Razor Book 13 Review: Stop Gaming and Go to Work

Over the years, Razr has built some of the best gaming laptops on the market. They are not uniquely famous for their high performance (blades are powerful machines but not fast from there) or their prices (whichever is higher). They are famous for their high-quality build and their premium designs. In short, the razor makes the best-looking gaming laptop on the market.

Razor has decided this year that this aesthetic should not be limited to just gaming laptops. In its first notebook designed for productivity rather than gaming, the Razr combines its signature look and feel with a lower-power processor with a 60 Hz 16:10 touchscreen and integrated graphics. The goal of the razor book is to have a razor blade on the outside and a Dell XPS 13 on the inside – and it is largely successful. Razr has created an excellent laptop that has an impact with the top Windows clamshells in the market. That said, it’s valuable for what it offers, and it has some drawbacks that mean it may not be the right choice for everyone.

From the outside, the Razor Book 13 borrows many of the signature features of the Blade Stealth 13. The razor adorns the three-headed snake id mark. You can also identify the custom-per-key RGB keyboard with speaker grille on each side (unlike what you’ll see on some of the more Garish gaming rigs, the lighting on these keys looks professional and adds to the sophisticated vibe.) Chassis CCC- The machine is aluminum, with a smooth metal finish. This is a fantastic way of saying it’s pretty cool; The MBQbook Pro is made of the same material as many Windows laptops, including the XPS 13 and HP’s Specter X360 14.

But some subtle differences make it clear that this laptop is for office fees, not for gaming. It is slightly lighter than blade stealth, 0.6 inches thick and 3.09 pounds. The choice of port is also better than stealth: there are two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, an HDMI 2.0, a microSD slot and a commbo audio Dio jack. This is also the big advantage of the Razr Book over the XPS 13 and MB Book Pro, both of which have relatively limited choices.

The biggest change, though, is the 16:10 touch display. This lengthens the screen with the 16: 9 panels you’ll find on Blade (and on almost all dedicated gaming laptops). It gives you plenty of extra room for multitasking, in which you need to minimize and zoom in to see everything you need. Putting aside the aspect ratio, the 1920 x 1200 display on our review unit was quite brilliant, which is more than 494 nits in my test. It is absolutely vibrant, with intense and bright colors. While the panel has a glossy texture, it lags a bit behind the glare in bright settings.

Casual Laptop Material: The glass touchpad is sleek and quite simple – definitely one of my latest favorites. The speaker sounds pretty nice with strong percussion, although I’ve heard a slight distortion in the high volume. And I almost never get to say this, but not as bad as Webcam; It delivers a decent and fairly accurate picture, though no privacy shutter or kit switch.

In the vacuum, I have very few complaints about the razor book chassis. I will point out that in a few (subjective) areas I find it a little worse than XPS 13. Not only is it heavier and heavier than Dell’s flagship, but it also looks and feels vague, due to XPS’s lack of amazing portability. And while the razor’s keyboard and touchpad are both nice, it’s nowhere exceptional on the XPS; Dell’s keyboard has more travel and more satisfying clicks, and its touchpad is a little more comfortable. Most frustrating to me, the razor offers less storage for the price. You only get 256GB of storage in the Base and Midrange models and only 512GB in the top-end 1,999 configuration – 512GB XPS models come down to 1,399, and 5 1,599 XPS have 512GB storage while the $ 1,599 Razor Book has only 256GB (Their specs are otherwise similar).

There’s an area where the Razor Book beats XPS strongly, and that’s the performance. All razor book models are evo-verified, i.e. Intel Vouchers for them as top performers. And our test model includes a high-clocked (up to 28W) version of Intel’s Core i7-1165G7, one of Chipmaker’s top Ultrabook processors.

This system flew through the functions we have sought. Our Premier Pro Media test took nine minutes and 21 seconds to complete, including exporting a 5 minute, 33-second 4K video. This is the fastest time I’ve gotten out of a system with a quad-core 1165G7 (which powers many of the best ultraportables on the market). The XPS 13 took 10 minutes and 43 seconds to complete the same task; The more powerful XPS 13 2-in-1 took 10 minutes and five seconds.

