There is a certain stigma attached to gaming machines: essentially, the more lights and liquid-cooled peripherals, the better.
The current king of that space is almost certainly Razer— which calls its products’ names a thirteen-year-old boy would find cool (such as Blade, Stealth, Hammerhead and Death Adder).
In 2020 it stunned most of the gaming world by announcing an abrupt about-face of its market-leading strategy, saying that it wanted to adapt the same tools it crafts almost exclusively for the fragging elite, for the corporate elite.
Enter the Razer Book 13, the first of what will grow into a proper productivity line of notebooks and PCs.
Skip the review, what’s the verdict?
Razer Book 13: Design
Razer has dialed back the neon lights and instead wrapped this powerful portable in a lightweight aluminum chassis. It’s a bit like a MacBook Air, but on steroids, as the 13-inch screen and ultra-thin bezels make it easy to cart around with you—and yet it still packs a punch.
Razer Book 13: Screen
Like most work-friendly laptops, the screen will certainly handle the opening up of a spreadsheet or two. But that’s not really the point here.
The screen is more office friendly, with a 13.4-inch display that is made more office-functional thanks to a taller 16:10 aspect ratio. That should make it better for productivity-based applications.
Razer Book 13: Performance
While you won’t be doing any high-res gaming on the Razer Book (and nor should you, especially at work) it rocks Intel’s latest processors and a discrete GPU that will tear through even the most complicated of spreadsheets. It’s also optimized for quick charging and comes with more ports than you can shake a USB dongle at.
While Razer is better-known for gaming, its first foray into the world of productivity is a strong one.
It’s probably the closest you can get to a MacBook that runs windows (no bad thing considering workplace machines are less about preference, and more about the IT department) for better or worse.
It’s a lovely designed machine that will handle just about anything you throw at it, but like Apple’s computers it also commands a pretty penny.
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