Razer Blade Stealth Review

The Razer Blade Stealth is a truly compelling and surprisingly mature first generation ultrabook from a company that only recently began manufacturing notebooks at all. There's a lot to love here including the Blade Stealth's agile performance, svelte profile, and eye-catching aesthetics.


Usurping all of that, however, might just be the Stealth's solid value. This is the only ultrabook of its kind we have reviewed at HotHardware that offers a Core i7 processor, NVMe solid state drive, and QHD touchscreen display for $1K (and a 256GB, with UHD display option for $1399). This value makes it a lot easier to possibly justify the idea of adding on a Razer Core for $499 plus the cost of a discrete GPU, if you do intend to also use the Stealth for gaming.


Despite all the good the Razer Blade Stealth has to offer, there are just a few nagging issues that prevent us from bestowing higher accolades upon it. Razer really needs to improve the display situation. We would honestly rather see a brighter 1080p panel, if that's what it takes, than the QHD display in its current state. Battery life is the next issue that needs to be addressed. A great ultrabook really needs to be able to get through a workday on a single charge and the Blade Stealth just isn't there. In addition, we do understand that soldered on memory is essentially a must for super-thin ultrabooks but are disappointed that 16GB or higher memory models are not even an option. Finally, we'd like to see at least a MicroSD slot available on the Blade Stealth. What's the point of offering a 100% Adobe RGB 4K display if it doesn't natively accept an SD card?
Regardless, we understand the trade-offs that were made to engineer such an quality, stylish laptop at such a competitive price point and so we'll definitely call the Razer Blade Stealth HH Approved.

"Razer" thin profile Sleek and strong aluminum body High resolution 1440p screen Fully configurable RGB backlit keys First rate ultrabook performance Exceptional audio for its size Optional Razer Core for gaming prowess	Dim, glossy display Lack-luster battery life 8GB RAM or bust No SD card