Examining the thermal and acoustic performance of Razer's latest Blade 18, featuring the RTX 5090, questioning its likeness to a space heater or a genuine gaming powerhouse.

The latest iteration of Razer's Blade 18 (2025) has made its way onto the market, offering a powerful gaming laptop experience. Known for its high prices, a recent discount brings the starting cost down to $2,999.99 for a 5070 Ti model.

Under the hood, the Blade 18 (2025) is equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU and an "Arrow Lake" Core Ultra 9 275HX processor. This powerful combination allows the laptop to handle demanding games and applications with ease.

During testing, the laptop was put through its paces with a 400W GaN charger and Razer Synapse software. In the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark with DLSS 4, the GPU sensor reached 74°C and the CPU read around 84°C. Despite this, the laptop managed to keep its cool, with the vapor chamber pushing cool air into mirrored spots above the 'Esc' key and the higher end of the number pad, measuring around 27.3°C.

The hinge of the laptop was found to throw out hot air, reaching 59.7°C during the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark. Externally, the "wrist rest" areas of the chassis measured 39.3°C during the same benchmark. Manually setting the fans to their maximum at 4600 RPM in Razer Synapse peaks at around 66.1 dBA, but during idle state, the noise level of the Blade 18 (2025) fans reached 52.1 dBA at 3000 RPM and 54.2 dBA during 3DMark benchmarking.

One potential issue mentioned in the review is the lack of Mini LED or OLED options in the Blade 18 (2025). This could be a drawback for those seeking the best possible display quality. The IPS panel of the laptop reaches around 590 nits at 100% brightness, which is impressive but not the brightest on the market.

Customisation is a key feature of the Blade 18 (2025), with three of NVIDIA's latest RTX 50 Series GPUs available to choose from. The price of the Razer Blade 18 (2025 model with Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and Nvidia RTX 5080) has recently dropped to a new all-time low of around €3,899, indicating a decreasing trend in the past months.

In terms of comfort, the lower chassis was detected at around 33.9°C during idle state, with a comfortable placement for wrists flanking the gigantic touchpad. The middle of the keyboard was detected at around 37.8°C, while the center moved to 43.3°C during the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark.

Overall, the Razer Blade 18 (2025) is a powerful gaming laptop that offers a great deal of customisation. However, the lack of Mini LED or OLED options and the high starting price may deter some potential buyers. For those who can afford it, the Blade 18 (2025) offers a top-tier gaming experience.