In the arena of gaming machines, the titans of this niche are always going toe to toe, as is the case for the Razerblade and the Alienware 14. We will explore what each of these much acclaimed machines has to offer for avid gamers. We are looking at two titan companies in the domain, Alienware, Dell’s gaming division and Razer, the all time producer of fantastic gaming gadgets.
The specs on either of these yetis is exactly what you would expect, big and bad with enough power to take down legions of hapless minions. The processors on both machines perform roughly the same, Q2 2013 quad-core Intel, but the Alienware 14s’ i7 4900MQ is the best of the both, offering a higher clock speed of up to 3.8 GHz and a larger smart cache. The Razerblade offers a maximum of 3.2 GHz on the turbo boost. To keep in mind is that Dell offers many customization options for the processors, and not only. On the GPU aspect there is not much to discuss since both laptops are equipped with the same graphics card, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M with 2 GB GDDR5.
Yet another category where the Alienware 14 bashes the Razerblade is the memory. The Alienware 14 features double capacity, 16GB DDR3L at 1600MHz vs. the Razerblade packing half of that. Storage wise, the Alienware offers good options, with a 1TB HDD at 5400 RPM SATA and an 80GB mSATA SSD. Here is where the Razerblade shines; it comes in 3 options for SSD configurations, 128, 256 and 512GB, and gets ahead of the competition on this aspect. The connectivity on the devices is one of those chapters on which Alienware again gets ahead by a mile. It features 3x USB 3.0, HDMI, Mini Display Port, 7 in 1 Card Reader, Gigabit Ethernet, Line in Microphone and 2x Audio Out 3.5 mm and Kensington Security Lock. Its contender, the Razerblade, only comes with 3x USB 3.0, a combo port for Microphone/Headphone and an HDMI.
On the display scene, once more, the Alienware 14 gets a head start with a 14-inch Full HD 1920 X 1080 resolution with WLED. On the other hand the Razerblade doesn’t lag far behind with that 14-inch HD+ 1600 x 900 with LED backlight. The battery autonomy in the case of these two differs massively, even though the capacity is almost the same, 69 Wh for the Alienware and 70 Wh for the Razerblade. Given Alienwares’ many battery draining features, it will only last for about 3 hours. All the while the Razerblade can double that up, with almost six hours of autonomy.
The dimensions on these little fanged beasts differ quite a lot. The Razerblade features a slick and slim design like the MacBook Pro with only a green Razer logo on the lid. Its dimensions measure in at 345 x 235 x 16.8 mm (long, across, deep) and weighs in at just 1.88 kg. The bulky Alienware on the other hand, measures in at 335 x 259 x 42 mm, being almost three times as thick as the Razerblade and weighing in at 2.78 KGs. The Alienware features four distinct back-light areas, that can be programmed to color in different patterns via the AlienFX feature, while the camera is a 2MP opposed to the Razerblade’s 1.3 MP. With regards to the pricing, the Alienware comes at 100 $ cheaper than the Razerblade which prices at 2.300 $.
Given the different concepts of gaming laptops offered by the two companies, one should ponder and eventually decide what better fits their style. If you prefer a hard-core, old-school, nicely vented gaming machine you should probably stop at the Alienware 14. If you prefer a more stylish look and some faster storage options then most likely the Razerblade is your machine of choice.