A regular keyboard is just too mundane and slow for the kind of gaming that is about to go down. What we need is a weapon of terror that can be used on a lesser foe. It’s also really comfy.

Razer calls its latest gaming peripehral, the Razer Orbweaver, an Elite Mechanical Gaming Keypad. I will admit, that it’s quite an accurate description. A normal person would probably only understand those words individually, but not when they are stringed together like that. Essentially, the Orbweaver is a gaming keyboard that has removed all those keys that you never use. It boils the gaming experience down to the most critical of buttons and concentrates it on your left hand. The thumb alone can be mapped to hit 10 different keys.

Frankly, I am never going to need that many keys on my thumb. Even at the height of gaming I will end up using eight at most.  Especially since most of my macros are mapped to the four additional buttons on the mouse I am currently using (a Razer Taipan in case you’re asking). This represents an interesting dilemma on how to fully utilise the extra functions. Oddly enough, it’s not the extra options that make the Orbweaver so worth it. It is how bloody comfortable it feels. The palm rest is adjustable enough that you can just relax, which reduces the incidents of hitting the wrong keys. The mechanical keys provide just enough feedback to let you know what you’re doing. While it is debateable that it improves your overall gaming performance, it does reduce fatigue. That, in itself, is a very big plus.

One thing about Razer is that they know exactly how to make things look good. On its own, the Orbweaver looks like a strange disjointed keypad that got lost. That impression changes, once you plug it in and those green LEDs light up and transform it into a thing of beauty. While you might be among the many who does not need it, but you will definitely want it. Plus, being able to store all those extra macros is great for playing MMOs. What else do you need?