Razer continues to be the Apple of gaming with its latest Razer Blade gaming laptop.
The 16-inch Razer Blade 16 has finally arrived, following in the footsteps of Cupertino powerhouse Apple, which changed the appearance of its MacBook Pro line. This allows the premium gaming laptop to maintain its position as the “MacBook of gaming laptops” for another year, though it would be difficult to do so even if Razer hadn’t increased the computer’s screen size. This is a stunning gadget, similar to Apple’s high-end laptops, with an aluminum unibody design and a trackpad that is far larger than it needs to be.
But unlike the M2 Pro and M2 Max, which are Apple’s pro-level laptops, the Razer Blade 16 has the top CPUs and graphics cards from Intel and Nvidia, respectively. That entails an Intel Core i9-13950HX and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 for the machine I received for evaluation. But unlike something like the MSI Titan GT77 HX, where the emphasis is on sheer power rather than mobility, the Razer Blade 16 doesn’t quite deliver the same level of performance.
Razer still charges an Apple level premium
This costly gaming laptop is called the Razer Blade 16. The Razer Blade has long been one of the most costly gaming laptops available, but the latest model raises the bar even higher. This laptop’s starting price of eye-watering $2,699 includes a variant that has an Intel Core i9-13950HX processor and an Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics card.
Although every type of laptop has the same top-of-the-line processor, you may improve it from there. A RTX 4090, 32GB, and two(!) 1TB SSDs are included in the pricing up to $4,299, which is the highest price point. I received that model for inspection, and I can attest that it is wholly excessive for the majority of individuals.
The model with 16GB of RAM and an RTX 4070, which costs $2,999, will presumably be the happy medium. Even while it’s still a very pricey gaming laptop, you’re actually paying for the display because there isn’t anything else like it available.
The strange thing is that even though Razer has endured years of comparisons to one of the priciest laptops available, its flagship Blade laptop is now $200 more costly to start than the MacBook Pro 16, which starts at $2,499 instead. Therefore, it’s possible that the MacBook Pro is suddenly the Razer Blade of business computers.
The Razer Blade 16 is prettier than most gaming laptops
The Razer Blade 16 looks stunning. There is no other way to phrase it. Every time Razer releases a new laptop, it enhances the already excellent design to create an even more opulent gaming machine, and the Blade 16 achieves the same thing once more.
The same aluminum unibody design is included, along with more ports than you might anticipate for a laptop this compact. Three USB-A connections, an HDMI connector, two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, an SD card reader, and a dedicated charging port are included. The port selection is more astounding than it would be on other gaming laptops since although this isn’t the narrowest laptop available, it is still far thinner than a gaming laptop with these specifications has any right to be.
The Razer Blade 16 weighs 5.4 pounds and has a thin profile of 0.87 inches. Although those aren’t exactly ultrabook-level proportions, I can testify that it feels quite close to a fully equipped MacBook in my bag, even after weeks of carrying it about. The Witcher 3 may now be played without any problems following its next-generation upgrade, which is the sole difference.
The only thing that really weighs it down from there (literally) is the huge power brick. That’s kind of a necessary evil with all the power-hungry components in this laptop, but if you’re carrying around the charger, it adds a few pounds to the weight. And, trust me, you’re going to be carrying around the charger if you’re going to be working on this thing for any extended period of time.