I'm extremely disappointed. I bought my first Razer Blade laptop back in 2010 and it worked well until the battery bloated and popped out of the case. So, I decided I wouldn't be purchasing any more of those. Fast forward to needing a new laptop; I thought, surely after all these years, Razer has sorted everything out for their new laptops. So, I bought a brand-new 2024 Razer laptop, costing around $2300 with taxes.
For the first two months, everything was working fine. I even got the Thunderbolt Razer docking station. I hooked up two monitors via USB-C and also connected a Thunderbolt cable from the docking station to my Qnap. Everything was perfect until one day when I disconnected the docking station to move the laptop to the couch for a few hours. When I plugged the cable back in, none of the USB-C ports worked anymore.
With over 20 years in IT, I went through the troubleshooting steps I'd normally advise end users: rebooting, unplugging, but nothing worked. I even tried swapping cables around. Eventually, I decided to do a Windows reset, thinking that's probably what Razer's script would suggest. But even after the reset, the USB-C ports remained dead.
Then began the frustrating journey with Razer support. The first person I spoke to suddenly couldn't hear me when I explained the issue, so I hung up and called again. The second support person's first suggestion? You guessed it, factory reset. When I explained I'd already done that, they promised to email me instructions on their specific method. It turned out to be the same as what I'd already done, but I did it again just to comply.
After the factory reset, the USB-C ports still didn't work. So, Razer support requested a video showing the issue. I felt like they were pulling a prank on me. Not only did I have to rebuild my brand-new laptop and reinstall Windows, now they wanted me to be Steven Spielberg too? After spending half a day dealing with this on a laptop that was only two months old, I was incredulous.
I shot a video on my phone, but it was too big to email. Eventually, after a cumbersome process involving my NAS and YouTube, I managed to upload the video and share the link with Razer support. I'll keep everyone posted on what they request next.
The moral of the story? Imagine if someone less tech-savvy had bought this laptop and needed an RMA. It's a nightmare. Razer's tech support seems nonexistent; they just read off a script without any real solutions. I can confidently say this is the last time I'll be spending close to $3000 on a Razer product.