Razer refreshed its Blade lineup of gaming laptops, including the Blade 14, 15, and 17. These are all great laptops and powerful in their own right, but there are a few differences beyond the screen size, so if you’re planning to buy one, it’s a good idea to look closely at each of them.
We’re here to help, and in this article, we’ll be comparing the Razer Blade 14, 15, and 17 so you can decide which one is right for you. The Razer Blade 14 sticks out the most, with the two other models being more similar between themselves. Still, there are some differences you might not see right away. Let’s get started.
Razer Blade 14 vs 15 vs 17: Specs
| Razer Blade 14 (2022) | Razer Blade 15 (2022) | Razer Blade 17 (2022) | |
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| Starting price | $1,999.99 / €2,199.99 | $2,499.99 / €2,799.99 | $2,699.99 / €2,999.99 |
4 Ports (USB-C)Some of the differences between these laptops become immediately apparent, but it’s clear that there are also lots of similarities. Let’s take a closer look.
Performance: It’s all in the details
Looking at the spec sheet above, it’s obvious that all of these laptops are running on powerful hardware. The Blade 15 and 17 both have the latest 12th-generation Intel Core processors which come with a new hybrid architecture with high-performance and efficient cores, for a total of 14 cores and 20 threads. Performance should be very similar between these two processors, though there’s a chance that the larger laptop can accommodate a more effective cooling system.
Razer Blade 15
As for the Blade 14, it’s packing the latest AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX, which is a direct competitor to the aforementioned Intel products. It has the same core layout as the previous models, with 8 cores and 16 threads, but it does have some performance improvements under the hood. It’s hard to say right now which processors will be better since neither of them has benchmarks available yet, but they shouldn’t be too far from each other. That’s how it was with the last generation of products from both companies, though Intel’s new architecture could result in big gains.
As for graphics, Razer Blade 14, 15, and 17 have similar specs on paper, but the devil is in the details here. Laptop GPUs all have different power ratings and speeds, even if they can be branded the same way, so an RTX 3080 Ti isn’t going to be equal in every laptop. Razer hasn’t clarified the maximum graphics power for these new models, but for now, we can assume they’ll be similar to the previous generation. The Blade 14 maxed out at 100W for the GeForce RTX 3080, while the Blade 15 went up to 105W, and the Blade 17 up to 130W. That means the Blade 17 is the most powerful of the three. As the laptops get bigger, they can fit more power-hungry GPUs and better cooling, so that’s to be expected.
Razer Blade 17
The RAM on the Blade 14 is soldered and can't be upgraded.
The rest of the specs are also similar, with some noteworthy differences. All three laptops come with LPDDR5 RAM clocked at 4800MHz, and they all come with a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. However, the RAM on the Blade 14 is soldered and can’t be upgraded, while the other two let you add up to 64GB of RAM yourself. And for storage, the Blade 14 only has one M.2 SSD slot, while the other two models have an extra slot if you need more space. Additionally, Razer claims the Blade 17 supports up to 4TB SSDs in each slot, while the other two are limited to 2TB per slot.
Battery life likely won’t be exceptional on any of these laptops due to their powerful specs. The battery size increases in the bigger models, but that mostly accommodates the bigger displays with higher refresh rates, and the best battery life might be on the Blade 15. The battery is almost the same size as the Blade 17, but the display is smaller and the GPU is less power-hungry, so that’s the most likely scenario.
Display: The Blade 15 and 17 have the most options
The differences in the display options are a bit more obvious, and they help put the Blade 14 even further in its own category. This model comes with a 14-inch display, and you only get two options: a Full HD panel with a 144Hz refresh rate and 100% sRGB, or a Quad HD panel at 165Hz and 100% of DCI-P3. These are both solid displays, with the second option obviously being better and offering a great balance of resolution and refresh rate.
Razer Blade 14
All Razer Blade laptops have a 1080p webcam and Windows Hello.
