Razer Blade Stealth Laptop + Core V2 Review

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A double-edged Razer.

By Jason Cipriani

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Gaming laptops are one of two things: Big, heavy, and powerful, or if they're even remotely portable they're got just enough muscle to play casual games, and you can forget about running AAA games on a thin-and-light. With the Razer Blade Stealth (See it on Amazon) and Core V2 enclosure, the company is trying to let gamers have their cake and eat it too, combining a super portable laptops with an enclosure you can fill with any desktop class GPU.  You can use the Blade Stealth as a typical laptop all-day, then plug in the Core V2 when you want to play a real game. For the past few weeks, I’ve been using the Blade Stealth and a Core V2 (See it on Amazon) with a GTX 1060 (See it on Amazon), trying to figure out if this combination is brilliant or crazy. It turns out, it’s a bit of both.

Here are the specifications of the Razer Blade Stealth I’m evaluating:

• Model: Razer Blade Stealth
• Display: 13.3-inch IGZO QHD (3,200 x 1,800)
• Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620
• External GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060
• Processor: Intel Core i7-8550U (Quad-core, 8MB Cache, up to 4.0GHz w/Turbo Boost)
• Memory: 16GB LPDDR3 SDRAM
• OS: Windows 10
• Drive: 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD
• Ports: 1 x USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 3), 2 x USB 3.0 ports, 1 x HDMI, 1 x 3.5mm audio jack
• Wireless: 802.11b/g/n/ac (2x2) Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1
• Dimensions: 12.6 x 8.1 x 0.54-inches (WxDxH) Weight: 2.98 pounds Core V2 Dimensions: 4.13 x 13.38 x 8.6-inches (WxDxH)
• Price: $1,599 | Razer Core V2 $499

Design and Features

Unlike other gaming laptops, the Razer Blade Stealth is designed with portability in mind and instead of being dotted with flair, its sleek, all-black finish is rather unassuming. Packed inside the housing is an 8th generation Intel Core i5-855U quad-core processor, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD. The 13.3" display is a super-high resolution for its size, running at 3,200 x 1,800 QHD and it supports touch. The benefits of a high-resolution display are clear the moment I began using it: Text looked clearer, and images seemed sharper too. Colors looked quite vivid, and really popped.

As with most ultra-portable laptops, expansion ports are pretty scarce on the Blade Stealth. Located on the left side is a USB-C Thunderbolt port, used for charging, connecting external displays, and, perhaps most importantly, connecting the Razer Core V2 to the laptop. Next to the USB-C port is a USB 3.0 port. On the opposite side there's another USB 3.0 port and an HDMI port.

Underneath the full-sized keyboard is Razer’s tried-and-true Chroma lighting system, and it allows for per-key customization. Though the keyboard isn't mechanical, the chiclet-like keys have a mechanical switch feel to them so whether I was typing or gaming, I enjoyed using the keyboard. The touchpad is smooth and responsive, and free of any issues. Stereo speakers flank both sides of the keyboard. I found the speakers to be more than loud enough even when the system’s resources were stressed.

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I found the speakers to be more than loud enough.

In addition to the all-black model, Razer sells a Gunmetal model that lacks Chroma backlighting, opting instead to stick to a more traditional white backlight for those who don’t care for colorful keyboards. True to its name, the Blade Stealth is incredibly thin and light, measuring just 12.6 x 8.1 x 0.54-inches (WxDxH) and weighing 2.98 pounds. In comparison, Apple’s MacBook Pro with Touch Bar measures 11.97 x 8.36 x 0.59-inches and weighs 3.02 pounds.

The Core V2

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The front of the Core lights up with Chroma lighting effects...

Of course, for the Blade Stealth to truly act as a gaming PC, it needs one important component — a beefier GPU. For that, the Blade Stealth relies on an external GPU enclosure. Alongside the Blade Stealth, Razer sent me a Core V2 for testing. The $499 housing doesn’t come with a graphics card, but I had access to a Nvidia GTX 1060 (6GB) for the review. The Core V2 connects to the Blade Stealth via a USB-C to USB-C cable. Thanks to Thunderbolt 3 connectivity the single cable acts as a conduit for power, GPU bandwidth, and it also powers an additional four USB 3.0 ports and an Ethernet jack on the rear of the Core enclosure. The front of the Core lights up with Chroma lighting effects, as does the left side where a metal mesh screen makes the GPU visible. On the back of the unit is a handle used to slide out the tray that accepts a long list of PCIe cards (viewable here), which includes all of Nvidia's current Pascal lineup and most AMD cards aside from its Vega GPUs. After installing a card and sliding the tray back into the enclosure, the handle swings over and locks everything into place. It's all pretty slick, and plug-and-play basically.

