Razer has a reputation as one of the best gaming accessory makers, from their mice to their literal phones. No matter what your personal experience with the brand is, you have to acknowledge the widespread love for their products. The latest miniature keyboard offering from them, the Razer BlackWidow V4 75%, offers a hyper-compact keyboard with a full-sized keyboard typing feel and use experience.
What Is the Razer BlackWidow V4 75%?
The Razer BlackWidow V4 75% is a compact mechanical keyboard from Razer that is the latest in the company’s line of spider-named set of PC gaming accessories. Waaay back in 2018, we actually covered a previous accessory in the line, with the budget-friendly (relatively speaking) Razer Basilisk gaming mouse. The BlackWidow v4 we’re covering this time is a compact edition that is only 75% the size of a normal keyboard (hence the name), meaning it’s even more compact than the TKL version is.
Razer’s accessories have long been associated with high quality, but the question is whether or not the BlackWidow V4 75% manages to live up to that reputation or not.
Build Quality & Designs for Days
It should probably not come as a shock, but the BlackWidow v4 75% has some sterling build quality and packs in enough features to make you question why you’d even need a “pro” version at all. The top part of the chassis is made from aluminum, giving the entire device a sturdy feeling and a decent amount of heft for such a compact size. You also still get a proper set of function and cursor keys, thankfully.
As with most Razer PC gaming accessories, you also have access to a slew of lighting options thanks to the Razer Synapse and Razer Chroma integration. There’s RGB lighting behind each key, as well as a couple of extra strips down each side of the main casing, meaning that you’ll have a lot of stuff to play around with, and trust me, you can get lost in this stuff for hours if you’re in the right frame of mind.
Typing, Typing, and Typing Some More
Another huge factor for any keyboard, even a gaming one, is the typing feel. Sure, you can take out your enemies, but what’s the point if you can’t type out gratuitous insults in the chat box afterwards? Well, worry not, as the Razer BlackWidow V4 75% has a better typing feel than most full-sized keyboards manage to pull off.
Obviously, a large part of the “type feel” is down to the switches, which we’ll be getting into in a bit more detail in a minute. Right now, it’s important to know that the keycaps have a nice texture to them, and the well-designed layout makes everything reachable without allowing for a lot of mistyping. The included wrist rest also helps improve comfortability dramatically.
Switching Out Switches?
It probably won’t be a shock to hear that the keys and the switches are hot-swappable, and the setup even comes with a key/switch puller to aid you with making any changes. By default, our unit came with the new generation of Razer’s orange tactile switches released back in 2023. These feel great and provide a nice ‘pop’ to typing while retaining a high level of sensitivity and responsiveness for use in gaming, making them ideal for those who want a mix between the heavy clunk of a clicky key or the silence of a linear key.
Of course, you can still get green clicky and yellow linear switches to use here, if you like, and the process of swapping them is a breeze thanks to the included tool. Pop off the key cap and gently remove the switch, and you can have a new one in place in a few seconds. Of course, if you’re swapping out every switch, it’s going to take time but still a damn sight less than it used to take on a mechanical keyboard. The only minor complaint at all is that on newer switches, the key caps can be a little too snug, making them hard to separate.
Presentation & Extras
The Razer BlackWidow V4 75% is also a USB-C keyboard, relying on the standard to connect to your PC. You get a high-quality, woven USB-C to USB-A cable in the package, and it even comes with some pretty high-quality silicone caps and cable ties if you’re obsessed with keeping your cables in good condition. It’s certainly a hard-wearing cable, and with the white edition, it matches the colour perfectly.
You’ve also got access to a roller key and two media buttons. By default, the roller will change your volume level, with one media key for Play/Pause/Skip and the other for Mute. All of these can be remapped and used for whatever you want, though most of the time, they function best on their default settings. Both of the media buttons also have RGB lighting available, with the mute key seeming to have some built-in lighting to indicate when the PC is muted or not.
Summary
The Razer BlackWidow V4 75% is an excellent PC accessory in general and easily one of the best compact gaming keyboards on the market. It has excellent typing feel, a full suite of features, and all of the premium-quality design and build that money can buy. The hot-swappable caps and switches are excellent, and with all of those Synapse features to back it up, we’re pretty sure you’re not going to be able to find a better keyboard unless it’s one of the other ones from the exact same series.
