The Razer Blade 16 has long been leading contender among the best gaming laptops, thanks in part to its careful component selection and strong style. In this case, our review unit comes equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor and a flagship RTX 5090 GPU.

While the chassis remains the same as the Razer Blade 16 that we tested a little over a year ago, the 25W processor in our new review unit enabled some impressive runtimes that eclipse the competition. You’ll have to pay a considerable sum for the luxury, but the Blade 16 makes as strong a case as a compelling premium gaming laptop.

Design of the Razer Blade 16

We were impressed with the design of last year's Blade 16, and luckily, Razer hasn’t altered the formula for this year’s model. You get the same matte-black chassis that measures just 0.69 inches at its thickest point (0.59 inches towards the front). Build quality remains excellent in true Razer fashion.

The overall design is minimalist, with a minimal amount of RGBs and no obvious ventilation slats along the sides for heat management. Instead, the clean design would look at home sitting on your desk while you're gaming with an Xbox controller, or sitting on your desk in a cubicle at work. The only bit of flash that you’ll find is the RGB Razer logo on the lid.

You’ll find thin bezels around the glossy 16-inch OLED display, below which you’ll find the full-size keyboard and a large trackpad. There’s also a small status LED at the front right of the chassis (just below the Intel Core Ultra sticker on the deck). It pulses white when the laptop is in standby mode.

There’s a healthy assortment of ports on the laptop, including three legacy USB 3.3 Gen 2 Type-A ports. There’s also one Thunderbolt 4 port, one Thunderbolt 5, an SD card reader (UHS-II), a full-size HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5 mm combo audio jack. There’s also a proprietary power port.

The Blade 16 measures 13.98 x 9.86 x 0.69 inches and weighs 4.71 pounds. For comparison, the MSI Raider 16 HX also packs an RTX 5090, but measures 14.29 x 10.62 x 1.14 inches and weighs over a pound more (5.73 pounds). The Alienware 16 Area-51 is heavier still at 7.49 pounds, with dimensions of 14.37 x 11.41 x 1.12 inches.

Razer Blade 16 Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the Razer Blade 16

Our Blade 16 review unit is equipped with a Core Ultra 9 386H processor, which has 16 total cores (4 performance, 8 efficient) and a maximum performance turbo frequency of 4.9 GHz for the performance cores. There’s also 32GB of LPDDR5x memory and a GeForce RTX 5090 GPU (1,597 MHz boost clock, 175W max TGP).

This combo generally performed well across our gaming benchmark suite, with a few exceptions. While playing Battlefield 6 at native resolution in Overkill detail mode, with DLSS Quality and Frame Generation enabled, I was comfortably getting between 110 and 120 FPS, even with a lot of action happening on the screen.

For this review, the competitive set consists of last year's Blade 16 (Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 at 28W, RTX 5090 at 160W TGP), MSI Raider 16 Max HX (Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus at 55W, RTX 5090 at 175W TGP), and the Alienware 16 Area-51 (Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus at 55W, RTX 5080 at 175W TGP).

As usual, we start our gaming benchmarks with the Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest setting) benchmark, where the Blade 16 delivered 182 FPS at 1080p. Performance at 1600p scaled down to 133 FPS. The 2025 edition of the Blade 16 was 16 FPS behind at 1080, but at the resolution that most would play at, 1600p, the older model was nearly 30 FPS faster (162 FPS versus 133 FPS).

Cyberpunk 2077 (Ray Tracing Ultra settings), the laptops were pretty evenly matched, with most running between 65 and 70 FPS at 1080p and at around 40 FPS at 1600p. For the Razer Blade 16 specifically, it achieved 65 FPS at 1080p and 42 FPS at 1600p.

