Razer Blade Stealth late 2019 with GTX1650 Max-Q

[maflynn]

Here's my $.02

Right Shift Key will infuriate you.

Yes, the RBS's smaller shift key, and repositioned arrow key can and will be frustrating

MSRP is $1799. Let that sink in.

Yeah, that's a bitter pill to swallow, I've been eye balling the RTX 2060 15" Razer Blade for the same price (that's the sale price). Its hard to justify the 13" model over the 15" with a better GPU for the same $$

Razer's customer service is NOTORIOUS for being terrible,

That's one reason why I have not pushed the buy button. My Thinkpad is a great machine and does nearly everything I want, and Lenovo has a great rep when it comes to customer service. The only thing this laptop lacks is a more robust GPU (which I understand, this laptop is not a gaming one).

I recommend you buying this at a retailer with a good extended warranty

Sometimes, i'm pretty thick I was looking to buy at amazon or BestBuy, but it didn't occur to me to get the extended warranty. Sadly that factor's into the overall value issue below.

NO if you are looking at overall value!

Another reason why I haven't pulled the trigger, I spent 2k on the ThinkPad and except for a couple of configurations you're paying a lot for less (other then the GPU)

NO because the next generation will have an RTX based graphics card and faster refresh rate

I agree that the next iteration will have a faster display, maybe not an RTX but at least a faster display. Other then the right shift key, all of the reviews that I've seen/read mention the 60hz display.

 

[soulreaver99]

One thing I forgot to mention is that this Razer Blade Stealth doesn't have the childish ugly looking green glowing snake logo. Great laptop for working adults. Wish all of the blades would follow this cue, like the Mercury White.

 

[benshive]

Thanks for sharing this. I just ordered a used 2018 model (1070/144Hz display), to replace my Alienware 15 R3, as it's just too bulky and the front speakers stopped working right outside the warranty period.

I wonder if I will need to explore a similar solution for my Blade. Do you mind to share some more details on your procedure?

My cousin has the exact laptop you ordered. Great device but be ready for some serious fan noise when you do anything other than light work.

Edit: Didn't realize your comment was from a month ago. How have you enjoyed the laptop?

 

[kazmac]

@soulreaver99 Thanks for the comprehensive review.

 

[jrichards1408]

So here's my verdict so far after using this for over 2 weeks...

Quick Summary:

I've used this as my main laptop for about a month. Had it docked onto my 35-inch 100hz wide gaming display while working at home. I've also taken this on multiple business trips. When it's not plugged in, performance is limited by the battery and obviously it will cut back to save on battery life. Battery life when it is running on the GTX 1650 GPU is about 2-3 hours when you are utilizing it, on games for example. However, if you are running productivity software such as Microsoft Office, Chrome, etc... you can get a good 7-9-ish hours depending on your power and screen brightness settings.

Usually when you are gaming, you will be tethered to a wall outlet anyway, which makes this great to take your Steam Library with you and play at your AirBNB or hotel room. Gaming performance overall is really good. It can handle just about any AAA title with ease when plugged in, such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Modern Warfare 2019.

Price for the FHD version is $1799 MSRP which is really steep, but there really aren't any laptops that perform at this level in this form factor and with this build quality. Also, at the time of this writing, it is currently on sale for $1499 making the price a little more attractive. If you value having your game library in an ultra portable sized laptop, then this would definitely be worth it. Being able to charge USB-C comes in clutch, however you need to use the 100W power adapter to utilize the full performance without draining the battery when plugged in. Otherwise, you can get more for less if you look at the 14 or 15 inch models.

I appreciate where Razer is going with their Stealth series and a step in the right direction on thin and light laptops. Earlier this year they had an MX150 that was a slight improvement over the integrated graphics, however they made a really big leap with the late 2019 Stealth with the GTX 1650. I believe the next generation Stealth will have ray-tracing using NVIDIAs next line of RTX series GPUs for laptops and it will certainly be something to lookout for. However this current Stealth is definitely no slouch so if you can find one at a good deal, it is certainly something you can consider.


