Razer Blade 14 vs. Asus ROG Zephyrus G14: Similar Specs, Different Price Tags

21/6/24

By:

Amitabh Srivastav

Where the Blade Excels in Performance, the Zephyrus Shines in Value

Fourteen-inch gaming laptops strike an excellent balance between performance and portability. They can run most PC games at over 60fps on high settings, yet weigh under four pounds and are less than an inch thick, making them easy to carry around. However, this compact size does come with some compromises: limited power capacity, loud cooling fans, and shorter battery life compared to thinner, lighter non-gaming laptops. Despite these trade-offs, these gaming laptops are versatile enough to be used both in a lecture hall and at a coffee shop.

The **Razer Blade 14** and **Asus ROG Zephyrus G14** are two of the top contenders in the 14-inch gaming laptop category. The Zephyrus G14, a long-time favorite, boasts a redesigned chassis and a new OLED panel, while the 2024 Blade 14 offers a modest spec bump over its predecessor. Let's pit these two powerhouses against each other in a benchmark showdown.

Razer Blade 14 (2024)

![Razer Blade 14]

- **Price**: $2,699.99

- **Pros**:

- 240Hz refresh rate

- Superior GPU power and higher performance

- Swappable RAM

- **Cons**:

- Some keys get noticeably warmer

- Trackpad can feel sticky

- Short battery life

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024)

![Asus ROG Zephyrus G14]

- **Price**: $1,999.99 - $2,200.00

- **Pros**:

- Balanced performance and battery life

- OLED display

- Programmable LED strip on the lid

- Smooth trackpad

- **Cons**:

- Bottom chassis expels too much heat

- Soldered RAM

- Lower power limit on GPU

Performance: Blade 14 Takes the Lead

The Blade 14 I tested, priced at $2,700, comes equipped with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS, RTX 4070, 32GB of memory, and 1TB of storage. I also tested two configurations of the Zephyrus G14: a $2,200 version with similar specs to the Blade 14 and a $1,700 version with an RTX 4060 and 16GB of memory.

Game Benchmarks

|------------------------------- |-------------------------------------- |-------------------------------------------- |-------------------------------------------- |

| **Far Cry 6 (Ultra, 1080p)** | 99 | 87 | 86 |

| **Total War: Warhammer III (Ultra, 1080p)** | 86 | 75 | 67 |

| **Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest, 1080p)** | 148 | 133 | 121 |

| **Cyberpunk 2077 (Ultra, 1080p)** | 84 | 77 | 68 |

| **1080p Average** | 104 | 93 | 85 |

| **Far Cry 6 (Ultra, Native)** | 83 | 67 | 59 |

| **Total War: Warhammer III (Ultra, Native)** | 53 | 38 | 36 |

| **Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest, Native)** | 96 | 69 | 64 |

| **Cyberpunk 2077 (Ultra, Native)** | 44 | 42 | 28 |

| **Native Average** | 69 | 54 | 46 |

| **Cyberpunk 2077 (Ultra, 1080p, ray tracing)** | 41 | 35 | 31 |

| **Cyberpunk 2077 (Ultra, 1080p, ray tracing, DLSS 3.5 performance)** | 131 | 120 | 92 |

At 1080p on the highest settings, all three laptops can push over 60fps in most games. With ray tracing enabled, **Cyberpunk 2077** is an outlier unless DLSS 3.5 is turned on, which more than triples the frame rate. The Blade 14 consistently outperformed the 4070 Zephyrus by 9 to 18 percent in every benchmark, thanks to its higher power allowance for the GPU.

**Winner: Razer Blade 14**

## Display: Zephyrus G14 Shines with OLED

The Blade 14’s 2560 x 1600 IPS display offers a 240Hz refresh rate, ideal for competitive esports and fast refresh rates. It reaches about 500 nits of brightness, handling most lighting situations with minimal glare.

However, the Zephyrus G14’s 2880 x 1800 OLED display with richer colors and bolder contrasts outshines the Blade’s. Its 120Hz refresh rate balances nicely with its graphics capabilities for both gaming and creative work, although it only reaches 400 nits.

Both laptops cover 100% of the sRGB and P3 color gamuts, but the Zephyrus also hits 100% of AdobeRGB, while the Blade only covers 89%. The Zephyrus display is HDR500-certified and supports G-Sync, whereas the Blade 14 does not have HDR and FreeSync does not work with the discrete GPU.

**Winner: Asus ROG Zephyrus G14**

## Design: Zephyrus Offers Unique Style

The Blade 14 resembles a MacBook Pro, especially in its new silver color. Its black keys have rounded edges contrasting with the clean lines of the chassis, but they feel a bit small, and the trackpad can sometimes catch and skip.

The Zephyrus G14, available in white or dark gray, retains its unique style with a diagonal LED strip on the lid, despite losing the dot matrix. It is slimmer and lighter than the Blade 14, with a better trackpad experience.

Both laptops support USB4 Type-C, USB-A, and HDMI, but the Blade 14 offers swappable RAM, unlike the Zephyrus’ soldered memory.

**Winner: Asus ROG Zephyrus G14**

## Thermals: Blade Handles More Power

Both laptops manage their thermals well without throttling during heavy benchmarks. The Blade 14's keyboard warms up noticeably after extended gaming, but it avoids the excessive heat venting of the Zephyrus G14, which can feel like being blasted by hot air during intense gaming sessions.

**Winner: Razer Blade 14**

## Conclusion: Zephyrus G14 Offers Better Balance

While the Blade 14 leads in raw performance, the Zephyrus G14 strikes a better balance between features, performance, and price. For $2,000 to $2,200, the Zephyrus offers an OLED HDR display, decent battery life, a unique design, and high frame rates, despite the GPU power cap and soldered RAM.

The similarly configured Blade 14 costs up to $700 more, with a higher refresh rate but no HDR or G-Sync on the laptop display, slightly higher frame rates, and significantly shorter battery life.

**Overall Winner: Asus ROG Zephyrus G14**

## Specs Comparison

| Spec | Razer Blade 14 | Asus Rog Zephyrus G14 |

|-----------------------------|------------------------------------------ |------------------------------ |

| **CPU** | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS |

| **GPU** | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 |

| **RAM** | 32GB DDR5 RAM (slotted) | 32GB LPDDR5X RAM (soldered) |

| **Storage** | 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD | 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD |

| **Screen** | 14-inch (2560 x 1600) 240Hz IPS | 14-inch (2880 x 1800) 120Hz HDR OLED |

| **Dimensions** | 12.23 x 8.97 x 0.70 inches | 12.24 x 8.66 x 0.63 inches |

| **Weight** | 4.05 pounds | 3.31 pounds |

| **Battery capacity** | 68.1WHrs | 73WHrs |

| **Wireless** | Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1 |

| **Ports** | 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, | 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2,

2x USB4 Type-C, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2,

1x HDMI 2.1, 1x USB4 Type-C, microSD,

1x 3.5mm combo audio jack | 3.5mm combo audio jack |

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