Razer Blade 14 review: Razer's first AMD gaming laptop is insanely powerful with some quirks
Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central
The Razer Bract has always been an Intel laptop. Whenever a new model or refresh comes to market, it will have the best that Intel has to offering within. Just every time Razer puts out a new Blade, someone asks if they're going to make an AMD Ryzen version.
That has finally happened. Not in the Razer Bract fifteen, the electric current all-time gaming laptop on the planet, but in an all-new version. Or rather, the return of the Razer Blade 14. It'due south a little smaller but no less powerful.
So after all of the promise and anticipation, is it any good? After all, we know Razer can make a astounding gaming laptop and the sum of the parts lonely indicates we're in for a treat. And by and large, we are. Enough for it to rank among the best AMD Ryzen laptops available.
Razer Blade 14
Lesser line: The Blade xiv is a phenomenal gaming laptop held back only by some AMD-related weirdness and a loftier price tag for the range toppers.
The Good
- AMD's near powerful laptop CPU
- NVIDIA RTX 3080
- Same bully design and build as other Blades
- Fantastic display
- Incredible gaming functioning
- Meaty and lightweight
The Bad
- CPU gets hot
- Huge performance dips on battery
- Actually expensive higher tier models
- SSD operation tanks on battery power
Razer Bract 14: Cost and availability
The Razer Blade 14 is on auction at present with prices starting at $ane,800. The entry model is just bachelor as it stands on Razer's ain store, but the higher-spec versions are available through tertiary-party retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy.
The version with an RTX 3070 costs $2,200 and the range-topper with RTX 3080 costs $2,800.
Razer Blade 14: Hardware and design
Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Cardinal
So, what's an AMD Razer Bract actually like? Surprising nobody, it's excellent. From the Razer Book xiii up to the Razer Bract Pro 17, there's a unified design language and consistently outstanding build quality. If you stand back it'southward impossible to tell information technology apart from the Blade 15 unless yous take a tape measure in your hand. Or you left the Ryzen sticker on.
It's unmistakably a Razer Blade, but one with a Ryzen sticker.
The primal difference on the exterior is the overall course cistron. It'south a little bit smaller and lighter than a Blade 15 and since 14-inch gaming laptops aren't exactly common, it already stands out from the oversupply. This is an incredibly portable gaming laptop, and its compact nature is all the more mind-boggling when y'all have a read of the spec sheet.
The entry-level model is overnice, aught particularly earth-shattering, but what you can become inside a Razer Bract fourteen is amazing. It's also non that hard to choose the one you lot want, since there are only three configurations and the biggest differentiator is the GPU. In that location are a couple of displays, too, with either a 144Hz 1080p panel or the ane we have which is a matte 1440p 165Hz display. And information technology's glorious.
| Category | Razer Blade 14 |
|---|---|
| Operating Organization | Windows ten |
| Brandish | xiv-inch FHD 144Hz fourteen-inch 1440p 165Hz |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX 8-core, 16-thread 3.3GHz (4.6GHz heave) |
| Graphics | NVIDIA RTX 3060 6GB NVIDIA RTX 3070 8GB NVIDIA RTX 3080 8GB |
| Retention | 16GB DDR4 3200MHz (fixed onboard) |
| Storage | 1TB PCIe 3.0 SSD |
| Security | Windows How-do-you-do compatible IR camera TPM 2.0 |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) Bluetooth five.2 |
| Ports | ii 10 USB 3.ii Gen ii Type-A Ports, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Blazon-C with Power Delivery and Display Port one.iv, HDMI 2.1 |
| Sound | THX Spatial Audio, 3.5mm headset |
| Battery | 61.6Wh 230W Power adapter |
| Dimensions | 0.66 10 8.66 x 12.59 inches (16.viii mm x 220 mm x 319.7 mm) |
| Weight | ane.78kg (three.92 lbs) |
Left to right: Razer Bract 15, 14, and Volume 13. Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central
All versions of the Razer Blade fourteen come with AMD's most powerful laptop processor to date, the Ryzen ix 5900HX. With this comes 8-cores and 16-threads, with a base of operations clock of 3.3GHz and a maximum boost up to iv.6GHz. It'south a full-fat 45W fleck based on AMD's latest 7nm Zen 3 compages. The Ryzen ix 5900HX does of course come with integrated Radeon graphics, but you won't exist using that for what this laptop is best at.
