When searching for the best gaming laptop, many turn to Razer as their first option. With a fantastic range of options that have sleek designs and some of the best tech packed inside Razer tends to be the market leader with its range of gaming laptops.
It should come as no surprise then that Razer Blade 16 is one of the key products in Razer’s line of gaming laptops. However, despite a vibrant and impressive dual mode 4K/1080 display and Intel’s latest CPUs and NVIDIA’s newest GPUs, the question still remains; is the Razer Blade 16 worth the massive $2,699.99 starting price?
A Close Shave- Why Are the Razer Blade 16’s Specs Close to Perfect?
With the technology packed into the Razer Blade 16, it handles all of the latest AAA releases from Baldurs Gate 3 to Valorant with ease. This laptop can stand up to the test of pretty much every modern gaming title. The Blade features Intel’s 13th-gen mobile CPUs, as well as NVIDIA’s more powerful RTX 4080 and 4090 GPUs.
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Given the power of the RTX 4080 and 4090 GPUs, the Blade 16 allows you to play games in 4k as well as blasting past the standard 60fps advertised with its dual-mode setting. The Blade 16’s MiniLED display can natively handle 4K+ 120Hz (up to 120fps gameplay), and 1080p+ 240Hz (up to 240fps gameplay). When testing out Baldurs Gate 3 in the 4K setting, it was consistently sitting at a solid 80fps without any frame drops or stuttering during the first act of the game.
Swapping the Blade 16 over to 1080p mode the Blade was getting over 150fps while playing Valorant and although not consistently I was getting over 60fps while playing Call of Duty Warzone. With the higher frame rates from the Razer Blade 16’s several modes, I could feel myself playing better with a better resolution screen and higher refresh rate display. Although this could easily be a bit of a placebo effect, the enhanced display still makes all the games that I played a joy to look at.
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The only downside with switching between modes requires a complete reboot of the laptop. While this is a minor inconvenience given the phenomenal technology running the Blade 16, it is still worth noting that you should stick with the 4K 120Hz mode unless you want to hop into a multiplayer shooter.
Although the Razer Blade 16 does support ray tracing I found using it was somewhat of a mixed bag when it came to games like Cyberpunk 2077. Although Cyberpunk 2077 looks gorgeous with maximum ray tracing settings there were points of frame drops and stuttering that seemed to only be present with ray tracing activated.
Sleek and Sharp- What Makes the Razer Blade 16 The Pinnacle Product?
In terms of build quality Razer haven’t skipped out on giving the Blade 16 all the best features for a gaming laptop. With the 16-inch MiniLED display and 16:10 aspect ratio, the Razer Blade 16 maximises its screen space to give you the best possible experience whether you are streaming shows or playing competitive online shooters.
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The laptop is also incredibly thin measuring at 0.87-inches thick. Why is this particularly impressive? Well with the 1TB SSD, 16GB of RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 and 13th-gen Intel Core i9, it is impressive that the Razer Blade 16 is able to be this thin while holding all that technology.
However, despite being sleek and thin the Blade 16 is not light, weighing in at 5.4lb. However, the Razer Blade 16 is built to last with an aluminium unibody that’s sleek and rigid, offering minimal keyboard deck flex or display wobble.
The Razer Blade 16 also lets you support a number of peripherals at once with all the ports you could ever need on a laptop. There’s a Thunderbolt 4 port and a USB-C 3.2 port, both of which support power delivery. With a HDMI 2.1 output, three USB ports, not to mention and a headphone jack, all bases are covered. Although there are plenty of ways to listen to audio on the Blade 16, the base speaker for the Razer Blade 16 is also surprisingly solid.
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The soundstage and sound imaging are good enough to know where everything is in a game if you choose to use the onboard speaker. If you really wanted to, (and I did), you could play a competitive game using the internal speakers you’ll be fine, if you can put up with slightly tinny moments here and there. Those in photo and video editing fields will also be pleased as a UHS-II SD card reader is also included, meaning that you’ll be able to start your projects in no time.
The Razer Blade 16 provides around five hours of use per full charge, which is pretty standard for most gaming laptops. With the Nvidia GeForce 4000 series GPU to power, it makes sense that battery life clocks in at under 10 hours in comparison to run-of-mill laptops.
The Razer Blade 16 also allows you to charge the battery via either the Thunderbolt or USB-C port, along with the actual power supply the Razer Blade 16 comes with. Although for some this battery life may be disappointing you can optimise it with a few setting tweaks that give it a bit more juice in the long run.
Overall, I would say that despite its lofty price tag the Razer Blade 16 is worth every penny if you have the option to purchase it. Our review unit costs somewhere in the region of $2,699-$4,300 with all the added extras pushing the price of the laptop to its upper price point.
While the display and quality of gaming experience, what you will get out of the machine is what most gamers dream of and its price point firmly places the Razer Blade 16 as the pricy pinnacle of gaming laptops.
8/10
The Razer Blade 16 gaming laptop was provided for review by Razer.
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