It’s no secret that the market for custom keyboards is geared toward adults. Some people buy ready-made solutions that can be modified later, others buy each little part individually and build it themselves as if it were a very heavy Lego set. Either way, it’s a discipline. With its latest V4 series, Razer is trying to give you the “best of both worlds,” as Hannah Montana put it.
As per usual, the keyboard comes with Razer Orange switches, tactile but quiet keys with good resistance, and while I prefer the Dbe081becc2844515af0a615942b0691b switches from the Purple series, this is more in line with the Gateron switches used by many DIY enthusiasts. Keyboard fits all 3-pin and 5-pin connectors. As many others have touted, the key is lubricated at the factory and of course there is a small brand tool to remove the key which is actually of good quality.
It’s a pleasure to use, but the silent switch behind the dual molded keys is also very quiet, and the main thing you hear is when the keys bottom out, which is a sound you’ve got to love. There is a relatively high reset point, but more importantly to me, there is 1.5mm of travel before the switch actually activates, and it has a nice tactile feel.
Construction is to Razer’s high standards and has long been a good DIY standard, too, with a streamlined design, clean and simple construction, and an aluminum top panel. It also comes with a nice wrist rest. Internally, damping foam is used in two different places, and the circuit board supports an 8000 Hz polling rate for all switches.
The price is £190, which is a lot of money. Personally, I might look at Keychron’s Q2 QMK, which is cheaper but doesn’t have the same gorgeous RGB lighting. On the other hand, the chassis of the keyboard itself is slightly larger, I’m not sure why, but I just needed a piece of frame around the D-pad to rest my fingers. On the other hand, it’s the tape that’s modified from the factory, and here’s the trick, you can use flame retardant tape on your print, which absorbs and suppresses most high frequency sounds. As usual, Razer Synapse is a great piece of kit – but it takes up a lot of hard drive space. On the other hand, it can do anything that is both educational and easy to use on a daily basis.
Here is an ad:
The scroll wheel in the upper right corner is of good quality, but I’ve seen Razer do it better. The media keys work, but there might be RGB lights or something in them, as the markings on top of them are hard to see in the dark. On the other hand, there are deficiencies all around. The switch is in a transparent housing, so the LED is more powerful because the light is clearly focused. There’s a two-year warranty, or a slightly casual 100 million keystroke rating. This equates to about 137,000 keystrokes per day, or about 3.5 hours of continuous typing as fast as possible. However, if you modify the keyboard, the warranty will be void. If you’re more comfortable with that, Razer also sells a few different keys.
The Razer Blackwidow V4 75% is by no means a bad keyboard, on the contrary, it offers a good typing experience, the switches and keys are of good quality, as is the build quality. The problem is probably more that a lot of other people are also making keyboards that target 75% form factor customers and are able to replace the switches themselves if needed, so it’s a pretty saturated market, it’s a very price-conscious market, and that’s Razer is dealing with the fact that £190 for a keyboard is a lot of money, no matter what.
