Review Of The Razer Blackwidow Ultimate Gaming Keyboard For Mac

Great keyboard:) I bought it knowing full well it was a German layout and it was 'used' but in very good condition. It arrived on time as always with Amazon:) I opened it up all inserts were there and the keyboard looked brand new which made me very happy and the keys were obviously in German but didn't make much of a difference to be honest, the Z and Y keys were swapped around (I did pop them off an switched them around but the keys are shaped differently in each row so they stuck out a little so put them back) but after I installed the Razer Synapse driver it automatically changed it to an English programmed layout. Despite the keys being slightly different it really made no different as I know all of the keys of by heart anyway haha! Great customising features and great backlighting too! Overall this was an excellent purchase, saved myself around £100 on this BlackWidow Ultimate keyboard given the fact it was used, which wasn't used at all as I can see, and the fact it was a German layout:') Clicky keys too which I've never used before but I love them, great feel and response even though it's a little louder than a membrane button one but it really is excellent! Great keyboard:) I bought it knowing full well it was a German layout and it was 'used' but in very good condition. It arrived on time as always with Amazon:) I opened it up all inserts were there and the keyboard looked brand new which made me very happy and the keys were obviously in German but didn't make much of a difference to be honest, the Z and Y keys were swapped around (I did pop them off an switched them around but the keys are shaped differently in each row so they stuck out a little so put them back) but after I installed the Razer Synapse driver it automatically changed it to an English programmed layout.

Despite the keys being slightly different it really made no different as I know all of the keys of by heart anyway haha! Great customising features and great backlighting too!

Overall this was an excellent purchase, saved myself around £100 on this BlackWidow Ultimate keyboard given the fact it was used, which wasn't used at all as I can see, and the fact it was a German layout:') Clicky keys too which I've never used before but I love them, great feel and response even though it's a little louder than a membrane button one but it really is excellent! Didn't realize the German keyboard has the X and Y swapped, as well as other keys; that said, I'm able to swith from German, to UK to US at the click of two keys, so am really pleased with the keyboard. I already own a Razer Black widow Ultimate Stealth 2011 version, with blue back lighting. The main difference is the keys on the Ultimate are not quite as sensitive, which suits me as i was always creating typo's. Also the Ultimate is much noisier than the Ultimate Stealth. I love these mechanical keyboards. Will never go back to a membrane keyboard.

Review Of The Razer Black Widow Ultimate Gaming Keyboard For Mac Download

I recommend anyone into gaming to get a mechanical keyboard. The sensitivity is enhanced, so the keys actuate quicker. Essential if you are competing.

That split second may mean the differecne between you getting that head shot or your opponent. It really does make a difference. I own the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Keyboard that for the most part works very well. I want to give you a warning about the on-line support, try find the phone number to call a human? You wont find one! The little rubber feet became unstuck on my KB and I lost them.

After many hours of tying to find a phone number for customer support, using an on-line form and eventually getting several e-mails and on-line chat, wasting ages answering questions about my product that the company already knew, I was told to go buy my own replacements, this is for a product under warranty! Apparently parts that fall off the keyboard are fair wear and tear. If you value a warranty do not purchase a Razer product, because you will get messed around so much they hope you will go away!

Hardware review: Razer Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth Edition gaming keyboard Alright, here’s the very first (though brief) hardware review on TOOZE, and the new shiny baby that I’m looking at here is the new Razer Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth Edition Gaming Keyboard (now that is really a mouthful!) that was released on 30 August 2011. Updated: See Update section at the bottom.

So my trusty old Copperhead’s scrollwheel was dying and I was looking to order a new mouse when I saw this new baby on Razer Asia Pacific’s website. Seeing that there was not much info on this new product, I decided to order it after testing out its predecessor, the Blackwidow Ultimate at Comex over the last weekend. Marketing fluff Here’s the obligatory poster and marketing fluff. Image Source: Razerzone “Where the first Razer BlackWidow can be likened to a barbarian ploughing through enemies with ease, the Stealth Edition of this mechanical keyboard is the ninja who sneaks up on opponents unexpectedly to take them down in a quick blur,” said Robert “RazerGuy” Krakoff, President, Razer USA.

