Razer Blade 14 (2022)

A lovely laptop that's very fast at 1440p gaming, but Razer is charging a hefty premium for its design

- CHRISTIAN GUYTON

PRICE £2,250 (£2,700 inc VAT) from razer.com/uk

I'll be honest: the 2022 Razer Blade 14 doesn't look any different from previous iterations. Perhaps unsurprising when the Blade chassis has become iconic due to its clean-cut look, with little decoration beyond a Razer logo on the lid and glowing RGB keyboard.

The entire body is cut from machined aluminium and painted black, which means it's highly durable (if fingerprint-friendly). Hold it in your hands and everything screams top-tier build quality; for example, there's virtually no flex in the keyboard frame.

Compact dimensions mean the keyboard doesn't have much room to breathe, a problem compounded by the twin speaker grilles on either side of it. They're actually pretty good, but their presence means that the keys on the far right and far left of the keyboard are truncated, which takes some getting used to if you've got large hands.

The trackpad is a different story: a wide, responsive rectangle made with glass for smooth finger travel and a satisfying, weighty click. Every Blade laptop has one of these now, and they're always a pleasure to use.

Physical connectivity is another strength, with two USB-A and two USB-C ports joined by an HDMI output for a second screen. There's no Ethernet port, but Wi-Fi 6E offers compensation. If you open up the chassis, the 1TB SSD can be swapped out but the RAM is soldered in place, so no memory upgrades here.