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According to Razer, the Blade 16 is its “goldilocks” gaming laptop, balancing slimness with performance and hitting a sweet spot that’s sure to make lots of gamers happy. I’ve been using it as my daily driver for a little over two weeks and there’s no doubt: this is the best full-size Blade yet, and though it’s on the expensive side (prices start at $3,000 and extend to $4,900), it delivers an experience worth saving for.

Razer Blade 16 – Design and Features

Razer’s design language hasn’t changed much over the last few years. So if you’re familiar with prior Razer Blades, the overall aesthetic is going to feel immediately familiar. While I love to see brands push the envelope a little bit more – and to be clear, there have been some meaningful changes inside and outside – the Razer Blade 16 remains a high-quality, well-made laptop that feels premium inside and out.

The design philosophy this time around has been to balance performance and portability. Last generation, the company leaned a bit more into maximizing performance at the expense of size and weight. This year’s model is significantly thinner, measuring only 14.99 mm at its thinnest point compared to last year’s 21.99 mm. It also manages to be a bit longer to improve the ergonomics of its keyboard, though this is only about a quarter inch.

This reduction in size does come at the cost of performance. The RTX 5090 version we were sent has a power limit of 160W instead of the full-fat 175 watts you’ll find on the larger Blade 18. This was an intentional design choice, and one that won’t sit right with some gamers given the laptop’s premium price, but the changes in form factor worked to its benefit in my testing. The thinner, lighter design makes it more portable and pleasant to carry every day, which made me more likely to throw it in my bag each morning.

The build quality is still top notch. The frame and lid are both made of aluminum – CNC-milled from a single block, in fact, which lends the laptop a more premium and durable feel. It also works to help dissipate heat, which is more important than ever. The design is reminiscent of a MacBook, which is fitting because if you’re a Windows user, it could be a viable alternative to the MacBook Pro in sheer performance. Battery life, not so much.

Killer Configs

The Blade 16 comes equipped with a large 90 watt hour (Wh) battery. This is actually smaller than last year’s 95.2 Wh, but thanks to efficiency improvements with the RTX 5000 series’ power management and the already-efficient HX 370 processor, it manages to deliver roughly the same battery life. The smaller capacity is also a key element to how Razer was able to slim down the chassis.

Internally, the machine offers specs that scale from “great” to “mobile powerhouse.” Our unit came with the following configuration:

• Display: 2560 x 1600 (16:10), OLED, 500-nits
• Refresh Rate: 240Hz
• Processor: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (12-core/24-thread)
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 (Mobile)
• VRAM: 24GB
• Memory: 32GB LPDDR5 – 8000 MT/s
• Storage: 2TB NVMe SSD
• Connectivity: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Ports: 1x USB4 Type C, 1x USB 3.2 Type-C, 3x USB Type-A, HDMI 2.1, SD Card, Audio Combo Jack
• Audio: 6x built-in speakers with THX Spatial Audio and Smart Amp, Dual-Array Microphone
• Webcam: 1080p, Windows Hello Support
• Warranty: 1-year (laptop), 2-year (battery)

It’s also available with an RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5080, both of which also drop the processor to the Ryzen HX 365, which has two fewer cores and four less threads. The 5080 and 5090 versions can also be equipped with up to 64GB of memory, and the highest-tier configuration comes with 4TB of storage. The base model (Ryzen HX 365, RTX 5070 Ti, 32GB of memory, 1TB of storage) is priced at $2,999 while the highest-tier configuration will set you back $4,899.

This level of hardware generates a lot of heat and Razer has a refreshed cooling system to keep those components chilly… or at least chillier. We again see a vapor chamber cooling system to draw heat away from components and two powerful fans to exhaust those therms out the back. It’s large, covering more than half of the motherboard, and is paired with a new “thermal hood” on the back panel.

This “hood” is similar to a camera bump on a smartphone, creating more space directly over the vapor chamber for improved airflow (and doubles as a tilt bar for typing ergonomics). It works well, as I’ll show in the performance section, reducing temperatures and fan noise. The system can still get loud under full load, but it’s better than many gaming laptops and still manages to keep thermal throttling from ever being a problem. The cap on graphics power doesn’t hurt either.

New Gen, Who ‘Dis?

Another boon to temperatures is the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, which naturally runs cooler than last generation’s Intel-driven Blade 16. Admittedly, it’s not known as the “best” gaming processor, but it’s no slouch and offers incredible multi-threaded performance and 50 TOPs of AI performance. It also features a peak clock speed of 5.1GHz, which directly benefits in-game frame rates.

The star of the show, however, is clearly the RTX 5090 mobile graphics card. Jackie did a complete write-up yesterday on the new architecture from Nvidia for its mobile chips, so I won’t go through everything here in as much depth. However, I encourage you to give that article a read because there is a lot to get up to speed with everything. In short, you’re getting all of the benefits of the RTX 5000 series, plus a few extras, and yes, the drawbacks too.

