LOS ANGELES - Yeah, I know we just got a new Razer Blade Stealth earlier this year. But this new member of the Razer Blade family looks much improved.
Available now, the latest Stealth starts at $1,399, which is $400 more than its predecessor. But this machine hopes to justify that premium with several new and notable features, including a fetching gunmetal gray design, a bigger display with slimmer bezels, a faster 7th-generation Kaby Lake processor and 16GB of RAM standard.
The newest Stealth has a 13.3-inch QHD (3200 x 1800) touch display, a step up from the 12.5-inch (2560 x 1400) panel on the previous model. Listening to consumer critiques, Razer has found a way to shrink the Stealth's chunky bezel. While it's nowhere near as slim as the Dell XPS 13's barely-there Infinity Edge screen, it's a marked improvement. This allowed Razer to squeeze a 13.3-inch screen into a 2.9 pound, 12.6 x 8.1 x 0.5-inch chassis.
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The starting configuration of the Stealth will offer a 2.7-GHz Intel Core i7-7500U processor, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB PCIe SSD. But similar to other Razer laptops, you can configure the storage. In the case of this system, you can go up to 1TB.
Unless you have a Razer Core graphics amplifier, don't expect to play the best and most demanding PC games. That's because the Stealth has an integrated Intel HD Graphics 620 GPU, which can potentially let you play Overwatch. But Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Tekken 7 and Rise of the Tomb Raider are pretty much out of the question.
The biggest addition to the Stealth line has nothing to do with fancy specs. This iteration of the Stealth will be the first time we get a Blade that's not made with an inky black aluminum chassis. The Blade Stealth will now come in a more subtle gunmetal aluminum frame.
The glowing green tri-head snake emblem has been replaced with a more subtle black etching so mobile professionals can take the Stealth into the office without the flashing lights screaming "I'm a gamer." And instead of a programmable Chroma keyboard, the gunmetal version has only white backlit keys.
But never fear, those that want those mesmerizing colors can also get the Stealth in its regular black jacket complete with all the lighting. Overall, the Stealth looks like a formidable ultraportable, and I can't wait to get in for review.