“Quieter feedback on the keys, lighter actuation force, extreme anti-ghosting on the Ultimate version, and a new matte black finish make the Stealth Edition of the Razer BlackWidow keyboards the best choice for the unassuming but extremely deadly gamer.” Here are the specs and features of the keyboard. Keys The right windows key is replaced by a Fn key, and this allows control of the special functions over the F-keys for volume, cycling of backlight, and the gaming mode, which disables the windows key to prevent accidental tabbing out of games at a crucial moment. Personally I’d prefer dedicated keys for my media control, instead of Razer’s approach of hitting the Fn Key and then hunting for the media keys on the other parts of the keyboard — much like how a normal Fn key works on a normal laptop. Then again, I guess this is a matter of preference and of getting used to the keyboard. Audio-Out/Mic-In jack and USB pass-throughs.

USB and Audio/Mic The USB and Audio/Mic pass-throughs are located to the right side of the keyboard. It’s not immediately visible from the shot but the there is sort of a recess by the side so your cable connectors do not stick out as much.

I question the inputs being on the right side, seeing that the additional cables may interfere with mousing (though lefties may differ). Then again, I believe this is a cost-saving measure as the circuit board is probably located above the numpad.

However, it does help plugging a mouse here if yours has a short cable, or if you detach your mouse often. Programmable keys with on-the-fly macro recording / 10 customizable software profiles with on-the-fly switching. Razer The software that comes with the keyboard has an easy-to-use layout that allows you to map a single key to anything you want, and the keys could be saved to different profiles. Macros which can be anything from a single keypress to a long combination of keys and mouse clicks (including specific timed delays) can also be saved.

So you could have one profile for Photoshop where each individual keyboard key is mapped to a different shortcut, and one for Microsoft Word where only the macro keys are bound to common functions like copy and paste. The software also allows you to set it in such a way that those profiles automatically launch when the associated program is run, or when you tab into it. Macros can be set to repeat once; repeat while pressed; or repeated for n times.

If you are unsure of what commands to bind, there is also the option of “on-the-fly” macro recording. Simply press the Fn+right Alt key and the keyboard enters macro recording mode. From here, just execute the commands normally, then hit Fn+right Alt again and then another key to bind those commands to that key. This can be particularly useful where you realize the need to record certain complicated commands while working on a project, but don’t want to exit the program. 1000Hz Ultrapolling/1ms response time and Extreme anti-ghosting 1000Hz Ultrapolling here means that the USB port the keyboard is plugged into is scanned 1000 times per second for any key press so that you can instant response. Not something I can readily test, but it’s probably good to have. No complains here.

Extreme anti-ghosting is just a Razer-speak to mean that it has 6-Key Rollover (or 6KRO) over the entire keyboard which is the limit of USB. What this means is that you can have a combination of up to 6 keys on the keyboard pressed down without jamming up the keys, with a combination of modifier keys like Ctrl, Shift, Alt or Win. So this is effectively 6+4KRO. To get full n-key roll over (NKRO) would require the connection to be via the legacy PS/2 connector, but we would lose some of USB’s benefits such as for drivers and such. I find this is kind of enough since I don’t really find the need to strafe run (W+A), cast a spell (another key), hit my PTT to talk in Ventrilo, open up my map and jump, and more. Do note that only the stealth edition (for now) offers 6KRO while the previous Blackwidow only has 6KRO around the gaming clusters of WSAD.

Review of the razer black widow ultimate gaming keyboard for mac mac

Here is a small link to test your keyboard’s roll-over. Hit a combination of keys all at once and it should report the number of keys detected. So, how does the keyboard feel?

For starters, the difference between the Stealth edition and the previous non-Stealth edition is that the Stealth edition uses the Cherry MX Brown keys as opposed to the Cherry MX Blue keys in its predecessor. For the un-initiated, the Blackwidow is a mechanical keyboard which uses the Cherry MX switches. Where normal keyboards have a rubber membrane below the keys, a mechanical keyboard has an actual switch below each individual key. There are various designs of mechanical keyboard switches and this particular keyboard uses the Brown keys from the Cherry Corporation of Germany. Most mass market keyboards nowadays uses a dome-switch. They bring two circuit board traces together under a rubber “dome” or bubble.

The inside of the top of the bubble is coated in some conductive substance. When a key is pressed, it collapses the dome, which shorts out the two circuit traces and completes the connection to enter the character. The figure below shows how this circuit would look like.

You can actually see a dome when you remove a key on the keyboard, which looks like a circular rubber ring. The springiness of the rubber dome then forces the key back up to its default position after it is released. Dome switch keyboard layers Image Source: Wikipedia While these rubber domes are cheap to produce, a disadvantage is that the keys often feel mushy as you need to depress them over a rubber dome. You would also need to fully “bottom-out” the full travel distance of the key (typically 3.5 – 4.0mm) for it to activate and register a keystroke.

