Razer Blade 14 (2024) review: for superior gaming experience

Almost immediately, last year’s Razer Blade 14 soared to the top of our best gaming laptops rating. Razer could have sped through a sequel by just increasing the specs while leaving everything else unchanged. The Razer Blade 14 2023 is a vast improvement over its predecessor thanks to its user-upgradeable components, improved display, and increased processing power.

However, doing so reduces value. Compared to the 2023 Blade 14, which is more in line with what I’d anticipate from Razer, last year’s Blade 14 was a pleasant surprise in the typically expensive laptop range. It’s not ridiculously cheap, but I’ll tell you right off the bat that it’s money well spent. However, the 2023 Blade 14 is ranked slightly lower due to the increased difficulty of entry.

Razer Blade 14 (2024) Specifications

Although the greatest gaming laptops have been growing thinner and lighter with each passing year, the latest Razer Blade 14 pushes those improvements to an entirely new level.

Razer Blade 14 (2023): Design

The Razer Blade 14, like its older sibling released earlier this year, is an attractive laptop. The all-black unibody design is reminiscent of the MacBook Pro, but without the obnoxious notch that Apple has introduced in previous models. This laptop is just as portable as the MacBook Pro 14 at 4 pounds and 0.7 inches in thickness.

However, the Razer Blade 14 can run the best PC games without the need for WINE, unlike Apple’s high-end laptop. Speaker grilles on either side of the keyboard deck conceal some of the nicest laptop speakers I’ve heard in years. Furthermore, this laptop has one of the nicest trackpads available on a Windows laptop, and its size belies its quality.

Razer Blade 14 (2023): Display

The Blade 14’s excellent display is expected given its as-tested price of $2,699. The 14-inch IPS display is capable of a refresh rate of up to 240 hertz and a resolution of QHD+ (2560 x 1600). Radeon 780M GPU, which is embedded inside the CPU, works with AMD FreeSync Premium. The 1600p resolution made the screen look quite clear, despite its rather tiny size for a gaming laptop (15.6 inches is the most popular size, and many are moving to 16 inches). The screen was legible in bright sunlight thanks to its matte, anti-glare covering. According to our light meter, the maximum brightness of the Blade 14’s display was 465 nits. Only the Blade 16 version (which received 511 nits) performed worse.

Razer Blade 14 (2023): Software and Warranty

When it comes to the Razer Blade 14, the amount of pre-loaded software from the manufacturer is kept to a minimal. The lighting effects for the keyboard and the emblem on the lid can be customized using the Razer Synapse software that is included with the product. Synapse is disliked by some users, particularly when it comes to the process of adding new components to a system; yet, we were able to use it without any problems on the unit that we were reviewing. When I am testing laptops, we use a Razer Atheris wireless mouse, and when I first plugged in its USB dongle, Synapse welcomed the mouse with open arms.

Razer Blade 14 (2023): Performance and Gaming

Going to a coffee shop, pulling out a laptop that looks like any other work laptop, and playing Cyberpunk 2077 while sipping a cold brew has a certain appeal. The Razer Blade 14’s RTX 4070 graphics card and AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor make this a stylish reality. The Razer Blade 14 may be 14 inches in length, but its processing power is far but little. The system’s native resolution of 2,560 by 1,600 is sufficient for running nearly all games at maximum settings. I was able to play Cyberpunk 2077 at ultra settings with a steady 50 frames per second, even when using the Ray Tracing option. The average frame rate in the benchmark is 49 fps, although I consistently got about 50 fps in-game without using frame generation.

The usage of DLSS frame creation, however, significantly increases that figure. The Razer Blade 14 achieves about 74 frames per second on the benchmark and 60-70 frames per second in the game while using DLSS 3.0. That’s not quite enough to keep up with the 240Hz refresh rate, but it’s more than enough to play any game without having to turn down the resolution below the level at which Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) can restore the original quality.

Razer Blade 14 (2023): Battery Life

The Blade 14 is among the best in terms of durability. In our battery life test, which included light graphics work, web browsing, and video streaming over Wi-Fi with the screen brightness set to 150 nits, the laptop lasted for 8 hours and 34 minutes on a single charge. The ROG Strix G16 lasted 15 minutes longer, hence this came in second.

Final Words

The Razer Blade 14 is a powerful gaming laptop for its compact size, with a powerful graphics processing unit (GPU). However, if you’re not looking to spend a lot of money, the beginning price of $2,399 may seem excessive. But if you are, you will definitely want to flaunt it at your neighbourhood cafe thanks to its beautiful screen and elegant body.

Razer Blade 14 (2024) review: The good and The bad

Question and Answers