Razer has always been considered as the Apple of Windows when it comes to design and build quality. The new Razer Blade 14 is Razer's new attempt to enter the 14" market again with the perfect balance of size and speed with AMD's latest processors, and NVIDIA's RTX 30-series GPU, and a fast 14-inch display.
Design & Performance
The Blade 14 has the exactly same design as the Razer Blade 15, but with a smaller form factor. It is surrounded by a sleek black aluminum case giving it a minimalist look with the only gaming feature being its RGB LED keyboard with per-key RGB lighting.
The laptop provides all range of ports; on the left, it has a USB 3.1 Type-A port and a USB-C port, while the right side contains a full-size HDMI connection. Since it is an AMD laptop the USB-C ports do not support Thunderbolt, but they do offer power delivery.
The Blade 14 has a weight of 1.76 Kg (3.9 pounds) making it 230 grams lighter than the Blade 15. But it is heavier than the Asus Zephyrus G14 which weighs only 1.58 Kg (3.5 pounds).
After three years Razer has finally brought the 14-inch form factor back into their line-up. Razer for the first time is using an AMD Processor with every Blade 14 equipped with a Ryzen 9 5900HX paired with a RTX 3060, 3070, or 3080 allowing it to handle any task that is thrown at it, or does it?
Even though the Blade 14 has the latest and greatest the small form factor does have its thermal constraints.
Razer Blade 14 tops out with an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, RTX 3080, 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and a QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) 165Hz display, this model acomes with a huge price tag as well i.e., $2800. The RAM is soldered into the motherboard meaning it cannot be upgraded in the future.
The laptop was able to handle any game that was thrown at it with ease due to the power of the RTX 3080. But there were some noticeable compromises that Razer made to achieve this small form factor which was more visible when comparing it to the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro which is equipped with an RTX 3070, but the overall housing of the Lenovo is bigger.
The Blade 14 also gets pretty warm while doing intensive work like Video Editing or playing a game allowing the CPU to reach 95 degrees Celcius with the bottom of the laptop being uncomfortably hot; making it difficult to use on my lap. The GPU ran at around 82 degrees Celcius while under load.
Keyboard & TouchPad
Razer Blade 14 has an amazing keyboard and is one of the best Windows TouchPad in the market. The keys are individually backlit whose colors can be changes through Razer Synapse and deliver a nice typing experience, but nothing new like the Alienware M15 R4's cherry MX switches. I personally still prefer the Dell XPS keyboard. Razer has also moved the power button with the function row instead of it being a small button like other Razer laptops.an
The touchpad has a footprint of 11.1 x 7.6 cm making it smaller than the one on Blade 15.
The touchpad is responsive, smooth, and roomy. One of the best I have ever used.
Conclusion
The Razer Blade 14 has a beautiful design and high-quality engineering; having a 14-inch form factor makes it as portable as the Stealth 13, but with far more power. All that power comes at a price too, Blade 14 is very expensive when compared to Acer or Asus.
It may be pricey, but cannot be considered overpriced due to the build quality, portability, Raw Power, etc. this may as well be one of the best gaming laptops in the world and that too without being bulky or extremely heavy.