Blade stealth Late 2018

Razer announced new stealth with mx150, windows hallo and Blade 15 Form factor in 13,3 FHD or 4K options.

 

Looks awesome, but I just bought the last revision a few months ago! The updated keyboard, extra ports and the thinner bezels are killer.

 

I still have 2016 stealth, Old one is still thinner and I like more MacBook like form factor than xps. Mx150 better cpu and extra ports are nice though. Hope it’ll be more color options like Gunmetal, once mine dead I’ll try one.

 

I'm most interested in learning about how well the thermal solution works under load, the brightness of the panel options and actual battery life doing productivity type work.

Austin Evan's has a preliminary review up.

 

Very nice

 

I am gonna buy but I actually want the 4k screen, I don't really plan to game on it. That will probably take 3 months to release?

 

Interesting device. Nice to see they went with more power tho I wonder why they didn't go for the Vega chipset? I have that on a work hp and it's decent.

Will people miss the individually lit keys? Or is it accepted that this is a productivity machine.

Also interesting that Dave 2d wasn't first with it.. I wonder if they've taken offence at him and Linus pointing out a few issues with razer build quality...

 

Is that a bipod at 3:16? @Papusan will love this! xD

 

TWOPOD in a FIVEPOD Package. Has at least not the thin and flimsy legs as in nowdays overheating AlienBooks. But still a very bad cooling design.

 

But this is not Alienbook only an Iblade

 

I'm curious, what makes it bad and is it just a poor design that you don't think will cool it properly / could have been made more efficient or both?

I'm just wondering if what we can see in the photos is enough to cool the 15W CPU and 25W GPU properly under load.

I have a X1 Carbon 6th gen that I've had since release. Great screen and keys but the thermals are terrible. I've been wanting to replace it with another ultrabook with similar characteristics plus better cooling but haven't found such device yet.

 

I had MX150 ultrabook from xiaomi once, it was my worst experience on a laptop since my first Geforce laptop in 2006, idk maybe because they’re new in this world but problems and problems, if some people say that they can make fried egg on Blade, on my MX150 I would say I could grill bbq
I’m also curious on how new stealth handling the gaming temperature, can’t wait users review, maybe this weekend or next week will be out since in US seemly it’s already shipped.

 

This laptop seems too little to late - and downgrades some things from the original Stealth (no 1440p, no touch 1080p, less ports, RGB replaced with single colour backlighting).

I don't know if I would prefer it to an XPS 9370 tbh, does anyone know if the 1080p screen is 400 nit like the XPS 13 or the bog standard 300 nit that most others are selling? It appears still bigger than the XPS 13 and the MX150 is something to avoid rather than rejoice. Not great considering the XPS 9370 is almost a year old and this doesn't really compete that well with it - the XPS 9380 is probably due to come out next month too.

 

Having just got a blade 15 advanced and it being incredibly small and light, i dont know why theres a 13" laptop!

BUT its cheaper, a bit smaller and people dont always want to carry a big powerful GPU. So this will probably sell well against the macbook pro 13" i guess!

 

I think that downgrade is also for better temperature beside battery life. On 4K option with letting per key rgb will kill battery more, and some user may use maximum hardware for the resolution that may make hotter.
Unfortunately xps 13 doesn’t come with iris graphic anymore, even yes like on MacBook Pro gpu performance still way lower than MX150. Yes it is slightly smaller and lighter though, for those who doesn’t need better gpu on the go or without egpu setting xps still better value, actually hdmi port is being replaced by usb C that I think could also run monitor beside charging, if it’s only charging port, yes it’s a downgrade.

If it has similar build quality with MacBook like my 2016 v2, stealth mx150 is no brain choice over MacBook imo.