My one complaint about the Core V2 is about the included USB-C to USB-C cable used to connect the enclosure to the laptop is way too short at just 20 inches. Especially when you consider the left side of the housing is where the fancy Chroma lighting takes place, and the left side of the laptop is where the USB-C port is to connect the two. If you want to see the light show as you play, you either have to place the Core V2 on the right side of the Blade Stealth, which is awkward with such a short cable, or place the Core V2 behind the laptop. Neither is ideal. I eventually found a longer cable of my own and used that to accommodate my desired setup.

Performance

Keep in mind the benchmarks scores are only a representation of how the Blade Stealth performed with this particular GPU. Your results will vary based on the GPU you use in the Core V2, as one would expect. For my testing, I used the Blade Stealth connected to an external monitor and as a standard laptop. At all times the Core V2 was connected and handling the graphical processing. At the end of the day, the Blade Stealth with the Core V2 connected performed on par with the other GTX 1060 equipped gaming laptops I’ve tested, so no big surprise there.

IGN’s benchmarks are run at the standard resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, so out of curiosity, I decided to run a couple at the Blade Stealth’s full resolution of 3,200 x 1,800. The GTA V benchmark wasn’t horrible with a score of 32 fps, down from 39 fps. However, Unigine Heaven 4.0 went from 69 fps to 24 fps at native resolution. Even with the external GPU running, don't expect to run many games at the monitor's native resolution, unless you've got a GTX 1080 Ti or other higher-end card.

As a stand-alone laptop, the Blade Stealth holds its own. I ran a couple of benchmarks with the GPU disabled just to see how it would perform. The Blade Stealth returned a score of 373 for 3DMark’s Time Spy and a score of 4,118 for Fire Strike. Those scores may seem low when compared the GPU-enabled benchmarks, but comparing them to laptops of similar ilk, the scores are very competitive.

Enough about scores, though — how does it perform in daily use? Just fine. Apps load fast, browser tabs rarely refresh, and it felt snappy and responsive at all times. When gaming with the Core V2 enclosure fired up there were times when I noted the fans on the GTX 1060 inside were on the loud side, but you'll get this with any GPU running at full-load really, and it's another reason why Razer should really bundle a super-long cable with it, so you can put it down on the floor or behind your desk. That said, I'd still rather have the GPU a foot away from me in gaming rather than inside the laptop since it's still quieter, and the laptop won't get anywhere near as hot.

Battery Life

According to Razer, the Blade Stealth can deliver up to 10 hours of battery life which even by gaming PR standards sounds, shall we say, optimistic. To test it out I ran IGN’s movie rundown test, with screen brightness set to 50-percent and extra connectivity features (Bluetooth, GPS location) disabled. In this test I play a 4k movie until the laptop dies, so it's pretty straightforward. Overall, though the Blade Stealth didn't get anywhere near 10 hours of runtime, it did manage to outlast every other gaming laptop I’ve tested, with a total of 157 minutes (two hours and 37 minutes).

Software

Outside of Razer Synapse and a Killer Networking app, the Blade Stealth comes free of any pre-installed software, which is a great "feature" that you don't find with a lot of gaming laptops these days. Razer Synapse is used to control the Chroma lighting schemes for the keyboard, and any other Razer peripherals, which in this case is the Core V2. Additionally, the Synapse app is used to create keyboard macros, adjust the trackpad settings, gaming mode controls, and power settings. When the Core V2 is connected to the Blade Stealth, options to disable the GPU or safely eject the Core V2 from the laptop are all you’ll find.

If you're at all familiar with Razer Synapse, then you'll feel right at home customizing and tailoring the look and behavior of your setup. For noobs like myself (before this review), there's a slight learning curve to get the most out of the software. Once I got over the initial hump, I found Synapse to be fine for casual tinkering. I wouldn't say I enjoyed using it, but I didn't dislike it either, it is just a very average software package.

Purchasing Guide

The Razer Blade Stealth is a pretty penny at $1,599, and the Core V2 will set you back $500. Add in the cost of a graphics card if you don't have one, and this set up gets expensive. But there's a lot more potential if you don't need a new GPU:

The Verdict

For someone who needs laptop portability and desktop GPU power, or someone converting from a desktop (and already has a graphics card), this setup is hard to beat. The price is simply astronomical, as you're already over $2,000 without factoring a GPU into the equation, but it really is a "best of both worlds" setup for people who need mobility during the day and GPU horsepower at night.

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