I’m pitting one of the best gaming laptop computer towards one of the best productiveness laptop computer and seeing who comes out on prime. It’s an actual sumo match of the massive boys of the laptop computer world. No, not in bulk, however the highest-end Razer Blade 16 and MacBook Execs with M3 Max invoice themselves as top-of-the-line laptops that thread the needle between portability and energy. One’s billed for gaming, the opposite for high-end productiveness, however each corporations declare their PCs go well with each.
Why evaluate a Home windows gaming PC to Apple’s strongest mainline laptop computer? These gadgets are ultra-premium, ultra-expensive laptops that promise to change into your fundamental technique of on-the-go computing for a few years after buy. The M3 Max MacBook Professional 16 in my possession prices $4,000. My Razer Blade 16 with the brand new OLED, 240 Hz show, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU goes for $4,200 MSRP. They’re each hardy, aluminum-hulled behemoths, and since November of final 12 months, they introduced the brand new M3 Macbook Professional. Each have an anodized black end that makes them proof against fingerprints.
The Blade 16 might name itself a gaming machine at the beginning. Nonetheless, it has sufficient under-the-hood efficiency to hold out some intensive rendering duties which will flip the heads of any 3D modeling or video-producing professionals. Alternatively, the MacBook with an M3 Max chip is a productivity-first design. Nonetheless, Apple has been expressly attempting to court docket avid gamers with the newest model of macOS incorporating a “gaming mode” that will increase framerates by limiting background duties, just like settings that exist already on Home windows.
In the event you want one of the vital succesful work gadgets for intensive rendering or a ride-or-die Apple fan seeking to burn money, you’ve probably already made your shopping for resolution. Suppose you’re a capital “G” gamer who solely desires to fill their drive with as many titles on their Steam library as potential. In that case, you’re fairly set on the Blade 16 or maybe different gaming laptops with the very best specs out there at this time.
However for individuals who are hanging on to a number of thousand {dollars} with the expectation they gained’t want to purchase one other laptop computer for a lot of, a few years on, and for individuals who desire a PC that may deal with any duties that you just throw at it earlier than popping it in your backpack and taking it on the go, this information might present enable you keep away from you find yourself tossing your pockets into the fires of dangerous buying choices.
Loads of high quality choices can be found for individuals who may make do with barely much less energy, most for lower than $2,000. These with a gaming fixation and restricted price range may even strive just a few examples of the price range gaming laptops at the moment out there for at or lower than $1,000. If you need a productiveness laptop computer, may we recommend trying on the slim, light-weight MacBook Air line or newer PCs just like the MSI Status 16 AI EVO?
MacBook Professional Vs. Razer Blade 16 Show and Design
OLED Nonetheless Beats Liquid Retina
Each screens on the MacBook and Razer are deep and delightful, however the Blade 16 takes the sting merely because of the deep distinction of OLED versus Apple’s shows. The brand new 2024 Blade sports activities a QHD+ decision, 240 Hz OLED that hits all of the marks of what I would like from a contemporary, high-end display screen. There’s no beating across the bush; it’s only a good display screen. The one grievance is the utmost brightness of 400 nits in comparison with the MacBook Professional’s acknowledged 600 nits at SDR settings (and better with HDR).
Final 12 months’s Blade 16 mannequin with the twin decision and mini-LED show might price barely lower than the 2024 version, relying on the place you purchase it. Nonetheless, the slight worth bump could also be price it for what’s rapidly changing into the brand new normal for high-quality shows, whether or not you’re a gamer or not.
Apple used the Liquid Retina XDR nomenclature to explain its screens, however ultimately, they’re nonetheless IPS LCDs. There’s nothing inherently fallacious with that, and it’s nonetheless a top quality show, nevertheless it misses out on the colour distinction of OLED. Its max refresh fee is 120 Hz, which continues to be honest for many laptops, however some video games can profit from increased refresh charges. You probably have one mendacity round, the laptop computer can help 240 Hz on an exterior monitor.
You must have each laptops in hand to really feel how comparable the construct high quality is between Razer’s and Apple’s designs. They each use CNC aluminum, which a minimum of feels sturdy. Each ought to keep away from fingerprints and scratches, although I’ve discovered one blemish on my Razer that I believe will need to have occurred throughout packaging. Nonetheless, what’s extra necessary is the overall dimension of every machine. The Blade 16 weighs about 5.4 kilos in comparison with the MacBook Professional’s 4.8. If .6 kilos of distinction issues to you, you must also take into account how the MacBook is a extra compact machine total. The MacBook Professional is .61 inches tall when folded up in comparison with the .86 Blade 16. Each nonetheless handle to slide properly right into a backpack’s laptop computer pouch, which, ultimately, must be the top all, be all in terms of total dimensions.
