The highly efficient Apple Silicon is what allows these SoCs to be used in thinner MacBook Pro models, and although these chips do get incredibly hot, these thermals are still manageable, unlike what Apple’s competitors are up to. Razer, which is regarded as the only other company to provide Windows laptops that are of equivalent build quality to a MacBook Pro, is now headed in the opposite direction, with its Blade 16 being too thin to accommodate powerful components. If that wasn’t bad enough, the company has also compromised on the build quality, which isn’t acceptable on a high-end machine.
MacBook Pro still holds the golden standard for the best built laptop, while Razer’s oversight brings two major design flaws to the Blade 16
All gaming laptops are equipped with two or more fans spinning at insanely high RPMs to dissipate heat, and the Blade 16 is no exception. However, the YouTube channel ShortCircuit found that when the back panel is pressed with mild force, the fan begins to touch the cover, and if the same scenario persists when running an intensive workload, it can actually cause damage to the fan bearings, forcing a replacement much sooner than you’d want.
Another flaw on the Blade 16 is that it sacrifices temperatures by housing excessively powerful components like the RTX 5090 GPU. During testing, one area of the gaming laptop became way too hot to touch. Before commercial units of laptops enter mass production, they need to pass certain verifications, with one of them being that the surface temperature cannot exceed a level where it can potentially burn the user. Apparently, Razer managed to bypass those requirements without scrutiny.
Assuming we can ignore the aforementioned problems, we have yet to address the software-related concerns. During Hardware Canucks’ testing, it was revealed that there was some kind of bug that forced the Blade 16 to pull around 30W, sometimes 40W, when running at idle. The MacBook Pro, in comparison, shines in this area because of Apple Silicon’s efficiency, which is why the company rates them to last for up to 24 hours on a single charge.
The culprit in the Blade 16 turned out to be the RTX 5090, which should consume between 4-5W when inactive, but it wasn’t, and something was waking up the GPU. The YouTube channel mentioned that Razer rolled out a firmware update, but that didn’t resolve the idle power draw. Looking at the Blade 16’s $4,899 price tag, which is higher than the M5 Max MacBook Pro’s MSRP with 48GB of unified memory and a 2TB SSD, we’re entering a phase where companies are charging ludicrous sums of money, but the end customer isn’t obtaining the value.
A much better approach would be to make these laptops thicker so the CPU and GPU have some breathing room to perform optimally, while also preventing design issues like the fans touching the back panel or the surface temperatures getting uncontrollable. At the end of the day, manufacturers don’t need to copy the MacBook Pro’s sleek form factor, but rather gain inspiration from its robust unibody aluminum chassis.
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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