One of the most important things to know is that each of the cards in the RTX 5000 series will be able to leverage DLSS 4 and its new, more capable, transformer model, multi-frame generation, and take advantage of future rendering capabilities like neural shading in games that support it.

Like the desktop versions of these cards, the gen-over-gen improvement isn’t huge compared to the 40-series. That’s not why you should purchase this laptop and Nvidia seems aware of it; the comparisons it has repeatedly made have been against the 30-series. There, the jump will certainly be larger. According to the internal data Nvidia shared with me, the majority of gamers on RTX laptops are still playing on the likes of the RTX 3070 and 3080 Mobile, so it makes sense for the company to make a push toward those users. But, if you’re already running an RTX 4090, you’ll see less of an uplift in pure rasterization.

Still, when the DLSS technologies come together, it’s something to behold. MFG, DLSS Super Resolution, and DLSS Ray Reconstruction can be downright awe-inspiring, offering high frame rates and better clarity than any upscaling solution has been able to deliver thus far.

The RTX 5000 laptop series brings benefits of its own, however, with the foremost being power efficiency. You can see that already with its rated wattage – 175 watts max for the RTX 5090, 160 watts on the Blade 16 in particular – compared to the desktop cards. Nvidia has also implemented Advanced Power Gating and Low Latency Sleep to offer better battery life. These technologies allow the GPU to quickly put unused components to sleep and can more intelligently manage how power is being delivered and workloads are processed to save power.

These same technologies join with a new Battery Boost feature in the Nvidia App to improve battery life when gaming. Historically, if you try to game on a high-powered mobile GPU off of the battery, you’re treated to worse performance and a battery that lasts an hour, if you’re lucky. Battery Boost analyzes what’s occurring in-game and dynamically adjusts its battery management and frame rate targeting, aiming for 60 fps in high-action scenes and 30 fps in slower portions of games, like menus and skill trees. It works well if you’re willing to sacrifice speed for playtime, and definitely extends how long you’re able to play before reaching for the charger.

Impressive Display

The display is fantastic. Razer has gone with a glossy-screened OLED and brightness scaling is tuned such that anything above 40% feels vibrant while max brightness is downright eye-catching. Its 1600p resolution – 1440p in a 16:10 aspect ratio – is perfectly matched to the screen size and hardware, so it consistently looks crisp in games and movies, and supports Nvidia G-Sync for smooth, tear-free gameplay. It also comes factory calibrated and Calman Verified with a full calibration report available within Razer Synapse, with picture presets for sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI-P3, Rec.709, and a custom color mode enabling you to begin using it for color sensitive work right away.

The glossy screen pays dividends with how good the blacks and colors look. These are already a strong suit of OLED (infinite blacks with amazing contrast and vivid colors) and, just like full-size gaming monitors, the glossy screen brings out its best qualities. It is terrible for reflections and screen glare, however, so it’s not a good choice for gaming outside or in front of a bright window.

Still, it’s the most alluring display I’ve tested all year and well into 2024. Razer has done a great job of balancing brightness, vividness, and responsiveness, and it looks good all the time but especially when playing games.

Nuts and Bolts

The Blade 16 offers an impressive array of ports. There are two USB Type C-ports, one of which is USB4 for high bandwidth and power delivery, as well as three USB Type-As. Razer squeezed in an SD card reader, which is perfect for photographers and videographers to quickly transfer files, a headphone jack, and a full-size HDMI 2.1 too, for connecting an external monitor.

There’s also a proprietary charging port, which I’m not a fan of. Though the brick itself isn’t the largest I’ve seen, it’s still bulky and you’re stuck with it. I’m confident that if it gets lost or damaged, a replacement won’t be cheap either. You can power the laptop over USB-C with a PD charger, but even with a 100-watt brick, the laptop will remind you that it’s underpowered and limit your performance modes (despite the warning, it still charges just fine).

The keyboard is very good. Razer re-tuned it for this generation, implementing weightier (63g) scissor switches to ward off typos. They have a deep 1.5mm travel distance with a nice tactile bump midway through the press. The glass trackpad is great too, with a spacious 5.91 x 3.82 inch tracking surface and haptic feedback for its integrated buttons.

For meetings, it has a 1080p webcam and a built-in mic array. The webcam is crisp and the mic picked me up fine, but neither are class-leading in any way. I would still stick with a headset at minimum.

The speakers are good, and they should be: there are enough of them. With six THX-certified drivers, it’s able to get reasonably loud and doesn’t distort easily. Asus still wins on being able to deliver a full bodied sound, however, even on its productivity laptops like the Zenbook S 16. Still, the Blade sounds decent and handles impromptu gaming and YouTube just fine. If I were at home, I’d definitely still grab headphones though.

Razer Blade 16 (2025) – Synapse Software

Like past models, the Razer Blade 16 uses Razer Synapse for all of its configuration options. It’s fairly straightforward and well laid out, so you don’t need to be an exceptionally tech-minded person to make sense of it. It also allows you to configure the keyboard similar to one of its standalone gaming keyboards and is fully remappable with per-key RGB backlighting.

