The Razer Blade 14 (2023) and the Alienware x14 R2 are fantastic gaming laptops. But which one is better for you?
With how bulky and heavyweight most gaming-oriented devices are, a portable gaming laptop sounds like an oxymoron. But there are plenty of thin and light laptops out there that don’t sacrifice performance for portability. Featuring the latest hardware, a 14-inch screen, and a lightweight chassis, the Alienware x14 R2 and the Razer Blade 14 (2023) are top contenders to the throne of the best portable gaming laptop. Of course, there are plenty of differences between the two, and we’ll compare their specs and features to help you pick the better battle station for your gaming needs.
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Price, specs, and availability
The Razer Blade 14 (2023) is a new laptop that was launched earlier in June. The base model of the Blade 14 (2023) is equipped with an RTX 4060 and costs $2,400 on Amazon, Best Buy, and Razer’s official website. Another model featuring an RTX 4070 has a $2,700 price tag, and you’ll have to pay an additional $100 if you want a mercury-white chassis.
Meanwhile, Dell unveiled the successor to the Dell Alienware x14 back at CES 2023, and the laptop officially dropped around May. The x14 R2 is a lot cheaper than the Razer Blade (2023); the base model comes with a 13th-generation Intel Core i5-13420H and an RTX 3050, all while costing $1,600. Even comparing the RTX 4060 models of both laptops, the Alienware x14 is still $500 cheaper, priced at just $1,900. As of writing, you can only purchase the Alienware x14 R2 from Micro Center and Dell’s website.
Razer Blade 14 (2023) vs Alienware x14 R2: Design
Appearance-wise, the Razer Blade 14 (2023) doesn’t differ much from its predecessor, as both sport the same aluminum chassis and don’t bear flashy gamer aesthetics aside from a glowing Razer logo on the top. The newer model is 8mm larger and has more than 1mm depth compared to its 2022 counterpart, but it’s 9mm shorter in terms of length. The Razer Blade 14 (2023) is available in stylish black and mercury (white) colors, but the matte finish is a magnet for fingerprints. Weighing 4.05 pounds, it’s lighter than the Dell Alienware x14 R2, and with a thickness of 18mm, it’s extremely portable. The Razer Blade (2023) has two USB Type-C ports, two USB Type-A connections, an HDMI ports, and a headphone/microphone combo jack. While the ports are conveniently located on either side of the laptop, the lack of a dedicated RJ45 port is a downer. The Razer Blade 14 makes up for this drawback with its vapor chamber cooling system that pulls cool air inside the chassis using two fans placed under the laptop and expels the hot air through the vents at the bottom of the display hinge.
The Alienware x14 R2 is made of a magnesium-aluminum alloy and features a more futuristic design with its beautiful silver color. The laptop has a large X symbol next to a glowing Alienware logo, but otherwise, it has a more subdued design for a gaming laptop. At 14.5mm thick, It’s thinner than the Razer Blade 14 and weighs 4.22 pounds, which still makes it lighter than most gaming laptops on the market. The Alienware x14 R2 is slightly better than the Razer Blade when it comes to ports and connections. It comes with three USB Type-C ports (two supporting Thunderbolt 4), one USB Type-A connection, an HDMI 2.1 socket, a headset jack, and a microSD slot. Unfortunately, this laptop does not possess an RJ45 port, meaning you’ll need an external adapter or a docking station if you plan to use LAN. It’s also well-equipped to deal with high temperatures thanks to a dual-fan vapor cooling setup that pulls in air from the top and bottom of the chassis and releases it from the side and rear vents after circulating it through the internals.
Finally, both laptops come with premium RGB-backlit keyboards that are comfortable enough for day-to-day tasks and light gaming, though you might want to upgrade to a mechanical keyboard for a smoother typing or gaming experience.
Razer Blade 14 (2023) vs Alienware x14 R2: Display
The Razer Blade 14 (2023), put simply, has a better display than the Alienware x14 R2. Its 2560×1600 display has a tall 16:10 aspect ratio to increase the vertical space for all your productivity needs. Its Freesync Premium display prevents screen tearing and lowers latency and flicker. While you’re not likely to encounter poor FPS with the laptop’s specs, the display uses Low Framerate Compensation (LFC) technology to display multiple frames in quick succession to provide smoother visuals when the FPS drops below a specified range. The screen also has an extremely high refresh rate of 240Hz, which makes the Razer Blade 14 better for competitive gaming. Capable of hitting up to 600 nits, its display is very bright and it covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color space.
