Comparison: M1 MacBook Pro vs. Razer Book 13
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Contrary to others I see the point in comparing the two (although there are much better comparisons of the two on the web) as this is the best "Windows" laptop (imho) with a form factor matching the Mac. Somebody with no OS preference (very rare I agree) would be interested in it. It achieve performances that are not that far off, albeit using more power.
The thermal comparison is not right. Saying the Mac runs cooler because the fan do not kick up. It's the opposite, it runs warmer because it does not kick up but Apple is satisfied with that. Apple and Dell are the 2 manufacturers that runs the internals of there machines hot while almost all other manufacturers run them cooler at the expense of having the fan to run and that includes the M1 Mac.
Dell does that because it does not cares if it blows up after a year. I will not try to explain why Apple does it as nobody cares about it on this board. I am awaiting the arrival of my Macbook Air but expect to sell it after a year or 18 months most so I don't care
The thermal comparison is not right. Saying the Mac runs cooler because the fan do not kick up. It's the opposite, it runs warmer because it does not kick up but Apple is satisfied with that. Apple and Dell are the 2 manufacturers that runs the internals of there machines hot while almost all other manufacturers run them cooler at the expense of having the fan to run and that includes the M1 Mac.
Dell does that because it does not cares if it blows up after a year. I will not try to explain why Apple does it as nobody cares about it on this board. I am awaiting the arrival of my Macbook Air but expect to sell it after a year or 18 months most so I don't care
Last edited:
In the past month I've had 3 people ask me for a laptop reccomenation. In each case they just do basic stuff and I said if you're spending $1000+ just get the base M1 MacBook Air; it's the best laptop for most people by a wide margin.
All 3 times I've been told I'm just saying that because I use a MacBook.
Videos like this are cool but I get the sense that Windows people don't care and Mac people already know the M1 is king right now.
All 3 times I've been told I'm just saying that because I use a MacBook.
Videos like this are cool but I get the sense that Windows people don't care and Mac people already know the M1 is king right now.
Well... I'm far from an expert as my wife gave me the software for Christmas. With that said, I have the graphics sliders set as shown an was getting 30-40 fps in the air with scenery, cars, etc. Seems usable for an entry level laptop.
dogslobber
macrumors 601
Certainly if you want the retro look then chunky bezels are the way to go. But everything from laptops to TVs to microwaves all have super thin bezels nowadays so if you want to look hip & trendy and not look like a retro 1970s CRT, think bezels are mandatory.
I know this is a Mac/Apple forum but I do like windows for my gaming machine. I would not seriously game on a laptop, yet. But my M1 is a great machine and am very happy with it.
The biggest issue I have with any Razer branded items is the quality which has taken a nose dive in the past 3-5 years. I swapped out my Razer gaming gear on my desktop long ago due to quality problems. So overall quality, not mentioned in this comparison weighs heavily in my evaluation even if the benchmarks were a dead heat, which they are not. The M1 wins by miles in that.
My M1 is my go to for general computing and productivity now. But my Ryzen and Nvidia RTX 3080 equipped PC for gaming is a beast. I look forward to the evolution of ARM chips in the next 5 years. RIP Intel.
The biggest issue I have with any Razer branded items is the quality which has taken a nose dive in the past 3-5 years. I swapped out my Razer gaming gear on my desktop long ago due to quality problems. So overall quality, not mentioned in this comparison weighs heavily in my evaluation even if the benchmarks were a dead heat, which they are not. The M1 wins by miles in that.
My M1 is my go to for general computing and productivity now. But my Ryzen and Nvidia RTX 3080 equipped PC for gaming is a beast. I look forward to the evolution of ARM chips in the next 5 years. RIP Intel.
Last edited:
It seems like you should have included some key points in your article as well:
1) Tired of hearing put downs on Touch Bar, just go to settings and turn it off, if you don't like it, it shouldn't bother anyone if it is in the old fashioned style. Extra features are always a plus, not a minus.
2) display? Seems the ball was dropped here. The model you chose is only a full HD+ (1920X1200) display, MBP wins out easily. Also no mention of brightness (their upgraded display is equivalent), and color gamut?
3) SSD speed? The MBP is pretty fast, is the Razer comparable? According to laptopmag anyway, the SSD is pretty crappy in comparison
4) TouchID, I didn't see that mentioned, does Razer have an equivalent feature?
5) Ports? Sorry this is a big red herring, if you need the extra ports you will get a cable/adapter once (even for travel). OK, I hear yah, but the port choice is simply not relevant, even if you had the port, you still have to travel with the cable, so one cable or a different cable, yawn.
6) speakers/mics? Dolby atmos? It would be ice to know
7) 512GB option, $200 for the MBP is always considered expensive, but at least Apple uses fast, hardware encrypted, SSDs. All I can find on Razer's site is you have to go to $1999 which also gets you a UHD touch screen (yawn, no smears for me thanks), an I7 and 16GB of ram. The equivalent MBP is $1699, still faster, and no touch screen to get smeared - so not totally equivalent
1) Tired of hearing put downs on Touch Bar, just go to settings and turn it off, if you don't like it, it shouldn't bother anyone if it is in the old fashioned style. Extra features are always a plus, not a minus.