Like:

• Excellent build quality
• Track Pad is on par with the Apple's MacBook Pro
• Fast overall performance
• Runs cool and quiet
• Windows Hello face unlock works great
• USB A ports are always appreciated, this has 2!
• Can handle just about any AAA title in a 13-inch form factor - Shadow of Tomb Raider and Modern Warfare 2019? No problem!
• Good, bright and easy to read screen
• Good battery life for productivity
• Built in speakers sound good, although not as good as the MacBook Pro 13.
• Decent keyboard, except for the misplaced Right Shift Key
• Hard drive and WiFi card are upgradeable
• Great for plane rides, gaming on the go, and a good overall productivity / work laptop
• Almost no compromise portable solution

Don't Like:

• Screen is at 60hz - for a gaming laptop at this price it should at least be over 100hz
• Right Shift Key will infuriate you. May not seem like a big deal until you type out a question. Trust me, you will freak out. Thankfully you can re-assign the key in Synapse
• MSRP is $1799. Let that sink in.
• Not a negative but I would like to see a 32GB RAM option!
• Razer's customer service is NOTORIOUS for being terrible, I recommend you buying this at a retailer with a good extended warranty

Recommend?

• Yes if you want a good looking laptop with excellent build quality that can play games in a 13 inch form factor
• Yes if you want a good overall laptop with a GTX 1650 graphics card and price is not an issue for you
• NO if you are looking at overall value! You can get a better laptop for less
• NO because you are happy playing with your Nintendo Switch on the go and can leave your PC games at home!
• NO because the next generation will have an RTX based graphics card and faster refresh rate (my prediction)

Do you have the 4k screen?

 

[soulreaver99]

Do you have the 4k screen?

No, just the HD

 

[jrichards1408]

No, just the HD

Hows the screen brightness and colour accuracy?

 

[soulreaver99]

Hows the screen brightness and colour accuracy?

The matte display is brighter than average. I think it averages close to 400 nits according to Tom’s Hardware. Color accuracy is at 75% DCI-P3.

 

[deapee]

Picked one up today. 13” with 1080p, 1650, 16GB ram, 512GB SSD. This little thing is a monster, and it has absolutely beautiful styling.

Got it at Best Buy for 1499.

Never thought I’d ever see an ultra portable that I liked more than my MacBook Pro. Only tested Fortnite so far, as I’ve been out of the pcgaming world for a while, stunning gameplay. I headed back and picked up a Razer Huntsman mechanical keyboard too. Lol.

I also quite like the port selection as well. As it is now, everything, including 4K monitor is just connected to the same Belkin dock that my Mac uses through the thunderbolt 3 port, and the charger is on the thunderbolt port on the left side. Not *needing* some adapter for a CAC reader or a USB flash drive is nice again too.

 

[zackkmac]

My cousin has the exact laptop you ordered. Great device but be ready for some serious fan noise when you do anything other than light work.

Edit: Didn't realize your comment was from a month ago. How have you enjoyed the laptop?

I actually really *love* this laptop. Coming from the Alienware 15 R3 it is so unbelievably quiet, light and small. The fans only run when I'm gaming, otherwise it's dead silent. But even when they are they're so much more quiet compared to the Alienware's. It always sounded like a jet engine even when literally just sitting at the desktop with no running tasks. Gaming performance has been exactly the same if not somehow better, maybe due to cooling differences (the R3 had 1070, this has 1070 Max-Q).

 

[jrichards1408]

The matte display is brighter than average. I think it averages close to 400 nits according to Tom’s Hardware. Color accuracy is at 75% DCI-P3.

The price has finally gone down so I may be tempted

 

[soulreaver99]

The price has finally gone down so I may be tempted

Dude if you are lucky you can find an open box for as low $1199 at Bets Buy. IF you are lucky.

 

[jrichards1408]

Dude if you are lucky you can find an open box for as low $1199 at Bets Buy. IF you are lucky.

I'm based in the UK

 

[benshive]

I actually really *love* this laptop. Coming from the Alienware 15 R3 it is so unbelievably quiet, light and small. The fans only run when I'm gaming, otherwise it's dead silent. But even when they are they're so much more quiet compared to the Alienware's. It always sounded like a jet engine even when literally just sitting at the desktop with no running tasks. Gaming performance has been exactly the same if not somehow better, maybe due to cooling differences (the R3 had 1070, this has 1070 Max-Q).

Nice! I remember my cousin's sounding like a jet engine when he'd play Minecraft, but I've never owned a gaming laptop so maybe it was actually on the quiet side compared to others

 

[soulreaver99]

Nice! I remember my cousin's sounding like a jet engine when he'd play Minecraft, but I've never owned a gaming laptop so maybe it was actually on the quiet side compared to others

You would think this thing would be loud because of the small size and have poor cooling but the Stealth runs really quiet. A lot more quiet than my MacBook Pro 13 2018 when the fans start blasting when I’m using Lightroom lol.

 

[jrichards1408]

I have just purchased the HD version of this for around 1499 from Amazon UK. I'm hoping the battery lasts 6/7 hours when I'm coding and having 10 chrome browser open and listening to Spotify and having slack on.

