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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Emissions
System Noise
The system remains silent when browsing or video streaming with no noticeable pulsing behavior. At worse, fan noise would top out at just 29 dB(A) against a background of 27 dB(A) to be essentially inaudible in a typical office or conference room. We’re able to record 33 dB(A) when running higher loads like Witcher 3.
If the fan is manually set to maximum via the Synapse software, then fan noise can jump as high as 45 dB(A) to be louder than most other subnotebooks with integrated GPUs. However, we never reached this maximum even whilst benchmarking unless if the fan was manually set this way meaning the internal fans will rarely reach their maximum RPMs when on the default automatic mode.
Temperature
Surface temperatures are slightly warmer than what we recorded on the Ice Lake Blade Stealth. When running high loads for extended periods, hot spots on the top and bottom can be as warm as 34 C to 38 C and 40 C to 43 C, respectively. Temperature gradient is otherwise symmetrical much like on the Blade Stealth. The warmth is noticeable but not distracting since the hot spots are toward the rear away from the palm rests and most of the keyboard keys.
Stress Test
When stressed with Prime95, the CPU would boost to 3.8 GHz for the first few seconds until hitting a core temperature of 79 C. Thereafter, clock rates would drop and stabilize at the 2.5 to 2.7 GHz range in order to maintain a cooler core temperature of 60 C. In comparison, running this same test on the Core i7 XPS 13 9310 would cause clock rates to fall and cycle to as low as 1.9 GHz with even warmer core temperatures reaching 78 C. In other words, the Book 13 is able to run both faster than cooler than on the XPS 13 when the processor is stressed which backs up our CineBench R15 xT loop test results from above.
Core temperature appears to plateau at 60 C when running high loads similar to what we recorded on the recent Asus ZenBook UX425 equipped with the same CPU.
CPU performance drops slightly if running on battery power. A 3DMark 11 test on batteries would return Physics and Graphics scores of 10608 and 6973 points, respectively, compared to 12384 and 6812 points when on mains. Note that the Synapse “Performance” power profile becomes grayed out when not on mains.
Energy Management
Power Consumption
Idling on desktop consumes just 3 W on the minimum brightness level up to 7 W if brightness is set to maximum. The high performance-per-watt of Tiger Lake becomes obvious when comparing power consumption to the GeForce MX150-powered Blade Stealth. Gaming, for example, consumes about 37 W on the Book 13 compared to 64 W on the GeForce MX Blade Stealth even though the Book 13 offers both faster CPU and GPU performance.
We’re able to measure a maximum consumption of 53.7 W from the small (~10.8 x 3.5 x 2.7 cm) 65 W AC adapter. This rate lasts for only 20 seconds when Turbo Boost clock rates are highest before they both eventually fall due to thermal soak. This can also be observed during our Prime95 stress test as noted above.
Battery Life
Though battery capacity is almost the same as on the Blade Stealth (55 Wh vs. 53 Wh), runtimes are much longer on the Book 13. We were able to squeeze almost 15 hours of WLAN use from a full charge to be a few hours more than what we recorded on both of the XPS 13 or Blade Stealth when under similar WLAN conditions.
Charging from empty to full capacity takes about 1.5 hours with the included AC adapter. We appreciate the fact that there are USB-C ports along both edges of the laptop meaning you can recharge from either side as opposed to most other Ultrabooks.
Verdict
Slap the 16:10 display from the Dell XPS 13 onto a Razer Blade Stealth and you’ll essentially have the Book 13. The new Razer laptop incorporates the best of both worlds and with a stronger emphasis on performance and visual style than the Dell alternative. The fact that it uses the same Core i7-1165G7 processor as the XPS 13 and is able to run it 20 to 30 percent faster shows how well Razer has optimized the chassis for Intel’s new 11th gen platform. It’s slightly heavier and thicker than the Dell, but the extra horsepower, additional ports, and stronger design might be worth it to many users.
On the flip side, the Book 13 skips over a handful of common security features including support for a fingerprint reader and a Kensington lock. You’re also not going to find any advanced vPro or handsfree sign-in options that are available on the Latitude 7400 or HP EliteBook x360 1030 G7. The RGB-lit keys, while visually appealing, have weaker feedback than the keys on most other business-class subnotebooks. Call us old school, but dedicated mouse buttons and wider hinge angles like on most Lenovo ThinkPads ultimately feel more ergonomic when on the road. If your priorities are to have the best-looking and fastest 13-inch laptop in the office over such auxiliary features, however, then the Book 13 proudly fulfills that niche.
