That looks messy, and more importantly it reveals just how many crumbs have snuck their way inside my keyboard since I last gave it a clean.Ĭhroma: Arr. Ultimately, I have to just jam in whatever keycaps will fit. You tend to find that some of the replacement Alt and Ctrl keys are too small, and the other ones are too big.
That’s not a usability issue, but when you go to swap out your keycaps for a new set in an exciting new colour, layout or material, you run into difficulty. The Blackwidow’s modifier keys in the bottom right of the keyboard are sized differently than most keyboards Alt and Ctrl are wider than normal, and the two keys in between are smaller. Given the brick-like heft of most mechanical keyboards, it also makes a noticeable difference to weight and portability to cut out almost 20 keys.Īs well as removing the number pad, Razer also departed from the standard layout. That’s a little annoying for doing your taxes, but it means you have a few extra inches to waggle your mouse around in - great for when you’re using a small desk or sharing space at a LAN party. Tournament Edition just means that the number pad has been lopped off. That’s something most mechanical keyboards can handle with ease, which of course is a great relief for the many insectoid gamers out there. Incidentally, that first model had some issues - its shiny black finish was easily fingerprinted and you couldn’t press down any six keys and have them all register correctly.
Aggravating.īlackwidow is the title that Razer’s mechanical keyboards have been given since the very first model in 2010, and goes along with their long-running “snakes, spiders and other things you don’t want to find in your boots” naming scheme. That’s how it was with my unit, which just didn’t turn on with my computer one day, leaving me without my New Favourite Thing for a month while it was replaced. Having a removable cable is listed as a feature on the box, but it’s also a surprisingly common point of failure the Mini USB port can get separated from the circuit board inside if it’s not designed and assembled correctly. I think that reputation isn’t fully deserved, but I did run into some quality control issues with the keyboard’s removable USB cable. Despite (or perhaps because of) the company’s popularity, hardcore mechanical keyboard fans turn their noses up at Razer products, citing poor quality control and inaccurate marketing as reasons to choose alternatives. Razer is a name that carries a lot of weight in gaming circles, and not always for the right reasons. In fact, I reckon I can tell you everything you need to know about the good ol’ RBWTECS just by unpacking each one of these weighty terms. What’s in a name? When it comes to the mechanical keyboard sitting on my desk called the Razer Blackwidow Tournament Edition Chroma Stealth, there’s a heck of a lot. The most ridiculously named keyboard of all time