This creates a unique, almost art deco look. Without the top cover, the keys of the BlackWidow X rise above the metal base of the keyboard with nothing else surrounding them. A top cover surrounds the keys and rests above the actual base of the keyboard. Typical keyboards, including the BlackWidow Chroma, have their keys recessed into the body of the keyboard. The BlackWidow X's key difference is that it doesn't feature the "top cover" found on the Chroma. To make things simpler, we'll refer to the keyboard in this review as the BlackWidow X and the original BlackWidow Chroma as simply the Chroma. Both keyboards sell at similar price points and feature the same basic performance and Chroma lighting, though they differ in features. That deserves praise in itself.The BlackWidow X Chroma is a slimmed down alternative to the BlackWidow Chroma, Razer's top-of-the-line keyboard. I hope to see Razer do more with its lighting through later Synapse patches, but at the very least you’ll be able to plug in this thing and make it look good immediately. The Chroma’s lighting setups are neither as intensive nor as customizable as the Orion Spark’s or the K70/K90’s, but Razer understands one thing extremely well: It’s better to cater to the masses first, and then add more functionality later. A lot more.Īs far as the RGB front, the Chroma is a simplistic beauty. And for the record, I do like Razer Greens more than I like Logitech’s Romer-G switches. I still don’t like typing on the Blackwidow’s Razer Greens any more than I did the first time around, but if you’re primarily buying this for gaming that probably won’t matter to you anyway. Sure, I’d love if Razer implemented some of the more advanced options from other keyboards-timed color changes to indicate skill cooldowns, or custom wave patterns-but those come secondary to the average person’s being able to use the damn thing. This is the type of approach other manufacturers really have to take a look at. Seriously, you can get up and running with an attractive color scheme on this thing in less than two minutes, it’s entirely intuitive, and then you can swap between all your profiles on the fly without ever having to look at Razer’s software again. It lacks the wealth of options available for both Logitech’s G910 Orion Spark and Corsair’s K70/K90, but on the other hand it’s dead simple. There are also templates for MMOs, MOBAs, RTS games, and even specific branded setups for League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: GO and StarCraft II. The first-person shooter template, for example, lights the WASD keys red, the R key green, and the 1-5 keys in yellow. Alternatively, you can start with a template that highlights keys typically important in different game genres. There’s also “Custom,” which allows you to change keys individually. There are five lighting presets: Breathing, Spectrum Cycling, Wave, Static, and Reactive (keys light up as you touch them). You can adjust the brightness here (though you can also still do that from the keyboard itself). Lighting is all handled on one panel, and changes occur automatically as you edit. You can easily swap on the fly from your default profile to your FPS profile and back again without ever re-opening Synapse. New profiles are automatically programmed to Fn plus a number key. Out of the box, the Chroma is programmed to cycle the entire color spectrum. I plugged in the device, Synapse recognized it and immediately brought up the Chroma configuration screen.įrom here I could make a new profile or edit the default. However, the process of setting up the Chroma with all manner of pretty colors couldn’t be more intuitive. Razer’s Synapse 2.0 software is a somewhat weighty utility, which is its main flaw. Keys are evenly lit,and there’s not a ton of light leakage around the edges of the keys-certainly less than Corsair’s K70. The Chroma’s backlighting is gorgeous, no matter which color you choose. The Chroma’s really the Razer product I’ve been looking for though-finally, a device of theirs that I can customize to look the way I want. I actually liked the backlighting on the basic Blackwidow Ultimate model, despite the trademark Razer eye-searing green color scheme. That’s all the same as the previous model though, so let’s cut to the new stuff: The RGB backlighting. I literally cannot type on this thing without bottoming out two-thirds of my strokes, even when I’m concentrating on it. As someone who types a lot though, I still think Razer’s switches are a pain to use. These keys combine some of the benefits of MX Blues and Blacks, producing that nice mechanical clickiness while still being good for games. If the latter, Razer’s Blackwidow line might not be a bad choice. It’s kind of up to you to decide what you think you’ll be using your keyboard for more-typing or gaming.
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