Apple computers are generally not considered to be the ideal brand for choosing a gaming computer. To understand why let’s compare the MacBook Pro 16 and the Razer Blade Pro 17.
The MacBook Pro 16 and Razer Blade Pro 17 are two of the best laptops available today. While expensive, both are well worth the investment for those who can afford them.
The MacBook Pro is an extremely popular machine due to its excellent display, improvements on Apple’s past flawed keyboard designs, and its powerful CPU (central processing unit, also referred to simply as a “processor”), to name just a few reasons. Some have taken to calling it “the best MacBook ever.” Perhaps best of all, its memory, CPU, and graphics processing capabilities make it capable of running many modern games, which is impressive considering Apple computers tend not to be ideal for gaming due to hardware limitations.
That said, the Razer Blade Pro 17 is a top-tier machine specifically designed to make playing video games as satisfying as possible. Its CPU and graphics card (or GPU) are extremely high-performance. Plus, it comes with 16 gigabytes (GB) of RAM, a solid state hard drive (SSD) with 512GB of storage, and its screen is capable of displaying computer graphics in 4K. There isn’t a lot the MacBook Pro 16 can’t do that the Razer Blade Pro 17 can’t do better.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16
There’s a lot to love about the MacBook Pro 16. From a technical perspective, it’s an extremely solid general-use laptop. Its 16-inch screen provides a physically bigger view for the user, and its 3072x1920 native resolution provides a sharper display than most of its competitors - that includes laptops created specifically for gaming, like the Lenovo Legion Y740, whose maximum resolution is 1920x1080 pixels (or 1080p). Plus, its AMD Radeon Pro 5300M GPU and 6-core 2.6GHz Intel Core i7 provides enough processing power to make the MacBook Pro 16 a viable way to play many modern games.
The base model costs around $2,400, which includes a solid-state hard drive (or SSD) with 512GB of memory. The Pro 16 also includes additional options for hard drive space, up to a maximum of 8 terabytes (TB), which costs $5,200 at Best Buy.
Apple MacBook Pro 16 pros
Even the least powerful version of the MacBook Pro 16 comes with a 2.6GHz Intel Core i7 processor and a 512GB SSD, making it capable of handling just about any task you might need it for. In fact, some options for the Pro include as much as 8 terabytes (TB) of storage space; that’s 8,000 GB of storage!
Generally, more hard drive space is a good thing when it comes to gaming. The more space on your hard drive, the more games you can keep installed and ready to play on it without the system slowing down, which affects performance. That said, it is possible to go overboard. More hard drive memory doesn’t inherently make a machine faster, so if you’re buying the Pro to use as a gaming platform, the standard 512GB SSD is a perfectly fine, if somewhat underpowered choice. There is an option to buy a Pro with 1TB of hard drive memory, and comes with a marginally faster CPU, though it is more expensive.
While cost generally isn’t a reason most people opt for Apple computers, in this specific case - comparing the MacBook Pro 16 to the Razer Blade Pro 17 - the MacBook Pro has a slight advantage with its base model costing $2,400 on Amazon or Best Buy (unless you opt for the more expensive model with the 8TB SSD - which is nice to have, but overkill if you’re mainly looking for a gaming computer).
Apple MacBook Pro 16 cons
Despite being perfectly serviceable as a general gaming computer, the MacBook Pro 16 underperforms compared to the Razer Blade Pro 17 in almost every way. Though both computers use Intel i7 CPUs, the MacBook’s Intel Core i7 2.6GHz is far less powerful than the Razer’s 5.1 GHz CPU.
The 8TB option costs a lot more than the basic version, which is already pretty pricey at around $2,400. An 8TB MacBook Pro 16 costs $5,200 at Best Buy, and if you’re willing to spend that much on a gaming computer, there are far better options for gaming laptops on the market - some of which, like the Acer Nitro 5, comes with a more powerful processor and graphics card, and costs less than half of what the Pro 16 costs at its lowest tier.
The MacBook Pro 16 is also difficult to upgrade. This means that over time, as newer games demand more and more processing power, the owner of a MacBook Pro 16 will be unable to upgrade its hardware to keep up with the demands of modern games, making it hard or even impossible to run them.
The Razer Blade Pro 17
The Razer Blade Pro 17‘s 8-core processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 Series Super graphics card, and SSD with 512GB of memory outperforms the MacBook Pro 16 in nearly every way.
Available on Amazon and Best Buy, the base model has been sold for between $2,280 and $3,200, though according to pricing data by Honey, it tends to go on sale on Amazon more frequently than Best Buy, which has maintained a static price of $2,800 for the Razer Blade Pro 17.
Razer Blade Pro 17 pros
The Razer outperforms the MacBook Pro 16 in almost every area. While both rely on Intel Core i7 processors, the Razer’s 8-core 5.1 GHz 10875H processor is much more powerful than the MacBook’s. Besides having a more powerful CPU, its GPU is far more powerful than the MacBook’s AMD Radeon Pro 5300M. This allows it to provide gamers with a smoother, more consistently high-performance gaming experience than the MacBook, even while playing games with more demanding hardware requirements at their highest graphical settings.
While the MacBook’s 3072x1920 native resolution is impressive, it falls short of reaching 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels). That is not the case with the Razer, whose display is capable of reaching a maximum of 4K resolution - assuming its user is playing a game that supports graphics with such fidelity.
Razer Blade Pro 17 cons
The Razer is an exceptional gaming laptop, but its one pitfall is its price of $3,200. That said, as mentioned earlier in this article, it also tends to go on sale more often, and has maintained a consistent price of $2,800 at Best Buy throughout 2021 at time of writing.
Should you get the Apple MacBook Pro 16 or the Razer Blade Pro 17?
Between the MacBook Pro 16 and the Razer Blade Pro 17, the Razer is the better choice for a gaming computer. Both include 16 GB of RAM in their base models, and both use similar processors; that said, the Razer’s processor is much more powerful, as is its GPU, and its ability to display graphics in 4K is hard to beat.
Pros
More powerful processor; Razer’s 512GB Intel Core i7 5.1 GHz 8-core processor has much more processing power as the Mac’s 6-core 2.6GHz processor
Better GPU (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super)
Display up to 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) with a refresh rate of 120Hz, compared to the MacBook’s 3072x1920 native resolution at 60Hz.
Cons
Can be more expensive, though it has gone on sale a lot on Amazon this year for the same or cheaper than the Mac