Razer Book 13 or Zenbook 14?

[Ausfernando]

Long story short I could get the (both 16gb of RAM) Razer Book (i7, FHD, 256GB) for 725€ or the Zenbook 14 (Ryzen 7, 512GB, not clear if it’s 250 or 400 not) for 500-600€. 

 

A part of me wants to go for the RB13 because of more ports, nicer build, better display and expandable storage, but the up-to-200€ savings are not something I can just overlook.

 

I’ll be using the laptop for university (programming, taking notes “an i7 for uni? that’s overkill”) for music production (FL Studio) and possibly some light video editing or gaming. 

 

Thoughts?

[Motifator]

Zenbook if it's with the OLED, Razer, I wouldn't touch with a 10 feet pole. I have the 13 of the Zenbook, the screen is glorious but you have to keep in mind that the fans can get loud a bit. At least in my 11th gen configuration, you can set it to quiet mode from the bundled Asus software and it doesn't seem to overheat though. Gaming performance is kind of dreadful here with this CPU, it would probably get better with the Zen however.

[Ausfernando]

10 minutes ago, Motifator said:

Zenbook if it's with the OLED, Razer, I wouldn't touch with a 10 feet pole. I have the 13 of the Zenbook, the screen is glorious but you have to keep in mind that the fans can get loud a bit. At least in my 11th gen configuration, you can set it to quiet mode from the bundled Asus software and it doesn't seem to overheat though. Gaming performance is kind of dreadful here with this CPU, it would probably get better with the Zen however.

Its not the OLED version, unless the 400 nit version is the OLED version, even then I'm not sure I can get the 400 nit version, don't actually plan gaming on it that much thought, the creative work part matters most to me 

[Motifator]

If it's not the OLED version, I wouldn't bother. That one ain't worth it tbh. Look at some other options if budget is ultimately a limiting factor here.

[Ausfernando]

Just now, Motifator said:

If it's not the OLED version, I wouldn't bother. That one ain't worth it tbh. Look at some other options if budget is ultimately a limiting factor here.

Just not that many good ultrabooks on the page im planning to buy it on, which is why it ultimately came down to both of them, I was thinking maybe the razer would be worth it since I dont have to deal with razer support, the page offered me a full refund on my year old gpu no questions asked (said refund in store balance is why Im buying it in said store) 

 

Also, why is the non-OLED version not worth it? 

[Motifator]

You're still getting the same tunnel-suffering cooling and some other tidbits like it, the OLED compensates for those. Otherwise the machine isn't the best. Sure, the speakers are fine enough for what it's worth... but like, without the OLED, it's like going out to burning sun with a thin t-shirt but also with pants instead of shorts.

[Ausfernando]

2 minutes ago, Motifator said:

You're still getting the same tunnel-suffering cooling and some other tidbits like it, the OLED compensates for those. Otherwise the machine isn't the best. Sure, the speakers are fine enough for what it's worth... but like, without the OLED, it's like going out to burning sun with a thin t-shirt but also with pants instead of shorts.

Huh nice that you mentioned all that since reviews didn't put too much emphasis on the cooling issues, also what do you think is wrong with the razer book? most reviews make it look pretty nice and i wouldn't have to deal with razer

[Motifator]

Throwing away the fact that it's a Razer product and some of the older Razer laptops being unreliable and bad, this one also comes with the Iris graphics due to the 11th gen CPU. Exact same as what I have in my Zenbook. Siege is barely playable at FHD with medium settings... it's not great for gaming. AMD APUs would be better down there. Also the keyboard looks more like a tight fit in between the speakers on both ends. Connectivity is more or less same as the Zenbook. It's also overpriced, in the price range of OLED machines.

It does have a backlit keyboard and can be attached to an external GPU box though... not that any of those will actually matter.

[Ausfernando]

5 minutes ago, Motifator said:

Throwing away the fact that it's a Razer product and some of the older Razer laptops being unreliable and bad, this one also comes with the Iris graphics due to the 11th gen CPU. Exact same as what I have in my Zenbook. Siege is barely playable at FHD with medium settings... it's not great for gaming. AMD APUs would be better down there. Also the keyboard looks more like a tight fit in between the speakers on both ends. Connectivity is more or less same as the Zenbook. It's also overpriced, in the price range of OLED machines.

It does have a backlit keyboard and can be attached to an external GPU box though... not that any of those will actually matter.

The gaming performance barely concerns me to be honest, Ive got my PS5 and my PC, I also barely game nowadays unless its on my PS5 so PC gaming concerns me very little, its the CPU performance with music production that matters most to me, and I obviously wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole for 1700€, but for 725€ its an attractive option 

[Motifator]

No other options at all?

[Ausfernando]

3 minutes ago, Motifator said:

No other options at all?

Nope not really, unless you wanna have a look at pccomponentes.com, I cant really find any ultrabook that adjust to my needs like those other two, you might find that these laptops are 275€ more expensive than what I am saying, but its because I have a 275€ voucher 

[jaslion]

47 minutes ago, Ausfernando said:

Long story short I could get the (both 16gb of RAM) Razer Book (i7, FHD, 256GB) for 725€ or the Zenbook 14 (Ryzen 7, 512GB, not clear if it’s 250 or 400 not) for 500-600€. 

 

A part of me wants to go for the RB13 because of more ports, nicer build, better display and expandable storage, but the up-to-200€ savings are not something I can just overlook.

 

I’ll be using the laptop for university (programming, taking notes “an i7 for uni? that’s overkill”) for music production (FL Studio) and possibly some light video editing or gaming. 

 

Thoughts?

Honestly I'm surprised that razer is still functioning. Most don't even make it for 2 years. Razer is know for their horrible longevity of their laptops (and a lot of other products).

 

What zenbook is it? If it's the oled 10000% DO NOT get it. You'll have serious burn in within a year.

 

What is your final budget? 725? You are in range of pretty good brand new laptops.

[jaslion]

32 minutes ago, Motifator said:

If it's not the OLED version, I wouldn't bother. That one ain't worth it tbh. Look at some other options if budget is ultimately a limiting factor here.

The oled version is far worse as the screen flat out burns in real quickly. If it's the oled version i'd not even bother flat out.

[Motifator]

The newer OLEDs like the panel found in the Zenbook do some form of dithering-alike stuff to prevent that from happening unless I'm wrong. It also dials you in to a screensaver to prevent that from happening. 

There are some Ideapad 14's on that site. Check them out.

[Ausfernando]

10 minutes ago, Motifator said:

The newer OLEDs like the panel found in the Zenbook do some form of dithering-alike stuff to prevent that from happening unless I'm wrong. It also dials you in to a screensaver to prevent that from happening. 

There are some Ideapad 14's on that site. Check them out.

I’ll check em out, thanks!