The all-new Razer Blade Stealth 13

Razer.WolfPack · 2018-12-04T15:58:27+00:00

Work faster. Game more. The new Razer Blade Stealth 13 is made to take you places: http://rzr.to/bladestealth Hey Insiders! The Razer Blade Stealth 13 has always excelled as the ultimate productivity ultraportable laptop. Now, it’s been completely redesigned with NVIDIA GeForce MX150 4GB graphics and the new Whisky Lake Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 4.6 GHz. With up to 4X improved graphics performance, you can run games like Overwatch and Fortnite at buttery smooth framerates. And with increased battery life of up to 13 hours, you can stay productive for even longer. Featuring 60% thinner bezels and up to 4K resolution with 100% sRGB color space, the Razer Blade Stealth is made for visual clarity in content creation or entertainment. For gaming and productivity, a thin bezel Full HD Matte option is also available. No matter which model you pick, the Razer Blade Stealth displays are individually calibrated to ensure color accuracy out of the box. For additional security and convenience, the Razer Blade Stealth also incorporates a IR web camera with Windows Hello. Packed into a compact unibody CNC aluminium frame and available in three new configuration models, you can pick the Razer Blade Stealth 13 that’s perfect for your lifestyle. A near bezel-less display. Longer battery life. All-new superior gaming performance. Discover the new Razer Blade Stealth 13 now: http://rzr.to/bladestealth

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lucpeu
I really enjoy my new razer blade stealth 13!
There are some issues with speakers crackling and coil whine but both aren´t that loud so that I feel disturbed.
And there seem to be ways to fix these issues. (new SSD and Speaker Software)
So if you´re not into playing the newest AAA titles this is a very nice laptop for creative work and editing.
Keep in mind: You pay the money for size and design

Can anyone recommend a case or a sleeve for this laptop?
I don´t like the razer version because I´m not into their green logo

Would you tell the rest of us where we can get these new SSD and Speaker drivers/softwares?

Userlevel 7

Joikansai
Community Ranger
1975 replies
5 years ago
25 January 2019

lucpeu
I really enjoy my new razer blade stealth 13!
There are some issues with speakers crackling and coil whine but both aren´t that loud so that I feel disturbed.
And there seem to be ways to fix these issues. (new SSD and Speaker Software)
So if you´re not into playing the newest AAA titles this is a very nice laptop for creative work and editing.
Keep in mind: You pay the money for size and design

Can anyone recommend a case or a sleeve for this laptop?
I don´t like the razer version because I´m not into their green logo

You can use MacBook Pro 13 2016~ it has almost same dimension when I’m not wrong. I use for my Blade 15 MacBook Pro 15 leather sleeve, fits nicely and easy to takeoff but first time with a bit effort since Blade 15 thicker. I think for stealth 13 it’ll fit well.

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Skeith_0x5B
Would you tell the rest of us where we can get these new SSD and Speaker drivers/softwares?

I didn´t fix anything yet so I don´t know for sure if this works.
SSD is a hardware problem. So Coil Wine might disappear if you change the SSD to Samsung 970 (pro).
This is what I heard.
Speaker crackling seems to be a software problem and might be fixed if you install other software.
Also just what I read on the Internet

L

Joikansai
You can use MacBook Pro 13 2016~ it has almost same dimension when I’m not wrong. I use for my Blade 15 MacBook Pro 15 leather sleeve, fits nicely and easy to takeoff but first time with a bit effort since Blade 15 thicker. I think for stealth 13 it’ll fit well.

Tank You!

D

Joikansai
I already read that. I made Stealth 2019 thread on NBR. He, the notebookcheck reviewer, mentioned as well the potential issues on different article, this charging issue is one of those.

Quick update: I can see in HW monitor that it's drawing around 40-45W under full tilt from everything except the GPU - for some reason I cannot see that on there. I tried connecting a bigger USB-C charger - the 87W apple USB-C charger and it didn't help, so people shuldn't go out spend a ton of money on new chargers, because as far as I could see, it didn't yield any improvement. Anyone else tried anything similar?

Userlevel 7

Joikansai
Community Ranger
1975 replies
5 years ago
26 January 2019

Droglez
Quick update: I can see in HW monitor that it's drawing around 40-45W under full tilt from everything except the GPU - for some reason I cannot see that on there. I tried connecting a bigger USB-C charger - the 87W apple USB-C charger and it didn't help, so people shuldn't go out spend a ton of money on new chargers, because as far as I could see, it didn't yield any improvement. Anyone else tried anything similar?

Hmm weird, HWINFO64 can even recognize rtx cards that are newer than MX150, is it because new 25watt model... Yes notebookcheck Show also HWinfo screen shot and I didn’t see also power usage on that review. But I think it could be addressed per firmware update like by limiting unimportant power usage by tdp from cpu (similar with Blade 15 power limit throttling which doesn’t noticeably effect gaming performance) or gpu.

