The OLED looks great, but one of the benefits of OLED is HDR in gaming, thanks to the incredible contrast from being able to turn off individual pixels. OLED isn’t known for being bright, but lately, that’s improved on laptops and external monitors. The OLED display on the Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 10, for example, can be cranked up to over 1,000 nits, creating an impressive HDR effect. The Razer Blade 14, however, only maxes out at 620 nits in HDR and 377 nits in SDR. Because of that, I could hardly tell HDR was even turned on. It’s still a pretty screen, and OLED has other benefits over IPS panels, including faster response times, less motion blur, and higher contrast.
Unfortunately, the Razer Blade 14’s OLED panel is not as colorful as the one I tested on the Razer Blade 16, with a color accuracy of 1.3 and 86 percent coverage of the AdobeRGB color space. Also, the 120-Hz refresh rate is standard for OLED laptops, but you can get 240-Hz speeds on laptops that use IPS, like the Alienware 16X Aurora, which happens to be a much cheaper device.
The Razer Blade 14’s biggest competition is the ROG Zephyrus G14. I haven’t tested the latest model yet, but it’s a laptop we’ve liked for years now, and it’s on sale often enough for less than the Blade 14. The only real difference is that the Blade 14 uses a more powerful AMD processor, the Ryzen AI 9 365. Not only does it perform better in anything CPU-intensive, such as certain games and creative applications, but it’s also a more efficient chip.
That leads to some improved battery life—at least, better than your average gaming laptop. I got 10 hours and 19 minutes in a local video playback test, which is about the most you can expect to get from the device. On the other hand, Asus offers higher-powered configurations of the Zephyrus G14, including one that includes the more powerful Ryzen AI 9 HX.
The RTX 5070 Takes Charge
Photograph: Luke Larsen
Bad news: The RAM is no longer user-upgradeable on the Razer Blade 14, so you’ll have to configure it up front with what you need. My review unit had 32 GB, but you can also choose either 16 GB or 64 GB. Because it’s soldered, the memory speeds are faster. As for internal storage, you still get one open M.2 slot to expand space if you need it, supporting up to 4 TB.
Razer’s $230 Clio headrest speaker did not appreciate the shape of my home gaming chair. I own a cheap chair—technically a hand-me-down from my father—and the speaker likely fetches more than the chair itself. But the Clio didn’t reject the bum support. It simply did not fit around the back of the chair. The device would sit too far down, and sound literally blasted into my upper back, rather than my ears—which is where you want the sound to go.
I’ve used plenty of odd speaker setups, including neck speakers like Sony’s Bravia Theater U that promises to offer personalized audio without the need to sandwich your head between two cans. There’s certainly an audience that is looking for high-quality, room-filling audio that doesn’t actually fill the room—further incentivizing angry neighbors to knock down your door.
Razer Clio
The Razer Clio is awkward to attach to your chair, and even when you get it on, it won’t provide the sound you expect from these large speakers.
Balanced sound quality
Smart dongle design
Easy hookup for surround sound
Comfortable
Won’t fit on some chairs
Poor strap design
Won’t work with some surround sound
Limited battery life
Not the quality you expect for $230
In that way, the Clio fits the bill. Even though I work in an open office, I wasn’t annoying my deskmates too much as I tested out my chair speaker on the other side of the room. They could hear me, certainly, but the “near-field” directional speakers on either side of the headrest kept the sound contained. Of course, what would be even less distracting is a quality pair of headphones with solid active noise cancellation to avoid any ambient sound bleeding.
The Clio nearly makes a case for itself—especially if you’re looking for a device to perfect your Razer surround sound setup. It’s also brought down by its attempts to keep you from developing tinnitus, protecting your ears from the might of two speakers with large drivers. It likely offers the personalized surround sound experience you want; it won’t if you’re used to high-end gaming headsets. Those headsets won’t reject you just because you tend to slump forward, nor poorly fit your chair just because it doesn’t have the right headrest circumferance.
I already mentioned my problems getting the Clio to accept the curves of my home gaming chair. Razer cites that any chair with a headrest circumference of 47 to 65 cm (18.5 to 25.5 inches) should be compatible, but how often are people measuring the tops of their chairs? To aid me in my predicament, Razer sent me a loaner of its own expensive and excessively ergonomic Iskur V2 X gaming chair so I could position the device correctly, just behind my ears. The Iskur is the kind of chair that reminds you of all your poor sitting habits. It’s comfortable and curves to the shape of your spine. Even though it’s made with Razer’s products in mind, the $300 gaming chair isn’t designed perfectly for the Clio.
The speaker uses two horizontal bands with adjustable buckles that are supposed to tighten against the chair’s back. You would imagine Razer would opt for stretchy bands to offer a snug fit. Instead, you end up doing your best to angle and tighten the Clio so the speakers sit to the left and right of your head. On Razer’s Iskur chair, that meant I couldn’t wrap the bottom strap all the way around the chair back, leaving the ends dangling.
The headrest itself is comfortable enough if you decide to lean your head back into it. The two wings are made of stiffer material you won’t want to rest your head on. The thing is, I don’t know many people who normally lean back far enough that they will keep their head and neck straight. If you’re a PC gamer, you’re more keen to lean toward your keyboard and mouse. When in this position, you won’t get the prime experience the Clio is trying to offer. If you’re a console gamer, get ready to sit straight-backed, like a soldier on parade, if you want the best quality audio listening with Razer’s 2.4GHz “Hyperspeed” dongle.