But in this respect, the Blade 15 and 17 have more options, and better ones at that. Aside from the size, these are mostly identical. There’s a Full HD panel with an ultra-fast 360Hz refresh rate and 100% sRGB coverage, a Quad HD panel with an almost as fast 240Hz refresh rate and 100% of DCI-P3, or an all-out 4K display with a 144Hz refresh rate and 100% coverage of Adobe RGB. As you increase the resolution, these displays are more and more geared toward content consumption and creation, but they’re all still great for gaming. And they’re all better than the Blade 14 in one way or another. The Blade 17 also has a cheaper Quad HD model at 165Hz, similar to the Blade 14’s higher-end configuration.
One area where all three laptops are similar is the webcam. Razer has finally upgraded the entire Blade lineup to now have a Full HD 1080p webcam, a very welcome improvement in the era of remote work. All the new Blade models also support Windows Hello facial recognition, which is very much appreciated and not as common as it should be.
Razer Blade 15
As for sound, the Razer Blade 17 is likely going to give you the best experience compared to the Blade 14 and 15. Thanks to the larger size, the Blade 17 has a total of eight speakers – four woofers and four tweeters – making for a very immersive sound experience overall. Meanwhile, Razer only says the Blade 14 and 15 have stereo speakers, which likely means there are only two speaker units in each laptop. They’re all top-firing speakers, though, so that’s a plus.
Design: The same DNA, but in different sizes
As you might have expected, the Razer Blade 14, 15, and 17 look nearly identical aside from their size. They’re all-black laptops with a green Razer logo on the lid and an RGB backlit keyboard. The differences here all come down to the size and ports.
The Razer Blade 14 is the smallest and lightest of the three, weighing just under 4lbs and measuring 16.8mm in thickness. This makes it a great choice if you want something you can carry around easily that’s still powerful enough for gaming. The Blade 15 is larger in all dimensions, including 16.9mm of thickness and weight starting at 4.4lbs. It’s still decently portable, though. Finally, the Blade 17 is the largest, measuring 19.9mm in thickness and starting at 6.06lbs, it’s not something you want to take with you everywhere.
Razer Blade 14
Only the Blade 15 and 17 have Thunderbolt.
There’s also the matter of ports, with all three laptops offering solid connectivity options. The Blade 14 is the least capable of the bunch because of its AMD processor, which means it doesn’t have Thunderbolt 4 support. Still, you get two USB Type-C ports, two USB Type-A ports, HDMI 2.1, and headphone jack, which is a very solid setup. The Blade 15 upgrades the Type-C ports to Thunderbolt 4 ports so you can use a Thunderbolt dock or external GPUs, plus you get one extra USB Type-A port (three in total) and an SD card reader. Finally, the Blade 17 adds 2.5Gbps Ethernet on top of all of that, giving you fast wired internet for online gaming.
Evidently, you’re trading off portability for power as you move from the Razer Blade 14 to the Blade 15 and 17. The Razer Blade 14 has the least ports, but it’s easier to carry around, and it’s far from a bad setup. The Blade 15 has some extra ports and Thunderbolt support, but it’s a good bit heavier. And the Blade 17 has a fully-featured setup and the most powerful specs, but it’s very hard to carry around.
Bottom line
With three laptops as similar as the Blade 14, 15, and 17, you have to look closely at what you want from your laptop to make a choice. If you’re looking at these laptops, you’re probably a gamer, so then the question is what kind of gamer are you?
If you’re a college student and you want a laptop that can run all the modern games while still being decently portable and usable in a classroom environment, the Razer Blade 14 is a very well-rounded option, and it’s the most affordable, too. If you’re willing to sacrifice a bit of portability and you have money to spend, the Blade 15 offers a better gaming experience and it’s not overly heavy or big. The previous generation is one of the best 15-inch laptops you can buy today, so that should hold up here.
Razer Blade 17
If you’re more so looking for a laptop to power your home gaming setup, the Razer Blade 17 is the way to go. It has the most powerful GPUs and more ports, including wired internet if you want to play games competitively online with as little latency as possible. It’s a very heavy laptop, so it’s ideal for at-home gaming, but it gives you the freedom to take your rig to a friend’s house, for example.
Regardless of what your decision is, you have to wait a while before you can act on it. The Razer Blade 15 and 17 will be up for pre-order on January 25th, and the Blade 14 will follow on February 10th. The laptops will start shipping in the first quarter of the year.
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