Update:

Bought the Blade from Best Buy on the 18th. Opened the box when I got home to find that there was a huge gash on the screen. I returned it the next day and BB ordered me a new one. Picked that one up a few days later and found that there was intense crackling coming out of both speakers. There were also issues with dead pixels on the screen. Returned the second Blade Stealth the next day and BB ordered me another. I picked this one up a few days ago to discover the same crackling issue with the speakers.

This time, I tried to figure out the issue myself. Perhaps it was a driver issue like some had reported? Well, after eliminating the crackling using a driver from 2013, I found that my headphone jack no longer worked. This kind of weirdness is to be expected when you use legacy drivers. I then called Razer to see if there was something else I could do. The rep instructed me to reinstall drivers and, without finding a solution, had me do a system restore.

The restore fixed nothing. All the next rep, after escalation, could offer me was another replacement with no guarantee that it wouldn't suffer the same issues.

So, to summarize. 3 Razer Blade Stealths. All three with ridiculous QA issues.

I will be sending this blade back tomorrow with no intention of finding out if the fourth would work properly. When you pay 1500+ for a laptop, these kinds of problems should be non-existent.

D

Diraan
Update:

Bought the Blade from Best Buy on the 18th. Opened the box when I got home to find that there was a huge gash on the screen. I returned it the next day and BB ordered me a new one. Picked that one up a few days later and found that there was intense crackling coming out of both speakers. There were also issues with dead pixels on the screen. Returned the second Blade Stealth the next day and BB ordered me another. I picked this one up a few days ago to discover the same crackling issue with the speakers.

This time, I tried to figure out the issue myself. Perhaps it was a driver issue like some had reported? Well, after eliminating the crackling using a driver from 2013, I found that my headphone jack no longer worked. This kind of weirdness is to be expected when you use legacy drivers. I then called Razer to see if there was something else I could do. The rep instructed me to reinstall drivers and, without finding a solution, had me do a system restore.

The restore fixed nothing. All the next rep, after escalation, could offer me was another replacement with no guarantee that it wouldn't suffer the same issues.

So, to summarize. 3 Razer Blade Stealths. All three with ridiculous QA issues.

I will be sending this blade back tomorrow with no intention of finding out if the fourth would work properly. When you pay 1500+ for a laptop, these kinds of problems should be non-existent.

Did you try to game on it? If yes, did you experience any battery discharge when plugged in?

S

Diel87
I have returned mine for a refund because it had all the problems mentioned here. I hope that razer will release a new version quickly.

Bought a RBS 13 2019 on friday. I have all the issues mentioned;
* Coilwhine - not like the insane video linked, but enough to distract me from programming.

* Wiggly USB-C ports. Bought THREE different USB-C dockingstations/multiports during this weekend because I thought that it was the stations, but after some testing with them all, it's obvious that the issue lies with the RBS. Right port is slightly better than the left.

* Crackling speaker noise. Couldn't believe my ears honestly. This was resolved with some audiodriver updates, but adds to the overall impression of the machine of course.

But the dealbreaker is the discharging.

1 game of Dota on low settings and 1080p resolution is enough.

How did you go about the refund Diel87?

R

I tried a 90w charger. The discharging problem slowed down (I think), but still occurs while mild gaming (overwatch on low settings). Trying a 100w charger tomorrow that someone on Reddit claimed solved this problem.

Any words from official razer folks on this being normal? It seems like most, if not all, have this issue. If it is all/normal, I’ll happily keep the machine and hope a bios update or something happens eventually.

D

rglasser
I tried a 90w charger. The discharging problem slowed down (I think), but still occurs while mild gaming (overwatch on low settings). Trying a 100w charger tomorrow that someone on Reddit claimed solved this problem.

Any words from official razer folks on this being normal? It seems like most, if not all, have this issue. If it is all/normal, I’ll happily keep the machine and hope a bios update or something happens eventually.

I Tried a 90W (well 87W tbh) aswell, and it didn't so I'm very curious about the 100W charger. Will you post an update, when you recieve the charger?

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Droglez
I Tried a 90W (well 87W tbh) aswell, and it didn't so I'm very curious about the 100W charger. Will you post an update, when you recieve the charger?

I can confirm that the 100w charger indeed solves the issue. this is the one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074HDZ3QP?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

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rglasser
I can confirm that the 100w charger indeed solves the issue. this is the one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074HDZ3QP?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Ok, good to know. And does it actually charge the device aswell, under load, or is it only able to keep it at the current battery percentage.

R

It will actually charge it while under load.

D

rglasser
It will actually charge it while under load.

Cool. Have you encountered any weird things? Or is it running perfect? No throttling, no nothing?

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Droglez
Cool. Have you encountered any weird things? Or is it running perfect? No throttling, no nothing?

The only thing I've encountered is a little bit of what is probably coil whine, which is very quiet. It's difficult to tell, but there may also be a very slight buzzing coming from the speakers (I replaced the driver, which didn't have a noticeable effect so far). By difficult to tell I mean that it is a quiet sound that sort of blends in with what I think is the quiet coil whine, so I can't differentiate where exactly it is coming from. I will note that these sounds are VERY quiet (pretty much unnoticeable unless in a very quiet room or if you put your head right next to the laptop).