 

[soulreaver99]

I have just purchased the HD version of this for around 1499 from Amazon UK. I'm hoping the battery lasts 6/7 hours when I'm coding and having 10 chrome browser open and listening to Spotify and having slack on.

I average 6-8 hours easily with non-gaming at stuff with 80% brightness so you should be good.

 

[jrichards1408]

I average 6-8 hours easily with non-gaming at stuff with 80% brightness so you should be good.

Sounds good. Do you or anyone here use Linux on it?

 

[soulreaver99]

Sounds good. Do you or anyone here use Linux on it?

Don't have Linux on it, though I am tempted to make it a Hackintosh though

 

[jrichards1408]

Hi. i replaced the 512gb nvme drive with a 2tb one and installed POP_OS linux a small partition on the new hdd and all went smoothly. everything worked right out of the box.

Now fast forward to now installing a fresh copy of windows 10 on the same drive on a new partition and well it did not get smoothly.

First of all , on windows 10 install, it could not detect the blade 13 trackpad and could not even move the mouse to select stuff on win setup.

It could not even detect the wifi adapter so i assumed its all due to drivers being missed.

I then proceeded to manually download the drivers for the wifi, chipset, bluetooth and nvidia gpu manually and transfered it to the blade using a usb.

After windows 10 finished installing and booted to the desktop, i then installed all the drivers mentioned previously.

Wifi was now working and connected but the trackpad still not working?

I tried going into device manager and checking and updating any drivers that needed to be done and after updating some missing drivers(such as the thunderbolt) etc, the trackpad still did not work?

I had to connect an old logitech mx mouse with the wireless dongle reciever to use a mouse!

Is there specific drivers for the trackpad? i could not find it on the razer blade 13 support website here

Razer Support

 

[soulreaver99]

Hi. i replaced the 512gb nvme drive with a 2tb one and installed POP_OS linux a small partition on the new hdd and all went smoothly. everything worked right out of the box.

Now fast forward to now installing a fresh copy of windows 10 on the same drive on a new partition and well it did not get smoothly.

First of all , on windows 10 install, it could not detect the blade 13 trackpad and could not even move the mouse to select stuff on win setup.

It could not even detect the wifi adapter so i assumed its all due to drivers being missed.

I then proceeded to manually download the drivers for the wifi, chipset, bluetooth and nvidia gpu manually and transfered it to the blade using a usb.

After windows 10 finished installing and booted to the desktop, i then installed all the drivers mentioned previously.

Wifi was now working and connected but the trackpad still not working?

I tried going into device manager and checking and updating any drivers that needed to be done and after updating some missing drivers(such as the thunderbolt) etc, the trackpad still did not work?

I had to connect an old logitech mx mouse with the wireless dongle reciever to use a mouse!

Is there specific drivers for the trackpad? i could not find it on the razer blade 13 support website here

Razer Support

I saw thread on reddit where you need to download the Intel IO drivers. A link to the Blade Stealth 2019 with the 1650 isn't on there but it is for the Mercury White Stealth. Link here: http://rzr.to/YyjYo

See if that helps

 

[jrichards1408]

I saw thread on reddit where you need to download the Intel IO drivers. A link to the Blade Stealth 2019 with the 1650 isn't on there but it is for the Mercury White Stealth. Link here: http://rzr.to/YyjYo

See if that helps

Thanks it worked

 

[jrichards1408]

The amount of power this has is unbelievable in this form factor

 

[hudida]

Hi guys,

I am a lil bit late to the party. It's on sale at 1500 right now and I m seriously considering this. I'm looking for a portable laptop to bring to school, but robust enough to connect to a monitor and game at home.

Question: Does the GTX work with external display? I've read a few reports on reddit suggesting that once plugged into monitor, the intel card will be the one running as GTX card does not support video output via TB3 port. I need advice from those who are the stealth owners (i dont want a egpu so thats out of the question)

 

[Thysanoptera]

Question: Does the GTX work with external display?

Yes, it works. I'm not sure where this confusion is coming from, I saw those reddit posts too, but didn't bother to check myself. This time I did. From both USB-c ports.

Maybe it is because this signal still goes through Intel GPU (so you have to set refresh rate from Intel gadget, G-sync doesn't work etc, almost all options from Nvidia control panel are gone) - but this is exactly the same situation when running on internal display. You still have switchable graphic, whether on internal or external display.

It is surprisingly quiet and cool, I've run Valley (1598/38.2 fps in extreme HD) and Superposition (5840/44 fps in medium 1080p) and GPU temps stayed below 59C.