A Slim Gaming Powerhouse With a Trackpad That Drove Me Mad

The Razer Blade 14’s fundamental competitors is final 12 months’s favourite, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop computer, now with Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs. Last 12 months’s model requested for round $2,000 with a GeForce RTX 4070. Today’s newest Zephyrus mannequin will demand the identical value for a greater RTX 5070 Ti GPU and an AMD Ryzen AI 9 270. The two 14-inch gaming laptops are neck and neck, however the Blade 14 (2025) muscle mass house for itself in a crowded market due to a couple quality-of-life options and wonderful thermal administration. We can have good issues and the Blade 14 (2025) proves that. We’ll simply must spend increasingly more yearly to cling onto our high quality computer systems. If you’re on the lookout for one thing that will value much less, you might seek for an Asus TUF Gaming A14 that might clock in at lower than $2,000.

Despite the recent controversy with buggy {hardware} and software program on the Razer Blade 16, I skilled little of the claimed efficiency points with the Blade 14 (2025). However, I had seen crashes when exiting video games earlier than I made positive to obtain the most recent firmware. After that, the laptop computer was clean crusing save for all of the common points I’ve with Windows 11. There’s part of me that needs Razer would step out of its consolation zone. The gaming model refuses to make one other Blade Stealth with that calming pink tone, so we’re left with the corporate’s common black field and its huge, glowing Razer emblem stenciled on the lid. Past 14-inch fashions just like the 2021 design may pack as much as an RTX 3080-level GPU (and people value lower than at present’s RTX 5070 mannequin). For such a slim design, the efficiency you get with the trendy $2,300 mannequin is strictly what you want for a tool of this measurement.

The Blade 14 takes some getting used to

The new Razer Blade 14 is smaller than final 12 months’s mannequin, however by such a minimal diploma you’d must squint to inform the distinction. It’s 0.66 inches at its thickest level. Slipping this laptop computer right into a backpack is probably going one among my best pleasures regardless of the actual fact you’ll nonetheless have to haul across the hefty 200W energy brick if you happen to plan to play your favourite video games. Though the Blade 14 (2025) weighs in at 3.59 kilos, it can really feel barely heavier than many different thin-and-light laptop computer designs. That’s to be anticipated, and it’s a tradeoff I’d take with a smile on my face. The new Blade 14 is the type of machine that provides the mobility you possibly can solely dream of when making an attempt to haul a 16-inch beast round.

The Blade 14 (2025)is a extra refined pocket book than both the Razer Blade 16 or Blade 18. Yes, the rear panel and the triple-snake emblem glow nuclear inexperienced throughout use, however with none backside RGB you may get away with maintaining it subsequent to you in a crowded school auditorium as long as you keep in mind to show off the brilliant, per-key RGB lights. Using the Blade 14 (2025) can be clean crusing after that if solely Razer would spend extra time taking note of the general really feel of its private computer systems. Like all its different anodized aluminum matte black laptops, the brand new Blade 14 is a smudge magnet. The lid and palm rests can be first to look grody with sufficient manhandling. The keys will quickly develop unpleasant smears, whether or not or not you dip your digits into the odd Fritos bag. At the very least, the Blade 14 (2025) comes with an amazing collection of I/O ports. Besides the proprietary charging port and headphone jack, you’ll get a USB 4 Type-C and USB-A on both facet of the machine. There’s an extra HDMI 2.1 and microSD card slot, which got here in useful for on-the-go video modifying.

It took me longer to get used to the texture of each the keyboard and trackpad. I needed to give the laptop computer some leeway after fawning so arduous for the Alienware 16 Area-51 and its full mechanical keyboard, however after sufficient time I may begin to recognize the Razer laptop computer’s skinny keys though I’d favor one thing with extra clacky sounds and journey. There’s a great deal of separation between every key to keep away from any misclicks and I by no means felt like my fingers needed to reorient to seek out the correct key with out wanting. The keyboard has a small quantity of suggestions response with each key press—higher than the squishy really feel that turned me off the HP Omen Max 16. It’s sufficient to make the Blade 14 (2025) value typing on—greater than your common Apple Magic Keyboard. Those who desire a skinny, cell machine can’t ask for a lot better, even when I could dream of one thing extra.