 

@Papusan despises (as do @Mr. Fox and others) BGA chips. But not to open that can of worms here, CPU and GPU chips are generally rectangular in shape and consequently, it is considered best practice to mount the heatsink with at least four anchor points (one for each corner of the chip) to get even pressure. Low or uneven mounting pressure can result in diminished heat transfer to the heatsink, uneven temperature among the chip (cases of high temperature deltas among cores on the CPU, for example) or accelerated degradation of thermal interface material (paste, grease, liquid metal, etc.).
The best solution to this problem would be to have the design of the notebook include all the necessary anchor points/screws. Maybe this heatsink is rigid and balanced enough to not require them? Testing will demonstrate that.
Another solution would be to compensate for the unevenness by sanding the heatsink and using a thick/viscous thermal paste. @Falkentyne knows a lot more about this.

Hope this helps!

 

Eh? Not on these laptops.
But thick pastes with good w/mk rating are good. Runny pastes are not.

 

I just found this video on YouTube that's a hands on walk through at Razer's HQ in San Francisco by a Razer guy.



There is a shot / rendering (starts at 2:43) of the internals where it looks like the cooling solution is a vapor chamber that resembles what they did on the blade 15.

I'm wondering what they ended up putting in the retail / final version of this stealth 19...

 

Vapor chamber ain't always enough. The 2018 line Alienware use Vapor chamber as well with awful temp results. And if its a Vapor chamber it is only a VP heatspreader version (exactly same as the Alienware's use). Good to lift up the heat from the pure die but has to rely on how good the pipes, fans and grills are.

 

It’s pretty Blade 15, mini version, I think that will be only on MX150 model, there’s a bit weight difference between igpu and dgpu model and 15 watt cpu doesn’t really need that imo.
Just curious about bottom lid, if it’s really sturdy as he said since on its big brother i feel I can bend it easily, it feels thinner than old version that I feel great solid.

 

I got mine, 256 1080p MX150
Real quick review:
Screen is amazing! No BLB great colors a notch above the 15 Blade, I was going to wait for the 4k but glad I got this one.
Noise: under full load about 15-20% less than blade 15, so not bad, I will test DB when I have time tomorrow.
Heat: So I have only had it a few hours loaded everything up, did updates and ran firestrike (probably not best option?) GPU Score 3400 expected, cpu max temp 89c @4600ghz GPU max 69c so not bad considering I cant get XTU or TS to work as the CPU is not yet supported so no undervolt at all.
Build: Amazing, no flex anywhere, solid and just feels expensive and premium.
keyboard: I would rate it a 7 where I rate the 15 a 9, the keys have less travel but once I get used to them I do not see an issue.
Trackpad: rate it a 10, cant say anything bad about it.
Powerbrick: Awesome, so tiny and love the thunderbolt plug in for power.

Overall I wanted a system that was small for flights, easy to carry and provide all day battery while giving a badass appearance. I will be swapping in a new 970 pro 1tb this afternoon.

And don't get me wrong I would never give up my blade 15 for the stealth, but for on the go work and not gaming, I love the stealth.

 

Just got mine in today as well. I really dislike the keyboard lighting as there is light bleed around every key, unlike the individually backlit keys normally found on blades. I suppose it is livable with very low light setting on the keys. Everything else besides one major problem below, is great.

I do have a problem which I may need to return my device. It is making a crackling, popping sound. It sounds just like poprocks candy. I can't figure out where it is coming from, but the sound is exiting the exhaust ports. It is not like any electrical hum that I've heard before. Anyone else have this? lift it up and put your ear to the fan areas.

 

Is something stuck in the fans? Did a bug crawl up there?

Seriously, did something crawl up there?

I'm impressed Razer shipped out so quickly after launch. This is quite different than Dell and Lenovo.

 

Can you upload the Firestrike score by any chance? I want to know physical score too. And when opening the bottom lid can you also check if it’s thin like Blade 15?
Btw yes power brick from previous stealth also super tiny, the cable I think that take more place. Though I never bring it outside since battery on qhd stealth is great and I use pocket tiny powerbank if need more juice.

