Rainbows and butterflies with the Chroma.
By Victor Yap
To date, I never used a proper Razer peripheral. While I have tried a number of the gaming brand’s headsets (Kraken and Adaro) and gave the Razer Blades the review gauntlet run, I really never got to try the two aspects that Razer is widely known for – its ‘made for gamers’ keyboard and mouse lines. When the Chroma range released, the guys at the Razer Singapore office went out of the way to correct my review experience – firstly, with the Razer BlackWidow Chroma Mechanical Keyboard.
It’s Big
Like all things Razer, everything is done with leaving an impression. The Chroma edition of the BlackWidow comes in a huge and hefty black box, the trademark Razer green accents, and a splash of a million hues – to best represent the chromatic optic effects that the keys sport.
Rainbow Keys
I’ve come across many types of membrane-like gaming keyboards that offer rainbow colour settings for the QWETY keys but never have I encountered a proper mechanical keyboard that offers the spectrum range of a prism. Paired with the Razer Synapse app, each key can be colour coded to suit the mood, gaming mode, or key-mapping customisation of users. Even the way the backlighting operates – be it static, wave, breathing, cycling, reactive, or gaming optimisation, all of them can be engaged via Synapse.
Nice Click
Razer did not just include new backlight optics for this BlackWidow entry. Beyond the new lighting optics, Razer’s green switches have also been thrown in. This ensures better usability as it offers a longer keystroke lifespan, optimised tactile feed, and better user to keyboard interaction. While I did get the impression of having experience better keystroke responses on this mechanical keyboard, what left a deeper impression on me is the nice click-clack sound the press keys emit. So, so, so nostalgic.
Great Travel
Most mechanical keyboards are either made to be portable by using a slimmer profile or a re-defined chassis design. This usually means being a peripheral that is missing more than a few keys. Not so with Razer as it used a full keyboard for its design and did not skimp on the directional or numpad keys. Now this, I like, as it means I can revert back to the proper keyboard size that I have been used to all my life. As such, I encountered no issues with my writing work or gaming experience.
Price: RM539
Dimensions (W x H x D): 475 x 171 x 39mm
Weight: 1.kg
Switch: Razer Mechanical Switch with 50g Actuation Force
Backlight: Chroma Backlight with 16.8 million customisable colour options
Features: 10-Key Roll-Over Anti-Ghosting, Fully Programmable Keys with On-The-Fly Macro Recording, Five Dedicated Macro Keys, Gaming Mode, 10,000Hz Ultrapoling
App: Razer Synapse
I/O: 1x Audio-Out, 1x Mic-In, 1x USB 2.0 (via USB Pass-Through)
Value 8
Performance 9
Features 9
Design 10
Usability 10
Verdict: Colourfully fun and intuitive.
Total 9.2/10