The Clio, like nearly every other Razer product, needs to connect through Razer Synapse PC software for firmware updates and to control the EQ, or equalization options. You only have three settings to chose from: Game, Movie, and Music. You can customize your options based on your preferences, but I found the Game option felt more flat than the Movie preset, no matter if I was watching Netflix, YouTube, or hearing the rattle of gunshots in Battlefield 6.
On the top of the speaker are controls for on and off, volume up and down, and another switch for toggling between Bluetooth and a 2.4GHz dongle connection. The dongle itself uses USB-C, and sticks out in an “L” shape, which thankfully helps you avoid taking up too much space on your desktop. There’s a single USB-C port on the headrest for charging, though you’ll also have to use it if Synapse forces you to update the firmware.
The Clio speaker looks enormous; big enough you may assume its twin full-range drivers would somehow offer the full soundbar plus subwoofer experience behind your head. But no, it’s actually more closely aligned to the many, many headphones you may go out and buy right now—just larger. And despite the size, the sound really doesn’t feel “large” in the way you would expect for a separate, $230 full-range speaker.
The Clio makes use of 43mm drivers with an aluminum core. If you assumed that would create some head-pounding bass, you may be dissapointed. The sound is more subtle than that. Even when I maxed out it and my PC’s volume, I didn’t feel ratttled by it. Then, if you tend to lean over at all in your chair, you’ll start to miss out on the best audio quality. Sorry, but I don’t have an English gentleman’s sense of perfect posture. I grew up playing games on my basement couch. My spine is a permanent letter “C.”
On completely balanced EQ settings, I felt I was getting the most out of the speaker’s sound suite. Gunfire in some games could sound slightly muffled, but it wasn’t so toned down I couldn’t hear small differences in various weapons in a game like Cyberpunk 2077. I tried to put on a number of games with more overt or subtle audio. As I played through Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, there was a part of me that knew I could be feeling the horns on the soundtrack deeper in my chest.
The Clio’s sound was balanced and clear without any sense of “wow” factor in anything I played. Audio when playing any shooter game needs to be punctuated with the hard staccato of a machine gun, but sitting in my chair I felt like I was peppering my environment by loose gravel. The subtle lutes and lyres of Baldur’s Gate III need more of a twang to help sell the fantasy than what the Clio can fully provide. Audio quality felt better-tuned to a game like Ninja Gaiden 4, where the sound of your slicing and dicing has the satisfying quality of being on the right side of a butcher’s block.
The headrrest speaker also felt better situated for listening to music. My usual slate of indie folk rock felt tuned for this device. Andrew Bird could swoon and fiddle, and I felt right at home. Heavier music that you want to feel deep in your spine will offer a slight tingle instead. Again, the audio felt about right for the price for passive listening, especially with your back pressed up against the chair. It’s what I would want from a relatively cheap speaker setup but without needing to stick multiple speaker units around your desk. However, in that case, it wouldn’t matter how you sit if you were hoping to get the full effect.
The one unique feature of the Clio is that it can act as the driver seat for a kind of 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound setup. More specifically, the Clio can work as a rear speaker while another device can perform as front speakers. You could use your monitor or laptop’s built-in speakers to do the job, though that clearly isn’t the best use case. You’ll want an actual speaker setup in front of you. However Razer’s Synapse software failed to recognize separate speakers like a BlueAnt Soundblade soundbar. It’s just another quirk of Razer’s software, of which there are many. You will have a much better time if you plug in other Razer speaker or soundbars, like the company’s Leviathan V2.
If your content doesn’t support full surround sound, hitting the setting for audio mirroring will provide a better full-sound experience. In this mode, you don’t need to worry about your head’s position for the best audio experience. If you have any type of desktop speaker setup, the Clio may actually be a great addition if you don’t want to bother with placing speakers on the other side of your gaming room. That would also defeat the purpose of the “near-field” speakers if you were hoping to let your roommates sleep in.
One of the big selling points behind this speaker is the promise of THX immersive audio. In Synapse, you can get a demo of the spatial audio sensation as sound moves around the room. Again, in games, the “spatial” sensibility is less distinctive. I could get a better spatial sense out of Razer’s own Kraken V4 Pro headset. If you were hoping these drivers could offer enough bass that it would run from your spine to the tips of your toes, you’d also come away disappointed.
Clio promises a battery life of up to 14 hours, which is considerably less than many of the big name wireless headsets out there which promise at least 30 or more hours of listening time. In my days using it, I didn’t have to worry about that much considering I can barely get in a few hours of gaming a week, at most. Charging the device isn’t all that difficult if you have an extra-long USB-C cable. Otherwise, you’ll need to take the Clio off your chair to bring it somewhere to give it that extra juice.
My mind kept going back to the various headsets I’ve used all throughout 2025. For the same price, you can grab a pair of headphones that will offer personalized audio with improved bass. An Alienware Pro Wireless headset is notably light on bass compared to similarly priced devices, and I would still prefer it over the Clio to make my spine tingle. A HyperX Cloud III Wireless at $180 also provides meaty sounds without pitching over into annoying highs or lows.
For anything better quality, you end up spending closer to $300 or even more. The cream of this year’s crop of headsets is still the Sony Inzone H9 II. It’s the moment when “balanced” audio transforms into something more meaningful. Razer’s own BlackShark V3 Pro, built for competiive gamers, will cost you $250. A Razer Kraken V4 Pro will set you back $400 when not on sale, but I can confirm it offers truly immersive audio. Yes, all these options involve earcups. The Clio may be that extra piece of kit you needed for your surround sound (if Razer likes your device). Otherwise, most people are better off sticking with what works.
