At this point while going from 1" bezels to 1/2" bezels is a step in the right direction; it's not enough to get me excited anymore. The top bezel's limited by needing room for a camera (unless to do something weird like the XPS13/15); but side bezels bigger than 1/4" or so are rather meh at this point. And as a generic ultrabook instead of a gaming laptop it's not like Razer needed to keep the base volume the same for cooling needs.
At least the green lit up logo is gone. Someone realized not everybody wants an otherwise pretty business looking machine to have the "I'm a 1337 gamer yo' " kind of vibe.
Mostly yeah, but for the Stealth in particular the bezels were enormous for 2017 and dated the design a lot. This is a great improvement since it was so far back before.
Eh, if Ryzen/Vega @ 28W gives good price/performance, I don’t see why Razer wouldn’t offer such a machine. Just because "the Stealth exists to be docked with a bigger/beefier external GPU" that doesn’t mean that Razer is married to the concept to a point of not considering putting an APU in there.
At 28W vs the 15W for the Intel chips in in now, this model wouldn't be able to cool the APU effectively. If the new AMD APUs do perform well enough to justify a model between this and the models with full size discrete GPUs it's possible Razer will make a 3rd model to use them too.
The MBP has about 10% more internal volume (ignoring rounded edges on all models); and a customer base willing to tolerate more thermal throttling than Razer fans are likely to on average. More to the point it was designed to cool 28W not 15. I'm not saying Razer can't make a chassis that can take the load if they wanted to; but it won't be this one.
Also the Vaio Z has the 28 watt chip with Iris 550 in a thin and light form. I think it would be great for the Stealth if it could handle the thermals, since the Iris 550 or 650 is pretty decent for a iGPU, getting 1500 or so in firestrike, which is on par with the GT940M, for example. I had a Vaio Z and it performed well with temperatures in line with other thin and light machines with the 15 watt chip.
Why 28W? So far pretty much the only official thing from AMD about Raven Ridge is "50 percent increase in CPU performance and over 40 percent better graphics performance, at half the power of its previous generation". Given that Bristol Ridge for laptops consists of 35W and 15W chips, half power is under 20W. Even if you take to top TDP of these chips, 45W, half of it is still 22.25W. I'm sure AMD is aiming at the 15W and lower range where most sales currently are, which would be a perfect fit for the Blade Stealth and other such laptops.
I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what Raven Ridge really offers. 50% faster CPU and 40% faster GPU sounds good on paper, but there's always the caveat of highly selective benchmarking, and given the current comparison in performance between AMD and Intel at 15W, I read this as 'around Core i5 performance, probably slower for single threaded' for CPU and 'a little better than normal Intel integrated graphics, perhaps around Iris performance'. (But that's still exciting enough for me, given that AMD's GPU is more well rounded and has better drivers than Intel.)
Very few laptops with high DPI screens do, but they're still good because most people stare at text more often on laptops, with gaming less of the time that works fine at sub-native.
The Stealth isn't a gaming laptop at any rate, not without the Core.
The only remotely desirable part in this would be graphics, and even then it`s a big if. Why would anybody want an inferior IPC paired with termal throttling for their notebook?
I wish Razer had a 15.6" competitor to the XPS 15... 13" is too small for me, but 17" is too big, and Razer aren't targeting anyone who wants something in the middle. The XPS 15's GPU is a bit anemic unfortunately. It's strange because everybody at work who bought an XPS model bought the XPS 15, which I feel shows there's a market for that display size.
This. Was set on Razer Blade, but wanted a 15-inch screen and 32 GB RAM (useful for a subset of my work). Screen and RAM overrode better GPU, and I went with the XPS 15.
"The UHD option will still be available, with its 100% AdobeRGB gamut, but since it is still a 12.5-inch model, and since it doesn’t offer any way to constrain the display to sRGB, it would be difficult to recommend it over the newer, larger display."
The Surface Studio/Pro color profile switch isn't present on non-MS hardware?
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DanNeely - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
At this point while going from 1" bezels to 1/2" bezels is a step in the right direction; it's not enough to get me excited anymore. The top bezel's limited by needing room for a camera (unless to do something weird like the XPS13/15); but side bezels bigger than 1/4" or so are rather meh at this point. And as a generic ultrabook instead of a gaming laptop it's not like Razer needed to keep the base volume the same for cooling needs.GodHatesFAQs - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
100% agreed. I was excited to hear about thinner bezels, but they don't go anywhere near enough to convince me to spend $ on it.lazarpandar - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
Agreed as well.Excited about the implications for the 14 though, maybe a blade 15 in the same chassis?
close - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
At least the green lit up logo is gone. Someone realized not everybody wants an otherwise pretty business looking machine to have the "I'm a 1337 gamer yo' " kind of vibe.tipoo - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
Mostly yeah, but for the Stealth in particular the bezels were enormous for 2017 and dated the design a lot. This is a great improvement since it was so far back before.