Compared to the keyboard, the brand new Blade 14’s trackpad is a hate-hate design. The giant panel is flat and does a great job at palm rejection (an issue I’ve had on earlier Razer Blade fashions). The situation is the inside of the trackpad is sloped towards the tip going through the consumer. That means if you happen to attempt to click on towards the highest of the pad, you received’t be capable of register any depth outdoors capacitive contact. Scrolling to the highest of a webpage will end result within the odd sensation the place you press into the trackpad to click on, however then get no response. If you’re like me, and also you need haptic suggestions in your clicks, you’re compelled to press down towards the underside of the trackpad.

With sufficient time, I may discover a rhythm that might make the Razer Blade 14 (2025) my fundamental PC for work and pleasure. It’s in that mildew that the refreshed gaming laptop computer hits its dwelling run. The pocket book can do every part I need and look good whereas doing it.

So slim and nonetheless surprisingly highly effective

My version of the Razer Blade 14 (2025) got here packed an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU together with 32GB of RAM (soldered to the machine, so no upgrading, sadly). That processor is a 10-core, 20-thread CPU based mostly on the chipmaker’s newest Strix Point Zen 5 microarchitecture. Suffice it to say, the Strix Point CPU collection is constructed for smaller laptops with decrease energy demand. and it’s proved very efficient in notebooks like final 12 months’s Asus TUF Gaming A14 when paired with a discrete GPU. In the case of the Blade 14 (2025), that’s the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 working at 115W TGP, or complete graphics energy. This is a better energy draw than some laptops, such because the upcoming Framework Laptop 16, and it guarantees to eek out extra efficiency than some competing designs.

After downloading the most recent drivers and firmware by means of Razer Synapse (a should if you wish to keep away from any odd points that might stall when exiting video games), the Blade 14 (2025) carried out in addition to might be anticipated in artificial benchmarks. It simply beats out the 2024 small body opponents, particularly in Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024 multi-core checks, however it could’t stand toe-to-toe with its bigger cousins sporting higher-end gaming laptop computer CPUs just like the Intel Core Ultra HX line. The Blade 14 (2025) didn’t even get into the identical ballpark of a 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 in these checks. In a number of 3DMark, the brand new Blade 14 will sit a number of thousand factors beneath laptops with an RTX 5080. Instead, it proved an extremely balanced machine able to hitting excessive body charges in a number of video games I examined, higher than 2024’s greatest examples of 14-inchers.

The Blade 14 (2025) will meet its match whenever you strive pushing ray tracing settings. Games like Black Myth: Wukong survive ray tracing with their automated DLSS settings selecting up the slack. The candy spot in a sport like Cyberpunk 2077 is to stay ray tracing on low settings with DLSS on auto, which might internet round 65 fps in benchmarks and rather less in gameplay. Without DLSS, you’ll get barely greater than 40 fps in those self same situations, the identical as if you happen to set it to DLSS Ultra settings. A sport resembling Marvel’s Spider-Man 2—already a tough sport to run on most PCs—will battle to realize playable body charges on the Blade 14’s max decision. Even when counting on DLSS, it’s possible you’ll have to supress the inclination to dial up graphics and ray tracing settings to excessive if you happen to even hope to play at a minimal 30 fps.

All of that, plus the laptop computer hardly ever felt greater than barely heat beneath my palms. With a laser thermometer, the Blade 14 (2025) floor temperature close to the display screen learn round 103 levels Fahrenheit however solely 85 levels on the palm relaxation. Even throughout play, the gaming laptop computer didn’t make my fingers toasty, and it stored the warmth away from the perimeters the place I’d use a mouse (higher to keep away from the trackpad points altogether).

Though I’ve not tried the model with an RTX 5060, that GPU will essentially restrict how arduous you possibly can push your video games on the Blade 14. Gamers have a one observe thoughts. The first and very last thing they care about is whether or not a tool can run the most recent titles with all of the fixings—all settings on Ultra and ray tracing turned up—and nonetheless preserve a 60 fps or greater body price. Inevitably, the Blade 14 (2025) will discover its limits.