The $100 Kiyo V2 X is capable of capturing 720p video at either 60 or 30 frames per second, 1080p video at 24, 30 or 60 frames per second and 1440p video at 60 frames per second. Like some of Razer’s other webcams, the Kiyo V2 X has a wide, 83-degree field of view that can be customized with the company’s Synapse software. The webcam doesn’t have the AI-powered features of the V2, but you do get all the basics, like auto-focus, a privacy shutter and a built-in microphone.
For about $50 more, the Kiyo V2 offers higher-quality capture and a few more automated features. The $150 webcam uses an 8.3MP Sony STARVIS image sensor and can capture true 4K HDR footage at 30 frames per second. The V2 also has a slightly wider field of view than the V2 X, at 93 degrees to the V2 X’s 83 degrees. Razer is using that extra wiggle room to offer auto-framing — similar to Apple’s Center Stage feature — through an integration with Reincubate’s Camo Studio software. The Kiyo V2 can keep you in frame, remove your background and offer “adaptive lighting correction,” all with the new software improvements Razer and Reincubate are adding.
While both webcams are pitched as creator tools, the basic features Razer is offering and the prices its offering them at easily make the Kiyo V2 and V2 X worth considering. At $150, the Kiyo V2 is only slightly more expensive than Engadget’s favorite webcam and should, if Razer’s claims are true, offer even better video performance.
Razer says you can purchase the Kiyo V2 X and Kiyo V2 today, for $100 and $150, respectively.
Despite including Bluetooth and ANC, I don’t think of this at the type of do-everything headset you might replace noise-canceling headphones with, and not just because the person next to you will wonder if you’re secretly talking to the pilots. These are so bulky and obviously for gaming that you probably don’t want to wear them outside the house. You’d certainly get some weird looks walking the dog or working from your local coffee shop.
Comfort and Fit
Photograph: Brad Bourque
In order to fit all those features inside, the BlackShark 3 are noticeably heavier than some of the other headsets I’ve tested recently. The Pro version with ANC comes in at 367 grams, a full 100-plus grams heavier than the Arctis Nova 3 at 260 grams. If you opt for the non-Pro model without ANC, it’s much closer to the SteelSeries at just 270 g, which is very appealing if you mostly game alone at home instead of in front of a crowd of adoring fans.
That weight doesn’t make them uncomfortable, at least for a few hours at a time, largely thanks to the ear cups, which have a pleasant mesh exterior and squishy interior padding. Razer says there’s a layer of pleather underneath to help the noise canceling, but I couldn’t tell it was there, which is a good thing, because I hate how hot pleather can get.
Still, I miss the ski-goggle band found on most SteelSeries headsets, which distributes weight more evenly across the top of the headband. Especially during long sessions, and on bigger craniums, it can help a lot with comfort. Even the similarly heavy Arctis Nova Pro, my previous upgrade pick, has a softer top-of-head feel.
Extra weight also means a bigger battery. I measured close to 50 hours with the active noise canceling on, and right around 60 with the feature turned off. In practice, I only had to plug in the BlackShark V3 Pro once a week or so to keep them topped up. The one time they got low in the middle of a WoW raid night, I was able to charge them up on our 8-minute break from about 4 percent to 11 percent, which was more than enough for the rest of the evening. They got a little confused if I plugged them into the computer just to charge, but an external charger worked just fine while playing.
The Best Microphone
Photograph: Brad Bourque
I rotate through a lot of gaming headsets, and most of the time I have to ask for feedback on my microphone quality. Some are better than others, but most are just gaming headset microphones, with a recognizable, slightly tinny vibe. The moment I sat down for my weekly Dungeons and Dragons game, my party members noticed how sharp and clear I sounded.
Today’s retro recreations are so good at replicating the Game Boy’s look, feel, and portability. The problem is, my pockets are already occupied with my mobile supercomputer that contains my life behind a 6.3-inch pane of glass. If my phone has a powerful processor and excellent AMOLED display, why can’t it also become my gaming device when I’m on the go? MCON, the controller hyped to hell and back by young engineer Josh King and brought to market by phone peripheral makers OhSnap, could be enough to make me leave my handheld at home.
I first saw the $150 MCON phone peripheral back at CES 2025; only then it was a very early prototype using 3D-printed parts. Even then, I came away impressed with the collapsible phone controller. I had to duck and weave through many, many halls at IFA 2025 to find the miniscule stall for MCON’s designer OhSnap. The company let me wrap my exhausted hands around the new, black and clear plastic MCONs that will be shipping later this year after its successful Kickstarter from earlier this year.
When I look at most modern phone controllers, whether they’re the Backbone, the 8BitDo mobile controller, or a Razer Kishi, they all boil down to an Xbox controller split in half to make room for a phone. Some of those devices offer better controls or larger cavity space for up to the size of a 13-inch iPad. While they’re slim enough to fit in a bag, the issue with this classic design is they’re not so portable you can slip them into a pocket. MCON is about the size of a phone itself. It’s compact enough that it may fit into cargo pants-sized pockets or into a pocketbook. I doubt it could fit in most thin jeans without tearing a hole in your pants or thigh. The collapsible mobile controller also uses a MagSafe magnetic attachment point while it communicates with the phone over Bluetooth, rather than a physical USB-C connection.
