Razer Blade 16 hands-on: a dream gaming laptop

Razer has supplied us a initial appear at the Razer Blade 16 and Razer Blade 18, which will be unveiled in the subsequent number of months. And I will say proper now: I am impressed.

The Blade 18 is the most significant and most effective Razer Blade that has ever been unveiled, which is neat in by itself. But I’m actually even far more psyched about the Blade 16, which is debuting some hardly ever-before-noticed on a Razer Blade.

1st, there is a Mini LED display. And it appears great. On the monitor, some shades appeared blindingly vivid towards black backdrops, exactly where they might’ve appeared washed out on other gaming shows. Black parts, speaking of, looked gorgeously black.

Up coming to the Blade 16 design in its demo space, Razer in fact had a individual panel made of Mini LEDs that mirrored what the Blade 16 was doing. When neighborhood dimming zones brightened and dimmed on the Blade, the corresponding diodes brightened and dimmed on the panel. (I know it is really hard to photograph, but you can see what I’m speaking about in the photo down below.) We ended up told that the Blade 16’s screen had 1,000 community dimming zones, and that feels like a large range on paper — but this panel seriously highlighted (heh) just how numerous teensy, unbiased lights are crammed into that laptop computer, and how a great deal perform they are all undertaking.

We weren’t really equipped to perform any titles on these Blade versions, given that they have been pre-generation units — Razer only confirmed us a movie of game footage. This meant I was not in a position to consider the intriguing toggle characteristic (which allows you to simply swap amongst 4K/120Hz and 1920 x 1200/240Hz modes), but my colleague Cameron Faulkner wrote about that earlier nowadays if you want to know much more.

I’m also thrilled — thrilled, I tell you — that these laptops have 16:10 screens it actually does make the 16-inch panel look limitless in contrast to Blades that I’ve utilised in the earlier. As a bonus, the taller display screen tends to make for a longer chassis, which gave Razer area for a large 95.2Wh battery — which, with all the fancy display screen options this product requirements to power, may well be a authentic requirement.

I was also capable to get the keyboard and touchpad for a spin, and I can confirm that they are the exact same aged large, durable keyboard and touchpad that we have noticed on Razer Blades previous. Within, configurations come with Intel’s 13th-Gen Main i9-13950HX and up to Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4090 graphics. The Blade 16 starts off at $2,699.99.

Now, all of these additions do arrive with a grand total of a person adjust that I contemplate a compromise. That is the size. The Blade 16 is 5.4 pounds and 13.98 x 9.61 x .87 inches. That is virtually a complete pound heavier and over a tenth of an inch thicker than last year’s Blade 15 (which this is not replacing, for every se, but they are clearly in a equivalent class).

This is a weighty product it was a soreness for me to lift up, and it unquestionably doesn’t come to feel fairly as slim and sleek as the Blade 15 did past year. But that is a compromise some individuals will be ready to make in order to get this Mini LED monitor (as nicely as the enhanced functionality the Blade 16 delivers), and that’s reasonable enough.