Like a love child of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, the Razer Book 13 is both powerful and pretty.
The ultrabook market in 2021 is kind of stale, especially on the Windows side of things. With brands like Dell, Lenovo, and Microsoft releasing iterative updates to their laptop lines, it can be underwhelming to see the same designs over and over again. Enter Razer’s new Book 13: a sleek, compact statement piece that packs in some serious power. ( Check Latest price at Amazon. )
This is Razer’s first productivity-focused laptop and frankly, this is one of the best first attempts you’ll find. You’ll get a modern design, a great screen, and comfortable performance in a highly portable package.
Design
From a design point of view, the Razer Book 13 is truly impressive. The case has an industrial look and the edges are flat. Laptops are a bit heavier than other productivity laptops, like the 13.5-inch Surface Laptop 4, which weighs around 3.09 pounds, but you’ll get one of the most compact 13-inch computers on the market.
The front edge on the bottom edge of the laptop allows you to open it with one hand, but due to its magnetic properties, I sometimes find it problematic. In other words, turning off the screen is very satisfying.
Is different from other Razer laptops, this laptop uses a silver color called Mercury; the surface finish matches the Razer logo of the same color and the white keyboard to complement each other, but it often gets dirty. If you put this laptop in a bag or any storage compartment, you will see black marks start to form on the metal body. These marks can be easily removed with a cloth, but if you have to clean the laptop frequently it can be problematic.
Display
The Razer Book 13 has one of the most attractive laptop monitors. The specification that I want to review is the Full HD version with touch function; Razer also offers a cheaper Full HD non-touch version, or you can choose the higher Ultra HD model that also supports touch. ( Check Latest price at Amazon. )
This screen is arguably one of the best aspects of this laptop, it is almost the perfect screen for laptops of similar productivity. It becomes quite bright, the colors are bright, and most of the colors are accurate. The frame is very thin and small, providing a truly immersive experience for work, gaming, and streaming movies and videos.
There is nothing to complain about here; this screen is great. Some additional features that can improve this panel is to change the aspect ratio from 16:10 to 3:2. The 16:10 aspect ratio on the Razer Book 13 is more productive than its 16:9 gaming sibling, but it will be happy to choose a higher 3:2 aspect ratio. Another thing Razer can do is provide a higher refresh rate. The Razer Book 13 has a 60hz display, but because Razer has already provided a 144hz panel for its Blade 13, the higher refresh rate of this laptop will differentiate it from other productivity laptops.
The Keyboard: RGB isn’t Enough
So far we’ve been full of praise for the Razer Book 13’s excellent design, but this has been overshadowed by the laptop’s suboptimal typing experience. Compared to other productivity laptops like the Surface Laptop 4, the Razer Book 13’s typing experience is disappointing.
Compared to the competition, this keyboard feels squishy and tight. It’s too shallow and, in my time trial, I’ve never gotten used to it. I always end up with missing letters, and when I’m typing fast, the stiffness of the keys means it can’t recognize when a key is pressed.
In a typical Razer style, this keyboard supports Razer Chroma RGB, and the laptop is pre-installed with Razer Chroma Studio, allowing you to customize the lighting effects on it. Razer also said that the keyboard has AntiGhosting, which is said to be able to capture multiple key inputs at once. However, this will have no effect when you end up losing keys due to keyboard confusion. The touchpad on this laptop is made of glass and supports Microsoft Precision drivers, which is comparable to other high-end productivity ultrabooks.
In general, the keyboard is by far the weakest feature of this great laptop.
Specifications and Performance
The Razer Book 13 is equipped with the 11th generation Intel i7 EVO processor with Intel Iris Xe graphics. You can get a laptop with 16GB RAM and 256 or 512GB storage. The base model Razer Book 13 is sold exclusively on the Razer website. When using the 11th generation i5, 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, the price drops to $1,200.
The variant we want to review is the mid-range i7 with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. This is the configuration we recommend to most people because the i7 performs quite well.
This laptop is powerful; During testing, you can easily render the 4K Premiere Pro timeline at full resolution without dropping frames. This laptop can run graphics-heavy games on medium to high settings, but don’t expect insane frame rates.
Compared to the Razer gaming series, you get a Useries chipset that is weaker than the Hseries in Razer Blades, and compared to the GeForce 30 series graphics cards in Blades, you are using an integrated graphics card. This all comes down to making the Razer Book 13 more compact and efficient than its more gaming-focused siblings.
The Razer Book 3’s heat dissipation design is well suited for a notebook of this form factor as it emits almost no sound and remains relatively cool during heavy work.
Overall, you get excellent performance in a laptop as small and compact as the Razer Book 13.
Battery Life
The battery life of this laptop is the same as that of most other productivity laptops; On average, you can get 78 hours of screen startup time with moderate use. In my tests, the heavier workload in programs like Premiere Pro means you’ll get less than 6 hours of use before you need to connect.
Please note that the model tested in this review is a Full HD variant, so if you choose a higher resolution 4K version, the battery life is likely to be reduced.
The laptop is charged via USB-C and the attached power brick supports 65W charging. The charger in the Razer Book 13 is very good because the bricks are small and compact, and the cables are very well woven.
Key Features
The port selection on the Razer Book 13 is excellent. You’ll find two USBC ports with Thunderbolt 4, a USBA 3.1 port, a full HDMI port, a MicroSD card slot, and a headphone jack. This is very useful for increasing productivity, as you will be able to use multiple ports without having to pay additional fees for the dongle or docking station.
All USB-C ports support power, allowing you to connect your laptop from the left and right sides, and charging is very convenient.
Thunderbolt 4 supports a high bandwidth of 40 Gbps, so you can easily connect your laptop to a dedicated monitor or eGPU to maximize speed and performance. The versatility of the Razer port selection is well suited for viewing on a compact laptop like the Book 13.
The Razer Book 13 is equipped with a 1MP 720p camera and a 4mic matrix. The microphone input on this laptop is good, but the camera is nothing special, it is quite loud and unappealing. The laptop is also equipped with Windows Hello facial recognition, making it easy to log into the device.
As for the speakers, Razer chose a pair of high-powered speakers. Most of the sound is crisp and clear, but nothing special. At higher volumes, you will still experience distortion. The laptop supports spatial audio, but it is not efficient in this form factor.
Repairability
In terms of repairability, the Razer Book 13 is the same as most ultra-portable products in its class. You can upgrade your SSD, which is great because you can get more storage space compared to Razer’s 256 or 512GB products. But the memory is soldered, so if you choose the 8GB version, you will not be able to upgrade. You can use a Torx T5 screwdriver to access the laptop from the bottom.
Razer Book 13’s non-upgradable RAM is not a big issue, but it does mean that you have to give up $1600 to get more RAM; the highest RAM setting you can choose is 16GB.
Who is the Razer Book 13 For?
Overall, the Razer Book 13 is an excellent productivity notebook. You’ll get a sleek industrial design, exceptional performance, an impressive display, and good battery life. With multiple port options, you can easily complete tasks in an ultra-portable form factor.
In other words, the keyboard is still the only major weakness of this laptop, and its key travel is shallow and smooth. If you are a heavy typist, you should consider choosing an external keyboard when purchasing the Razer Book 13. ( Check Latest price at Amazon. )
We recommend the Razer Book 13 to anyone looking for a small and compact laptop with excellent performance and sufficient battery life. Homework, games, and sometimes heavier tasks, such as video editing.
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