For a balance of performance and portability, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is a strong choice with its midrange price, touchscreen, and excellent battery life, making it ideal for general use and light engineering tasks. However, if you prioritize top-tier gaming, 3D rendering, or machine learning, and don't mind a bulkier, more expensive laptop, the Razer Blade 17 offers unparalleled performance with its high-end processor and top-of-the-line GPU, albeit with a shorter battery life and heavier design. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Razer Blade 17
Very good for general use
Excellent for engineering and design
Very good for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Very good overall display quality
Very good overall build quality
Excellent speakers
Excellent keyboard
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5"
Very good portability
Good battery life
Key differences
General Use
8.5/10
7.7/10
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
486.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
400.0 nits
5.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
9.0 Hours
9.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
6.7/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
8.6/10
The Razer Blade 17 is very good for general use, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is good.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Gaming and AI
8.6/10
6.6/10
9.2/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.2/10
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
144Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
No
Yes
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
7.2/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
8.0/10
The Razer Blade 17 is very good for gaming and AI, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Engineering and Design
9.1/10
7.7/10
9.2/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
9.2/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.2/10
32.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Razer Blade 17 is excellent for engineering and design, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is good.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Content Creation
8.5/10
7.7/10
9.2/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
32.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Razer Blade 17 is very good for content creation, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
8.5/10
7.7/10
9.2/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
32.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
9.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
The Razer Blade 17 is very good for software development, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is good.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
8.6/10
7.8/10
17.3in
SIZE
13.5in
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
144Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
486.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
400.0 nits
The Razer Blade 17 has a better screen than the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, software development, and content creation.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Battery
5.5 Hours
9.0 Hours
The Razer Blade 17 has 5.5 hours of battery life. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" has 9 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Fair
Very Good
17.3in
SIZE
13.5in
6.0 lbs
WEIGHT
3.0 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.6in
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" has very good portability, while the Razer Blade 17 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
8.5/10
7.4/10
The Razer Blade 17 has very good build quality, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$4,300
$1,200
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
$3,500
$4,000
The Razer Blade 17 has a price of $4,300 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" costs $1,200.
"Our test configuration of the Blade 17 targets gamers and creative professionals. A Core i9-12900H processor, GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU (175 watts TGP after the BIOS update, 16 GB of VRAM), and 32 GB of working memory equip the laptop for video processing, rending, and 4k gaming at the highest level. In addition, a fast PCIe-4 SSD (1 TB) ensures short load and storage times. With the Blade 17 (Early 2022), Razer delivers a successful and powerful work device for creative professionals. But this also has its price."
Get a great deal on the Razer Blade 17 or the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5"
About Razer
Razer is an American-Singaporean technology company. Razer is best known for their Blade series laptops, well known for their strong performance and sleek design. Although Razer charges a premium price tag for their laptops, buyers can expect a stealthy laptop with clean fit and finish and strong performance. All of their models offer great portability and build quality compared to other gaming laptops.
About Microsoft
Microsoft is an American technology corporation. Microsoft is best known for their Windows operating system and Surface laptop series. The Surface Laptop is their standard notebook offering, while their Surface Go, Surface Pro, and Surface Studio are their 2-in-1/tablet offerings in order of increasing capability. Although Microsoft charges a premium price tag for their laptops, buyers can expect a well integrated and packaged device since Microsoft develops the Windows operating system.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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Chandradeep Chowdhury
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
Craig Russell
Laptops Expert
Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.