Razer Ornata Chroma – Mechanical Membrane Keyboard Review

This keyboard was named after Poecilotheria Ornata also known as the fringed ornamental or ornate tiger spider, a spider from the tarantula family, found in Sri Lanka they can have a leg span that can reach up to 10inches in length. As with many spiders the biggest ones are the females and they are the more dominant, the males are smaller and can easily be bitch slapped by the females.

That’s enough regarding the Spider, now back to the keyboard;

Let’s first look at the Tech specs for this new keyboard:

• Razer Mecha-Membrane technology,
• Mid-height keycaps,
• Razer Chroma backlighting,
• Ergonomic wrist rest,
• Razer Synapse enabled,
• Full programmable keys with on the fly macro recording,
• 10-key roll over,
• Dedicated Gaming Mode,
• Anti-ghosting capability for up to 10 simultaneous key presses.

The keyboard arrived so let’s look directly at how they sell this keyboard to the public, while on display;

From the front the keyboard is set and you can see exactly what you are getting, even get to touch the keys and feel what they feel like or sound like via a small section that has been cut-out. Nothing on the sides apart from the Razer logo, moving to the back Razer talks about the all new Razer Mecha-Membrane, the Mid-Height Keycaps and there 16.8 Million Chroma lighting effects. Other than that, there is no other sales patter, apart from on top, where you will find the system requirements, layout version of the keyboard UK/US and finally size and weight.

Size and weight;

Without Wrist Rest

• Length: 463mm / 18.22in,
• Width: 154mm / 6.06in,
• Height: 31mm / 1.22in,
• Weight: 950g / 2.1lbs

With Wrist Rest

• Length: 463mm / 18.22in,
• Width: 224mm / 8.82in,
• Height 31mm / 1.22in,
• Weight 1260g / 1.78lbs.

First thoughts

Ooo Soft, as I felt the palm rest and rubbed my hands, which could be leather, smells like leather, but it could also be what many use in the industry now called synthetic leather or plush.

There are actually two types of leathers used in the industry currently one is called PU Leather, if you are wondering what PU leather is, here I a brief overview; *‘it is leather made from the inner splits of the hide and finished with a polyurethane coating. This leather is made resistant to water penetration and has a high fade resistance’. Synthetic Leather, which is an artificial (man-made) leather, it’s cheaper and does not require animals being killed for their hides.

So depending on what Razer stands for, not killing animals for hide or the killing of Animals, currently the only information I have is they use a Plush Type of Leather.

Then I started typing on it, it is differently than quieter than a Cherry MX RED Switch, but not as quiet as a Cherry MX Silent, this is more or less similar in sound to the Razer Green Switch, their custom manufactured switches.

Then it came to the Chroma Lighting, and again as always, this blew me away, so god damn nice, and by using a white backdrop to the keyboard, allows the light to spread or should I say illuminate much better.

So those were my first thoughts, now let’s get on to talking about this keyboard in more detail.

The first thing that needs to be talked about in my opinion is this new Mech-Membrane switch, Razer has designed this from the ground up, with a soft cushioned rubber dome with a tactile click to enable a swift actuation for each key-stroke.

The sound of these keys to some people can be classed as annoying, and one thing I heard a lot was, they sound like someone is having fun with bubble wrap, so I got some bubble wrap and clicked it next to the keyboard and compared them both, have a look for yourself in the below video.

From the video, personally I cannot hear, or understand why people say it sounds like bubble wrap, there is differently a difference between the sound of the keys being pressed and popping bubble wrap.

One myth killed off, I feel good, the next difference with these keys are the Mid-Height Keycaps, that allow for faster actuation. Based off the Corsair K65 Rapidfire which as a 1.2mm for ultra-fast actuation, these keys from what i can feel and see when pressed has about the same actuation force.

Lighting Oh Chroma Lighting;

All controlled via Razer own software Razer Synapse, you can download and install new custom themes via any site where users have posted them or create your own. If you not feeling adventurous, you can simply use what is already on offer.

• Breathing,
• Fire,
• Reactive,
• Ripple,
• Spectrum Lighting,
• Starlight,
• Static,
• Wave,
• And of course non = Boring.

