Comparison: M1 MacBook Pro Vs. Razer Book 13

Razer launched the Razer Book 13 in November, a new laptop focused on productivity rather than gaming. Because it is similar in many ways to the Mac M1s that Apple also launched in November, we thought we would compare the Razer Book 13 to the MacBook Pro ‌M1‌.

As its name suggests, the Razer Book 13 is a 13.4-inch laptop with thin bezels and a 60Hz matte screen. It is similar in size to the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro 13M1‌, but is slightly smaller due to the reduced bezel size.

Depending on the design, the Razer Book 13 has a bit of an edge over the 13-inch MacBook Pro thanks to Razer’s slim side bezels. There’s a thicker bezel at the top to house a camera, but the bezel size still exceeds the MacBook Pro. Rumors suggest that Apple is working on a new 14.1-inch MacBook Pro that might have a thinner bezel design, but for now the Razer is winning.

The screen is noticeably different from that of the MacBook Pro, as the Razer Book uses a matte finish, which can be nice in situations where there is a lot of brightness. The bright screen of the MacBook Pro looks great, of course, but it can suffer with a bright sun.

Both machines have similar keyboard layouts with the same keystroke, but here are some differences. The MacBook Pro has a touch bar, which some people have never been accustomed to, while the Razer Book features RBG key lighting which can be a distraction for some.

The MacBook Pro has speaker grilles on each side of the keyboard, a haptic glass trackpad that is nicer to use than the Razer Book’s physical trackpad, and better thermal management. MacBook Pro ‌M1‌ fans rarely show up thanks to the efficiency of the ‌M1‌ chip, but Razer fans occur almost as soon as they do anything intensive. Even running the Microsoft Edge browser on battery triggered the activation of Razer Book fans.

The Razer Book fans are located at the bottom of the machine, so when this is used on a lap, there is a potential to block airflow. The MacBook Pro has no fans at the bottom, so it’s best to use it on the lap, with warm air coming out of the hinge area.

Ports are an area where the Razer Book 13 may have advantages for some users. It has two Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C ports, a 3.5mm audio connector, 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 connector.

In terms of performance, the ‌M1‌ chip wins the 11th generation Intel chips used by Razer. In a Geekbench test, the MacBook Pro ‌M1‌ scored 1734 in single-core performance and 7531 in multi-core performance. The Razer Book scored a single-core score of 1355 and a multi-core score of 5290. As for OpenCL, the MacBook Pro ‌M1‌ scored 19412 and the Razer scored 14761.

The performance of the Razer Book here is not bad or by any means, both are high-capacity machines that will excel in day-to-day tasks, but the MacBook Pro ‌M1‌ is better in more intensive tasks such as editing videos or photos.

The Apple MacBook Pro also has better battery life. Apple says it takes up to 20 hours, and while we haven’t quite seen it, it’s outgrown the Razer Book. The Razer book can last up to nine hours.

The base Razer Book model with 256GB of storage, 8GB of RAM and the aforementioned 11th generation Intel Core i5 chip and Intel Iris Xe graphics are priced at $ 1200, so it’s $ 100 cheaper than the 13-inch MacBook Pro 13M1‌ which also includes 256GB storage and 8GB RAM.

Most notably, the MacBook Pro ‌M1‌ runs on macOS Big Sur and the Razer Book 13 runs on Windows, and the ecosystem is probably the most important consideration when choosing between these machines. Those who are deep into Apple’s ecosystem will get more use of the MacBook Pro ‌M1‌, while those who rely on Windows software would prefer the Razer Book 13.

Still, however, they are similar machines, and while the MacBook Pro ‌M1‌ gains in terms of performance and efficiency, the Razer Book 13 is a capable laptop for those who need or prefer the Windows operating system.