Highly anticipated: Nvidia’s RTX 50 series laptops go on sale in a few days, and the first reviews of the company’s new flagship mobile GPU are now online. Although the laptop RTX 5090 closely resembles its predecessor in some tests, a more complete picture will likely emerge once a wider range of notebook models featuring the graphics card become available.
Notebookcheck, ComputerBase, Hardwareluxx, PCMag, and other outlets recently received one of the first gaming laptops to feature Nvidia’s RTX 5090. Similar to results from the desktop sector, most early benchmarks demonstrate minor performance uplifts compared to the 4090.
Each review tested Razer’s upcoming 2025 Blade 16 laptop. Aside from the new GPUs and the RTX 5090 model’s $4,400 price tag, the most striking feature of this year’s model is its overhauled design.
Also read: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU Review
The sleek notebook packs Nvidia’s latest flagship mobile graphics card into a chassis that’s just 0.7 inches thick. The package might suit customers wishing to pay for a combination of high-end performance and reasonable portability. However, the small package likely also constrains the GPU’s thermals.
Furthermore, like-for-like comparisons to the laptop RTX 4090 are difficult because the Razer Blade 16 pairs the 5090 with AMD’s new Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. The two bleeding-edge cards will likely run into CPU bottlenecks in some games, which could give the 4090 an advantage if paired with a faster processor.
Still, at high resolutions in games like Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the RTX 5090 usually gains up to 10 frames per second over its predecessor. Oddly, most of ComputerBase’s benchmarks showed the two GPUs neck and neck. However, Notebookcheck cited a roughly 40 percent improvement over the older laptop 3080 Ti, making the new card a more compelling purchase for users with older laptops.
Most of Nvidia’s advertised performance gains in the RTX 50 series come from multi-frame generation, which can triple or quadruple perceived frame rates. To show off the new technology, the Razer Blade 16 includes a 240Hz 1600p screen. Although engaging quadruple MFG can increase frame rates by over 200 percent in some scenarios, input latency will feel similar to the “real” framerate.
As more RTX 50 series laptops emerge, some might give the new flagship more watts to throw around or a more aggressive cooling solution, hopefully providing a more nuanced picture of its gen-on-gen improvements. The first group of notebooks featuring Nvidia’s new GPUs, including the Razer Blade 16, launches on Monday, March 31.
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