However, Apple’s M1 systems still don’t quite hold up. The most recent BBQ Pro completed the test in seven minutes and 39 seconds. And of course, integrated graphics can’t keep the candle in a midrange GPU even in thin and light chassis. Blade Stealth 13A with GTX 1650T knocked out the export in just five minutes and 50 seconds.

In real-world operations, the razor book also shines. The laptop handled my most demanding load of Chromebooks, zoom calls and other applications no matter what. It also boots from standby almost instant and very fast managed state f state. Of course, the XPS 13 is also pretty good in these scenarios.

While the Book 13 is definitely not a gaming laptop, it’s a razor-branded product, so some will wonder how it sports. The answer is that it delivers some of the best integrated graphics effects I’ve ever seen from Windows clams. It hits the XPS 13 clamshell strongly and is the equivalent of a more powerful 2-in-1. In practice, it is best suited for lightweight gaming and heavy titles in lower settings.

The razor book has an average of 142fps Rocket LeagueMaximum setting without speaking below 125; XPS put 111fps with a minimum of 100. The razor also wins League of Legends, Dell’s 205fps average 219fps. Of course, since both machines have a 60 Hz screen, you won’t see any difference in the quality of these games – but these numbers give you an idea of ​​the power of the razor book.

The graphic display will make a difference on heavy titles. Razor Book beat XPS on higher demand Overwatch At Ultra settings, XPS averages 65fps to 48fps. It also has an average of 32fps Shadow of the Tomb Rider At its lower settings, where the XPS averages 22fps. That’s significant because it means you’ll probably be able to play Tomb Rider In 1080p on the razor book, which would be unpleasant to do on XPS.

That result also makes it clear that – despite the aesthetic similarities – to repeat – this is not a laptop blade. Stealth 13 averages 45fps Tomb RiderAdvanced settings of. If you want to play a game with this form factor, buy a blade. You will also find more storage at a price.

When it comes to cooling, the razor book has chops. XPS did a significantly better job of keeping its CPU cool than it does in my testing. During Adobe exports, the 1165G7 remained in comfort from the mid-60s to the mid-70s (Celsius), with occasional spikes at lower 90s. He remained in the high 50s during that time Tomb Rider Benchmarks with spikes until the mid-70s. Overall, I don’t see any throttling or slowing down, and the keyboard is never uncomfortably hot under load.

But you’re closing the trade for all this power: battery life. It’s not terrible, but there’s nothing to write home about it. I got an average of six hours and 45 minutes while using Book 13 for office fee work with occasional zoom calls and streaming on 200 Night Britain. (This was in the battery saver profile, which you can toggle in Razor’s Synapse software.) That means I can’t go all day without charging, although your mileage will vary depending on your actions and settings. I’ve got nine hours putting in plenty of machines, including the XPS 13, through the same workload.

Razor Book 13 has many things in it, especially for razor fans. It’s definitely one of the best ultraportable laptops you can buy – but it is This The best answer is a complex question.

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In some areas (keyboard, touchpad, portability), the razor book is slightly worse than the XPS 13. In others (display quality and build quality) it is almost identical. And it brings a few Nifty features (port selection and RGB keyboard) that Dell’s clamshell doesn’t have – but I doubt it’s making a buying decision for most people or breaking it. On the net, I think the razor on the front of the chassis comes out a little worse.

But that’s not where the Razor Book makes its case. It’s a class operation. Compared to other Windows clamshells I’ve tested in the past year, the Razr Book tops the class. It differs in productivity and media work as well as gaming. On the other side of the question, you are making some sacrifices for that power, plus the price tag it carries. You can get a few hours more battery life from many laptops in the Razor Book class (including the XPS 13) and significantly more storage. For those of the book’s intended audience (users looking for a portable work or entertainment driver), that trade is probably worth considering.

After all, the Razr Book 13 is Razor’s impressive new laptop that many like, and I’m sure many consumers will be happy with it. But that trade means I can’t call it the best product for most people.