Why My Favorite Macbook Pro Alternative Is This Windows Laptop With A Striking Design

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Razer Blade 14 (2025) is connected waste now starting astatine $2,000.
• It's a gorgeous laptop that redefines portability for gaming machines.
• However, nan ultraportable shape facet results successful trade-offs erstwhile it comes to capacity and upgradability.

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The Blade 16 has been Razer's flagship gaming laptop for years, but nan thinner, sleeker creation connected 2025's Blade 14 (the thinnest Blade exemplary yet) gives thing short of a stunning first impression.

The caller exemplary is 11% thinner and 11% lighter than its predecessor, weighing conscionable 3.5 pounds and 0.6 inches thick, pinch a slick, matte achromatic decorativeness that looks and feels premium. The shape challenges nan brand's ain artistic pinch a instrumentality that looks much for illustration a Dell XPS 14 aliases MacBook Pro than a gaming laptop. 

Also: Is nan Razer Blade 16 yet an mundane laptop? Its caller slimmed-down creation says 'yes'

The beingness build is surely 1 of this laptop's champion features. Despite its bladed and ray frame, it feels expressly durable, pinch minimal flexing aliases surface wobble. I besides emotion nan ample rubber posts connected nan bottommost of nan instrumentality that support it from sliding astir and let for much airflow. 

By highlighting this caller and improved shape factor, Razer is taking purpose astatine competing 14-inch gaming laptops, peculiarly nan Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, which reigns ultimate arsenic 1 of nan champion 14-inch gaming laptops retired location (one of our favorites, arsenic well). 

There are a fistful of differences betwixt these 2 laptops, however, pinch nan Blade 14 trading a small spot of that powerfulness for its svelte shape factor, opening up a usage lawsuit arsenic a instrumentality that's arsenic tin connected nan Steam dashboard arsenic it is successful nan office. 

The 3K, 120Hz OLED show is gorgeous, going correct up to nan very separator pinch ultrathin bezels specified millimeters thick. Similarly, nan trackpad is ample (but not ridiculously so), going arsenic acold to nan edges arsenic it perchance can, exuding a precise, expertly crafted beingness aesthetic.

Also: I answered nan million-dollar mobility astir buying laptops - here's nan eventual guide

There are trade-offs to this design, however. The thinner shape intends little robust cooling and limits hardware, which The Blade 14 opts for successful speech for nan other portability. You've sewage an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 processor paired pinch Nvidia's caller Blackwell architecture successful nan GeForce RTX 50 series, up to nan 5070, and up to 32GB of soldered RAM. 

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

Sure, it's not nan powerful loadout you tin get connected a gaming laptop, but that isn't really nan constituent here. Razer scaled things backmost pinch nan Blade 14 for a tin instrumentality that errs connected nan broadside of artillery efficiency, alternatively than trying to strongarm capacity pinch dense hardware. 

For example, nan Blade 14 supports 100W of full graphics power, going up to 115W pinch Dynamic Boost on, truthful technically this laptop has much than capable powerfulness to support a higher-end GPU for illustration nan RTX 5080. However, Razer apt opted for nan 5070 to reign successful power and powerfulness consumption. 

To compare, nan 14-inch Asus Zephyrus G14 has nan 5080, and that point gets hot. Even pinch nan fans cranking (which are not quiet), nan reality of gaming connected a 14-inch intends accounting for these factors, of which nan Blade 14 mitigates pinch this hardware.

Also: Finally, an ultraportable Windows laptop I'd usage astatine nan agency (even though it's for gamers)

Gaming capacity while plugged successful is fantastic, pinch smooth, lag-free visuals successful "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered", "Diablo IV", and "Cyberpunk 2077". The latter, astatine 3K resolution, pushes things to nan apical end, pinch an mean correct astir 40 FPS and immoderate ray ocular stuttering, but thing that feels problematic. Swapping to a much manageable 1200p solution drastically improved performance. 

In position of benchmarking, nan Blade 14 holds its ain against 2 powerful 16-inch gaming laptops we've tested this year, the MSI Stealth 16 AI, and the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, but shows a flimsy dip successful earthy powerfulness to nan hardware successful those (much larger) systems.   

