Why this Razer gaming laptop left me with mixed feelings

Price When Reviewed

$4,499

Best Prices Today: Razer Blade 16 (2025)

The 2025 Razer Blade 16 continues the shaky custom of packing some top-of-the-line PC gaming {hardware} right into a laptop computer chassis that may virtually be thought of skinny and lightweight. For a 16-inch laptop computer, the Razer Blade 16 impresses at nicely beneath 5 kilos and beneath 0.7 inches thick, and but it’s nonetheless rocking a strong aluminum design, a improbable show, and extra ports than you’d count on. 

There are all the time some downsides to this formulation, as the brand new Blade 16 ranges in worth from $2,399 to $4,499 as examined right here in a high-end configuration and but lags behind some cheaper rivals the place efficiency is anxious. It’s that awkward steadiness of efficiency, worth, and design that sees the Blade 16 battle with worth. Those who need probably the most efficiency can get it from one thing just like the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 as an alternative. But the place slimness, weight, and battery life for a gaming laptop computer are involved, this new Blade 16 nonetheless has one thing to supply. 

Razer Blade 16 2025: Specs and options

• Model quantity: RZ09-05289EN9-R3U1
• CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
• Memory: 32GB LPDDR5
• Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5090 (175-watt TGP)
• Display: 16-inch 2560×1600 240Hz OLED
• Storage: 2TB PCIe Gen4 SSD
• Webcam: 1080p + IR
• Connectivity: 2x USB 4 with DisplayPort 1.4 (from iGPU solely) and 100W PD enter, 3x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x SDcard reader, 1x 3.5mm combo audio
• Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition
• Battery capability: 90 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 13.98 x 9.86 x 0.69 inches
• Weight: 4.65 kilos
• MSRP: $4,499 as-tested ($2,399 base)

At the time of testing, the 2025 Razer Blade 16 began out at $2,799 to get you a configuration with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU, 32GB of reminiscence, 1TB of storage, and an RTX 5070 8GB GPU. Since then, Razer launched a good decrease configuration for $2,399 that drops to an RTX 5060 and 16GB of reminiscence.

Razer permits some totally different customization choices however hyperlinks a lot of them with different changes. So despite the fact that you’ve the choice to pick out a distinct GPU as much as the RTX 5090, can swap for a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, and might improve storage to 4TB and reminiscence to 64GB, chances are you’ll not get to combine and match these parts as you please. 

For occasion, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is tied to the RTX 5090. If you need one, you’re additionally getting the opposite. Some of the opposite changes are perplexing. For occasion, should you select 64GB of reminiscence, you should additionally choose 4TB of storage except you go for an RTX 5080. If you need 2TB of storage, you need to choose not less than an RTX 5080.

If you need 4TB of storage, you need to get a max-spec system. Just about each choice you choose within the configuration software will change different choices, making it a mad recreation of guess-and-check to see if you will get the precise configuration you need. On the brilliant aspect, the high-speed OLED show comes customary on all fashions. 

Razer Blade 16 2025: Design and construct high quality

The 2025 Razer Blade 16 maintains the minimalist, understated design that has been an indicator of Razer’s laptops. It’s actually a hunk of deep black aluminum with very tightly rounded corners and edges and virtually completely flat surfaces. The massive tells that it’s a gaming laptop computer are the illuminated three-snake Razer brand on the lid and the per-key RGB keyboard.

While prior fashions we’ve examined have had solely slight flex within the chassis, the 2025 mannequin has some extra noticeable bending within the show and flex on the keyboard deck. It’s nonetheless fairly agency, and I’ve by no means been involved whereas holding the laptop computer up at one nook. 

The distinction is maybe stemming from how a lot is packed into this mannequin. The 2024 Razer Blade 16 measured in at 5.4 kilos and 0.87 inches thick, however this mannequin has trimmed that manner down to simply 4.65 kilos and 0.69 inches thick. While each fashions characteristic the highest-end cellular GPU accessible to them on the time (and each at 175 watts), this new mannequin makes use of a lower-wattage CPU than the Intel Core i9-14900HX discovered within the 2024.

Therefore, it could have gotten away with lighter cooling. As skinny because the Blade 16 manages to be for probably the most half, there’s a raised space on the underside to offer extra room for the motherboard and cooling parts.

While the prior mannequin had impressively skinny bezels across the show, the 2025 unit largely does as nicely; the bezel beneath the display screen is significantly thicker. The all-black design helps it mix in not less than. The show sits on a agency, broad, smooth-moving hinge that stretches many of the width of the laptop computer. It solely has somewhat wiggle to it, and it opens simply utilizing a single hand. 

