OMG: Razer just launched a 14-inch gaming laptop with an AMD processor

Since the very first Blade gaming laptop, Razer has always used Intel mobile processors. We’re now on 11th Gen CPUs, and the tech community (including some of us in the media) continues to ask for AMD offerings. It seems as though Razer has been listening because it’s launching the new Blade 14, powered by an AMD Ryzen mobile processor.

Pricing starts at $1,799 and it starts shipping today. Here is all you need to know about the new Razer Blade 14.

Powerful hardware, compact design

Razer Blade 14 (2021): Specs and features

As the name implies, the Blade 14 rocks a mid-sized 14-inch display that comes in either full HD (1920 x 1080) at 144 Hz refresh or QHD (2560 x 1440) with 165Hz refresh, both of which are non-touch.

The full HD display hits 100% DCI-P3 while the QHD settles for 100% sRGB for color accuracy. Both, however, do feature AMD FreeSync Premium low framerate compensation (LFC) and are factory calibrated.

But it’s that AMD CPU that is the star of the show …

The processor in question is the mighty AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, a perfect match for a contender for best gaming laptops. It has eight physical cores with multi-threading support, offering up to 16 threads for heavy workloads and gaming sessions.

Accompanying the AMD processor is up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, 16GB of DDR4 3200MHz RAM, 1TB PCIe SSD, and all the other usual premium features one can expect from a gaming laptop.

The design is a familiar Blade one from Razer, including an all-aluminum chassis with precision milling. It’s also a relatively thin laptop (for gaming, at least), coming in at just 0.66-inches making it “the world’s smallest 14-inch gaming laptop.” No small feat.

Take Razer’s Book 13, toss in AMD and NVIDIA, and you have something close to the new Blade 14.

Razer solves cooling by using an aggressive vacuum-sealed vapor chamber design with dual fans (each with 88 blades) ideal for those long gaming sessions.

There are the usual Windows laptop features like Windows Hello IR for face recognition, a 720P webcam, per-key Razer Chroma RGB, and audio provided by top-firing THX Spatial Audio speakers.

And for ports, users get two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports with power delivery, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports for connecting legacy items, HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5mm jack

Unfortunately, there is the lack of Thunderbolt 4 and PCIe 4.0, which are common downsides of AMD’s finest.

Overall, the design looks killer. The Blade 14 has the compactness of the productivity-based Razer Book 13 laptop but approaches the gaming performance of the bigger Razer Blade 15. Along with reported long battery life, the Blade 14 could be the best Razer Blade yet for those who want to work and game all in one PC.

Get it now

Razer Blade 14: Pricing and availability

The Blade 14 has just three configurations making it an easy decision. The main differences are the display and GPU, while all have the identical Ryzen 9 5900HX processor:

• $1,799: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 / 1080p 144Hz panel.
• $2,199: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 / 1440p 165Hz panel.
• $2,799: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 / 1440p 165Hz panel.

The new Blade 14 is available now at Razer.com, RazerStore retail locations, and select retail partners.

In addition to the Blade 14, Razer also announced the refreshed Raptor 27 monitor and new 130-watt GaN portable charger.