That's because on the graphics front NVIDIA has taken intendance of business. You could have the RTX 3060 or the RTX 3070, or you could have what'southward inside the review unit Razer sent us, which is the RTX 3080 8GB. In a 14-inch laptop that weighs nether 4lbs. Hopefully, now you're starting to become a feel for why the fact this laptop even exists is astonishing.
Moving down to 14-inches does come up with ane compromise, and that'southward the fixed RAM. Information technology's not uncommon for laptops this size to have soldered RAM, merely if y'all're a fan of the upgradeable nature of the Bract xv it's something to consider if you're stepping down a size. The move to AMD provides some other compromise, and that'due south the lack of Thunderbolt 4. Then you tin't apply this with the Razer Cadre X.
Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Cardinal
You're not left brusk on ports, though, with both USB-A and USB-C and perhaps surprisingly USB-C PD, meaning you can hook up a 65W USB-C power brick and charge the Bract xiv. You won't be gaming, because that thirsty NVIDIA GPU will merely empty the battery earlier you have a chance to height it upwards, but if you're out on the road and want to utilise the laptop for work without cranking up the RTX and then it's really handy.
Going AMD too means no Thunderbolt iv
Let'southward also not forget that the Blade fourteen weighs less than 4lbs whatever spec you go for. Y'all can toss one with an RTX 3080 in your purse and barely even notice information technology. The truth is, a desktop RTX 3080 graphics card wouldn't be far off the aforementioned weight, and yous don't even become a screen.
I also want to shout out the speaker quality. Razer's typical up-firing speakers flank the keyboard and they are most first-class. Yous would struggle to find another laptop this size with such quality and volume. Music, movies, games, all aren't just tolerable, merely enjoyable.
Razer Blade 14: Software and functioning
Source: Windows Central
Naturally, the Razer Blade 14 comes with Windows 10 every bit standard, but it is worth a note on Windows 11 compatibility. The Blade 14 has a hardware TPM 2.0 module installed, so when the time comes you're good to go, with no BIOS diving required. Y'all are running Windows ten Home, and then yous'll be subject to the initial internet connectedness and Microsoft Account requirement (as things currently stand) when installing Windows eleven.
This laptop is an absolute animate being with 8-cores and an RTX 3080.
With that addressed, it's time to look a little closer at the real reason you're interested in this laptop at all; operation. Razer doesn't exercise things lightly, and that's clear past its arroyo with the Blade fourteen. Information technology comes in like a wrecking ball with an AMD Ryzen ix 5900HX CPU, an 8-core Zen three flake with xvi-threads, and a boost clock of four.6GHz. On paper, it's a beast, and there are times when it translates into exercise, also. Merely I desire to outset with some concerns. I've been using AMD Ryzen laptops as my own personal machines for a couple of years now and while the performance gap to Intel has certainly narrowed, there are areas where AMD still falls short. Or is just obviously confusing.
For one, allow's consider temperatures. The Blade 14 is an all-metal laptop, and hot metal is really unpleasant. Razer has done an outstanding job at cooling this behemoth, considering how hot the CPU will get compared to how much of that y'all discover on the exterior. The spec sheet of the 5900HX lists 105C as its maximum operating temperature, equally it has been for previous generation Ryzen mobile H-Series fries. That'south not just hot. That's really hot.
Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central
On ane mitt, y'all don't meet much in the way of thermal throttling, considering the Ryzen 9 will merely boost itself to oblivion and keep on keeping on, never reaching those upper limits. Only as, while stressing information technology in games for this review, I've seen CPU temperatures every bit high every bit 93C. Fifty-fifty if the laptop isn't uncomfortable with that, I am. It'south the summertime and my office is already like a sauna. And I'yard non picking up a laptop that'due south been running at those temperatures.
Razer uses its vapor sleeping accommodation cooling applied science to fine issue, and fifty-fifty at the highest temperatures, the fan racket isn't every bit bad every bit on other Ryzen laptops I've used encountering similar estrus. Estrus is kept downward to minimal levels on areas of the laptop you're going to bear on the most, similar the wrist residual, only the center can get toasty.
As on previous generation Ryzen mobile chips, the 5900HX will boost itself all 24-hour interval every day even if the only load on your system is reading Windows Key. Yous can't disable Turbo Boost manually, either, without getting into registry edits.