Aside from that, which I think is to be expected (the very low coil whine) in such a small device, it is really great. I'm VERY happy that the 100w charger solved the discharging issue. No problems with throttling or anything as far as I can tell.

Userlevel 7

Joikansai
Community Ranger
1975 replies
5 years ago
31 January 2019

There’s bios and EC updates on support page that you guys...and ladies may want to take a look.

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Joikansai
There’s bios and EC updates on support page that you guys...and ladies may want to take a look.

Thanks. Installed both. Unsure what has changed!

Userlevel 7

Joikansai
Community Ranger
1975 replies
5 years ago
31 January 2019

rglasser
Thanks. Installed both. Unsure what has changed!

How about trying gaming on original AC adapter, see if it’s still discharging or not.

D

Joikansai
How about trying gaming on original AC adapter, see if it’s still discharging or not.

Aaaaaaaaand they crippled it. As soon as it detects discharge(which is pretty quick), everything slows down. I can sit in a capital - in game - with 60 fps without trouble and all of a sudden it slows down to 30 fps. But the absolute treat here, is that it still discharges. So I went from having a discharging laptop that could actually play games pretty well for a couple of hours to a discharging laptop that can't play anything in 3D for 4 hours. I had a feeling that they were going to do this and not adress the real problem, being the underpowered charger. I'm starting to lose faith here..

Userlevel 7

Joikansai
Community Ranger
1975 replies
5 years ago
1 February 2019

Droglez
Aaaaaaaaand they crippled it. As soon as it detects discharge(which is pretty quick), everything slows down. I can sit in a capital - in game - with 60 fps without trouble and all of a sudden it slows down to 30 fps. But the absolute treat here, is that it still discharges. So I went from having a discharging laptop that could actually play games pretty well for a couple of hours to a discharging laptop that can't play anything in 3D for 4 hours. I had a feeling that they were going to do this and not adress the real problem, being the underpowered charger. I'm starting to lose faith here..

What game is that, and how % is the cpu usage? It may be cpu bottleneck doing games with weak gpu at 60fps as video on this page shows, user limiting FPS to 30fps to loose the bottleneck.

Jarrod‘s Tech expensive setting review:smile_:

D

Joikansai
What game is that, and how % is the cpu usage? It may be cpu bottleneck doing games with weak gpu at 60fps as video on this page shows, user limiting FPS to 30fps to loose the bottleneck.

It's not CPU bottleneck. It was more than capable of running the game prior to the BIOS update. I'm looking at the exact same spot in game running steady at 60 FPS with no spikes or such, when it all of a sudden drops to 30-35 FPS with no change in scenery.

Userlevel 7

Joikansai
Community Ranger
1975 replies
5 years ago
1 February 2019

Droglez
It's not CPU bottleneck. It was more than capable of running the game prior to the BIOS update. I'm looking at the exact same spot in game running steady at 60 FPS with no spikes or such, when it all of a sudden drops to 30-35 FPS with no change in scenery.

It’s not my question and how do you know it’s not bottleneck? You can as well upload video from YouTube etc to show the FPS drops on the game, FPS drops may also cause by ultrabook cpu on gaming, since it’s low tdp and can’t hold on peak frequency long like on higher cpu tdp on big gaming laptops like 7700HQ or 8750H.

D

Joikansai
It’s not my question and how do you know it’s not bottleneck? You can as well upload video from YouTube etc to show the FPS drops on the game, FPS drops may also cause by ultrabook cpu on gaming, since it’s low tdp and can’t hold on peak frequency long like on higher cpu tdp on big gaming laptops like 7700HQ or 8750H.

I know, because It wasn’t a problem before, and I can see in GPU-Z that it goes from +/- 95% load to +/- 40% load.

Userlevel 7

Joikansai
Community Ranger
1975 replies
5 years ago
1 February 2019

Droglez
I know, because It wasn’t a problem before, and I can see in GPU-Z that it goes from +/- 95% load to +/- 40% load.

I see, watch again the video I attached before. The reason he lock FPS to 30 is for more stable FPS. Playing on 60fps will make huge frame drops on several scenes like high rendered fighting scenes, and low tdp cpu can’t keep at peak frequency boost clock on such scenes. Higher FPS needs gpu works and more gpu works stress the cpu, stress the cpu means more wattage needed. GPU z Monitor only gpu, it’s great to achieve 90ish means it works effectively. Use afterburner on screen display to Monitor cpu usage, 90ish or capping 100% means bottleneck. Keep in mind MX150 on stealth is high 25watt tdp gpu, can perform great but you must be careful on power usage. It’s great for light gaming way better than previous stealth but don’t expect get max screen refresh rate all the time, you need egpu setting to do that like I showed on Jerrods Tech video today, with that and proper gears like monitor and a good gpu you can expect 100fps gaming.

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