Anyone who has ever tried to purchase a very compact gaming laptop computer has most likely confronted this dilemma: Do you decide an even bigger system for elevated efficiency, or sacrifice fps and go along with one thing smaller that’s a bit simpler to hold round? Even Razer, an organization that’s been making gaming laptops for a decade, has struggled with discovering that stability. But with the introduction of the brand new Blade 14, Razer now has a very compact gaming laptop computer with assist for probably the most highly effective cellular GPUs you may get at this time (and an AMD CPU as well), which lastly eliminates the necessity to decide on between dimension and efficiency. It’s not too huge and it’s not too small, it’s good.

Familiar Design in a New Dimension

Featuring a unibody aluminum chassis with clear minimalist traces, the Blade 14 comes with the identical wonderful construct and design you get from Razer’s different gaming notebooks. That means the Blade 14 comes with stuff like a per-key RGB backlit keyboard, a webcam with assist for Windows Hello face login, upward dealing with stereo audio system, and a wholesome quantity of connectivity for a system this dimension, together with a full-size HDMI 2.1 port, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, two USB 3.2 Type-C ports, and a headphone jack. However, it’s necessary to notice that as a result of the Blade 14 is the lone gaming laptop computer in Razer’s portfolio that includes an AMD CPU (Ryzen 9 5900HZ), you don’t get assist for Thunderbolt 4.

Depending on the config, Razer gives a 144Hz 1080p or a 165Hz 2560 x 1440 14-inch show. On our 165Hz evaluation mannequin, the Blade 14’s display produced an excellent however not particularly spectacular brightness of 346 nits, and whereas colours appeared vivid and colourful, as a result of Razer makes use of a matte non-touch show, the Blade 14’s colours aren’t fairly as vivid as you what you may see on a laptop computer with a shiny show.

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Now I do know some of us could take concern with the Blade 14’s considerably cramped keyboard structure, which options smaller than regular keycaps for issues like Backspace, Back Slash, and its arrows keys, however given Razer’s dimension constraints, I’m not too bothered. Thankfully, typing feels crisp and bouncy, whereas Razer makes use of each final millimeter on the Blade 14’s deck to ship a big (and fairly responsive) glass touchpad.

It’s form of the identical factor on the subject of the Blade 14’s considerably sizable chin. It’s not dangerous sufficient to make the Blade 14 look or really feel outdated, although I do want Razer had discovered a method to shrink that bezel only a bit by together with a 16:10 facet ratio display as a substitute of a 16:9 show, which might offer you slightly additional room for each gaming and productiveness.

And with the Blade 14 measuring in at 12.59 x 8.66 x 0.66 inches, you’re getting all this in a machine that’s barely greater than Razer’s 13-inch Blade Stealth (12 x 8.27 x 0.6 inches).

Big Performance, Compact Package

Here’s what you got here for: Not solely is the Blade 14 Razer’s solely laptop computer to function a Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU from AMD (or any AMD CPUs for that matter), the Blade 14 additionally has 16GB of RAM and may be configured with any one in all Nvidia’s RTX 30-series GPUs—RTX 3060, RTX 3070, and even the RTX 3080 should you’re so inclined. That’s a whole lot of efficiency to cram right into a system this dimension, and a marked enchancment over what you’d get within the 13-inch Blade Stealth, which tops out with a GTX 1650 TI graphics card. And it’s this mixture of efficiency that makes all of the distinction.

Compared to the Blade Stealth I reviewed final 12 months, the Blade 14 (100 fps) carried out twice in addition to Blade Stealth (48 fps) in Far Cry 5 at full HD and extremely graphics, which shouldn’t be an enormous shock given the distinction in GPUs. But nonetheless, this comparability reveals far more energy you’re getting by shifting up in dimension only a contact.

