The brand new Razer BlackWidow V4 Professional 75% has simply landed, and it brings a stunning variety of upgrades over its non-Professional sibling with it. Together with a brand new multi-function Command Dial and OLED show, this Razer gaming keyboard can chat to your PC at a 4,000Hz polling price but additionally final a large 2,100 hours on one battery cost.
We’re not completely positive why you want such a protracted battery life on a desktop PC gaming keyboard, nevertheless it’s spectacular nonetheless. The brand new Razer contender for a spot on our greatest gaming keyboard information additionally contains hot-swappable switches and Razer’s HyperSpeed wi-fi tech, in addition to Bluetooth 5.1.
The brand new board is the follow-up and improve to the BlackWidow V4 75% and BlackWidow V4 Professional, the previous of which we discovered to be a incredible providing that properly balances being a straight-to-the-point speedy gaming keyboard (for a non-ridiculous value) with providing a number of the customization choices that many keyboard consumers now need. The brand new BlackWidow V4 Professional 75% cranks up the system by a number of notches, although, with one very unusual change.
The largest new characteristic of the Professional is its OLED display screen and Command Dial. The latter is a typical configurable digital encoder dial that sits within the high proper of the board, though slightly than sitting on high, as on the Wonderful GMMK 3, it’s tipped over and onto the facet. By a mix of turning the dial and tapping its neighboring button, you’ll be able to management features such because the polling price, lighting results, energy saving choices, quantity adjustment, zoom, observe selector, and extra.
One other swap on the again of the board supplies the choice to slip between 2.4GHz wi-fi and Bluetooth, with the latter in a position to connect with three gadgets without delay, so you’ll be able to rapidly swap between controlling your PC, console, and telephone or pill, as an illustration.
The 4,000Hz polling possibility can be obtainable by way of the two.4GHz wi-fi connection, however utilizing the wired connection drops this all the way down to a most of 1,000Hz. Not solely is that odd in isolation, nevertheless it’s even stranger when you think about that the non-Professional model of this board, which is wired solely, presents as much as 8kHz polling. So continues Razer’s current pattern of constructing its product stack decidedly complicated – we’re you Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed.
One other slight oddity is that the V4 Professional 75% will ship by default with Razer’s orange tactile switches, slightly than linear switches, which are typically most well-liked by a variety of players. It’s additionally notable that each the BlackWidow boards don’t supply analog switches with the much-talked-about Razer Snap Faucet expertise for quick counter strafing. This characteristic stays unique to the Razer Huntsman keyboard vary.
Per-key backlighting is in fact current, and the keycaps are constituted of hard-wearing PBT plastic so the keyboard ought to stand the check of time. Sound dampening can be prevalent, with two layers of froth and even a “tape-enhanced PCB,” which accurately refers back to the act of placing sticky tape over the again facet of the PCB to assist take in higher-frequency noises.
As to that battery life, that full 2,100 hour determine is simply obtainable by utilizing the board’s energy saving mode that disables the lighting and OLED show whereas additionally pausing comms to Razer’s Synapse software program. Presumably a comparatively low polling price can be required, although Razer doesn’t specify. In additional typical “every little thing turned on” eventualities, you’re prone to be battery life within the area of 50-200hrs, we might estimate.
The Razer BlackWidow V4 Professional 75% is accessible now for a slightly wince-inducing value of $299.99 (€349.99), making it a very costly keyboard contemplating it doesn’t enterprise into the realm providing analog key features, or the customization of different extra premium choices.
For a better have a look at one other premium providing, try our Drop CSTM80 evaluation, and it’s also possible to learn concerning the controversy surrounding the Razer Snap Faucet CS2 ban not too long ago.