You can think of MCON as a Nintendo DS or a slide-out PSP Go, though without a screen or PCB (printed circuit board) of its own. The controller collapses to the size of your average phone. With the press of a button, the spring-loaded front plate shoots out to reveal twin thumbsticks, four face buttons, and a D-pad. Two fold-out wings fan out from the base to create a pseudo-controller feel, though you can game without them if you can retreat to your Game Boy glory days, before companies cared a lick for wild concepts like “ergonomics.” The extra benefit of MCON is how it keeps the screen angled up, which may be more comfortable when sitting and gaming compared to Steam Deck-like handheld PCs or the Switch 2.
The version I used was a prefab design, though it’s the closest model the company had available for when the device went into full production. The full-size drift-resistant TMR (tunnel magnetoresistance) joysticks didn’t feel constrained despite being deep-set into the controller. While the buttons had a pleasantly shallow and clicky feel, I wouldn’t have been able to hear how loud they were in such a crowded convention hall. The real surprise was the two triggers. Despite being so thin and close to the device, they dipped to a surprising depth. I didn’t feel as much resistance for each trigger as I may have liked from my favorite controllers, but I would still prefer them over the clicky triggers of many DS-like devices.
I didn’t get to play anything but Warped Kart Racers, a game that automatically accelerates for you. I imagine most people who backed the MCON controller are more interested in games without solid touch controls. It may be an option for cloud gaming when you have access to a strong Wi-Fi connection. What may be more exciting is how it could be used for retro emulation. The MCON’s MagSafe dock can slide out and reposition vertically for playing old-school Game Boy games on emulators, like Delta on iOS.
The pop-out mechanism felt fast and smooth, though I found it was difficult to push the magnetic plate back into place. It took two hands, offering a grating feel as the rail ground against itself. OhSnap! told me it was working on making that mechanism smoother as they run into full production. This is the kind of device designed for taking out while ignoring the world on your daily work commute, and it would be especially handy to collapse the MCON with one hand and slip it into your pocket when you need to. OhSnap said MCON should launch some time late in October, so we’ll know then if my phone might finally become the Game Boy I wanted it to be.
If you’re in the market for a new gaming laptop, Razer is running a variety of discounts on both the Razer Blade 16 and 18—the one to buy depends on the size of your budget and your desk. The price reduction varies but is right around 14 percent off for most models, with some versions excluded from the sale.
Photograph: Luke Larsen
Our reviewer Luke Larsen gave high marks to the 2025 revamp of the Razer Blade 16 (8/10, WIRED Recommends), largely thanks to its extremely thin footprint and excellent keyboard. Razer does a great job with little details, like the spacious glass touchpad that’s nice and responsive, the excellent fit and finish on the machined aluminum body, and the thin bezels that help the screen stand out. There’s a reason the Razer Blade 16 recently moved to the top of our favorite gaming laptop list.
The display varies depending on the version you choose. The 16-inch version that we reviewed has a 240-Hz OLED screen that we really liked. with excellent contrast and color saturation, with a fast response time that made a big difference at those sky-high frame rates. The larger Razer Blade has an IPS display instead of an OLED panel, but with a higher 3,840 x 2,400 resolution and the same 240-Hz refresh rate.
So what’s the catch? In my opinion, the laptops that are discounted are a little awkward. For the Razer Blade 16, only the RTX 5060 and RTX 5070 versions are marked down, and both feature just 8 GB of VRAM. We haven’t had a chance to test out the mobile versions of these chips, but on the desktop end I found that little memory was a limiting factor for performance, especially at 1440p or higher. Mobile GPUs are always a compromise, but you won’t have the opportunity to upgrade, so it’s important to get this right on the first try. Of the two, I’d go with the RTX 5070 version, which also makes the bump to 32 GB of RAM for $400 overall.
Despite a higher price, I think the Razer Blade 18 sale is more appealing. While the RTX 5070 Ti model is marked down, I’d be very pleased if I had $4,000 or more to spend on a laptop with a mobile RTX 5090. You’ll save $700 on the basic configuration of that model, which includes a 2-TB SSD and 32 GB of memory. Even though the screen isn’t as nice, the performance should be top-tier, as long as you have a big enough backpack.
There has to be a laptop that does it all and won’t break my back as I haul it around town. I’m sure every mobile-minded gamer has asked themselves that question and come away without a good answer. The one arena I keep coming back to is the 14-inch gaming laptop. Today’s tiny beasts have the performance necessary to keep up with 16- or 18-inch laptop without needing to lug around a huge chunk of aluminum. What’s not to like? Here’s the kicker: it’s only getting more expensive to achieve the perfect compact gaming laptop. The 2025 edition of the Razer Blade 14 is our latest and best example of how improved design is engendering ever-higher prices for already expensive products.
Today’s best compact gaming laptops now cost closer to what we used to spend for larger, hardier portable machines just a few years ago. Razer’s Blade 14 (2025) is the epitome of today’s tariffs-enabled price gouging. The laptop starts at $2,300 MSRP with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060. The model you want, with a GPU capable of maxing out some demanding games at the laptop’s peak resolution, demands $2,600. That’s $100 more than the starting price of the 2024 Blade 14. Currently, the Blade 14 (2025) is on sale through Razer’s website for closer to $2,300. It could stay at that price permanently, but I can only suspect that with Trump’s asinine tariff talk, gadgets can only ever get more expensive.
Razer Blade 14 (2025)
The Razer Blade 14 (2025) is so slim and still packs strong gaming/non-gaming performance. You’ll just have to get used to its odd trackpad first.