In addition, the rubber does wear down over time and that leads to the keys either being harder to press down or becoming sticky and not as bouncy as before. Source: Overclock.net The above image shows the Cherry MX Brown key used in this keyboard. The advantage of this is that it provides a combination of low actuation force (of 45g) and tactility. This means that you require less force to actually activate the key, which leads to lower fatigue and less stress on our fingers. The plastic piece which clicks as the key is depressed also allows you to feel a tactile “bump” when each key is actuated (which is roughly at the halfway point). This allows you to actually feel when a key is registered without requiring to “bottom-out” the key. While the keys have the same travel distance of 4mm, the actual actuation position is at the halfway mark.

In addition, the slight clicks when the key actuates does has the sound of a muted typewriiter. While the keyboard says its “Stealth”, there is still the sound of the mechanical keys actually springing back up and if you hit too hard, the sound of the key hitting the base plate of the keyboard. However, it is an improvement against the Cherry MX Blue key which is designed to provide an additional “click” each time a key is actuated. As such, the Brown keys used in this keyboard provide a nice compromise between tactility and sound.

Closing Comments After typing for a couple of minutes on the Blackwidow, I can safely say that it is really a joy to type on, and the lighter keytouch does increase typing speed and minimizes errors as you are sure that a key has been registered. Upgrading to a mechanical keyboard from a normal one is like upgrading from a normal sedan to a luxury sports car. While it might seem an overkill or frivolous, I personally feel that a good keyboard is really a great investment for both our personal typing pleasure and gaming goodness. After all, the keyboard and mouse are the primary ways in which we interact with our computers. Why cripple your experience with a $10 keyboard after spending $1,000-$2,000 on our systems? The Razer Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth Edition is currently available only exclusively on Razer’s website for US$139.99.

Those who find it too expensive but would still like to have one can opt for the regular non-Ultimate version for US$79.99. What you miss out are only the LED lighting and the USB and audio/mic pass-thoughs. Also, as a reader Garrett pointed out, the regular one is similar to the predecessor Blackwidows in that it only has the anti-ghosting on the WASD gaming cluster. So if the full 6KRO is a consideration for you, the Ultimate Stealth Edition would be your only choice. Shipping for is US$6.95 per shipment (regardless of number of items). For more information on mechanical keyboards and the various types of switches, head over to over at Overclock.net. Update Noticed that this post got much more views than I originally expected.

Review Of The Razer Black Widow Ultimate Gaming Keyboard For Mac Free

Here are some of the common questions that I had received. Firstly, there were some issues with the old Blackwidow where the space key would activate the alt keys beside it due to some improperly cut plastic. I’m not sure if this was fixed in the Stealth but I did not encounter this.

Second, the keycaps for the ultimate are coated in some sort of rubber like material similar to its mice. In fact the whole keyboard seems to be coated in the same material. It does feel nice to the touch, but I’m not sure how well it will stand up to humidity and sweat over a prolonged time. I know I had my old Razer mouse’s coating on the mouse buttons peel off and it was not pleasant. Only time will tell.

Third, was tinkering around with the profiles. In addition to the auto and manual profile switching via the software, you are also able to switch profiles on the fly just by pressing the Fn+number keys. Presseng Fn+1 would switch to Profile 1 and Fn+2 would switch to Profile 2. The on screen display would pop up with the Profile’s name which you have saved.

Review Of The Razer Black Widow Ultimate Gaming Keyboard For Mac Pro

Finally, I got an email that you get a free Razer Beanie for orders above US$50 now. Too bad I got mine earlier and am not eligible for it. Anyway, I managed to get a hold of some discount coupons for US$5 off for any return purchase.

Since I won’t be buying anything anytime soon. I’ll share these codes with our readers. North America: RZH1GHF1V3 Europe: RZEUH1GHF1V3 Asia-Pacific: RZAPH1GHF1V3 Australia: RZAUH1GHF1V3. Hi, I just saw this comment in my email.

I only do a light dusting and wipe around the edges when I see some light smudges. Other than that, I keep my keyboard covered with a piece of cloth at night when not in use. Have to say that the key coatings have stayed the same since the day I bought it. On the other hand, I can feel that the the coating on the imperator that I bought with my keyboard has become a bit more rough. So I’d say that the keyboard coating is much more durable than the mouse.