Far Cry 6 (Ultra settings) saw the Blade 16 running in third place ahead of its predecessor (106 FPS at 1080p, 108 FPS at 1600p). The Alienware 16 Area-51 and Raider 16 Max HX were a few FPS ahead at each resolution, but it was still a relatively close fight among the top three.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Medium settings) proved challenging for the Blade 16, as it lagged behind with 94 FPS at 1080p and just 71 FPS at 1600p. For comparison, last year's model eclipsed those numbers at 121 FPS and 94 FPS, respectively. The 25W CPU simply couldn’t keep up with the 28W Ryzen and 55W Intel HX chips

However, the Blade 16 was back to its fighting form in the Borderlands 3 (Badass settings) benchmark, easily slipping into second place behind the Raider 16 Max HX with 175 FPS at 1080p and 126 FPS at 1600p.

Metro Exodus is still our preferred benchmark for gaming laptop stress testing. Our review unit averaged 133.39 FPS at 1080p across 15 loops using the RTX benchmark preset. The CPU performance cores averaged 3.96 GHz, and the efficiency cores averaged 3.5 GHz. The RTX 5090 GPU also ran at 1.95 GHz.

One item of note is that the two system fans are incredibly loud while gaming, which may force you to use a pair of the best gaming headsets to block out the added noise.

Productivity Performance on the Razer Blade 16

The Razer Blade 16 uses a 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor, 32GB of memory, and a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. With some of the competition sporting upwards of 8 additional cores, the Blade 16 didn’t really break through in the multi-threaded benchmarks.

The synthetic CPU benchmark Geekbench saw the Blade 16 lag slightly behind its predecessor in single-core (2,895 versus 2,922), but pull ahead in multi-core performance (16,971 versus 16,025). However, neither Blade system was a match for the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processors in the Alienware 16 Area-51 and Raider 16 Max HX; the latter of which pulled numbers of 3,231 and 20,656, respectively.

In our 25GB file transfer test, the Blade 16 took second place by the slightest of margins, hitting 1,735.09 MBps. However, this result was still 1,000 MBps behind the first-place Alienware 16 Area-51.

The multi-threaded performance shortfall crept up again in our Handbrake test, where we transcode a 4K video file to 1080p. The Blade 16 pulled up the rear in this group, even falling behind the Blade 16 with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. It took 3 minutes and 17 seconds to complete the task compared to just 1 minute and 51 seconds for the Raider 16 Max HX.

Display on the Razer Blade 16

As Tom's Hardware's resident monitor editor, I’m absolutely smitten with OLED panels. Thankfully, the OLED display on the Blade 16 doesn’t disappoint: it’s a 16-inch panel with a 2560 x 1600 resolution and a native refresh rate of 240 Hz.

We found that color volume was 90 percent for DCI-P3 and 127 percent for sRGB. Brightness levels were also fairly impressive, earning second place behind the Raider 16 Max HX at 408.2 nits.

Although the instrumented tests show some regression compared to last year’s Blade 16 in the sRGB and DCI-P3 color spaces, the display looks amazing in a vacuum. The gritty visuals while playing Battlefield 6 in Overkill mode were a delight to my eyes, with sunlight glinting through windows and concussive bomb blasts kicking up debris all around me.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Razer Blade 16

The keyboard on the Blade 16 uses scissor switches with 1.5 mm of travel. The key presses are slightly clicky, and my fingers had no trouble getting used to typing on the keys.

I used my standard keyhero.com typing test and scored 89 words per minute with 97 percent accuracy, which is about par for the course for me.

The touchpad is absolutely massive, measuring 5.9 inches wide and 3.8 inches tall. It’s one of the largest trackpads you’ll find outside of Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pros. What isn’t Apple-like is the insistence on using a mechanical linkage for trackpad actuation instead of the steadier, more consistent presses made possible by a haptic touchpad. For a laptop with a sticker price of nearly $5,000, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for some haptics here.

However, if you’re using this laptop primarily for gaming, you’ll likely be using one of the best gaming mice for your competitive sessions.

Audio on the Razer Blade 16

The six-speaker audio system on the Blade 16 is THX-optimized, and the audio quality is good, if not quite price-appropriate. While playing Battlefield 6, in-game dialog, explosions, gunfire, and vehicle noise generally sounded good, but the effects were competing with the turbine whine of the dual system fans. Cranking the volume to near-max levels helped drown out the fan noise, but at that point, I was experiencing a bit of aural overload, so I opted to put on a pair of headphones.