If you want to dig in more, you can choose from Silent, Balanced, or Performance preset performance modes, or manually set your own using the custom setting. This allows you to adjust the voltage limit for the CPU and the performance mode for the RTX 5090. It also includes a voltage optimizer that, when run, intelligently adjusts the minimum voltage to maintain performance while enhancing battery life.

On the display tab, you’re able to view the calibration report and adjust the color profile being applied to the display. You’re also able to change the refresh rate between 60Hz and 240Hz and toggle whether or not you would like it to default to 60Hz when running off battery.

On the sound tab, you’re able to choose from four preset equalizer settings on a seven-band EQ. These include Game, Movie, Music, Voice, as well as your own custom preset.

The battery tab exists purely to allow you to enable Razer’s Battery Health Optimizer, like a number of other brands. This is a smart charging limit to extend the life of the battery. By default, it will pause charging at 80%, which is considered an optimal level to preserve battery function over time.

Finally, on the lighting tab, you can choose how bright you want the illuminated Razer logo on the front, as well as the RGB keyboard, on both battery and while charging. This is also where you can choose the lighting effect being applied to the keyboard. There is an array of presets to choose from, or you can install Razer Chroma to completely customize the lighting and effects applied to each key.

No matter which tab you’re on, the software gives you a quick overview of your system stats, including your CPU and GPU temperatures, RAM utilization, remaining storage, and fan speeds. Throughout, you’ll also find tooltips for keyboard shortcuts to quickly change its settings.

Even though it offers quite a bit, I have to say that I like the down-to-business, just-what-you-need approach that Razer has taken with this software. Many gaming laptops litter their configuration software with a lot of needless features like built-in game stores and wallpaper shops. While Synapse does offer some of this additional functionality, once you click into the laptop, it is just what you need and nothing more.

Razer Blade 16 – Performance

During the review window for this laptop, I was afforded more time than usual to test and live with it. As you can imagine, that’s extremely valuable, especially in this case where gen-over-gen performance really isn’t the defining factor. If you are already running an RTX 4000 series gaming laptop, this most likely isn’t the machine for you. But if you are already looking to upgrade and want to take advantage of the latest and greatest in what mobile rendering has to offer, the Blade 16 itself is a great way to do that if you can afford it.

Note that we’ve just changed our benchmarking procedures to better align with our new graphics card methodology, so there’s no comparative data yet. Stay tuned for more gaming laptop reviews this generation as we build out the data set.

First, let’s look at the numbers for synthetic testing. There’s not a lot here that’s going to blow your socks off. It performs well, but it had better for a flagship gaming laptop that exceeds a $4,000 asking price. Every test ran smoothly and achieved what we would expect after looking at the uplift from the desktop graphics cards.

Moving on to gaming. The first chart here focuses on 1200p (the 16:10 version of 1080p). While that might seem counterintuitive for a laptop of this caliber, this will give us an apples-to-apples comparison as we test more laptops across different budget ranges this generation.

With that in mind, it’s no surprise that the laptop completely blows this resolution out of the water. For virtually every test, graphics were set to their maximum settings. If upscaling was used, it was set to quality mode. While none of the games we tested ever reached 240Hz, it’s important to note that our new methodology limits frame generation to 2x to maintain the lowest possible latency with this technology at play. Turning on higher multipliers will absolutely raise some of these results to a substantial degree; however, the added latency and its impact on gameplay varies from game to game. I suggest you try the different settings because the uplift is certainly worthwhile in many games and should only improve with time.

Moving on to 1600p DPI (the Blade’s equivalent to 1440p), we again see that the RTX 5090 is more than capable of pushing smooth and rapid frame rates, typically well in excess of 60 fps. The only instances where this wasn’t the case were with Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition on the Extreme preset without DLSS enabled at all, and Cyberpunk 2077 in RT Overdrive mode.

Metro Exodus, while a relatively old game at this point, makes heavy and effective use of ray tracing and shows the RT performance of the card without any helping hands from supersampling. On the other end of the spectrum, Cyberpunk 2077 is a much newer game with far more impressive graphics that push the limits on current rendering capabilities. It’s the kind of mode that essentially requires helping hands and is deprived of frame generation, only getting close to 60 fps.

The experience of living with the Razer Blade 16, however, has been nothing but great. Even though upgrading to the RTX 5000 series isn’t going to make sense for everybody, if you are looking for an upgrade, I think this would be an excellent way to do it.

Part of the reason for this is that it just feels exceptionally portable. The thinner, lighter design coupled with its gorgeous 16-inch screen never ceased to please me when I would use it, whether that was for gaming or just getting work done during the day. It’s an absolute pleasure to look at and engage with.

I’m a big fan of the new keyboard. And though I hardly ever take advantage of remapping keys, I did exactly that here because the process was already so familiar. I was able to set up the laptop to match the key maps of my full-size gaming keyboard. The dedicated macro keys on the right side were definitely a boon to gaming, and the laptop’s ability to hypershift opens up a whole second layer of key maps, so you’re never really limited to those five keys.

