The slimmest gaming notebooks with the RTX 5090 Laptop - Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 vs. Razer Blade 16

Slim gaming laptops are still very popular and despite their unavoidable compromises you still get a lot of power in a very compact package. The 2024 model of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 was pretty much without competition last year, especially considering the high-end GPU options. This changed with the new Blade 16, because Razer completely reworked the chassis and made it much thinner, so both devices are now direct rivals. We already reviewed the two latest models with Nvidia's latest mobile flagship, the GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop. Now we want to compare the two head-to-head.

The two 16-inch laptops are very similar in terms of thickness as well as footprint, but the ROG Zephyrus has a noticeable advantage at 1.9 kg compared to the Blade 16 at ~2.1 kg. Looking at the quality as well as stability, the Blade 16 feels a bit sturdier and more dense, and it also has the edge when it comes to the hinges. However, the black surfaces seem to magically attract fingerprints as well as dirt, so you will constantly have to wipe them clean. The dark grey ROG Zephyrus G16 is better in this regard.

The connectivity options are linked to the CPU selection. While the Asus uses Intel's Core Ultra 9 285H with Thunderbolt 4 support, Razer uses the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 with USB 4.0 as well as Copilot+ certification. Whether these two aspects are really important if you look at these two models is rather doubtful though. Both offer sufficient ports as well as Wi-Fi 7, just like both lack an Ethernet port. The RAM is soldered, but you get two PCIe 4.0 slots for M.2-2280 SSDs.

We can keep it short for the displays, because the two devices are evenly matched. Both use 16-inch OLED panels with the WQHD resolution (2560 x 1600 pixels) and a frequency of 240 Hz. This means sharp images, rich colors, and fast response times. The manufacturers also offer accurate color profiles for P3 as well as sRGB, so content creators will also be happy. Both models also share the comparatively low HDR brightness.

The basic concept of the two slim gamers is very comparable, because both use H-series CPUs (45W class) in combination with the new GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop, but the 5090 in the Blade can consume up to 160 Watts and 120 Watts in the Zephyrus G16. The AMD processor in the Blade is slightly more efficient, but there are no major changes in terms of CPU performance. Both laptops are available with 32 or 64 GB soldered RAM.

The two laptops are high-end devices with fast NVMe-SSDs, so the subjective performance impression is basically identical. The Blade 16 has the edge when it comes to video export times and is two minutes faster in our test with DaVinci Resolve, but it is debatable whether this makes a difference after you edited a video for a couple of hours.

Looking at the 3D performance, the two models can surpass their respective predecessors, but you can see a big difference between the two versions of the RTX 5090 Laptop. The 160W version in the Blade 16 is around 20 % faster than the 120W version in the ROG Zephyrus G16 in the synthetic 3DMarks tests. However, the Blade 16 is also around 11 % slower than the fastest 175W version of the 5090 Laptop we have tested so far.

Our full reviews have already shown that the processors of our two devices slow the RTX 5090 Laptop down in the Full-HD resolution. However, we do not think many users will play in 1080p on these two machines, so we focus on the QHD resolution instead. The advantage of the Blade 16 grows to an impressive 29 % over the Zephyrus G16, while the deficit compared to the fastest RTX 5090 Laptop (in combination with a much faster processor) is around 12 %. So if you want the highest gaming performance in the most compact chassis, the Blade 16 is the device for you.

Both laptops are very loud in the fastest power modes, but the Razer Blade 16 is actually a little bit quieter. At values around 50 dB(A), however, we would definitely recommend a headset for gaming, so you are not disturbed by the fans. While the fan noise is comparable, the higher performance of the Blade 16 results in noticeably higher surface temperatures. You should definitely ensure good airflow under load. The important WASD keyboard area stays relatively cool on both machines. The ROG Zephyrus G16 offers longer battery runtimes as well as the better speaker system.

There is no clear winner in our head-to-head comparison of these two slim high-end laptops. The Razer Blade 16 offers more gaming performance thanks to the faster 160W version of the RTX 5090 Laptop and it is impressive how much performance Razer fits into the compact chassis. The fans are even a bit quieter compared to the ROG Zephyrus G16, but the surface temperatures are higher in return.

The ROG Zephyrus G16 does not offer the same gaming performance, but has advantages in terms of the keyboard, battery runtimes as well as speakers. It is therefore the better multimedia laptop and makes even more sense if you select a slower GPU option (RTX 5080 Laptop or RTX 5070 Ti Laptop).

The displays are virtually identical (including accurate color profiles) and the prices are comparable as well, so you have to pick between the maximum gaming performance or the better all-rounder.