Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro Review: Specification And Price

Introduction

There are gaming keyboards that focus mainly on performance, size, or wireless convenience. Then there are many gaming keyboards(Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro) that aim to be all-in-one solutions and more. Razer’s BlackWidow series of keyboards falls into the latter category, and it consistently finds a place on our list of top gaming keyboards. These keyboards are known for their customizable RGB lighting, mechanical key switches, and feature-packed designs. The BlackWidow V4 Pro is no exception to this trend.

The Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro is Razer’s first product in the V4 series, and it’s a full-sized wired mechanical gaming keyboard that leaves no stone unturned. It includes a volume control wheel and four dedicated media keys. Moreover, it boasts eight dedicated macro keys/buttons, consisting of five keys and three side buttons. Additionally, it features a tactile and versatile “Razer Command Dial” that can be programmed with up to 100 custom functions. When attached, it also comes with a detachable, comfortably padded wrist rest that enhances the keyboard’s underglow with an extra 20 RGB zones.

You can purchase the BlackWidow V4 Pro now, and it comes with a premium price tag of $230, which is in line with expectations for a high-end gaming keyboard.

Specifications

Feature	Description
Types of Switches	Razer Green or Razer Yellow
Keyboard Lighting	Each key has its own RGB lighting
Onboard Storage	Can save up to 5 different profiles on the keyboard
Media Controls	4 dedicated media keys + volume control wheel, customizable
Gaming Mode	Yes, special mode for gaming
Connection	Wired USB-C connection to the computer
Extra Ports	Includes an extra USB-A port for other devices
Keycaps	Doubleshot ABS material for the keycaps
Build	Mix of aluminum alloy and plastic for the keyboard
Software	Control and customization via Synapse 3 software
Size	Approx. 18.25 x 6 x 1 inches (464 x 152 x 25mm)
Weight	About 2.26 pounds (1027g) without additional accessories
Price	$229.99 at the time of review
Release Date	February 16, 2023

Pros And Cons

Advantages	Disadvantages
Comfy, cushioned wrist support	ABS keycaps might wear out quickly
Boosts keyboard lighting with 20 RGB zones underneath	Macro keys aren’t activated by default
Customizable multi-purpose “Razer Control Wheel”	Personalization relies heavily on software
Eight specific shortcut keys
High polling rate of 8,000 Hz

Design

The BlackWidow V4 Pro is a big mechanical keyboard that connects with a wire. It’s made of dark metal on the top and plastic on the bottom. You can take off a cushioned hand rest that’s covered in textured black fake leather. There’s a special logo from Razer right in the middle.
This keyboard is bigger than most full-size ones because it has extra keys on the side for doing special things. It also has a button called the “Razer Command Dial” that you can program to do different tasks.

The BlackWidow V4 Pro is about 18.25 inches (464mm) long, 6 inches (152mm) wide, and about 1 inch (25mm) thick, not counting the keys (it’s about 1.75 inches/44.5mm thick with the keys). If you put on the hand rest, it gets about 3.25 inches (82.6mm) longer, making the whole thing about 9.25 inches (235mm) long.

This keyboard needs a lot of space on your desk. But it’s only a little bit wider and deeper than the BlackWidow V3 Pro, which doesn’t have the extra keys. In the top right corner of the BlackWidow V4 Pro, you’ll find a textured metal volume roller and four precisely crafted aluminum media buttons. These media buttons include functions for previous track, play/pause, next track, and mute. You have the flexibility to customize the functions of the volume roller and media buttons using Razer’s Synapse 3 software.

Macro keys

Located on the left side of the keyboard, there are five dedicated macro keys, each labeled as M1 through M5. Positioned above these keys is a notched metal “Razer Command Dial,” which serves as a versatile multifunctional dial. The dial comes with eight preset functions, with only a few enabled by default. You can cycle through these presets by clicking the dial, and you also have the option to create your custom dial modes using Razer’s Synapse 3 software.

On the left side of the keyboard, there are three extra buttons that you can program for special functions. In total, there are eight of these programmable buttons. I liked that Razer brought back these dedicated buttons, but it did take me a bit of time to adjust to them. I often found myself pressing the wrong keys on the far left side, like the tilde key, which I use as a macro in games.
Additionally, I accidentally pressed the side macro buttons several times when I moved the keyboard on my desk, which seems to happen quite frequently for me. However, this wasn’t too troublesome because I got used to the new layout in about a week.