In actuality, the Blade 14 has far more in frequent with its greater sibling—the Blade 15—than it does with the Stealth, as each programs function the identical vary of GPU choices, together with related ranges of RAM and storage. That stated, as a result of Blade 15’s bigger chassis, it does have extra room to channel sizzling air away from its internals, which ends up in the Blade 15 having fun with round a ten% efficiency benefit in gaming in comparison with the Blade 15. That’s not an insignificant penalty, however for individuals actually making an attempt to min-max on portability, that trade-off could be price it.

Using the identical settings as earlier than in Far Cry 5, the Blade 15 pumped out 109 fps versus 100 fps for the Blade 14. And in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at full HD on highest settings, it was an analogous story, with the Blade 15 averaging 112 fps in comparison with 99 fps for the Blade 14. That stated, once we look outdoors of Razer’s camp at different comparatively compact gaming laptops, the Blade 14’s efficiency nonetheless compares fairly favorably to programs like Alienware m15 R5 and the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE, with the Blade 14 (which is admittedly costlier than its rivals) providing pretty much as good or higher efficiency throughout almost all of our productiveness and gaming benchmarks.

Underwhelming Battery Life

With a time of 6 hours and 49 minutes on our video rundown take a look at, the Blade 14’s battery life is fairly unremarkable, possibly even bordering on barely disappointing. Systems like MSI’s Stealth 15M (7:59), the Alienware m15 R5 (7:27), and the Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage (8:22) all posted longer runtimes, with Acer’s Triton 300 SE (6:11) being one of many few rival programs to not outlast the Blade 14. But contemplating all these laptops are extra commonplace 15-inch programs, this actually highlights the boundaries of placing all these power-hungry parts right into a small chassis with much less room for large battery packs.

Some different necessary considerations except for battery life are that when below full load, the Blade 14’s exterior temps can rise reasonably rapidly, to the purpose the place it’s probably not comfy to make use of in your lap. And, should you’re making an attempt to sport on battery, peak efficiency takes a noticeable hit too, although with how rapidly the Blade 14 runs via juice when away from an outlet, at that time you’re higher off dialing down graphics settings to enhance battery life in any case. And lastly, whereas USB-PD most likely can’t deal with the facility necessities the Blade 14 wants (a minimum of not but), I actually want Razer had discovered a method to make charging over USB-C the default possibility, as a substitute of counting on its proprietary energy plug. That little change alone would virtually definitely be a welcome improve and make the Blade 14 much more transportable than it already is.

That Price Tag

While the Blade 14 has a couple of small weak factors and shortcomings, its greatest and most evident draw back is its worth. Now it’s true that Razer’s gaming laptops have by no means actually been what anybody would name reasonably priced, however with the Blade 14 beginning at $1,800 for a Ryzen 9 5900 HX CPU, 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and an RTX 3060 GPU, it feels such as you’re paying an excellent greater premium to place all these elements in a barely extra compact 14-inch chassis.

This means the most important argument towards the Blade 14 is a system just like the ROG Strix G15 Advantage, which begins at simply $1,550 and options the identical CPU and an equal AMD GPU due to its Radeon RX 6800 graphics card. Sure, the G15 Advantage’s construct high quality isn’t as good as Razer’s machines, it’s greater, and it doesn’t even include helpful options like a built-in webcam. But on the subject of pure worth, the Blade 14 can’t fairly sustain.

Power and Portability

As somebody who typically has to debate in the event that they need to deliver a typical 13-inch or 15-inch laptop computer with them whereas touring, the actual luxurious of the Blade 14 just isn’t actually having to compromise on energy or portability—the Blade 14 offers you each in spades. It’s simple to slide into virtually any laptop computer bag, and it’s bought greater than sufficient oomph to play something you possibly can fairly need, each at residence or on the highway. The Blade 14 is a compact however highly effective do-everything machine that’s simple to lug round. Even if it’s not fairly as reasonably priced as lots of its rivals, it’s exhausting to not respect every part you get from such a small bundle.