Razer Blade Stealth goes quad-core in latest refresh
Razer's super light and premium Blade Stealth Ultrabook goes from dual- to quad-core with a new Core i7-8550U processor, and it starts shipping today.
Intel recently announced the eighth-generation of its mobile PC processors, dropping from 45W quad-core to just 15W ultra-low voltage (ULV) for premium Ultrabooks. Razer is not missing a beat and is now updating its famous Blade Stealth with the new Core i7-855U to leverage the increased performance.
Razer claims the refreshed Blade Stealth will now get 10 hours of battery life, all while peaking at an impressive 4GHz (up from 3.5Ghz) and running 16GB of RAM (which also receives a speed bump from 1,866MHz to 2,133MHz).
Part of the reason the new quad-core processor saves battery is that it drops the base frequency from the previous 2.7GHz to just 1.8GHz during idle time and low-priority tasks, yet it bursts to a much higher speed when needed.
That's impressive for an Ultrabook that comes in at just 2.97 lbs (1,347 g).
We recently reviewed the 2017 Razer Blade Stealth, which picked up a new Quad HD+ (3200 x 1800) IGZO touch-enabled display that reduced the bezels by 50 percent.
Made from machined aluminum and featuring two USB Type-A ports, one HDMI out, and a Thunderbolt 3 USB Type-C port the Razer Blade Stealth matches the gamer aesthetic with premium build quality and excellent performance.
In our review, we rated the Blade Stealth a four out of five (or "great") for excellent design, a color-accurate display, an excellent keyboard and its high build quality.
Get the Windows Central Newsletter
All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.
Razer Blade Stealth quad-core tech specs
Category | Razer Blade Stealth quad-core |
---|---|
OS | Windows 10 Home 64-bit |
Material | CNC-machine aluminum single chassis designBlack or gunmetal |
Processor | Intel Core i7-8550U 1.8GHz/4.0GHz (base/turbo) |
Storage | 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD |
RAM | 16GB LPDDR3-2133MHz (fixed) |
Display | 13.3-inch IGZO Touch Screen16:9 aspect ratio3200 x 1800 QHD+ |
Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 620 |
Ports | One Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C)Two USB 3.0 port (SuperSpeed)One HDMI 2.0a3.5mm headphone/microphone |
Audio | Top-firing stereo speakersDolby Digital Plus Home Theater Edition |
Wireless | Killer Wireless-AC 1535 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac + Bluetooth 4.1) |
Keyboard | Razer Chroma anti-ghosting keyboard with individually backlit keys |
Camera | 720p |
Battery | 53.6 WHr45 W USB-C power adapter |
Weight | 2.93 lbs / 1.33 kg |
Dimensions | 0.52 in x 12.6 in x 8.1 in13.1 mm x 321 mm x 206 mm |
Price | $1,699 |
What's new, and pricing and availability
Considering the Razer Blade Stealth was only recently refreshed, everything else stays the same including that new Microsoft Precision touchpad.
The new Razer Blade Stealth quad-core comes only with a 512GB solid-state drive (SSD) and is available in either black or the new gunmetal color for $1,699.
For those who want to use the new Stealth for gaming, Razer is also announcing the new Razer Core v2 external GPU (eGPU), which lets you pair up high-performance graphics card with the Ultrabook.
You can order the quad-core Blade Stealth in the U.S. and Canada starting today. It'll be headed to the UK, Germany, and France later this year.
Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.