Epic Laptop Battle! Razer Blade 16 vs MacBook Pro 16

Gordon compares an Apple MacBook Pro 16 equipped with an M2 Pro to a Razer Blade 16 equipped with an Intel Core i9-13950HX CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU. Tests include everything from video editing to gaming to power consumption. There is a ton of information to dig into here, so grab some popcorn and kick back for this epic laptop battle!

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#macbookpro #razer #laptop

00:00 - Intro
01:17 - Cinebench R23 Multi-Core Results
02:20 - Cinebench R23 Single-Core Results
03:00 - Blender CPU Results
03:48 - Handbrake Results
07:14 - CrossMark Results
09:10 - Geekbench Results
10:05 - Google Chrome Results
12:08 - Lightroom Classic Results
15:23 - Premiere Pro Results
20:00 - Blender GPU Results
22:22 - Geekbench Compute Results
23:55 - Video AI Results
25:32 - Gaming Results
31:27 - Power Consumption Results
44:01 - Noise Results
48:24 - Battery Testing Results
56:16 - Conclusion

[retrosean]

This might be 'unfair' because it's the $3500 Mac instead of the $5200 Mac, except that I think Gordon is right, even if you doubled the GPU performance on a bunch of these tests, the Mac would not come anywhere close to what the 4090 laptop chip is doing at $4300.

[nexusyang]

55:45 - how many cycles did each laptop churn thru with their respective battery? It’s one thing to say which last longer but just how much real work were they able to accomplish with the power provided?

[yamilabugattas]

Great analysis Gordon! With those prices, though, I don't think many people will be buying either, haha.

[Vilmir]

Sharing my experience as a mobile dev: my macbook pro 14 m1 pro can last 6 hours of developing tasks, a mix of web browsing, code editing, compiling and debugging.
In the same usage, my Asus Flow X16 with a 13900H lasts a maximum of 2h00. Gigantic difference...
They both have a miniLed display that I use most of the time at 90% brightness.

[bartus]

Wow, I expected Apple to lose but they got absolutely demolished in performance across the board. Macbooks can still be great machines for some people depending on their use-case, but it's clear they come with significant limitations.

Btw Gordon did a great job highlighting all the nuances in all the comparisons.

[HermitKE]

Great nuanced and detailed comparison! Thank you for the hard work and distilling the differences between these 2.
Although, maybe something to consider would be the 4080 variant benchmarks added for greater distinction as the price of a similar spec Razer 16 but with a 4080 is roughly $3600, with performance that could still outshine the macbook just as the 4090 has shown, could prove the more compelling option in terms of overall value.

[ContraVsGigi]

I've been watching MaxTech similar comparisons (he is quite Mac-biased), but this is a hack different level. You are a few levels above, actually. Never saw such detailed tests and such great analysis. Congrats and thank you.

[gungadin]

Just like Mortal Kombat "Lets Fight !" Don't forget, a lot of Mac users are running Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro, which runs fantastic on Apple Silicon. Gordon does mention this at the end.

[arfmf]

Can't wait till Gordon gets back kicking ass like this! Thank you very much for YEARS of great work! I'm really debating between almost exactly those two products right now. I've been spoiled by the battery life, silent operation and speakers of my base model MacBook M1 Pro 16 and now I'm debating getting an used blade 16 in this exact config or a 64gb 32gpu M1 Max with 2tb. 512gb storage and 16 gb RAM on my Mac are a PITA. I don't need portability but I do web browsing a lot on battery (I think I can get great battery out of the razer with a refined profile on throttlestop). What really concerns me is an used Razer blade. Those Macs are tanks and they sold probably millions of units including M1, M2, M3 and the reliability is stelar in comparison.

[cracktja]

This is by far the best video to help me decide, thank you!

[kentcurrie]

Even though you call Adobe Premiere the 800 lb gorilla, I would like to see the PugetBench for Davinci Resolve as well. Also, I just updated my Topaz Video AI to v3.1.8. You used v3.3.1?

[oluwafemioderinde]

I want to see a repeat of this test with a laptop that has AMD Dragon APU

[hookyhook]

As a PC enthusiast, I really dislike this battle among the laptops. This battle is such an unfair comparison. The Macbook Pro that he's using is priced at $2699, while the Razer 16 (4090) costs $4299. The MBP 16 with the M2 Max CPU would've been a better comparison against the Razer 16 (4090) since it costs $3499 (starting). I don't know why reviewers fail to put pricing into equation; because there's really no reason to compare a $4300 laptop against a $2500. That's like saying a Corvette is faster than a Toyota Camry. Like no shit, of course the Corvette will be faster.

[mrjaveed]

Macbook Pro 16 M2 (2TB with 32GB RAM) is US$3899 & the Razer Blade 16 (2TB with 32GB RAM | RTX 4090) is US$4299.

[raymonddsouza]

I would have loved to see the battery life test for both laptops running at idle on the battery as well. Most of us are not going to run our laptops at full speed on battery the entire time, so we could then work out how long the laptops would last for us, based on how much idle vs flat-chat time we would get, e.g. 20% full bore and 80% idle would favour the Mac, vs a work-flow that was 80% falt-out and only 20% would favour the Razer.

[DrazenKlisuric]

Were both laptops on battery power during tests? Or plugged in?

[C_C-]

I would like to see Gordon daily drive a gaming laptop

[XGenKaneShiroX]

Razer Blade 16 is hands down better, perfect performance and perfect gaming on the Blade 16 compared to subpar gaming on the MacBook Pro 16. I would even take a minimum configuration Blade 16 over a maxed out MacBook Pro 16. The Razer Blade 16 while may cost more at $4, 300 it still has a better value for the money compared to a $3, 500 MacBook 16 and that’s a fact. Though let’s be honest, I’m not going to spend $4, 300 on a laptop that’s probably more than twice of what I’ll ideally pay for a decent gaming laptop.

[Targetlockon]

Would like to see this with AMD variants

[oliverthompson]

Is mini led display quality and Mac book much different?