But, for gaming, you lot're going to be hooked up to the mains, you're going to enable maximum attack mode in Synapse for the CPU and GPU and yous're going to get for it. Then that'southward exactly what I did running these benchmarks. Let'south crunch some numbers.
Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Primal
Starting with synthetic benchmarks, here's how the Bract 14 compares to its rivals in Geekbench, Cinebench, and 3DMark, along with checking out the SSD performance.
As you might expect, the Razer Bract xiv charts high when compared to other laptops that have come up across our tabular array. The Ryzen 9 is predictably fantabulous at multi-core operation, highlighted in the huge numbers from the Cinebench R23 render test. The combination of this and the RTX 3080 rank towards the top of the results in our 3DMark hall of fame, also.
Side by side up games, and for these, all were run at the native 1440p display resolution with respective graphics settings maxed out unless noted. DLSS and RTX ray-tracing were off unless otherwise specified.
- F1 2022 - 106 FPS avg
- Control - 71 FPS avg
- Far Cry 5 - 83 FPS avg
- The Partition 2 - 75 FPS avg
- Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (high settings westward/ RT) - 55 FPS avg
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 60 FPS avg
- Ashes of the Singularity - 50.5 FPS avg
Of course, these are only examples to show merely how much power is on tap in the Razer Bract 14. My advice? You're never going to need to play at 1440p on a 14-inch laptop, so drib the resolution dorsum to 1080p and watch the frame charge per unit fly. In games with DLSS support though, like Control, you lot can go an actress bump of 20-xxx FPS without RTX Ray Tracing on at 1440p. Or you can turn RTX on and get similar performance to running with it all turned off. Only even the notorious Ashes of the Singularity benchmark on its crazy setting doesn't brand the Blade fourteen totally fall apart.
You also need to make sure you've gone into Razer Synapse and turned all the functioning settings up to their max to really get the all-time from this laptop. In Control, for example, just doing this was worth an additional 7 FPS, all for about half dozen seconds of effort. The fans do make more dissonance, though, but it's worth it if you must get every terminal frame. These results also stand as a skillful reminder that every bit expert as laptop GPUs are now, they're still quite comfortably behind desktop equivalents.
Functioning on battery vs on mains power
Source: Windows Central
Usually, we wouldn't make so much out of performance on bombardment vs on mains power for obvious reasons. Merely when it comes to Ryzen Mobile, at that place are, well, things. It'south something we've seen in previous laptop reviews, such as the Surface Laptop 4. On bombardment, performance takes a significant hit. And if you use the "better battery" or "battery saver" settings in Windows x, clock speeds can drop beneath 2GHz, which is seriously depression compared to the base clock.
This example from Cinebench R23 illustrates the calibration of the problem.
Source: Windows Central
On mains power vs battery, y'all're getting upwards to 40% less from the CPU. OK, your laptop isn't going to suddenly start stuttering and turn to junk, simply information technology'due south nonetheless a big hit that you might not even know is happening. And we have heard from i early on owner of the Blade 14 that on battery Windows can sometimes poop the bed. Perhaps weirder is that SSD performance is halved when on bombardment versus being hooked upward to a charger.
Update: Razer has informed us that the reduced SSD speed is due to PSPP (PCIe Speed Power Policy) set past AMD and is not controllable by OEMs like Razer. The policy is meant to increase battery life by reducing SSD performance. Something similar to what is happening with the CPU and GPU.
There's something foreign in the neighborhood when you become onto battery ability.
It's worth pointing out that this simply applies to battery power, and fifty-fifty powering the laptop with a USB-C PD charger is enough to return the SSD operation to normal and the CPU to mostly the same. In Cinebench with a 65W USB-C PD power adapter (which isn't really enough for tests like this), the scores were just a little behind using the stock 230W brick.
Gamers more than likely won't ever feel this, since you lot're unlikely to be gaming for more than than about 24 minutes before you lot think about needing your charger. Merely information technology's conceivable that other CPU-intensive processes, similar rendering out a video, for case, would be necessary on battery power and those will definitely endure. Razer Synapse lets you tweak operation settings on mains power, only on bombardment, you lot can only access an automatic setting so you can't practise much to fix the upshot yourself.
Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central
Information technology besides feels a little shady when it comes to battery life claims. If the CPU is substantially slashing its performance by one-half so of course battery life will be improved. AMD does permit its OEM partners to brand changes to its APUs, so it'due south unclear exactly who's responsible but we've reached out to Razer for some boosted clarity and volition update this review with our findings. It does make information technology harder right now though to recommend a Blade fourteen to anyone who needs both performance and decent battery life. Because you're either going to accept to spin upwardly the GPU or take a worse time than if you grab an Intel-powered Bract fifteen.
The good news is that if you're going to be using this to game a lot or you lot know you'll always be working from mains power, yous're going to have a cracking time. This is an insanely powerful 14-inch laptop and for all the criticism you can discover hither, AMD is also really happy to just let rip when you plug in and plough everything up. Information technology's just a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde situation, but the raw performance is definitely there.
Razer Bract xiv: Contest
Source: Windows Central
Probably the closest competition to the Razer Blade 14 comes from the Razer Bract xv. It's the best gaming laptop you tin buy, information technology's priced similarly to the Blade 14, looks very similar but substitutes AMD for Intel processors. It makes choosing harder, though, because these are two of the about powerful gaming laptops on the planet.
In that location aren't really many 14-inch gaming laptops out there, which makes the Blade 14 something of an outlier. If you're looking for something more meaty, the ASUS ROG Flip X13 is an option, equally is the Razer Blade Stealth. Both are 13-inch laptops, but you can just get a GTX 1650.
The closest competitor 14-inch laptops though are the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 and the Acer Predator Triton 300. The former also has a Ryzen 9 within, while the Acer goes for Intel, but both are closer matches to the entry-level Blade fourteen.
Razer Blade 14: Should you buy it?
Source: Windows Cardinal
You lot should buy this if ...
You want the nearly powerful gaming laptop in town
With the RTX 3080 within and everything cranked upwardly to the maximum, this laptop screams. It's one of the nigh powerful gaming laptops you tin get right at present and volition shred through your favorite games.
You want a compact, lightweight gaming laptop
14-inch gaming laptops aren't that mutual and the Blade 14 is both compact and lightweight. Information technology's a perfect travel companion for the gamer-on-the-go.
You want a Ryzen laptop with plenty of grunt
For all the faults you lot can pick out, there are plenty of people who love AMD laptops. It's why the Blade 14 exists in the first place. And this is the most powerful of them all.
You should not buy this if ...
Yous're shopping on a budget
Even the entry-level model is more expensive than equivalent laptops from competitors, simply the pinnacle-spec is definitely out of the attain of tighter budgets.
You work from battery ability a lot
As a regular laptop for web browsing, electronic mail, lighter work, information technology's fine. But if you lot're anticipating the Blade 14 existence a mobile workstation and so yous're probably better served elsewhere. The functioning drop on the battery is as well great.
You already take a Razer Core X
The RTX 3080 is skilful, only it'southward also not a desktop-grade GPU and that's why products like the Razer Core X exist. If you lot already take one and desire to keep using it, this is not the laptop for you.
Every part of my existence adores this laptop. I'grand one of those who has been request Razer for an AMD version, in almost every press briefing for a new Blade. Finally, it'south here, and information technology doesn't disappoint, at least, not equally a gaming machine. For its primary purpose, the Razer Blade 14 absolutely blows the doors off.
The issues with the Blade fourteen are also not really Razer's to fix. It feels unfair to level criticism towards this laptop for issues that come up from AMD. There's no reason these things should turbo on all 8-cores when you're reading an email, for example, and the fact the temperatures don't get too ridiculous too oft is a testament to Razer'due south engineers for taming the wild stallion.
Source: Windows Central
Only when you drill downward, Ryzen Mobile just isn't in that location yet. If you unleash the beast, information technology delivers in spades and you're going to have a great time. But the temperatures and the huge drib in performance off charger leading to potentially spurious battery life claims do go out a sour gustatory modality. Just Razer can only do so much.
The Razer Blade 14 absolutely blows the doors off
The conclusion then is clear. If yous want a compact, extremely powerful gaming laptop and gaming is what you lot intend to do almost of all with information technology, then this is a dandy option. When you cut it loose information technology will deliver. But don't rest information technology on your lap.
Razer now has the all-time kind of trouble. It has 4 grade-leading gaming laptops between 13- and 17-inches. It'south hard to say definitively whether yous should get this over the Blade xv, but for a first album, Razer and AMD did alright.
Razer Bract xiv
Bottom line: A ridiculously powerful laptop AMD fans can exist proud to own but Ryzen nevertheless has some work to do.
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