The floor of the laptop computer is basically occupied by the keyboard, which has been barely expanded to incorporate an additional column of shortcut keys alongside the fitting edge. Rather than go for a quantity pad, which might have been squished anyway, the Razer Blade 16 has a pair of speaker grilles at either side of the keyboard. The grilles are the identical peak because the keyboard, although they’re solely packing a pair of tweeters inside. A second set of audio system sits on the underside of the laptop computer. 

The system pulls air in via grilles on the underside of the laptop computer and vents it out of a heatsink fin stack on the again. That fin stack just isn’t solely fairly small but additionally solely has a small quantity of clearance between it and the show hinge. Moving as a lot warmth as this technique can produce makes for followers which might be somewhat noisy whereas working at full blast, however they’re not shrill or annoying. They blow with extra of a relaxed, breezy tone to them. 

Altogether, the Blade 16 2025 is an impressively constructed machine, contemplating its measurement and weight alongside the very fact it’s packing in an RTX 5090. But the tight confines definitely elevate issues concerning the efficiency potential.

Razer Blade 16 2025: Keyboard, trackpad

The Razer Blade’s keyboard is a combined bag. On the one hand, Razer has stabilized its keycaps considerably nicely, and so they have a clear, poppy journey. Unfortunately, Razer has gone the route of the Dell XPS line of late, choosing keycaps which might be flat and completely sq.. There’s not less than a bit more room between keys to offer somewhat tactile sense of the place one key ends and the subsequent begins, however I nonetheless discover it onerous to sort away with my fingers centered.

As a consequence, I discover I hold up after a typo and take simply sufficient time to appropriate my place that I can’t maintain a typing pace a lot above 100 phrases per minute in Monkeytype. If I’m fortunate and don’t make (or discover) my errors, I can hit 110-115 phrases per minute, however I didn’t really feel snug going past that. 

IDG / Mark Knapp

The keyboard’s structure is somewhat curious. Razer took benefit of the laptop computer’s additional house, however solely barely. It added a single additional column on the proper fringe of the keyboard with a couple of shortcut keys. This could also be useful for those who use them, but it surely makes discovering the Delete and arrow keys just a bit extra tedious. Razer additionally had a chance to make use of full-size arrow keys with no need to shrink the fitting Shift key an excessive amount of however didn’t benefit from that additional house. 

And this being a Razer machine, the keyboard naturally has full, per-key RGB backlighting that’s extremely customizable in Razer’s software program. While the RGB lighting illuminates all the main legends on the keycaps, it doesn’t accomplish that for any of the secondary legends. And for the operate row, which means you’ll solely get the F1-F12 legends lit up and never the useful shortcuts tied to them. 

Razer’s trackpad is correctly large. It takes up virtually all the house accessible to it on the vertical axis, leaving only a slim strip above and beneath. It’s additionally virtually as broad because the alphanumeric keys on the keyboard. This is nice for mousing across the system, as I virtually by no means should cope with repositioning my finger.

I’ve run into a pair small hiccups with multi-finger gestures and much more with very frequent palm rejection failures, with the trackpad registering unintended touches which might be onerous to keep away from resulting from its measurement. But total, its measurement is a profit. The trackpad has a brief and agency bodily click on. It’s pleasing to the contact, although it takes simply sufficient pressure that I discover I usually fail to get it on the primary try. 

Razer Blade 16 2025: Display, audio

The Blade 16 provides a wonderful show. It’s exceedingly sharp with a 2560×1600 decision on a 16-inch panel, and that may spin as much as 240Hz for ultra-fast movement. Combine that with the truth that it’s an OLED panel, and also you get not solely the pace of the refresh but additionally the fast pixel response time. The show might hit 411 nits of fullscreen brightness, a lot for many environments besides vibrant outdoor.

Razer claims that is an anti-glare show. And it’s, to a level. I can clearly see reflections in it, so don’t count on a matte high quality. But outdoors, within the daylight, the glare is barely subdued. The show’s brightness combines with pitch blacks for infinite distinction, and the display screen can ship 100 % protection of the DCI-P3 coloration house alongside a excessive diploma of coloration accuracy (common dE1976 of 0.69 and max dE1976 of 1.44).

IDG / Mark Knapp

The audio system can get fairly loud, however at max quantity, they’re overbearing and warp some, particularly with sturdy bass, and so they produce a little bit of resonance within the laptop computer chassis. At decrease volumes, they put out fairly clear and clear sound with vibrant treble and pronounced mids. Bass is somewhat weak, however not solely absent, as it may be on many laptops.

