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Razer BlackWidow
Razer Black Widow Review
Mechanical Keyboard
The Razer Black Widow is a sleek and sexy keyboard with a glossy piano finish and lots of LED lights. While some people will balk at the type of finish because it shows off dust and fingerprints, I for one like it. Another appearance theme is the font type on the keys. It is very unusual and looks futuristic and is really a personal preference. I for one would stay with a normal looking font.
The Black Widow does not come with any software or any accessories except for a quick start guide and a few other minor manuals. To load software and drivers you will have to go to the Razer website and download them there.
If you happen to be in a store and have one to look at you will notice that the packaging has a try out window around the cursor keys. This is a great idea as most people have never tried a mechanical key design before and you should know how it feels and sounds before you buy.
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It is completely a personal choice on using a tactile feel type key or using a non tactile type switch. Most people will tell that a tactile feel is preferred by most but not completely by gamers. With Razer being a "gaming brand" the Black Widow is by definition a gaming keyboard using Cherry MX Blue switches. .
Gamers will tell you that clicky tactile switches don't do well for gaming and tend to stick with linerar switches. Razer does not agree with this assertion and compares a keystroke of the Black Widow to a mouse click.
"The Razer Black Widows distinct tactile feedback upon key actuation simulates the experience and precision of performing a mouse click. Combined with an actuation point of 2mm (halfway through the 4mm full travel distance), you will know exactly when your command has fired so you can rapidly move on to the next key stroke and move in for the quick kill." --Razer Website
If you are a casual gamer you probably will not have any issues playing with these mechanical keys which tend to be a bit loud. The feel compared to a normal keyboard takes some getting used too but the normal use of the board is far superior. It all comes down to the type of game you play and if this upgrade for most is worth the extra money.
Some other features of this board are is a braided fabric cable which is 3 meters long and is located in the center of the keyboard. This keyboard also features five solid rubber feet with 2 of them being unfolding at the back corners. These rubber feet when combined with the solid weight of the board makes it nearly impossible to push around this board on your desktop. A good thing when you are in the heat of battle.
The Black Widow also features 5 additional keys on the left hand side of the board. You must download the software to utilize these keys. Using the macros and the extra keys will really help you if you play lots of MMO, RTS or action games.
For a decent price this board is surprisingly a good buy. You can find other mechanical style keyboards with more functionality on the market for a bit more money but if you are on a tight budget then you can't go wrong here.