Razer Blade 14 Zen 4 laptop review: Lots of changes that matter

[Redaktion]

Razer has refreshed its Blade 14 this year with significant internal and external upgrades including a move to 16:10 and the latest processors from both AMD and Nvidia. Despite all the upgrades, however, the Asus Zephyrus G14 still has one key advantage not yet available on the Razer.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Razer-Blade-14-Zen-4-laptop-review-Lots-of-changes-that-matter.725419.0.html

[Qyygle]

The G14 with the same spec (minus screen) goes for almost $1000 less. You can even get the G14 with a 4080 for less than the Razer. Alienware's x14 only goes up to a 4060, but even that's cheaper than the Razer with the same GPU.

That's kind of crazy to launch with such an outragous price gap, why would anyone in their right mind go for this?

[run]

Speakers are really bad for such price. I won't buy this laptop. Will wait for something with same specs that sounds like apple mac, dell xps or huawei.

[Yi]

Thanks for the review! Prior model actually uses 6900HX instead of 6900HS.

[Neenyah]

The G14 with the same spec (minus screen) goes for almost $1000 less. You can even get the G14 with a 4080 for less than the Razer. Alienware's x14 only goes up to a 4060, but even that's cheaper than the Razer with the same GPU.

That's kind of crazy to launch with such an outragous price gap, why would anyone in their right mind go for this?

Yep, correct Qyygle 👍 They are doing the whole marketing about the 140W 4070 thus the massive price, while that 140W is literally identical performer as the 125W in the G14. Probably expecting that someone is going to go with pure numbers and see "omg 140W GPU, gotta buy that!!" to dump their money on this machine. And despite everything else being pretty damn good it's simply not worth it for that cost.

Ok the build quality here is definitely superior to the G14's but it alone can't justify to pay THAT much more. And you are also right about the G14 4080, it's some 200-ish $/€ cheaper than this Blade here.

[Yi]

I don't understand. Why did they remove MUX support when last gen has already added the MUX?

[Yi]

Can you confirm that the web surfing battery life test result is based on 240Hz? I read from other sources that this year it automatically switch to 60Hz when disconnected from power adapter...The battery life is just...absurd...Battery life is the most attractive feature last year TBH. Since last year test was already based on the QHD 3070Ti instead of the FHD base model, it's extremely weird that the new model lasts so much shorter.

[thunder]

Can you confirm that the web surfing battery life test result is based on 240Hz? I read from other sources that this year it automatically switch to 60Hz when disconnected from power adapter...The battery life is just...absurd...Battery life is the most attractive feature last year TBH. Since last year test was already based on the QHD 3070Ti instead of the FHD base model, it's extremely weird that the new model lasts so much shorter.

You're right.
Very strange when the Phoenix processor consumes much less, and the same RAM compared to last year. Like the screen, the most modern RTX 4000 graphics built by TSMC, unlike last year's RTX 3000, which consumed much more.
Something is not right for me, this laptop should last longer.
The only thing I don't like about $3,700 should be $2,500, otherwise it seems to me almost the PERFECT PORTABLE.

[Holy Moly]

How does the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED perform 8% better than the new Razer Blade 14 with only 90 watts TDP compared to the 140W TDP the Blade has?

[S.Yu]

How does the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED perform 8% better than the new Razer Blade 14 with only 90 watts TDP compared to the 140W TDP the Blade has?

Well, that's the thing with the 40 generation. I'm not even surprised anymore. Something sinister is going on around here.

[Murilo]

How does the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED perform 8% better than the new Razer Blade 14 with only 90 watts TDP compared to the 140W TDP the Blade has?

Well, that's the thing with the 40 generation. I'm not even surprised anymore. Something sinister is going on around here.

Brand + build quality. Same reason Apple sell well

[S.Yu]

How does the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED perform 8% better than the new Razer Blade 14 with only 90 watts TDP compared to the 140W TDP the Blade has?

Well, that's the thing with the 40 generation. I'm not even surprised anymore. Something sinister is going on around here.

This isn't an isolated case. Look around and you'll see this happen with many brands. Despite lack of a TGP gap, or despite a gap in the opposite direction, one mobile 40 card performs better than another.

Brand + build quality. Same reason Apple sell well

[SIGINT]

How does the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED perform 8% better than the new Razer Blade 14 with only 90 watts TDP compared to the 140W TDP the Blade has?

Well, that's the thing with the 40 generation. I'm not even surprised anymore. Something sinister is going on around here.

NVIDIA put a voltage limit on 4050, 4060 and 4070 cards. They all top around 100W

[SIGINT]

Can you confirm that the web surfing battery life test result is based on 240Hz? I read from other sources that this year it automatically switch to 60Hz when disconnected from power adapter...The battery life is just...absurd...Battery life is the most attractive feature last year TBH. Since last year test was already based on the QHD 3070Ti instead of the FHD base model, it's extremely weird that the new model lasts so much shorter.

You're right.
Very strange when the Phoenix processor consumes much less, and the same RAM compared to last year. Like the screen, the most modern RTX 4000 graphics built by TSMC, unlike last year's RTX 3000, which consumed much more.
Something is not right for me, this laptop should last longer.
The only thing I don't like about $3,700 should be $2,500, otherwise it seems to me almost the PERFECT PORTABLE.

This gen AMD CPU battery life is way worse than last generation, is like they traded 20% more performance for 20% less battery life.

[TedB]

The battery life is wrong here (aka based on a dedicated GPU) and there's a calibrated profile. It seems that only their test samples didn't have it.

With a new software update, you can switch between Optimus and dedicated GPU in Synapse. It used to be possible in the BIOS, something Notebookcheck didn't try perhaps.

My battery life is much longer on Optimus.