However, there is no need for this, people, because the 14-inch form factor has everything under control, and nobody needs a larger display when they are traveling. The 14-inch form factor has it all figured out. When they are lugging it around from place to place, putting pressure on their spine due to the heft of a meaty gaming laptop, I don’t know of anyone who wishes they had opted for a larger and heavier notebook. And if you still want a laptop that fits in with the aesthetic of your minimal desktop at home, but you need a larger screen while you’re sitting in your black polo neck and sipping espressos out of an egregiously tiny cup, there are plenty of practically bezel-free gaming monitors that you can choose from that will blend in perfectly with a smaller laptop and a more pretentious working space.
Price and Availability
Price range of $2,000 to $3,500 Version tested costs $2,600 Range of bundles available from Razer - also comes in pink.
This Razer Blade 14 model, priced at $2,600 (£2,700, AU$4,699), falls roughly in the middle of the various models, which range from an RTX 3060 to a powerful RTX 3080 Ti model. Only the RTX 3060 variant has a different display; the Ryzen 9 6900HX chipset and 16GB of DDR5 RAM are universal.
Design
Stylish but robust aluminum chassis Good selection of ports Display is fantastic
The 2022 Razer Blade 14 is aesthetically identical to its predecessors. However, that’s not a terrible thing! The Blade chassis has become a symbol of the Razer laptop brand, and for good reason: the design is simple but eye-catching, with a Razer logo on the lid and a vividly illuminating RGB keyboard as the only embellishments. The entire body is machined from aluminum and coated black, making it extremely robust (if a bit of a magnet for fingerprints). Everything about the Blade 14 shouts “excellent build quality” when I hold it in my hands. The screen hinge has very little play, and the keyboard structure is nearly inflexible. The 14-inch display leaves the keyboard with little breathing room, which is exacerbated by the two speaker grilles on either side of it. Actually, the dual speakers on the Razer Blade 14 are rather impressive, but their existence means that the keys on the far right and far left of the keyboard are somewhat truncated, which takes some getting used to (especially if you have large hands like me). The trackpad is a different story; it is a large, responsive glass rectangle with silky-smooth finger travel and a satisfyingly heavy click. Now, every Blade laptop has one of these, and they are always a joy to use. Physical connectivity is excellent, with two USB-A ports, two USB-C connectors, and an HDMI port for connecting a secondary display. There is no Ethernet port, so you’ll have to rely on Wi-Fi, which shouldn’t be a problem for most people. If the chassis is opened, the 1TB SSD can be replaced, but the RAM is soldered in place, therefore memory upgrades are not possible. Finally, there is the display. The screen; practically every Blade that Razer produces has a darn excellent display, and so does this one. Its 165Hz refresh rate makes it ideal for esports games where frame rate is of utmost importance, and its up to 100 percent DCI-P3 color reproduction also makes it ideal for digital art and photo editing. It is a beautiful display for a beautiful laptop.
Performance
Can hit 60+fps at 1440p in most games CPU performance is good and SSD is fast Runs impressively cool and quiet
The RTX 3070 Ti GPU at the core of this laptop isn’t quite as powerful as its desktop version, but it’s still an excellent choice - to the point where we’d argue that the 3080 Ti iteration of the Razer Blade 14 is somewhat redundant given that it lacks a 4K display. At 1440p, many games are able to achieve 60 fps per second with maximum graphical settings. Those who cannot require only modest tweaks (such as lowering their graphics setting from Ultra to High) to surpass the 60fps threshold. This is without using Nvidia DLSS to upsample from 1080p resolution, thus it is possible to achieve greater performance. Ray-tracing is a viable option, especially when supported with DLSS. Cyberpunk 2077 RTX test achieved 60fps by enabling DLSS at 1440p and reducing texture detail to Medium, while being completely playable at Ultra settings. The CPU performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX, which is now a popular choice for gaming laptop processors, is good across the board, but it falls short of Intel’s rival i9-12900H due to the latter’s revolutionary efficiency cores performing background tasks while you game. The performance of an SSD is incredibly speedy; games load swiftly and internal file transfers occur in seconds.
Battery Life
Decent longevity despite the small battery and powerful components Around 8 hours of general use Around 3-4 hours of gaming
Given that the Razer Blade 14’s 61.6Wh battery is smaller than those found in many gaming laptops, it performed well in our battery life testing. Playing a looping film at 50% brightness resulted in a battery life of almost eight hours, which is not terrible considering the powerful internal technology. If you want to game on the move, you’ll need to disable the RGB lights and reduce the screen’s brightness from its maximum setting, but you should be able to get up to four hours of gameplay on a single charge. The provided AC converter is not too big and charges the laptop very quickly, but Razer continues to use a proprietary charging connector, so the Blade 14 loses one point for this.
Verdict
A costly but potent system crammed into a thin, lightweight notebook that does not sacrifice durability despite its diminutive size. The Razer Blade 14 offers excellent gaming performance at 1080p and 1440p HD, with a display that refreshes at 165Hz and a wide array of hardware connectors. The compact size makes the keyboard feel a touch cramped, but this is certainly a beautiful little laptop that I regret having to return to Razer. It has traditionally been one of the greatest gaming laptops for people who value portability above raw power, although the new 2022 model certainly does not lack in this regard. It is a beautiful piece of hardware with outstanding build quality, and using it is a genuine pleasure. This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional. © 2022 Maina Wilson