The Blade 14 has bully I/O coverage, arsenic well. You've sewage 2 USB4 Type-C ports pinch Display Port 2.1 and powerfulness transportation support connected either side, 2 USB-A ports connected either side, an HDMI larboard (on nan correct side), and a MicroSD paper reader.

Also: The champion laptops you tin buy: Expert tested

On nan near side, you besides person nan proprietary charging larboard for nan 200W powerfulness brick. This is nan astir businesslike shape of powerfulness delivery, but it will complaint via USB-C arsenic agelong arsenic you person nan due wattage. Just don't expect plugged-in capacity if you're gaming connected this pinch a 65W charger. 

The RGB lighting effects connected nan keyboard don't disappoint, either. Razer does a awesome occupation astatine maximizing nan strength and punch of each individual key, pinch minimal ray leakage from nan corners of nan keys for a melodramatic effect. 

If you for illustration per-key customization, nan keyboard present has each nan effects you tin inquire for successful nan accompanying Razer Chroma app. If you want to dress things down pinch a much subtle, office-ready aesthetic, you tin do that conscionable arsenic easily. 

The keyboard itself feels nice, pinch silent activation unless you're really hammering away. However, I tin spot immoderate gamers not being wholly satisfied pinch nan recreation distance, arsenic though it feels premium, it errs much toward a MacBook aliases business laptop than an definitive gaming board. Conversely, nan speakers are alright. They're amended than average, but a small lacking successful bass aliases richness. 

Also: I traded my business machine for a Lenovo Legion laptop for work, and didn't miss it

The Razer Synapse app acts arsenic nan device's dashboard for controlling everything from capacity modes to overclocking to at-a-glance metrics for illustration operating temps and CPU usage. However, nan app itself feels a small unfinished, and it became unresponsive a fewer times during my testing. It's useful capable to negociate settings, however. 

Just statement that erstwhile you're connected battery, nan laptop forces you into Balanced mode -- pinch nary action to move retired of it. Obviously, this is nan preferred mounting for erstwhile you're untethered from nan outlet, but eliminating nan action for short sprints of capacity connected artillery powerfulness isn't my favourite thing. 

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

Hopping into Balanced mode goes a agelong measurement toward maximizing artillery life, however. Turning nan refresh complaint down to 60Hz and reducing brightness to half resulted successful a small complete 9 hours of runtime during our artillery testing -- very bully for a gaming laptop. 

For sustained gaming connected battery, you tin expect 2 to 3 hours, which is much aliases little standard, though little demanding games will undoubtedly push that past that to 4 to five. The takeaway present is that nan Blade 14 tin enactment live successful low-demand sessions aliases while idle overmuch longer than astir gaming laptops, which thin to beryllium a batch thirstier. 

ZDNET's buying advice

The Razer Blade 14 is simply a gaming laptop, but it's not constricted to that usage case. You tin return it to nan agency aliases battalion it successful a recreation container conscionable arsenic easy arsenic you tin get those headshots successful nan latest top-tier gaming titles connected Steam. 

It's a gorgeous laptop, and it resonates pinch maine personally arsenic a "mature" gamer whose all-day gaming sessions are (mostly) a point of nan past, but still enjoys a regular portfolio of games to log into. 

Also: I replaced my activity PC pinch this Dell laptop, and it was 1 of my champion decisions

I'd urge this laptop to anyone looking for a tin gaming laptop, but who is not willing successful a monolithic 16- aliases 18-inch behemoth. In that sense, nan Blade 14 speaks to nan user who is comfortable pinch nan trade-offs discussed and appreciates nan lightweight shape factor. 

The Blade 14 comes successful respective different configurations, pinch 16GB, 32GB, aliases 64GB of soldered RAM and either nan Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 aliases 5070 GPU. The astir high-end loadout retails regularly for $2,999, which isn't precisely inexpensive and requires committedness to its niche usage case. However, correct now, it's connected waste for $2,599 -- a value that's a batch much palatable.