Choosing between the Dell Inspiron 14 5425 and the Razer Blade 18 involves significant tradeoffs in price, performance, and portability. If budget is a concern and your tasks are generally not performance-intensive, the Dell Inspiron is more affordable and offers adequate power for everyday use, good battery life, and light weight for greater portability. On the other hand, if you require high performance for tasks like 3D rendering, machine learning, or gaming, the Razer Blade 18 is superior with a more powerful processor, advanced graphics capabilities, and a larger screen, but this comes at a higher cost and sacrifices portability due to its larger size and weight. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Dell Inspiron 14 5425
Very good portability
Very good battery life
Advantages of the Razer Blade 18
Very good for general use
Excellent for engineering and design
Very good for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Very good overall display quality
Very good overall build quality
Best in class speakers
Excellent keyboard
Key differences
General Use
7.7/10
8.5/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
279.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
524.0 nits
12.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
4.0 Hours
7.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
8.1/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.1/10
The Razer Blade 18 is very good for general use, while the Dell Inspiron 14 5425 is good.
The Dell Inspiron 14 5425, with a capable CPU and sufficient RAM, is good for general use, benefits from having a lightweight and compact design for easy portability, along with a substantial battery life, making it ideal for on-the-go usage. Meanwhile, the Razer Blade 18, while also very good for general tasks, offers advanced CPU power, ample RAM, superior screen quality, and impressive speaker and keyboard quality, but it is less portable due to its larger size and weight, and has a shorter battery life, which may limit its use away from power sources.
Gaming and AI
6.2/10
8.9/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.9/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
7.5/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.2/10
The Razer Blade 18 is very good for gaming and AI, while the Dell Inspiron 14 5425 is only fair.
The Dell Inspiron 14 5425 is fair for gaming and 3D because it uses an integrated AMD Vega 8 GPU and has a standard screen refresh rate of 60 Hz, while the Razer Blade 18 excels due to its high-performance Nvidia RTX 4070 dedicated GPU and a much higher screen refresh rate of 240 Hz.
Engineering and Design
7.0/10
9.3/10
6.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.9/10
16.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
The Razer Blade 18 is excellent for engineering and design, while the Dell Inspiron 14 5425 is good.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Content Creation
7.5/10
8.6/10
6.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
16.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Razer Blade 18 is very good for content creation, while the Dell Inspiron 14 5425 is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
7.5/10
8.5/10
6.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
16.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
7.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
The Razer Blade 18 is very good for software development, while the Dell Inspiron 14 5425 is good.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
6.3/10
8.9/10
14.0in
SIZE
18.0in
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
279.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
524.0 nits
The Razer Blade 18 has a better screen than the Dell Inspiron 14 5425 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
The Dell Inspiron 14 5425, with its fair screen quality, may offer adequate clarity and brightness for tasks like browsing and document editing, but the limited color coverage affects users working on tasks that require precise color accuracy, such as engineering and design projects. The Razer Blade 18's very good screen quality features a panel that provides excellent color reproduction and wide color gamuts, making it ideal for professional design work where color fidelity is crucial. However, because both laptops have screens with low refresh rates, neither is optimal for 3D gaming where smoother motion provided by higher refresh rates is essential for the best experience.
Battery
12.0 Hours
4.0 Hours
The Dell Inspiron 14 5425 has 12 hours of battery life. The Razer Blade 18 has 4 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Very Good
Fair
14.0in
SIZE
18.0in
3.4 lbs
WEIGHT
6.6 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.8in
The Dell Inspiron 14 5425 has very good portability, while the Razer Blade 18 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.0/10
8.5/10
The Razer Blade 18 has very good build quality, while the Dell Inspiron 14 5425 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$500
$3,200
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
The Dell Inspiron 14 5425 has a price of $500 and the Razer Blade 18 costs $3,200.
"A slim chassis, an acceptable weight (1.6 kg) and a real-world battery life of almost 13 hours turn the Inspiron into a mobile companion. Good: The battery can not only be charged using Dell's proprietary power adapter, but also with a universal USB-C power adapter (min. 45 watts). Office and Internet applications are handled by the built-in combination of Ryzen 5 5625U APU and 16 GB of RAM just as easily as modest computer games. Heat and noise development are generally okay, but the laptop should work a bit quieter under full load."
"Razer made a powerful laptop in the Blade 18, showing off a beautiful and fast display and the same high-quality build we’ve come to expect from this product line. It’s also quite expensive, which is hardly a surprise, but bears repeating even in this price range. It’s pricier than the Scar 18 despite an inferior GPU and half the storage, so you really have to want the Blade 18’s design to justify the cost."
Get a great deal on the Dell Inspiron 14 5425 or the Razer Blade 18
About Dell
Dell is a highly recognizable American technology company, and is one of the largest personal computer vendor by market share. Their laptops are very popular for both personal and professional use, and they also own the Alienware brand which makes mid to high end gaming laptops. Their premium XPS range of laptops offer great build quality and portability, while Latitude and Precision laptops are known for reliability, repairability and performance for business users.
About Razer
Razer is an American-Singaporean technology company. Razer is best known for their Blade series laptops, well known for their strong performance and sleek design. Although Razer charges a premium price tag for their laptops, buyers can expect a stealthy laptop with clean fit and finish and strong performance. All of their models offer great portability and build quality compared to other gaming laptops.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
By the numbers
380
Laptops evaluated
48,640
Laptops stats compiled
13
Proprietary Laptops ratings developed
129,795
Recommendations made
28,123
Consumer hours saved
About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Jason is a staff expert and software engineer that has been making laptop recommendations for 7 years and moderates one of the largest laptop subreddits.
Chandradeep Chowdhury
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
Craig Russell
Laptops Expert
Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.