Razer Blade 16 review (Core i9, RTX 4080)

34 Comments

  1. Kouakuma

    February 7, 2023 at 10:15 pm

    Thanks for the review! Can you add a picture of the power brick?

    • Derek Sullivan

      February 8, 2023 at 5:18 am

      Yes, I'll get one up soon. It's practically the same size as last year and the year before though. It's only bigger in wattage because it's GaN now.

  2. AlexS

    February 8, 2023 at 5:14 am

    Ugh! this material looks like the Clevo i bought in 2013. Also turned looking wasted fast. Also no numpad which is bad.

    Quite mode should be quiet. No Fans at all!
    It is a shame that in 2023 a powerful laptop like this can't run Office work, Youtube videos, play videos totally silent.

    • Derek Sullivan

      February 8, 2023 at 5:17 am

      Hi Alex. Quiet mode is quiet. The fans in quiet mode that I measured were when a game was running. During normal operation they are nearly silent. Sorry for not clarifying – I'm still doing testing in that area.

      • AlexS

        February 11, 2023 at 4:43 am

        Thanks for the update Derek.
        Just to state where i am in this issue: For me listening to music "nearly silent" is not good enough.
        These machines are much more powerful than computers 10 years ago. Playing music is something that a minuscule hi-fi or smartphone does without a fan.

      • Simon

        March 3, 2023 at 9:55 am

        Could you clarify "nearly silent". Are they turning on and off or how is it working when browsing the web, watching videos, compiling code or stuff like that (in silent mode)?

      • Derek Sullivan

        March 3, 2023 at 4:19 pm

        I didn't stick my ear up to the unit but if it's turning on and off, I certainly didn't noticry it in my day to day use. Much of the time the fans were operating at such a low rpm that I didn't notice them being on. The only times I did notice the fan noise were when downloading files, installing programs or opening lots of tabs at once. That's typical of any laptop though.

    • Sascha Wolf

      February 8, 2023 at 7:51 pm

      Hi,
      is it in Synapse now possible to limit the battery charge? That's the one deal breaker for me to go with a Blade.

      • Derek Sullivan

        February 8, 2023 at 8:56 pm

        What do you mean by limit the charge? Like how fast the unit charges on the ac adapter?

      • Sascha Wolf

        February 8, 2023 at 10:33 pm

        Hi,
        thanks for the reply. I mean that you can limit the charge to 80%, for example. So the battery is not always charged to 100%.

      • Derek Sullivan

        February 8, 2023 at 10:39 pm

        Gotcha. Yes there's a battery optimization tab in Synapse and you can limit the battery to charge to whatever you want to. It defaults at 80% but the setting is off when you first boot it up.

      • Sascha Wolf

        February 9, 2023 at 2:52 pm

        That's great to hear. In my opinion it's a very useful function to protect the battery.

  3. Ed

    February 9, 2023 at 10:42 am

    Are you able to undervolt these 13th gen chips with throttlestop or xtu?

  4. Salami

    February 12, 2023 at 4:09 pm

    So which one do you prefer personally?
    X16 or this one?

    • Derek Sullivan

      February 12, 2023 at 11:14 pm

      It's close but the x16 feels like the better laptop to me. Pros and cons to both though. The Blade 16 has a stronger chassis and better TGP(175W vs 120W max) so you're going to get better performance out of the Blade for sure. But it's noticeably thicker and heavier than the x16 which is important to me and why I lean towards the x16.

      Cosmetically, I prefer the x16 for a number of reasons. First off, it's nowhere near as bad as a fingerprint magnet, which is something that has plagued the Blade lineup since it was first introduced. It's coated this year which helps, but it's still aluminum with a matte finish, so it's always going to absorb and show those oils. The x16 is a magnesium allow with a polished finish and has build in grooves, so it maintains its grippiness while warding off most of the smudges. Another thing I am just tired of is glowing logos, which the x16 lacks. A skin would fix both of these problems though, which I would do if I became a Blade owner again.

      The x16 also has the better screen given that it is mled and can have deeper blacks when needed. I also like the fact the x16 has a glossy touch screen that folds all the way back while the Blade is a matte non-touch that only supports a modest angle on the screen. I would have preferred the screen fold back 180 degrees at a minimum with the way I typically use laptops these days.

      Keyboards are about equal to me though I lean towards the x16 because it feels like a deeper keystroke. But the RGB on the Blade is hands down ultra superior. Trackpads are about equal too but I really don't need the Blade 16 trackpad to be as large as it is. Especially since it occasionally gets in the way.

      Battery life is slightly better on the x16 but I'm not comparing apples to apples since the 2023 version will also have an Intel processor which might be less efficient than the Ryzen model last year.