When it was time to game or get work done in creative applications that pushed the hardware, I was impressed by the overall noise level. While it does get loud at full throttle, it really needs to be pushed for a while before it gets there. Even at its highest, it’s still quieter than many other gaming laptops of its caliber from the last generation.

I work extensively in the Adobe suite, primarily with Photoshop and Premiere Pro. My sample came with 32GB of memory, and the combination of its high-performance processor, the CUDA cores, and creator-centric designs of the RTX 5090 and its 24GB video buffer made it so I was able to edit 4K video with ease, even after loading up my timeline with motion graphics and transition effects. Rendering was also speedy, though the laptop is very expensive and truly only makes sense if you are a power user that demands zero compromises in gaming, as well as works in these apps. There’s truth to the saying that time is money, and this laptop will allow you to get work done on the go without waiting an inordinate amount of time for your projects to finish.

The final thing worth commenting on is temperature, because the new thermal hood and vapor chamber solution that Razer has used seems to be effective. Even after several hours of benchmark testing and gaming, the GPU only hit 78°C, and the CPU hit 82°C. That leaves headroom available on both and makes me think that they could be pushed further with custom overclocks. Added wattage would only increase the performance of the RTX 5090 as well. So if you’ve looked at the performance results here and felt that they’ve fallen a bit short, it’s worth remembering that there is a TGP cap at play, and a full 175-watt version would offer higher average fps overall. The Razer Blade 16 trades that to be thinner, lighter, and quieter, which I found to be quite appealing even with the small performance concession.

Razer Blade 16 – Battery Life

The battery life on the Razer Blade 16 is overall pretty good given its level of hardware. Since the battery is a little smaller than last generation’s version with the RTX 4090, you might expect it to offer worse battery life. But in my testing, it was just about the same, coming in at 5 hours and 21 minutes on Procyon’s Office Productivity Battery Life Test, compared to the 5 hours and 29 minutes we measured last time. Given that this model offers better performance all around and is both thinner and lighter to carry through the day, that’s not bad at all.

For gaming on battery, the new battery optimizer works impressively well. It obviously depends on what you’re playing and how demanding it is. However, I was able to get nearly two hours of gameplay when playing Baldur’s Gate 3 on battery using the Battery Optimizer toggle. While there are definitely concessions to be made to achieve this, it’s reasonable to expect some trade-offs when running a high-powered gaming laptop off of battery. As long as you’re comfortable allowing the Nvidia app to determine your frame rate target, it’s an effective way to extend the Blade 16’s portable gaming potential.

You’d think a five-hour long video of some chairs with names on them would be devoid of Marvel Cinematic Universe Easter eggs, but some fans believe there’s one hiding in the shadows.

To recap, this week Marvel announced the cast of Avengers: Doomsday in a video that slowly revealed chairs with MCU actor names on them. The video confirmed an additional 26 actors set to appear in the superhero mash-up alongside Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom. It took nearly five and a half hours to do so.

Most have now moved on from the video to debating what the cast announcement means for Avengers: Doomsday itself, but some have stuck with it, analyzing the chairs and even the shadows to within an inch of their lives. And now, some believe they’ve found… something.

The appropriately-named redditor True_Confusion_295 said “I feel like a conspiracy theorist circling things in red” when they pointed out that a shadow cast by one of the chairs forms what looks like an X on top of an A. What does that mean? Avengers vs. X-Men, of course.

Marvel surprised many by announcing a number of returning stars from Fox’s X-Men films. Fox X-Men veterans Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, and James Marsden are all now confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday. Grammer famously played Beast in the Fox X-Men franchise before making his MCU debut via The Marvels’ post-credits scene. Stewart played Charles Xavier/Professor X in the X-Men films before appearing briefly in the MCU via Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as a member of the Illuminati. McKellen, who played Magneto, has yet to appear in the MCU. Neither has Cumming, who played Nightcrawler, Romijn, who played Mystique, nor Marsden, who played Cyclops. Even Channing Tatum gets to play Gambit again after his star turn in Deadpool & Wolverine. It begs the question: is Avengers: Doomsday secretly an Avengers vs. X-Men movie?

Perhaps, when the movie is finally revealed, fans will return to this moment to declare the hotly anticipated superhero scrap was first teased in the shadow of a chair. Or not.

Letters in shadows isn’t the only conspiracy theory coming out of Marvel’s announcement video. At the end, Robert Downey Jr. does a slightly unnerving ‘shhh’ to the camera as he brings his finger up to his mouth. Why? Could it be a sort of ‘don’t tell anyone’ warning because production is about to begin? Could it be a tease for Avengers: Secret Wars? Could it be a nod to more casting announcements to come?

Or could it be a reference to Agatha in WandaVision? And, in turn, the unexpected appearance of Scarlet Witch, despite actress Elizabeth Olsen suggesting she’s not?

