Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Review, Price, Design, Performance, Feature, Display, Battery life
Razer Blade 14 (2022) Review: A compact gaming powerhouse: The Razer Blade 14 is a gorgeous and powerful gaming laptop, with imperfect software
Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Full Blog Review
- Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Review
- Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Price and availability
- Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Design
- Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Keyboard and touchpad
- Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Display and audio
- Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Performance
- Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Specs
- Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Heat
- Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Battery life
- Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Verdict
OUR DECISION
The Razer Blade 14 delivers powerful components and outstanding performance in a compact and lightweight package. However, some software irregularities can affect the experience.
GOOD
- Excellent gaming performance
- Powerful components
- Compact design
- Gorgeous screen
BAD
- Software oddities
- Cramped keyboard
Best Gaming Laptop: RAZER BLADE 14: SPECS
- Price: from $1,800 ($2,200 as tested)
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX
- GPU: Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080
- Display: 14-inch, up to QHD, 165 Hz
- RAM: 16 GB
- Storage: 1 TB SSD
- Dimensions: 12.6 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches
- Weight: 3.9 lbs
Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Review
The Razer Blade 14 (2021) is like other Razer laptops: sleek, powerful, and expensive. But as Razer's first 14-inch laptop since 2017, the Razer Blade 14 is designed for users looking for something a little more portable, as it comes in at under 4 pounds.
Since the Razer Blade 14 includes the latest AMD Ryzen CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU, it's not surprising that the system delivers great gameplay and smooth productivity. Likewise, since the Blade 14 closely resembles its 15- and 17-inch counterparts, it should come as no surprise that the overall package is thinner and lighter. Razor Blade 14 Nails All Essentials.
The package isn't perfect, however, due to some software that isn't nearly as optimized as it could be, other than a general lack of ports and a cramped keyboard. These aren't deal-breaking flaws, but they can be a bit difficult to swallow in a laptop that could cost you around $3,000.
Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Price and availability
The Razer Blade 14 is available directly from Razer's website and comes in three configurations. The machine we reviewed was a mid-range model, which includes a QHD, 165 Hz screen, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU. It costs $2,200.
At the lower end of the spectrum, there's a Blade 14 model with a Full HD, 144 Hz screen and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, which costs $1,800. On the high end, you can get a model with a QHD, 165 Hz screen, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU for $2,800.
All models come with AMD Ryzen 9 5900H CPU, 16 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD.
Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Design
The Razer Blade 14 features a slim black metal chassis with an illuminated Razer logo on the lid. On the inside, there's an RGB keyboard with speakers on either side. The vents are on the bottom, which keeps things relatively cool.
The Blade 14 is also quite small and lightweight. The device measures 12.6 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches and weighs 3.9 pounds. That means you can comfortably hide it in almost any backpack or messenger bag, and it won't weigh you down even after a long day of carrying it around a convention center or airport.
In terms of ports, though, the Blade 14 is relatively stingy. The left side houses a power port, a USB-A port, a USB-C port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. On the right side, there's an HDMI port, a USB-A port, and a USB-C port. That's all.
While I admire the Blade 14 for packing multiple USB-C ports, the lack of Thunderbolt support is a letdown.
Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Keyboard and Touchpad
The Razer Blade 14 gets a few points right off the bat for being one of the better touchpads I've used in a gaming laptop. While you'll almost certainly want to bring your own mouse (especially for gaming), the touchpad is downright ineffective—and that's high praise, considering how obnoxious these things usually are. It's only a few inches across and sits so far from the spacebar that my thumbs rarely rest on it by accident. This prevented a lot of typos and misclicks.
On the other hand, the Razer Blade 14's keyboard makes a few too many compromises to fit the laptop's smaller chassis.
The keys feel tight, which slows down my typing, especially when I need to add punctuation. The up and down arrow keys are positively small, which makes the productivity task more of a hassle than necessary.
Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Display and Audio
Depending on which model you get, the Razer Blade 14 has either a Full HD, 144Hz screen, or a QHD, 165Hz screen. Ours came with the latter, and it generally tastes great. The Blade 14's powerful CPU and GPU allow it to take full advantage of the fast refresh rate, with some games we tested approaching the 165 frames-per-second thresholds. If you've never played a game at 120+ fps, it really does make a difference. Screen colors look somewhat supersaturated, which can be very appealing when gaming, and can be very unpleasant when making video calls. Beyond standard Windows calibration, there's no way to tweak the color options.
