My new Recoil 16 AMD

[LucCas]

Hi, a few days ago I received my new Recoil 16 AMD. My configuration has a RTX 5080 mobile and 5 Tbytes of SSD space (1+4).
My previous laptop was still a recoil but the 17" 2023 model, and I was not very satisfied of it. It had mediocre build quality, especially the keyboard, and I had to RMA it four times because of screen failure. I would never gave a Tongfang another chance if I did not see the model 2024 which was leaps and bounds better than the 2023 model. I had the chance to get a look at the 2025 model as well so I decided to get this new beast. And, in these first days, I was very satisfied even if there are some small (for me) issues. Let's explore pros and cons:

Pro:
- Build quality: what was bad before, now it is a strenght. Metal case,
- price: this configuration costed me around 3,4K€. Not a small amount but compared to the competition it is very good
- performance: it is FAST, period.
- Fastest mobile gaming CPU available
- Cooling system: you can feel the WEIGHT of the metal that went in this component, and when not maxing the power the noise is reasonable.
- Screen: while it does not support G-sync, I don't miss it. 300Hz refresh, HDR; mini-LED, it is even too bright when activating the HDR on some games.
- Power supply size: By using SiC components, it is half the size of my previous 330W adapeter, but with a 420W output.

Cons:
- Weight: even if it has a reason behing (the good cooling system) this is heavier than my previous 17" laptop. It is almost 3Kg without the power brick.
- power cord from power supply to laptop is too short. Depending on your placement, it can be very annoying to deal with
- No USB 4. Just why? Personally I don't use it a lot, but it would have been a plus and most of competitors have it, or even in some cases they have better connettivity.
- No Wi-FI7. Just why? part second. Just every other competitor has it, even the other Fire Range laptops. Again, Wi-FI6E is not bad, but having a better option for connectivity is always a good thing.

All in all, it is a fantastic laptop with a lot of strenghts and some weakness but definitely a good choice.

 

[Paul1964]

Yeah the USB4 thing is a bit of a puzzle. Did you get the water-cooler? It will run quieter with it.

Build quality on my 2023 Recoil 17 is fine, what issues did you have?

 

[LucCas]

No water cooler on mine for the moment, I have no place to put it.

My 2023 Recoil 17 had a horrible keyboard (the new one is orders of magnitude better) and I had to RMA it four times because the screen failed. The fourth time it was recognized the screen model it was mounted was not compatible with the RTX4080 mobile and that caused the failures. Two keys on the keyboard ceased to work properly and at the same time the videocamera stopped working as well (without any reason). The battery also started to behave strangely, I got "communication errors" with it but it still seemed to work. The system randomically crashed every now and then, I reformatted and reinstalled Windows, too, but the problem remained. And, in general, comparing the build to the latest version feels very cheap, especially the plastic case on a 3K laptop, the old case was easier to bend while this one is really on another level.

 

[LucCas]

Needs to be said that they had flashed an unsupported BIOS which was likely the issue outside of the screen

Nope, because the flash was on a completely different laptop (the 15,6" based on the Ryzen 3700X which had a keyboard blocking all at once for a BIOS issue) and on the Recoil 17 all the intervention were performed by the PC Specialist service. But you can continue to find excuses for this.

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Nope, because the flash was on a completely different laptop (the 15,6" based on the Ryzen 3700X) and on the Recoil 17 all the intervention were performed by the PC Specialist service. But you can continue to lie and find excuses for this.

Sincere apologies, that was the Nova.

Will delete that.

Please don’t call me a liar though, it was a genuine mistake and if it had been the case was very important to highlight

 

[LucCas]

On the Nova I was accused to have caused the problem with the flashing while it was an attempt to fix the issue because it was a notorious problem on that Clevo chassis (There were several instances of it on different notebook forums) and I had it BEFORE the Flash and there was no fix available in that moment by PC Specialist support. The issue was solved 3 months later when PC Specialist rolled out the fixed BIOS. But let's move on.

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

On the Nova I was accused to have caused the problem with the flashing while it was an attempt to fix the issue because it was a notorious problem on that Clevo chassis (There were several instances of it on different notebook forums) and I had it BEFORE the Flash. The issue was solved 3 months later when PC Specialist rolled out the fixed BIOS. But let's move on.

Yes, there was a known official EC update to address that, but since you’d flashed an incompatible BIOS you lost your warranty so we weren’t able to provide any support

 

[LucCas]

Yes, there was a known official EC update to address that, but since you’d flashed an incompatible BIOS you lost your warranty so we weren’t able to provide any support

Which again was false because I received the new BIOS directly from the PC Specialist support people.

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Which again was false because I received the new BIOS directly from the PC Specialist support people.

It wasn’t false, it’s clearly outlined in the warranty. If they chose to give you the update despite it that’s well within their rights, doesn’t change our process, we have to abide by their terms as it is their forum

7.4

This warranty does not apply to any defect in the goods arising from fair wear and tear, wilful damage, accident, negligence by you or any third party (e.g. not using a surge protector), use otherwise than as recommended by us or the manufacturer (e.g. in an unventilated / hot or dusty environment), failure to follow the manufacturer's instructions, or any alteration or repair carried out without the manufacturer's approval.

7.9	We reserve the right to suspend the warranty or refuse service if your Case, Motherboard, CPU or BIOS have been replaced without authorisation. Any tampering, repair or modification by unauthorised personnel voids the warranty.

PCSPECIALIST - Terms & Conditions

General Terms & Conditions of business.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

We did advise you to give them a call anyway as they will often help people despite it.

Please stop being so aggressive, there is no cause for it, I am merely pointing out facts as any forum is not about the initial poster, it’s about people that come across that thread later gathering info. It’s extremely important to have things correctly represented to prevent people unwillingly doing things that will sacrifice their warranty or damage hardware.

 

[LucCas]

You said that PC Specialist was not able to provide support whci is objectively false. Support people understood that the error was made in good faith and because there was no fix available in that moment and there was not yet a due date for it. So they ovelooked the practice (which I avoided like hell in the other laptop) and supplied me the fix once available. And that frankly convinced me to buy again PC Specialist.

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

You said that PC Specialist was not able to provide support whci is objectively false.

I'm afraid that's wholly incorrect, all any of us said was that your warranty was voided as per the things I've posted above

but since you’d flashed an incompatible BIOS you lost your warranty so we weren’t able to provide any support

Perhaps you're confused (understandably) that I'm connected to PCS, no one on this forum works for PCS, it's community driven, Admin staff from PCS do occasionally pop on for very important announcements, and occasionally to offer support, but it's rare.

This was the guidance given to you specifically

I'm afraid you will have voided your PCS warranty there.

Fingers crossed that it's solved your problem. If it hasn't I would talk to PCS sooner rather than later to see whether they can revert you back to the PCS BIOS (most likely for a fee) and whether they would then reinstate your warranty. They're good people and if you ask nicely you never know.

So they ovelooked the practice (which I avoided like hell in the other laptop) and supplied me the fix once available. And that frankly convinced me to buy again PC Specialist.

And that's great, and I'm very happy for you, that's the kind of service that is more often than not shown

And I'm very sorry you had so many issues with the 2023 model, I don't know what happened there as we've not had any others giving that kind of feedback on the forum certainly. Perhaps though with things that catastrophic they'd done the correct thing and gone straight to PCS as you did.