way up to $2000 USD for the U.S. market while European users will have to wait a little longer. Mercury White will be the only color at launch meaning that future Blade Stealth models will no longer carry this same color option. The name strongly suggests that we'll probably see a "Book 15" sometime in the future should this 13.4-inch model find mass appeal.
Source(s)
Razer