Razer's Linux Laptop Plans Appear To Have Been Mothballed

Written by Michael Larabel in Hardware on 25 July 2019 at 07:24 AM EDT. 31 Comments
HARDWARE
Remember back in 2017 when Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan talked about plans for better Linux support for their high-end gaming laptops on Linux? More than two years later, they have yet to ship a Linux laptop nor make any other measurable improvements to their Linux support.

While back in 2017 they were quite optimistic about Linux on laptops and improving their position and they were quite enthusiastic in their communications with I, it seems that those plans have shifted to the back-burner. I haven't received any new information from them in well over one year and recently heard from a contact that those Razer Linux plans have stalled -- at least in part due to the Linux gaming marketshare remaining quite small in relation to Windows. There's also the possibility they could introduce more of a developer-type laptop, but at this point it sounds like there isn't anything on their near-term road-map.


It's unfortunate that they haven't been able to deliver any significant Linux support improvements now two years later or a dream Linux laptop for high-end gamers/developers, but at least from the likes of the Dell XPS or System76 there remain many nice Linux-focused laptop options these days with modern processors/graphics/storage.

Razer also isn't providing any official Linux drivers/software for their gaming peripherals, but filling the void there is still OpenRazer+Polychromatic, libratbag, and other community options.
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Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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