Greetings, sorry to hear that. Btw are you the one who posted earlier Blade 15 node egpu 1080ti in egpu.io? If still have the egpu setting it’ll be nice posting here or there the egpu performance too.
Thanks

 

I hope it’s not for beta test though

 

I opened it up, sprayed compressed air, fans appear to spin without any abnormalities or strange noises. It may just be the fan though, when I lift the laptop so the keyboard is not parallel to the desk, it starts to make the noise more. However, the fan cage is not touching it, I even tried lightly pushing the cages on the fans, no noise. I will likely have to create a support ticket, maybe something else is going on. I cannot live with this though. This laptop at idle makes more noise than my blade 15, or any blade laptop I've owned before (several).

Yes, I will in time. Might have to RMA first. We shall see.

 

I would RMA it back asap.

 

first run had laptop in lap so temps were higher but the maid was here so I did not have my desk.

Much better temps on a desk, but still the mx150 is a joke but I knew that, again this is not a gaming machine stand alone but for media and light work its awesome.

 

Is the screen 144Hz or 60Hz? It's not mentioned on the specifications on the website.

I'm debating on keeping my Razer Blade 15 or downsizing to this since I already have an actual desktop (that I've been neglecting lately).

 

it is 60hz, 144 would be overkill imo.

 

Damn that physical score beat 7700HQ gaming laptop average how is cinebench 15 multi score? Around 700 to 800? CPU Temperatures isn’t bad at all imo.
Curious about graphics score on egpu performance now.

 

Dave 2D finally has his review up. Not a fan of the price!

 

Yes he’s getting used to base model 999 bucks once, so last time he claimed also the price tag when I’m not wrong. Weird though he compared with those ultrabook without TB3 which usually he cares about, and for some users it is a deal breaker. It should be compared to MacBook Pro or other ultrabook that has TB3 port like carbon x1 and we know how much that laptops cost. I bought ultrabooks, Xiaomi Air 13 mx150 and stealth v2 refurbished at quite same price and same year, i sold not a year Xiaomi since it runs hot, often had issues with screen (vertical line), can’t expand with TB3 devices like docking station or egpu setting. 800 bucks stealth even with dual core, it can be used with any gpu I had and have now.

 

or even a surface pro 6 and add keyboard with no usb-c is 16-1700?

 

requested for Cinebench, I have never played with it so I just ran the cpu test.

 

I've decided to return my Stealth. I will say it's the first Razer product that I've done this with. I've owned Blades (and Edge) all the way back to Intel 3rd gen processors and I'd had a good experience with all of them except this one. Before I check out of this thread, I'll share some highlights that I do like about this device compared to the previous gen stealth (and the blade 15) as well as the negatives for me.

- Square design. It has grown on me. I still like the old design too.
- Speakers, they are truly better than before. Much better.
- Windows Hello. I thought it was gimmicky, but I came to really like it.
- Extended length of palm rests, there is about 2cm more length which makes typing with larger hands a bit easier than on the previous gen stealth.
- Two USB 3Type C ports
- 1080p Display, I've wanted this in the Stealth for a while so I don't have to deal with scaling and applications that don't scale. It is also a really good display, I like it better than the previous Stealth.
- Dedicated GPU, it's no power horse but it can play casual games like Magic or Hearthstone, which is what I was after.
- Far right arrow keys vs Blade 15. I cannot stand this on my Blade 15 when I need to access Page Up/Down Home/End function buttons. I still to this day have to look down before pressing these keys. I've adjusted to the shift/question mark keys on the Blade 15, so it wasn't an issue on the new Stealth here.
- No light up Razer logo.

