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  • frostyfiredude - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    The video seems to say it's using their own mechanical switches (Green specifically) that were introduced with the 2014 Blackwidow Ultimate. They must have their own competing tech equivalent to the Cherry MX RGBs.
  • JarredWalton - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    Updated text -- the product pages on the BW Chroma indicate Razer is again using their Green/Orange switches, which makes sense.
  • edzieba - Thursday, August 14, 2014 - link

    Note that all the illuminated keycaps have the illuminated character at the top. This indicates that they are using regular MX (or rather, the Kailh MX clone) keyswitches, with RGB through-hole LEDs.
  • Morawka - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    yeah even last years black widow ultimate uses razer's own proprietary mechanical switches. They are still made by Cherry, however of razer's own design

    IIRC Razer's has two proprietary switches now: Green switches are the Clicky type, and Orange switches are silent .
  • NavasC - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    False. These keys are manufactured by Kaihua Electronics (also known as Kailh), a Chinese manufacturer specializing in switches. Anandtech even did a review on the Blackwidow 2014, so I'm not sure where the confusion is here. They still have them labeled as Green and Orange switches on the product page for the Blackwidow Ultimate Chroma

    Anandtech Review:
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/7911/razer-blackwido...
  • Inteli - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    They're also a bit more fragile than Cherry switches, as the cross-shaped stem has a tendency to break a little easier.
  • mond0 - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45...

    Aren't cherry mx stems also cross-shaped?
  • mattmonkey24 - Thursday, August 21, 2014 - link

    cherry mx does feature cross-shaped stems, but there are way too many cases of the Kalih stems simply snapping off where as the cherry switches uphold a very high standard
  • tuxfool - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    Unless the SDK is standardized I don't see anyone using it...
  • willis936 - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    You never heard of the G15 or G510 and all of the awesome programs that people wrote for those?
  • ddriver - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    Gays are gonna rejoice a keyboard that shines in the colors of their flag.
  • Swiper34 - Thursday, January 7, 2016 - link

    A lot of CS:GO pros use the chroma line.

    Source: http://csgosetup.on-winning.com
  • leoblaze9 - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    so razer is following the MLP:FIM trend with rainbows?
  • ddriver - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    Target market - LGBT folk.
  • rabidkevin - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    Hey homophobe, liking an array of colors doesnt mean you are gay.
  • iLovefloss - Thursday, August 14, 2014 - link

    That's what they all say. At first it is all fun and games with rainbow colored backlighting until one of your bros forget to say No Homo, and then you're down in San Francisco in only a hat and pink underwear.

    Beware the rainbow. Beware it.
  • iLovefloss - Thursday, August 14, 2014 - link

    Don't be dumb. The reason it is rainbow colored is to show the range of the backlight and ability to do different per key lighting.

    Also, MLP:FIM would require lighter more fanciful colors for the body. This is pretty much a black keyboard which doesn't match the show's aesthetic at all. I would make a Bifrost reference, but I think it is best to just say, "Taste the rainbow".
  • djonz22 - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    huhu, google cache :O 179.99$

    http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cac...
  • Albino Digits - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link

    If you like the idea of a backlit mechanical keyboard, but you don't need it to change colors, the WASD Keyboards CODE keyboard is very nice looking. They used the, supposedly, higher quality Cherry switches, and offer two different switch types with and without a number pad. I haven't used one of their keyboards; however, I bought a set of replacement keys from them for a Filco I have. The keys are very high quality.
  • rhx123 - Thursday, August 14, 2014 - link

    I'd really laugh if razer get this released before Corsairs MX RGB, it'd teach them for announcing and even "launching" a product well before it was ready to ship.
  • YazX_ - Thursday, August 14, 2014 - link

    and it will, 1 month from now and it will be in stores, corsair announced their RGB last year and it should be launched 2 months ago but it didnt, corsair doomed themselves with the announcement and being late as they gave the opportunity to all competitors to make the same with less time, and now they cannot control the prices since there are alternatives.
  • falc0ne - Tuesday, August 19, 2014 - link

    My previous experience with razer: It was during the Windows 7 launch. I had to wait for them 6 to 9 months to udate the driver for my Habu mouse (their responsibility not Microsoft as some may think) and finally...after a long wait and far behind other manufacturers they've done it. But only to crash my system with BSOD. So, I pay for premium gaming hardware and I cannot use it ...In the end I solved it by using the windows basic driver which renders your device to a Genius garbage. If your software support doesn't match the hardware your product is just a show off and a marketing stunt designed to con people into buying it. So..how are they lately anything better?
  • mattmonkey24 - Thursday, August 21, 2014 - link

    The keyboard is a nice attempt by razer, by imo its a flop. With the link djonz22 provided, the Corsair K70 will be $10 cheaper, corsair's keyboard has real cherry switches and a new type of lighting that is said to not give off ESD (which is the reason so many LEDs go out on keyboards). I'm guessing razer will stick with the usual plastic (despite the higher cost) and corsair sticks with their light and durable metal construct.
    TL;DR the corsair keyboard is better in every way
  • mattmonkey24 - Thursday, August 21, 2014 - link

    oh i also forgot to mention, razer is trying to push their cloud program synapse to sync your settings across computers, but Corsair's keyboard has built-in memory to save your settings. Corsair has also boasted about the display processor on their keyboard which can handle pretty much anything people code with the SDK
  • JJtoob - Saturday, October 11, 2014 - link

    I am not a huge fan of LED on one side of the switch. I have translucid keycaps and it might look better on Corsair's under switch lighting. It's just too bad I keep hearing Corsair's software is not doing too well right now. I also don't really like that lip at the bottom of the BlackWidow, if there are no more keys, cut that off, but of course, they want to show you the logo right there...

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