Razer Blackwidow X Chroma Review

Razer’s Blackwidows series boasts some of the best gaming keyboards at the moment, and when you just look at its name, you can guess how badass those keyboards are. The one keyboard, Razer Blackwidow X Chroma is the subject of today’s talk. Keyboards in this series are generally expensive, but they are very comfortable to use, offering very low input lag and great backlit keys. But, one question still remains. Are those specs valid just on the paper or they are applied in the real-life scenario? Well, I took a detailed look at this keyboard just for you, and the review is below, so keep reading.

Razer Blackwidow X Chroma Design and Build Quality

As this is a gaming keyboard, you may ask yourself what should you expect from it in terms of design? Well, at first place comes build quality, and if you are a rage-quitter, that’s even more important! Just kidding; Razer Blackwidow X Chroma looks pretty well. Like every Blackwidow keyboard in the line, X Chroma’s design is based on almost the same pattern, but at first look and touch, it feels a little stripped down. For example, most of Blackwidow keyboards used a plastic plate to cover the lower side of keycaps, where X Chroma uses the metal, which is a very low profile. This makes for a great build quality, with its sturdy texture and feeling, but it’s not that elegant like plastic.

When talking about the size and weight, Blackwidow X Chroma packs a size of 17.6 x 7.5 inches and weighs about 3 lbs. To be honest, this keyboard is HEAVY! Don’t expect to easily carry it to your friend’s house and play games. This one is better left where it is, and with its dimensions, X Chroma isn’t the thinnest nor smallest keyboard I’ve seen for sure. But I actually expected it to be like that, as I want a great build quality and features from a gaming keyboard. I’ll take this size and its fantastic design over the elegance and lack of features any day.

Razer Blackwidow X Chroma Keys

Why is Razer Blackwidow X Chroma a gaming keyboard? Well, mostly because of the keys, as they represent a crucial part of the keyboard. First of all, there are two variants when it comes to switches, so you can choose either Razer Green or Razer Orange switches. The green model is a little clunky in my opinion, and it’s definitely louder than the Orange. However, I don’t say that one of them is bad; I think that both Green and Orange are great, the only difference being just in the noise. I’ve heard that Razer will include the new Cherry MX Blue Switches, but that’s yet to be seen.

Keycaps are deeper here, and the keys are so high that I had the impression that they can fall off at any moment. Personally, I’m not a fan of too high keys, as they usually tend to be much louder, but as I am gaming on headphones, that’s not an issue. The issue is, however when it comes to typing. As someone who is a writer and blogger, I didn’t find this keyboard too comfortable to use, because of its clunkiness and little uncomfortable keys, but the keys are incredibly responsive, which is awesome. Overall, the keys could be better when it comes to typing, and for gaming… well, I also think they could be better, but once you get used to them it’s okay at best.

Razer Blackwidow X Chroma Features

Being a full-sized keyboard, Razer Blackwidow X Chroma is able to procure more performance and features than the smaller wireless keyboards. Aside from its beautiful design, X Chroma offers a full RGB illumination, Razer Synapse 2.0 and responsive keys which we mentioned earlier. To make it simple for you, here is the list of some of the best features from this keyboard:

Full RGB Illumination

While some of the gaming keyboards offer just a partial RGB Illumination, Blackwidow X Chroma offers a full RGB Illumination, which means 16.8 million colors and great color variants. For example, the right side of the keyboard is red, and then there’s yellowish color in the middle, and then green and violet to the right side. The color is saturated, vibrant and appears somehow deep, that the effect must be seen to be properly described.

A great Razer Synapse 2.0 software

Razer Synapse 2.0 software is a great solution for manipulating the RGB illumination in terms of colors or various effects, as well as remapping some keys that can even take a function of your mouse. There is a possibility of creating custom profiles for every single game, so you can just run the game and the profile will be set up for you. Razer Synapse 2.0 is definitely one of the best gaming peripheral software at the moment.

Long-lasting durability

As we mentioned, X Chroma is a very durable keyboard in terms of both build quality and keys. But here, I want to talk about the keys, as they are able to endure up to 80 million keystrokes, which is an amazing result.

USB connection

As the wireless connection isn’t that great for gaming, because of latency and stripped-down features, Razer uses the old-school USB connection. This produces the kind of quality found in this keyboard, able to sustain even the most hardcore gaming session, ensuring that you’ll play well until the last round.

Verdict

Well, let’s wrap this up. As much as I like this keyboard, I can’t help but think of this keyboard as a mixed bag. On the one side, Blackwidow X Chroma looks phenomenal, has an excellent RGB illumination and it’s sturdy and heavy enough to stay still on the table. However, I was a little let down by its keys which are good enough for gaming, but not for typing, making it far less versatile, and requiring to use two keyboards- one for gaming and one for typing. Overall, the keyboard falls short of its price of $159.99 so I don’t recommend spending that much money on this one. It’s great, but not for the value.