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The rumored AMD-powered Razer Blade 14 is my dream gaming laptop

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The Razer Blade 15 has long been my favorite gaming laptop. It’s gorgeously designed and well-crafted, but doesn’t compromise on performance.

But over the past couple of years, I’ve been wondering how the design will adapt to two important trends in gaming laptops: A smaller 14-inch screen size and Ryzen processors courtesy of AMD. The Razer Blade has been silent, sticking with its Intel exclusivity, as many high-end gaming laptops have.

But that could soon change.

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A rumor from a well-known Twitter leaker has suggested that Razer is working on a 14-inch gaming laptop that uses an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX and an Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics card. This lines up well with a new trend for 14-inch gaming laptops, led by systems like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and Acer Predator Triton 300 SE. Both have a 14-inch screen size, are quite small and portable, and also use a powerful RTX 3060 GPU.

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There is one wrinkle in the rumor. The Ryzen 9 5900HX is a 45-watt processor, usually reserved for larger 15-inch gaming laptops. Both the ROG Zephyrus G14 (Ryzen 9 5900HS) and Predator Triton 300 SE (Intel Core i7-11375H) use lower-powered 35-watt processors that are a bit easier to cool. That allows for the small chassis that a 14-inch screen fits well into.

By that standard, a 14-inch Razer Blade with a Ryzen 9 5900HX seems unlikely. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if Razer is indeed working on something in the 14-inch space. From the testing I’ve done myself, this 14-inch gaming laptop category is proving to be an attractive option. The RTX 3060 allows for excellent 1080p gaming performance, and the smaller chassis allows for tasks beyond just gaming.

That fits perfectly into Razer’s design aesthetic. The company’s gaming laptops are already among the smallest and thinnest you can buy. Razer even sells a 13-inch gaming laptop, the Razer Blade Stealth. The Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti is a limitation, but it’s still the most powerful 13-inch laptop you can buy.

More than anything, an AMD-powered Razer Blade would break the cycle of Intel exclusivity that premium laptops have been stuck in. A vote of confidence from Razer woulkd go a long way to legitimizing AMD’s growing reputation.

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Luke Larsen
Luke Larsen
Senior Editor, Computing
Luke Larsen is the Senior editor of computing, managing all content covering laptops, monitors, PC hardware, Macs, and more.
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