Doom x Agatha.#AvengersDoomsday pic.twitter.com/3LX38W5Kc0

— Cosmic Marvel (@cosmic_marvel) March 26, 2025

Earlier this month, co-directors the Russo brothers said they see Avengers 5 and 6 as a “new beginning” that will lay the foundation for whatever comes next in Phase 7 of the MCU.

“The only thing I’ll say about the movie is this: we love villains who think they’re the heroes of their own stories,” Joe Russo said. “That’s when they become three-dimensional and they become more interesting. When you have an actor like Robert Downey, you have to create a three-dimensional, well shaped character for the audience. That’s where a lot of our focus is going.”

Avengers: Doomsday is currently set to arrive in theaters on May 1, 2026, and Secret Wars arrives about a year later in May 2027. Before then, Thunderbolts* comes out in May 2025, TV show Ironheart is out in June, and Phase 6 kicks off with The Fantastic Four: First Steps in July.

In October, Marvel Studios added three untitled movie projects to its 2028 release schedule: February 18, 2028; May 5, 2028; and November 10, 2028. It seems increasingly likely one of these movies is X-Men.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Excitement for Pokémon Legends Z-A is undeniable in the community, but we still don’t have an exact release date of its late 2025 launch window, even after its showcase in the recent Nintendo Direct. But, in the meantime, Woot has slashed prices by up to 33% off current Pokémon games on Nintendo Switch, so you can get up to $20 off any you might still have in your backlog.

In Woot’s Spring Video Game Sale, the biggest bargains among these games, which almost all launched at $60, are the $20 price drops on Pokémon: Let’s Go Eevee and Pokémon Shield. I’m assuming this is because these were initially less popular compared to their counterparts (Let’s Go, Pikachu & Sword), so they may have more units to offload.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t take away from the fun each game offers. That’s primarily for the Let’s Go games. Although they were among the first Pokémon games on the Nintendo Switch, Let’s Go, Eevee & Pikachu are still some of the prettiest games in the franchise to date, thanks to their less graphically intensive, glossy, and cartoony aesthetic.

While the later games in the series seemed to drop that, these two 2018 games hold up incredibly well six years later. For those who are intrigued by Pokemon Z-A’s unique gameplay compared to the mainline games, Pokemon Legends: Arceus is a must-play as well if you haven’t had the chance to give it a try already.

At $15 off for a new price of $44.99, it’s arguably Pokemon’s take on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, still following that “catch ’em’ all” storyline but offers something unique by leaning in on the idea of Pokemon being wild and dangerous.

If you’re still behind on trying Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, the former has also had a price cut of $17 to bring it down to $42.99. If you’re not too bothered about technical issues with graphics, the latest mainline Pokemon game is still a good time if all you’re concerned about is catching Pokemon, battling, and taking on gym leaders. You can also get free delivery, but only if you’re an Amazon Prime member, so make sure to sign in if you are.

More Deals in Amazon’s Spring Sale

There are plenty of great deals to keep an eye on during the Spring Sale. We’ve highlighted some of our top picks just above, but for a more comprehensive look, check out our full breakdown of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale.

Plus, if you’ve been after any Pokémon TCG boosters, there’s a bunch back in stock today as well, including Shrouded Fable, Scarlet and Violet ETBs, and even Twilight Masquerade.

Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.

Some of the best deals to come out of the 2025 Amazon Spring Sale are on popular Apple devices like AirPods, Apple Watches, iPads, and MacBooks. Some of these prices are down to the lowest we’ve seen all year long. The Spring Sale ends on March 31, so you only have a few days left to take advantage of these discounts. Right now we’re at the point in the year where Apple has generally finished releasing its first batch of updated products, like the new iPhone 16e. The next crop of new releases probably won’t happen until September.

Apple AirPod Deals

Apple’s newest AirPods are all on sale. Starting with the highest end model, the second generation Apple AirPods Pro wireless noise-canceling earbuds is $169.99. The next step down, the Apple AirPods 4 with ANC (active noise cancelation) is down to $149.99. Finally, the value-packed AirPods 4 without ANC drops to $99.99. iPhone users, these are without a doubt the best earbuds to pair with your smartphone.

Apple Watch Deals

The newest Apple Watch has dropped to the lowest price ever as part of the big Amazon Spring Sale that starts today. Right now you can pick up a 42mm Apple Watch Series 10 for only $299 or the bigger 46mm model for $329. This is less expensive than the best deal we saw during Black Friday. If you own an iPhone, the Apple Watch is indisputably the best smartwatch for you. It’s stylish, boasts excellent build quality, excels as both a fitness tracker and smartwatch, and complements your iPhone better than any other watch brand.

Apple iPad Deals

The current generation iPads have been discounted across the board, although some models are discounted more than others. These include the new iPad and iPad Air that were released earlier this month, as well as the lastest versions of the iPad Mini and iPad Pro. Regardless of whether or not you’re already tied into Apple’s ecosystem, the iPads are the best tablets to streaming gaming, work, and more for 2025. Chances are there’s a specific iPad best suited to your needs.