Temporarily disabled Buttons

I also temporarily disabled the side buttons until I figured out the best permanent position for my keyboard. The bottom of the BlackWidow V4 Pro has eight small anti-slip pads made of rubber. Despite being a quite heavy keyboard, it’s unlikely to move around on its own (unless you grab it by the sides and move it, like I did). The keyboard by itself weighs about 2.26 pounds (1027g), and the wrist rest adds another 13.76 ounces (390g) to the weight. The keyboard features two sets of flip-out feet, both equipped with rubberized anti-slip pads for adjusting the angle.

The detachable wrist rest has a premium appearance and a luxurious feel. It has a soft, cushioned surface covered in leatherette. The wrist rest attaches to the keyboard using magnets and has a 5-pin connector that links it to the keyboard’s underside, providing a seamless connection for Chroma-infused RGB underglow.

The BlackWidow V4 Pro offers both underglow and individual RGB lighting for each key. When used alone, the keyboard has underglow lighting on its sides with 18 programmable zones (9 on each side). When you attach the wrist rest, an additional 20 programmable zones are added to the sides and front (three on each side, one in each corner, and 12 in the front).

Apart from the wrist rest, the BlackWidow V4 Pro also includes two 6.5-foot (2m) USB-C to USB-A cables. The keyboard requires only one cable for power, but if you want to use the keyboard’s USB 2.0 passthrough port, you’ll need a second cable.

Typing And Gaming Experience 

The BlackWidow V4 Pro offers Razer’s proprietary mechanical switches, either the Razer Green (with a clicky feel) or the Razer Yellow (with a smooth, linear action). The Razer Green switches have a 1.9mm actuation point with 50g of force and provide a tactile bump and audible click when pressed. On the other hand, the Razer Yellow switches actuate at 1.2mm with 45g of force and lack a tactile bump or audible click (Razer includes silicon sound dampeners for quieter operation). Personally, I prefer the loud and clicky Razer Green switches, so I opted for a review unit equipped with them.

As anticipated, the Razer Green switches on the BlackWidow V4 Pro delivered an exceptionally loud and somewhat hollow click sound. The keyboard’s casing includes two layers of internal sound-dampening foam, which did a reasonably good job of reducing case vibrations and reverb. However, the sound quality is not as refined as that of the Asus ROG Azoth, but that’s not necessarily a drawback for me, as I’m a fan of keyboards with loud and clicky switches, even if some of the noise comes from the casing rather than the switches themselves.

Comparing it to the BlackWidow V3 Pro, the spacebar on the BlackWidow V4 Pro feels slightly more stable and produces a slightly less pronounced thud, but the difference isn’t significant enough to be considered an improvement. The spacebar, as well as larger keys like backspace and enter, still offer a dull thud rather than a sharp click.

Doubleshot ABS keycaps

Similar to its predecessor, the BlackWidow V4 Pro features doubleshot ABS keycaps with attractive legends that allow backlighting to shine through. These keycaps have a full height and a lightly textured, matte finish, which could easily be mistaken for PBT keycaps at a glance. While the keycaps look and feel good, their durability over time remains a concern. My BlackWidow V3 Pro showed signs of wear in less than six months of daily use, and there is no indication that these keycaps will fare any differently .

Although I don’t consider Razer Green switches to be my absolute preferred clicky switches – they feel a bit too resistant to be ideal – they still hold a fairly high rank. I conducted a couple of typing speed tests on 10fastfingers.com and averaged around 123 words per minute (WPM) with an accuracy rate of 97.32%. This speed aligns with my usual typing pace on a clicky keyboard that’s notably noisy.

The BlackWidow V4 Pro also delivers an impressive gaming experience, even though some gamers might lean towards the linear Razer Yellow switch version. It’s especially satisfying to see the return of dedicated macro keys. By default, these keys are inactive but can be enabled and customized within Synapse 3.

Fn Key

Almost all the keys on this keyboard, except for the Windows key and the Fn key, can be reassigned to perform a wide range of functions, from controlling keyboard and mouse actions to managing multimedia functions or launching applications and Windows shortcuts. They can also be configured as additional function keys (F13 – F24) if you simply desire extra keys that can be reprogrammed while gaming.

I put the V4 Pro to the test across various games, including my preferred MMORPG, The Elder Scrolls Online, and FPS title Overwatch 2, as well as my favorite arcade game, The Typing of the Dead: Overkill. The additional macro keys provide a distinct advantage in MMOs, although I had to take some time to consider which keys I wanted to reassign. I’ve been without macro keys for so long that I almost forgot how to use them.