Razer Blade 16 2025: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

You’ll get a serviceable webcam and microphone setup on the Blade 16. In good lighting situations, the digicam captures a decently sharp image and avoids an excessive amount of noise or poor publicity. If you’re simply attempting to depend on overhead lights, although, the image will find yourself a good bit grainier. 

The mics have considerably uncommon processing, even in a quiet room. This makes for a loud and current voice however has minor artifacts. The flipside of that processing is that background noise is nearly obliterated. Even with a fan working at full pace beneath the desk I had the laptop computer on, the mics captured solely my voice. Even extra wild, I started snapping my fingers and clapping whereas I spoke into the mics, and so they fully neutralized the snapping and clapping. Good if you wish to make sure your voice is captured, however perhaps not so good should you need somebody to listen to your clapping.

While the Blade 16 definitely has house for a fingerprint scanner, it doesn’t embrace one. The webcam does work with Windows Hello for fast facial recognition, although.

Razer Blade 16 2025: Connectivity

At first look, the 2025 Razer Blade 16 may seem to have the identical ports as its predecessor, albeit with a slight shift to their positioning (the SD card reader is now nearer to different ports on the fitting aspect). But this mannequin has upgraded ports. While its predecessor had a single Thunderbolt 4 port, the brand new Blade 16 has two USB4 ports. It retains one on either side (a plus for flexibility), and so they each assist DisplayPort 1.4 and might obtain 100 watts of PD charging in case you don’t wish to carry the 1.77-pound charging brick with you in all places. 

The laptop computer nonetheless has three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports — two on the left and one on the fitting — in addition to a 3.5mm combo jack, HDMI 2.1 port, and full-size SD card reader. There’s a Kensington safety lock slot as nicely. 

IDG / Mark Knapp

Interestingly, the USB-C ports might assist DisplayPort, however just for video indicators coming from the CPU’s built-in GPU. Since you’ll wish to recreation on the discrete GPU, you’ll have to make use of the HDMI port to get probably the most out of the system’s efficiency. 

For wi-fi connections, the Blade 16 nonetheless helps Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, and each have confirmed dependable in my testing. 

Razer Blade 16 2025: Performance

This check unit of the Razer Blade 16 is geared as much as be an excessive performer. But the chassis thinness doesn’t permit the identical form of warmth administration you may count on from massive and beefy gaming laptops. So despite the fact that you’re getting a number of the most premium internals you’ll be able to for a laptop computer, you shouldn’t essentially count on them to outpace rivals.

While we haven’t but examined different RTX 5090-powered laptops, the Razer Blade 16 reveals itself solely worthy of competing with RTX 5080-powered laptops anyway. On many fronts, it struggles to take care of the $3,599 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10, $3,299 Asus ROG Strix SCAR 16 (G635LW), $3,769 HP Omen Max 16, and $4,059 Lenovo Legion 9i (Gen 9). 

IDG / Mark Knapp

The Razer Blade 16 is a potent machine. Scores upwards of 8,000 factors in PCMark 10 don’t come simply, however the Blade 16 managed it nicely. This holistic benchmark offers an thought of how nicely the system can deal with all kinds of widespread workloads, and this sort of rating leaves little doubt that the Blade 16 can sustain with a lot of what the typical consumer will throw at it. That mentioned, Razer is trailing the pack right here. And as we dig into extra focused efficiency exams, it’ll develop into fairly clear why. 

In follow, the Blade 16 does handle on a regular basis use nicely. But this will see the system handing off show administration between the dGPU and iGPU, and it’s not seamless. It could also be fast, but it surely tends to occur proper in the midst of me doing one thing, so I continuously really feel the momentary freeze of the show because it switches over.

IDG / Mark Knapp

The Razer Blade 16 might sport a high-end CPU, but it surely’s not main the pack by any measure. Across Cinebench R15, R20, R23, and R24, the Razer Blade 16 and its AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU (which has a 4+8 core configuration) lag behind the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX (which has an 8+16 core configuration) present in three of those different laptops. Across the board, it falls brief in single-core and multi-core efficiency. Only in opposition to the Legion 9i’s Core i9-14900HX does the Blade 16 rating any wins, and even there it’s solely in single-core efficiency.

This isn’t to say the Blade 16 is a weak system, however should you’re on the lookout for probably the most uncooked energy, these different programs usually have it beat. And positive sufficient, this uncooked CPU brunt bears out in Handbrake as nicely, the place the Razer Blade 16 takes greater than 50 % longer to finish its encoding duties subsequent to the Intel Lunar Lake-equipped laptops and even falls over a minute behind the Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 9 with its older (although no slouch) Intel Core i9-14900HX.