Apple AirTag Deals

Amazon and Best Buy are both offering a four-pack of Apple AirTags keyfinders for only $64.49. That’s over $35 off the retail price and only $16.10 for each AirTag. This is a very practical accessory for anyone who owns an iPhone and tends to lose small wearables like wallets, keys, or remotes.

Apple MacBook Air Deals

The 2025 MacBook Air laptop – our favorite Macbook – is currently enjoying an excellent limited time discount on Amazon. Only recently released earlier this month, it’s fitted with the M4 chip and features a brilliant display alongside a sleek, durable design. If you’re looking for a lightweight laptop to get your work done, the MacBook Air is an excellent choice. The 2024 MacBook Air with the M3 chip is still a very capable laptop, and it’s also marked down.

Invincible and The Walking Dead star Steven Yeun has reportedly joined the upcoming animated Aang Avatar movie.

Details on Yeun’s involvement come from Variety, which reports the versatile star has been picked up to be a part of the film’s cast in an undisclosed role. It means we could hear him lend his voice acting talents as a new character from any one of the project’s Earth, Air, Fire, and Water kingdoms. There’s also the chance we see him play a familiar character, too, though the animated film’s plot details also remain tightly under wraps.

Variety’s report also states the Aang Avatar movie is currently “untitled” after previously being referred to as Aang: The Last Airbender. It’s unclear if that title idea has been dropped by Paramount Pictures.

Yeun made a name for himself as The Walking Dead’s baseball cap-wearing Glen before eventually branching out to appear in shows like Netflix’s award-winning Beef as well as movies like Nope and, more recently, Mickey 17. He’s also managed to cement himself as a more-than-capable voice actor, too. Amazon Prime Video’s Invincible, where he leads as the superhero series’ titular character, is no doubt his most notable voice acting credit, but he’s also got an important history with the Avatar universe.

David Lynch was one of the best guys to ever do it. From any of his very good films, Twin Peaks the TV series, to his unmissable weather reports, Lynch left behind a trove of beloved and rewatchable, if occasionally inscrutable, work that will hold up for years and years. (I’ll say it: His Dune was good.)

If a theater near you is showing his films after his death earlier this year, you should absolutely go – I saw Mulholland Drive on the big screen for the first time in January and boy, what a treat. If you can’t get to a theater, are worried that his work will be indiscriminately pulled off from streaming, or simply want to build out your own personal Lynch library, now’s a good time to stock up. Most of Lynch’s oeuvre in Blu-ray/4K is getting a healthy discount as part of Amazon’s Spring Sale. The only real misses from his films are Blue Velvet, with a measly 8% discount, and Wild at Heart, which is honestly already a pretty cheap Blu-ray. Unfortunately, none of these are part of the ongoing Buy 2, Get 1 Free promotion, but it’s more than worth paying a little extra to make these your own.

The Best David Lynch Blu-ray Deals on Amazon

1. Twin Peaks: From Z to A [Blu-Ray]

The best PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD you can get right now sees a big discount during the Amazon Spring Sale. Amazon is offering the Samsung 990 Pro 4TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe solid state drive (SSD) for $279.99 after a $120 off instant discount. Alternatively, you can get it with a preinstalled heatsink for $20 more. There are other, less expensive SSDs out there, but the 990 Pro is widely considered the fastest PCIe 4.0 SSDs on the market. It makes for an outstanding drop-in storage expansion for your PlayStation 5 console or as a boot drive for your gaming rig.

Samsung 990 Pro 4TB PS5 SSD for $279.99

Let’s get this out of the way first: Yeah, we know there are too many streaming services. There probably shouldn’t be this many. Did you know that Chick-fil-A wants to launch a streaming service? I have no idea what would be on there, or if the thing would even work on Sundays. But the discourse around too many streamers is no reason to dismiss Apple TV+, which has stealthily become one of the hubs for science fiction and similar genre programming. It’s also very easy to get access to, since so many Apple products give you free trials.

Apple TV+ has a reputation for having the best shows that no one talks about, so we understand if you haven’t heard of most of these or are wondering what the service even has. If you’re looking to be ahead of the curve and make the most out of your free trial or fresh sign-up, we’ve got you covered.

What follows, in no particular order, are some of the best shows on Apple TV+ right now.

Severance

One of Apple TV+’s most acclaimed shows, Severance stars Adam Scott as Mark Scout, an employee of Lumon Industries, where workers have had their personalities essentially split in half. Their work personas and out-of-work personas are functionally separate people with no memory of their time in the other half of their lives. The mind-bending sci-fi series was produced and (mostly) directed by Ben Stiller, who returned to the director’s chair after helming several films earlier in his career. IGN’s Samantha Nelson loved the show, writing in her review that the premiere episodes use “a clever premise and excellent cast to set up an intriguing mystery.” She also gave Season 2 an 8 out of 10, saying “AppleTV+’s Severance brings more depth to its characters and mystery in a twisty, stylish and emotionally devastating second season.”

