Razer in November released the Razer Book 13, a new portable laptop that focused on productivity rather than gameplay. Since it is similar in many ways to the M1 Macs that Apple launched in November as well, we thought we’d be comparing the Razer Book 13 to the M1 MacBook Pro.
As the name suggests, the Razer Book 13 is a 13.4-inch laptop with slim bezels and a 60Hz matte display. It is similar in size to the 13.3-inch M1 MacBook Pro, but is slightly smaller due to the reduced bezel size.
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Design wise, the Razer Book 13 has a bit of an edge over the 13-inch MacBook Pro thanks to the Razer’s thin side bezels. The top has a thicker bezel to hold the camera, but the size of the bezel still outperforms the MacBook Pro. Rumors suggest that Apple is working on a new 14.1-inch MacBook Pro that may have a narrower bezel design, but for now, the Razer is winning out.
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The display is quite different from the display of the MacBook Pro because the Razer Book uses a matte finish, which can be nice in situations where there is a lot of glare. The glossy display of the MacBook Pro looks elegant, of course, but it can suffer in bright sunlight.
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The keyboard design is similar to both devices with around the same key travel, but there are a few differences here. The MacBook Pro has a Touch Bar, which some people have never gotten used to, and the Razer Book has RBG headlights that may grab people’s attention.
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The MacBook Pro has speaker grids on either side of the keyboard, a haptic glass trackpad that’s better to use than the physical trackpad on the Razer Book, and better thermal management. M1 MacBook Pro fans rarely come forward thanks to the efficiency of the M1 chip, but Razer fans spin almost as fast as it does nothing intense. Even running the Microsoft Edge browser on battery made it activate Razer Book fans.
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Razer Book fans are on the bottom of the device, so when you use this in the lap, there is a possibility that the airflow will be blocked. The MacBook Pro has no fans at the bottom so it’s best used in a lap, with warm air coming out of the inflatable area.
Ports are one area where the Razer Book 13 could benefit some users. It features two Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, a USB-A port, an HDMI 2.0 port, and a microSD slot. Meanwhile, the MacBook Pro has two Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C ports and a 3.5mm audio jack.
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When it comes to performance, the M1 chip wins out over the 11th generation Intel chipset that Razer uses. In a Geekbench test, the M1 MacBook Pro got 1734 in single-core performance and 7531 in multi-core performance. The Razer Book scored a single-core score of 1355 and a single-core score of 5290. As with OpenCL, the M1 MacBook Pro scored in 19412, while the Razer received 14761.
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The performance of the Razer Book here isn’t bad by any means and these are both very capable devices that are going to do an excellent day job, but the M1 MacBook Pro is better at more demanding tasks like video or photo editing .
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Apple’s MacBook Pro also has better battery life. Apple says it will get up to 20 hours, and while we certainly haven’t seen it hit that maximum (who wants to watch videos), it’s out on the Razer Book . The Razer Book can last up to nine hours.
The basic model is Razer Book with 256GB storage, 8GB RAM, and the previously mentioned 11th-generation Intel Core i5 chip, and Intel Iris Xe graphics are $ 1200, so it’s $ 100 cheaper than the MacBook Pro 13-inch comesM1 which also comes with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM.
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Notably, the M1 MacBook Pro runs macOS Big Sur and the Razer Book 13 runs Windows, and ecosystem is probably the biggest thing when choosing between these devices. Those deep in the Apple ecosystem will get the most out of the M1 MacBook Pro, while those who rely on Windows Book 13 software prefer Razer.
All in all, though, these are similar devices and while the M1 MacBook Pro wins in terms of performance and efficiency, the Razer Book 13 is a capable laptop for those who need or ab Windows operating system preferred.