Mechanical keyboard obsessives — these individuals who suppose nothing of spending 100 {dollars} on a set of keycaps or individually taking aside dozens of switches to use simply the correct quantity of their favourite sort of lube — have traditionally looked down on keyboards from large gaming manufacturers. Gaming keyboards are seen as a superbly cheap gateway drug, however there are lots who’ll have you ever imagine that they will’t maintain a candle to enthusiast-focused “customized” keyboards.
A lot of this snobbery is tongue in cheek, however there’s additionally a grain of fact to it. Put a typical mass-market gaming keyboard subsequent to the sort of DIY keyboards offered in restricted runs and even one thing like Keychron’s Q-series, and the distinction in really feel is night time and day. Fanatic keyboard producers place an even bigger emphasis on lowering disagreeable feels like rattling and metallic pinging, and their keyboards typically really feel crisper and smoother to kind on.
However this yr, a pair of keyboards from Asus and Razer are trying to buck this pattern. Over the previous couple of weeks, I’ve been making an attempt out Razer’s $189.99 BlackWidow V4 75% and the $249.99 Asus ROG Azoth, two keyboards that incorporate building methods and modifications favored by fanatics with out dropping the options that make gaming keyboards interesting.
Their pricing could be premium, however it’s not far off from what we’ve beforehand seen gaming manufacturers cost for his or her flagship keyboards. The brand new 75 % BlackWidow is priced between Razer’s earlier BlackWidow V4 ($169.99) and BlackWidow V4 Pro ($229.99) and is competing in opposition to Keychron’s Q1, which at the moment retails for $170.10 with a volume knob. Even the costlier ROG Azoth isn’t the costliest keyboard that Asus has ever launched — the ROG Claymore II launched with a $269.99 price ticket two years in the past.
Regardless of their fanatic focus, each the ROG Azoth and BlackWidow V4 75% nonetheless seem like conventional gaming keyboards. There aren’t any tall retro-looking multicolored keycaps right here or the sorts of tremendous chunky {cases} well-liked amongst posters on r/MechanicalKeyboards. As a substitute, you get monochrome coloration schemes, angular fonts, and loads of RGB lighting.
However there are additionally some seen influences from the keyboard group. Each fashions include 75 % layouts, for instance, which have a extra compact laptop-style design with no numpad. It’s an uncommon structure by conventional keyboard requirements however has rapidly grow to be one of the well-liked layouts for fanatics. They each even have their very own takes on the more and more widespread quantity knob on the highest proper — the BlackWidow has a quantity curler, whereas the Azoth has a three-way management rocker subsequent to its fancy OLED show.
Layouts are one factor, however extra essential is what’s happening internally, the place each Razer and Asus have discovered from the mods and building methods which have grow to be well-liked with hobbyists. Each keyboards use a gasket-mounted design that has their change plates sit on squishy materials in order that they have a slight bounce to them as you kind, and also you higher imagine that each keyboards have lubed stabilizers (the mechanism constructed into larger keys just like the area bar to cease them from wobbling however that may rattle if not lubricated).
Maybe most tellingly, Razer has even gone as far as to pre-apply a layer of tape to the underside of the BlackWidow V4 75%’s PCB, emulating the favored DIY “tape mod” that fanatics typically use to enhance the sounds of their keyboards. That comes along with layers and layers of sound-dampening foam: two for the Razer and three for the Asus. The overall thought for these mods is to chop down on disagreeable pinging or reverberations and create a poppier or extra “marbly” sound. There’s quite a lot of debate about which mixture of mods is greatest (and the specifics of which switches you’re utilizing may even play a component), however what’s good right here is that you’ve got the liberty to experiment by eradicating layers of sound-dampening foam to listen to the distinction for your self.
Each keyboards are designed to make mods like these comparatively painless. There are simply accessible screws on their undersides to allow you to get inside, and the keyboards are additionally hot-swappable, which means you’ll be able to take away and change their switches with out the necessity to get out a soldering iron. Each even assist including fancier aftermarket PCB-mount screw-in stabilizers for those who don’t take care of the plate-mounted stabilizers they ship with.
Probably the most delightfully overkill fanatic characteristic of the ROG Azoth is available in its field of equipment, which incorporates not solely the more and more normal change and keycap puller (an adjunct you additionally get with Razer’s BlackWidow) but additionally instruments to tinker with the innards of the keyboard’s switches. There’s a change opener to crack them open, a little bit brush, a pot of Krytox lube, and even a tray to place your switches in when you’re engaged on them. I cannot declare to be a switch-lubing skilled, and I’ve little question there are higher instruments on the market for this job, however it’s a neat equipment to search out included within the field and actually underscores Asus’ goal marketplace for this keyboard.
Although the keyboards have been constructed with modding in thoughts, I wouldn’t say I felt a direct must mod them. Out of the field, each keyboards really feel nice to kind on. The Razer BlackWidow V4 comes outfitted with the corporate’s personal pre-lubed Orange Tactile switches, and whereas there are a few totally different change choices obtainable for the ROG Azoth, I most popular the corporate’s personal pre-lubed linear NX Snow switches. Right here’s how they each sound:
The Asus (significantly with its NX Snow switches) is certainly the higher feeling and sounding of the 2, however it’s additionally costlier, and the Razer BlackWidow V4 75% continues to be an enormous step up in comparison with Razer’s earlier keyboards.
Importantly for players, Razer and Asus have been in a position to attract from the keyboard group whereas additionally taking part in to their very own gaming strengths. The Razer BlackWidow V4 75%, for instance, helps as much as an 8,000Hz polling fee, which theoretically stories keypresses to your laptop round eight instances quicker than most different keyboards. (The ROG Azoth, in the meantime, provides a extra typical 1,000Hz polling fee however makes up for it with wi-fi connectivity — that 1000Hz fee is obtainable wired or utilizing the included 2.4GHz dongle; it additionally has Bluetooth on the regular 125Hz polling fee.)
I additionally need to take a second to say the ROG Azoth’s neat little two-inch OLED show, which I ended up liking greater than I anticipated to. Though it spends most of its time displaying a looping animation of the Asus ROG emblem by default, it’s useful if you begin utilizing the three-way quantity rocker to regulate different elements of the board, like its lighting results. I additionally appreciated its small standing components, like displaying the keyboard’s battery stage, connectivity standing, or whether or not it’s set to PC or Mac mode. Each keyboards are available in UK-ISO keyboard layouts, which is usually not an choice with smaller producers.
Though each keyboards tick considerably extra fanatic keyboard packing containers, there are some areas the place Asus’ and Razer’s priorities battle with what hardcore keyboard individuals are after. Each peripherals characteristic north-facing switches, for instance, which is best for his or her shine-through RGB legends however can create compatibility points with some thicker aftermarket keycaps.
Plus, after all, Razer and Asus have their very own proprietary companion software program. I suppose that’s inevitable given Razer’s emphasis on its Chroma RGB ecosystem, to not point out the truth that the Asus software program must allow you to customise the keyboard’s OLED show, however I’d like to have the choice of utilizing the highly effective and acquainted VIA app.
It feels virtually inevitable that these keyboards received’t provide every little thing that fanatics are after. However they’re nonetheless an enormous step up in comparison with what large manufacturers have usually provided, and Asus and Razer have achieved this whereas sustaining what individuals have traditionally preferred about their peripherals, all of which is nice information for those who’re available in the market for a gaming keyboard. However I hope that smaller fanatic producers can proceed to innovate and discover methods to run rings round their larger opponents.
Pictures by Jon Porter / The Verge