In terms of benchmarks, the Blade 14 delivered 332 nits of brightness, 111% of the sRGB color gamut, and Delta-E color accuracy of 0.24. (Close to zero is better.) For comparison, the Alienware m15 R4 (460 nits, 211% sRGB, 0.32 delta-E), as well as the Asus Zephyrus G14 (323 nits, 117% sRGB, delta-E not measured) Consider. The Blade 14 doesn't have the brightest or most colorful display on the market, but it's on par with some other popular models.
Don't expect much from the Blade 14's speakers. Not much bass; The sound becomes distorted at high volumes; Voices and instruments sound dirty when they are present at the same time. Still, with a 3.5mm audio jack, two types of USB ports, and full Bluetooth compatibility, hooking up a good pair of headphones is trivial.
Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Performance
Since the Razer Blade 14 is equipped with state-of-the-art components, you can expect decent performance in the game. Here's how it stacks up to two close competitors in benchmark tests:
Generally speaking, the Blade 14 is less than the m15 R4, but mostly outperforms the G14. This seems reasonable, as the m15 R4 has the potential to be a more powerful machine, while the G14 is a somewhat older model.
Still, the results are encouraging across the board. The Blade 14 delivers a steady 60 fps or more at 1080p - and we got similar results when we ran games at QHD resolution as well.
To qualitatively evaluate the gameplay of Blade 14, I ran Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, Doom Eternal, Baldur's Gate 3, and Final Fantasy XIV. With the Nvidia GeForce Experience-recommended settings, the lowest frame rate I got was in AoE3 (a steady 70), while the highest I got was in Doom Eternal (a steady 120). The gameplay was smooth, and I was generally able to turn up the graphics to Ultra settings without dipping below 60 fps.
Productivity-wise, the Blade 14 is capable of handling anything from web browsing and word processing to graphic design. On the Geekbench 5.4 benchmarking test (a synthetic benchmark for overall power), the Blade 14 scored 7,471. This is even better than the Razer Blade 15 Advanced, which scored 6,662. The Blade 14 copied 25 GB of data to a flash drive at a transfer rate of 908 Mbps, beating the Blade 15's score of 890 Mbps.
However, when testing the Blade 14, I ran into a major problem: The AMD CPU and Nvidia GPU don't always play well together. When I first tested the Blade 14, I couldn't get most games to run, and those often ran poorly. It turns out that the computer defaulted to the integrated AMD GPU instead of the discrete Nvidia one. Updating my drivers did nothing; Telling Windows to give priority to the Nvidia GPU did nothing; Even instructing the Nvidia software to override the Windows settings did nothing.
In the end, I had to install a bunch of additional AMD software that updated my drivers beyond what Windows 10 recommended. Even so, some programs still insisted that the Nvidia GPU was not up to date, even though the latest drivers were available. It was a confusing problem, and while future software updates may clear it up, early adopters of the Blade 14 may have to jump through a few hoops to get their games running properly.
Tom's Guide worked with Razor to address these problems. A Razer rep recommended that readers purchasing the Blade 14 update both their AMD and Nvidia drivers to the latest versions if they encounter similar issues.
Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Heat
The Razer Blade 14 runs hot: 94 degrees Fahrenheit when doing regular work, and 118 degrees Fahrenheit when gaming. Anything less than 95 degrees is usually comfortable to hold on your lap, so as long as you have a desk with you while gaming, you should be fine.
Volume-wise, the Blade 14 is pretty quiet even when gaming. Even when demanding titles like Doom Eternal, fans never ditched the external speakers. While doing daily chores, I couldn't hear the Blade 14's sound during the whole hustle and bustle of the office.
Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Battery life
While the Razer Blade 14 offers only 1 hour and 27 minutes of battery life when gaming, it can go up to 6:02 when surfing the web. That means the Blade 14 has enough productivity power for a cross-country flight.
This is better than the Blade 15 Advanced's 5:14, but not quite as good as the Zephyrus G14's 11:00. Either way, you'll want to keep the Blade 14 plugged in whenever possible because that's how you'll get the best gaming performance.
Best Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14 Decision
The Blade 14 is a well-designed machine that can run demanding games at high settings. It is small and light enough to carry around for productivity work. The keyboard isn't perfect, and it could use a few more ports, but you can say the same thing about many portable gaming laptops.
If you don't mind a slightly bigger screen, the Alienware m15 R4 is still a worthwhile competitor. Otherwise, the Blade 14 is back after a long hiatus, and it's well worth the premium.
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