Pros
Performance for what you need
Slim body
Great thermal design
Nice I/O port selection
Nice screen and audio
Limited fan noise
Cons
Odd and off-putting trackpad
Screen isn’t the brightest
Ever-more expensive
Would love an option with better specs
The Razer Blade 14’s main competition is last year’s favorite, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop, now with Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs. Last year’s version asked for around $2,000 with a GeForce RTX 4070. Today’s latest Zephyrus model will demand the same price for a better RTX 5070 Ti GPU and an AMD Ryzen AI 9 270. The two 14-inch gaming laptops are neck and neck, but the Blade 14 (2025) muscles space for itself in a crowded market due to a few quality-of-life features and excellent thermal management. We can have nice things and the Blade 14 (2025) proves that. We’ll just have to spend more and more every year to cling onto our quality computers. If you’re looking for something that may cost less, you could search for an Asus TUF Gaming A14 that could clock in at less than $2,000.
Despite the recent controversy with buggy hardware and software on the Razer Blade 16, I experienced little of the claimed performance issues with the Blade 14 (2025). However, I had noticed crashes when exiting games before I made sure to download the latest firmware. After that, the laptop was smooth sailing save for all the regular issues I have with Windows 11. There’s a part of me that wishes Razer would step out of its comfort zone. The gaming brand refuses to make another Blade Stealth with that calming pink tone, so we’re left with the company’s usual black box and its big, glowing Razer logo stenciled on the lid. Past 14-inch models like the 2021 design could pack up to an RTX 3080-level GPU (and those cost less than today’s RTX 5070 model). For such a slim design, the performance you get with the modern $2,300 model is exactly what you need for a device of this size.
The new Razer Blade 14 is smaller than last year’s model, but by such a minimal degree you’d have to squint to tell the difference. It’s 0.66 inches at its thickest point. Slipping this laptop into a backpack is likely one of my greatest pleasures despite the fact you’ll still need to haul around the hefty 200W power brick if you plan to play your favorite games. Though the Blade 14 (2025) weighs in at 3.59 pounds, it will feel slightly heavier than many other thin-and-light laptop designs. That’s to be expected, and it’s a tradeoff I’d take with a smile on my face. The new Blade 14 is the kind of device that offers the mobility you can only dream of when trying to haul a 16-inch beast around.
The Blade 14 (2025)is a more subtle notebook than either the Razer Blade 16 or Blade 18. Yes, the rear panel and the triple-snake logo glow nuclear green during use, but without any bottom RGB you can get away with keeping it next to you in a crowded college auditorium so long as you remember to turn off the bright, per-key RGB lights. Using the Blade 14 (2025) would be smooth sailing after that if only Razer would spend more time paying attention to the overall feel of its personal computers. Like all its other anodized aluminum matte black laptops, the new Blade 14 is a smudge magnet. The lid and palm rests will be first to look grody with enough manhandling. The keys will soon develop unsightly smears, whether or not you dip your digits into the odd Fritos bag. At the very least, the Blade 14 (2025) comes with a great selection of I/O ports. Besides the proprietary charging port and headphone jack, you’ll get a USB 4 Type-C and USB-A on either side of the device. There’s an additional HDMI 2.1 and microSD card slot, which came in handy for on-the-go video editing.
It took me longer to get used to the feel of both the keyboard and trackpad. I had to give the laptop some leeway after fawning so hard for the Alienware 16 Area-51 and its full mechanical keyboard, but after enough time I could start to appreciate the Razer laptop’s thin keys even though I’d prefer something with more clacky sounds and travel. There’s a good deal of separation between each key to avoid any misclicks and I never felt like my fingers had to reorient to find the right key without looking. The keyboard has a small amount of feedback response with every key press—better than the squishy feel that turned me off the HP Omen Max 16. It’s enough to make the Blade 14 (2025) worth typing on—more than your average Apple Magic Keyboard. Those who want a thin, mobile device can’t ask for much better, even if I may dream of something more.
Compared to the keyboard, the new Blade 14’s trackpad is a hate-hate design. The large panel is flat and does a good job at palm rejection (a problem I’ve had on previous Razer Blade models). The issue is the interior of the trackpad is sloped toward the end facing the user. That means if you try to click toward the top of the pad, you won’t be able to register any depth outside capacitive touch. Scrolling to the top of a webpage will result in the odd sensation where you press into the trackpad to click, but then get no response. If you’re like me, and you want haptic feedback on your clicks, you’re forced to press down toward the bottom of the trackpad.
With enough time, I could find a rhythm that would make the Razer Blade 14 (2025) my main PC for work and pleasure. It’s in that mold that the refreshed gaming laptop hits its home run. The notebook can do everything I want and look good while doing it.
My edition of the Razer Blade 14 (2025) came packed an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU along with 32GB of RAM (soldered to the device, so no upgrading, unfortunately). That processor is a 10-core, 20-thread CPU based on the chipmaker’s latest Strix Point Zen 5 microarchitecture. Suffice it to say, the Strix Point CPU series is built for smaller laptops with lower power demand. and it’s proved very effective in notebooks like last year’s Asus TUF Gaming A14 when paired with a discrete GPU. In the case of the Blade 14 (2025), that’s the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 running at 115W TGP, or total graphics power. This is a higher power draw than some laptops, such as the upcoming Framework Laptop 16, and it promises to eek out more performance than some competing designs.
