This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by Razer.
Razer had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.
Incontestable refinement, rather than gaudiness, helps this laptop stand out.
The Razer skin I’ve applied to my review sample is an optional purchase.
What exactly has changed, though?
To be precise, the new Blade 16 is 14.9-17.4mm thin, approximately 21-32% thinner than last year.
It also weighs 4.71lbs, a weight reduction of around 13%.
Razer didn’t drop a single port when making the transition, either.
There is still one major area for improvement, though, and that’s the display.
Performance is excellent, too, with no hint of ghosting, stuttering, or latency.
The latest Razer Blade 16 is an impressive bit of kit from the black-and-green company.
That makes this Razer’s first true AI PC, but how does itperform?
In general, it feels excellent, as you’d expect with such powerful hardware under the hood.
Looking at the numbers tells a slightly more complicated story, though.
On the left, the 280W DC charging port, two USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a USB Type-C 4.0 port, and a 3.5mm audio jack.(Image credit: Windows Central | Zachary Boddy)
If you only looked at the numbers above, you may be confused.
While true in some ways, that fails to tell the whole story.
Intel simply doesn’t offer an equivalent right now.
On the right, a Kensington Nano Security Slot, HDMI 2.1 port, third USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 2 port, second USB Type-C 4.0 port, and a full-sized SD card slot.(Image credit: Windows Central | Zachary Boddy)
When it comes to sustained performance, the new Blade 16 comfortably outpaces last year’s version.
It’s a genuine improvement over last year, despite the size reduction.
InForza Horizon 5, the 2025 Blade 16 performed 11% betterwithoutusing DLSS Super Resolution like the 2024 model.
This display hasn’t changed much from last year, but it’s still great.
Razer doesn’t even preinstall its own Cortex launcher and optimizer, which surprised me.
The laptop refused to remember my preference for the function row lock, for example.
Running aWindows Battery Reportactually returnedworseendurance versus last year’s model, not even breaking the 4-hour mark.
The Blade 16 is also aimed at creators, and its display fits the bill.
The bigger issue, though, is how much performance you lose when off the charger.
That’s amassivedowngrade in performance, and it doesn’t even translate to better battery life.
Most egregious is the loss of single-core performance, which is actually noticeable in general computing.
No one can accuse the Razer Blade 16 of being a slouch, even if it’s not the absolute best you can get.
With the Blade 16 redesign, Razer heard our prayers and baked in an all-new keyboard, too.
It’s everything I want from a great keyboard.
Hold down the “Fn” key, and all the shortcuts usable with it will be highlighted.
It seems the new Blade 16 is using the same SSD as last year, so no PCIe Gen 5 here.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Large touchpads also make the inconsistent click action of the buttons more noticeable.
There’s also no privacy shutter, either physical or electronic.
At least you get aMicrosoft Pluton chipfor enhanced security.
In Cinebench, the Blade 16 is one of the more impressive AMD Ryzen AI performers, but does fall behind heavier and thicker Intel-powered systems.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Finally, Razer actually added two more speakers to the Blade 16, for a total ofsix.
These speakers support THX Spatial Audio and actually sound pretty great.
This is one of our favorite 16-inch gaming laptops.
Geekbench 6 shows how the new Blade 16 accepts a slight downgrade to multicore performance, which does reflect in some games.(Image credit: Windows Central)
It’s still ridiculously expensive, though.
This laptop finally feels like its hardware matches the exorbitant price tag again.
Sold on this premium laptop and have the funds to acquire it?
That CPU performance also likely contributes to a lower general productivity score, but these results are close enough for the difference to be negligible.(Image credit: Windows Central)
You canpurchase the Razer Blade 16 (2025)from $2,999.99 at Razerright now.
If you’re willing to pay the price, you’ll be getting a pretty great laptop.
Once again, the CPU is the most likely culprit for the RTX 5090 underperforming versus the RTX 4090 in last year’s Blade 16.(Image credit: Windows Central)
AMD Ryzen AI consistently bests Intel when it comes to video encoding, though, and we see that here.(Image credit: Windows Central)
You can see the new thermal hood design here, boasting dual fans and a massive vapor chamber.
Razer Synapse still isn’t my favorite, but it’s at least much improved over previous versions.
The Razer Blade 16 still can’t survive for long off the charger.
This keyboard may not look dramatically different, but it is.
It can be difficult to spot in photos, but only the secondary symbols and functions are being highlighted right now.
This camera isn’t anything impressive, but it’s better than your average gaming laptop.
Additional macro keys and more speakers are nice upgrades.
There’s no doubt the new Blade 16 is an impressive gaming laptop.