When the CPU and GPU weren’t heavily taxed, I was able to better enjoy the speakers, such as by playing Dave Matthews Band’s album Before These Crowded Streets for the 300th time. I cruised through the album with the volume set to a comfortable 50%, savoring the acoustic and bass guitars on “Dreaming Tree,” which always results in a relaxing frisson for me.

Similarly, I watched the Mel Gibson-helmed The Patriot to get into the mood for the Fourth of July, and reveled in the heavy dialogue, flintlock musket blasts, and cannon bursts.

You can make adjustments to the audio using the Razer Synapse software,

Upgradeability of the Razer Blade 16

Accessing the interior of the Blade 16 involves removing 10 Torx screws. Once all screws are removed, the bottom panel lifts off with minimal force. You’ll find the large 90 WHr battery at the bottom front of the chassis, and above are two M.2 slots that accept full-length 2280 SSDs.

The right slot was populated with a 2TB Lexar NM790 PCIe 4.0 SSD, while the left slot was empty, allowing for future upgrades. Also accessible is the PCIe Wi-Fi 7 network adapter (Intel BE213).

Battery Life on the Razer Blade 16

One thing to keep in mind is that the Blade 16 maintained competitive gaming performance among its peers, while its multi-threaded performance took a back seat. However, those compromises were fully redeemed in terms of battery life.

The Blade 16 uses a 90 WHr battery, which delivered shockingly long endurance (for a gaming laptop) in our battery test, consisting of web browsing, video streaming over Wi-Fi, and OpenGL testing with the screen brightness set at 150 nits. The system lasted a staggering 12:46, besting the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370-equipped Blade 16 by over 5 hours and the Alienware 16 Area-51 by over 9 hours. Even the Raider 16 Max HX was no match, falling short by over 4 hours.

That is a fantastic result for such a thin and light 16-inch gaming laptop, and it is a testament to the miserly energy consumption of the Panther Lake processor.

Heat on the Razer Blade 16

While running the Metro Exodus stress test, we measured the temperature of Blade 16's aluminum-alloy chassis in various spots. The keyboard measured 102 degrees Fahrenheit (F) between the G and H keys, while the touchpad was 92 F.

The hottest part of the laptop was near the rear center of the bottom of the chassis, where we measured 130 F. So it’s best to keep the laptop firmly planted on your desk while gaming, lest you roast your legs.

During the Metro Exodus stress test, the CPU measured 75.3 degrees Celsius (C). Meanwhile, the RTX 5090 came in at 87 C.

Webcam on the Razer Blade 16

Razer continues to use a run-of-the-mill 1080p webcam with an IR sensor for Windows Hello support. It’s by no means a class-leading webcam, but it’s perfectly usable for Zoom or Teams meetings.

I found the colors to be mostly adequate, but there was a little lightness in the detail in my facial features.

Software and Warranty on the Razer Blade 16

One of my favorite things about Razer laptops is that they aren’t loaded down with too much added software. On our Blade 16 review unit, Razer Chroma and Synapse were preloaded.

Synapse is an all-in-one utility that lets you adjust performance profiles, keyboard macros, audio presets, and more. Chroma, on the other hand, gives you full control over system RGBs, including the per-key keyboard effects.

Otherwise, you’ll find requisite utilities, like the Nvidia app and the usual Windows app shortcuts (we’re looking at you, LinkedIn) on the Start menu.

The Blade 16 comes backed by a one-year warranty for the system itself and a two-year warranty for the 90 WHr battery.

Razer Blade 16 Configurations

Our Blade 16 review unit came configured with a Core Ultra 9 386H processor, 32GB of LPDDR5X memory, a 2TB SSD, RTX 5090 laptop GPU, and a 16-inch, 240 Hz. 1600p display. The price as-configured is a whopping $4,899.99.

There are cheaper configurations available — if you retain the Core Ultra 9 386H and opt for an RTX 5070 Ti, 1TB SSD, and 32GB of memory, the price drops to $3,499.99. Going with RTX 5080 bumps (all other hardware staying the same) takes the price to $3,999.99.

