Review on Razer Core Aluminum External Enclosure by Lamar Vanderburg

If you're looking for an integrated Ethernet network card, look elsewhere. This uses the ASIX AX88179 network chip, which is very finicky and will not work with many configurations. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of this when I bought it. Luckily, my WiFi works fine, so I don't *need* necessarily* Ethernet support - it's just a handy feature that sets the Core X Chroma apart from less expensive competitors. This review is more about Razer's support methods: virtually all of Razer's documentation tells you to contact Razer Support instead of sending in the product when you encounter problems. Ignore them and just come back. If you reach out to Razer, they will spend enough time "fixing" your issue to close Revain's return window and then find a way to dump you and say it's not their fault. In my case, Razer Support did the usual troubleshooting steps: power off and power on again. Install updates. Reinstall the Ethernet driver. Reinstall the Thunderbolt driver. Connect the Ethernet to a different port on the router. Connect Ethernet directly to the modem. Etc. Finally, after the Revain return window closed, they hit me with what I think is another troubleshooting step: try borrowing another laptop to try. Seems like an innocent troubleshooting step to me: we're just trying to isolate the problem from the software or configuration and rule out a hardware issue, right? nope As soon as I told them that the ethernet was working fine with the borrowed laptop they dumped me and said the Core X Chroma was working "as advertised", it was not their problem and I should contact my laptop manufacturer . Serious. Razer is a system builder, so they know as well as anyone that no system builder EVER offers support for third-party peripherals. Understandably, all of Razer's "support" drove me nuts until the Revain return window closed. So now I'm stuck with a device that doesn't have its main function working, which sets it apart from cheaper competitors. Learn from my experience: just give it back. Never, ever contact Razer Support.