It's got knobs, switches, RGBs, and rollers.
It’s still weird to think that Razer, a brand known for PC gaming peripherals, only released its first wireless gaming keyboard in 2020. We haven’t seen tonnes of wireless keyboards from Razer since, though there was the excellent 65% Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini Hyperspeed, and the very nice productivity suite board. But not a lot for full-sized gaming keyboard fans—until now.
Razer has just announced its newest wireless gaming keyboard with the BlackWidow V4 Pro. From the looks of it, this board is set to carry forward many features we’ve loved in previous Razer keyboards, but also one we’ve never been too fond of: the price. Retailing at $US230 or $AU400, this beast isn’t cheap.
To be fair, it does look to be a very feature-complete piece of kit, especially for fans of that Razer aesthetic. It’ll come with the full complement of individual key-based RGB lighting effects as well as underglows under the chassis and wrist rests. It would be a bright centrepiece of any desktop, though you’ll have to deal with Razer’s Synapse software for full customisation.
The BlackWidow V4 looks nice on the keys and switches front too. You can choose between Razer’s mechanical clicky green switches or the quiet yellow ones depending on your style. To customise further you’ve got five dedicated macros with three on the side, and a new knob which has been dubbed the Razer Command Dial.
(Image credit: Colorwave)
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I’m just going to say it. I love knobs. On keyboards. A tactile, twisty dial is a pretty big selling point for me, and not enough boards feature them. This one boasts eight default modes for doing everyday tasks like zooming or switching tabs, and up to 100 you can customise yourself. This could mean scrolling through documents, media adjustments, or for folks who like to use art programs it can be used to adjust brush sizes and the likes.
Speaking of media adjustments, there’s also a dedicated media roller above the number pad with four buttons set aside for extra controls. I quite like having a setup just for media on a keyboard. It’s nice to change those settings without having to go into the individual app. Plus, the roller looks like it’d be fun to use which is really all I care about here.
The last feature I really like the look of is the USB 2.0 passthrough. Sure, it’s only 2.0, but any USB passthrough on keyboards is always a blessing. It’s so much more convenient being able to plug temporary things in via the keyboard than finding a port on the computer itself. I’m hoping we’ll see more USB passthrough on keyboards in the future.
There’s tonnes of features packed into this board, but it all comes down to the price. There are after all some excellent budget gaming keyboards out there. The Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro looks like it’ll be a much more fancy wireless board for your PC gaming setups, with an equally fancy price to match.
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