With 16.8 million colours to choose from, there is a shit load of variation for you to use, create and have fun with. Even to the point in creating lighting profiles to launch with certain applications, like an original lighting effect for The Division or the Fire lighting theme to launch with the game Firewatch.

If you feeling lucky, or lucky in general and have other Razer Peripherals at hand that also use Chroma lighting you can, synchronize them all together so they all display your sick Chroma lighting effect across your entire collection.

So that’s Chroma Lighting sorted but not Razer Synapse sorted;

You can assign any key to do anything, to any application create macros and piss tonne of other things, Oh yeah Razer Synapse has a gaming mode option which can enable or disable Alt + Tab, Alt + F4 and Windows key.

So what’s left?

Not much, but there is more to talk about as always, this keyboard allows you to never miss a key, with its anti-ghosting technology  thanks to its 10-key roller over in gaming mode. Finally the all new wonderful ergonomic wrist wrest, which gives you an extended length of gaming comfort, or typing comfort.

Took me some time to get use to using the wrist rest, as I normally keep my hands hovering over the keyboard, but once I started to taking advantage of it this added benefit, I felt more at home and after long gaming sessions or writing this review, my arms felt less tired and more alive to do other things.

This keyboard is a full size keyboard so comes with the added benefit of the keypad, not only that for a FN key aka The Function key, that allows you to control your media, lighting brightness, gaming mode on and off and your macro’s that you have created.

Fun times ahead?

Gaming glorious gaming, that’s where everything starts from playing the latest Watch_Dogs 2, Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3 or even Dishonored 2 each and every game played a like charm thanks to the system I own, but using this keyboard was also just as good, even being able to stream my gaming experience via YouTube or twitch and having the microphone pick up almost no keyboard clicking sounds was a great attribute as mechanical keys are easily heard via the microphone.

Using the keyboard from typing was also great, to the point where I felt I was getting carried away writing this review, so take a step back, read what I have already done, and decide this was the end and I was happy to say, I have covered everything, so why I am I still typing, for god sake quit it… OK!

THE END … or is it?

Of course it’s not, where was the overall, final section of the review, well here it is, bubble wrap myth gone, actuation fast, lighting awesome, palm wrest plush and comfortable. There is also the addition of FN key that allows for even more control of your gaming life.

Where was I, getting carried away still I guess, overall, damn sweet mech-membrane keyboard, with a joy to type and game, what more could you ask for, mechanical keys maybe, BUT THIS IS NOT A MECHANICAL KEYBOARD SO DON’T ASK FOR IT, DUMB SHITS.

After a little more time using the keyboard and more time writing I come to another conclusion, you know how fingers can sometimes be sweaty right? Well these keys tend to pick up on this very well and I could easily see my greasy paws all over them after use and the following day, lucky for me I have a cleaning cloth and cleaning fluid, and just cleaned my keyboard every day after use now, not something I would do all the time but I guess this can also be a benefit, keep your device sanitized and germ ridden.

The strangest thing I found about this keyboard is, when you let your eyes sort of obscure (go out of focus) from it, its looks like its producing actual waves with its lighting effects, have a go yourself, strange but true fact.

So after a few days now, using this new keyboard, I have put away my mechanical keyboard for the time being and have decided to stick with this one, yes before you say, but, but, but that’s shit, mechanical is much better, in general terms you are right mechanical is a lot better, but I find this keyboard a joy to type out my work with, and to game, it’s just as good, and for me its feels better to use, than my Corsair Strafe Silent or my K65 keyboards.

Down to the board now, Great selling points, I love the clicky effect the key use, and it’s not like bubble wrap, I love the Chroma lighting obviously, FN key to control my media keys, lighting brightness and game mode. The synapse opens up even more customisation, from macros to assigning each key and much more… the use of the palm rest while typing or gaming is, so damn nice, never had one before and I wish I always had one now.

Only downfalls, would be the clicky noise, some people would not like it, and the way it picks up grease, sweat so easily when in use and after use, could see you cleaning the keyboard more often than you would like too.