Razer wilfully mis-advertises eGPU support for Mac. Don't buy the Chroma for OS X.

Razer wilfully mis-advertises eGPU support for Mac. Don't buy the Chroma for OS X.


I recently bought a Razer Core X Chroma eGPU enclosure to use with a new Macbook Pro, based on Razer's advertising of compatibility with OS X.


In short, this claim was a lie. And Razer knows that.

After using it for a few weeks, it is clear the gigabit ethernet adapter is and has always been faulty for Mac users. Searching around online found dozens of threads on reddit and elsewhere of Mac users reporting there is no way to use the GPU's gigabit ethernet connection at full speed, and may have never been since release.

Razer has acknowledged this to multiple users via support, and offered no schedule or intent to resolve the issue.


This is frustrating for a few reasons, and reflects poorly, if not fraudulently, on Razer.

- The product appears to have been released in a broken state for OS X users
- Razer has acknowledged the flaw and is aware of it
- The users who complained have been abandoned by Razer support (effectively a "live with it" outcome)
- Razer still advertises the product via every channel as Mac-compatible, which Razer knows it is not.


The last point there is worse than releasing a shoddy product and abandoning users, because it wilfully misleads customers to continue buying the product. It is also generally illegal under US and EU consumer protection laws. Users have told Razer support they should stop advertising the product improperly, and Razer has chosen not to.

Razer should take steps to address the flaws in their product, apologize to customers, and review their currently misleading marketing information.


For my part, I've reported Razer's listings to Amazon, and have raised a case with the Ombudsman here in the UK. If anyone else is in this boat, be aware of your legal remedies and keep your fingers crossed that Razer grows a spine-- or can snakes not do that?

The links below are to forums and posts where other users have reported the same issue.

https://egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/2019-15-macbook-pro-razer-chroma-x-catalina-10-15-1-ethernet-fails-after-a-few-minutes/

https://www.reddit.com/r/eGPU/comments/frqzgf/razer_core_x_chroma_macbook_pro_13_2018_with/

https://www.reddit.com/r/razer/comments/fjl45n/razer_core_x_chroma_and_macos_with_ethernet/

https://egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/razer-core-x-chroma-macos-ethernet/

https://www.labohyt.net/blog/gadget/post-4906/

https://www.labohyt.net/blog/apple/post-4711/

https://egpu.io/forums/thunderbolt-enclosures/ultimate-one-cable-solution-some-user-experience-of-razer-core-x-chroma-and-gigabyte-gaming-box/#post-76002

https://egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/razer-core-v2-macos-questions/#post-28434

https://egpu.io/forums/which-gear-should-i-buy/enclosure-recommendation-to-replace-razer-core-x-chroma-due-to-poor-mac-support/#post-63341

https://egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/issues-with-ethernet-port-on-new-razor-core-v2/