      Cost and availability also factor into it too, which Asus hasn't released yet. The x16 was very expensive last year, but was still cheaper than the equivalent Blade 15 at that time. It'll probably be the same trend this year, but the Blade 16 has a lot of features they added which narrows the gap considerably. On top of that, the Blade 16 has the 4080 and 4090 options, which the x16 completely lacks. The thicker chassis really does make a difference in how much more power it can handle so having those higher GPU options really makes sense, where if the x16 even offered it you would get diminishing returns.

      Sorry for the wordy response but I hope this helps. I also hope you were talking about the Asus x16 and not the Alienware x16 lol

      • Salami

        February 14, 2023 at 8:57 pm

        So sorry, I meant the X16 from Alienware. lol, no, just kidding! Was referring to Asus.

        Thank you a lot for your comment and how active you are. This is the main reason I keep coming back here, even for certain articles, because you are constantly improving the reviews and the discussions make it feel so alive!

        Your comment could even be part of an article :) It's really interesting to read!

  5. Andrii Zagorodnii

    February 12, 2023 at 4:40 pm

    Can u please make a test with reduces TGP? For example with AB setup or something similar?
    Like FPS on 80W, 100W, 120W etc.

    • Derek Sullivan

      February 12, 2023 at 10:46 pm

      Not sure what AB setup is supposed to mean. Is that something that limits the TGP somehow?

      • Andrii Zagorodnii

        February 12, 2023 at 10:58 pm

        MSI after burner.
        I am not sure that it works with notebooks.
        It has option to adjust Power Limit of the GPU.

      • Derek Sullivan

        February 12, 2023 at 11:18 pm

        I'll check it out on my last round of tests and will add it to the article(if it's available). I'm almost done so it'll be updated in the next day or two. I'll probably only do it for one game though since I'm about to move onto the next laptop. Any game you prefer?

  6. Andrii Zagorodnii

    February 12, 2023 at 11:27 pm

    Yes. CP2077 will be perfect as most demanding GPU game today.

    • Derek Sullivan

      February 13, 2023 at 4:50 am

      Just tried it but the PL slider doesn't affect anything unfortunately

      • Andrii Zagorodnii

        February 13, 2023 at 9:51 am

        Sorry to hear that. Thank you for trying.

  7. alex

    February 17, 2023 at 11:52 am

    thats power brick is the game changger. LOL why the hell every manufactured just make something like that too, i already tired to carry around that behemothh 300watt legion power brick every single day LOL.

    thanks for your review.

  8. Gary

    February 24, 2023 at 2:45 am

    Any coil whine with your Blade 16, if you put your ear up to it on idle?

    • Derek Sullivan

      February 24, 2023 at 4:19 am

      I don't have my unit anymore but I didn't notice any when I was using it.

  9. bittricks

    February 28, 2023 at 3:47 am

    The huge touchpads on these larger laptops are just getting absurd and affect usability. I have a Dell XPS 15 9520 and even the touchpad on it is needlessly big. On the Macbook Pros the touchpads are equally absurd in size.

  10. XUE JIAN

    May 3, 2023 at 4:44 am

    Nice review, thank you.
    May I ask a question? why Razer 16 offer two of 5600Mhz 16GB RAM by default, but it can only support up to 64GB RAM in 5200Mhz?
    The official description:
    • Can I upgrade my RAM/SSD of the Razer Blade 16?
    Yes, the Razer Blade 16 gaming laptop has 2x upgradeable memory and storage slots that can support up to 64GB RAM (5200MHz) and 4TB SSD.

    • Andrei Girbea

      May 3, 2023 at 3:04 pm

      I don't think there are 2x 32 GB DDR5-5600 kits

      • XUE JIAN

        May 3, 2023 at 3:31 pm

        yes, there are, the same type as the default one, just check ebay.com/itm/125762546596 , and there are more from other brands.

      • Andrei Girbea

        May 3, 2023 at 4:09 pm

        Hmm, interesting. I don't have an answer on why they're only offering DDR5-5200 for the higher end configurations. Perhaps you could ask their support if it's that important to you?

  11. XUE JIAN

    May 4, 2023 at 2:31 am

    Thank you for your reply and I'm just curious.
    Maybe Razer has the same thoughts as you.

  12. Mattias N

    February 12, 2024 at 6:04 pm

    Great review! Got one coming tomorrow, but would love to hear more about the 4090 version of the Asus G16 before I decide if I'm gonna keep it or return it for the G16.. Hope there'll be a similarly well written review of the G16 soon! :)

    • Andrei Girbea

      February 12, 2024 at 6:09 pm

      I'm working on the 4070 G16 right now. Will also have a review of the 4090 model in the next few weeks.

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