After downloading the latest drivers and firmware through Razer Synapse (a must if you want to avoid any odd issues that would stall when exiting games), the Blade 14 (2025) performed as well as can be expected in synthetic benchmarks. It easily beats out the 2024 small frame competitors, especially in Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024 multi-core tests, but it can’t stand toe-to-toe with its larger cousins sporting higher-end gaming laptop CPUs like the Intel Core Ultra HX line. The Blade 14 (2025) didn’t even get into the same ballpark of a 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 in these tests. In multiple 3DMark, the new Blade 14 will sit a few thousand points below laptops with an RTX 5080. Instead, it proved an incredibly balanced machine capable of hitting high frame rates in multiple games I tested, better than 2024’s best examples of 14-inchers.
The Blade 14 (2025) will meet its match when you try pushing ray tracing settings. Games like Black Myth: Wukong survive ray tracing with their automatic DLSS settings picking up the slack. The sweet spot in a game like Cyberpunk 2077 is to stick ray tracing on low settings with DLSS on auto, which can net around 65 fps in benchmarks and a little less in gameplay. Without DLSS, you’ll get slightly more than 40 fps in those same scenarios, the same as if you set it to DLSS Ultra settings. A game such as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2—already a difficult game to run on most PCs—will struggle to achieve playable frame rates at the Blade 14’s max resolution. Even when relying on DLSS, you may need to supress the inclination to dial up graphics and ray tracing settings to high if you even hope to play at a minimum 30 fps.
All of that, plus the laptop rarely felt more than slightly warm under my palms. With a laser thermometer, the Blade 14 (2025) surface temperature near the screen read around 103 degrees Fahrenheit but only 85 degrees on the palm rest. Even during play, the gaming laptop didn’t make my fingers toasty, and it kept the heat away from the sides where I’d use a mouse (better to avoid the trackpad issues altogether).
Though I have not tried the version with an RTX 5060, that GPU will necessarily limit how hard you can push your games on the Blade 14. Gamers have a one track mind. The first and last thing they care about is whether a device can run the latest titles with all the fixings—all settings on Ultra and ray tracing turned up—and still maintain a 60 fps or higher frame rate. Inevitably, the Blade 14 (2025) will find its limits.
We’ve had enough months to settle in with Nvidia’s GPU lineup. Long gone is any talk that the desktop RTX 5070 would somehow be more powerful than the RTX 4090, the previous-gen flagship. The laptop variant of this GPU is designed for smaller devices such as the Blade 14 (2025) with its limited resolution and refresh rate. Even if you push a game to hit double-digit frame rates with 50-series exclusive multi-frame gen—which inserts AI generated frames between rendered frames to artificially increase performance—the Blade 14 (2025) isn’t going to represent them on-screen with a mere 120Hz display. Instead, Nvidia has tried to showcase other uses for its RTX 50-series GPUs beyond downloading yet another game from your overstuffed Steam library centering on the new Blade 14.
I normally run a Blender test with my laptops, where I guage how long it takes the program to render a scene with a car on both the CPU and GPU. Despite the strength of AMD’s Strix Point, the Blade 14 (2025) will still not be as fast as the M4 in a 14-inch MacBook Pro. A discrete GPU will render such scenes three times as fast as the latest MacBook’s GPU, though that’s a difference of 17 seconds versus 55. Nvidia’s latest GPU’s also support improved video encoding features on top of the normal rendering enhancements from a discrete GPU. All that sounds well and good for specific workflows, but you’ll have to wrestle with the battery issues common to all gaming laptops of this caliber. Relying on the Blade 14’s Strix Point integrated GPU to save on battery will leave you dissapointed. In our Blender test, the Blade 14 (2025) was barely a minute faster on the AMD Radeon 880 graphics than running directly on the CPU.
Past Razer Blade 14 models could support screens with higher refresh rates up to 165Hz. Compared to that, the Blade 14 (2025) may seem more humdrum. The new laptop packs an OLED display with 2,880 x 1,800 resolution and a max of 120Hz refresh rate. Some may look at the price and wonder why we couldn’t have better refresh rates, but the display manages to strike a balance between speeds and pretty visuals.
The Blade 14 (2025)’s OLED display is the kind of pretty that’s so standard now among higher-end devices. It’s a good thing then, that the display is so especially nice to look at. The added bonus is Razer pushed the side and top screen bezels farther to the edge, maximizing the space I use to bask in those deep blacks promised by organic light-emitting diode displays.
This screen type offers better blacks and contrast than other competing displays. The main drawback is they are normally dimmer than other screens with a backlight, like mini LED. I never had a situation where I couldn’t see the screen in a dark room or where a bright light drowned out what was happening. Instead, the screen is a little too reflective. When you load dark colors onto the screen, the Blade 14 (2025) is so mirror-like I could read my own shirt. The reflectivity never proved so bad it distracted me from work or gaming, but it could be a major hassle if your attention tends to stray.
This laptop is also a great machine for most of your streaming content. The Blade 14 (2025) has a six speakers with support for THX spatial audio. Sound from the laptop came through clear and accurate. I wasn’t left grabbing for the nearest pair of high-quality headphones even when watching YouTube videos or loading up a game with my favorite soundtrack. Listening to in-game sound is even better thanks to its very minimal fan noise. The new Blade 14’s secret weapon is not necessarily its components, but the fact that everything runs so smoothly without any obtrusive noise to distract you.
Gaming laptops continue to have severe battery life issues. Even if you eschew any more hardcore programs and only use this laptop to browse the web, you’ll never achieve anything close to a full-day of battery life. The Blade 14 (2025) doesn’t break that trend, but it does better than most.