Bottom Line

Overall, the Razer Blade 16 was a strong performer in our gaming benchmarks, which is the primary reason why most people would be willing to spend nearly $5,000 for this system. More importantly, the Panther Lake-based system delivered nearly 13 hours of non-gaming battery life, outrunning its closest competitor by over 4 hours. Combine those results with the beautiful display, attractive chassis, and under-the-radar design, and you have a winning combination.

However, there are some detractions; the lack of a haptic trackpad at this price point is annoying, and multi-threaded performance significantly lagged the competition. Also, the $4,900 asking price is high, although not completely out of line for a system with these specs. You can save roughly $900 by going with an RTX 5080 instead of the RTX 5090 that was in our system.

But if price isn’t an issue for you, it’s hard to argue with this compelling combination of gaming performance and battery life.

I've reviewed several Razer gaming chairs over the years and have come to appreciate their style, adjustability, and overall comfort. Now, Razer is introducing a new line of gaming chairs that leans heavily into styling.

Meet the new Soma Chroma, a mid-range gaming chair with a racing-style design and integrated RGB lighting customizable via Razer Chroma software. The chair can be powered via a USB-C cable or a portable power bank, and it connects to your PC via an integrated Bluetooth connection or a 2.4 GHz wireless USB dongle included in the box.

But is beauty more than skin deep? Let’s take a deep look at the Soma Chroma to see if there’s more to see other than its flashy design to make it a contender among the best gaming chairs.

Razer Soma Chroma Specifications

Assembling the Razer Soma Chroma

This is the fourth Razer gaming chair that I’ve reviewed, so I could pretty much put one together blindfolded. From the packaging to the tools/accessories included, not much has changed. Inside the box, you’ll find:

• Fabric gloves for assembly (glued to the inner flap)
• Backrest and seat base (left and right arms pre-attached)
• Metal, 5-arm base
• Casters 5x
• Gas lift, tilt mechanism
• Allen wrench, screws, and plastic covers for left/right side arms
• 2.4 GHz USB dongle (attached to assembly guide)

The chair arrived in a massive box, and the actual weight listed on the shipping label as 70 pounds. Upon opening the box, I was greeted by a familiar sight: a pair of black-and-green work gloves for assembling the chair. It’s a nice touch, but I always toss the gloves aside because I prefer to work with my bare hands for a relatively simple task like this.

A large green cardstock assembly guide sits atop the components, with a tiny box containing the 2.4 GHz wireless USB dongle attached to it.

The seat base, seatback, and 5-arm base were all wrapped in clear plastic bags to protect the metal and fabric on the components during shipping. The first step was to insert the castors into the 5-arm base, and then to insert the gas lift cylinder into the base.

The next step was to remove the four screws that are preinstalled from the factory from the bottom of the seat base with the included Allen wrench tool. Once removed, I attached the tilt mechanism, reinserted the same four screws, and placed it on the 5-arm base. The seatback has two screws on each side that must be removed before you attach it to the seat base.

Once the seatback was attached, I reinserted the four screws and slipped on the plastic cover to hide the screws and attachment mechanism. I'll note that on Razer Iskur chairs, the plastic cover is secured with a single screw on either side, and the screw is covered with a tiny plastic plug. The cover on the Soma Chroma simply slides and locks into place.

Once the chair is fully assembled, you’re not quite done yet. You still need to get power to the chair for the RGB lighting to work. The chair includes a relatively short USB-C cord that hangs out the back. Razer also supplied me with a 10-foot USB-C-to-USB-C extension cable, which I used to connect to my desktop PC. However, this setup is rather cumbersome and requires continually fighting the cable as you move around your workspace.

My solution was to plug the USB-C cable from the back of the chair into a portable power bank, and then tuck it into the zippered pouch at the bottom of the seatback. This worked well, and is clearly how the chair is intended to be used — however, it does not ship with a battery pack, nor does it ship with an extra-long cable (Razer sent that separately). So you'll need to invest in a battery pack or an extension cable to use the RGB on this chair.

