INTRODUCTION

   It really seems that no matter how many PC gaming peripherals we get to test in these pages there are always more around and with Christmas just around the corner we don't have that much left time to publish each and every single one of those reviews, at least not prior to entering 2013. The good thing however when testing gaming peripherals is that you can actually test more than just one at a time (for example a keyboard, a mouse, a mouse pad and a headset) and so with the recent release of several game titles such as Far Cry 3, Assassins Creed 3, Planetside 2 and Hitman absolution we had just the right material/tools with which to perform all our tests. So today we will be taking a rather thorough look on the BlackWidow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard by Razer.

   Razer is more than just the world's leading brand in gaming. We were founded in 1998 in San Diego, California by our CEO Min-Liang Tan and our President Robert "Razerguy" Krakoff in a tiny shared office with a couple other gamers. We have grown today to hundreds of employees worldwide with offices in nine cities, including San Francisco, Hamburg, Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore. Our vision from the very beginning was to be the world's greatest gaming brand and we've set out to achieve that by designing the best gaming products that any gamer has ever seen.

   As I’m pretty certain many of you are aware Razer just released the 2013 version of the BlackWidow Ultimate (And Ultimate Stealth) Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with a matte exterior and green backlit keys. However due to a small mistake on our part we received the previous version of the BlackWidow Ultimate Mechanical Keyboard that features a glossy exterior and blue backlit keys. Now the reason behind the introduction of the new BlackWidow Ultimate 2013 line is most likely because some people like matte surfaces more since they don't get fingerprints and dust all over them, at least not with the same ease like glossy surfaces do. However i tend to like glossy surfaces more because they are shiny and look more like polished metal rather than plastic so in a way the previous version of the BlackWidow looks a lot better for my taste (although the new has green LEDs matching the Razer color theme). Design differences aside the original BlackWidow Ultimate featured a 6KRO (Key Roll Over) while the new 2013 version features a 10KRO. Key Roll Over is quite important but i really doubt that anyone can push more than 6 keys at the same time (although having more is never a bad thing especially at the same price). Differences aside however both keyboards feature Cherry MX Blue switches which are the same as the ones used by Das Keyboard in their Professional Model S and that means that you will get the same tactile feeling and faster typing potential compared to normal membrane keyboards.