Razer Blade 14 (Early 2022) – Top 5 Pros and Cons
The Blade 14 from Razer might actually be more popular than the Blade 15, as the smaller chassis and AMD hardware definitely have something to offer. While we are a bit late to the party, reviewing the Early 2022 version, it’s better late than never, and since we haven’t reviewed Razer laptops before, we thought it would be kind of fun and informative to see what they’re cooking. Powered by a Ryzen 9 and up to an RTX 3080 Ti, it’s definitely the most powerful 14-inch machine from last year.
Today we’re presenting you with LaptopMedia’s top 5 picks about the Razer Blade 14 (Early 2022).
Razer Blade 14 (Early 2022): Full Specs / In-depth Review
3 reasons to BUY the Razer Blade 14 (Early 2022)
1. Display quality
There are two IPS displays available, with either FHD or QHD resolution. We tested the QHD version, which has a 165Hz refresh rate. At this resolution and screen size, you get very detailed visuals. The panel reaches 380 nits of brightness, with a contrast ratio of 1100:1. The display shows 100% sRGB and 98% DCI-P3 coverage.
As for accuracy, we tested both in the sRGB and DCI-P3 gamuts. We got better results inside the latter, especially once we applied our Design and Gaming profile, which lowers the dE value down to 0.8. Here are the results of the accuracy test with the stock settings (left) and with our profile applied (right).
Buy our profiles
Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Razer Blade 14 configurations with 14″ TL140BDXP02-0 (TMX1400) (2560 x 1440) IPS.
*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].
Read more about the profiles HERE.
In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.
Office Work
Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.
Design and Gaming
This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.
Health-Guard
Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.
Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount
2. Performance
CPU benchmarks
We purchased a pretty powerful configuration for the sake of this review, with a Ryzen 9 6900HX and an RTX 3070 Ti. Compared to the Blade 15 and its Core i7-12800H, it is less powerful, however, we do see slightly better scores than the Zephyrus G14 from ASUS, which we feel is one of its few competitors.
Results are from the Cinebench R23 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)
GPU benchmarks
The RTX 3070 Ti matches the one inside the Blade 15 while running circles around the RX 6700S inside the G14.
The results are from 3DMark Time Spy (Graphics). Higher is better.
Results are from 3DMark Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)
The results are from 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited. Higher is better.
Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Gaming tests
Metro Exodus | Full HD, Low (Check settings) | Full HD, High (Check settings) | Full HD, Extreme (Check settings) |
---|---|---|---|
Average FPS | 144 fps | 83 fps | 41 fps |
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands | Full HD, High (Check settings) | Full HD, Very High (Check settings) | Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) |
---|---|---|---|
Average | 126 fps | 109 fps | 72 fps |
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018) | Full HD, Medium (Check settings) | Full HD, High (Check settings) | Full HD, Highest (Check settings) |
---|---|---|---|
Average | 135 fps | 130 fps | 92 fps |
3. Cooling
The laptop manages to achieve these scores thanks to the vapor chamber and two fans, which work wonders.
Max CPU load
AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (45W TDP) | 0:02 – 0:10 sec | 0:15 – 0:30 sec | 10:00 – 15:00 min |
---|---|---|---|
Razer Blade 14 (Early 2022) | 3.83 GHz @ 85°C @ 76W | 3.81 GHz @ 89°C @ 75W | 3.75 GHz @ 90°C @ 73W |
ASUS Vivobook Pro 16X OLED (M7600) | 3.67 GHz @ 91°C @ 65W | 3.66 GHz @ 95°C @ 64W | 3.54 GHz @ 83°C @ 54W |
Compared to the only other laptop with the same Ryzen 9 6900HX, the Blade 14 performs better, offering higher TDPs and clock speeds in all three stages of our test.
Real-life Gaming
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti | GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min) | GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min) | GPU frequency/ Core temp (Max Fan) |
---|---|---|---|
Razer Blade 14 (Early 2022) | 1358 MHz @ 71°C @ 99W | 1356 MHz @ 72°C @ 100W | – |
Razer Blade 15 (Early 2022) | 1403 MHz @ 74°C @ 105W | 1418 MHz @ 72°C @ 105W | – |
MSI Stealth GS66 (12Ux) | 1277 MHz @ 71°C @ 92W | 1250 MHz @ 75°C @ 91W | 1314 MHz @ 64°C @ 92W |
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (PT516-52s) | 1270 MHz @ 87°C @ 115W | 1200 MHz @ 87°C @ 105W | 1320 MHz @ 87°C @ 113W |
It also squeezes out higher clock speeds than larger notebooks like the Stealth GS66 from MSI and the Triton 500 SE from Acer, which is respectable. Compared to the Blade 15, it has slightly lower clock speeds, with lower TGPs as well.
Comfort during full load
The base does get warm, going as high as 47°C, which is due to the thinner profile of the machine (it’s only 16.8 mm). Noise is also audible, as the fans scream for air. Generally, however, that’s only during heavy loads. Most of the time you won’t even hear them when you’re browsing.
2 reasons NOT to buy the Razer Blade 14 (Early 2022)
1. Upgradeability
Totally expected from a 14-inch machine, the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard, which might be a problem, since Razer offers only up to 16GB of DDR5 memory. Storage is accessible through one M.2 slot which fits Gen 4 drives.
Here is our teardown video, which shows how to access the single SSD slot.
2. Battery life
Despite having a Ryzen CPU, which is known to have great efficiency, here it’s not reflected at all. The 61.6Wh battery pack lasts for 7 hours and 9 minutes of Web browsing, or 4 hours and 52 minutes of video playback. Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with.