Blackwidow an evil little shit (Spider) that can kill you with just one bite, unless you lucky as hell, otherwise this Blackwidow not so deadly, even if you tried whacking the person over the head, it would mostly likely break. If you are a Marvel fan, Black widow is the super sleek, sexy god damn stunning and deadly Natasha Romanova.
But sad to say, I am not reviewing a deadly spider, or the rather (Blanked out words) Natasha Romanova, instead I am reviewing the dark, sleek and tempting, Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2016, Razers top of the line mechanical keyboard, not to be confused with the chroma series, this is in a whole league of its own.
Just from the get go, when looking at the keyboard from its packaging, Razer, really go to town, making sure they have covered every angle, so the customer knows what they are buying. Just read some of the statements, Multi- Award winning Razer Mechanical Switches, Individually backlit keys and Engineered for durability. The keyboard, is fully shown, you can also touch, click and feel what the keys feel like, under hand, thanks to Razer, giving access via a small preview panel.
Razer is making sure you know that this keyboard is Razers 2016 Edition, which features Razers advanced lighting controls and Green Switches, which are tactile and Clicky. Just moving to the back you are told that you are getting the Worlds first mechanical Switch, designed solely for gaming, with images explaining why. *see below.
There are a few versions of the Blackwidow, there is the Tournament Edition, Chroma and Tournament Chroma, the tournament editions and more compact and the Chroma editions and 16.8 million colour variations.
Just look at the tech specs,
- Razer™ Mechanical Switches with 50g actuation force,
- 60 million keystroke life span,
- Individually backlit keys with Dynamic lighting effects,
- Razer Synapse enabled,
- 10 key roll-over anti-ghosting,
- Fully programmable keys with on-the-fly macro recording,
- Gaming mode option,
- Audio-out/mic-in jacks,
- USB pass-through,
- 1000Hz Ultrapolling,
- Braided fiber cable,
- Razer Synapse registration (requiring a valid e-mail), software download, license acceptance, and internet connection needed to activate full features of product and for software updates. After activation, full features are available in optional offline mode.
Impressive set of stats? Or were you expecting more? How about, an audio, microphone port and a USB port available on the keyboard? These are both added additions to the right hand side of the board. I am still not certain if I like the audio ports on the right hand side, the same side as my mouse, personally I prefer them on the left, away from the mouse, so the cables will not interfere, with my gaming. *Just a personal preference.
Razer has been always great, when it comes to offering customization, and yet again they offer loads with this keyboard, thanks to Razer Synapse software. You can program keys with Macro recording and light combos, with pre-configured lighting effect which include, Wave, Reactive, Ripple, Starlight and of coarse you do get Static, if you not fussed with all the flashing. If you are not fussed with the pre-defined settings, make your own and save them, if you have a Razer account, you can save your new profiles to the cloud and always have them.
The thing I really like is the smudge free top cover, I hate finger prints, and sodden smudges, and am having to constantly clean my peripherals due to dumb decisions.
But, overall, is this keyboard up to gaming, can you get over the clicky sounds, and they are not quite clicky sounds. For some a short time, I have decided to dabble in streaming and recording my gameplay, why not, I am playing so why not allow others to watch, don’t understand why people watch, but that’s something I cannot answer.
Using this keyboard, I have to admit is not so good at all, if you are going to steam and record, why? CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, is all you hear over and within the game sounds, not good since viewers hate any sort of background sound, they moan when they hear the TV or someone else talking, damn the viewers are going to bitch when it comes to hearing this keyboard.
But back again, to the point, is this good for gaming? For years now I have used an MSI laptop keyboard from Steelseries, not mechanical before that I used the Alienware laptop keyboard, again not mechanical. Getting used to the new clicking sound is hard to do, but also the depth you have to press to activate a key is totally different to my laptop keyboards.
After hours and hours of gaming, with games like Far Cry Primal, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Rise of the Tomb Raider and some Fallout 4, I was slowly getting used to the feel, and for the some reason I was not hearing the clicking noise as much, maybe I was just ignoring it, or simply getting used to it.
There was no way I was able to stream or record with when using the keyboard, regardless of the background noise suppression being used with any of the headphones from the RIG 500E to the Steelseries Siberia Elite, each microphone picked up the clicks.
Days later, playing the new Far Cry Primal and I now fully adjusted and love mechanical keyboards, I can understand why many people swear by them, not only is this keyboard great to look at, easy customization and has sweet lighting effects, its awesome for general gaming.
To sum it up, Razer has made a great keyboard, mechanical, customizable, lighting and shed loads more, totally dedicated for gamers. I an understand why mechanical keyboards are so great and this keyboard is one of those great peripherals, that stands out in a crowded room, like a beautiful lady or hunky guy, its Smexy.
But for Steamers, video recorders be warned, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK.
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