Servant

If you’re looking for something with longevity, Servant would be a solid bet. One of the earliest original shows to premiere on Apple TV+, the supernatural series was produced and showrun by M. Night Shyamalan, and features one of his trademark spooky premises. Centered around Dorothy and Sean Turner (Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell, respectively), a married couple dealing with the tragic loss of their son, they become embroiled in bizarre occurrences due to a doll that Dorothy believes is their dead child reincarnated and the nanny who is hired to take care of the doll. Shyamalan directed a handful of episodes, with others helmed by various directors such as Nimród Antal, Julia Ducournau, and even Shyamalan’s own daughter Ishana. The series received strong reviews and went for four seasons, so it’s the perfect choice if you want to immediately jump into a longer binge.

For All Mankind

Another longer-running show is For All Mankind, an alternate history sci-fi drama that reimagines a world where the space race went on far longer than in our world. Starting with the Soviet Union beating the USA to the Moon, each season takes place in a different decade and depicts how subsequent world events have been radically altered. The ambitious show took a little bit to find its footing according to some critics, but from Season 2 onward, For All Mankind has received stellar reviews, with IGN’s Emma Fraser giving Season 3 and Season 4 a 9/10 and 8/10 respectively. And it’s not done yet, with a fifth season coming up and a spin-off show named Star City in the works, so you know your time investment won’t be wasted. If you want a more cerebral sci-fi drama that really gets its hooks into you, For All Mankind is definitely worth a look.

Foundation

There’s going to be a lot of science fiction on this list, okay? We did warn you. Created by David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, Foundation is based on the seminal space opera novel series by renowned author Isaac Asimov. The books are dense tomes about a Galactic Empire and various attempts to mitigate its downfall using psychohistory, a new branch of mathematics that can predict the future. The books were long thought to be too impenetrable for adaptation, so give credit to the creators for taking such a wild swing. IGN’s Rafael Motamayor loved the show, giving rave reviews to the first and second seasons, and it seems most other critics agreed with him. A third season is also confirmed, so if you’re a fan of old-school sci-fi, this might be your next television obsession.

Silo

For something a little bit darker and more straightforward in its world-building, perhaps Silo will be more your speed. Created by Graham Yost and based on a series of books by Hugh Howey, this dystopian drama stars Rebecca Ferguson as Juliette Nichols, an engineer tasked with keeping the eponymous silo (where everyone lives sheltered from the outside world) and its generators functional. Featuring strong mystery writing and heart-pumping tension, Silo was praised by IGN and other critics for its scripts, production design and Ferguson’s performance. Between this and the Dune films, she really has been on a roll as a sci-fi queen, and should probably just be in everything. Season 2 ended in January 2025, with our reviewer Emma Fraser giving it an 8 out of 10, saying it “expands this dystopian world and gives Rebecca Ferguson plenty of chances to show off her action-star chops.”

Ted Lasso

Here’s the one you have heard of: Ted Lasso, the sports sitcom starring Jason Sudeikis, which became an international sensation and is probably the most obvious choice for Apple TV+’s signature show. Featuring Sudeikis as the title character, a gridiron football coach from the US who is placed in charge of an association football/soccer team in England, the series helped put Apple TV+ on the map and became the platform’s most watched series with its second season premiere. Ted Lasso was widely acclaimed during its three-season run, becoming a fan-favorite watch during pandemic lockdowns due to its upbeat tone and winning performances. Although the show’s story did wrap up at the end of the third season, there are rumors swirling that a fourth season may be in the works. Given how successful the show has been for Apple, we’d be surprised if more Ted Lasso wasn’t already on the way.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Everyone loves giant monsters, right? That’s what Legendary Pictures was counting on when developing their MonsterVerse franchise, featuring relaunched interpretations of Godzilla, King Kong, Mothra and more. Because the films have been fairly lucrative, the franchise expanded into television, including an Apple TV+ series based on Monarch, the government organization dedicated to keeping track of the massive creatures they call Titans. What could have been a throwaway spin-off surprised everyone by being actually quite good, with IGN’s Isaac Feldberg writing that the show “makes a stronger case for character-driven storytelling in Legendary’s MonsterVerse than any of its big-screen outings.” If you’re a fan of the franchise but haven’t watched this show yet, now’s the time to get on it, since Season 2 is currently in production.

Lisey’s Story

Here’s a bit of a curveball for you: Lisey’s Story, a miniseries from acclaimed director Pablo Larraín (of Jackie and Spencer fame) and based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, with King also writing the scripts for the series. Starring Julianne Moore as the title character, the series follows Lisey, the widow of author Scott Landon (Clive Owen), who has to navigate her grief and a mysterious “treasure hunt” that her late husband has left for her to solve. This series received more mixed reviews from critics than other entries on this list, but some fans of King’s writing appreciated it for Moore’s performance and how much the show immerses itself in all of the idiosyncrasies of the famous author’s style. King himself seems proud of the series, so if you’re a fan of his work, it might be worth taking a chance on.