And the bad stuff:

- I have a defective product. Mine makes electrical static noise, far more than any buzz I've ever heard before. It makes a crackling noise like pop rocks candy when the processor is under moderate use. I tried getting used to it, but I just can't when using the device to watch movies. I can hear it over volume as high as 30%, and in silence its just straight up annoying.
- Shrunken width, it negates the extended palm rest length for better typing to make it now on par with the previous gen. My wrists now hang off the sides instead of the bottom.
- Sharp edges, they are sharper than the previous gen and even the new blade 15, it can actually be uncomfortable after a lengthy period of typing.
- Single zone RGB, this wouldn't be a problem for me besides the fact that it uses different types of lightning, and light bleeds around all of the keys which is less appealing visually.

 

I wonder if they considered the gtx 1050 msxq for this. Just 9W higher consumption (on paper) but much better performance.

 

The TDP might be 9W higher, but TDP does not account for actual power draw of chips. A 1050 will not be feasible.

 

It could be noted the somewhat similar MSI PS42 received a 1050 MaxQ variant, though it has a seemingly much more capable GPU cooling system (two pipes dedicated exclusively to the GPU).

 

Ugh it’s almost perfect if it has TB3 port...And Black

 

I've sort of stopped liking TB3 as much in recent weeks (after using it a bit for an eGPU - it's definitely not plug and play, and it's instability reminds me of earlier MUX dGPU switching solutions in Vista/7 laptops), but I generally agree. The PS42 is a good first generation device, and hopefully the next generation will really push the platform's strengths while resolving the issues of the current gen.

 

Depends your setting, me mostly with right setting always plug and play (hot plug), maybe because of the same brand. For laptops with dGPU there’s also gpu switcher and works even on XPS 15 from what I saw, hot plug. Yes I’m agree too, always avoid first gen if I can...but on Blade 15 I couldn’t wait...That form factor change and their marketing about cooling etc, was too weak

 

The reviews are semi positive.

Does anyone know if Razer plans to sell the FHD option with 512B SSD? Only seems to be available with the 4K mode.

Yes you can replace it but that’s a waste of a 256GB drive and additional hassle.

 

Well, cheap USB-C (not TB3!) to NVMe adapters exist now, you can make superfast "flash drives," that have no real peer.

 

Well I have enough external storage drives so I really don't need another one.

I guess I'll see what Dell has in store with the XPS 9380 in January and compare it to this. There is also the Asus UX433 with MX150 option too.

 

It is available for pre-order in UK (amazon), strange pricing if you ask me (shows as £200 off for the base and 4K model, not sure how accurate that is)?

Base - £1,299 (down from £1499)
Mid - £1,699
4K - £1799 (down from £1,999)

 

Asus UX series doesn’t have TB3 port, XPS 13 current gen doesn’t use Iris graphics anymore but comes with PCIe3x4 lanes TB3 unlike previous model, for some maybe those are a deal breaker. Mate Pro has similar specs but I think they’re still with kabylake r, and throttle a lot on intensive gpu usage or egpu setting due too small cooling room and bad cooling design.

 

That is expensive!! Compared to xiaomi air 13 with MX150 with only lack of TB3 and maybe worse cooling design, I think it’s almost half price from importer, if i convert the currency.
They shouldn’t charge base with 256gb and 8gb ram model for €1500, it should be max 1200, considering my stealthv2 base mrsp was €1K. It’s very Apple imo.

 

If XPS 9380 comes with Bluetooth 5 and faster WiFi, I'd probably get one and just pair it with an eGPU. I tried the XPS 9370 and it really was almost perfect (but it had a couple of bugs which I think will be resolved for the 9380). One of the main advantages of the 9370 is the better keyboard for productivity, e.g. having dedicated Home/End key's.

 

Right now, for me I am not too price sensitive if it is a really good laptop. One review showed the bottom of this machine flexing significantly which was worrying - he said it was just a production model and the release one won't do that but we will see. There is some not-normal coil whine, infact I am not sure it is coil whine because it sounds like mechanical noise not electronic noise - which is a worry.

I think the biggest sin they did was not giving a 512GB drive on the mid model.