The actual small all-rounder

We’ve had sufficient months to settle in with Nvidia’s GPU lineup. Long gone is any discuss that the desktop RTX 5070 would one way or the other be extra highly effective than the RTX 4090, the previous-gen flagship. The laptop computer variant of this GPU is designed for smaller units such because the Blade 14 (2025) with its restricted decision and refresh price. Even if you happen to push a sport to hit double-digit body charges with 50-series unique multi-frame gen—which inserts AI generated frames between rendered frames to artificially enhance efficiency—the Blade 14 (2025) isn’t going to symbolize them on-screen with a mere 120Hz show. Instead, Nvidia has tried to showcase different makes use of for its RTX 50-series GPUs past downloading one more sport out of your overstuffed Steam library centering on the brand new Blade 14.

I usually run a Blender check with my laptops, the place I guage how lengthy it takes this system to render a scene with a automobile on each the CPU and GPU. Despite the energy of AMD’s Strix Point, the Blade 14 (2025) will nonetheless not be as quick because the M4 in a 14-inch MacBook Pro. A discrete GPU will render such scenes 3 times as quick as the most recent MacBook’s GPU, although that’s a distinction of 17 seconds versus 55. Nvidia’s newest GPU’s additionally help improved video encoding options on high of the conventional rendering enhancements from a discrete GPU. All that sounds properly and good for particular workflows, however you’ll must wrestle with the battery points frequent to all gaming laptops of this caliber. Relying on the Blade 14’s Strix Point built-in GPU to avoid wasting on battery will depart you dissapointed. In our Blender check, the Blade 14 (2025) was barely a minute quicker on the AMD Radeon 880 graphics than working instantly on the CPU.

Past Razer Blade 14 fashions may help screens with greater refresh charges as much as 165Hz. Compared to that, the Blade 14 (2025) could appear extra humdrum. The new laptop computer packs an OLED show with 2,880 x 1,800 decision and a max of 120Hz refresh price. Some could take a look at the worth and surprise why we couldn’t have higher refresh charges, however the show manages to strike a steadiness between speeds and fairly visuals.

The Blade 14 (2025)’s OLED show is the type of fairly that’s so normal now amongst higher-end units. It’s a great factor then, that the show is so particularly good to take a look at. The added bonus is Razer pushed the facet and high display screen bezels farther to the sting, maximizing the house I exploit to indulge in these deep blacks promised by natural light-emitting diode shows.

This display screen kind affords higher blacks and distinction than different competing shows. The fundamental disadvantage is they’re usually dimmer than different screens with a backlight, like mini LED. I by no means had a scenario the place I couldn’t see the display screen in a darkish room or the place a vibrant gentle drowned out what was occurring. Instead, the display screen is just a little too reflective. When you load darkish colours onto the display screen, the Blade 14 (2025) is so mirror-like I may learn my very own shirt. The reflectivity by no means proved so unhealthy it distracted me from work or gaming, nevertheless it might be a serious problem in case your consideration tends to stray.

This laptop computer can be an amazing machine for many of your streaming content material. The Blade 14 (2025) has a six audio system with help for THX spatial audio. Sound from the laptop computer got here by means of clear and correct. I wasn’t left grabbing for the closest pair of high-quality headphones even when watching YouTube movies or loading up a sport with my favourite soundtrack. Listening to in-game sound is even higher due to its very minimal fan noise. The new Blade 14’s secret weapon shouldn’t be essentially its parts, however the truth that every part runs so easily with none obtrusive noise to distract you.

You’ll nonetheless want a plug close by

Gaming laptops proceed to have extreme battery life points. Even if you happen to eschew any extra hardcore applications and solely use this laptop computer to browse the net, you’ll by no means obtain something near a full-day of battery life. The Blade 14 (2025) doesn’t break that pattern, nevertheless it does higher than most.

In observe, the laptop computer can preserve itself on the default balanced energy settings off-plug for just a little greater than 4 hours. After that, the it was begging for a charger. That quantity was constant over weeks utilizing the brand new Blade 14. The laptop computer would a lot quite you’re employed with a plug close by. With the 200W energy brick related to the its proprietary charging port, I may go from close to 20% to nearly full in beneath 40 minutes. I favor to journey gentle, by which case I generally left the charger at work simply so I didn’t have to hold it round with me.

In the tip, even essentially the most cell gaming laptops will nonetheless be restricted in simply how straightforward it’s to convey them round. The Blade 14 (2025) is just barely higher than most, and in that method it’s one among my favourite laptops of the 12 months. Despite all my hangups with its trackpad and keyboard, it’s the type of machine I want I may maintain shut by, although maybe out of a way of entitlement after paying properly over $2,000 for it.