Razer’s new mechanical keyboard is a gateway drug to full DIY frenzy

Mechanical keyboards can feel like dangerous rabbit hole. Plummet past the fixed offerings from big-name manufacturers into custom territory, and you’re faced with costs that run into the hundreds of dollars—and myriad decisions to make about each layer of a peripheral most people take for granted.

But as I found out when Razer unveiled a new entry in its BlackWidow line, there can be an easier way to ease into the world of custom keyboards. Take home a BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% keeb, and you have the option to leave it completely as is…or slowly work your way to completely overhauling it so it feels just the way you like. If you’re familiar with PC sellers like iBuyPower, CyberPowerPC, and even NZXT, which sell prebuilt PCs using replaceable components, this keyboard strikes a similar vibe.

As an upgrade on the standard V4 75% that launched last year in August, the BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% keeps Razer’s orange tactile switches and adds both wireless support and an OLED display, along with an almost 60 percent increase in price—at launch, it’ll cost $300. You can pair it with up to three devices via Bluetooth. It also runs at a polling rate of 4K Hz, with a battery life that can stretch as long as 2100 hours, thanks to a low-power mode. When in low-power mode, the keyboard drops down to a 1,000 Hz polling rate.

If you don’t have the gaming skills for faster polling to make a difference in games, you may instead appreciate more the integrated OLED display—and its ability to play animated gifs. The screen’s different modes include support for an animation (like the nyan cat gif I saw), static image, text banner, system info, and system CPU and CPU temps. You can also map keyboard shortcuts to the control dial, letting you speed up repetitive commands in programs like Adobe Photoshop.

Putting my hands on the BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% make the advantages of buying Razer’s take on a custom keyboard pretty clear. Someone else has done all the time-consuming work of digging into Reddit and other keyboard enthusiast corners of the internet. You also can get one right away, as it’ll be sold in retail stores like Best Buy alongside online retailers after its launch on September 24. The only effort you need to expend is pulling out your credit card.

But should you want to fully tailor a keyboard to your preferences, the ability is there—and getting a taste of it can be intoxicating. Razer’s presentation to the press included an array of customized takes on the BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%, with some immediately to my liking, and others a fascinating glimpse into other people’s preferences. (Ceramic keycaps are a wild trip, and definitely not my thing.)

In the past, where Razer goes, others sometimes follow—and I hope it’s a trend that catches on. We all use keyboards daily. Why shouldn’t they feel individually perfect under our fingers, much less sound and look just right, too?