IDG / Mark Knapp

That CPU deficit comes again to chunk the Razer Blade 16 once more in the case of less-demanding 1080p gaming. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the Blade was largely sure by its CPU, so despite the fact that it was the one system on this pack with an RTX 5090, it carried out behind the pack. It was so CPU-bound, in actual fact, that bumping the decision from 1080p to 1440p noticed efficiency drop solely to a mean of 161 FPS.

IDG / Mark Knapp

Unfortunately, whilst extra weight is placed on the GPU, the Razer Blade 16 doesn’t handle to hurry away from the competitors. Metro Exodus stays fairly demanding even at 1080p. Here, the Razer Blade 16 is providing undeniably wonderful efficiency, but it surely’s merely no extra wonderful than the opposite programs right here, and the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10’s efficiency is sweet for an virtually eight % lead. 

IDG / Mark Knapp

Ray tracing seems to be an enormous equalizer for these programs. Running Cyberpunk 2077 at its Ultra preset with none ray-tracing results, the Blade 16 once more falls manner behind. But with the RT Overdrive preset, all the programs drop to inside a body or two of 40 FPS (besides the Legion 9i, which was not examined with Cyberpunk 2077). 

IDG / Mark Knapp

3DMark’s Port Royale benchmark additional reveals this equalizing impact. Where the Blade 16 had been trailing in different exams, it’s again within the recreation when heavy ray-tracing results are referred to as for. It will get a minor lead over the ROG Strix Scar 16 and HP Omen Max 16, but it surely’s an extremely marginal enchancment over the RTX 4090 seen within the Lenovo Legion 9i. But extra crucially, the Blade 16 nonetheless lags behind the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 and its RTX 5080. 

Razer Blade 16 2025: Battery life

To the Razer Blade 16’s credit score, it not less than does a very good job managing its battery. Some gaming laptops battle to wrangle their discrete GPUs when working on battery energy, and that may see them rip proper via their battery. In my testing, the Blade 16 usually managed to disable the GPU and lean on the iGPU when it was away from its charger. That paid off in our battery check, working an area 4K video with the show set between 250 and 260 nits and the system in airplane mode, the place the Blade 16 managed to run for a bit over 10 and a half hours. 

IDG / Mark Knapp

That efficiency noticed the Razer Blade 16 virtually double the runtimes of its competitors right here. Only two of those different machines managed to interrupt 5 hours, and neither exceeded 6 hours. The Blade 16 even managed to carry up nicely in on a regular basis use, usually making it via many of the day. On not less than one event, I did discover the discrete GPU remaining lively on battery energy, however I used to be in a position to manually finish functions that have been utilizing it, after which it deactivated. 

Despite having a number of the most extreme-performance {hardware} you could find for a laptop computer at the moment, I discovered the Razer Blade 16 continuously holding me up whereas attempting to do easy issues in Windows whereas working on battery energy. It continuously stalled out whereas attempting to get into numerous settings menus, and casually looking with movies working would often see the video sputter or have the show freeze solely (a not unusual expertise on laptop computer iGPUs).

Razer Blade 16 2025: Conclusion

Every time I’ve examined a high-end Razer Blade, I’ve seen it sacrifice efficiency in its pursuit of a slimmer, lighter design. That’s true once more right here, placing it at odds with the sort of high-performance components you’ll be able to configure the 2025 Blade 16 to incorporate. The Blade 16’s RTX 5090 falling behind different programs working RTX 5080 and RTX 4090 GPUs is a nasty look, particularly when the Blade 16 hits such a lofty worth to offer that RTX 5090. For these looking for excessive efficiency, the Blade 16 simply doesn’t stand out as smart. 

The lower-tier fashions of the Blade 16 may very well be the place it begins to make sense. The Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 that has harried the Blade 16 so completely via our benchmarking suite has a base worth of $2,849 and comes with an RTX 5070 Ti. The Blade 16, in the meantime, comes with an RTX 5070 for $2,799 (although the CPU additionally drops to a barely slower Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU), or you’ll be able to bump it to $2,999 to get an RTX 5070 Ti. With closer-matched internals and costs, the Blade’s slimmer design, decrease weight, and longer battery life might help buoy its worth subsequent to the Lenovo system. And with a bit of luck, the Blade 16’s thermal and energy designs could also be higher in a position to deal with the lower-tier internals to really run them at their full potential.