Razer Soma Chroma Design

The Soma Chroma introduces an entirely new design language for Razer gaming chairs. Whereas the Iskur line has a more organic design, with softer curves and radiused edges, the Soma Chroma is more angular—especially on the seatback.

The seat back and the base have recessed channels, which I assume would help to improve airflow under your buttocks and around your back. It's an interesting design choice, though I imagine the recessed channels in the seat base will also quickly fill with dirt, dust, and food crumbs. The same design is mirrored on the back of the chair. While previous Iskur chairs have used the same material on both the front and back, the back of the Soma Chroma is constructed of hard plastic.

You'll find a zippered pouch at the back of the seat base, which runs the full width. It's large enough to accommodate a portable power bank, so you don't have to be tethered to a long extension cord to power the RGB lights.

Speaking of the RGB lights, they are controlled using Razer’s Synapse software. I installed the Synapse app on my desktop computer and then plugged in the 2.4 GHz wireless USB dongle (the chair also has integrated Bluetooth LE, if you prefer to go that route). The Soma Chroma then showed up in the app, allowing me to configure it.

There’s a brightness slider and an option to dim the lights after a period of inactivity on the right panel. In the right panel, there are options to change the default effects pattern. You can configure more advanced effects using the Chroma Studio. As you might expect, you can sync the RGBs with your games, although the effect is not evenly remotely noticeable unless you’re in a dark room.

During the daytime, you’re not going to notice the lights at all, and the only people who will notice are your coworkers on Google Meet/Zoom/Teams calls.

Although you can control the RGB effects in software, there are also physical controls at the top of the headrest.

Razer Soma Chroma Adjustments and Comfort

The Soma Chroma features dual-density cold-cured foam for the seat cushion. It did a good job of conforming to my buttocks, as it's specifically designed to relieve pressure points. There's good thigh support for my 5-foot-10-inch and 161-ish-pound frame.

What you gain in RGB goodness, you lose in adjustability. There's no adjustable lumbar support — what you see is what you get. Razer said that the lumbar curve is designed to encourage a neutral position and reduce fatigue after long-term use. That may be true in theory, but my lower back begged to differ after sitting in the chair for 6 hours straight in an upright and "ergonomically-correct" position. This was never an issue for me with the Iskur V2, with its 360-degree lumbar support — or even with the Iskur V2 X, which has no lumbar controls.

The backrest is adjustable from its default 90-degree upright position all the way back to 155 degrees. I spent the majority of my time either fully upright or slightly reclined at about 100 degrees. Anything more than 100 degrees just doesn't feel natural to me in any gaming chair.

The Soma Chroma features 2D armrests, which are adjustable for swivel and height. The armrests have an up/down travel of 4 inches and can swivel in or out by up to 25 degrees. They're densely padded and were a comfortable home for my elbows during extended sessions.

The chair has a height adjustment mechanism via a handle located on the right side of the seat base. I preferred to leave the seat at its maximum height of 20.1 inches.

Bottom Line

The Razer Soma Chroma is an interesting chair for gamers who are already fully entrenched in the Chroma ecosystem. The Soma Chroma has full access to Razer’s software suite, so you can sync all your devices to suit your gaming (or other media) needs. The chair also features built-in Bluetooth LE and includes a 2.4 GHz wireless USB dongle.

The RGB integration is also well-done, with support for portable power banks and a zippered pouch on the back to discreetly hide it. You can also use a USB-C extension cord to connect the Soma Chroma to your PC, but it is a nightmare for ergonomics. Of course, the chair ships with neither a portable battery pack or an extension cord, so you'll need to purchase these separately.

On the flip side, the Soma Chroma isn’t as adjustable as some of Razer’s other chairs, as it lacks 3D armrests and lumbar controls. I also found that I had some minor lower back pain when using the chair for hours in my preferred seating position. Of course, your mileage may vary, but I haven't experienced this with previous Razer chairs.

And the other matter to consider is the $499 price. If you don’t need RGB wizardry, the Razer Iskur V2 X is $200 cheaper and just as good on chair fundamentals.