The facet speaker methods on each gadgets flank the low-profile keyboards and trackpad. The trackpad on the Blade is about .25 inches wider than Apple’s, although we’ll get into how they each really feel and performance within the “Usability” part. Whereas each have comparable dimension bezels across the display screen, the MacBook Professional nonetheless makes use of the rattling notch, which we nonetheless suppose is a fairly poor use of that house, contemplating iPhones just like the iPhone 15 line now make use of the useful Dynamic Island.
However what might put the Razer over the sting right here, past the display screen, in fact, is the variety of ports on supply. The Razer has an HDMI 2.1, two USB-C (one Thunderbolt 4 and one other USB 3.2), and three separate USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-A alongside the total SD-card slot. The MacBook has loads of USB-C connections however no USB-A. The Razer’s proprietary charging port is annoying since it may block off entry to some cables, relying on its orientation. Nonetheless, I’d slightly have extra choices to plug in a few of my different peripherals than scrounge for a USB-C to USB-A converter.
Winner: Razer Blade 16
MacBook Professional M3 Max Vs. Razer Blade 16 Efficiency and Gaming
Macs Nonetheless Aren’t the Place for Gaming
That is in all probability essentially the most difficult class to evaluate, and all of it has to do with Apple’s constrained ecosystem that also lacks entry to a few of the hottest titles of the final a number of years. The Cupertino, California tech large has made a number of passing guarantees to change into a brand new haven for gaming, pushing titles like final 12 months’s Resident Evil 4 remake and Dying Stranding: Director’s Minimize at the beginning of this 12 months. And but, it’s nonetheless a ache within the posterior to play plenty of Home windows-centric titles that these PC’s routinely take pleasure in.
The Blade 16 mannequin I primarily based my exams on was the model that got here with 32 GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 cellular GPU, and the usual 14th-Gen Intel Core i9-14900HX. That CPU is a 24-core (8 P and 16 E cores) at 5.80 GHz. It’s fairly a trouble to check that x86-based chip immediately with the ARM-based APU contained throughout the M3 Max. That’s a 16-core CPU (as much as 12 P cores with 4 E cores) with as much as 40 cores of GPU. This model of the MacBook additionally sports activities 48 GB of RAM, which could tip the scales on a pure benchmark-to-benchmark comparability.
The MacBook Professional with M3 Max has the sting concerning something CPU-related. In benchmarks like Geekbench 6 and Cinebench R24, the M3 Max chip beats the Intel Core i9, not by just a few dozen factors. The MacBook Professional, with essentially the most high-end specs, doubles Blender’s benchmarks over the Razer Blade 16 on each metric.
However when you break into precise software program, the Razer Blade exhibits how robust a devoted GPU might be. With comparable excessive settings throughout the MacBook M3 and Razer Blade 16, the Blade carried out excellent in comparison with its similarly-priced counterpart. I may break effectively over 160 FPS in inside areas in Baldur’s Gate III and nonetheless beat 80 FPS in crowded, open settings with the Blade. To check, I may hit 130 FPS on excessive settings in wilderness settings and low 70s, and even decrease, when on the Baldurian streets throughout Act 3.
The M3 Max Mac will wrestle to hit excessive FPS on particular titles, whereas the Blade can push these to the restrict with few tradeoffs. It’s apparent what the actual use case of every laptop computer actually is. Apple would love the MacBook Professional to be your gaming unit, nevertheless it merely can’t be, not when it lacks entry to many main video games of the previous few years. Nonetheless, it’s no slouch on efficiency for what’s there. Spin again to the Razer Blade 16, and you’ve got the alternative. It’s among the best gaming laptops you should purchase by way of uncooked energy, and whereas it’s no slouch for rendering duties, it’s not one of the best. In the event you’re a typically 3D modeler and a full-time gamer, go along with the Razer. In the event you’re the alternative, go along with the MacBook Professional.