Sugar

For more recent shows that are quicker to get through, Sugar might be one to consider. The detective noir series stars Colin Farrell as John Sugar, a private eye in Los Angeles who’s hired to investigate the disappearance of a Hollywood bigwig’s granddaughter. No points for guessing that things are a bit more complicated than they originally seem. The series was largely directed by renowned Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles, best known for critically beloved films like City of God and The Constant Gardener (Adam Arkin also helmed some episodes). The show received mostly positive reviews, with pretty much everyone highlighting Farrell’s performance as the element that holds it all together. It also gets truly bonkers in its final episodes, which we won’t spoil, but stick with it if you want to see a show go into real left-field territory.

Sunny

If you’re up for something that’s both thorny and funny, Sunny is another recent entry worth giving a look. The dark comedy series based on Colin O’Sullivan’s 2018 novel The Dark Manual stars Rashida Jones as Suzie Sakamoto (she married into the name, if you were wondering), who is grieving the disappearance and presumed death of her husband and son, and subsequently has to deal with a consolation prize in the form of Sunny, a robotic companion apparently designed by her late husband. Despite Suzie’s initial protests, she has to develop a bond with Sunny as they get involved in a world of conspiracies and Yakuza and all manner of bizarre happenings. The series received largely positive reviews from critics, highlighting Jones’ emotionally complex performance and the use of its Japanese sci-fi setting.

Dark Matter

Between Everything Everywhere All at Once, the Spider-Verse films, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and The Flash (okay maybe not The Flash), multiverses are really “in” these days, aren’t they? If you’re up for one more, look no further than Dark Matter, a sci-fi series from showrunner Blake Crouch, adapting his own novel of the same name. The series stars Joel Edgerton as Jason Dessen, a physicist who finds himself transported to an alternate reality where his life turned out quite differently because of alternate choices, and now he has to find a way back to the life he knows. The first season received strong reviews, and although IGN’s Samantha Nelson was a bit lukewarm on the series (she gave it a 7/10), she did praise its cast and emotional elements. There’s also a second season coming if you do end up getting into it.

Disclaimer

Okay so this one isn’t out yet, but it’s absolutely one to look forward to. Written and directed by acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, best known for movies like Children of Men and Gravity, Disclaimer is a psychological drama starring Cate Blanchett as Catherine Ravenscroft, a documentary filmmaker who finds her life unraveling as someone enacts a revenge scheme against her by publishing a novel that’s actually a true story about her from years ago. I got to see the first three episodes at the Toronto International Film Festival, and from what I’ve seen, it’s a gorgeous show with fantastic cinematography and excellent performances. If you’re in the mood for a murky story with complicated characters, this is one to add to your watchlist. The miniseries premiered on Apple TV+ on October 11, 2024.

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.

Today’s Nintendo Direct announcement of a new Virtual Game Cards feature for sharing games between systems is being met with surprise and interest from fans. But it’s also raising some questions, most notably one about the Nintendo Switch 2, thanks to a fine print footnote on an official Nintendo webpage.

The question comes from this page, which explains how Virtual Game Cards work. Most of what’s here is fairly straightforward (well, as straightforward as anything is). But there’s a fascinating footnote at the bottom of the page, tied to the feature of moving games between Switch systems. It reads:

**Compatible systems must be linked to a Nintendo Account to use virtual game cards. Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive games and Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games can only be loaded on a Nintendo Switch 2 system. To move virtual game cards between two systems, you must pair the systems via local wireless and an internet connection, but only when pairing the systems for the first time. Up to two systems total can be linked per Nintendo Account.

What’s throwing people here is the phrasing “Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games.” The part about “exclusive games” is straightforward enough, as we already knew there would be games that are only playable on the Nintendo Switch 2, and not the current Switch. But we also know that the Nintendo Switch 2 is backwards compatible with Switch 1 (mostly). So what is a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition game?

Some fans are suggesting this is a subtle confirmation that there will be some “enhanced editions” of existing Switch games that add new features or improved performance, only for Switch 2. If that’s the case, it would make sense that purchasing them on Switch 2 would not allow them to be shared with a Switch 1, because they simply wouldn’t function correctly and would effectively be a different edition of the version on Switch 1.

That’s not the only theory though. Some others are speculating that this doesn’t confirm anything, merely suggests an unfortunate situation where users won’t be able to use Nintendo’s shiny new Virtual Game Card feature to send some or all Nintendo Switch 2 games backward to Switch 1, even if they’re the same game. It’s also possible this doesn’t suggest anything in particular, but merely opens the door in the future for third-parties to release Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of games if they feel like it.

We reached out to Nintendo to try to get a clarification, but were told by a spokesperson they would have an answer for us on April 2, conveniently the day of the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct. Just hang in there a little bit longer, everyone.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

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