Razer Blade 16 Mini-LED local dimming

Razer changed its marketing metrials for the Blade16 laptop, removed almost all content related to content creation, and only talked about gaming. This is a clear sign that they are incapable of dealing with this issue, unwilling to face it. Content creator should think twice when buy another Razer laptop, they are irresponsible, and dishonest.

Just adding my name to the request for a single dimming zone option. In all other respects the Blade 16 is fantastic, but the mini-LED screen is utter garbage for desktop work.

The YouTube channel Short Circuit, part of Linus Tech Tip (LTT) just reviewed the Lamborghini variant of the 16” mini-led laptop and their takeaway...

“Completely skip the dual-mode display, man, what an awful piece of junk”

Razer need to pull their finger out of whatever orifice they’ve inserted it into and release a toggle to allow turning off local dimming as they are embarrassing themselves and their brand with the current state of their “flagship” laptop product.

My  Razer Blade 16 Mercury Screen (BOE) had some wild local dimming artifacts, similar to the following video:

The following workaround made my screen more acceptable (but still no solution for content creation):

• Press Win key, type and open "Color Management"
• Select "Advanced" Tab on the top row
• Click "Calibrate Display" Click "Next" and accept the warning.
• Click "Next" until you arrive at the color balance with the 3 color sliders.
• Move all color sliders completely to the left.
• Now use the back button on top to get to the start of the calibration.
• Adjust gamma and brightness now to your liking (and maybe also colors if required).
• Finish calibration.

Colors look less overblown and more accurate now and local dimming artifacts seem down to a minimum on my screen. But they can still be seen.
I did not test this yet, but it might also have a positive impact on battery life.

The Bad:

• The max brightness of the screen in non-HDR is quite limited now, but more than bright enough for me (HDR is still very very bright).
• The factory calibration, that is seemingly hard wired or baked into firmware in the screen is still way off (maybe some sign error?).
• Still no screen for content creation as long as local dimming cannot be deactivated, because the brightness levels on screen do not match the brightness levels in the created files (e.g. images or videos).

Returned mine Blade 16 - its unusable in its current form.

Please Razer!

I returned my blade 16.  I was going to buy the IPS screen instead - but I’m not sure I’m willing to support Razer after this…. Pretty shitty.  Maybe time to give the Legion a try...

5 months of radio silence from Razer. This shouldn’t be something that is just ignored, this laptop was advertised for gaming AND content creation. In it’s current state it is terrible for content creation.

Dear Razer Support and the Razer hardware and software team. I hope you guys are tracking this issue and actively developing software solutions. We are Looking forward to it. 

All the best. 😺

Razer please tell me this is a defective display or its how Mini LED technology implemented in this laptop and it's considered "normal".

White objects on black that are smaller than 2cm turns grey. I recorded a video showing this problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPL3ZBoIBrM

It needs a thorough investigation. Have you contacted our Support Teach through here? Otherwise, please send me a PM including the following so I can start a support ticket on your behalf:
 

1. Photo of the BIOS main tab

2. Screenshot of the Nvidia and Intel Driver versions. Press Windows+R on your keyboard. Type in DXDIAG into the run command text box and hit OK. Then click on YES. Click on the Display 1 and 2 tabs and look for the graphics driver version on the right side.
3.  Synapse 3.0 logs

Save the files via Google Drive or any online drive account, then paste the shareable link in your message. Ensure to set the link's settings that allow access to its content. Thanks for your cooperation.

Hi! Yes, i have contacted support, and this is the answer i recieved:

 

Pertaining to the local dimming concern that has been brought to our specialist's attention earlier on, I have received the response explaining why small objects or text appears to be seems grayish in correlation with the different level of brightness.
 
For your information, actually there is a minor limitation when it comes to the implementation of local dimming. 
 
Due to the relatively large size of the backlight zones on most monitors, it's almost impossible to perfectly dim the backlight around a bright object on a black background.
 
1. Light blooming around bright objects.

Blooming effects may occur because in the case of the Blade 16 UHD display one mini-LED zone covers the area of roughly 8 LCD pixels. The pixels are adjusted to account for this effect but there some residual brightness may be visible in high contrast edges. For example, the mouse gets dim when on all black background.
 
2. A loss of detail in dark areas.
 
Similar to the issue with blooming, sometimes the opposite can occur. By dimming a dark scene too much, some small dim details can be lost. This issue is commonly known as black crush. Maybe use the example of the mouse on black vs bright background.

 

And answer about my proposal to add the option in Razer Synapse to switch between Multi Zone to One Zone backlight:

we do not have the feature available in Synapse, but I do believe that it is possible to implement. I will take this as feedback and have it forwarded to our specialist team for further review and consideration purposes.

 

So, i really hope that this feature will be implemented, becouse without it this laptop screen doesnt intended for any visual content creation, like its advertised :(

 

I appreciate sharing this in the thread so everyone can also use this as a reference. Can you send me the case number so I can also review its history via PM? Thanks for your cooperation.

It’s been now 3 months and this feature is still missing from Synapse also other issues with sleep and not waking have been discovered for this model. 

As this is very expensive device ive spoken with about 50 owners of 16 models all German Models and we have decided to launch class action lawsuit against Razer as Razer not Only is straight lying but also Not including this option in synapse at least here. 

On top of that people who contact them get no answer from their support or any help that has to do with software they so stupidly have not fixed for now 5 years as even older models still have some issues for anyone wanting to join PM me.. 

You should try turning on HDR for that screen (in Display Settings) - and then turning down the brightness a bit; it’s not a fix, but it helps.

So I hit the “Use HDR” the Display options, and everything looks better!  No - not perfect (dark green looks like neon green on the razer’s screen) - but the text just became much brighter (bright grey - not really white) - but MUCH better.  It’s almost like the single zone option on my M16).

So…  not sure if that option was supposed to be on, but I like it!    

 Razer - any updates?  I am about to return two units if this can’t be fixed…  (I don’t WANT to return - just don’t have a choice unless Razer confirms that a solution is pending).  Thanks!

Single-zone dimming feature and optional sRGB color space profile is going to make this laptop screen much more useful. I’m holding on to my blade 16, and believe this problem will resolve soon. 

Razer, keep up the good work, and let make it better.