Razer Book (late 2021) review: Still slick, now with Windows 11

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Razer up to date its Razer Book productiveness laptop computer for the autumn and the launch of Windows 11, and we had been desperate to see if something had materially modified. To some extent, efficiency was barely affected. But the strengths — and flaws — of the Razer Book stay largely equivalent to our evaluate of an identical mannequin a number of months in the past.

The Razer Book that we examined represents a slight improve over the older Razer Book that Razer launched in March. For one factor, all of those new Razer Books ship with Windows 11 preinstalled, whereas the sooner variations supplied Windows 10 and the promise of a later improve to Windows 11. Our evaluate mannequin, with a Full HD (1,920×1200) show, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage, is now priced identically to the older mannequin (RZ09-03571E92-R3U1), which was discounted to $1,499.99 from its unique $1,699.99 MSRP.

There are slight variations between the older fashions and the up to date Razer Books, nevertheless. Each show has now been individually manufacturing unit calibrated, for instance, with a brand new anti-reflective coating. Razer additionally seems to have bumped up the reminiscence speeds a bit, to 4,267MHz LPDDR4x versus a extra generic dual-channel reminiscence structure on the older Razer Books. Razer additionally answered our criticism that there have been no Razer Books accessible with something greater than 256GB of storage with out shopping for a 4K display screen; our FHD evaluate unit has 512GB of storage. (You could must order straight from Razer through our buying hyperlinks under to make sure you’re shopping for the up to date mannequin. At press time, Amazon was nonetheless promoting the older mannequin, and it’s not clear whether or not the retailer will merely swap them out for the newer model, or not.)

In any occasion, you’ll have the choice of selecting from a Razer Book at costs starting from $999 all the best way to $1,799.99, with both a Core i5 or Core i7 inside. A brand new configuration, the $999 Razer Book (Core i5/8GB RAM/256GB SSD storage) is unique to Razer.com, nevertheless.

Below, we’ve used an abridged model of the PCWorld evaluate format, since this “new” Razer Book isn’t actually all that new. We’ve examined this Razor Book, nevertheless, and now we have up to date efficiency charts so that you can peruse based mostly on the brand new configuration. Finally, we are able to verify that the keyboard continues to be awful.

(Editor’s Note: This evaluate leans closely on Jared Newman’s Razer Book 13 review that we evaluated in March, together with subjective evaluation of varied points.)

Razer Book 13 fundamental options

The up to date Razer Book 13 that we reviewed contains the next tech specs:

• Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU with Iris Xe graphics
• 13.4-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen (60Hz) with anti-reflective coating
• 16GB LPDDR4X RAM at 4267MHz
• 512GB storage
• HD webcam with Windows Hello
• Left aspect: USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, USB-A 3.2, headphone jack
• Right aspect: USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.0, MicroSD card slot
• Weight: 3.09 kilos (3.72 kilos with USB-C charging brick)
• Dimensions: 11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches

With a silver aluminum end and 16:10 display screen side ratio, the Razer Book 13 appears fairly a bit like an Apple MacBook. Razer’s laptop computer features a white keyboard as an alternative of black, nevertheless, and it’s flanked by speaker grilles.

The Razer Book 13’s show boasts a extra productivity-friendly decision of 1920×1200 as an alternative of the standard 1920×1080. There’s nonetheless an IPS show, which glorious viewing angles, however at occasions the extent of distinction can appear low. Though the shows on this new Razer Book are actually individually calibrated, we’re fairly certain that you just wouldn’t discover a distinction except you carried out a side-by-side comparability.

Likewise, we are able to verify that the Razer Book 13’s keyboard continues to be dangerous. As Jared Newman wrote in our earlier evaluate: “The core issue is that the Razer Book 13 can easily miss keystrokes unless you press down around the center of the key. I type pretty quickly, and while it would feel like I was hitting each key, my fingers didn’t always land with the accuracy that Razer requires. That meant I frequently had to go back and correct mistakes. The Razer Book 13’s somewhat rigid keys and low travel compound the problem, as does its perplexingly mushy spacebar.”

The different downside is the RGB lighting. It’s distracting and pointless for a productiveness pocket book, and have to be turned off utilizing the Razer Synapse software program.

Razer hasn’t made any noticeable enhancements to the webcam. Razer’s audio, although, is terrific — however provided that you go into the included Realtek audio console, click on the settings gear, after which manually allow the graphic equalizer. Otherwise, the audio, as Jared Newman famous, does sound muddled and with out a lot bass response. Turn on the equalizer, although, and there’s a major distinction to my ears.

Performance

For no matter cause, we did see some variations in efficiency between the older Razer Book 13 and the brand new mannequin we had been despatched with Windows 11 preinstalled. We current our findings under. We’ve preserved the comparisons from the sooner evaluate, but in addition added the brand new numbers for comparability.

In PCMark 10’s efficiency take a look at of varied productiveness duties—together with internet searching, workplace software program, and content material creation—the Razer Book 13 edged out a number of different equally outfitted laptops.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Handbrake measures how lengthy the pocket book takes to transcode a video file utilizing the CPU. Here, the Razer Book 13 carried out very properly, crossing the end line behind solely the Acer Swift 3X.

Mark Hachman / IDG

We measured the Razer Book’s efficiency in Cinebench, which stresses the entire CPU cores (in addition to only a single thread, in a separate take a look at) in rendering a scene. The older Razer Book with Windows 10 carried out significantly better on this take a look at for some cause.

Mark Hachman / IDG

The 3DMark Time Spy take a look at measures 3D efficiency. Here, the Razer Book didn’t supply something particular. It’s roughly in keeping with different laptops that use an Iris Xe GPU.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Finally, we measured batter life. We didn’t anticipate too many variations from the older Razer Book, and we weren’t upset. Almost 13 hours of battery life continues to be glorious.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Conclusion

Is this up to date Razer Book 13 any totally different than the sooner mannequin? Not materially. This new Razer Book does enable us to wonder if Windows 11 has affected the efficiency, or if there have been some behind-the-scenes tweaks, too.

Here, we’ll defer to Jared Newman’s earlier conclusion, which continues to be legitimate: While the Razer Book 13 is expensive given its tech specs, paying extra for slick design and no bloatware isn’t an outrageous prospect. Paying extra regardless of a subpar keyboard, nevertheless, is a a lot more durable promote.