Like the Blade 14 (2023), the Alienware x14 R2 has a 16:10 aspect ratio and a screen resolution of 2560×1600. The display natively supports G-Sync, Nvidia’s anti-screen tearing technology, and also comes with a built-in blue light filter. Unfortunately, the screen isn’t very bright and can barely hit a max brightness of 300 nits. The 165Hz refresh rate, although reasonably high, is still lower than that of the Blade 14, though it does provide the same color accuracy. All-in-all, it’s a solid display for casual gamers, and you won’t encounter any issues with it unless you’re used to playing at very high refresh rates.
Other than that, the laptops are evenly matched when it comes to the webcam, as both have a 1080p infrared front camera that supports Windows Hello for added security.
Razer Blade 14 (2023) vs Alienware x14 R2: Performance and battery
The Razer Blade 14 (2023) is armed with an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor, which houses eight cores and 16 threads, and has a high boost clock of 5.2GHz. Pair this up with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070, and this beast of a laptop can run most modern games at 1440p without compromising on the graphical fidelity. You also get a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD and up to 32GB DDR5 RAM clocked at 5600MHz, though you can upgrade the memory if you want more performance. Razer claims the 68.1Whr battery can provide 10 hours of life, which is pretty good for a gaming laptop.
The Alienware x14 R2 packs Intel’s 13th-generation H-series processors that are more suited for gaming. The base model comes with the i5-13420H, an eight-core and 12-thread processor with a 12MB cache and a 4.60GHz turbo clock speed. If you want more power, you can go for the i7-13620H CPU, which has 10 cores and 16 threads. While it has double the cache and a slightly higher turbo clock of 4.90GHz, it’s still not as powerful as the Ryzen 9 7940HS of the Blade 14. The laptop doesn’t fair any better when it comes to the GPU, as it can only go up to an RTX 4060. Moreover, it has a maximum of 32GB LPDDR5 memory that can’t be upgraded because it’s soldered onto the motherboard. The Alienware x14 R2 does have better storage with up to a 4TB SSD. Dell claims the laptop can operate for a maximum of 5 hours on battery, which is half the battery backup on the Blade 14.
The Razer Blade 14 (2023) can provide better frame rates even if you go with the RTX 4060 models of both laptops, though you won’t be able to spot much of a difference unless you play graphically demanding games at ultra-high settings. If you want the best performance at 1440p, the Razer Blade 14 is definitely the better option as its RTX 4070 GPU is around 20% faster than the Alienware x14 R2’s RTX 4060 graphics card. But if you don’t mind turning down a couple of graphical settings, you’ll be satisfied with the Alienware x14 R2’s performance.
Razer Blade 14 (2023) vs Alienware x14 R2: Which gaming laptop is right for you?
Both laptops are solid options if you want to game on the move, so you can’t really go wrong with either one. However, the Razer Blade 14 (2023) takes the crown when it comes to battery, performance, and display. Besides its superior processor and GPU, the Blade 14 also has an extremely high refresh rate and can provide better battery backup when unplugged. Of course, it’s a lot more expensive than the Alienware x14 R2, but the higher performance is worth the premium price.
Razer Blade 14 (2023) Editor’s choice
The Razer Blade 14 (2023) has better specs and performance, and can provide higher FPS at 1440p even in graphically-demanding games. However, the better performance comes with a premium price tag.
$2400 at Amazon $2400 at Best Buy $2400 at Razer
But if you don’t want to spend over $2000 on a laptop, then the Alienware x14 R2 is right up your alley. You can easily grab an i7-13620H alongside an RTX 4060 for $1800, making it one of the most cost-effective portable gaming laptops on the market. Sure, it’s not as good as the Razer Blade (2023), but it’s hard to find a deal-breaking flaw in this stylish laptop.
Alienware x14 R2 Best value
The Alienware x14 R2 is a capable gaming laptop, but you shouldn’t expect it to compete with the raw performance of the Razer Blade 14 (2023). It has an affordable price and can run most games with tweaked settings.
$1500 at Dell $1900 at Micro Center
Categories: Reviews
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