R3MF - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
looking forward to the 2018 Stealth, where the 13" screen comes as standard, along with a ryzen/vega based APU with a cTDP of 28W.thanks, Razer! :)
ImSpartacus - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
I don't see that happening.The Stealth exists to be docked with a bigger/beefier external GPU. It doesn't need an internal GPU for gaming.
xype - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
Eh, if Ryzen/Vega @ 28W gives good price/performance, I don’t see why Razer wouldn’t offer such a machine. Just because "the Stealth exists to be docked with a bigger/beefier external GPU" that doesn’t mean that Razer is married to the concept to a point of not considering putting an APU in there.DanNeely - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
At 28W vs the 15W for the Intel chips in in now, this model wouldn't be able to cool the APU effectively. If the new AMD APUs do perform well enough to justify a model between this and the models with full size discrete GPUs it's possible Razer will make a 3rd model to use them too.R3MF - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
If Apple can get 28W IrisPro parts in a Mac Pro, i'm sure Razer can get one in the Stealth.DanNeely - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
The MBP has about 10% more internal volume (ignoring rounded edges on all models); and a customer base willing to tolerate more thermal throttling than Razer fans are likely to on average. More to the point it was designed to cool 28W not 15. I'm not saying Razer can't make a chassis that can take the load if they wanted to; but it won't be this one.vistar - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
Also the Vaio Z has the 28 watt chip with Iris 550 in a thin and light form. I think it would be great for the Stealth if it could handle the thermals, since the Iris 550 or 650 is pretty decent for a iGPU, getting 1500 or so in firestrike, which is on par with the GT940M, for example. I had a Vaio Z and it performed well with temperatures in line with other thin and light machines with the 15 watt chip.ET - Thursday, June 15, 2017 - link
Why 28W? So far pretty much the only official thing from AMD about Raven Ridge is "50 percent increase in CPU performance and over 40 percent better graphics performance, at half the power of its previous generation". Given that Bristol Ridge for laptops consists of 35W and 15W chips, half power is under 20W. Even if you take to top TDP of these chips, 45W, half of it is still 22.25W. I'm sure AMD is aiming at the 15W and lower range where most sales currently are, which would be a perfect fit for the Blade Stealth and other such laptops.I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what Raven Ridge really offers. 50% faster CPU and 40% faster GPU sounds good on paper, but there's always the caveat of highly selective benchmarking, and given the current comparison in performance between AMD and Intel at 15W, I read this as 'around Core i5 performance, probably slower for single threaded' for CPU and 'a little better than normal Intel integrated graphics, perhaps around Iris performance'. (But that's still exciting enough for me, given that AMD's GPU is more well rounded and has better drivers than Intel.)
R3MF - Thursday, June 15, 2017 - link
because AMD tends to follow Intel TDP's, because that is what the enormous majority of laptop OEM's design their chassis's to accomodate.and 28W is what Intel spec their Iris Pro parts to.
tipoo - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
This is using 15W TDP parts, iirc?R3MF - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
Good point, and I'd have no objection to a 15W RavenRidge APU either, in fact i'd prefer it to a 15W Cannonridge (?).Samus - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
3200x1800 on 13.3" screen seems excessive. Awesome, but excessive. This GPU won't be able to drive that at native resolution in future games.Samus - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
Obviously by this GPU I mean the iGPU. A TB3 GPU leaves everything up in the air, upgrade as necessary...lazarpandar - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
That was never the intention. Higher resolutions are great for productivity, too.tipoo - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
Very few laptops with high DPI screens do, but they're still good because most people stare at text more often on laptops, with gaming less of the time that works fine at sub-native.The Stealth isn't a gaming laptop at any rate, not without the Core.
R3MF - Thursday, June 15, 2017 - link
gaming at 1600x900 should be quite doable, without the blurring usually caused by interpolating across non-native resolutions.Samus - Thursday, June 15, 2017 - link
Hmm, that's an interesting point. It scales 2:1 perfectly.Hurr Durr - Friday, June 16, 2017 - link
The only remotely desirable part in this would be graphics, and even then it`s a big if. Why would anybody want an inferior IPC paired with termal throttling for their notebook?peterfares - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
Another important new feature that isn't mentioned: Precision Touchpad. I hope the next standard blade has this too.ayqazi - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
I wish Razer had a 15.6" competitor to the XPS 15... 13" is too small for me, but 17" is too big, and Razer aren't targeting anyone who wants something in the middle. The XPS 15's GPU is a bit anemic unfortunately. It's strange because everybody at work who bought an XPS model bought the XPS 15, which I feel shows there's a market for that display size.cantcliffe - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
The Razer Blade 14 sounds like it's right up your alley.lazarpandar - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
gotta cut dat bezel first thoI'm sure they'll update the 14 next.
brosenau - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
This. Was set on Razer Blade, but wanted a 15-inch screen and 32 GB RAM (useful for a subset of my work). Screen and RAM overrode better GPU, and I went with the XPS 15.Ej24 - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
Do they not offer it with Iris graphics? That'd be a big step forward too seeing as it's now available in 15W U series cpu'sBrett Howse - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
No Iris graphics option. Docking it to the Core seems to be their preferred solution.mobutu - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
lol the bezels are still grossly FAT.see you next year, stupid razer
Hurr Durr - Friday, June 16, 2017 - link
You have problems.id4andrei - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
"The UHD option will still be available, with its 100% AdobeRGB gamut, but since it is still a 12.5-inch model, and since it doesn’t offer any way to constrain the display to sRGB, it would be difficult to recommend it over the newer, larger display."The Surface Studio/Pro color profile switch isn't present on non-MS hardware?
Brett Howse - Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - link
No