The Razer Blade range combines high-end gaming performance with a dose of luxury. But, with several sizes not on the market, you’ve got a decision to make. Here are the key comparison points of the Razer Blade 14 and the Razer Blade 15.
The Blade 15 previously felt like the flagship laptop from Razer but, with the new 16-inch model launching in the past year and the Razer Blade 14 returning after a two-year hiatus, its 2023 upgrade has seen far less fanfare. It’s warranted too, with far more limited specs than models past, with the Razer Blade 16 taking its place as the default Razer.
Nevertheless, it’s still around and it’s a viable alternative to the exciting Razer Blade 14 if you favour certain benefits that come from a larger size. But, there are some compromises too. Let’s dive in.
AMD vs Intel
The introduction of the Razer Blade 14 back in 2021 was the gaming lifestyle manufacturer’s way of bringing an AMD version of its laptops into the fold. The theme continues in 2023, making the Blade 14 an exclusively AMD CPU machine and the Razer Blade 14 an Intel CPU one.
With the Blade 14, it dons an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS chip – sporting 8-cores, 16-threads and up to 5.2 GHz. The Intel Core i7-13700H in the Blade 15 offers 14-cores, 20-threads and up to 5.2 GHz. We’ve only reviewed the Razer Blade 14 so can only give our expert take on the performance of that model but the Blade 15 does look strong on paper.
We were impressed by AMD’s latest gaming chip for portable gaming laptops inside the Blade 14. The version we tested featured an RTX 4060 and the Blade 14 really squeezed every drop of performance out of it, as well as producing strong battery life scores.
There are other differences in specifications between these models that may sway you, and we’ll get to those, but if you favour an AMD or Intel processor then it’s an easy choice.
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Razer’s Blade 14 is far more portable
It sounds obvious but this could be a key factor for you when choosing between these devices – the Razer Blade 14 is a stunningly portable, yet powerful bit of kit. The Blade 14 measures 310.7 x 228 x 17.99mm and 1.84kg. Admittedly, and quite obviously, it isn’t as portable as some productivity laptops but its small size is remarkable given what it is capable of.
The Blade 15 is, expectedly, larger at 355 x 235 x 16.99mm and 2.01kg. So, the 14-inch model is surprisingly thicker but it is those height and width measurements, as well as the weight, that really make the difference. The Blade 14 feels like you can take it anywhere and move it anywhere comfortably while our past experience with the Blade 15 has it verging on feeling like a desktop replacement.
The 15-inch model has a larger battery
In our testing, the Razer Blade 14 offered excellent battery life, with an impressive 11 hours for productivity usage and closing in on 2 hours on average for playing games. The Blade 14 achieves this with a relatively unimpressively sized 68.1Whr battery.
By comparison, the Blade 15 is donning an 80Whr cell. As we haven’t tested the Razer Blade 15, we can’t comment definitively but it is worth noting the larger display on the 15-inch will likely negate some of the benefits of the larger Whr battery. Both screens do offer the same QHD resolution and 240Hz refresh rate though so the impact may not be huge.
Then, there is the differing efficiency on offer from the Intel and AMD chips, but both do offer the same RTX 4060 and 4070 options. Ultimately, we would anticipate the Blade 15 would provide more battery life, but how much is not clear.
The Razer Blade 14 gives you more RAM
Closing out with a big one that will make the mind of many dedicated gamers up when choosing between these models, if you want a modern Razer Blade laptop with more than 16GB RAM then the latest 15-inch model is not for you. Razer has decided it will only come with 16GB RAM this time out, with no room for 32 or 64GB options. You can also not upgrade the Razer Blade 15 yourself, so are stuck with what you have.
This is less of an issue for the Razer Blade 14, with a 32GB RAM option and it being user-upgradeable to 64GB RAM if you so choose. If you want to buy the 32GB RAM version though, you are restricted to the Mercury model rather than the trad Razer’s Black version.