In practice, the laptop can maintain itself on the default balanced power settings off-plug for a little more than four hours. After that, the it was begging for a charger. That number was consistent over weeks using the new Blade 14. The laptop would much rather you work with a plug nearby. With the 200W power brick connected to the its proprietary charging port, I could go from near 20% to almost full in under 40 minutes. I prefer to travel light, in which case I sometimes left the charger at work just so I didn’t have to carry it around with me.
In the end, even the most mobile gaming laptops will still be limited in just how easy it is to bring them around. The Blade 14 (2025) is simply slightly better than most, and in that way it’s one of my favorite laptops of the year. Despite all my hangups with its trackpad and keyboard, it’s the kind of device I wish I could keep close by, though perhaps out of a sense of entitlement after paying well over $2,000 for it.
The latest version of Razer’s Xbox and PC controller has six remappable inputs: four back paddles and two bumpers near the shoulder buttons. Its triggers can be toggled between analog and instant actuation. It uses Hall Effect joysticks for a drift-free experience. It has a wireless dongle, while its wired mode gets you a 1000 Hz polling rate.
The Federal Trade Commission hit Razer with a $1.1 million fine Tuesday. The order claims that the gaming accessory maker misled consumers by claiming that its flashy Zephyr mask was certified as N95-grade.
“These businesses falsely claimed, in the midst of a global pandemic, that their face mask was the equivalent of an N95 certified respirator,” FTC Bureau of Consumer Projection Director Samuel Levine noted in a statement. “The FTC will continue to hold accountable businesses that use false and unsubstantiated claims to target consumers who are making decisions about their health and safety.”
Razer has predictably pushed back against the commission’s claims.
“We disagree with the FTC’s allegations and did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement,” a representative from the company said in a statement to TechCrunch. “It was never our intention to mislead anyone, and we chose to settle this matter to avoid the distraction and disruption of litigation and continue our focus on creating great products for gamers. Razer cares deeply about our community and is always looking to deliver technology in new and relevant ways.”
The company went on to suggest that the complaint was cherrypicked, adding that it went out of its way to refund customers and end sales of the Zephyr.
“The Razer Zephyr was conceived to offer a different and innovative face covering option for the community,” it notes. “The FTC’s claims against Razer concerned limited portions of some of the statements relating to the Zephyr. More than two years ago, Razer proactively notified customers that the Zephyr was not a N95 mask, stopped sales, and refunded customers.”
The FTC is also officially barring sales of the mask and “making COVID-related health misrepresentations or unsubstantiated health claims about protective health equipment.” It goes a step further, “prohibit[ing] the defendants from representing the health benefits, performance, efficacy, safety, or side effects of protective goods and services (as defined in the proposed order), unless they have competent and reliable scientific evidence to support the claims made.”
The filing suggests that Razer intentionally deceived consumers into believing that the $100 mask would protect against COVID. Certainly the virus was very much top of mind when the product first dropped in October 2021.
The order is currently awaiting approval and signature from a District Court judge.
April Fool’s Day has finally come to add a little bit more chaos to the week, as jokes and lies fly around unrestricted. But we understand what April 1 is all about—a chance for developers to sneak in some humor in our favorite games. These April Fools’ jokes are getting a little more advanced and ambitious year by year, and we love April for that. Here are some of the best April Fools’ jokes currently out there:
Lechonk lovers unite
Here are two true statements: Lechonk is a perfect Pokémon, and Lechonk deserves more love than we can offer. So while there’s an underlying pain that Lechonk can only dominate Pokémon on a holiday meant for jokes, I’m still happy to report that Lechonk will get the stardom it deserves this April 1. True Lechonk fans will treat themselves to an extra chonky plush, or a porky pink playmat decked out with numerous Lechonks.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Coolest Zone Is Easy To Miss
Nintendo Switch Online will now sound more Italian
Incredible visuals This smart TV has access to a wide array of streaming services, all of which are easier to navigate, has 4K visuals for a stunning picture, and comes with an Alexa Voice Remote too.
IGN pulls a fast one here and declares that every Mario game is about to get Prattified. Can you imagine?
Xzibit levels up Pimp My Ride
Xzibit shows YOU how to PIMP YOUR motherf****** BROWSER
Opera GX is a self-proclaimed “browser for gamers,” and I suppose allowing users to mod their browser takes that sentiment to the next level. The one and only Xzibit is here to show you how to pimp out your Opera GX setup, with new aesthetic digs like a Cyberpunk theme or a more broad “anime theme.”
Disgaea throws its hat into the dating simulator ring…with a fake dating sim
It’s pretty trendy nowadays for games to also have a spin-off dating sim, like Dead by Daylight or Overwatch 2. For Disgaea, I suppose April 1 is as good a time as any to announce its otome date-sim spin-off, titled Makai no Prince-Sama. Tragically, this game has a release date slated for January 30, 20000000200, so there’s no way for me to actually take Killia out for a nice dinner. Oh well. If this game were to be true, you would wake up in the form of a Prinny (those cute penguins) to experience a heart-pounding and romantic adventure. One can only dream.
【魔界戦記ディスガイア】『魔界の♡プリンスさまっ♪』プロモーションムービー
Genshin Impact reveals four playable cats
Genshin Impact has a real love for cats, as evidenced by the playable character Diona and her “Cat’s Tail” bar. For April Fools, Hoyoverse is capitalizing on all of our feline fantasies: to play a cat. More specifically, Hoyoverse released a set of shorts and promotional images to advertise playable kitty versions of Diluc, Keqing, Kuki Shinobu, and Wanderer. Unfortunately, they will be hard to distinguish through text, as each cat is simply named “Meow,” and all they can do or say is “meow.”
