Razer Blade 14 inch (2015) Review

The fact that the Razer Blade 14 is not officially sold or supported in the United Kingdom hasn't stopped enthusiast users importing it. As we discussed earlier in the review, Amazon are now working with a select group of partners, offering various configurations for sale under the AMAZON PRIME delivery service.

These dealers are also offering 1 year technical support and warranty terms, via local UK repair stations. Of course without official support there is an extra risk involved, but hardcore UK Razer gamers wanting the most portable, powerful gaming solution may find this too good to resist.

The 2015 version of the Razer Blade 14 has received some noteworthy upgrades, particularly the move to the Maxwell oriented GTX970m graphics. This is a formidable solution able to churn through the frame rates at 1080p, and able to even drive most games at the native 3,200 x 1,800 resolution of the panel – as long as you don't mind lowering the image quality settings a little.

First impressions are certainly positive, the Razer Blade is crafted from a solid block of aluminum, anodized black. Build quality is truly exemplary. While exceptionally thin, it doesn't flex, creak or bend.

The ethos of the Blade 14 stays true to Razer, with all the USB 3.0 ports, accenting and backlighting offered in neon green. Those who like to change the keyboard backlighting will be disappointed – you are stuck with green. I have no issues with the colours – the green is eye catching, stylish and very dramatic.

The adoption by Razer of quad core Intel Core i7 4720HQ (8 logical cores) with Nvidia GTX970m is certainly ambitious, especially in such a tiny chassis. After a short time running my usual suite of benchmarks I was fairly confident that the Core i7 4720HQ was throttling – results were lower than expected. As our thermal analysis later in the review confirmed the cooling system is indeed struggling to deal with the heat. While Razer's design decision to move the exhaust ports to the top of the chassis between the screen certainly improves the appearance it does raise chassis temperatures in the middle and top sections of the keyboard, and to the left and right sides.

While no one will want to know their laptop could be thermally throttling, under the majority of real world situations, this will not be an issue . No games we have tested will load all eight logical cores at 100%, although if you are buying this laptop for heavy duty 3D rendering on the move, then be prepared to potentially suffer minor performance degradation, as well as extremely high noise levels.

The Nvidia GTX970m has impressed me today, this is a fantastic mobile graphics solution that demands modest power but can actually cope with 3,200 x 1,800 gaming, as long as you don't want to run every game at the highest settings. It was undoubtedly a great choice by Razer.

You can buy the model we reviewed today from Amazon, with PRIME delivery for around £2,100 inc vat and delivery. Other options are the 128GB version for £1,998, and the 512GB version for £2,433. Visit this page for more details. While we could detail the cost is much higher than other gaming laptops on the market, we feel the Razer Blade 14 is targeting a very specific audience – the hardcore Razer audience who will pay over the odds for these products.

The wider mobile gaming audience will be better served by models we have reviewed in recent months from MSI or ASUS. The MSI GS60 Ghost Pro 3K 2QE for example is a tough gaming laptop to ignore, especially as the price has dropped in recent weeks to £1,599.97 inc vat. This system also features the excellent Nvidia GTX970m and earned our highest award.

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Pros:

• Razer Blade 14 build quality is top drawer.
• black anodized aluminum looks fantastic.
• USB 3.0 performance.
• good keyboard.
• very thin.
• 802.11AC Wifi performance is excellent.
• Sharp LQ140Z1JW01 IGZO Multitouch screen.

Cons:

• Expensive.
• Not ‘officially supported' by Razer in UK.
• gets loud when heavily loaded.
• gets hot when heavily loaded.
• some thermal throttling in extreme situations.

Kitguru says: The Razer Blade 14 is a stunning looking laptop, like the evil brother of the MacBook Pro. Gaming performance is top class, but it comes with a hefty price.

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