Razer’s Blade family of gaming laptops are among the many most premium available on the market. And whereas there aren’t a ton of main modifications on the 2024 Blade 14, for the primary time ever, it will likely be obtainable in each traditional black and Mercury (aka silver) at launch. Now this won’t sound like a giant deal, but it surely means you will get a transportable rig with sturdy efficiency that doesn’t shout about it like plenty of different gaming laptops do. If you mix that with an beautiful chassis milled from a single block of aluminum and a wealth of ports, you find yourself with a system that straddles the road between a beefy gaming machine and a transportable all-rounder.
Design: Now in silver from the soar
On the surface, Razer is certainly taking the strategy of “If it ain’t broke, do not repair it.” That’s not a nasty factor on a laptop computer that’s just about the closest factor to a MacBook Professional for gaming. The whole system feels extremely stable with solely the slightest little bit of flex on spots just like the lid. And in contrast to a MacBook, the Blade provides all kinds of ports together with 4 USB (two 3.2 Kind-A and two Kind-C with USB 4), a 3.5mm audio jack and a full-size HDMI 2.1 connector).
Plus, there’s a devoted energy socket so that you don’t have to hog an additional slot whereas charging. The Blade 14 even helps USB-PD (energy supply) so you should use third-party chargers in a pinch, although you gained’t get full efficiency this fashion on account of a decrease 100-watt restrict (versus 230 watts when utilizing Razer’s included brick).
The 2 small downsides to the Blade 14 are that its tremendous sturdy body weighs a contact extra (4.05 kilos) than comparable laptops just like the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (3.31 kilos). You additionally don’t get an SD card reader such as you do on the larger Blade 16. That’s a bummer for anybody planning to sometimes use this factor as a photograph or video modifying machine, but it surely’s not a deal breaker.
Show and webcam: Brilliant and blazing-fast
Although there’s solely a single show choice for the Blade 14, it’s a great one. It includes a 2560 x 1600 LCD panel that helps AMD FreeSync and a gamut that covers 100% of the DCI-P3 spectrum. It’s additionally greater than brilliant sufficient at over 450 nits whereas the matte anti-glare coating helps hold reflections to a minimal. This implies not solely do video games and flicks look nice with vivid hues, it’s additionally correct sufficient for modifying. The one factor I want there was a config with an OLED panel like there may be on the Blade 16.
In the meantime, above the show, there’s a 1080p webcam with an IR sensor for Home windows Howdy. However my favourite factor about this element is that Razer included a tiny bodily shutter, which ought to scale back considerations about government agents spying on you.
Efficiency: Class-leading pace
The Blade 14 is out there in two fundamental configurations: a base mannequin with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS chip, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage and an NVIDIA RTX 4060 GPU. There’s additionally an upgraded mannequin with 32GB of reminiscence and an RTX 4070 (which is the model we reviewed). In brief, this factor flies, delivering about as a lot efficiency as you will get out of a 14-inch laptop computer. In PCMark 10, the Blade 14 scored 7,436 versus 6,170 from an ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED with an Intel Core Extremely 7 155H chip. However extra importantly, it may deal with virtually any recreation you may throw at it with ease.
In Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p and extremely settings, the Blade 14 hit 101 fps in comparison with 67 fps from an MSI Stealth 14 Studio with an RTX 4060. Once I elevated the decision to 1440p, it nonetheless pumped out a really playable 66 fps. In the meantime in Returnal at 1080p and epic presets, Razer loved an identical lead reaching 92 fps versus 78 for the MSI. So until you are feeling like shifting as much as a bigger 15- or 16-inch system with room for an RTX 4080 or above, this efficiency is basically nearly as good because it will get on this phase.
Battery life: Higher than anticipated until your gaming unplugged
Gaming laptops are infamous for brief run occasions. Nonetheless, on PCMark 10’s Fashionable Workplace rundown take a look at, the Blade 14 turned in a decent time of 6 hours and 46 minutes. That’s greater than an hour longer than the MSI Stealth Studio 14 (5:19) and practically ok to final by a whole workday. But it surely nonetheless falls means wanting extra typical ultraportables with out discrete graphics just like the ZenBook 14 OLED (12:43).
That mentioned, even with some power-saving tips like robotically decreasing its show to 60Hz when operating on battery, you’re nonetheless going to wish to hold the Razer’s energy brick useful. Once I performed Teamfight Techniques, the Blade’s battery dropped from 85 to 45 % after a single 40-minute recreation.
Wrap-up
With a beginning value of $2,200 or $2,700 as configured, the Blade 14 is on the dear aspect. However that’s not likely new for Razer’s laptops and there’s little question this factor delivers a completely premium expertise, with its glorious construct high quality, lovely show and nice efficiency. It’s equally adept at gaming or modifying on the go, and with the silver mannequin being obtainable at launch, you will get a machine that blends in higher outdoors of LAN events. The principle factor that may cease me from shopping for one is the existence of ASUS’ refreshed ROG Zephyrus G14, which has comparable specs and a a lot decrease beginning value of $1,600. However in case you have the means, the Blade 14 gained’t do you improper.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/razer-blade-14-2024-review-a-portable-but-pricey-powerhouse-specs-price-160020891.html?src=rss
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