Hands-on: Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% Keyboard

Keyboard tech has always fascinated me, especially when it comes to adding cool new features to a familiar form that still can trace its origins back to the 19th century invention of the typewriter. 

The new Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% keyboard takes the compact BlackWidow V4 75% (which means it is about 1/4 smaller than a standard keyboard, largely because it omits the number pad), and adds a very cool built-in OLED screen. I got a chance to test-drive the new keyboard before its official launch and it's already become my default go-to keyboard.

Besides the monochromatic OLED display that displays white text and icons against a black background, the V4 Pro adds a clickable dial to the right side, as well as a selection button. Combined with the onboard display, that gives you access to a wide range of control options. 

 

The choices are customizable through Razer's Synapse software, and you can set the screen and dial to do things like monitor and control the system's volume, the brightness of the keyboard's OLED display or the RGB backlights, turn the dial into a zoom or vertical scroll controller, or more. Clicking on the selection button cycles through these presets for the OLED display and dial. You can also pick different idle animations to play on the OLED screen when it's not in use. 

Besides the on-board display, I especially liked how the keyboard can connect via a wireless HyperSpeed dongle, Bluetooth 5.1, or a hard-wired USB-C connection. And because it uses Razer's Chroma ecosystem, you can sync the lights on your Razer keyboard, mouse, laptop, monitor, or mousepad (yes, Razer makes a light-up mousepad, too). 

This is a hot-swappable keyboard, meaning you can pull off the keycaps and switches, replacing any or all at will. The default set included in the box are Razer's own orange tactile switches, with PBT (polybutylene terephthalate) keycaps. Under the aluminum alloy top case, you'll find an FR4 plate (a type of woven fiberglass), a foam layer, a pre-taped PCB (gamers sometimes apply tape to the bottom of a keyboard's circuit board to make the it sound deeper), then a second layer of foam, before the bottom of the chassis. Finally, there's a faux leather wrist rest that connects magnetically to the lower edge of the keyboard. 

 

In my hands-on time with the $300 Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%, I found I mostly used the OLED screen and control dial to adjust the volume on my Razer Blade 16 laptop, but I also liked the option to dial the brightness of the keyboard's backlight down if needed. Naturally, I gave the keyboard a test drive with Space Marine 2, and loved the feel and responsiveness, plus the extra mini-display just looks cool. 

Because the display is OLED, it's not going to eat heavily into the keyboard's battery life. And if you're especially looking to almost never, ever charge it (or you're running low at a critical moment), there's a power saving mode that turns off the lights and screen and ramps down the polling rate, and that should get you up to 2,100 hours on a single charge, according to Razer. 

Micro Center Editor-in-Chief Dan Ackerman is a veteran tech reporter and has served as Editor-in-Chief of Gizmodo and Editorial Director at CNET. He's been testing and reviewing laptops and other consumer tech for almost 20 years and is the author of The Tetris Effect, a Cold War history of the world's most influential video game. Contact Dan at dackerman@microcenter.com.