The drivers and customisations are steadily developing and there is now an advanced custom lighting option (Chroma Configurator) made available within the Synapse software. In this review, we take a look at the compact, 'tenkeyless' Tournament edition, something that many gamers on the go may have been eagerly waiting for, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Right now these are available with Razer's custom green clicky switches as standard and is later expected to be rolling out with 'Stealth' variants, using silent orange switches.
Now, to keep it simple there are two versions, a full keyboard and a smaller 'tenkeyless' version under the 'Tournament Edition' tag. Since its release in September last year, the 'Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Chroma' has recently undergone a more palatable naming scheme for its various versions, quietly ushering out the 'Ultimate' moniker from the Chroma range. The workaround to this is to color code the media keys differently - that’s what I did with the keyboard on my Razer Blade 15.Product on Review: Razer BlackWidow Tournament Edition Chroma Something that for sure can be different is to have the media keys backlit.
It’s hard to put anything in this category because the only thing I miss while using this keyboard is a full size number pad. But the real fun comes from taking the bull by the horns and making the keyboard truly yours. There are a number of default settings to get you started. Other manufacturers are catching up, but Razer is still the best when it comes to personalization and the ease in which it can be done. Key color customization is absolutely top notch. In fact, the last keyboard I tested was a Logitech with Cherry MX Brown keys. They use Razer’s proprietary mechanical key technology as opposed to Cherry MX. Granted, they aren’t super quite - these are mechanical keys. The keys are really responsive, which I didn’t expect for how quiet they are. I’ve historically used ergonomic keyboards to better support my wrists, but the Blackwidow includes a wrist wrest that surprisingly creates a good lift on my wrists to improve the touch-typing experience. What’s important to me as a PC gamer and writer, is a comfortable typing experience. But for us regular gamers, it may not seem as obvious. It does stand to reason that any increase in key actuation performance and overall comfort would give an elite gamer an edge. In fact, nobody on our staff is either so it’s hard for us to objectively agree with Razer’s claims about the impact this keyboard can bring to a competitive gamer. No surprise here: I’m not an elite gamer. The best part is a reasonable price of $139.99.
We found the ITT to be incredibly fast and responsive without any doubt. The new Blackwidow comes in both a black and pink frame, and each key supports 16.8M colors, so you can customize for performance and twitch memory as well as look unique doing it. Razer built a compact and more portable version of their highly respected Blackwidow mechanical keyboard that supports their Instant Trigger Technology (ITT). Razer’s refreshed Blackwidow is designed with elite gamers in mind. Thanks to Razer for providing GWW with this review unit.