Among Us expands its horse universe
Innersloth can’t stop horsing around, it seems, as the Among Us developers once again brought back the infamous “Horse Mode,” allowing players to take control of the majestic Horsemate. But Innersloth simply could not satisfy itself by rerunning the same classic “Horse Mode.” The Among Us devs have stepped their game up with the expanded “Horse Wrangling Mode.” This Hide n’ Seek game mode will allow the seeker to take the role of a “Rancher,” literally tying up these darned Horsemates instead of killing them.
Among Us Horse Mode Kill Animation
Look your best with the new Razer Razer
I’m glad Razer is finally cashing in on its homophonic relationship with the word “razor.” One might say it’s an easy target, but I believe it’s just necessary wordplay. This theoretical razor doubles as a shaving tool, as well as a high-quality gaming mouse, allowing you to look your best as you click heads or whatever it is you use your gaming mouse for.
You can sign up to be a beta tester for the Razer Razer on the official website here. Now, I’m not a betting man, but I don’t think you’ll actually get your hands on a Razer Razer. But you will enter a raffle to win a full set of Razer gear, including a keyboard, headphones, and mouse.
Razer Razer | Feel Sharp, Play Sharp
Assassinate a cuddly teddy bear in Rainbow Six Siege
Rainbow Six Siege likes to celebrate April Fools with a “Rainbow is Magic” event. While normally, Rainbow Six Siege does not display much in the form of rainbows, April Fools allows the tactical shooter to add some color to its universe. Unfortunately, pacifists are not welcome this time. As opposed to rescuing teddy bears, you’ll have to blow their heads off instead.
Rainbow Six Siege: Rainbow is Magic 2023 Gameplay Trailer
1v1 your cat in Street Fighter 6
Capcom is on a roll with innovative new Street Fighter 6 features. Not only will there be a new 2v2 mode, but also a “Dynamic-mode” that allows you to perform stylish combos and attacks with the simple press of a button. For further accessibility with your cat, Capcom has created a tool that lets your cat experience Dynamic mode, converting the various swats and jabs of a cat into button presses. If you ever dreamt of that, anyways.
League of Legends allows you to collect and wear a bounty of hats
League of Legends is now all about that fashion. When players enter a Blind Pick match, they’ll have the chance to wander around the Summoner’s Rift to kill minions, collecting some snazzy hats along the way. And if this Reddit post is to be believed, it doesn’t seem like there’s an upper limit to how many stylish hats you can wear, which means your stack of hats can be as tall as you dream. Some other surprises are waiting for you in Blind Pick, but I’ll be out there collecting hats instead.
While Sonic the Hedgehog is murdered, the Eggcoin currency crashes
It appears to be a stressful time of year for Sonic the Hedgehog and friends. While everyone’s favorite blue hedgehog was killed off for a free murder mystery game, there were some darker, more illicit underpinnings brewing in the Sonicverse. Apparently, Eggman has created a cryptocurrency known as “Eggcoin” that has crashed and burned, and Big the Cat is the surprising leader of a mafia crew, amongst other shocking headlines. Thoughts and prayers.
Baldur’s Gate 3 will let you cheese everything
One of the best things about Larian games is finding out how you can use the tools they give you to break their games. They’ve decided to cut out the middleman and just let you cheese outright!
VALORANT e-daters in Ranked will automatically be funneled to a dedicated queue where they can only hear one another’s voice comms
Cuffing season may be over, but if you and your situationship are tryna link over VALORANT without getting absolutely merked by your teammates, we gotchu fam.
GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS UPDATES
Shots fired while in spawn will now shoot into enemy spawn
map control is mid anyway
Jett dash is now cooldown based instead of charge based and the cooldown is now set to 0.5 seconds
we love Jett and we love cars so we made her dash cooldown 0.5 seconds. Jett boutta pull up skrt skrt
Minecraft’s April Fools Is On Fire
Revealing: The Vote Update
If you log into Minecraft today, you’re going to notice something a little different about your launcher. Don’t worry, nothing is wrong. You can put out the fire with the little water bucket. Aside from that, though, Mojang has unleashed a devilish ‘Vote’ update, which sounds like pure chaos:
From the moment you start a game, you will find yourself in a world of endless voting, where the results fundamentally change the laws of Minecraft. As you might have noticed in the video, we have created a fine selection of voteable features that include everything and anything: beelloons*, French mode, zombie mode, rabbit transformation, exploding pistons, haunted world – and much, much more.
“Studies show that gamers love to make decisions – the more the better,” said Professor Apreel Dåre of Sillington University. “The fact that Mojang Studios is willing to put decision-making in the hands of the players just shows how much they care about their community. Or that’s what I assume. I haven’t been in a community since 1857 and I don’t really play games.”
If you have no idea what to expect, that’s by design. They’re liking this to getting a box of chocolates, just one with apparent consequences.
After you download it, there is no turning back. If you delete the file, the story ends; you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You boot it up, you stay in the Overworld, and we show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
I’m sure it’ll be fine, though.
Rocket League gets positive
If you’re logging on to have a heater gamer moment in Rocket League today, bad news. The chat has been overhauled so only positive messages can go out. Also, now there’s a literal Easter Egg you can kick around.
What are some of your favorite April fool’s jokes this year?
