Razer’s The Blade family of gaming laptops is among the most premium on the market. While there aren’t a ton of major changes to the 2024 Blade 14, for the first time, it will be available in both classic black and Mercury (aka silver) colors at launch. Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but it means you can get a powerful performance portable device that doesn’t scream about it like many others. gaming laptops do. When you combine that with a sleek unibody aluminum chassis and a wealth of ports, you’ve got a system that straddles the line between beefy gaming machine and portable all-rounder.
Design: Now in silver without jump
outside, Razer definitely takes the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach. That’s not a bad thing in a laptop that’s the closest thing to a MacBook Pro for gaming. The entire system feels incredibly solid, with just the tiniest bit of flex in spots like the lid. Unlike the MacBook, the Blade offers a wide range of ports, including four USB (two 3.2 Type-A and two Type-C with USB 4), a 3.5mm audio input and a full-size HDMI 2.1 connector.
What’s more, there is a special power outlet so that you don’t need an additional socket when charging. The Blade 14 even supports USB-PD (power delivery), so you can use third-party chargers in a pinch, although you won’t get full performance due to the lower 100-watt limit (compared to 230 watts when the Razer was included). brick).
The Blade 14’s two minor downsides are that its super-sturdy frame weighs a touch more (4.05 pounds) than similar laptops like the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (3.31 pounds). You also don’t get an SD card reader like the larger Blade 16. It’s a bummer for anyone who plans to occasionally use this thing as a photo or video editing machine, but it’s not a deal breaker.
Display and webcam: Bright and fast
Although there’s only one display option for the Blade 14, that’s fine. It has a 2560 x 1600 LCD panel that supports AMD FreeSync and a gamut that covers 100% of the DCI-P3 spectrum. It’s also over 450 nits bright, while a matte anti-glare coating helps minimize reflections. This means that games and movies not only look great with vivid colors, but are also accurate enough for editing. The only thing I wish was an OLED panel configuration like the Blade 16.
Meanwhile, above the display is a 1080p webcam with an IR sensor for Windows Hello. But what I love most about this component is that Razer included a small physical shutter that should reduce discomfort government agents are spying on you.
Performance: Class-leading speed
The Blade 14 is available in two main configurations: the base model with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS chip, 16 GB of RAM, 1 TB of SSD storage and an NVIDIA RTX 4060 GPU. There’s also an upgraded model with 32GB of storage and an RTX 4070 (this is the version we’re reviewing). In short, this thing flies, delivering as much performance as you can get from a 14-inch laptop. In PCMark 10, the Blade 14 scored 7436 against 6170. ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED With Intel Core Ultra 7 155H chip. But more importantly, it can handle almost any game with ease.
In Cyberpunk 2077 At 1080p and ultra settings, the Blade 14 hit 101 frames per second, compared to 67 frames per second. MSI Stealth 14 Studio With RTX 4060. When I increased the resolution to 1440p, it still outputted a very playable 66 fps. In the meantime Return At 1080p and epic presets, the Razer took a similar lead, hitting 92fps versus 78 for the MSI. So unless you want to step up to a larger 15- or 16-inch system with room for an RTX 4080 or higher, this performance is as good as it gets in this segment.
Battery Life: Better than expected until your game is unplugged
Gaming laptops are notorious for their short runtimes. However, in PCMark 10’s Moden Office summary test, the Blade 14 turned in a time of 6 hours and 46 minutes. That’s over an hour longer than the MSI Stealth Studio 14 (5:19) and good enough to last almost an entire workday. But it still lags far behind more typical ultraportables that don’t have discrete graphics, like the ZenBook 14 OLED (12:43).
However, even with some power-saving tricks like automatically downscaling its display to 60Hz when running on battery, you’ll still want to keep Razer’s power brick handy. When I play Team battle tacticsThe Blade’s battery dropped from 85 percent to 45 percent after just 40 minutes of play.
Collection
With a starting price of $2,200 or $2,700 as configured, the Blade 14 is on the expensive side. But this isn’t really new for Razer laptops, and there’s no doubt that this thing delivers an all-round premium experience with excellent build quality, a beautiful display, and excellent performance. It’s equally capable of gaming or editing on the go, and with the silver model on sale, you can get a machine that blends in better outside of LAN parties. The main thing that prevents me from buying is the presence ASUS’ updated ROG Zephyrus G14, has similar features and a significantly lower starting price of $1,600. But if you can afford it, the Blade 14 won’t go wrong.
This article was originally published on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/razer-blade-14-2024-review-a-portable-but-pricey-powerhouse-specs-price-160020891.html?src=rss
Source link