2) display? Seems the ball was dropped here. The model you chose is only a full HD+ (1920X1200) display, MBP wins out easily. Also no mention of brightness (their upgraded display is equivalent), and color gamut?
3) SSD speed? The MBP is pretty fast, is the Razer comparable? According to laptopmag anyway, the SSD is pretty crappy in comparison
4) TouchID, I didn't see that mentioned, does Razer have an equivalent feature?
5) Ports? Sorry this is a big red herring, if you need the extra ports you will get a cable/adapter once (even for travel). OK, I hear yah, but the port choice is simply not relevant, even if you had the port, you still have to travel with the cable, so one cable or a different cable, yawn.
6) speakers/mics? Dolby atmos? It would be ice to know
7) 512GB option, $200 for the MBP is always considered expensive, but at least Apple uses fast, hardware encrypted, SSDs. All I can find on Razer's site is you have to go to $1999 which also gets you a UHD touch screen (yawn, no smears for me thanks), an I7 and 16GB of ram. The equivalent MBP is $1699, still faster, and no touch screen to get smeared - so not totally equivalent
that being said, you wouldn't be caught dead with a Windows laptop then (snark, snark)
Krizoitz
macrumors 68000
It may be what companies are doing, and what some people prefer, but I don’t. I prefer some bezel on my devices. For tablets it makes it easier to hold without marking up the screen with fingerprints for example. On laptops it helps separate the screen content from the background. Thinner is not objectively better. It’s fine to point it out as a comparison, but not fine to declare it inherently superior without stating why.
Don't use this on your lap.
1. Gonna run horribly hot
2. Gonna run even hotter with legs blocking those massive air vents.
Every review should include photos of the underside of "lap"tops (*Edit didn't see it in the video originally)
Also its only got a 1920 x 1200 screen and an extra $300 if you want the better one.
Why it wasn't compared to the cheaper MacBook Air - which still would have KILLED it AND without fans!
Was it a case of not kicking them while they are down or was the pro the only machine the reviewer had knocking around to compare to.
Anyhow, Apples to Oranges - I have no understanding why this is on the front page.
1. Gonna run horribly hot
2. Gonna run even hotter with legs blocking those massive air vents.
Every review should include photos of the underside of "lap"tops (*Edit didn't see it in the video originally)
Also its only got a 1920 x 1200 screen and an extra $300 if you want the better one.
Why it wasn't compared to the cheaper MacBook Air - which still would have KILLED it AND without fans!
Was it a case of not kicking them while they are down or was the pro the only machine the reviewer had knocking around to compare to.
Anyhow, Apples to Oranges - I have no understanding why this is on the front page.
Last edited:
apparatchik
macrumors 6502a
So the Macbook is across the board 30% faster while having 100% more battery life, sounds like two generations ahead of the 11th generation Intel.
DEMinSoCAL
macrumors 603
I stated why -- because everyone prefers it (except you, who apparently grabs their laptop by the screen often).
Should I say that I prefer slow, cooler laptops with longer battery life therefore anything with higher performance and beefy graphics chips are not superior because they drain the battery and run hot?
dogslobber
macrumors 601
Dell makes thin bezel laptops that are pretty good.
DEMinSoCAL
macrumors 603
One thing not mentioned in the comparison -- the ability to upgrade the SSD in the Razer to up to 2TB when you need it. That can be priceless since you're stuck with what you buy upfront with Apple.
You might want to ask people who design iPhone the same question
Sorry but your comment is completely meaningless. Other than the opinion itself, you did not point out why Windows is not good (or worse than Mac OS) for the laptop form factor, and why on the other hand it is suitable for desktop.
szw-mapple fan
macrumors 68040
Having macOS trumps a 30 to 40 percent performance hit for me personally. It’s even less of a discussion now that the m1 macs performs so well.
Constable Odo
macrumors 6502
Core i5! What a joke.
I have been using ultra thin bezel Windows laptop without any of these subjective issues. It's like the notch on the iPhone. You won't notice the thin bezel at all but you do notice the smaller footprint of the laptop.
Why do you need to "grab" your laptop display? My ultra thin bezel has a notch at the front so that you can lift it without smudging anything. And then you can also adjust the opening angle without ever touching the screen. The smaller bezel also allows for a smaller laptop footprint.
nvmls
Suspended
There is no competition, having used some Razers before, I can assure you they put out eye-candy specs on pretty designs which don't last. They have quality control issues all over, screen bleed, coil whine, odd keyboard layout, half baked software (crashes & bsod), thermals extremely mediocre considering how they advertise it, open 1 tab browser, takes off.
While understandable to get hot being a "gaming" laptop, the sad truth is that it can't handle sustained "gaming" performance without baking breakfast either, any of their laptop models, so it fails miserably on its concept.
Their support is seriously atrocious, like beyond moldavian call center level! give them a try if you don't believe me.
While understandable to get hot being a "gaming" laptop, the sad truth is that it can't handle sustained "gaming" performance without baking breakfast either, any of their laptop models, so it fails miserably on its concept.
Their support is seriously atrocious, like beyond moldavian call center level! give them a try if you don't believe me.
iBluetooth
macrumors 6502a
They should have tested both running on battery.