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Tech · Razer · 2023

Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro

Every extra Razer could fit onto a keyboard, at the price you would expect for that.

Three things retire a mechanical keyboard — #5

Overall

7.7

out of 10

Axis scores

Tech is scored on these 5 axes. The total is their plain average — nothing is weighted.

Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro — axis scores out of 10Horizontal bar chart of editorial scores out of 10 across 5 axes. Bars run from a shared zero baseline; longer is better. Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro: Performance 8.6, Value 6.6, Durability 8.4, Ease of use 7.2, Design 7.6.PerformanceRazer BlackWidow V4 Pro — Performance 8.6 out of 108.6ValueRazer BlackWidow V4 Pro — Value 6.6 out of 106.6DurabilityRazer BlackWidow V4 Pro — Durability 8.4 out of 108.4Ease of useRazer BlackWidow V4 Pro — Ease of use 7.2 out of 107.2DesignRazer BlackWidow V4 Pro — Design 7.6 out of 107.6Editorial score out of 10 — higher is better
  • Performance — How well it does the core job
  • Value — What the same money buys elsewhere
  • Durability — Failure and fade reports past the one-year mark
  • Ease of use — Setup, daily operation, cleaning, maintenance
  • Design — Build quality and how it sits in a room

Specs

Layout
Full size
Switches
Razer mechanical, soldered
Extras
Command dial, eight macro keys, underglow

As published by the manufacturer. We didn't measure these ourselves.

Is it for you

Buy it if

  • Macro keys and a command dial are things you will actually use
  • You want lighting that goes further than any rival here
  • Gaming is the primary job, typing the secondary one

Skip it if

  • Synapse running permanently is a dealbreaker
  • You want a keyboard that disappears into a professional desk

Assign the command dial per application and it scrolls a timeline in one program, adjusts brush size in another. Anyone who works in creative software gets more out of that programmable rotary control than the gaming framing suggests.

The rest of the board follows the same instinct, and the weight is the part of it worth knowing about. This board does not slide, which is the difference between reaching left for a macro key without looking and nudging the whole thing out of position every time. Assembly quality is high and the doubleshot keycaps keep their legends indefinitely, though the ABS surface will shine with use.

The cost is not only money. Macros, per-application profiles, and lighting all need Synapse installed and running, which gates everything interesting behind a permanent background process. Owner complaints in this category concentrate on that software, not on the hardware.

Visually it is loud. Underglow, an aggressive font on the keycaps, and the sheer size of a full-size board with a macro column and a wrist rest mean it dominates any desk it lands on. In a shared professional space that is a consideration.

The full-size Pro is soldered. Hot-swap sockets exist in the BlackWidow line only on the 75 percent models, and that one difference decides whether a chattering switch is a fifteen-second fix or the end of the keyboard.

Last updated . The scoring method is on how we rank.