Razer Black Widow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

Firstly we will talk about the performance of the software and how this affects both the everyday use and of course more importantly for gaming. In a world where the best gamers swear by their mechanical keyboards there is certainly a lot of things you expect, and to a large extent the Razer BlackWidow does provide this. The software as such is really simple, really clear interface and simple design with only the bear amount of content that is needed. I would in some ways prefer a bit more guidance or instructions with regards to setting up the key mappings as it just says ‘Assign function’ and lists 6 different function choices. Of course, you will soon get the grasp that the default key option resets it to the factory configured options – I would prefer it to be labelled reset personally.
While the software is simple it does seem to have most things you would want being able to set-up several different profiles for all your different games is really useful, and to be honest brilliant for most applications.

Inside the keyboard Razer have chosen to use Cherry MX Blue Mechanical Switches compared to their more popular Black switches, while they sound like they probably do the same thing, they are completely different. The Blue switches in theory give more feedback so you know exactly when it clicks, much more like a mouse click. That said, the noise is a tad more audible, in fact, compared to the recently reviewed Tt eSPORTS Meka Keyboard it is quite a lot louder, although their is more of a sweeter click sound compared to the dull thud of the Black switches in the Meka Keyboard. We did also find that the click has a bit of a spring like sound if you do, as you will, hit the keys with a fair bit of force. That said, the keys have less total travel than other mechanical keyboards, and this has the potential to make it faster.

We did find it hard to say whether this was a better mechanical keyboard than the Tt eSPORTS Meka Keyboard and think it probably comes down to personal preference as they are both extremely fast keyboards. I would expect that the Razer BlackWidow does have the edge in pure performance as the feedback and the fact that the keys move less really help you to respond quickly.

In terms of functionality we found that this keyboard has everything you would expect, it has volume keys, media keys, backlight controls, plenty of macro options and even the gaming mode to guarantee that you won’t accidentally hit the Windows key. Coupled with the profile and macro manager from the software and you can really customise this keyboard just how you want. The keys are also arranged in the more standard manner so everything is where you expect. My only concern is that it is very hard to tell whether the Caps Lock has been turned on as the blue LED for this is unbelievably small and has literally no brightness even when compared to the key backlights. This is unfortunately the same for the Num lock and Scroll lock and you end up testing it instead of looking at the lights. I am also not too keen on the font styling they have used and how it is displayed as ‘deL’ or ‘paGe up’ as they have clearly used a ‘digital font’ and unfortunately this just doesn’t look professional for a keyboard that we know isn’t going to be cheap.

I do however like the backlight controls, and the keyboard does look pretty good at night with this turned on, although we were slightly unsure why people would want it to dim down till the lights go off and then get brighter again, but the option is there if you want it. On top of this, Razer have added the extra USB port and the Headphone and Microphone jacks which while not essential could make your desk a lot more organised and is certainly a nice addition.