For FPS players, the macro keys might not be as enticing, but this keyboard is still an excellent choice. It’s wired, ensuring no lag issues, and it boasts an exceptionally high polling rate, reaching up to 8,000 Hz. While polling rates above 1,000 Hz may not be noticeable to most gamers, elite players seeking every possible speed advantage will surely appreciate this option.

Features and Software

The BlackWidow V4 Pro, like all Razer products, is compatible with Razer’s Synapse 3 software ecosystem. Synapse 3 isn’t my top choice for peripheral software, but it’s not my least favorite either, so that’s something to consider. The V4 Pro mostly functions without needing any software, with a few exceptions. The volume roller and media keys come pre-configured, as do the three side macro buttons: the top one opens the screenshot menu, the middle one activates the Xbox game bar, and the bottom one accesses Windows Task View.

The Razer Command Dial is also pre-set with four of its eight preset modes enabled: keyboard brightness, Windows zoom, switch applications, and track jogging. You can switch between these modes by clicking the dial to move forward or by holding down the shift key and clicking the dial to go backward. The current mode is indicated by the color of the light (green, red, blue, and yellow). The other four preset modes — track selector (cyan), vertical scrolling (magenta), horizontal scrolling (white), and switch browser tabs (orange) — need to be activated in Synapse 3.

You can also create up to 100 custom Command Dial modes, complete with personalized backlight colors, using Synapse 3. The caveat is that you must have Synapse 3 running to use these custom modes (they can be saved to the keyboard’s onboard profiles, but they won’t function without Synapse 3). On the other hand, once activated, the eight preset modes can be accessed without relying on Synapse 3.

Synapse 3

If you want to utilize the five macro keys, which are initially disabled (which seems unnecessary — they should come as extra macro keys), you’ll also need to have Synapse 3 installed. As mentioned earlier, you can program these keys to perform various functions and tasks, or you can set them as additional Fn-keys if you prefer to remap them while in-game.

Synapse 3 is also where you can adjust the keyboard’s polling rate, record macros (although the V4 Pro offers on-the-fly macro recording as well), and redefine keybindings. Razer provides a comprehensive secondary layer of keybinding customization called “Razer HyperShift,” which is activated using the Fn key (one of the few keys that can’t be remapped). You can also use Synapse to modify the keyboard’s lighting, either with pre-designed “quick effects” or by creating custom effects using Chroma Studio (although this can be a bit complicated, but I won’t delve into that here). You can synchronize the V4 Pro’s lighting with other Chroma-equipped Razer peripherals for that irresistible, seamlessly coordinated gamer aesthetic (don’t worry — I understand the appeal).

Bottom Line

If you want the best keyboard for gaming and everything else, the BlackWidow V4 Pro is the one to go for. Nowadays, it’s rare to find extra macro keys on full-sized keyboards because everyone is focused on saving space. While fully-programmable secondary keybind layers are useful, having dedicated macro keys is even more convenient.

The Razer Command Dial is another great feature. It works similarly to the multi-function dials you find on streaming decks like the Elgato Stream Deck+ and the Loupedeck Live S. This makes it perfect for people who don’t need a whole streaming setup but could use some of that stream deck functionality. I created custom dial modes for certain Photoshop tasks like changing brush sizes, zooming in and out, and undoing or redoing actions. While I also have these actions set up on the Elgato Stream Deck+, I prefer the Razer Command Dial because I don’t have to move my hand, and I don’t use so many dial-type actions that I need visual cues like you get on the Stream Deck+.

The BlackWidow V4 Pro is a fantastic keyboard for both work and play, as long as you have a big enough desk to accommodate a full-sized keyboard and wrist rest. The wrist rest included with it is a definite improvement over previous Razer wrist rests. However, while I appreciate the underglow lighting and how Razer implements it, it’s not as visually appealing as the lower-tech light show you get with the Roccat Vulcan II Max.

Conclusion

The BlackWidow V4 Pro keyboard stands out as a versatile and practical choice for gamers and productivity enthusiasts alike. Its inclusion of dedicated macro keys and the Razer Command Dial adds a level of convenience that sets it apart from many other keyboards in the market. Whether you’re looking to enhance your gaming experience or streamline your workflow, this keyboard has you covered.

However, it’s worth noting that the BlackWidow V4 Pro requires a spacious desk due to its full-sized design and wrist rest. While the wrist rest is an improvement over previous Razer models, it may not match the visual appeal of some competitors, such as the Roccat Vulcan II Max.

In the end, the BlackWidow V4 Pro’s strengths in functionality and performance make it a compelling choice for those seeking a reliable and feature-rich keyboard, as long as desk space and aesthetics are not a primary concern.

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