Razer Book 13–the XPS 13 killer?

So Razer just announced Razer Book 13, a non gaming of Razer blade mate with XPS 13 design. The main selling point is the 13.4 infinity screen with really thin bezel all around just like the XPS 13 and 11th gen intel CPU with Xe integrated graphics. The main difference apart from XPS 13 are: more ports, vapor chamber cooling, RGB lighting keyboard. It’s business oriented while offers some gaming capability.

I was really disappointed with this year’s newly designed XPS 13 9300/9310 to offer merely only two USB-C ports. But now Razer Book 13 certainly rectify the situation. It’s got two USB-C thunderbolts 4 ports, one USB-A (which is still very practical for 2020 and beyond!), and one HDMI 2.0 port. MicroSD card slot is present just like XPS 13.

The downside is that configuration is pretty limited. If you want the Anti-glare HD screen, you only get 8GB memory and i5 CPU. IMHO, in 2020, you really shouldn’t consider anything below 16GB memory. If you want 16GB, you have to go with the touch screen with either HD or UHD resolutions. The storage is user replaceable. Unfortunately being Dell, you are stuck with the Killer wifi which I really don’t like. Since it’s got USB-A port and vapor chamber cooling, the thickness and weight are slightly more than XPS 13 (0.6 in vs 0.58 in / 2.64-2.8lb vs 2.95-3.09lb)

Granted the MSRP is quite steep for the actual usable ones. So the entry price is actually the HD touch screen version at a whopping price tag of $1599. I’m not sure how pricing on the refurbished ones work for Razer products. For XPS 13, you could certainly get refurbished HD screen ones around $800-900 with decent specs. At $1599, macbook pro 13 seems more attractive. 

 

Left: XPS 15 9500 (10th Gen intel / 2020). Right: XPS 15 9360 (8th Gen intel / 2017)

Over the years, I’ve owned quite a few XPS 13s, XPS 13 9350 (6th Gen intel / 2015), XPS 13 9360 (8th Gen intel / 2017), and XPS 13 9370 (8th Gen intel / 2018). Overall, I think XPS 13 is a great product line and keeps evolving over the years. In early 2020, XPS 13 9300 (10 Gen intel / talking about the confusing naming convention, and not to mention only after a handful month now 9310 (11th Gen intel) is out) was introduced with some significant changes to the chasis and design finally. A 16:10 aspect ratio 13.4 in infinity screen with really tiny bottom bezel was introduced. It is pretty exciting to see something better than the XPS 13. Although again, the price is too steep for me. I would certainly not considering this product. The ARM macbook to be announced seem to be the future IMO, and I’m looking more forward to that.