Verdict: Like most preteen relationships, it’s sophisticated
Razer Blade 16 Vs. MacBook Professional 16 M3 Max Battery Life
Apple Has the Edge on Longevity
On common, I may work 4 to 5 hours on the Razer Blade 16 unplugged, doing easy looking and work duties. You’ll be able to squeeze out an hour or two extra with low-power settings. That’s a bit higher than many gaming laptops, nevertheless it’s not ok for a whole workday and not using a plug. The 330W charging unit that comes in-box isn’t as huge as they arrive, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a chunky brick that can crush anyone on the go. It’s thick sufficient, however I would like to tug alongside one thing smaller, like a 45W brick, and plug it in by way of USB-C.
The M3 MacBook Professional will do the job for much longer. I’ve spent 8 hours on the M3 Max doing common looking and work duties with out seeing it drop beneath 30%. The facility effectivity settings are ok. You don’t should flip any switches to eke out just a few extra minutes of juice, although the excessive energy mode, greatest for gaming settings, will sap the battery practically as quick because the Razer Blade.
Winner: MacBook Professional M3 Max
MacBook Professional M3 Max Vs. Razer Blade 16 Usability and Sound
The Razer Blade Wants a Higher Keyboard and Trackpad
You don’t should hear exhausting to listen to the distinction between MacBook Professional’s and the Blade’s sound high quality. When reviewing it earlier this month, I thought of the Blade’s audio system fairly robust, with bass that would fill a room and excuse the necessity for any sound bar or exterior speaker system. But, it doesn’t evaluate to the MacBook Professional’s six-speaker system and force-canceling woofers. There’s an amazingly clear high quality to the Professional’s sound, whether or not watching motion pictures on Netflix or streaming nonsense on YouTube.
Apple typically will get an excessive amount of credit score for its concentrate on usability, however on the very least, you realize you gained’t curse out the corporate over its keyboard. What’s most hanging about Razer’s final, tremendous high-end design is that the corporate has not put any thoughts towards of us who will find yourself typing and scrolling on their $4,200 laptop computer. The keyboard is an easy chicklet design with flashy LEDs beneath. This may be ok on a price range PC, nevertheless it’s not even that robust a alternative for many avid gamers.
Worse, by far, is the trackpad. The Blade 16 has such an issue with palm rejection that for those who’re the typist who rests his forearms on the entrance, you’ll find yourself routinely clicking the place you didn’t intend to whereas typing. I wrote half this evaluation on the Blade and half on the MacBook Professional, and I’d a lot slightly sort for any size of time on Apple’s high-end laptop than attempt to wrestle with Razer’s terrible trackpad.
That’s to not say the MacBook is any dream to sort on. It’s actually the identical Magic Keyboard Apple’s used for the reason that fully earned demise of the butterfly keyboard. The low-profile mechanical keys have a barely softer really feel to the Razer Blade’s design, however neither affords any “oomph” that offers a tactile really feel to your typing expertise. The MacBook trackpad isn’t some miracle of design both, nevertheless it has significantly better palm rejection. If the selection had been primarily based merely on the flexibility to sort in your laptop computer, the MacBook would win palms down.
The Winner: MacBook Professional M3.
MacBook Professional M3 Max Vs. Razer Blade 16 Verdict
Decide Your Poison
If something, these exams present there’s nonetheless no all-in-one machine that may be good for each type of laptop computer energy person. The M3 Max MacBook Professional is essentially the most highly effective machine of this worth level I’ve used, although that solely accounts for non-gaming duties. The Razer Blade 16 is a superb gaming laptop computer, maybe the epitome of excessive efficiency and worth. It may accomplish different duties however gained’t be as straightforward or fulfilling as potential.
Each gadgets are splurges, however in case you have a hankering to do something apart from gaming, the M3 Max MacBook Professional does the job. Its base management and sound high quality beat the Razer Blade 16 regardless of being practically equal in worth. It may nonetheless play some video games on excessive settings, however I want Apple may lastly affirm its plans to succeed in throughout and drag extra builders onto its facet of the walled backyard. You could possibly hook up with the parents on the r/macgaming subreddit for just a few ideas and methods for getting some titles to work, nevertheless it’s plenty of work since you’re paying upwards of $3,000 for a single laptop.
The Razer Blade performs video games on excessive settings and a pleasant, lovely, quick display screen. It may run intensive applications higher than most, however its keyboard and trackpad depart so much to be desired. Take them for what they’re, as these are two very totally different gadgets. It’s nonetheless too dangerous there’s not one laptop computer that’s been capable of maximize all the things, particularly when corporations count on you to pay 1000’s of {dollars} for them.
